Santiago L. "Jimmy" Bejarano Sr.

1939 - 2023

News story
By Mark Zaborney
Blade Staff Writer

FREMONT - Santiago L. "Jimmy" Bejarano, Sr., a bandleader whose musical stylings won fans from northwest Ohio to the Southwest, died Tuesday in his Fremont home. He was 83.

He had dementia and was in declining health after a bout of coronavirus more than two years ago, said his wife, Horalia Bejarano.

He and his band, Los Cuatros Vientos, which included his sons Jimmy, Jr., and Ruben, last performed in San Antonio in 2011.

Mr. Bejarano, who sang and played accordion, formed the band in in 1985. Los Cuatros Vientos recorded 13 albums, received wide play on radio stations in the Southwest, and in its prime had fan clubs in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California. The band was regarded as a trendsetter in conjunto - a musical style created by Mexican-Americans in Texas.

"He had so many different ranges of playing - ballads, rancheras," said Mrs. Bejarano, who arranged bookings and marketing and traveled with the band. "I'm his wife, but I thought he was fantastic."

The group also played polkas and cumbias, with his late son Jimmy, Jr., on bajo sexto, which is a type of guitar, and son Ruben on electric bass.

"People described it when we would take the stage, he had the presence of authority," son Ruben said. "The mood changed. The big band was here."

But Mr. Bejarano tended to be shy. Admirers at an annual conjunto festival in Texas that drew thousands came up to him and said, " 'I've always wanted to meet you in person,'" Mrs. Bejarano recalled. "He would just bend his head down and say 'Thank you,' and that's all he would say."

The younger Mr. Bejarano said, "He was quiet and humble. He let the music do the talking for him. He was honored to be shaking the hands of up-and-coming new bands."

Mrs. Bejarano, witnessing the adulation, thought, " 'Finally, he was getting the recognition he deserved,'" she said. "I felt as a mother and wife very lucky to have three guys who were so talented."

They had steady jobs, so the band was a hobby.

"We had fun, but he wanted us to be a tight-sounding band," said the younger Mr. Bejarano, who said his father "spoke with his eyes" to keep everyone together.

"It wasn't about the money. It was keeping people happy, dancing to our music. It was expressing our feeling through our music," he said.

Mr Bejarano was a 2011 inductee to the Conjunto Music Hall of Fame in Texas and, that year, was part of a Toledo Lucas County Main Library exhibit in honor of the 25th anniversary of the National Hispanic Heritage Awards.

In 2002, The Blade reported that the band was known for donating its talents to about 10 benefit concerts a year across the region. The band's drawing power yielded funds in support of Latino church and community groups and scholarships.

He was born July 25, 1939, in Brownsville, Texas, to Julia and Joaquin Bejarano. The family migrated to northwest Ohio in the early 1950s, and family members did farm work in the Lima area. In 1959, he went to work at automotive supplier Kelsey-Hayes Co. in Fremont, where he became a crane operator. He retired in 1997.

His son Santiago "Jimmy" Bejarano, Jr., died Jan. 12, 2014.

Surviving are his wife, the former Horalia Espinoza, whom he married Nov. 4, 1961; daughter, Sonya Vicencio; son, Ruben Bejarano; sister, Maria Barrera; brother, Baldemar Bejarano; five grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.

Funeral services will begin at noon Monday in Wonderly Horvath Hanes Funeral Home, Fremont, with visitation after 10 a.m. The funeral service also will be live streamed via 1693-wonderly-horvath-hanes-funeral-home-and-crematory.livecontrol.tv/e2dcbeb2

The family suggests tributes to the American Diabetes Association or Alzheimer's Association.