The property was acquired from the family of Dr. Hector Gonzalez Guevara M.D. The property was owned by Dr. Hector Gonzalez Guevara for many years and is located in the Historic District of Mazatlán. At the home and around the city of Mazatlán, you will find photographs, diplomas, plaques, and statues bearing the name of Dr. Hector Gonzalez Guevara. Dr. Hector Gonzalez Guevara was one of Mazatlán’s devoted medical doctors and politicians. He held many public offices including a member of the House of Representatives and at one time was the Mayor of Mazatlán. Dr. Hector Gonzalez Guevara was also outstanding in his medical career. The local Institute of Social Health and Security was named after him, and it is the largest hospital in the region to this day. Dr. Hector Gonzalez Guevara is a truly a Legend whose memory will be kept alive in this Bed & Breakfast.

Prior to its use as a grand Mexican residence, the property was a storage place for gold bullion back in the 1800's. Legend has it that some of the gold remains buried within the courtyard that all our visitors will be welcome to sit and enjoy.

These two Legends live on . . . . hence the name Casa de Leyendas!

GENTE NOROESTE

“To live a long life is not good enough; to live a good life is long enough”

Calm and smiling, the doctor, from whose mind surface hundreds of memories, agrees to have a chat, not without first offering the hospitality of the comfortable anteroom of his medical office. The modest reception area creates an environment of trust and friendship amid books, antique furniture and filing cabinets with hundreds of photos of grand times past, of great and illustrious men, of his family and of himself in the flower of his youth.

The 70 year-old man, doctor, politician, ex-public servant and family man, was there, facing his interviewer, who listened to him with certain curiosity. A knowing man of great wisdom, learned and distinguished. Speaking of the various—and varied—stages of his career, Doctor Héctor González Guevara believes they are all linked by a single concept and says: “They all have the same basis—devotion to duty, discipline in study and total fulfillment of one’s responsibilities”.

He remembers his childhood. “Our poverty spurred my brothers and me to be studious and to do our best, always seeking to improve”. Coming from a family of professionals on the maternal side, the doctor says that it was impossible to neglect his studies, and quite the contrary, he always forged on. Despite having occupied various public offices, he never abandoned the medical profession. “I don’t think it has ever been my goal to be rich. The only thing I have is this old house, which I acquired so that I could leave something to my family. I managed to do it through my earnings as a physician”.

Substitute Mayor for the period of 51-53 behind Amado Guzmán, Mayor during 57-59, Senator in Reserve in 64-70 and Federal Representative during 79-82—Doctor González Guevara carried on his political career with no neglect for his career as physician. “When I was Mayor of Mazatlán, I got up at 5 in the morning for my daily inspection tour of the city and to check on the state of construction projects and public services. I held meetings straight through 5 in the afternoon and then left to take care of my surgical practice”.

WHILE A REPRESENTATIVE, I USED TO OPERATE AT DAYBREAK. He also recalls his time as a state representative for a district in Mazatlán. He had to get up very early to perform scheduled surgeries “and before daybreak we would be on our way to the state capital. My driver and I would go in the station wagon. I would doze a little on the way and we took some food which we enjoyed when we reached Culiacán. There were times when we arrived at the Congress earlier than the representatives who lived in the capital”. “It’s odd”, he adds, “that I began to move away from surgery when I joined the IMSS [the national health service]”.

HIS NAME IS IN THE FOUNDATIONS OF THE IMSS HOSPITALS
Upon the local advent of this important public service for the health of the Mexican people, Dr. González Guevara was called in to change the way health services were dispensed. Instead of being subcontracted to outside medical groups, they became direct services carried out by the National Institute itself. It was with the IMSS that the doctor reached the apex of his career, as he recounts: “ours was a learning experience in the area of integral medicine that is almost impossible to describe. To observe and participate in the birth of a hospital from its very foundations, day to day, until it was finished has been one of the most interesting lessons of my professional life because of the justice it brought for the citizenry. I was fortunate to see this work a second time during the construction of another IMSS hospital”. “In both cases”, he adds, “a group of construction workers and I each wrote our names on a piece of paper and put it in bottles which we put in the cement used for the foundations”. On January 1, 1978, Dr. González Guevara retired and left the directorship of the IMSS to fulfill another duty. The duty to serve as a Federal Representative called and as a good citizen he answered.

