La Familia Lopez del Valle - español

Esta es una carta que escribio mi prima YiYi sobre la historia de la Familia Lopez del Valle. Gracias YiYi - Ramon

Aquí les mando la historia de la familia que escribí. - YiYi

Toda esta es la historia de nuestra familia comenzando por nuestros tatarabuelos hasta nuestros padres. La mayor parte de todo esto me lo contaron personas a las que yo he querido muchísimo como mi abuela, mi bisabuela y mi mama. Otras partes son cosas que yo me acuerdo desde que era chiquita porque gracias a Dios, tengo muy buena memoria. Esta es en realidad la historia de la familia López del Valle, nuestros abuelos, sus antepasados y sus hijos.

De la familia López se que el pap­­­­á de abuelo se llamaba Esteban López, el era nacido en Cuba pero descendiente de españoles. Cuando el era muy joven se caso con una muchacha cubana que se llamaba Agueda Izquierdo, esos eran nuestros bisabuelos por parte de abuelo. Ellos enseguida tuvieron tres varones, el mayor era Arturo, nuestro abuelo. Y después, casi enseguida vinieron sus hermanos, Esteban y Amado. Cuando los niños eran muy chiquitos, quizás 4, 3 y 1 año, la mama, Agueda, se enfermó de tuberculosis y al poco tiempo se murió. Ellos eran personas muy pobres, y una hermana de Esteban el papá, o sea una tía de los niños, los cogió y los crió toda la vida. Abuelo quería mucho a su tía porque era buena con ellos. Al poco tiempo el papá se volvió a casar y vivía con su esposa en otro lado, pero los tres niños siguieron con la tía. Como eran tan pobres, abuelo me contaba que en aquella época pasaban trenes cerca de donde ellos vivían y las personas les tiraban monedas a los niños desde el tren. Entonces ellos siempre iban a tratar de coger algún dinero. También el me contaba que muchos días lo único que tenían para comer era harina de maíz pero eran felices porque su tía los trababa muy bien. Ella are una mujer muy buena. Todo esto ocurrió en Marianao, una ciudad cerca ce La Habana en donde nacieron ellos y todo el resto de la familia también.

Cuando abuelo Arturo era jovencito empezó a trabajar bastante temprano por necesidad y lo que hacia le llamaban pipero porque vendía agua. La mayoría de las casas no tenían agua corriente. Esto era en los 1800’s y el llevaba una carreta con una pipa. Así le decían a la vasija o barril grande donde llevaba el agua, y el las llenaba de agua y las vendía. Abuelo era muy ahorrativo y aun en ese trabajo ahorraba y guardaba dinero, y aun cuando llegó a ser muy rico nunca desperdició el dinero. En su casa no se compraba un carro nuevo hasta que el otro no estaba malo, y era lo mismo con la ropa. Teníamos de todo pero no derrochábamos pero con sus siete hijos era muy generoso y les daba todo lo que podía y los ayudó toda la vida hasta el día que murió. Tanto así que cuando seis de sus siete hijos se casaron a cada uno le dio una de sus propiedades para vivir.

Ahora les contare de la familia de abuela. Ella se llamaba Maximina del Valle y de la Vega. Su abuelo nació en las Islas Canarias que pertenece a España. El se llamaba Juan de la Vega y era nuestro tatarabuelo. Cuando el era joven se fue a vivir a Cuba y allí se casó con una muchacha cubana y con ella tuvo doce hijos, pero por increíble que parezca, y no es raro porque al principio de los 1800’s no habían ni las medicinas ni los adelantos que hay ahora, los doce niños murieron my chiquitos de distintas enfermedades. La señora también murió a los mejor del mismo parto, pero esto no lo se. Cuando paso algún tiempo el se sentía tan mal que decidió regresar a Islas Canarias. Estando allí se enamoró de nuevo de una muchacha Isleña que sería nuestra tatarabuela. Ella se llamaba Carmen y con ella se casó y decidió volver para La Habana. Carmen venia ya esperando un bebé que nació en el barco entre España y Cuba y esa era nuestra bisabuela, a la que le pusieron Petronila. Después ya en Cuba tuvieron otra hija y le pusieron Carmen y le decían Mita y los sobrinos le decían tía Mita. Yo la conocí también cuando estaba ya muy viejita.

Bueno, déjame seguir con nuestro bisabuelo. El murió y dejo a su esposa Carmen con las dos niñas en Marianao donde fueron a vivir. Ella lavaba ropa para familias que lo pagaban y la muchachitas le ayudaban a planchar. Una de las cosas que me contaba mi bisabuela Petronila era que a ella le gustaba mucho las novelas cuando era una jovencita, pero a su mamá no le gustaba que las leyera. Estas novelas venían por partes, todas las semanas un capitulo. Entonces lo que ella hacia era que guardaba algo de lo que le daban por planchar ropa y con eso se compraba la novelita de la semana. Después por la noche cuando todos estaban durmiendo ella con una vela, porque no había electricidad, leía la novela.

Estas novelas ella las reunió y las guardó toda la vida y muchos años después, cuando abuela Maximina estaba casada con abuelo, se las mandó a poner juntas y a encuadernar, y eran tres libros antiguos preciosos que ella me regaló. Mi bisabuela me dijo que quería que yo las tuviera. Yo las guardé por mucho tiempo pero cuando salí de Cuba, como muchas otras cosas, tuve que dejarlas allá.

Bueno sigo con la historia. Petronila cuando era bastante jovencita se enamoró de el que sería nuestro bisabuelo, Nicolás del Valle. Se casaron y tuvieron dos hijos, la mayor abuela Maximina y un hermano llamado Nicolás que le decíamos Nikito a quien yo también conocí. Entonces cuando nuestra bisabuela Petronila estaba en estado por tercera vez, su esposo Nicolás se enfermo de viruelas pues había una epidemia horrible de esta enfermedad en Cuba, y de eso murió, dejándola a ella joven con dos niños y en estado. Ese último niño, un varón, nació enfermo y antes de los dos años se murió.

Petronila se fue con sus dos niños a vivir con su mama Carmen. Siempre vivió con ella porque le cuidaba los niños para que ella pudiera trabajar. Su trabajo siempre fue de conserje, o sea, limpiando un colegio. Así crió a sus dos hijos, pero nuestra abuela Maximina, que siempre fue inteligente, determinada, estudiosa y muy buena alumna, cuando terminó quiso estudiar maestra y se graduó de eso.

Abuela nunca llegó a trabajar de maestra porque muy joven se enamoró de abuelo Arturo y se casaron. Como el tenía sus ahorros prefirió que ella no trabajara y entre los dos abrieron una pequeña cafetería o café, como decía el. Los dos se levantaban muy temprano a preparar leche y otras cosas para los que venían a desayunar y también hacían comidas y sándwiches. Abuelo después toda su vida sabía como hacer pierna de jamón y unos sándwiches riquísimos; y abuela sabia cocinar mejor que nadie. Mientras tanto la mamá de ella, la bisabuela Petronila, cuidaba los niños que llegaban uno cada dos años. Trabajando en el café, abuelo seguía ahorrando y así empezaron a compra pequeñas propiedades que rentaban. Luego compraron casa más grandes, terrenos, una finca y un centro comercial y muchas cosas mas. El café con que ellos empezaron eventualmente lo regaló a sus dos hermanos, Esteban y Amado, y de eso vivían ellos. No se los vendió sino se los regaló. Abuelo era una persona muy especial que ayudaba a todo al que podía. Era también una persona integra y compasiva. Dios los ayudó y según iban llegando los niños ellos iban prosperando. La mamá de abuela, Petronila (yo le decía abuela la vieja) vivió siempre con ellos y los ayudó a criar a todos los niños, siempre con un cariño increíble. Según me contaba mi mamá, vivió con nosotros hasta que murió y fue el primer dolor mas grande que tuve en la vida. Yo tenía veinte años cuando ella murió.

Bueno, sigo con la historia. Abuela y abuelo empezaron a tener niños. Primero nació tía Amalla, su nombre verdadero era Amada, después un varón que se llamaba Arturo y le decían Coito. Después vino mi mamá, Ernestina a la que le decían China. Abuelo le puso China porque ella tenía el pelo negro, lacio y los ojos carmelita. El decía que parecía una chinita. Después nació tía Futty que se llamaba Ester y después tía Guedy que se llamaba Agueda como la mamá de abuelo. Después tuvieron otro varón, tío Lulo que se llamaba Fausto. Después de esto pasó una cosa muy triste. Abuela estaba en estado esperando a tío Roberto cuando llegaron las vacaciones de verano y ellos se iban todos los años a una playa que se llamaba Baracoa, donde abuelo había comprado una casa muy linda y grande. La casa era a la orilla del mar y ahí la familia pasaba el verano. Se iban con todo el mundo, hasta con la cocinera, las manejadoras y el chofer. Esta playa quedaba coma a dos horas de donde ellos vivían. Resulta que ese año el niño varón mayor, Arturo, tenia que ir a el colegio de verano por un tiempo y decidieron irse para la casa de playa con todos los niños y dejar a Arturo con la abuela Petronila en la case de Marianao, y cuando terminara los estudios llevarlo también para la casa de la playa. Un día el niño llegó del colegio con dolor de estomago y abuela la vieja, creyendo que era estreñimiento le dió un laxante. Entonces su dolor se hizo tan fuerte que vinieron todos de la playa y fueron con un cirujano muy bueno para el hospital porque había que operarlo de emergencia ya que lo que tenia era apendicitis. Parece que no resistió la operación, recuerden que esto en el 1925, y murió en la mesa de operaciones.

