In the 1960s and 1970s, Luis Flores Jr. supported his family by driving a tractor on a watermelon farm in the Rio Grande Valley and selling parts at a J. C. Penney automotive service department. He moved the family to Chicago for less than a year for a new job, before returning to South Texas to work as a janitor. Then, in May 1975, after years of working nights at Guerra’s general store in Linn–San Manuel, unincorporated sister towns outside Edinburg, he made a life-changing decision: He purchased half of the store from owner Adolfo “Shorty” Guerra and Shorty’s son and grandson, Leonard Guerra Sr. and Leonard Guerra Jr. He just needed to tell his wife, Vicky Flores. She balked at the news before relenting. “He…