Wilma Velasco Recognized for a Lifetime of Outstanding Service to the American and Bolivian Community

By C. Gallardo

Wilma Velasco with CDA John S. Creamer (State Department)

Wilma Velasco Wallin is most certainly the American citizen who has lived the longest in Bolivia.  She arrived in La Paz with her parents, Victor and Wilhelmina Wallin, in 1926 and married Jorge Velasco in 1938. As she approaches her 100^th year on December 24, 2011 her many services to the Bolivian and American community merit special recognition.

She was the founding member of the Centro Boliviano Americano, and in 1946 became a member of the first board.  For more than 50 years she was a pillar of the La Paz Book Club that her mother founded.  She was the founding member of the American Women’s Club, currently known as the American British International Association (ABIA). This Association serves as a venue for English speaking people to gather and as a place where charitable activities can be channeled.  From the 1950’s to the 1980’s she became involved in volunteer work in support of the American Clinic, which later became the Methodist Hospital.  In support of the hospital and the Women’s Auxiliary, she edited four of the six editions of the Epicuro Andino, the well-known bilingual, high altitude cook book.  She was a firm supporter of the La Paz Community Church, founded by her parents and some Baptist Missionaries.  Thanks to her tireless efforts as a board member and as a founder of the Women’s’ Society for Christian Service (WSCS), the church grounds were purchased and the church built. These church grounds at Calle 10 Calacoto currently serve as an important reference point for the American Community.