Leonor Villegas de Magnón

The better part of Magnón's life was dedicated to the Mexican revolution; she even began her life as a refugee—her father, Joaquin Villegas, brought her family to the United States to escape the fighting in Mexico. By 1895, Magnón had received her bachelor's and teaching certificate at New York's Academy of Mount St. Ursula. She married Aldopho Magnón, an American Citizen in 1901. They settled in Mexico City to teach kindergarten out of their home.[1] The couple had three children. Magnón also began to write articles criticizing then Mexican dictator Porfirio Díaz in La Crónica, a Spanish-language newspaper founded by the Idar family (of Jovita Idar) that exposed injustices against the community.

Because of Magnón's political affiliation her father's businesses in Mexico began to be shut down, and Magnón fled to Laredo, Texas, while her husband stayed in Mexico.[2] There in Laredo she continued to teach kindergarten. When Nuevo Laredo was attacked in March 1913, Magnon, alongside other Laredo women marched across the Rio Grande to aid the wounded. To assure a more organized assistance, Leonor formed and financed La Cruz Blanca, The White Cross. When Nuevo Laredo was attacked again on January 1, 1914, Magnon eventually transformed her home, garage, and school into a makeshift hospital for her all-volunteer medical team, La Cruz Blanca. More than 100 of Venustiano Carranza soldiers were treated in her home that month. American army officials often tried to arrest the Mexican Soldier-patients, but Magnon refused to release them and organized an escape for most soldiers by having visitors bring them clean street clothes. When nearly forty men were detained at Fort McIntosh, Texas, Magnon hired an attorney to free the men. She was unsuccessful but eventually the Secretary of State would release the soldiers. After the war, the Mexican government awarded her with five different medals for her efforts in the Revolution.

Magnón detailed her experiences as a volunteer in La Cruz Blanca in her autobiography, La Rebelde (The Rebel), and this is where we get much of the information about Cruz Blanca's operation.[3] Magnón was careful to leave two versions of her memoirs—one written in Spanish, and one translated into English, entitled The Rebel.[4] Magnón wrote these manuscripts (called "novelized memoirs")[5] in the third person, and wrote about important figures in the revolution, including women who helped carry out Cruz Blanca's operations. Unfortunately, her memoirs would not be seen by the public until 1994, when her granddaughter was able to publish it through Arte Publico Press.

After her father's death in 1910, Magnón was not allowed to visit her father in Mexico for a proper burial due to the war.[6] But four years later the Mexican government would award her five medals for her work at La Cruz Blanca.

She died in Mexico City on April 17, 1955 at the age of 78.