Muchas personas me contaban que no hay manera de describir como quedaron abuela y abuelo, no podían salir de la angustia. Un tiempo después nació tío Roberto y como tenían muchos niños que criar, abuelo vendió la casa en Marianao y fabricó otra que fue donde yo nací. Se mudaron allí para que los recuerdos no fueran tan dolorosos. Abuela me llevaba todos los años al cementerio a llevarle flores a su hijo el día de su cumpleaños. Después de tío Roberto nació tío Eduardo, todos cada dos años. Tío Eduardo fue el último que tuvieron y ocho años después nací yo que también fui a vivir con ellos. Mi abuelo me decía que yo era la más chiquita de sus hijos. Yo vivía con ellos y dormía en su cuarto en una camita chiquita.

Abuelo y abuela siempre vivieron de un modo ejemplar, vivían para sus hijos a los que querían muchísimo. También tenían una cantidad inmensa de amistades que los querían de verdad. Siempre había visitas en la casa y muchos se quedaban a almorzar o a comer. Cuando los hijos se casaron, eran seis matrimonios, cada noche de la semana le tocaba a un matrimonio venir a comer, pero el domingo venían todos a almorzar. Así que ese día se reunía la familia entera.

Las nochebuenas eran increíbles. Desde por la mañana había mucho movimiento en la casa. Todos los criados y la cocinera ayudaban con la cena, pero mi abuela, que al mismo tiempo era tanto buena cocinera, como decidida y entusiasta, hacia y dirigía casi todo. Me parece estarla viendo preparando el lechón y cortando la manteca para hacer chicharrones. Todo el día se trabajaba preparando la cena y entonces por la noche sacaban la mesa del comedor que tenia doce sillas para el patio. Recuerden que en Cuba no había mucho frío así que comíamos muy bien afuera. Siempre venían amigos íntimos a celebrar la nochebuena con nosotros.

A mi abuela le gustaba viajar, y a mi abuelo no. Cuando ella viajaba era cuando único se separaban. Abuela me llevaba a viajar con ella desde los dos nos. Ella se quedaba en un hotel antiguo precioso como el de las películas en un pueblo que tenia un balneario que se llamaba San Miguel de los Baños. Iba dos o tres veces al año y se quedaba varios días pues ella padecía de la vesícula y allí las aguas que se tomaban eran medicinales. Ella siempre me llevaba con ella y también iba mi manejadora Juana.

Cuando yo tenia ocho años y se acabo la segunda guerra mundial, abuela me trajo por primera vez a Miami en un barco que se llamaba Florida que salía de La Habana a las 6:00 de la tarde. Dormíamos en el barco y llegábamos a Miami a las 8:00 de la Mañana. El barco embarcaba en un puente en el centro de la ciudad de Miami. Tía Guedy siempre viajaba con nosotras porque era la única soltera. Hicimos varios viajes a Miami y a Tampa a conocer mucha familia de nuestro bisabuelo que vivía allá. En Cuba me llevó a visitar el santuario de la virgen de la Caridad del Cobre y el viaje mas largo que hicimos fue de la Habana avión a Cayo Hueso y de allí en guagua a Miami. Fuimos con tía Guedy que siempre viajaba con nosotras. De Mami seguimos por todo el Golfo de México descansando en lugares como Nuevo Orleans y otras ciudades. De allí seguro hasta cruzar la frontera de México, recorrimos todo México y después regresamos a la Habana. El viaje duro un mes y fue una excursión que organizaron las maestra católica de la Habana, amigas de abuelo. Yo tenía 13 años cuando hice ese viaje. Yo siempre he pensado que a mi abuela le gustaba viajar pero lo hacia mas que nada por llevarme a mi para que conociera y aprendiera. Era un gusto para ella malcriarme desde que nací. Abuelo vino una sola vez a Miami a ver una casa que le querían vender, pero al fine no se decidió y no la compró. Recuerdo que eso fue como el 1948 o 1949. Vinimos un grupo grande que consistía de abuelo, abuela, tía Amalla, Aristides, Aristico, que tenia creo que un año, mami, papi y yo. Ese viaje fue de pocos días.

Con mi abuelo adonde yo iba a pasear era a la Habana. El tenia que ir a diferentes diligencias y negocios y me llevaba con el. Fidel Castro le quito 43 casas, varios terrenos, la casa del reparto náutico y una finca de campo. Cuando íbamos a pasear siempre manejaba nuestro chofer Demetrio Gómez. El fue el chofer de mi abuelo desde que yo nací. Gómez, como le decíamos, era un hombre buenísimo que nos tenia un cariño tremendo a toda la familia lo mismo que nosotros a el. El fue quien me trajo de la clínica cuando yo nací. El murió del corazón cuando yo tenía 22 años. Sentí su muerte como la de un familiar.

Mi abuelo también me llevaba a su finca casi todas las tardes pues era su hobbie. La finca era muy grande con una casa muy bonita en el centro. Allí vivía un señor con su esposa e hijita, quienes cuidaban la finca. Aparte en un bohío o casita vivía un viejito que se llamaba Luisito, que era quien ordeñaba las vacas y cuidaba los animales. Gómez nos llevaba alrededor de las 3:00 de la tarde y regresábamos a las 6:00 de la tarde. Yo corría por todo el terreno, veía como alimentaban los pollos y lo cochinos y como ordeñaban las vacas. Allí yo tenía una casita de muñecas tan grande que cabía en ella. Tenía sala, cuarto y portal y un cristal sobre la puerta que decía “Villa Virginia”. Abuela me la mando a hacer como regalo cuando cumplí 4 años. Ese cumpleaños me lo celebraron en la finca. Otra cosa que me gustaba mucho de mi abuela es que a ella le gustaba mucho todos los niños. Aun cuando estaba muy mayor de noventidos años o algo así, me dijo, "a mi me gusta siempre ver que los niños estén contentos." Abuelo y abuela daban fiestas de disfraces en la finca para todos los nietos. Los hijos ya casado pero sin hijos todavía, celebraban fiestas de esperar el año allí en la finca. A mi me llevaban y me ponían a dormir temprano. La finca tenía unas terrazas donde ponían mesas y había mucha música. Invitaban a muchas amistades de todos así que eran fiestas muy grandes y divertidas.

Cuando mis tíos estaban creciendo estudiaban en diferentes colegios como el apostolado, LaSalle y Belén. Cuando se hicieron jóvenes abuela quiso mandar a algunos a estudiar a los Estados Unidos. Tía Futty, tía Guedy y tío Lulo vinieron a las Ursulinas de New Orleans. A tía Futty no le gustó y quiso regresar enseguida para Cuba, pero tía Guedy y tío Lulo se quedaron varios años a pupilo. Ellos eran los que mejor hablaban ingles después. Yo ya tenía como 3 años cuando eso.

Después pasaron los años y los hijos fueron creciendo siempre en la misma casa que abuelo fabricó en la calle General Lee en Marianao. Tía Amalla, que era la mayor, fue la primera en casarse con Aristides Agüero. Después se casó mi mamá Ernestina con Alfredo Guim. Cuando tenían 3 meses de casados y ella 3 meses en estado, mi papá se murió de una epidemia de tifus que había en Cuba. Mi mamá se fue a vivir otra vez con abuelo y abuela en donde yo nací y me críe. Cuando yo tenía 2 años y ½ ella se volvió a casar con el Dr. Mario Sánchez Solís. Después se caso Futty con Heriberto Triana. Es curioso que todos se casaron por orden, pues depuse se caso tío Lulo con Mercedes Sánchez, a quien también le decían China, después tío Roberto con Rosa de la Vega y después tío Eduardo con Irene López Alpizar. El papá de Irene había sido alcalde de Marianao. La única que no se casó fue tía Guedy. Ella tuvo un novio por varios años de quien estaba muy enamorada. El se llamaba Humberto Bruigas, pero al cabo do los años se pelearon, no se bien el motivo. Creo que ya el no le gustaba a abuelo y abuela y ella era muy buena y obediente.

Han pasado muchos años y como sabemos los tíos todos han muerto excepto mi mama que todavía vive y le doy gracias a Dios por ello. Mi mama tiene 92 años y ya está muy viejita y vive con mi hermana Alicia.

Abuelo y Abuela tuvieron un total de 8 hijos, 22 nietos, 37 biznietos y 24 tataranietos.

Yo se que todos ustedes saben los abuelos tan excepcionales que tuvimos y que como yo los queríamos muchísimo y estamos muy orgullosos de ellos. No importa los problemas que se me presenten en la vida, el haberlos tenido a ellos como abuelos, a mi mama como madre y a Lalo como esposo, me hace poder superar cualquier cosa. La vida de las personas se mide por los sentimientos que dejan en los demás cuando se van.

