Gloria and Jose Fuentes were seventeen years old when they arrived to the United States in 1978. Like many other young Salvadorians, they were filled with hope – longing for a better life than what they were experiencing in a cruel and intense civil war, and civil chaos which lasted many years (decades) in El Salvador. Without knowing each other, Gloria and Jose settled in Houston, Texas and faced the precarious existence and survival difficulties of undocumented immigrants for some time.
Now we're cookin'
Fatefully, love created a miracle when they met and moved to Dallas to work with Gloria's sister at a Salvadorian restaurant, which her sister owned in Oak Cliff. A year later passed, and Gloria's sister gave up on the restaurant and Gloria and Jose chose to take over. Despite all the obstacles, and showing amazing resilience and a persistent work ethic, their life was beginning to change for the best. Playing an entrepreneurial role – with no previous knowledge – they registered the assumed Gloria's name before the Dallas County Clerk on April 15, 1986. A few months later they became legal U.S. residents under the amnesty provisions of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986.