Petra Maria Ruiz Guillen was born on October 19, 1919, in Matehuala, San Luis Potosi, Mexico. In 1920 when Petra was about 10 months old, her grandmother Serveriana, mother Lucia, and sister, also named Petra, fled civil war in Mexico and arrived in Texas.

Petra and her family made their way through Donna, Texas before settling in Baytown, Texas to live with her Uncle Amado Ruiz. Since there were no churches to attend in Baytown, Petra and her family traveled to Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church in Houston. Every Sunday they would travel by way of ferry to Second Ward to attend mass. Finally, Petra’s grandmother, Serveriana, became tired of the constant traveling and told the family she wanted to move to Houston to be within walking distance of the church.

In 1921, just before Petra’s second birthday, the family relocated. Petra and her family first lived in a house on Garrow Street, then on McAlpine Street, and finally settled on Buffalo Street, which was renamed N. St. Charles years later. Her home on N. St. Charles Street was one block from Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church. Since 1921, Petra Maria Ruiz Guillen was a permanent resident in the Second Ward community and a lifelong parishioner of the church for almost 94 years.