Espero que la historia que les he narrado de nuestra familia les haya resultado interesante y amena.

Muchos cariños de su prima que lo quiere,

YiYi

La Familia Lopez del Valle - English version

A letter from "YiYi", (Virginia Iribe. )

Thank you Yiyi. - Ramon

This is the history of our family, which I have begun from our great great grand parents until our own parents. Most of this I was told by persons who I love very much such as my grandmother, my great grandmother and my mother. Other portions I have remembered since I was very young. I thank God I have a very good memory. This is really the history of the López del Valle family, our grandparents, their parents and their children. First, I will tell you about the Lopez family.

Abuelo’s dad was named Esteban Lopez. He was born in Cuba from Spanish parents. When he was very young he married a young Cuban lady whose name was Agueda Izquierdo. These were our bisabuelos (great grandparents) on abuelo’s side. They soon had three male children. The eldest was Arturo, our abuelo. Soon afterwards two brothers were born, Esteban and Amado. When the children were very young, possibly 4, 3 and 1 year old, the mother, Agueda, acquired tuberculosis, became ill and soon after that died. They were very poor and one of Esteban’s sisters, in other words the children’s aunt, took them and raised them all their lives. Abuelo loved his aunt very much since she was good to them. A while after that Esteban married again and lived with his new wife elsewhere; the three children remained with their aunt. Since they were so poor abuelo would tell me that at that time trains would pass by and people would throw coins outside the train to the children. They would then go and try to make some money that way. He would also tell me that they were so poor that many days the only thing they had to eat was cornmeal, but they were very happy. This occurred in Marianao, a city close to La Habana where all of them were born along with the rest of the family. When abuelo Arturo was very young he began working out of necessity. What he would do was what they called a “pipero”, a water seller. Most of the homes at this time did not have running water. This was in the 1800’s and he would take a cart with a “pipa”., This is what they called the large barrel or container of water. He would fill the containers with water and would sell it. Abuelo was very thrifty and even in that job he was able to save money. Even when he became wealthy he would still would spend money wisely. In his house a new car was not bought until the old one was in bad shape. It was the same way with clothes. We had everything but we would not squander money. With his seven children he was very generous and he would give them everything he could and helped them all their lives until the day he died. When six of his seven children married, he gave each one of them a house in which to live in.

Now I will tell you about abuela Maximina’s family.

Her name was Maximina del Valle y de la Vega. Her grandfather was born in the Canary Islands, which is a part of Spain. His name was Juan de la Vega and he was our tatarabuelo (great great grandfather). When he was young, he went to live in Cuba and there he married a young Cuban girl and with her, she had 12 children. As incredible as it sounds all 12 children died. This may seem strange but when one considers that in the early 1800’s there were not as many medicines or medical care then it is not so strange. All 12 children died of different causes and childhood diseases. The mother also died, possibly during childbirth, this I really do not know. When some time passed he felt so badly that he decided to go back home to the Canary Islands. While over there he fell in love with young girl named Carmen. She would turn out to be our tatarabuela (great great grandmother). He married her and decided to return to La Habana. Carmen bore a baby which was born in the ship between Cuba and Spain. This baby would the become our bisabuela (great grandmother), she was named Petronila. Later while already in Cuba they had one more child and named her Carmen. She was known as Mita. All her nieces and nephews would call her tia Mita(aunt Mita). I came to know her when she was very old. Well lets continue with our tatarabuelo, Juan de la Vega. He passed away and left his

wife Carmen with two daughters in Marianao where they went to live. She would wash clothes for families that would pay for it and the daughters would help her iron the clothes. My bisabuela, Petronila, told me that she liked the novelitas (romance novels) very much when she was a young girl. Her mother, Carmen did not like her to read them. These novellas arrived in parts, every week one chapter would arrive. She would save some of the money she would earn by ironing clothes and with that she would buy the novelita of the week. Later at night while everyone was asleep she would read the novelitas by candlelight since at that time there was not electricity and everyone had to read by candlelight. These novelitas she collected and many years later, when abuela Maximina was already married with abuelo Arturo, she had them bound into three very beautiful antique books. These were precious and she gave them to me as a gift. My bisabuela told me that she wanted me to have them. I saved them and kept them for a very long time but when I left Cuba, as with many other things, I had to leave them behind. Petronila, when she was very young, fell in love with the one who would later be our bisabuelo, Nicolas del Valle. They were married and had two children. The older one was Maximina. She had a brother named Nicolas del Valle and we would call him Nikito whom I also came to know. Then while Petronila was expecting for the third time, Nicolas, our bisabuelo became ill with viruela (smallpox) since there was a bad epidemic in Cuba at the time. He died. He left her as a young woman with two children and expecting another one. This last baby, a boy, was born ill and died before he was two years old. Petronila went with her two children to live with her mother, Carmen. From then on she lived with Carmen since she would take care of the children while Petronila went to work. Her job was always as a janitor, cleaning the school. In that way she raised her children, but our abuela Maximina who was always intelligent, determined, studious and a very good pupil, when she finished school wanted to study teaching. She graduated as a teacher. Abuela never came to work as a teacher because when she was very young she fell in love with abuelo Arturo and they were married. Since he had his money he preferred that she would not work and between the both of them they opened and operated a small cafeteria or café as he would call it. Both of them would wake up very early in the morning to prepare milk and other things for those who would come in to have breakfast and they would also make different foods and sandwiches. Abuelo all his life would know how to make leg of ham and the best sandwiches. Abuela Maximina knew how to cook better than anyone else. In the meantime, her mother and our bisabuela, Petronila, took care of her children who were arriving every two years. Working at the café, abuelo and abuela continued saving money and began buying properties which they would rent. Later they bought bigger properties, parcels of land, a farm and commercial centers and many other things. The café which they originally owned they eventually gave as a gift to abuelo’s brothers, Esteban and Amado. They would live on this income. Abuelo did not sell it to them, he gave it to them. Abuelo was a very special person. He would help everyone he could. He was also a very complete person and compassionate. God helped then and as more children arrived they would continue prospering. Abuela’s mother, Petronila ( I would call her abuela la vieja) always lived with them and helped them raise raise all the children and incredibly lovingly. According to my mother (tia china) She lived us until she died and was the first great sadness I felt in my life. I was 24 years old when she died. Abuelo and abuela began having children. The first was Amalla, whose actual name was Amada, afterwards a boy was born named Arturo and they would call him Coito. Aftewards my mother was born, Ernestina, whom they would call la china. Abuelo nicknamed her China because she had straight black hair and brown eyes. He said that she looked like a china (she looked Chinese). Later Futty was born whose real name was Ester; then Guedy whose real name was Agueda after abuelo’s mother. Then they had a second boy, tío Lulo whose real name was Fausto. At this time something very sad occurred. Abuela Maximina was expecting the birth of tío Roberto, the summer began. Usually the whole family would vacation in Baracoa, where abuelo had bought a large and beautiful house. The house faced the sea and there the family would spend the summer. Everyone went including the cook, the nannies and the chauffer. Thie beach was located around two hours from where they lived in Marianao. That year the oldest boy, Arturo, had to go to summer school for a time. The family decided to go on vacation with all the children to the beach and leave Arturo with his grandmother, Petronila in the house in Marianao. When summer school was finished, he would also be taken to the beach in Baracoa. One day Arturo came home from school with pain in his stomach. Petronila, thinking that it was irregularity (extreñimiento) gave him a laxative. The pain increased so much that the whole family returned from the beach with a very good surgeon, since he needed to have emergency surgery; he had appendicitis. He did not survive the surgery and died in 1925 on the operating table. Many people would tell me that there was no way to describe the sadness that abuelo and abuela experienced during this time. They could not overcome the sadness. Some time later, tío Roberto was born. Since they had so many children to raise; abuelo sold the house in Marianao and built the house where I was born. They moved to that house so the memories would not be
so painful. Abuela would take me every year to the cemetery to put flowers on her son’s grave on his birthday. After tío Roberto then tío Eduardo was born and he was the last child they had and eight years later, I was born and also went to live with them. Abuelo always would tell me that I was the youngest of their children. I lived with them and slept in his room in a small bed. Abuelo and abuela adopted an exemplary way of life. They lived for their children whom they loved tremendously. They also had a huge number of friends who loved them dearly. There were always people visiting the house and many would stay to have lunch or dinner. When their children were married there were six couples. Every night of the week one of the couples would go to the house to eat but on Sundays all the couples would have lunch there. In that way the whole family would get together. Nochebuenas (Christmas Eves) were incredible. Starting early in the morning there was a lot of movement in the house. All the maids and the cook would help in preparing the meal but my abuela, who at the same time was just as good a cook as she was enthusiastic would do and direct almost everything. It seems like I am watching her now preparing the lechón (pork) and carving the grease to make the chicharrones (pork rinds). The whole day all would work preparing the meal and at night the dining room table which had 12 chairs to the patio. Remember that in Cuba it was not very cold so we could eat very comfortably outside in the patio. Always good friends would drop by to celebrate nochebuena with us. Abuela Maximina liked to travel, my abuelo did not. When she traveled was the only time they would separate. Abuela would take me with her since I was two years old. She would stay in a beautiful old hotel just like in the movies. This small town had a spring and was called San Miguel de los Baños. We would go two or three times a year and she wold stay several days since she had a bad gallbladder and there the waters that they drank were also medicinal. She would always take me with her and my nanny, Juana. When I was eight years old World War II ended. Abuela took me to Miami for the first time. We would travel in a ship named Florida which would leave La Habana at 6:00 in the afternoon; we would sleep in the ship and arrive in Miami at 8:00 in the morning. The ship would embark and disembark next to a bridge in the middle of downtown Miami. Tía Guedy would always travel with us. We made several trips to Miami and to Tampa to get to know my bisabuelo’s family who lived there. In Cuba she took me to see the sanctuary of Caridad del Cobre. The longest trip we took was from La Habana to Key West by plane; then in bus to Miami. De Miami we went throughout the Gulf of Mexico and we rested in several places such as New Orleans and other cities. We then crossed the frontier into Mexico, traveled throughout Mexico and then returned to La Habana. The trip lasted a whole month and was an excursion organized by a Catholic teacher from La Habana who was friends of abuelo. I was 13 years old when I went on that trip. I have always believed that abuela Maximina loved to travel but I think she did it mainly so that I would get to know different places and learn from the trips. She loved to spoil me since I was born. Abuelo only came to Miami once to see a house that he was considering buying but in the end, he did not buy it. This was around 1948 or 1949. A large group of us came to Miami, which consisted of abuelo, abuela, tía Amalla, Aristides, Aristico who was one year old, mami, papi and me. That short trip only lasted a couple of days. With abuelo, I would travel around La Habana. He had to go on different errands and and attend to business; he would take me with him. Fidel Castro took 43 houses, a variety of land parcels, the house from El Reparto Nautico and a farm in the country. When we would travel his chauffer, Demetrio Perez would always drive us. He was my abuelo’s chauffer since I was born. Gomez as we called him was a very good man who loved the whole family very much. And the family loved him very much as well. He was the one who brought me home from the clinic when I was born. He died of some heart ailment when I was 22 years old. I felt his passing, as I would that of a family member. Abuelo would also take me to his farm every afternoon, this was his hobby. The farm was very large with a beautiful house in the center. There lived a gentleman with his wife and daughter. They took care of the farm. Also in a small house or shack there lived a little old man whose name was Luisito who was the one who would milk the cows and took care of the animals. Gomez would take us at around 3:00 in the afternoon and we would return at around 6:00 in the afternoon. I would run throughout the fields and I would see how they would feed the chickens and the pigs and how they would milk the cows. There I had a doll house which was so large tht I actually fit in it. It had a living room, bedroom and a porch. It also had a glass, above the door that said “Villa Virginia”. Abuela had it made for me when I turned 4 years old. That birthday they celebrated it for me at the farm. Another thing that I liked very much about abuela is that she liked children a lot. Even when she was elderly, 92 years old or so, she told me “I like that children always be happy” Abuelo and abuela would also throw costume parties at the farm for all the grandchildren. The sons and daughters who were married but did not yet have children would celebrate new year’s eve there in the farm. They would take me as well and take me to sleep early. The farm had several terraces where they would place tables and there was always a lot of music. They would invite many friends and the parties were large and a lot of fun. When my uncles were growing up they would study in different schools such as the Apostolado, Belen and LaSalle. When they became young men some of them would be sent to the United States to study. Tía Futty, tía Guedy and tío Lulo attended las Ursulinas in New Orleans. Tia Futty did not like it and she wanted to return to Cuba right away. Tia Guedy and tío Lulo stayed several years in the boarding school. They were the ones who later on spoke the best English. I was 3 years old during that time. Years passed and their sons and daughters grew up in the same house that abuelo built in general lee ( a street ) in Marianao. Tia Amalla, who was the oldest, was the first to get married to Aristides Agüero. Then my mother Ernestina was married to Alfredo Guim. When they were 3 months married and my mother was 3 months pregnant, my father passed away from a typhoid epidemic. My mama went to live again with abuelo and abuela where I was born and I was raised. When I was 2 and ½ years old she married Dr. Mario Sanchez Solis. Afterwards tía Futty married Heriberto Triana. It is curious that all of them married in order since after that tío Lulo married Mercedes Sanchez, whom was also called China. Then tío Roberto was married to Rosa de la Vega and tio Eduardo married Irene Lopez Alpizar. Her father had been the mayor of the City of Marianao. The only one who never married was tía Guedy. She had a boyfriend for several years to whom she loved very much. His name was Humberto Bruigas. They broke up, I do not really know why. I believe he was not liked by abuelo and abuela. Tia Guedy was a very good person and she was very obedient.

