April 1st would have been Victor Hugo Padron’s birthday!
I have been reading some of the emails back and forth among
my classmates. I was gratified by Elvis’s finding of an email message from
Mario to a group of friends. It seemed that Mario was writing to us. Actually, he was, but at an earlier time. Then we remembered John Ibarra’s birthday via
our email group. Both are remembered via their families. I immediately sought
some type of old correspondence with my good friend, Victor Hugo Padron; I found
none. He did not have children, no surviving family members that I know of.
As young men: we spent so much time together. We worked
selling records at Variety Records at the Omni mall, parking cars at the
Montmartre Hotel, playing football with my family in the front yard. On his own,
he actually took my younger brothers and sisters to Disneyworld. Mom always
admired him for doing that. There are so many memories. Since he passed before
the internet fully developed, and before the times of “You’ve got mail” and there
were no Elvis communications, nothing googable is available. I would like our
good friend to be remembered.
I first met Victor in LaSalle in Sister Anthony’s class,
first period; we were taking Algebra 1. He sat in the third or fourth row next
to the wall. I sat two desks behind him. He was quiet but would speak up when
he had to. He may have also been in my Phys Ed class in third period with Coach
Grosso. I know he was in English class with Sister Agnes Rita Huber, eight
period. Later in life, we would
reminisce about making our classmates laugh as they were presenting in front of
class. Victor and I would become very good friends.
I played Junior Varsity Football as a sophomore. People may
not realize that Victor was in our JV team. He was number 80 and played
defensive end. The reason I say that you may not realize it is that in the JV picture
on the yearbook (1973) many of the names are wrong, including his. He is right
next Carlos Fernandez and Rocky. He was actually a pretty good player.
In, or around the year 1973, he got a quadraphonic stereo. I
remember going to his house to see and hear it. More importantly, that day I
met his mom (Rosalia or Chalía), dad (Victor Hugo Senior) and Aunt
Hilda. Beautiful family. They were
playing dominoes in the dining room. I noticed his dad was in a wheelchair. I
joined in the game. Having come from a family of avid players, I felt right at
home. I sat across from the younger Victor, so we were on the same team. As we played, Victor Senior ran me through an
interview. I guess he wanted to get to know his son’s friends. He would quiz me
about certain things. He would ask me stuff, he just wanted to get to know me. Chalia
was one of those ladies who just tried to make life better for everyone. Wonderful
conversationalist. She would pay attention to both Victors; They were both
loved. Later on, as Victor drove me home, he half apologized for his
father. I had found the father’s
questions to be endearing and actually, I looked forward to playing Dominoes
with them. Later, going to his house became
a ritual and we would finish studying and end up at Victor’s eating Churros con
chocolate that Chalia would make.
In junior year, our group decided to celebrate Victor’s
Birthday. It was a surprise party. We developed this convoluted story where I
and Victor would go somewhere. When we returned everyone would be at the house.
That day, I remember going to the house early. Several of our classmates were already
there. I do not know where Victor was. Someone taught me how to make onion dip.
I had never done that before or tasted onion dip. Trouble is, I ate a lot of it.
I left to bring Victor back and everyone continued the preparations. Somehow,
Victor realized what was going on yet, pretended he was not aware. We returned
to his house. Victor came in the house. All the lights were off. I stayed
outside; I am not sure why. I believe in our convoluted story; he was only
returning to pick up something. I just
heard “Surprise” and music started playing. Everyone seemed happy. I guess
Victor realized I was not in the house, and he came out of the house and brought
me a drink. I asked, what is in the
drink? He said “no te preocupes” (do not worry about it) we always said that. I
drank it and went inside the house. As I entered, the whole house started
spinning. On the right side of the door in the porch, Maria Rivas was sitting,
talking to someone. It was either Georgina Tercilla or Graciela Balanzategui. I
came in and just said “Why is everybody moving so much? Why is everyone
spinning around?” Maria realized I was
not well. I just remember Maria signaling to the person next to her, and that
person getting up from her seat and walked towards the dining room. Maria said
“Ven Ramon sientate aqui, al ladito mio” (Come here Ramon and sit here right
next to me). I was very happy to sit right next to Maria. Later I realized she was making sure I was
okay. Maria, if you are reading this, I really appreciated it. I sat there for
a while. I remember getting up a bit later, probably searching for onion dip. I guess I was better.
