MAGDALENA GORRELL GUIMARAENS

The daughter of an American diplomat, Magdalena was born in Quito, Ecuador, educated in Canada, France, Guatemala and the United States. She was graduated from Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia and with a Bachelor of Arts, Magna Cum Laude, from University of Maryland University College. She also has a post-graduate qualification in Spanish Archives and Genealogy from the University of Cordoba. Magdalena is a member of Phi Alpha Theta National History Honor Society and of the British Historical Society of Portugal.

In 1963 Magdalena accompanied her family to Porto, Portugal where she met and married Bruce Duncan Guimaraens, a renowned British Port Wine Shipper from whom she was widowed in 2002. She has four children, five grandchildren and two step-grandchildren.

In 1975 she became an English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher and later Director, of the American Language Institute in Porto. In 1980, Magdalena left teaching to develop her life-long activities as a specialist translator of legal documents, medical research papers, historical books and other works into English, from Portuguese, French and Spanish, which she also speaks fluently. At the same time, she became a simultaneous conference interpreter, member of AIIC - International Association of Conference Interpreters, Geneva, where she also served 6 years as Regional Secretary for Portugal, 2 terms as Member of Council for Portugal and a term as Member of the Disciplinary and Disputes Committee, after which she retired, 15 years ago.

Magdalena continues to live in the North of Portugal where she dedicates her time to compiling her Family History, researching and writing historical accounts and, with her sisters Cristina and Angela, endeavoring to restore the historic memory of their Spanish maternal grandfather, eminent historian, author, scholar, diplomat and Republican politician of Cordoba, Spain.