Many years have passed and as all of us know all of the uncles have died except for mi mami who still lives and I thank God for that. She is very old and lives with my sister Alicia.

Abuelo and Abuela had a total of 8 sons and daughters, 22 grandchildren, 37 great grandchildren and 24 great great grandchildren.

I know that all of you know the exceptional abuelos we had; whom we loved very much and are very proud of. No matter the problems that present themselves in my life, having had them as abuelos, mami as my mother, and Lalo as my husband, allow me to overcome anything that I must face. A person’s life is measured by the memories that remain in others when they leave.


It is my hope that the history I have narrated to you about our family has resulted interesting and entertaining.

With love from your cousin who loves you

YiYi

Lo que yo me acuerdo de la familia de la Vega Hevia.....

Este verano pasado me reuní con José Ramón y Yoya otra vez después de dos años sin verlos. Ellos vienen a Miami todos los veranos pero últimamente yo no he podido ir a verlos. De casualidad me contaron que habían recibido un correo electrónico de mi prima que solamente conocí una vez hace más de treinta años. Ya hace rato quería ponerme en contacto con my familia Mexicana-Cubana y lo hice. Ella me respondió inmediatamente y escribió en el blog familiar. Yo quería escribir algo sobre ellos pero me quede pensando ¿De que voy a escribir? A Miriam casi no la conocí. Ella tenía quizás 10 años cuando la vi. A Alberto Jr lo ví hace cerca de veinte anos y solamente por una hora. A Carlos hace algo semejante, aunque lo conocí mejor porque el estuvo aquí varios días y fuimos a varios sitios juntos. Y Javier no lo he visto desde que las dos familias salieron de Cuba. Comencé a pensar: ¿que es lo que yo me acuerdo de ellos.....??

Alberto y Chani - de ellos me acuerdo mucho. Cuando yo era pequeño en Cuba, Ellos vivían en El Vedado. Se que era cerca de la calle línea (posiblemente entre 13 y 14). Para ir de el náutico hacia el vedado íbamos por el túnel de la avenida 5ta (fotografia). Si alguien se acuerda de la dirección de la casa, mándenmela, quiero buscarla en Google Earth. Creo que Abuela Julia vivía con ellos pero no estoy seguro. Me acuerdo que nos gustaba mucho ir a la casa. (fotografia de Alberto y Teresa en un columpia en el patio de la casa de El Vedado.) Cuando íbamos la pasábamos muy bien. Siempre estábamos jugando por toda la casa. Creo que ellos tenían un tren eléctrico. Nosotros teníamos uno también (aunque quizás era el mismo, no lo sé). El nuestro era inmenso y estaba instalado permanentemente arriba de una mesa vieja de pin pon. Casi siempre estaba roto. Yo sabía que tío Alberto era el que arreglaba los trenes eléctricos. En la mente mía Alberto era el tío que arreglaba los trenes eléctricos. Una vez, yo era bien pequeño, y quería arreglar el tren. Carlos (mi hermano) me dijo, “pregúntale a tío Alberto.” Yo fui hacia la parte de atrás de la casa en el Vedado y le pregunte a "tío Alberto" si iba a arreglar el tren de nuestra casa. No me respondió en la manera que esperaba. Aparentemente no se acordaba que el era el que arreglaba los trenes eléctricos. Se lo conté a Carlos. El me dijo, "ese no es Alberto, es José Ramon". Aparentemente yo no podía distinguir entre ellos. (Yo tenia menos de 4 o cinco años.) Me acuerdo que una vez, ya cuando nos íbamos a ir de Cuba. Alberto se apareció en la casa del Náutico para tratar de arreglar el tren. Decidió que el transformador estaba malo. Imagínense, como íbamos a conseguir las piezas? Otro día regresó con mas o menos 12 baterías de amarradas y aparentemente conectadas y las conecto a el tren. Por dos horas ese tren funcionó perfectamente. Claro las baterías se gastaron. Después de ese día nunca más funcionó el tren. Poco después nos fuimos de Cuba. Yo creo que Alberto sabía lo que iba a suceder. Que nosotros íbamos a Miami mientras la familia de la Vega Hevia iba a México. Era como una manera de hacer algo por nosotros por última vez por un rato.

