Evangelina Lugo is a former, long-time Tucson Unified employee and devoted volunteer. In total, she has helped the Roberts-Naylor K-8 School community for more than half a century. To show their gratitude and appreciation, Roberts-Naylor renamed their library after Evangelina.A small ceremony, which included an unveiling, ribbon cutting, and award, was held at the school library on April 24.
“She’s been here for over 50 years,” Roberts-Naylor Principal Bernadette Rosthenhausler-Espinoza said. “Everybody knows her. She comes in consistently. Every week she’s here to volunteer with the kids. She’s 92 (years old), so we thought it is long overdue and it’s time to do something to show Mrs. Lugo our appreciation for her.”
Evangelina first started her journey in Tucson Unified by volunteering at her son’s school. Each day, he’d come back home with his canteen still full of the same milk his mom filled it with that morning. She asked why he wouldn’t drink the milk, and he said he couldn’t open the bottle because of how well she had closed it to prevent spilling. Evangelina wondered why he wouldn’t just ask for help from the school monitor, but her son shared that the school monitor would be too busy with other duties to help him open his milk.
So, the next day, Evangelina started volunteering during lunch periods to make sure her son could drink his milk, and help any other student with menial tasks. By the following school year, she was on the staff.
Decades later, she was surrounded by loved ones, former students, and community members as she saw her name revealed over the doors to the library.
“I am surprised – this is unexpected to me,” Evangelina said. “I never thought that this would ever happen to me.”
