No Matter How Far With two sons serving life sentences, one mother crisscrosses California for overnight family visits By Edwin E. Chavez
E
lizabeth Hurren has always put her chil-
Courtesy Maria Elizabeth Hurren
dren first. Her native El Salvador was a land in turmoil in the early 1980s. There was rarely enough food to go around, and the mother of six often went hungry for her family, not knowing what tomorrow would bring. In 1981, her country erupted into civil war. Just 26 years old, compelled by a desperate need to provide her children a better future, she decided to leave El Salvador; it was the most difficult decision of her entire life. She knew she would face great risk and likely danger, but her children deserved a chance, and for that, she would cross any distance. Such was her love for her children. That brave, unflinching woman is my mother. She knew the journey ahead would be impossible with small children in tow. Her oldest child, Roberto, was 12 years old in 1981. Marcos was 10, Gabriel eight, and I was seven. My sister, Eli, and little baby Amilcar, were five and three. But with no other option remaining, she tearfully left us with her partner, Frank, the father of my two youngest siblings, and struck out for the north.
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SPRING 2023
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