Mr. William C. Cuartero

Eulogy - Delivered by William J. Cuartero (Son)

January 22, 2010 – Given at St. Paul United Methodist Church – Jacksonville, Florida

My sister Lydia and I would like to begin by thanking everyone who took time out of their busy day to be here with us to celebrate the life of my father.

It all began on June 25, 1910, in Tampa, Florida the day the Lord brought my dad into this world. He was number 5 of 10 born to my grandparents George and Julia … that is how we kept track of all his siblings by assigning them a number based on their birth order.

As a young child, Dad attended school like all the other kids in the neighborhood. Coming from such a large family required everyone to pitch in and help around the house, the garden, and milking the cow in the back yard.

When Dad turned 15 he had quit school and help support the family. He went to work for his father learning the carpentry trade. My grandfather was a General Contractor in the Tampa area building both light commercial, but primarily residential housing. He taught my dad the carpentry trade which he loved all of his life. Making things with his hands was all about who he was.

The year he turned 19 years old, the world experienced the greatest economic collapse in its history … the Great Depression. Through all of those hard times, daddy always found work, whether it was slinging a sickle cutting weeds for the WPA for $3.00 per week, or doing odd jobs again making things with his hands. Dad set aside a dollar in savings from his small weekly earnings.

Around June, of 1932, this tall slender gal named Connie, and Dad's sisters would go dancing every week at the club Colunas. Dora, one of Dad's six sisters, introduced them to each other outside the Cuartero family home while my Dad was underneath a Model-T doing some repairs. The sparks were ignited and Mom and Dad, along with Mom's sister, Virginia, their ever present chaperon, enjoyed many parties and dances together. He courted her for almost two years and on June 24, 1934, they were married. A little over a year later, their first born came into this world, my sister Lydia. 3 years later my late sister, Hilda, was born and 12 years later, I came around.

The 2nd World War began on June 7, 1941, and at that time his family was living in NYC. Like most men of that time, my dad went down to the draft board to enlist and go fight to defend our freedoms and protect our liberty. But the draft board told him, no thanks. At that time, Dad was 31 years old, had a wife and two small children, so the war department did not want the responsibility of supporting a wife and two children if anything happened to Dad. Dad felt bad about not being able to serve, so in 1942, he and Mom, Lydia and Hilda packed up their bags and headed back to Tampa.

As they made their way back home, Dad decided to stop over and visit a cousin in Jacksonville. He liked it so much, that he put down his roots and decided to raise his family here.

The war was still raging in Europe and Dad wanted to participate in some way, so he heard about new job openings at the Jacksonville Shipyards. There they were building Liberty Ships to carry cargo for the war effort. So Dad went down to sign up and build Liberty Ships. Well, he didn't know a thing about ship building along with the other 600 folks that were there as well. When asked by the Leader man if any there could read blue prints, my Dad along with a few others, raised his hand and received an instant promotion to foreman. His job was setting the keel of the ship. The pay at that time was 85 cents an hour. It took them six months to build the first ship, but after that, they were cranking them out 1 every 30 days. Of course the German submarines were sinking most of them almost as fast as they could be built. If you have ever seen or owned a hatch cover table, most likely it came off a Liberty ship built by my Dad.

In 1957, he got a job with Meyers and Lazeau Homes as the chief superintendent over all their residential construction projects. It was an amazing accomplishment. He had worked so hard and earned a wonderful reputation within the construction industry with a keen eye for detail. They furnished him a pickup truck and paid him a salary of $175.00 per week. In that day, that was big money.

During the next 2 ½ years, he managed to stash away a whopping $5,000.00. And when Meyers and Lazeau Homes wanted to send him to Palatka to oversee their project down there, Dad said, "I don't think so … that would be too disruptive for my family." So, instead, Paul Lazeau took my Dad down to Tucker Brothers, who had developed all of Arlingwood, and introduced him to Kit Tucker. Paul told Kit that my Dad was an honest and good businessman and needed to secure a line of credit to go into business for himself. So, in 1960, Dad incorporated Cuartero Homes, Inc., and put his life savings on the line, at age 50, to benefit his family. You see, family was everything to Dad.

