Eva Lugo doesn't have a reputation like that of Morris K. "Mo" Udall, the late Tucson congressman who was remembered last week when the U.S. Postal Service dedicated the city's main post office in his name.
Neither does Lugo have $130 million like James E. Rogers to donate to the University of Arizona, which named its law college after the media owner, a graduate of the school.
But the 75-year-old Lugo shares something with both men. Her name, too, will adorn a public building: the Roberts Elementary School library.
It will be the Eva Lugo Library at the Midtown school near East 29th Street and South Columbus Boulevard, where for 36 years she volunteered and worked with the students, whom she calls "her kids."
"Coming to school is the number-one thing," she told an assembly of several hundred students on the school's patio Thursday morning as they feted Lugo.
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"It is the first step in the rest of your lives," she told them, first in English, then in Spanish.
In today's world, when cities and colleges sell naming rights to the highest bidder, or when deceased or living politicians are recognized by having public buildings or spaces named after them, or when a millionaire donates millions to get his name prominently attached to a university building or, for a few bucks more, a college, it's nice to know that someone like Lugo is honored in the same way.
Lugo received the news the day before during a school staff reception. Then it was the students' turn to laud Lugo.
"She's been a volunteer, teachers' aide, and tutor who's dedicated every minute she's been here to you, the students," Roberts' Principal Marcos Quijada told the assembly.
A chorus sang "Las Mañanitas," a traditional Mexican celebration song, to Lugo, who was in a wheelchair on the concrete stage. She recently had foot surgery, but that didn't keep her from standing for the Pledge of Allegiance.
She dabbed at tears as a small parade of students walked up to her and told her how special she was.
"Thank you, Mrs. Lugo, because you helped all the students at Roberts," said one student.
Another used flavorful imagery. "You are sweet as candy apples," the student said.
Some shy students whispered in Lugo's ear rather than use the microphone. One bilingual student praised Lugo in Spanish.
Her three adult children, three grandchildren and brother shared Lugo's joy.
Lugo began volunteering at Roberts when her oldest child, Martin, was in the second grade and his brother, Robert, was in kindergarten. Lugo was pregnant with her third child, Marianna.
"I came to see what was going on," Lugo recalled after the ceremony.
Lugo and her husband, Raymond, still live in their East 28th Street home near the school.
Education took top priority in the Lugo home, a lesson learned from her Mexican-born parents while Lugo and her five brothers grew up in Winslow. Several of Lugo's brothers graduated from the UA and two of her children are teachers.
Lugo has passed on that same message to the students at Roberts, year after year, day after day.
"Learn as much as you can," she told the students in English and Spanish. "Don't give up."
Lugo will continue spreading her education mantra. She plans to return to Roberts in the new school year and volunteer as a tutor in the Eva Lugo Library.
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