Thelma Ortiz De Montellano

Background

Thelma Ortiz De Montellano was born on July 16, 1906, in Taneyville, Missouri, United States. She was a daughter of John A. Lamb and Violet (Kilby) Lamb. Her father worked as a teacher and railroad foreman.

Education

Montellano graduated from the Southwestern College in Winfield, Kansas, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1929. Twenty years later she earned her master's degree from the University of Mexico City.

Career

Ortiz De Montellano began her career as a teacher of English language and English and American literature at an American school in Mexico City, working there for 4 years from 1946. In 1953 she became a high school teacher of Spanish language and Mexican and Spanish literature in San Antonio, Texas, staying there till 1970. Simultaneously, Ortiz De Montellano was a teacher of Spanish at the San Antonio College from 1955 to 1970. Next year Ortiz De Montellano moved to the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, where she was appointed as a teacher of Mexican literature and culture. From 1973 to 1989, she worked at the San Francisco Community College, holding a position of a teacher of English as a second language. In addition, she was a member of the board of directors of the Mexican Museum in San Francisco.

Ortiz De Montellano translated books of such authors as Alfredo Lopez Austin, Angela Maria Garabay and Eduardo Matos Moctezuma. She was also the translator of a book Utopia and History in Mexico: The First Chroniclers of Mexican Civilization, 1520-1569, written by her husband Bernard R. Ortiz de Montellano.

Achievements

• Ortiz De Montellano was best known for her translation of the book Utopia and History in Mexico: The First Chroniclers of Mexican Civilization, 1520-1569.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Utopia and History in Mexico 1995

Connections

Thelma married Bernardo Ortiz de Montellano in 1939. That marriage produced 3 children - Bernard, Paul and Ana Ortiz de Montellano Taylor.

Father:

John A. Lamb

Mother:

Violet (Kilby) Lamb

child:

Bernard Ortiz de Montellano

child:

Paul Ortiz de Montellano

child:

Ana Ortiz de Montellano Taylor

husband:

Bernardo Ortiz de Montellano

He was a modern Mexican poet, literary critic, editor and teacher. He taught at the Escuela de Verano, a school of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, and worked as bookrevisor of the Secretaría de Educación Pública.