When his mother was living, the family used to gather in Mandarin at his sister's house to cookout, target practice on Julington Creek, watch Walt Disney and Bonanza, and play a little nickel, dime, quarter poker. Now, I am not talking about a few people here. All the cousins, nephews, nieces, aunts, uncles, and of course our grandmother. Every Sunday we gathered together to be with each other, have a lot of fun, and eat a lot of good BBQ.

In 1976, at age 66, Dad decided to retire and take up traveling with our Mom. They ventured to Spain, Italy, France, Brazil, Argentina, Peru and many other countries. From humble beginnings at age 15 he worked his way and achieved the American dream. Dad and Mom took care of each other for over 63 ½ years until Mom was called home in 1997.

It's hard to put into words what an individual experiences when living almost a century.

As I was putting my thoughts together to share with you today, I started looking at all the things in history that my Dad either witnessed or happened in his life time. Here is a list of just a few:

• The year my Dad was born, William Howard Taft is President of the United States. That was the big guy who had to have a special bath tub installed in the White House.
There were 16 more presidents to follow.
• The US declares war on Germany in 1917.
• The Selective Service Act creates a draft also in the same year.
• The Panama Canal is completed in 1920.
• Prohibition also begins in that same year.
• And in 1920, Women are given the right to vote.
• Lindbergh crosses the Atlantic non-stop.
• Stock Market crashes – 1929.
• Roosevelt signs the New Deal – 1933.
• The Social Security Act Provides retirement insurance in 1937. The contribution percentage was only ¼ of 1 percent.
• 1939 the invention called Television is debut at the World's Fair in NYC. Dad saw himself on TV.
• December 7, 1941 Japan attacks Pearl Harbor.
• 1945 War II ends and the atomic age begins.
• In 1950 the Korean War begins and ends in 1953.
• Supreme Court orders school desegregation.
• The Peace Corp is created.
• 1960 Civil Rights movement begins.
• 1963 President John F. Kennedy is assassinated.
• 1968 the Vietnam War Peaks; Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King are murdered.
• The most amazing event to Dad occurred on June 20, 1969. Neil Armstrong landed and became the first man to step on the moon.
• The US Constitution is amended 11 times between 1910 and 2010. It has only been amended 6 additional times when you exclude the Bill of Rights.
• Nixon resigns as President.
• Reagan proposes Star Wars.
• The Gulf War begins in 1991.
• In 2001, there is 9/11.
• And in 2008, America inaugurates its first African American President.

Dad had a great sense of humor. There are just too many stories to tell in such a short period of time. But let me share just a few of my favorites.

In June of 2008, just before his 98th birthday, I received a phone call from a JSO Officer I knew when I used to volunteer with the Sheriff's Office. He informed me that Dad has been a traffic accident. I learned a few days later that the left front tire had blown on his Buick SUV and the vehicle careened into a telephone poll and was totaled. Or course I was scared and the status of his well being was unknown. As I called family and rushed to Shands, I found him in the emergency room being stitched up not by a regular surgeon, but a plastic surgeon. To this day, I believe my Dad talked the surgeon into giving him a little nip and tuck while he was there.

The doctor told us because of his age, he would need to go and stay with someone for 3 to 4 days. So, Claudia and I stepped up and told everyone, we would take Dad home with us. Well, 3 to 4 days, led to 6 and then 8 and then 10 and on the 10th day, I told Dad, hey, you're all healed up, feeling good, and let's get your home so you can get back in your routine. As I am sitting on the sofa and he in the big chair, he looked over at me with those steel blue eyes and said, "I'm not leaving here until I get a new car." Well, Tuesday morning I was on the phone having car salesman bringing new cars to my home for a test drive. I told the salesman, my Dad will be buying a new car today. During one of the test drives, as Dad was sitting behind the wheel, I was in the front passenger seat, and the salesman was in the rear seat. As we made our way to Oak Bay Drive West, the road has a slight S-curve and then straightens out for almost a quarter of mile. Just as we get the straight-a-way, Dad shouts out, "Let's see what this baby's got" and floors it as we head to a 90 degree curve east. When I turned my head around to look back at the salesman, he was white as ghost and his eyes look like two pie plates.