En esta fotografia esta Alberto jr, Carlos Lopez, Ramon Lopez, Carlos de la Vega, Javier de la Vega, Arturo Lopez y Rosa Maria Lopez

Me acuerdo otro día, era un día de nochebuena. Llegamos a la casa de Alberto y Chani. Estaba toda la familia reunida. Había un nacimiento de lo mas bonito que creo que José Ramón había armado. No era un nacimiento normal. Tenía muchas características y diferentes detalles que nunca he visto desde ese día. En ese tiempo en Cuba decían que Fidel había expulsado a Santa Claus de Cuba. Claro, el 6 de enero visitaban los Reyes Magos. Esa noche buena de pronto se aparece Santa Claus en la casa. Empezó a regalar regalos. Todavía me acuerdo comos todos reaccionamos. Nos fuimos arriba de Santa Claus y le arrancamos la barba. Era Roberto Fernández. Se que hay una fotografía de todos nosotros con Santa Claus. Yo creo que ustedes tienen muchas mas fotografías que nosotros porque tio Alberto era uno de los fotógrafos de la familia.

Esta fue una fotografia que se tomo el dia que Roberto Fernandez se disfrazo de Santa Claus. Tengo idea que Alberto o Jose Ramon tomo la foto.

Yo siempre tuve una impresión de Chani ser una persona muy alta de estatura. Casi siempre me acuerdo cuando era pequeño mirar hacia arriba para verla. Me asombré cuando la vi otra vez en Miami, muchos años después, cuando yo era mas grande que ella. Es una experiencia rara. Yo me acuerdo de toda la familia la primera vez que los vi. Después me acuerdo los conocí otra vez en Miami. Yo no había visto a Chani desde el 1965. Yo tenia 6 años. Después la vi cuando yo tenía cerca de veinte años. Ella se veía igual pero como yo había crecido me parecía más pequeña. Me pasó algo semejante con Alberto Jr. Yo esperaba que Alberto iba ser mas grande. Carlos vino a pasear por una semana. Fuimos a varios lugares pero el que mas me recuerdo era El Planet Ocean. Eso era un museo educacional dedicado a el océano. Ya cerró y lo convirtieron a una escuela de bachillerato. A Javier nunca más lo he visto. Me acuerdo cuando éramos pequeños que yo y Javier nos reíamos. No me acuerdo por que. Miriam la conocí cuando ella tenía alrededor de diez años. Quizás era mas joven. Ella me asombró. En Miami la gente habla una combinación de lenguajes. A veces uno habla español y otras veces ingles. Ella solamente hablaba español, como es natural. Todos los dichos que nosotros decíamos en ingles, ella los decía en español. Como una persona tan pequeña podía hablar tan bien el español tan bien y naturalmente nos asombraba. Fue un placer muy grande ver las fotografías que me mando Miriam y Nora. En ellas reconozco a Chani (todavía bien bonita), Alberto, Carlos y Javier (¿porque tan serio?) Lo que mas me gustó es ver a Miriam. Se parece tanto a Abuela Julia. No se en qué pero me recuerda de ella (la máxima autoridad).

Abuela Julia le gustaba ayudar. Ella pasaba tiempo en México, Miami, y Filadelfia siempre tratando de ayudar a las familias. Siempre llegaba a Miami y nos hablaba de la familia en México. Ella se ponía tan orgullosa. Alberto quería que ella vaya a México, José Ramón y Julita a Filadelfia y Rosa a Miami. El día que el medico le prohibió ir a Monterrey se puso muy triste. Me acuerdo que ella decía que Alberto iba a hablar con el mediquito de Abuela para que la deje ir a Monterrey. José Ramón quería buscar otro medico. En esta fotografía que Alberto le ofrece un cigarro a Abuela era cuando se hablaba de eso. Abuela siempre estaba muy contenta que todos los hijos e hijas querían que ella viviera con ellos.

En ese tiempo me empezaba a gustar la Opera y como yo sabia que a Tío Alberto también le gustaba, lo lleve a una tienda de discos (esas cosas que uno ponía en el tocadiscos, la juventud ya no sabe lo que es eso). Esta tienda se dedicaba a discos de Opera. Yo pensé que el iba a ir a ver discos de Placido Domingo, Leontyne Price o Luciano Pavarotti. A el le gustaban los discos de Jussi Bjoerling y Tito Gobi. Yo no sabía quienes eran pero pretendí. Mucho después me compré discos de ellos y me di cuenta por que le gustaba tanto. Con Tío Alberto siempre me lleve muy bien. Una de las últimas veces que vi a Alberto estaba mas serio. El estaba muy preocupado porque iba a tener que cambiar de trabajo. Aparentemente un papel que le habían prometido que permitiría a sus hijos trabajar en México no se lo habían dado. El no quería cambiar de trabajo pero se sentía como que tenia que hacerlo. Nunca lo había visto tan serio. La fotografía esta el nos estaba explicando el problema.

Siempre e admirado a nuestros padres. Cuando yo me imagino el trabajo que pasaron mudándose de Cuba y empezar de nuevo en los Estados Unidos o México, los admiro más. La preocupación de Alberto aquel día no era por que el quería mas dinero, o un trabajo mas cómodo. Lo que le preocupaba a el era que los muchachos pudieran trabajar en el futuro.

She was one cruel teacher

All the time in the old country, it was always Carlos y Ramon y Turi. We were always together. All three brothers were used to always being together. Sometimes we would leave Turi behind because he was much younger. It was kind of a shock to us when we arrived here and we had to be more independent of each other. Carlos and I were placed in the same school, Coral Way Elementary and in the same class. Turi was placed in Sts Peter and Paul. He was placed in Kindergarten, instead of where he should have been placed which was first grade. It may have been the right decision since Turi did not get the benefit of our teacher who always spoke about her migraine issues. Carlos was then transferred to another school since they had a special program for Cuban immigrants. It was supposed to be some type of intensive English program. I, on the other hand, was not eligible for the program since I was younger. Carlos had to get up earlier and take a bus to Citrus Grove Elementary. He hated it. Since Turi was in Sts Peter and I was in Coral Way Elementary, we were now most of the time separated. This was quite a shock at first(at least to me it was), but I am sure all of us benefitted from it.
I always relied on Carlos to talk. This explains why I have always been so quiet? I was place in a class taught by Mrs Magda Lecours. I think I made some friends in that class. The one I remember most a named Gabriel. He sat right behind me and I got in trouble more than once because we were talking or laughing so much. I do not remember that much more about that year. I know after that I kept going to Coral Way for the fourth grade and my teacher was Mrs Lopez. The kids made jokes about her being my wife. I was now in the regular school population. Up to that point I was in some type of special program almost on a trial basis. I did meet this guy whose name was Mario Patterson. For some reason he was always picking fights with me. He always wanted to fight me behind the school. One time I said sure. Only that afternoon did I realize he was serious. I fought him. I am not sure who won but we became good friends afterwards. I do not know what the fight was about. I have the feeling it was some type instinctive alpha male competition. If he only knew he was wasting his time fighting me.

Once, just before Halloween, the class was asked to do an art project. We took a piece of light construction paper-like material and we colored it in different primary colors. One section was green, one was blue, one was yellow etc... Then the teacher took a tablespoon filled with black paint and would coat the paper with the black paint. We were each given a nail and with the head of the nail we were supposed to draw something having to do with Halloween. Of course the colors underneath would now be visible and to me it looked liked something drawn in neon colors. I did not know what Halloween was (we had arrived in November of 1965 so I had never experienced it. I did not even know how to spell Halloween. My English advisor (Teresa) was not there to help me out. This is not something La familia Lopez celebrated, at least the just arrived from Cuba division. This was a real problem (perhaps this is why I remember the incident so clearly). The paint would dry within a half hour. I had to come up with something quickly. I asked the guy next to me and he said "come on don't you know about Halloween? You know ghosts, goblins." I said sure of course I knew. (To this day I am not sure what a goblin really is) so I looked at what the girl next to me was doing. She was drawing some kind of a fence (I figured Halloween was an English word for fence). I drew a fence. She drew what looked like a cat on top of the fence. I figured I would draw a dog. ( I guess in Halloween small animals would walk along fences) then she drew a moon in the sky. I drew a sun and some clouds. (this was really strange since the black paint indicated night.) Then it got really crazy. She drew a lady on a broom flying. ( I later realized this was kind of a cute witch, my idea of a witch was very different) Then she drew what I found out later were ghosts and goblins. Her drawing was beautiful. Mine on the other hand......A couple of days later the art teacher was talking to Mrs. Lopez. I realized they were talking about the girl next to me. They said she had done a wonderful job. Then they pointed towards me. I did not need to hear what they were saying. I felt horrible..... I wanted to make them understand how it happened. I did not say anything however....
Carlos came back for fifth grade at Coral Way. Since we were in different grades, we were not together then either. However we did walk to school and back together (most times). He had a teacher whose name was Mrs. Well (or something like that I never saw her name written down.) She was one cruel teacher. Carlos would go to school with one full BIC ® pen (one of those which you could see where the ink was and how much ink was remainin) and come back with the whole thing almost empty. I have yet to use a half a BIC pen. She would make him write and write and write these things called lines. His hand would really hurt. …… I did not know what lines were. I was once punished and had to write 200 lines and that is what I did, I drew 200 lines. Some of them were straighter than others. I handed them in. The kids thought it was some kind of a rebellion thing, I played along with it but in the end the teacher realized I really did not know what lines were. I then did the assignment correctly. I felt really badly for Carlos ......I could not complain much. Mrs. Lopez was not all that good, but compared to Carlos’s teacher she was wonderful. Carlos always had bad luck with his teachers. During the summer we were enrolled in summer camp in Sts Peter and Paul. I had a coach or camp leader who was one of Robert's friends. His name was Tamarit. That was his last name; his first name I think was Luis or Jose, I am not sure. He was ok. We played a lot of baseball and flag football. I had a lot of fun. Carlos on the other hand had a camp leader who would apparently was trained elsewhere. He always make his group run. I saw Carlos once in a while. When he ran through the back of home plate and I was batting. When he ran through the back of the end zone and I was trying to figure out what was going on in this game called football. As he ran by, sweating and tired, he kept shaking his writing hand.....

