Caring, Dedication and Teamwork Radiate From ‘Family of the Year’
No matter which of the four Disner children is participating in soccer, baseball, scouting or piano lessons, parents Evy and Renan try to turn the activity into a family affair.
“It just means that we care for everybody,” said Renan, 33. “It’s teamwork as a family. We think it’s important we show unity and our encouragement to the kids.”
Nine-year-old Michael says he looks forward to Monday nights, when he and sisters Evy, 10, Annie, 6, and Marisa, 4, and their parents take time out for “family home evenings,” a combination of worship, games and song.
A teacher of English as a second language at Santiago Elementary School in Santa Ana, Evy Disner conducts parenting classes in Spanish, advising parents on helping their children with their homework. Renan serves as president of the Spanish-speaking stake for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Orange County, training leaders to teach the importance of family to Latino church members.
“The most important thing to us is the family, so nourishing family relationships, teaching children how to live a clean life honestly, and using as our example Jesus Christ and his teachings to guide us gives us a purpose to do well,” said Evy, 36.
The Disners’ commitment to their own and other families received recognition when they were chosen in June from among eight finalists as the California Hispanic-American Family of the Year for 1992.
Along with $2,000 in scholarships, the honor includes a reception at the White House on Sept. 16 with five winning families from other states and First Lady Barbara Bush. The Disners will give one of their $1,000 awards to a neighbor, Guadalupe Barragan, who moved to Santa Ana from Guadalajara as a toddler and recently graduated from Saddleback High School with a perfect 4.0 grade-point average.
Renan, who is from the southeastern Mexican state of Chiapas, and Evy met in 1978 while serving as missionaries for the Mormon Church in Torreon, Mexico. Evy, majoring in Spanish and the teaching of English as a second language major at Brigham Young University in Utah, said she was always drawn to Latin America, living in Mexico and Guatemala as part of her education and church service. After three dates, dozens of letters and phone calls and a yearlong courtship, Renan and Evy married in 1980.
They did not plan to leave Mexico, but Renan wanted to get a business degree and they felt their growing family could get a better education in the United States. In 1984, the Disners moved to Santa Ana. Evy took a job teaching English as a second language in the Santa Ana Unified School District, and Renan worked as a custodian for the district while attending Cal State Fullerton and learning English.
Renan, who now works as a life insurance agent, served as bishop of the denomination’s Santa Ana 10th Ward from 1988 until 1991, conducting services in Spanish and working with other Mormon Church leaders to create a Spanish-speaking stake in Orange County. The stake has grown to nine wards and 3,500 members countywide.
The couple’s struggles and their dedication to bilingual education and strengthening the family attracted the notice of the board of directors of the Hispanic-American Family of the Year Foundation. The group selected the Disners from among 125 entries statewide, said Bernie Kemp Araujo, who founded the nonprofit organization eight years ago in the San Fernando Valley.
With the award, the Disners hope they will serve as role models to young Latinos, fostering the kind of pride for the culture that Evy cherishes as her own--even though she has Scandinavian and Welsh roots.
“I like helping children feel good about themselves, good about where they come from, good about their first language, while they learn English and the culture here, so they can be bilingual and bicultural,” she said. “That gives them a real advantage.”
