When Mercedes Gail Gutierrez-McDermid's younger daughter was 8, she surprised the family by announcing at dinner, "When I grow up, I want to be a Jew."

The child, now 24, had no idea that she was tapping into her mother's complex family history – or that her simple statement would ultimately lead Ms. Gutierrez-McDermid to a life-changing decision to convert.

Growing up in Southern California, Ms. Gutierrez-McDermid was never explicitly told that her mother's family had converted from Judaism to Protestant Christianity in the early 20th century, when they still lived in Mexico. Vestiges of Judaism that survived in her household – such as her mother's practice of lighting candles each Friday night – were explained away casually with statements like, "Oh, I light them because they make the table look pretty."

As a young adult, Ms. Gutierrez-McDermid, now 61, was active in her Methodist church, particularly during the civil rights movement. But theologically, she struggled with Christianity. "There were things I couldn't connect with," she said, which led to her and her husband's decision to raise their first child, a son, without any religion.

When she later had daughters, however, she decided to expose them to a church. "I know a woman creates the home," she said, "and I knew I wanted them to get a religious education."

And after her young daughter brought up Judaism, Ms. Gutierrez-McDermid said, she felt it was time to discover and embrace her heritage. Confirming her ancestors' past, she began to identify herself as a Jew. She read about Judaism and started talking to rabbis near her Davis, Calif., home.

She had never heard Hebrew spoken. But walking into her first synagogue service, she recalled, "was like I was home. It was like I knew this."

Although she was already Jewish in the eyes of the Reform movement because her mother's family had been Jewish, Ms. Gutierrez-McDermid went through a conversion ceremony.

"There was part of me that wanted to acknowledge that I was stepping back to a place where my family had been before," the retired state employee said.

Today, Ms. Gutierrez-McDermid considers herself a "Jewish Chicana," connected equally to Judaism and her Mexican heritage.

"I've reconnected with my family, with my people," she said.

Holly Lebowitz Rossi