Turi on the other hand loved his teacher. His Kindergarten teacher I do not remember. I know there were two. One's name was Mrs Olio. I think the other one was Ms Aleman, but I may be making it up. In first grade he had Sister Kateria. I think Turi really liked Sr. Kateria. Actually, all of us liked Sister Kateria. We lived on SW 12th avenue and around two blocks from the Convent at Sts Peter and Schools and most times the nuns would walk by our house and say hello. One time we were playing volleyball in front of the house. (we were always playing something or other in front of the house all the time, that is one advantage of having so many brothers and sisters, also since we had no air conditioning....). Sister Kateria and a number of other nuns would come by and sometimes participate in the game. Turi seemed really happy at that time.

This was in 1966, the year of the first super bowl. I did not really even notice the game, then again at that time the Super Bowl was not that big a deal. Robert had just been accepted at LaSalle High School. Mami and Papi were really proud of Robert. He was really looking forward to the next step. He was going to play football. He kept talking about the school and how in the Science Laboratory they had certain chemicals. He said he wanted to become a chemist when he grew up. I did not know what chemistry was. I asked mom. She said chemists could turn one thing into another. Great, my brother was going to be un brujo. When I think back on that I wonder how I became a chemist at all. It did make me curious, however. Robert always seemed to look forward to new challenges such as school. He would then look back and think how easy it was. He went out for football and played right guard. He had to use number 65. He wanted to get no. 64 but was not able to. I think the next year he was able to use 64. He was reading a book which was a best seller at the time. It was entitled "Instant Replay" by Jerry Kramer. He was a guard for the Green Bay Packers. Robert really liked that book and Vince Lombardi and Bart Starr and Ray Nitschke. I read that same book much later. It was actually the same book he read, I found it lying around the garage. It really was a good book to read; very inspiring. I would alway say I liked the Baltimore Colts and Don Shula and Johnny Unitas. Carlos liked the San Francisco 49ers. At that time I do not really think Carlos and I really knew or understood anything about football. Carlos may have understood a little more. Teresa's attitude was different. She liked to be with her cousins but she did not treat school the same way as Robert did. To her it seemed to be just something you had to do. Years later we would spend a lot of time talking about literature and books. Actually, she did most of the talking. I just listened. I really did not have that much to contribute. I think I just wanted to impress my big sister. I ended up reading a lot of J.D. Salinger and Samuel Clemens which I did enjoy.

One time I was inside the house, I think I was watching television. Turi was outside, possibly waiting for Sister Kateria to come by. Carlos was nursing his hand when all of a sudden I hear Turi scream, "Mami hay una negra en la puerta." I ran outside and sure enough there was Misora. She had come by to visit. We had never met Misora. Mom was so embarrassed. She did not know whether to scream at us or whether to scream at us. Mom saw me, and the first person Misora saw was also me. I kept thinking it was Lydia or Lucia. Misora just looked at me. To this day Misora swears that it was I who said that. Well, for the record, it was TURI not me.

Misora stayed for a while. She was a very nice lady. She kept trying to make Mom not feel so badly about what happened. Misora had taken care of Robert when he was little. She came to the United States well before us, in the mid 50's I believe. Misora had a sister named Dolores. Dolores I did remember. She went to see me in the hospital while I was having a simple surgery done. I was scared and was very grateful when she went by. Funny how one always remember things like that. Dolores also helped take care of Antonica ( or at least look in on her) when she was the last living member of La Familia Falcon (abuela’s family) left in Cuba. Dolores was still in Cuba. Misora kept talking about Dolores and asking mom how Dolores was since Dolores and Misora had not seen each other in years. You could tell how Misora really missed her. I kind of identified with her. Our family had also been separated. It did make me appreciate how things were now. Carlos Ramon and Turi were separated in school, but when we got home we were always together, well maybe except Carlos who was in the next room, working on his lines…..

Desde Monterrey

Desde Monterrey, México.....
esta mañana de domingo, abrir mi correo es cosa de siempre... pero esta vez encontré un nombre familiar ..pero no un nombre de la gente que suele escribirme, me dije.. mm miriam, creo que es tu primo de Miami... y aun así me quede pensando. que raro que me escriban.. y me asome a ver que era...

O grata sorpresa me lleve, si era mi primo... que recordé a la perfección.. mi primo que hablaba mucho y siempre se reía... de la edad de mis hermanos... recuerdos pocos, pues solo lo vi una semana en aquella vista a su ciudad....
en ese momento me viniero esos pocos recuerdo que tengo de ustedes.. pero también de mi papa y mi tío José ramón....me puse a leer.. así rápido por arriba, y vi fotos, y dije fotos, que bien.. entre tantas fotos, vi unos chiquillos familiares.. muy familiares.. digamos guapos... si mis tres hermanitos.... como diría mi mama los tres monos sabios... ahí me detuve un poco mas... a leer

No puedo negar y mentiria que no em emocione... y me decia, miriam.. mira se acurdan al igual que nosotros.. relamete dije eso es ser familia por mas lejos que estemos. y bueno
continué.. y me encotre una foto que en mi casa también la he visto... donde sale mi papa.. que alegría me dio verla... fue extraño ver algo que yo también había visto antes.

mi primera reacción fue escribir y escribir de nosotros aquí, pero dije es un block no se quien lo lea.. y no se si les interese saber de cada uno. y lo borre, segundo intento, volví a escribir y parecía mas carta que relato. y hasta trate de subir una foto( que no he podido) y me puse a revisar la ortografía. ( que no la tengo buena) y me dije no cambia. y decidí mandar esto..


caramba era como carta de presentación de la familia.. así que le pensé un ratito

realmete me ha dado alegria.. y ahora me dispongo a mandar fotos. creo que ellas hablan por si solas de quienes soms los De la Vega Hevia, representado en Mexico

saludos desde la ciudad de las montañas
Miriam

“Esos son comunistas. Parecen mujeres.”

In Cuba our lives were built around two goals, getting out of there and being reunited with Robert and Teresa. We always felt badly about being separated from Robert and Teresa. When we would tell people that we had not seen them in almost four years, they would say “pobrecitos”. I kept feeling bad for ourselves because we had been separated for so long. In Cuba society had come to a virtual standstill (or shift in directions). In the United States things were also changing and evolving. My father knew of the United States of years ago, not exactly the one we got to know once we got there. In Spain mom and dad tried to kind of introduce us to American Culture (Jerry Laywis, Abbot and Costello etc…) . But this was the culture of several years ago. Things were different now….
Upon our arrival one of the first big differences we experienced was in the music. Carlos and I liked to hear music and I think we had one record in Cuba. The lyrics went something like:

“Lunes antes de almorzar, ella no podia jugar, ella no podia jugar porque tenia que planchar”

and

“Un elefante se balanceaba sobre la tela de una araña. Cuando veia que ya no podia…iva a buscarse un camarada”

The first song we would actually act out as the poor kid could not play because she had so many chores. I am now more than a little bit embarrassed to say I actually enjoyed that. These were actually children’s songs. This was not surprising since we were children at the time.

There were also popular songs we liked which we heard on the radio in Cuba, for example;

“Ya los majases no tienen cueva Felipe Blanco se las tapó. Se las tapo, se las tapo, se las tapo por que lo digo yo”

“El oso papopo cuando no bailaba se sirve un placer; Ay que Buena esta la fiesta mama, ay arrimate pa ca nene.”

