By Ruth Ann Ruiz
The Post Newspaper Features Editor
Dallas Gutierrez doesn’t claim to be fearless and brave; she lives it. Her boundless love of life and adventure propel her to chase her aspirations and reach out to others with her generous spirit along her journey, one which has led her being a resident of Galveston the past five years.
Second in a family of four children, Gutierrez laid a foundation for being someone who would live life on her own terms at a young age. “I asked for a subscription to National Geographic for my 12th birthday and my parents gave it to me,” said Gutierrez.
As a young woman, she created a bucket list with 108 things to do and places to see.
Her quest to know what was beyond the borders of her hometown of San Antonio solidified her determination to pursue something outside of what she experienced in her part of the world. “By the time I was 13 years old I knew I didn’t want to have children or get married. I saw too many young girls having babies. That wasn’t for me,” Gutierrez explained. Instead, she had plans to see the world and become a flight attendant.
Gutierrez took off on her first independent voyage at the age of 18. She flew to Hawaii with a two-week hotel reservation but only spent three nights in her room. “Some people said, ‘come out and stay with us and work on the water,’ so I did,” Gutierrez said. Her work included pouring margaritas, delivering pizza, and diving off catamarans.
“Tourists would throw the imitation doubloons in the water, and I’d dive in to get them,” she added.
Coming back to the mainland, Gutierrez, now 23, landed her dream job as a flight attendant. Her career took her to some of the places on her bucket list such as Caracas, Venezuela. For a short stint she lived in South America serving as a bilingual manager for the airlines.
With an airline merger, Gutierrez found herself out of a job and had to look for “a real job” as her brother suggested. “Problem was I had to get used to sleeping in my own bed every night,” Gutierrez said as she talked about life after flying.
Banking wasn’t a passion for her, but she had studied business and finance at the University of Incarnate Word, so she pursued work in the banking industry. Feeling confident, she sent out dozens of resumes.
Not a single response came back. So, she tried a new tactic. “I sent a letter addressed to my future employer and I got a call from HR at a bank in San Antonio. She was hired to work as a floating customer service rep providing coverage for staff on leave at six branches.
The first position led to another and then another. She has held numerous positions in the field of banking and finance over the course of three decades.
Gutierrez currently works for PHP (People Helping People) as a life and health insurance representative. She shares her broad understanding of financial concepts and the value of saving with her clients.
“Dallas is a force of nature,” said The Post Newspaper Editor Brandon C. Williams, who has also worked with Gutierrez at PHP over the past two years. “There is no one who can spend five minutes with her and not be better for it. She’s a mentor and a moral compass for me, but most of all, she is a dear friend whose words and guidance are beyond mere words.”
At 66 years old, she has never been married and has no children. However, she does have six nieces and nephews, two great nieces and three God Children. “I love spending time with children, but when they are with me, I make them put the electronics away. I want them to experience life,” Gutierrez explained.
Living in Galveston is an adventure for Gutierrez. Along with her work in financial services, she also attends Church of the Living God while also embracing her love of water sports, plays volleyball along jumping out of airplanes with a parachute and traveling to remote locations.
She still has plenty of desire to achieve her future ambitions, “I’d like to have a small villa on a large piece of land in Tuscany and divide my time between there and someplace else,” said Gutierrez.
As of yet, she hasn’t selected the “someplace else.”
