KANSAS CITY, Mo. — On Tuesday, students at Primitivo Garcia Elementary School honored a Kansas City hero with songs and dance.
They’ve never met their hero, his face decorated on the hallways, but know of him well.
His name is Primitivo Garcia, the namesake of the school. He was the 23-year-old Mexican immigrant who saved his teacher’s life in 1967.
“I’ve been thinking about this for 50 years,” Margaret Kelso said.
Kelso, then Kindermann, is that teacher. She came back to Kansas City to reunite with the Garcia family, and to remember that night.
50 years ago, Margaret Kelso was attacked by a group of teenage boys and was rescued by Primitivo and Alfredo Garcia.
“I did see the shot. I heard the pop, and I saw the shot,” Kelso remembers.
Margaret was teaching night classes at Westport High School. Garcia, known as Tivo to family, and his brother, Alfredo, were learning English to become citizens.
As class let out, a gang of teenage boys attacked Kelso, one taking her purse.
“[They] knocked me down and called me names and piled on top of me, and I was very, very afraid,” Kelso said. “I was hollering, ‘Help me! Help me!’ and the people who were coming out of the class kind of ignored.”
But not Tivo and Alfredo.
The brothers rushed over, pushing the assailants off Kelso so that she could get away.
Tivo was shot. Kelso remembers him clutching his side.
Kelso also remembers Alfredo taking charge.
“I was surprised when he said in perfect English, ‘You call the ambulance, I’ll stay here with Tivo,’” Kelso said.
After two weeks of constant vigil, Tivo died at the hospital.
Kelso says she didn’t see the Garcias until the funeral.
“There was something about seeing his dead body there, and his mother sitting beside it, that I just broke down and cried. And she put her hand on my shoulder, and we didn’t need any language, because we both knew,” Kelso said, her voice breaking.
Tivo not only gave his life for his teacher.
“I was pregnant at the time,” Kelso said.
Now Kelso’s daughter has a son. His name is Tivo.
Alfredo couldn't make it to the school assembly on Tuesday, but Kelso remembers him well.
“Both of them are heroes. They both came to my rescue,” Kelso said.
At the time, then Missouri Gov. Warren Hearnes made Tivo an honorary citizen.
The Carnegie Hero Fund Commission awarded Tivo with a medal, and the Missouri House of Representatives granted him posthumous American citizenship.
His selflessness is engrained in each child who walks the school halls.
“I’m very proud right now,” said P. Roberto Garcia, Tivo’s nephew.
More than a dozen family members were there.
Roberto is now a professor, and he likes to think it’s an extension of his uncle Tivo's dedication to learning and hard work.
“On behalf of the family, it was great to have this event at a school with children, with so much diversity. The teachers, our old neighborhood. And to see a very positive side of diversity and the immigrant story,” Roberto said.
Kelso says she still feels connected to Tivo and Alfredo after 50 years.
“This school really promotes the kind of leadership that Primitivo had,” Kelso said. “So I’m hoping another generation will come through and value those qualities.”
An even bigger celebration will be held at Primitivo Garcia Elementary on Saturday, November 25, at 11 a.m.
