H. Tomàs Padilla

Hector Tomàs Padilla served as the first Latino city commissioner of Pontiac, Michigan. During his tenure from 1975 to 1983, he was the only Latino commissioner of the citycite news
last =
first =
coauthors =
title = Padilla Recovering
work =
pages = 1
publisher = Pontiac Waterford Times
date = 25-05-1978
url =
accessdate = ] . He risked his life during the school bus bombings on 31 August 1971cite news
last =
first =
coauthors =
title = Giving Credit Where It's Due
work =
pages = 1
publisher = Pontiac Press
date = 15-09-1971
url =
accessdate = ] . He suffered a heart attack at age 48. His legacy was the impetus behind the formation of the Pontiac Hispanic History Preservation Projectcite news
last = Beven
first = Anthony
coauthors =
title = Unlocking Pontiac's Hispanic history
work =
pages = 1
publisher = The Oakland Press
date = 2008-05-27
url = http://theoaklandpress.com/stories/052708/loc_20080527251.shtml
accessdate = 2008-05-28 ] .

Early life

Padilla was born in Puerto Rico and moved to Pontiac in 1953 [cite news
last =
first =
coauthors =
title = H. Tom Padilla hospitalized
work =
pages = 1
publisher = Pontiac Waterford Times
date = 25-05-1978
url =
accessdate = ] . He secured a job delivering mail for the school district of the city of Pontiac. During this time there was a bombing of the school buses and he and seven others (Loren Spangler, Mordica J. Barefoot, W. K. Skelton, Wilbur Johnson, George Jones, Charles Spain, and Norman Brower) entered buses of their own volition to move them away from the resulting fire.

Legacy

Padilla's wife, Martha, says she was trying to organize her husband’s old papers. Padilla had passed on and she felt that the history contained in papers from his tenure as the first Latino city commissioner, as well as lobbying for migrant worker conditions and his efforts in forming the Hispanic Congressional Caucus, were important to the community and needed to be put somewhere. This led to the formation of the Pontiac Hispanic History Preservation Project.

References