Plumbing 
Veronica
Martinez
Educator Veronica Martinez announced earlier this month she is a candidate for Uvalde mayor in the Nov. 7 special election.
She said, if elected, she would like to see more unity in the community and foster better communication from citizens to local leaders, particularly when expressing their needs.
This is not the Dalton Elementary School art teacher’s first run for mayor, as she previously served for one year as a village mayor on a military base in Colorado.
Growing up in Uvalde, she graduated from Uvalde High School, then obtained an Associate of Arts degree from Southwest Texas Junior College. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Sul Ross State University in 2017.
She said she considered running for mayor years ago when, after moving back to Uvalde after a seven-year absence, she felt the town had changed.
Her determination solidified after working with the Uvalde Love Project mosaic mural, recently installed at Jardín de los Héroes Park after numerous community painting events, many held at Saint Henry De Osso Family Project.
“I said, ‘Mom, do you see the joy and the love and these kids hearts?’” Martinez said. “We need to come together as one again.”
If elected, she said, she would first need to learn her role as mayor, and she would work to bring people in to voice their concerns to city government with the assurance it will not fall on deaf ears.
She also works at Five Points Market on Garner Field Road, where she said she enjoys conversing with college students and listening to their concerns.
Martinez urges people to get out and vote to help foster change for the better.
“You know, like the old saying says, break the silence, your vote is your voice. They don’t have to vote for me, that I just want them to go and vote so that they have the right to know that they can go and speak up,” she said.
Education, history
She moved away from Uvalde in 2007, working until about 2014 for the U.S. Department of Defense Education Activity, which oversees about 160 accredited schools. She worked with teachers on military posts to try different academic software to determine which would be used.
When working for the DOD at Fort Carson in Colorado, Springs, Colorado, a base comprised of village neighborhoods, she was elected and served for a year as mayor of Choctaw Village.
She served as scout leader for Girl Scouts of America and for her son’s Cub Scout group, and was recognized in the community, including receiving an award from Tennessee Senator Marsha Blackburn in 2012.
In 2014 she moved back to Uvalde and began working on her degree at SRSU. She began teaching art at Dalton in 2018.
“I love introducing art to the students, “ Martinez said. “Their little world is just full of color and light, and I want them to see the beauty of nature. I want them to see the beauty of the community and the world around them. I want them to understand that what’s beautiful to them might not be beautiful to others, and it’s okay for them to have their own opinion.”
She worked for Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District as a teachers assistant for the special education department for over two years, starting in 2015. She previously worked at Sacred Heart Catholic School as a teacher assistant for several years.
Family
Martinez is the daughter of Maria Guadalupe Enriquez Silva and Raymond Martinez. Her mother moved to Uvalde decades ago from Hereford when she married her father, a Uvalde native.
Her daughter,
Synnora Jeann Santillana, 21, is married to Jesus Santillana, and they live in Seguin with their two sons, Emmanuel and Hidan Santillana.
Her son, Slaytonn Reyes, 18, is a second-year student working towards his HVAC certification at SWTJC.
A parishioner at Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Martinez said she is volunteering and helping raise money for La Capilla Milagrosa/The Miraculous Chapel of San Jose located in Hereford. The non-profit chapel is home to a water-etched cement block that reportedly depicts the Virgin Mary.
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