Nancy, can you bring up the next slide please. What you see here is a United States Treasury check issued to my Dad on July 20, 2001. If you look closely towards the bottom of the check you will see the words, "Tax Relief for America's Workers." Now when my Dad received this check in the mail, he didn't know what it was all about. But since it was only for $2.20 cents, he decided to keep it as a souvenir and making observation that the government would have trouble balancing their checkbook. He has, as of 2009 received 4 additional checks, exactly for the same amount from the US Treasury. He has a little stand on his microwave with all of these checks proudly displayed in date order.

The family was planning a big celebration this year for his 100th birthday. But the Lord had a different idea. After 36,363 days on this good Earth, the Lord decided it was time to take him home. Remember how I spoke earlier about family and his love for everyone. Well, on the evening of January 22, 2010, as his family gathered around him, Lydia held one hand and I the other; Kevin, Beth, Claudia, little Connie, Brenda and Kathleen all held each other and us as we prayed and then recited the 23 Psalm. In this Psalm, God is seen as a caring shepherd and dependable guide. He will lead us down the path of righteousness with no fear … and prepares a table before him … so that Daddy would dwell in the house of the Lord forever. A few seconds past as we all completed the Psalm and then all together we began The Lord's Prayer. The prayer that our Lord and Savior taught us to pray, Dad said every night before going to bed. As we all know, the Lord's Prayer is special. It reminds us that our Lord is in heaven; that his kingdom is to come and ours will be done on this earth; The Lord will provide all our daily needs; forgive us of our sins; and not tempt us into evil ways. It is the perfect prayer of all prayers. Redemption; salvation; and love. As we all completed the prayer and spoke the final word, "Amen," Dad took his last breath and made his way into eternity. What a testimony on his life. He came into this world as a humble child of God and left here the same way.

My Dad was a faithful man; a man of honor; his word was his bond; he loved my mother; my sisters; his grandchildren; great grandchildren; great great grandchildren; all of his nieces and nephews; his 9 siblings; his mother and father; and me. I am so thankful that we had such a wonderful father, a friend, an adviser, my hero. We will all be together again one day. That is the promise of our Lord.

Although you have only been gone a short time Daddy, I miss you very much already.

Obituary: Florida Times Union - Sunday, January 24, 2010

On Friday, January 22, 2010, our father made his way to the kingdom of heaven. William C. Cuartero, father to Lydia Walton and William J. Cuartero, was born on June 25, 1910, in Tampa, Florida. He was 99 1/2 years old. 'Willie', as he was known to family and friends, moved to Jacksonville in 1942 to raise his family and put down his roots. He leaves to cherish his memory, daughter, Lydia Walton (O.B.), a son, William J. Cuartero (Claudia); 5 grandchildren, 7 great grandchildren, and 3 great great grandchildren, his sister Ocilia, plus a number of other relatives and many friends. Willie was preceded in death by Connie, his wife of 63 years, and a daughter Hilda Cuartero. Willie followed his father's footsteps and was a successful home builder who started Cuartero Homes, Inc. in 1960. He retired in 1976 after constructing hundreds of homes throughout the Jacksonville area. His home building legacy will live on for many years to come. The family will receive friends and relatives on Monday, January 25th at the HARDAGE-GIDDENS FUNERAL HOME at 4115 Hendricks Avenue between 6:00 and 8:00 PM. The celebration of his life will be officiated by Dr. Joe Jursa and Rev. James Jennings, at 10:00 AM on Tuesday, January 26th at St. Paul United Methodist Church at 8264 Lone Star Road. Interment will be at Greenlawn Cemetery on Beach Blvd. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in his honor to Community Hospice of Northeast Florida or the St. Paul United Methodist Church Foundation. Arrangements by Hardage-Giddens Funeral Home, 4115 Hendricks Ave.