Eleuterio Limon (1922-2012)

On November 12, Eleuterio Limon died at a nursing home in Santa Monica, California. He was ninety years old. After a long life, he finally passed after a series of stokes. Mr Limon was not a famous man, but he was my father-in-law.

My son and daughter drove up to Santa Monica with me to be there at the end. When we arrived, my wife and two of her sisters were already there. We knew he was going fast because my wife had called us while we were en route and told us it could be any minute. That turned out to be the case. As we entered the room everyone was crying, and my wife told us he had just at that minute passed. Actually, he was still breathing. As we gathered around him and recited prayers in Spanish, he struggled for breath for about 10 minutes and finally passed at 3:22 pm.

I want to tell you something about Mr Limon-not just because I loved him- but because his life is worth noting as we struggle with the immigration issue in America. He came to this country legally over 50 years ago as a bracero-part of a program where Mexican workers were admitted to do certain manual work. Leaving his family behind in Mexico until he could send for them, he worked with his hands. He picked fruit in the fields and worked for Kaiser in a place in the California desert called Eagle Mountain. Later, he worked for an electronics firm and collected junk items that he restored into things of beauty and sold at swap meets.

In 1966, his wife and children immigrated to California and joined him. They eventually settled in a small house in Venice. Eventually, everyone became American citizens. The children married and had children. Their children had children. Today, there are more nieces and nephews than I can count. Mr Limon was the patriarch of a family that has spanned four generations. They are all Americans, educated, law-abiding, and fully assimilated. Bi-lingualism is still there, but English has become the main language.

I was the first non-Mexican to join the Limon family. Today, that family consists of  people from other groups, such as Cuban, Salvadoran, Italian, and African-American. They exemplify the American immigrant success story.

Life was not easy for Mr Limon in his later years. Mrs Limon died ten years ago after a long illness that left her bed-ridden for the last years of her life. Eventually, Mr Limon suffered from dementia and required full-time care-givers in his small home on Rose Avenue. He suffered from arterial problems that should have taken him two or three years ago. A series of strokes followed, which led to the end.

Every year on his birthday, it was traditional for the family to have a party with carne asada and a Mariachi band, which Mr Limon loved so much. I have a feeling we will continue that tradition come next February.

Thank you, Don Tello. Thank you for your life. Thank you for your contributions to our country. Thank you for your family.

We will miss you.