Double Dash Between: Guadalupe and Pete Flores, parents of 13, mentors to many others

Pete and Guadalupe Flores, shown with three of their 42 great-grandchildren, had 13 children, and 36 grandkids.

Guadalupe Delgado left Lorain High School in 1947 to marry Pete Flores and raise a familly. They had 13 kids, two of whom died in infancy.

While their kids were growing up, the couple volunteered with PTAs, band boosters and Mexican cultural clubs to show their support of their youngsters' activities and to be an ever-present influence, steering their kids toward productive, responsible lives. Neighborhood children gravitated toward the pair and benefitted from their example and counsel.

When their youngest were old enough for school, Guadalupe went back to school, obtained her G.E.D. and began working as a teachers' aide with preschoolers in a Head Start program. She also enrolled at Lorain County Community College, became a Head Start teacher and at one time visited migrant worker camps to persuade them to send their young kids to a day care center in western Ohio.

After graduating with an associates diegree in early childhood education, she directed a preschool program in her own neighborhood.

Click here to read more about the The Dash Between Jan. 26, 1930, when Guadalupe Flores was born Guadalupe Delgado in Lorain, Ohio, and April 24, 2011, when the retired preschool director died at age 81; and The Dash Between Nov. 3, 1926, when Pete Flores was born Pedro Flores in Fort Worth, Texas, and Feb. 27, 2011, when the Lake Terminal Railroad retiree died at age 84.

A photo slideshow is accessible at the end of their Double Dash in the May 8, 2011, Mother's Day edition of the Elyria Chronicle-Telegram.

Here are the 11 children whom Guadalupe and Pete Flores raised. Two of their 13 children died in infancy.