Hector J. Trejo

Hector J. Trejo

January 21, 1926 – February 1, 2022

Born on an icy, cold, and snowy night on January 21, 1926, in a house on North Alamo Street, our father was to start his life with the tenacity and determination that would keep him on track for the rest of his life. As an infant, he slipped by the diphtheria epidemic that took the lives of so many children, including that of his older sister by two years, Alicia. Our Tia Delia, Dad’s eldest sister, became his only sibling.

Even as a small child, Dad was expected to collect milk from cranky nanny goats in the dark hours of the morning. He did not live on a farm. In fact, he grew up on the east side of San Antonio on Wyoming Street near the intersection with Piedmont Street. Our dad pitched in with the work that had to be done to take care of the chickens, ducks and goats kept by my Guelita. Afterall, Guelita’s garden of vegetables and herbs and her menagerie of critters, helped to keep dinner on the table. Oh, what delicious dishes they were!

Our father gave thanks to God every day that he never suffered hunger or ever lacked a roof over his head. He exemplified the motto that education and hard work go hand in hand to make a fruitful life. Of course, God was at the center of the energy that kept him and his parents striving to provide for themselves and others during the Depression.

Having been born to two immigrants, Juan Trejo and Amalia Gonzalez Trejo, who came to San Antonio at the peak of the Mexican Revolution, our dad learned that the best equity is “sweat equity”.  He believed this of himself and of those he perceived, with fair and sound judgement, as promising business candidates.  This discernment served him well in his 30-year career at West Side Bank.

He was so proud of having worked his way through St. Michael’s Catholic School and Central Catholic High School. While in high school, Dad even managed to buy himself an excuse for a car which he named “La Marrana”.  The adventures he shared with his Central classmates and “La Marrana” could fill a book, but that’s another story.

Upon his graduation from Central Catholic in 1943, Dad volunteered for the Army Air Corps. World War II was strangling Europe by the throat and it was worse in the South Pacific.  Dad joined the military anyway. He signed up as his patriotic duty.  He was also thankful that being in the military gave him the opportunity to work toward a higher education.

Our father could be described with numerous glowing words, but he would have said that he was not a perfect man. He would seek the best ways to remedy his faults, and he prayed that God would help him toward this end.  This tribute is dedicated to a man who was a committed family man, worker, an educated man, a gentleman, and a businessman. He was a part of that applauded group known as the Greatest Generation.

The way we will remember him best is that he was a devoted husband to our mother, Margaret, and a father who gave his all to make the world a better place for his wife, children, and grandchildren. God bless you, Dad.  You will always be “Grampy” in our hearts.

Dad was preceded in death by his parents, our mother, Margaret Trejo and his sister, Delia Trejo Rivas. He is survived by his children Alfred Luis Trejo, Sonia Trejo Garza (Cruz Lozano Garza), and Debora Trejo Rodriguez (Oscar Rodriguez), as well as his grandchildren Sonia Yvette Garza, Mariel Katrina Rodriguez, and Lorena Anissa Rodriguez.

We would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to VITAS and their Inpatient Unit staff for their excellent care.

MEMORIAL SERVICES

Funeral services will be held on Tuesday, February 22, 2022, at St. Luke Catholic Church, 4603 Manitou, San Antonio, Texas. Visitation will begin at 9:00 a.m. followed by the rosary at 9:30 a.m. with Holy Mass starting at 10:00 a.m., interment to follow at San Fernando Cemetery #2.

MEMORIAL CONTRIBUTIONS

In lieu of flowers, it was our father’s wish that donations be made to the St. Luke Catholic Church Senior Ministry.