Juan Avalos

Juan Antonio Avalos, May 11, 1929 - March 22, 2025

We lost our beloved father, Juan Antonio Avalos, on March 22, 2025. Born in Santiago de Cuba on May 11, 1929, Juan was the second eldest of five children born to Juan Antonio Avalos and Constancia Hechavarria. Juan's family moved from Santiago to Havana so that he and his younger brother could attend college at the University of Havana. Juan graduated from medical school in 1954 and immigrated to the United States, where he performed medical residencies and internships in state hospitals in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Connecticut before taking a position at the Galesburg State Research Hospital in Galesburg, Illinois in 1962.

Juan, his wife Elizabeth, and daughters Helen and Lisa moved to Moline, Illinois in 1970 where Juan began a private practice of psychiatry and founded Moline Psychiatric Associates with his dear friend and colleague Danilo Domingo. While in Moline, he opened his home to many family and friends, frequently enjoyed the Mexican food at Adolph's Taco House, and walked at Southpark Mall where he would run into patients who loved saying hello to him.

Juan retired from private practice in 1999 and moved permanently to Miami, Florida, a city that he had maintained strong ties to since immigrating to the United States. There, he reconnected with many friends from college and medical school who had also left Cuba. He spent much of his time in Miami with his friends at the Forum Revolucionario Democratico Cubano, discussing the politics of Cuba, and North, South, and Central America.

Juan's post-retirement career as a journalist and radio commentator reflected his deep knowledge of Latin American history, his personal understanding of the Cuba in which had come of age, the Cuba that he had left, and the modern Cuba which he visited whenever he was able. His last visit to Cuba was in December of 2019. His written commentaries and radio broadcasts resonated with his love for Cuba, its people, and democracy.

Juan signed off his commentaries with the phrase "Patria y Libertad" meaning "homeland and freedom." In his adopted homeland, Juan never missed an opportunity to vote or to communicate his great love for both Cuba and the United States. His children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, were blessed by his decision to come to the United States, to make a life for himself here, and to never stop thinking about freedom in all parts of the world.

Juan also had a very fun-loving side. We grew up with lots of parties that included numerous dear friends and usually had a pig roast at the center of the festivities. Obtaining a suitable pig often involved a trip to Randolph street in Chicago and was followed by our father and uncle expertly marinating the pig with garlic, Naranja agria, and other Cuban spices, and then leaving it in the refrigerator for a few days where they would turn it from time to time. Then would come the day when we would wake up to the aroma of the pig cooking over charcoal in a re-purposed propane tank turned roaster.

Travel was another passion of Juan's. Since going to Cuba was impossible before 1979, (and still difficult after that), he took us all over the Caribbean in search of somewhere that reminded him of Cuba. We have fond memories of swimming in Acapulco bay, eating the best red snapper of our lives in Cancun, traveling across the Dominican Republic with a new friend we had just met on the plane, and driving on the left side of the road in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Many of these trips involved airplanes so small that we had to tell our weight before boarding; another involved an airboat where Lisa, age 13, got to sit in the cockpit because there was no co-pilot. Juan was a lover of planes and airports; he taught us to take pleasure in the journey as much as in the purpose of the trip itself. He also embraced the capacity of travel to expand one's horizons and perspectives on the world, and he passed that passion on to both of us. Because he gave us our first adventures, he is always with us when we travel and I (Lisa) cannot pass through an airport without thinking of him.

When Dad finally took us to Cuba in 1980 to meet our extended family, they gave us the most loving embraces of our lives, then took our hands and didn't let go for the next five days. He made sure that we knew who our family was, despite politics and closed borders, and equipped us with the tools to maintain those relationships to this day. Juan's final trip to Cuba was in 2019 and he was accompanied by both daughters and grandchildren Steph and Nick. With Nick's help he climbed stairs. He toured Havana with his brother Nordi pushing his wheelchair, and took great pleasure in hearing live Cuban music everywhere we went. Steph photographed everything and then made her Abuelo a photo book that he enjoyed for the rest of his life.

Juan was proceeded in death by his father, mother, and his siblings Gladys, Angel, Arnoldo, and Etna. Juan is survived by his former wife and devoted friend, Elizabeth R. Avalos, daughter Helen Avalos and son-in-law Greg Kudrick, daughter Lisa Avalos, grandchildren Stephanie Avalos-Bock (Phil Lange), Elena Specht (Kevin), Nicholas Yazzie Avalos, two great-grandchildren, sisters-in-law Maria Teresa Burke y Avalos and Rafaela Burke, niece Ania Avalos, nephew Arnoldo Avalos (Iris Altamirano) and numerous beloved relatives and friends in Cuba, Spain, and the United States. Burial will be private.