Catalina Rosales Alvarado de Castilleja, 104, of Chicago, who was the teenage bride of a general fighting in the Mexican revolution and later moved to rural Illinois, died of pneumonia Saturday, July 6, in St. Joseph Hospital, Chicago. Mrs. Alvarado was 16 when her first marriage, to a pro-government general, was arranged, said her daughter Rita De La Pena. Her husband was killed shortly after and Mrs. Alvarado returned to live with her family. The revolution upset a comfortable life in Mexico, and she and her parents traveled by horse and buggy to the U.S. In Texas, she married two more times, and she spent time teaching Mexican laborers how to read and write in Spanish. In Ottawa, Ill., she married again, her daughter said. In her final years, Mrs. Alvarado lived on Chicago’s Gold Coast, her daughter said. Besides her daughter, survivors include five other daughters, Felicitas Vargas, Paula Rodriguez, Tillie Ryan, Connie Sullivan and Beatrice McGovern; 27 grandchildren; 37 great-grandchildren; and 22 great-great-grandchildren. Services have been held.
![An extra-alarm fire destroyed a home and damaged two others on the near West side Wednesday night, though fire officials said no one was injured in the blaze. The fire broke out around 8:30 p.m. on the 1300 block of West 16th Street in the Pilsen neighborhood, according to a social media update from the Chicago Fire Department. Officials quickly upgraded the blaze to a 2-11 fire. Neighbors who clustered around the scene Wednesday night said the home had been under construction and appeared to be vacant. Although the fire was declared struck out at 9:30 p.m. in a social […]](https://www.chicagotribune.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/ctc-l-structure-fire-041724-06.jpg?w=525 "An extra-alarm fire destroyed a home and damaged two others on the near West side Wednesday night, though fire officials said no one was injured in the blaze. The fire broke out around 8:30 p.m. on the 1300 block of West 16th Street in the Pilsen neighborhood, according to a social media update from the Chicago Fire Department. Officials quickly upgraded the blaze to a 2-11 fire. Neighbors who clustered around the scene Wednesday night said the home had been under construction and appeared to be vacant. Although the fire was declared struck out at 9:30 p.m. in a social […]")
