The U.S. Census Bureau continually strives to ensure an 

accurate count of the people of the United States. For this 

reason, it has always embraced the hiring of a diverse workforce 

representative of the local communities. In the middle of the 

19th century, the United States expanded west into areas 

formerly governed by Spain and Mexico. Since many of the 

citizens and local officials only spoke Spanish, the Census Office 

quickly realized that it needed to employ workers fluent in the 

language. The establishment of a permanent Census Bureau in 

1903 and increased immigration from the Caribbean, Central 

and South America expanded the need for Spanish-speaking 

employees both in the field and at headquarters. These 

changes, as with many significant changes to the census, 

encountered difficulties and debate, however thanks to the 

diversity of the Census Bureau workforce, some of the greatest 

impetus for improvement came from within our own ranks.

Pauline Gasca was on born on December 19, 1936, in Fort 

Worth, Texas. Pauline and her family lived in a barrio next to 

the Texas Steel Company where her father, Jose, worked,

while her mother, Nicolasa, raised Pauline and her eight

siblings. Pauline credits her parents as role models for their 

activism in the community, including helping to organize 

their local Catholic Church. Although Pauline encountered 

segregation at school and never continued beyond 

elementary school, she remembered a 5th grade trip to see 

President Harry S. Truman that inspired her love of politics. 

Pauline said she had seen every president that visited Fort 

Worth since that trip, including shaking John F. Kennedy’s 

hand just hours before his assassination in 1963. Pauline 

joined the Viva Kennedy campaign in one of her first forays 

into volunteering and community service, and she also 

participated in the War on Poverty’s Community Action 

Agencies (CAA), the GI Forum, and the Red Cross.

In December of 1953, Pauline married Joe Angel Franco 

Valenciano, and they had four daughters. Joe joined the U.S. 

Army in 1962, and shared Pauline’s passion for activism.

Together they helped found the League of United Latin 

American Citizens (LULAC) branch in Marlin, TX. 

Unfortunately, Joe was wounded in Vietnam in 1968 and 

passed away from his injuries on July 14, 1970.

 

Identifying Problems and Improving the Census

Pauline during a 2015 interview.

Enriquez, Sandra; Robles, David & Krochmal, Max. Oral 

History Interview with Pauline Gasca-Valenciano, June 

10, 2015, video; University of North Texas Libraries, The 

Portal to Texas History, texashistory.unt.edu; 

crediting TCU Mary Couts Burnett Library.

Pauline and her family’s 1940 Census.

Pauline proudly displaying a picture of her with 

Cesar Chavez from 1969.

Nuestra Voz de North Texas, June/July 2018, 

Volume 4, Issue 54.
After her husband’s death, Pauline delved even deeper 

into her activism. She continued working as a social 

worker for the CAA, picketed grocery stores for farm 

workers’ rights, and volunteered with her local church. 

Pauline worked intensively to register voters, which 

involved going door to door collecting information. This 

gave her the perfect skill set to work for the Census 

Bureau.

Pauline worked in different capacities on several 

censuses, mostly as a community supporter. However, 

her most famous census experience came in 1989, when 

she worked in the Fort Worth District of the Dallas 

Regional Office as a field representative on preparations 

for the 1990 Census. Pauline noticed that due, in part, to 

a lack of language abilty, many census employees had a hard time counting the local Hispanic 

population. Although Pauline brought up those concerns to her immediate supervisor and pushed 

hard for reforms, her position was eliminated and she was unable to effect the changes. During the 

annual LULAC conference in July 1990, she had a chance to 

bring the same issues directly to the attention of Census 

Bureau Deputy Director and temporary Acting Director C. 

Louis Kincannon on live television. Kincannon immediately 

assigned someone from the field division to work with Pauline

to address these issues. When Kincannon served as director 

during development of the 2010 Census, he focused on hiring 

census employees with diverse ethnic, cultural, and linguistic 

backgrounds. He specifically focused on avoiding undercounts 

and controversies in impoverished urban neighberhoods by 

hiring compatable census takers, even when this required 

waiving predetermined qualifications, and succesfully avoided 

problems that had weakened previous census counts. 

Later, Pauline proudly stated that she never saw the jobs from 

which she was fired as setbacks, but rather as opportunities to move on to bigger and better things. 

She continued working on a broad range of issues confronting her community and served as a local 

official in positions like precinct chair, election judge, and on the neighberhood advisory committee. 

Pauline also celebrated her culture and heritage, something she attributed to her childhood 

experiences and trips to Mexico with her father. She helped organize and volunteered for

celebrations of Hispanic and Chicano culture like remembrances of Cesar Chavez and the 16 de 

Septiembre Mexican Independence Day Parade.

In 2010, Pauline served on Fort Worth’s Complete 

Count Committee to help ensure community 

awareness of the importance of the census. More 

completed censuses meant more funding and 

representation, which Pauline realized meant 

better opportunities. Throughout her life, Pauline 

received several awards and recognitions, 

including from the Texas Legislature, the National 

Association of Human Rights, the Tarrant County 

Democratic Woman's Club, and LULAC. A fighter 

and activist until the very end, Pauline passed 

away on June 5, 2018. The Census Bureau is 

thankful for Pauline’s contributions, and of the 

contributions of all the members of our diverse 

workforce throughout the years.

Pauline addressed Census Bureau Director Louis 

Kincannon at a LULAC conference in 1989. She brought

up her own experiences and suggestions to improve 

outreach and surveying for Hispanics.

C-SPAN, 1990 Census: Future of Hispanic America (July 8, 1989).

Pauline with former Speaker of the U.S. House

of Representatives, Jim Wright.

Star-Telegram (Ft. Worth, TX), June 13, 2018.

Pauline (last) listed on the 2010 Fort Worth Complete Count 

Committee as a representative for LULAC.

Fisseler, Dale, Ft. Worth City Manager, Informal Report to City Council 

Members No. 9282: Fort Worth Complete Count Committee, July 27, 2010.

HB-18-0017