Born on December 25, 1934, McNary, Texas, Ismael Valenzuela is one of 22 children of Angel Valenzuela and Mari de Jesus (Rios) Valenzuela, both natives of Mexico. Mr. Valenzuela Senior moved the family back to Mexico when his son was a baby, and Ismael went to school there up to the second grade. When he was eight years old, he worked on his father’s cotton and hay farm, and when he was ten, he herded sheep and cattle. He came to El Paso, Texas in 1947, exercising horses, cleaning stalls and polishing equipment for $40 a month, attending Ascarate School Near El Paso at the same time. He sent most of his money to help his family on the farm in the Mexican town of Porvenir below the Rio Grande where he had been raised.