Hermenigildo Evora "Djila" Santos

1968 - 2022

PAWTUCKET - Hermenigildo "Djila" Evora Santos, 54, of Pawtucket Rhode Island, missing at sea while working a job he loved aboard the fishing vessel 'Susan Rose' on Saturday, July 2, 2022. He was born on December 18, 1968, on the island of Mio, Cape Verde, to Ary A. Tavares and Ricardian Santos.

He immigrated to America in 1988 and spent most of that time living in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. He was a loving and proud father and an avid fisherman. He shared this love of the water with his children at a very young age. His passions included his love of reggae music, being outdoors, Cape Verde, and seafood. Djila lived most of his days where his heart was happiest, on the ocean. He was a remarkable fisherman. He was known on the fishing docs as G, and was admired and loved by the fisherman that had the honor to share in his twenty five years on the ocean. His brother recalls memories of him as a kid wandering on the beaches after the birds, a boy who loved fishing on the rocks. The ocean was very important to him, even as a boy. You could never take the ocean out of his life, sometimes his brother would think of Djila as a merman. Djila loved the ocean more than anything else.

Djila was preceded in death by his father Ary A. Tavares. He is survived by his mother Ricardian Santos, his four brothers Rui A. Santos, Alexandre Da Luz Santos, Hermano Evora Santos, Jair Emanuel Santos, his three children, Britani Santos, Djimon Santos and Lidia Santos, granddaughter Juliette Burns and several cousins, nieces, and nephews.

The Fisherman
By Abby Farewell Brown
The fisherman goes out at dawn
When every one's abed,
And from the bottom of the sea
Draws up his daily bread.
His life is strange ; half on the shore
And half upon the sea --
Not quite a fish, and yet not quite
The same as you and me.
The fisherman has curious eyes ;
They make you feel so queer,
As if they had seen many things
Of wonder and of fear.
They're like the sea on foggy days, --
Not gray, nor yet quite blue ;
They 're like the wondrous tales he tells
Not quite -- yet maybe -- true.
He knows so much of boats and tides,
Of winds and clouds and sky !
But when I tell of city things,
He sniffs and shuts one eye !

A memorial service will be held at Fishermen's Memorial State Park Narragansett, Rhode Island on July 16, 2022 at 7:00 pm.