The following story is one in a series from the ongoing People of Chelsea project, which photographs and interviews our fellow citizens. These stories celebrate where we are now as a community as we enter the 400th year of the history of our city’s founding. The entire project will be archived digitally at the Chelsea Public Library, and has initially been made possible by a grant from the Chelsea Cultural Grant. The People of Chelsea project looks forward to celebrating the 400th with all of you.
Michelle Mirthes, 2024
I want my granddaughter to know just how strong this community is, and the passion that both of her grandmothers have to lift everybody up in all different ways. I think the connection between me and her other grandmother, Gladys Vega, is significant: my roots of having my family be here for more than 100 years, and Gladys’s strong connection to the Latino community. My granddaughter, and the great-grandchildren, and great-great-grandchildren to come are going to have an amazing platform to stand on, coming from such strong people. There are more women in power now, leading in the way I believe we were born to lead. Women tend to discriminate less. When we look at anything, any challenge, we look at it through a lens of love and how to lift somebody up, how to see past any differences.