Aidalina Campillo-Hochhauser Papers

Aidalina Campillo Hochhauser was born in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, in 1918 and died in Paramus, New Jersey in 2010. In those 92 years, independent minded and adventurous Aidalina, traveled from Puerto Rico to the United States, went to Europe during World War II, came back to reside in the United States, and then visited many countries around the globe. Aidalina was among over 350,000 women that enrolled/joined the American military forces during World War II in different capacities. She was Lieutenant in the U.S. Navy (WAVES), where she served as a Censor in California, and in the Red Cross post-war where she served as Recreational Leader in Germany. Upon her return from duty, she received her Master’s degree from the Columbia School of Social Work, attending on the G.I. Bill. Starting in 1955 and for many years thereafter she worked as a New York City Board of Education social worker. In all of these settings she was often the only, if not the first, Puerto Rican woman in that role. In 1953 she, a Puerto Rican Catholic, married a fellow social worker, Herbert Hochhauser, a Jewish man of Polish ancestry, and together they raised two children and became grandparents to nine, teaching all to reject the often-expressed sentiment that Catholics and Jews, Puerto Ricans and Poles, shouldn’t fall in love. They challenged this idea and succeeded in raising one family across different religious beliefs and ethnic diversity. Above all, she was especially proud that her children achieved numerous educational milestones. Acting on her constant refrain that “education cannot be taken from you,” her son became an emergency room physician, and her daughter, a lawyer-mediator. She was prouder still of her treasured grandchildren and their many achievements.

Through all of life’s travails she remained steadfastly devoted to Puerto Rico, its literary, artistic, and dramatic culture, the humor and vivacity of its people, and to her work as a social worker in minority communities. Of important note are the lifelong cherished, and mutually supportive, friendships she maintained with significant contributors in these fields such as Enrique Laguerre, Madeline Williamsen, Geigel Polanco, Lucy Boscana, Ruben Moreira and Iris Garty. She was honored to be part of this distinguished group of Puerto Rican cultural, social and educational advocates.

Aidalina Campillo Hochhauser was always quick to engage with people, and to challenge any stereotypical comments about her “small” stature, “cute” accent, and other attempts at diminution. Always done with humor and even compassion for those parroting dominant culture platitudes, she was a walking ‘teachable moment’, frequently giving impromptu lessons about Puerto Rico and its history. She sought to preserve her own lessons as a Puerto Rican woman living in the 20th century U.S., through her academic work, memoirs, and poems, writing that her story is “not the story of an unusual person” and insightfully observing that all the books about “unusual people [just] make other people feel more usual.” She would be delighted to know that her papers are archived at El Centro, where in 1973 her daughter, Michele Bertran, served on its founding committee and as one of its first interns, and that future Puerto Rican scholars will be able to use her legacy in their work.