I ALWAYS WANTED TO BE A DEDICATED PHYSICIAN
“I always wanted to be a dedicated physician and I was one, despite the public positions I held.
“Curiously”, he remarks, “I made it a point to motivate my children to not be doctors. This is because in my opinion, a doctor who is not willing to give every ounce of effort and who does not involve himself in the pain and hurt of his patient and his family does not have a true vocation. I did not want to see my children suffer, and that is why I drew them away from the profession. So much so, that I asked a doctor friend to take one of my children to see the harshest surgeries so he would not choose that career”. These days, Dr. González Guevara leads a peaceful life. He is a member of the “Circle of Friends of Genaro Estrada” because it defines and shares the principles of the doctrine that bears his name: the free self-determination among the people of the world to reach peace, a yearning and desire that endures among men of good will. During his stint as Federal Representative, Dr. González Guevara proposed a bill that is still in force: that it be decreed that every year on September 27, the Estrada Doctrine be studied in all the schools in the country. “It is not meant to be one more day off, but a day in which, during normal work in all the schools in the country, this subject, dealing with Mexico and the illustrious man’s doctrine, is studied and taught”.

His big reward, the greatest reward from the different stages of his life, is friendship. This is what the doctor says—friendship, affection, respect which he has received from people, from the old railroad men with whom he shared a great part of his life and who now, when they see him, address him as “Héctor”.

Héctor González Guevara, born on August 27, 1917, comes back to life as he remembers his wife, the faithful companion who has stood by him through thick and thin and supported him in all the stages of his life and all the positions he has occupied as doctor, politician and public servant. His 7 children, all of them professionals, see their father with pride, a man who always held his name at the highest level with honesty, zeal to serve and full dedication to his profession—that of a physician. “To live a long life is not good enough; to live a good life is long enough” is a phrase that Doctor Héctor González Guevara is likely to remember today, Physician’s Day, and the rest of his life.

DR. HECTOR ENRIQUE GONZALEZ GUEVARA

PERSONAL INFORMATION

PLACE OF BIRTH: MAZATLAN, SINALOA

DATE OF BIRTH: AUGUST 27, 1917

DATE OF PASSING: APRIL 15, 2003

PARENTS: ANTONIO J. GONZALEZ LIE & LEONOR GUEVARA DE GONZALEZ

WIFE: MARIA DEL CARMEN GONZALEZ DE
GONZALEZ GUEVARA

CHILDREN: HECTOR BERNARDO - MARIA DEL CARMEN - JOSE ENRIQUE
LUIS ROGELIO - VICTOR ARMANDO - JAIME ANTONIO - IRMA GUADALUPE

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL: 1924-1928 PUBLIC SCHOOL #1 - GUADALAJARA, JALISCO

PREPARATORY SCHOOL: 1929-1934 PREPARATORY SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF GUADALAJARA

COLLEGE/MEDICAL SCHOOL: 1935-1940 UNIVERSITY OF GUADALAJARA MEDICAL SCHOOL.
1937-1942 INTERNSHIP AT THE FERROCARRIL DEL PACIFICO HOSPITAL IN GUADALAJARA.

DEGREE: DOCTOR OF MEDICINE – SURGEON AND OBSTETRICIAN - JANUARY 10, 1942

PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITY

* DIRECTOR OF THE FERROCARRIL DEL PACIFICO HOSPITAL IN MAZATLAN, SINALOA FROM 1945 TO 1960.

* DIRECTOR OF THE PUBLIC HOSPITAL IN MAZATLAN, SINALOA IN 1956.

