_{Photo: Maura Lopez}

by Jill Cotter

PUNTA GORDA TOWN, Toledo District, Wed. Oct. 9, 2024

Have you ever wondered who was Maura Lopez?

A big concrete sign at the PG town market bears the name, “Maura Lopez Market”. But few people know much about Maura Lopez and why the market was named after this remarkable Garifuna woman.

Maura Lopez, born August 23, 1948, was the daughter of Patricio Cayetano and Pearl Castillo. She had 10 children in her short 50 years. Her house was the beacon for all the children in the neighborhood. Darnelle Sterling was one of those children. “I learned to do housework, make tortillas, help with laundry. One day she took down the wet clothes that I had hung incorrectly. When I started to leave, she said, ‘If you leave, don’t come back.’” As a child who spent so much of her time at Maura Lopez’ home, she did not leave. Ms. Sterling recalls that Maura made her the woman that she is today. “She insisted that women needed to be able to stand on their own feet,” she said.

“My mother was a Garifuna advocate,” explained Carmen Jane Lopez Avila, 5th child of 10 and former director of the PG Ministry of Education. “She knew all the rituals. She taught the children in the neighborhood how to make the food and started the first Garifuna dance group, Yaguei, otherwise known as Yellow Tail, a bird that is found in Belize whose nest hangs from the tree and has yellow and white feathers.” In her younger years, she had won a scholarship to study dance in Jamaica.

Ms. Maura walked around town, selling fruit from Barranco, homemade conch fritters, soursop juice and baby girls’ clothes that were hand-sewn. Among her other accomplishments, she studied in Belize City to be a practical nurse, worked as a practical nurse at the PG Hospital, and worked briefly buying and selling fish from the Fishing Cooperative. In 1989, wearing a gown of her own creation, she was crowned Miss Elegant Belize and won a free trip to L.A. which she took with her husband, Winston Joseph Lopez.

“My mother was a no-nonsense person, a real go-getter,” her 7th child, Winston Gregory Lopez, recalls. “She was naturally talented and inspired others with the motto ‘Don’t give up.’ She wanted all of her children to have an education and asked us ‘What do you want to do?’ She insisted that no one could live in the house without getting a job or going to school.” Winston went on to be a math and science teacher for many years and principal of Julian Cho High School.

“I want to emphasize a little known side of Maura Lopez,” explained Darnelle Sterling. “She was a healer. During my unexpected last pregnancy, Maura said ‘This happened. Accept it. Count it as a blessing.’ She gave me massages and mixtures for the pain. She took care of me.”

So why was the Punta Gorda market named after this force of nature? Because, as the Mayor at the time, Fern Gutierrez, put it, Maura Lopez was the first entrepreneur of PG!