In for the Honor of a Lifetime : San Juan Capistrano Names New Matriarch

It is an honor bestowed only four times before in the rich history of this mission city. This week, Evelyne Lobo Villegas was named the Matriarch of San Juan Capistrano, an honorary title granted by the San Juan Capistrano Historical Society--and one that lasts a lifetime.

Villegas, 67, a Juaneno Indian whose grandmother was born on the Pala Indian Reservation in San Diego County, succeeds Juanita Rios Foy, who died last year.

Her official crowning will come next month on St. Joseph’s Day, also known as Swallows Day, with Father Paul Martin of Mission San Juan Capistrano presiding.

Sitting in her home on Friday in the historic Los Rios section of the city, the house where she was born and where her family has lived for seven generations, Villegas drew on her unfiltered cigarette and said the shock of her new title is just sinking in.

“I can’t explain it, it is so overpowering,” she said. “There are many other women in the city who are older and who have Indian blood. I don’t have any of the trappings, the feathers or the jewelry. But I am an Indian and that is enough.”

Villegas will now join the town patriarch, Paul Arviso, to represent the city and its traditions at functions such as the El Presidente Ball, the Heritage Festival and Swallows Day.

“She’s a good choice,” said Mayor Gil Jones, who also lives in the Los Rios district. “It’s a great honor for her. I’m very pleased.”

David Belardes, the chairman of the Juaneno Indian Band and the son of the city’s first patriarch, Matias H. Belardes, said the matriarchs and patriarchs allow the citizens a way of showing respect.

“In honoring Evelyne you honor all the old families and ladies in this town,” Belardes said. “You show respect to the people who have been a part of the community, for their longevity. In Evelyne’s case she is not our eldest, but she has the respect of the Juaneno people.”

Villegas, the mother of three and the grandmother of four, is one of eight children of John Edward and Esperanza Lobo. Her brother is the late Clarence Lobo, who became the chief of the Juaneno Indian Band.

It is because of her brother, who died in 1985, that she decided it would be right for her to be the representative of her people.

“The Capistrano school district is going to name a school after my brother in San Clemente,” Villegas said. “That would be his proudest moment, since he was self-educated. I feel now I am going to represent him and this will be the proudest moment of our lives.”

The Lobo family has a long tradition in San Juan Capistrano and the South County, according to local historian Pamela Hallan-Gibson. The family’s history dates back to the late 1700s here, even before the first arrival of the Spaniards in 1769.

Old photographs inside Villegas’ board-and-batten house paint an accurate picture of the San Juan Capistrano in which she grew up, long before Interstate 5 and the rows of condominiums that have been unceremoniously tucked behind her historical home.

Villegas delights in telling stories about the town’s rich history--from stories about the ghosts that allegedly roam the nearby Trabuco Creek to accounts of the “bootlegging days,” when the neighborhood of mainly Indian residents held weekly concerts under the sycamores and jacaranda trees.

Tribal leaders such as Belardes feel that Villegas will be a strong spokeswoman for the remaining Juanenos in South County. She speaks with pride of her American Indian heritage and constantly refers to the Juanenos as “my people.”

To be a matriarch, one must have been born and raised in San Juan Capistrano, and spent most of one’s life here. The matriarchs before Villegas and Foy were Viviana Ricardes Olivares, Delfina Manriquez Olivares and Lucana Forster Isch.

Villegas says she must now travel to visit her sister-in-law, Clarence’s wife, Elizabeth Lobo, to learn more of the history of the Juanenos. If she is going to live up to her new title, Villegas said, she will do it right.

“I am no paper puppet. I’m no storyteller. I don’t like to get involved in things I don’t understand,” she said. “I must be honest in what I say.”

Her strength comes from her mother, Villegas said. Although her mother never finished elementary school, she made sure her children understood the value of education. Many gravitated to jobs as teachers.

Villegas grew up to become the first non-credentialed teacher in the Capistrano Unified School District, where she taught for 23 years. Her brother, Harley (Wick) Lobo, is a teacher at Laguna Beach High School.

One of Villegas’ sons, Joseph Michael Villegas, who is blind, graduated from UC Riverside.

“I love the determination in Joseph,” she said. “I learned not to push my children. It must come from within.”

It was through her teaching that she learned to speak in public and stand up for what she believes, Villegas said.

“I am not afraid to talk,” she said. “When you speak the truth, why should you be afraid?”

Times staff writer Davan Maharaj contributed to this story.