Information from an obituary

The obituary was of a 90-year-old woman I never met, but I once worked in the town where she lived her last years. Combined with her Hispanic name, her age was unusual for a town of 1,400 in that part of Northeast Texas.

She was born in Corral Viejo. Search shows the location 99 miles southwest of Mexico City. The location is 1,500 meters (4,921 feet) above sea level, or 360 feet lower than Denver, Colo. The population of Corral Viejo is 29 – 11 minors and 18 adults. Seven are older than 60. Corral Viejo has eight households. Three do not have a floor. Four have sanitary installations. There is no public water supply. Seven of the eight have access to electricity. Two have at least one television. None has a washing machine; none has a computer. Twelve of the adults did not finish school. Through “the whole population … the medium time school is visited is 3 years.”

The woman was buried in St. Joseph Cemetery in the town where she died – 1,027 miles and more than a century from Corral Viejo.

(Statistics on Corral Viejo from www.en.nuestro.mexico.com)