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Grace
Laporte Elizalde
1894 -1974
Restauranteur and Benefactor of the Basque Community
 Grace
Laporte Elizalde was born in Anhaux, France on September II,
1894. At the age of 20, she emigrated to the United States
under the sponsorship of Jacques Iriart. For four years she
worked as a maid for Jack and Grace Iriart at their hotel
in Tehachapi. It was in the kitchen of their hotel that she
learned the art of great cooking.
At the age of 24, Grace married John Elizalde, a sheep man.
They lived in the sheep camp where their two daughters, Jennie
(Mendiburu), Mary (Ansolabehere) and a son, Albert were born.
In 1927 after disastrous years in the sheep business, John
and Grace decided to open a hotel in East Bakersfield. This
was the Commercial Hotel, located on Sumner Street, right
across from the Southern Pacific Depot. Their youngest son,
Louis was born in 1928. In 1932, they had the opportunity
to lease the Noriega Hotel. They helped many Basques arrivals
by employing them in their business. Unfortunately, John died
in 1933 leaving Grace to raise her four children alone.
Grace was deeply concerned with the plight of Basque immigrants.
She was a second mother to many of the young Basques that
came to Bakersfield to herd sheep. She took care of them when
they were ill. She helped them get employment, passports,
pay taxes, make funeral arrangements and even notified their
families back home of the death of a person. She knew of cases
where the families back home lost a loved one who had bee
left in an unmarked grave. She became the benefactor of the
destitute who died with no means for a burial ground. Consequently,
she bought ten plots at the Union Cemetery for the needy.
Every Memorial Day she would buy a bucket full of flowers
and put on most of the graves. Her son, Albert, kept up this
tradition after she died, as he always went with his mother
to the cemetery and knew where to put the flowers. There were
many instances when herders came in from the airport at 3
or 4 in the morning. She would fix them food as she knew they
were hungry and give up her bed if all the rooms were filled.
Grace was proud to be Basque and so proud to be a American
citizen that she voted in every election. She passed away
on Easter Sunday, April 14, 1974. The Basque community us
grateful to her for setting an example of giving and understanding
the needs of those who were separated from their families.
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2002,
Pierre Igoa