Our History

Angela Morales went from dirt poor to millionaire – but don’t call it luck

By: Debbie Housel of the Houston Post Staff
Published in Viva Magazine
A supplement to The Houston Post Published March 19, 1993

Don’t mention glass ceilings to Angela Morales. The 5-foot fireball would categorize complaints that women can’t get ahead as whining and hand you a sledgehammer. Being on the “outside” is something the 85-year-old petite woman vividly remembers.     Her late husband, Felix, attended a segregated school. She remembers restaurants that refused to serve Hispanics and a sign that read, “No dogs or Mexicans allowed in the park.” And the terrifying fear when the couple was threatened by four “rednecks” with hoods and shotguns. Instead of bursting into a chorus of “Poor, Poor, Pitiful Me,” the couple ushered in a new era and built a small empire. Born on May 5, 1907 – Cinco de Mayo – Morales has gone from dirt poor to a millionairess. Luck? Hardly. Felix and Angela Morales paved the way for other Hispanic businesses by making shrewd business decisions, having courage and tenacity.

• They opened the first Hispanic-owned funeral home in Houston.
• They were the first Hispanics to win a contract from the Harris County Commissioners Court to bury indigents.
• They opened the area’s first Hispanic radio station, KLVL-AM.
• Felix Morales was the first Hispanic to be named to the Pasadena Hall of Fame.
• They created a Union Fraternal Society whereby Hispanics could pay $5.20 a year for funerals.
• They opened the first cemetery for Hispanics in Houston
• Angela Morales was one of the first Hispanic women in the county to receive a funeral director and embalming license, The license she received in 1942 has the word "His" carefully blacked out and above, Morales wrote "her". 

Totally restored in 1992, the Felix H. Morales Funeral Home at 2901 Canal Street is breathtaking with is vaulted ceilings, chandeliers and antique furniture. Morales stares at a picture of her husband as she thoughtfully twists the simple wedding band he placed on her finger on March 12, 1928. She has never taken it off. Her arthritically swollen fingers tell the story of hard work, sacrifice, love and today, wealth beyond her greatest expectations. Their story began in the barrios of San Antonio. In 1927, Angela’s mother was dying of cancer. She asked her young daughter to marry so she could die in peace.         Later that day, Felix, her brother’s friend, came by and asked Angela what was wrong? “Momma wants me to get married so I’ve got to find a husband,” Morales recalled replying. “Who are you going to marry?” the young Felix asked. “I don’t know,” she said. “Why don’t you marry me?” he asked.  And that was that, Morales said laughing. Felix Morales was one of five brothers who were all morticians. In 1931, one brother had a funeral home in San Antonio and another in New Braunfels. Houston was open turf. The couple bought a used ambulance, hearse and family car from his brother in San Antonio and headed for “cow town,” Morales remembers. In Houston, all the funeral homes were owned by “Anglos” and Hispanic funerals were usually handled in garages, Morales explained. “It was during the depression and times were hard,” she said. “People used to come in and pay us eggs, chickens, pork and maybe, ‘maybe,’ a couple dollars to bury their family members.” Then in 1935, the Harris County Commissioners Court held an open bid to re-bury a graveyard where paupers had been improperly buried.