I think the first one had some political undertones. Felipe Blanco was an actual politician who took a strong hand to eliminate some bad guys (maja is a snake, also a bad guy). The second, is a dance tune.
Dad also taught us some classics like “Nosotros” and “Quizas, quizas, quizas”. He would love to tell us the history behind the songs, particularly “Nosotros’ by Pedro Junco:
“Nosotros, que nos queremos tanto debemos separarnos no me preguntes mas. No es falta de carino, Te quiero con el alma. Te juro que te adoro y en nombre de este amor y por tu bien te digo adios.”
This song was written by a man who was in love with this lady but he had TB and expected to die. Since TB is contagious he did not want to pass it to his beloved so he feels they must not be together. The song is of course about that. Dad loved that song. I can still hear him tell that story.
Before, everything that mom and dad said was it. We tried to learn from them. Considering there was not television and no one else older this was the thing to do. Now things were different. We were trying to learn what our two more experience siblings were trying to teach us. Everything they would say would be ingrained in our minds (at least in mine). I remember a lot of useful and useless things from that time. Part of that was in learning about the music. The famous songs at the time were “Over and Over” by the Dave Clark Five, “Downtown” by Petula Clark and “I’m Henry the Eighth I Am”, by Herman’s Hermits. We would hear those songs over and over again (sorry). Teresa or Robert had the records and Teresa showed us how it was danced to. She danced differently….. They told us that it was a different type of music, it was rock and roll. I thought she looked like she was doing calisthenics. Carlos and I tried to dance like her. I do not really know what Turi was doing at the time. At the time she really wanted to buy a 45 rpm by Petula Clark called “My Love”. It was hard to find but we found it at Jackson Byrons. They had the best record collection at the Jackson Byrons downtown. We would get dropped off by the bus in front of Burdines. We would go to Jacson Byrons to look at the records and then cut through the Seybold Building to get to Richard’s Deparment Store. Sometimes we would stop at McCrory’s to get a corn dog. We would then take the bus back (no. 18) which would pick us up between the two building that made up Burdines. There were two really popular radio stations in Miami. They were WQAM (560 Tiger Beat) and WFUN (790 Fun radio). You could get a really cheap AM radio and listen to these stations. According to Robert, the Dave Clark Five did not sing well but they had good songs. Robert told us the difference between a long playing record and a 45. It was better to buy 45’s since there were a lot of songs that we did not like in the long playing record. The first long playing record we bought was The Best of the Dave Clark Five. We bought it at Walgreens, downtown. I think it cost around $5. He had to think long and hard before he bought it. I think I can still sing all of the songs on that record. There were also “The Beatles”. Robert told us they sang very well. Their harmonies were better. I did not know their songs that well, possibly, because Teresa did not dance to them. I of course wanted to be accepted by Robert y Teresa. I wanted to like the music they liked. I thought it was “groovy” and “cool” (typical words of the time, I was catching on). This was fine and frankly they were great. They both had a lot patience. They would teach us about the latest groups etc. .. We desperately wanted to take in all this knowledge.
Mom and dad never criticized the music that Robert y Teresa liked. Tio lulo and Tia China and Abuelo and Abuela and particularly Tita really did criticize it. When I went to Abuelo and Abuela’s house I would really feel bad about liking the stuff. Every time a band would be playing on the television Abuelo and Abuela and Tiita would comment on the long hair and the way they were dressed. “Esos son comunistas. Parecen mujeres.” I would ask mom and dad why they criticized it so much and they would tell me that my grandparents came from a place where anyone who sympathized with the government would have a beard. They lost their fortunes and their way of life because of these people. Therefore any one who wore a beard was “comunista”. Their explanations always did seem very consistent. It was interesting that Robert was one of the first kids in his class to have to shave. He earned the nickname “Fidel” for this reason. I do not know how dad felt about this. He never did complain. Then again my dad never did complain. To this day friends of Robert that I meet remember him as Fidel. Mom and dad never made us feel bad about liking that music. They were always very supportive.

I do not think mom and dad wanted to complain about anything Robert and Teresa liked or did. They tried to make up for lost time with Robert and Teresa. Stereo record players had just come out. Robert explained to me what stereo was. There were two channels. In one channel the voice and guitar would be recorded. In the other channel it was the drums. The sound was a lot clearer in stereo. We did not have one however. Ours was just a regular record player. Maybe some day we would get one. Teresa and Robert talked about getting one. I always thought it was something that was not really going to happen. Almost like one day we will get one. Yeah…Right. One day, mom and dad actually got a stereo. I was really surprised. They bought it from a guy name Salome. They would always get electronics from Salome. To everyone Salome is an exotic Arab lady. To me it is an old Cuban Jewish man who sold electronics of questionable value. Soon after we got here it was Robert’s birthday. We went to Merle’s Bicycle shop in Coral way and 14 street and Dad bought Robert a bicycle. It was red and had the type of handle bars that looked like a v or u with two handles sticking out the sides. It was a really nice bike. It cost $39. Since dad was working as a dishwasher at that time for $13 a day. This was three days salary. Dad was very happy buying Robert the bike. You could tell he was really proud of himself. I asked dad why he spent so much on Robert y Teresa (he had spent a lot less on Turi’s bike, I was still walking). He seemed to get annoyed (not really upset... just annoyed. He said something like; “I haven’t seen Robert and Teresa for four years. They basically grew up for four years separated from us, without their mom and dad. He said something else which I forget but the gist of it was that I realized how badly mom and dad felt about being separated from Robert y Teresa. They felt like they had done Robert and Teresa an injustice (they felt they had to). I had always felt sorry for ourselves because we could not see our brother and sister. I always thought the “pobrecitos” was us. This was the first time I had realized that the reason they felt so bad was not because of us, or because they missed them (which I am sure they did) but because of how Robert and Teresa must have felt and what they went through while they were here. I could tell in his voice how badly he felt. I have heard that voice in myself when I have gotten really annoyed. I felt like cr..p after asking that question. I am now happy I did. I learned a lot about my dad on that day.

...Bienvenido...

Once we arrived in Miami things were different from what we expected. We moved in to a house on 12th avenue and 16th street. A lot of us were living there, Abuelo, abuela, Roberto and Rosa and the kids and Tia China and tio Lulo and lulito. The picture kind of shows the house in the background. The house was big, it had four rooms. Tio lulo and Tia china slept in the first bedroom. Tio Lulo and Tia China are pictured with Robert. I think I slept in the room next to mom and dad’s room and the dining room but I am not sure. I do remember being ill at the time. I got some kind of stomach virus and I always blamed it on the last thing I ate on the plane. It hit me pretty bad and I ended up watching a lot more television than I normally do.

Here in Miami they had three channels. These were channels 4, 7 and 10. You could sometimes also see channels 5 and 12 but only barely, and they just seemed to play the same things as the other channels, although sometimes at different times. Since I Had not been able to watch TV in Cuba, either because it was not available (TV was broken) or mom and dad thought it best not to allow us to watch it due to the propaganda that was playing. I say this only because of an experience I once had. We were at Teresita’s house where dad would play dominoes every Sunday. Usually we would just watch them play but this time the TV was on. I started watching…

A Cuban gentleman was very hungry and dressed in poor clothes. He sat in the steps of the church as he would sadly plead for food for his three starving children. His wife was pregnant and also starving. I think there was a wedding about to occur and people wanted him to leave the steps of the church. This was a really pitiful man. You would feel sorry for him because he was in such dire straits. The story went on and the gentleman wanted to stay there asking for money for his family. Then a priest came. out of the church to speak to him. I was sure the priest would come up with a reasonable solution to the problem. The priest was kind looking and was wearing a robe. He took out a gun and shot him three times.

I was shocked. So much so that when I went home I asked mom why did the priest shoot that nice man. I do not remember what she said. I do remember her yelling at dad and saying “Come es que tu as dejado que tu hijo vea esa porqueria?” It wasn’t a fight. I never did see them fight. I was not allowed to watch TV at Teresita’s house any more.

Our television set broke mysteriously until so big an event would take place which my parents needed to watch. For example La Bahia de cochinos, or the death of president Kennedy or when Gary Powers was shot down. They had to hear the news and mysteriously the TV set was fixed. I bought it hook line and sinker.

That Saturday I was sick and had to stay in bed. I started watching the Rodeos. I did not understand it. In Spain they would kill the bull. You have to understand that in my mind the bull was mean. He did attack the guy in the funny suit. If the guy was not careful, he would get killed. That would hardly ever happen. Here they would tie the bull and have some cowboy ride the bull. They would let the bull go and then rapidly the bull would get the guy off his back. The whole thing lasted like 12 seconds. I did not understand this at all. Usually the cowboy would get hurt and some clown would come by to entertain the bull so the cowboy would not get gored. . I switched channels and a strange person was on who was talking to like a stadium full of people. My mom warned me to not listen to that since the guy was Protestant not Catholic. I could not speak English anyway but he seemed to say Jesus a lot. His name was Billy Graham. I got bored of that so then I watched wrestling. These were really exciting. I did not know how these guys did not get hurt. In boxing the guy would box but you would see them get hurt, but not in wrestling. Carlos told me they were faking it. They would not really fight. Yeah Right!!! I kept flipping channels and saw a game called Football. This I really did not understand and flipped the channel again.