* DIRECTOR OF THE I.M.S.S. (NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE) HOSPITAL FROM 1960 TO 1977.

* PRESIDENT OF THE MEDICAL ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHERN SINALOA FROM 1945 TO 1952.

* PRESIDENT AND FOUNDER OF THE MAZATLAN ASSOCIATION OF PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS IN 1954.

* PRESIDENT AND FOUNDING MEMBER OF THE MEDICAL SOCIETY OF THE UNITED STATES AND MEXICO IN 1957.

* MEMBER OF THE AMERICAN COLLEGE OF SURGEONS IN THE UNITED STATES.

* MEMBER OF THE MEXICAN COUNCIL OF GENERAL SURGERY, A SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY.
BEGINNING IN AUGUST 1970, MEMBER OF THE GYNECOLOGY AND OBSTETRICS ASSOCIATION OF THE STATE OF SINALOA.

CULTURAL ACTIVITY

* PRESIDENT AND FOUNDER OF THE MAZATLAN OFFICE OF THE MEXICAN CULTURE SEMINARY FROM 1960 TO 1965.

* PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE SOCIETY “AMIGOS DE GENARO ESTRADA, A.C.”

POLITICAL ACTIVITY

* FIRST REGENT OF THE MUNICIPALITY OF MAZATLAN, SINALOA, 1951-1953.

* LOCAL REPRESENTATIVE TO THE 61ST LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF SINALOA IN 1954-1956. PROPOSED A BILL TO THE CONGRESS FOR THE FORMATION OF PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS. THE PROPOSED BILL WAS APPROVED AND BECAME A LAW.

* MAYOR OF MAZATLAN DURING 1957-1959.

* SENATOR IN RESERVE DURING 1964-1970.

* IN 1963, COORDINATOR FOR SOUTHERN SINALOA OF THE P.R.I.’S NATIONAL EXECUTIVE COUNCIL DURING THE PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN OF GUSTAVO DIAZ ORDAZ.

* IN 1969, COORDINATOR FOR SOUTHERN SINALOA OF THE PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN OF LUIS ECHEVERRIA ALVAREZ.

* FEDERAL REPRESENTATIVE FOR THE 4TH DISTRICT OF THE STATE OF SINALOA TO THE 51ST NATIONAL LEGISLATURE DURING THE PERIOD OF 1979 TO 1982.

* SERVED AS PRESIDENT OF THE NATIONAL COMMISSION ON TOURISM AT THE SAME LEGISLATURE.

* BEGINNING IN 1987, COORDINATOR OF THE ADVISORY COUNCIL OF THE P.R..I.

HONORS AND DISTINCTIONS

* SEPTEMBER, 1987. WAS PRESENTED WITH THE “PLUTARCO ELIAS CALLES” HONOR BY THE NATIONAL EXECUTIVE COUNCIL OF THE P.R.I. FOR HIS DEDICATION IN CARRYING OUT HIS DUTIES WITH LOYALTY AND CONVICTION AS A PROPONENT AND EXECUTOR OF LAWS AND AS A PUBLIC SERVANT WHO IMBUED HIS WORK WITH THE HUMANITARIAN QUALITIES OF HIS CHOSEN PROFESSION.

* OCTOBER, 1987. TRIBUTE IN THE NEWSPAPER NOROESTE.
MARCH 1991. THE I.M.S.S. NAMES ITS NUMBER 3 ZONE HOSPITAL “THE DR. HECTOR GONZALEZ GUEVARA HOSPITAL”.

* OCTOBER 1993. AT THE REQUEST OF THE MEDICAL COMMUNITY AND AS HOMAGE TO THE PHYSICIANS OF MAZATLAN, A STREET IN THE HISTORICAL CENTER OF MAZATLAN IS NAMED “DR. HECTOR GONZALEZ GUEVARA”.

* OCTOBER 1997. A STREET IN THE DR. JESUS KUMATE DISTRICT IS NAMED “DR. HECTOR GONZALEZ GUEVARA”.