Later in the evening, we ended up at The Machine Shop on
Coral Way across from the Sears Store and next to Stern Brothers Plumbing. It
was one of our favorite hangouts. For those of you who may not be familiar with
the place, the machine shop had air hockey tables, pinball machines etc… There
were no electronic games except possibly pong. Space Invaders and Pacman were
not out yet. There were two parking lots for the shop. One was on the left of
the store and the other behind the shop. We parked on the side parking lot. You
could drive from one of the lots to the other, but the passageway was kind of narrow. A car could fit comfortably through it, but a
larger car and a person walking right next to it would just barely fit. At the
Machine Shop, I was pleasantly surprised that some of the ladies had gone with
us. We kind of separated into small groups and played pinball. It was then time to go, and I exited via the
back door of the establishment and Victor, Fabio and I (just saying that makes
me sad) were walking towards the car on the side parking lot. We were going to
go into the side parking lot when I heard a screeching sound and Victor and
Fabio yelled, Watch out Moose! I did not understand what was happening. Victor
and Fabio looked scared. One of the cars sped through the passageway and to
quote Agent 86, “Missed me by that much”. Seriously, it was really close. Fabio
and Victor, both told me that there were guys who were trying to “talk” to the
ILS ladies who were with us. I did
notice that the ladies had been kind of gathering around us at the time and all
these guys we did not know were around. Both
Victor and Fabio said that they were trying to run me over. I did not really
think so. I just thought they were trying to scare me. They succeeded. That day
Victor and Fabio may have saved my life.
Victor and I would spend a lot of time together. In school I
remember one instance, I believe in PreCal, when the whole class was getting
out of control and Mr. Thomas said, “That is so funny that I can’t see straight”. Victor did not realize that Mr. Thomas was
very upset and just started laughing hysterically. Mr. Thomas had a lazy eye and Victor thought
he was making fun of his own issues.
When Victor’s mom passes, he and the rest of the family
moved to a house which was parallel to Coral Way, one block north of the
Ibarra’s but 5 blocks west. He was always welcome at my house. Actually, he was
welcome at the houses of several friends.
He became part of my family and theirs.
At the time, I felt we were being kind to him, he seemed to
be so alone. Only now do I realize he
was being so kind to me. After my brother Robert passed, he would always insist
that I go out with him and other friends to do stuff. We would end up catching
a movie, going to the machine shop, the student union at UM, and play ping pong
or playing pool. It was during that time when several expressions came to be. If
the group had absolutely nothing to do: “We can go to Fabio’s house and stare
at Fabio’s mom.” No one really knew why
we said that. She was a very nice lady. And, “Portate bien o te vas a la casa con
Fabio.” (Behave or you are
leaving with Fabio). We were horrible to Fabio, another great guy. We would
reminisce about ILS. I usually did not feel like going out. Now I think I was going through an
understandable depression. None said
anything about it, I did not even realize it until another friend said
something to me. That friend just said “Estas hecho una plasta.” (that one is hard to translate but he meant
you are being a real down). I realized he
was right.
Seven of us: Rocky, Ricky, Charlie, Giz, Fabio, Victor and I
went on a one-week cruise in the Caribbean.
Spending seven days with seven guys and meeting seven girls from Tarboro
NC, was indeed memorable. We also met a guy named Fred. He was the second
violinist with the Cleveland Orchestra. He must have been around 70 years old. He
was having a great time. He would sit at our table. I spoke to him numerous
time and what I remember the most about him was how much he missed his wife. His
wife was at home. I guessed he traveled separately from her. He also taught me tablature notation for
guitar. Fred came by to visit in Miami a few years later. I remember Victor, on
the first day of the cruise, sitting, drinking a beer. He was sad because the
trip would be over in six days. All through the trip, Victor was having a good
time. I still remember him laughing at some of Giz’s jokes and the jumping frog
which landed in strategic places. And Fred would pick it up. There are so many memories. One of these days
I would like to arrange a get together for the five that are left and tell the
stories, again. Never gets old.
Sometime later I told him I wanted to ask Lourdes out on a
date. I was always a coward about those things. He totally encouraged it, almost
made it possible. He arranged for dancing lessons from friends. He even planned
the trip. The couples double and triple dated many times. Later, Victor was the
best man at my wedding. I always thought he would be a part of my family as Lourdes,
and I had children. Sadly, Victor and I did
not see each other too often after I was married. I was not sure why. Partly it was because when you are married and
have children your life is completely changed. I did miss him. Cristina was
born and I wanted him to meet her. I invited him over to our apartment at the
University of Miami. It was in the morning. He brought a gift; I think a dress
for Cristina. She may have been maybe a couple of months old. We talked about stuff for a little while,
just reminiscing. When he left that day, I never saw him again. Many years
later, I was practicing with Cristina for the father daughter dance at her
wedding. We choreographed exactly the way Maria and Victor taught me how to
dance. In that way, he was part of the ceremony, although no one else realized
it.
I am so grateful to Victor. He really was there when I needed
him. I am thanking him now.
I always wanted to ask him a question:
Just what was in that drink?
Happy Birthday my friend. Fight on LaSalle.
Moose
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