
02/24/2022
We are so proud of our beautiful María Eva Itriago!!! Pangea is an amazing event and Panhandle Speech Therapy cannot wait to attend in support of Eva and our community.
SOUTH AMERICA, VENEZUELA
The family of Maria Eva Itriago Rivera
Maria Eva Itriago Rivera loved the idea of Pangaea and how the event is meant to build understanding between people in the community. Her story begins when she was born and raised in Maracaibo, Venezuela. She married a hometown boy, Rey Gonzalez, who is an industrial engineer. Rey received his bachelor’s degree before he was 20 years old. Eva’s education was as a CAN (certified nurses assistant) and in CPR.
After they were married, it became obvious the young couple would need to leave their homeland.
“We were forced to leave our beloved country against our wishes,” says the soft-spoken Eva. “Politics can harm people. The Venezuelan government has become totally corrupt against its people.”
Seaboard Foods recruited Rey and they made the choice to give Guymon, Oklahoma a chance. Rey took the job in 2017 and they made their home in Liberal from 2017-2021.
Their first child, a daughter, was born in Liberal. The doctors broke the news to the new parents that their daughter was born with DiGeorge Syndrome and congenital heart disease. The baby was taken to Children’s Hospital of Colorado in Aurora. They named their daughter Camila. She was there five months with Eva staying and Rey going back and forth from work to visit when he could.
“Seaboard administration was extremely supportive of our family during this difficult time,” tells Eva. Eva’s mother came for a visit but had returned home when Camila died. This was in 2019 while they were at the hospital in Aurora. It is because of Camila that Eva knew she wanted to be a part of Pangaea when she learned a special needs family was included in the evening.
The couple learned during the pandemic that Eva was pregnant again. When Eva went in the hospital for a scheduled c-section, she was extremely nervous.
“I prayed in silence to my daughter Camila to help us deliver a healthy baby. About two seconds after my prayer, the nurse in the room introduced me to the OR nurse. Her name was Camila Gonzalez. I had an encounter with heaven, I feel. It was incredible. The way God works is something we cannot understand.”
They welcomed a second daughter in 2020 during Thanksgiving week. They named her Aurora, which means dawn in Spanish.
“It is a new day,” says Eva. Aurora today is one year old.
The Gonzalez family moved to Guymon in 2021. This beautiful wife and mother says she and her husband are thankful for the resources Seaboard offers to them, and others, as immigrants.
“I wish more people understood that it is not easy to leave your country, your comfort zone, your loved ones. I wish I could be near my family. Politics is a very heavy reason to leave your home.
“This doesn’t mean I don’t love Guymon. We have become a part of the community here and we help those around where we live. We support our new home.
“I love the peace in Guymon. You learn to appreciate the little things in Guymon. You do not get lost in the noise of the world. There is not as much distraction. It is a place where you can grow.
“Everyone wishes to thrive and grow. Seaboard gives us that opportunity.”
Sponsor for South America the evening of Pangaea is Golden Mesa Casino.