Corina del Parral

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is del Parral and the second or maternal family name is Durán.

Corina del Parral
First Lady of Ecuador
President	José María Velasco Ibarra
In office 28 May 1944 – 24 August 1947
Preceded by	María Teresa Rivas Vergara
Succeeded by	Ana Luisa Velasco Serrano
In role 1 September 1952 – 31 August 1956
Preceded by	Rosario Pallares Zaldumbide
Succeeded by	Dolores Gangotena
In role 1 September 1960 – 7 November 1961
Preceded by	Dolores Gangotena
Succeeded by	Gladys Peet
In role 1 September 1968 – 15 February 1972
Preceded by	Lucila Santos Trujillo
Succeeded by	Aída Judith León
Personal details
Born	Corina del Parral Durán 25 January 1905 Bahía Blanca, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Died	8 February 1979(1979-02-08) (aged 74) Buenos Aires, Argentina
Nationality	Argentinian
Spouse	José María Velasco Ibarra ​ ​ (m. 1938; died 1979)​
Occupation	Pianist poet writer

Corina del Parral Durán (25 January 1905 – 8 February 1979) was an Argentine writer, poet, pianist, and composer. Married to President José María Velasco Ibarra, she served four terms as the First Lady of Ecuador.

Biography

Corina del Parral Durán was born in Bahía Blanca, Argentina to Ernst Patrick Parral López-Chacón and Corina Eulogia Durán Peña on 25 January 1905. She began basic studies at the French Institute of Jeanne d'Arc and music at the Williams Conservatory, both in Bahía Blanca. She graduated from the latter with high marks, then went to Buenos Aires to continue her music and piano studies. Using her musical education, del Parral composed classical pieces for the piano and orchestra, and Argentine and Ecuadorian folk music. Her Ecuadorian musical folk songs were interpreted by the group Los Brillantes to raise funds for the Ecuadorian institution she founded herself, while she was the First Lady of Ecuador, to support the poorest childhood in Ecuador. Her music was recorded on acetate discs. Parral's works as a writer have been published by the House of Ecuadorian culture and the Central Bank of Ecuador.

In 1934, Parral and her mother attended a reception for an Ecuadorian plenipotentiary in Buenos Aires, where she met the newly elected President of Ecuador, José María Velasco Ibarra. When he was deposed, del Parral began corresponding with Velasco to encourage him during his exile to Colombia. The couple's epistolary relationship resulted in their marriage in Buenos Aires on 24 August 1938.

First Lady of Ecuador

When José María Velasco Ibarra was elected for the second time in 1944, Parral became First Lady of Ecuador. In this capacity, she founded the institution that later became the National Institute for Children and the Family, a position that henceforth would be held by all Ecuadorian First Ladies.