Soon after that we had to go enroll in school. We had never been in school before. Mom took Carlos and Me to Sts. Peter and Paul School. Robert was attending Sts Peter and Paul. I believe Teresa was in Coral Way elementary. They put me in the second grade, even though my age indicated that I should go to 3rd grade. I think they put Carlos in third grade. Mom did not like this so we left. Turi got screwed and was left in kindergarten. She enrolled us in Coral Way elementary. There they put Carlos and me in 3rd and 4th grade respectively. It turns out that I was placed in third grade on a trial basis. They would allow me to continue in the third grade until the first grading period was in. If I did well I could keep going in third grade, if not then……. I went the first day and then the second day. Then I talked to Teresa and told her that it was horrible. Remember we had never gone to school before. Mom and dad were afraid that we would be expolsed to all of the propaganda, so we were kept out of school. All we had was the lady who would teach us Spanish and had migraines. A the end of the third day I told Teresa, boy I am glad that is over with. I almost started crying when I realized I had to go back to school the next day.

I kept watching Robert do homework. He was in the eighth grade in Mr. Noguera’s class. His teacher for Algebra was Sister Ann Raymond. I thought I was pretty good at math but he was doing this funny math. They always said he was really intelligent. I took that as a challenge. I tried to do his math. It included a lot of x’s and y’s. I would ask him, what is this number x. He would say it stood for any number (podia ser cualquier numero) I kept thinking. This is easy. Make it always zero and there you go. Years later when I actually learned Algebra I would always think back on that.

Teresa and Silvia ( my cousin) served a advisors for me in Coral Way Elementary School. I guess they went there too. They said whatever you do not take Mrs. Sanchez. And watch out for the principal, (el principal). If you are sent to his office you are in real trouble. The principal’s name was Mr. Logan. He had all white hair. I was so scared of him. El Principal. Mrs. Lecours seemed to like me. Every once in a while she would call me to the back of the classroom. She would bring all these clothes for me to try on. She would then give me the ones that fit. She was actually a nice lady. She gave a leather jacket which I really liked. It had a small whole in the pocket but that was okay. I would wear that jacket every chance I would get. This class was in a portable classroom. It was a divided class. The left side was for fourth grade and the right side was third grade. I would never know who Mrs Lecours was teaching, the third graders or the fourth graders. I kept answering the questions for the fourth graders. I think for a while there she was considering placing me in the fourth grade because I was so advanced in mathematics. In English I had no idea what the teacher was saying.



One day I was in class and Mr. Logan came in the room. I immediately tensed up. Teresa had said that he was the boss. He is the principal. He stopped and talked to the teacher, Mrs Lecours. She said one word to him and pointed towards me. I was now really scared. He came towards me and I started to take off. I was halfway out of my chair and he extended his hand; he said “bienvenido”……I guess I made it into the third grade.

They looked really different....

Although we really had a very enjoyable time in Spain, we really did not appreciate it that much at the time. The overriding concern my parents had was reuniting us with RobertyTeresa. That is how it was always said one word, RobertyTeresa. Robert y Teresa were sent to Miami with my uncle and aunt, Tio Lulo y Tia China. We were the last of the clan to stay in Cuba apparently for two reasons; to take care of Abuelo Arturo and Abuela Maximina and I suspect another reason was that there were so many of us (hijos de Roberto y Rosa) that it would have been difficult to start all over in Miami with seven kids and no jobs. Robert was also getting to be an age where it would be more difficult to get out of Cuba since military service began at the age of 12 (los pioneros). They came over in 1961 with my aunt and uncle. I think were were supposed to come to the states earlier than we did, it just became more difficult. I am sure Mom and Dad felt guilty about having to be separated from them Mom and dad were very worried about Robert y Teresa. They were particularly worried about Robert. He had been diagnosed with a disease called Pertes disease. This is a rare disease where the hip joints get worn out as the child grows. This leads to a very unusual way of walking were the child will bob from side to side as he or she walks. I do not know at what age Robert was diagnosed with it but I know he was in a full body cast for one year and half casts for some time after that. Mom and dad were looking forward to being with them again. Hence the whole family was, even though I suspect only Carlos and I specifically remembered them, it was with much anticipation that we boarded the plane from Madrid to New York City because we were going to be reunited with Robert y Teresa.

I do not remember as much about the trip from Madrid, Spain to the United States. I know the airplane was a four engine Jet Plane. The company was Alitalia. It traveled from Spain to New York City. The trip was only seven hours; it seemed longer though. We would then catch another plane to go to Miami. It was the type of jet plane that had its engines on the wings. I was surprised that the airplane did not seem to go any faster than the four propeller plane. When you are on the inside you really cannot tell how fast you are going. I remember a few things about the plane ride. What I remember the most was the food. They served these little pasta squares which on the inside was filled with meat and cheese. I later found out these were called Ravioli. We were also served some type of steak for dinner. It had some type of white sauce on it which seemed to taste alright, although it was different. I particularly remember the Ravioli because later I would throw up(once I got to our new home) and it was the last thing I had eaten. For many years I could not even stand the aroma of Ravioli being made in the kitchen. We hit some turbulence and the plane seemed to shake a lot. There was a child on the plane which kept screaming that we were going to die or something similar. I was not worried since the Captain kept saying that everything was alright; this type of thing happens all the time and there was nothing to worry about. I bought the Captain’s explanation and did not understand why some people were so worried. Having now seen all these movies were the airplane runs into major problems and the captain is never worried, I probably should have been quite nervous.

There were some problems while landing. Actually there was one problem. It could not. I saw New York City early on and for what seemed to be an eternity. I was told that we were circling because there were some problems with the runway. I kept worrying what would happen if we ran out of gas while up there? Would we gradually lose altitude or would we just take a dive. I was just so tired. I kept having a headache because I would see what I know now is Manhattan and then we would turn around and circle again. We finally landed. I was surprised when we got off the airplane that we did not walk through the tarmac. We were in some type of tube which led us right to the terminal. At the time I did not realize it. I just wondered how we got from the airplane into the terminal. I later figured out what it was.
I do not know if it was by design or if it happened due to the delays, but we landed in one airport (I think it was Kennedy or LaGuardia) and then the plane taking us to Miami was taking off from another one. We had to move fast and get to the other airport. The whole family took what I believe was taxis or it could have been an airport transport, in order to get there. It was fairly cold out but not freezing outside. We finally got to the airport and the airplane took off for Miami. It was an Eastern Airlines four engine Jet plane. We were in Miami very fast (less than two hours). There the whole family was waiting for us. I remember very little about this except that there were a lot of people there. People I vaguely remembered and some I did not remember at all. Most of them had left Cuba years ago. We were so jet lagged and lost we just wanted to go home and go to sleep. I remember Heriber who took me and Carlos to get the plastic dinosaur from the machine. I remember Lulito saying hello; tio Lulo calling us berraco; I know we looked for Robert and Teresa, but I do not remember seeing them there. Perhaps they were spending time with Mom and Dad. I know I kept looking for them They must have been feeling odd since they all of a sudden where joined by five family members, one of which they had named (Juan Pablo) but not met. Another which they had not really met. In any case we had all changed so much it was like meeting each other for the first time.

Both Teresa and Robert looked really different. The last time I had seen them was when I was three going on four. Teresa was 7 going on 8. Robert was 9 going on 10. I do not really remember when they left Cuba, I presume because we were not really told. I just remember they were not there. I also remember Mom and Dad being very sad I. I posted a few pictures which show what they looked like when we last we saw them in Cuba and what they looked like when we saw them again in Miami. In this picture is Robert, I believe carrying Rosa. This was in 1961 so Rosa must be months old. In the other picture is Teresa with Carlos. Carlos must have been four years old. I was even younger. Now Teresa looked a lot thinner than I had remembered. She was in the sixth grade already so she must have been 11 going on 12 years old. The last time I remembered seeing her she was 7 years old and was about to go to the bathroom and she was telling me to leave . I was playing hide and seek ( a los escondidos) and the bathroom communicated between two rooms and was the perfect place to hide. I did not understand why she wanted me to leave. ( a psychiatrist would have a field day with this). Robert looked even more different. The last time I saw him he was walking across the hall in the house in Cuba. The Cuban sillon was in the way and he skipped over the wood that extends behind the sillon. That is the only firm recollection I had. I did not remember any other incident. Carlos probably remembers more. I sometimes forget how young we were when the separation took place. While in Cuba I felt like I knew both of them very well. Now in Miami I felt that I did not know them. They also acted different. They seemed a lot quieter than we were. I think they were kind of in shock. All of a sudden they had this huge family and all the rules had been changed around them We would have all these expressions which they did not understand. The picture of the whole family was taken a few days after our arrival in front of our house on 12th avenue. Finally the family was together again. We just had to get to know each other one more time.

Rosa found a really good picture of the family when Robert y Teresa left Cuba. The picture I chose of Carlos and Teresa was aparently taken a little bit earlier. Thanks Rosa.

Back row; Dad, Ramon (4), Rosa (1 month?), Mom. Front row: Teresa (8), Arturo (2), Carlos (5), Robert (9). I do not know the exact date although Rosa cannot be more than a couple of months old. That would make it November or December of 1961.

From left to right (back row) Carlos, 10, Teresa, 12, Robert, 14, (front row) Rosa (4), Juan Pablo (2), Arturo (6), Ramon (8). The ages are approximate since I do not really know the date the picture was taken. I believe it was around November of 1965. I know it was after Halloween, I do not know if it was before or after Thanksgiving.