I wasn’t sure if it was my tio Raul’s birthday yesterday or not, but my cousin Carmen just confirmed it, so here’s a tribute to him.

He was born during the Revolution in Mexico, in San Luis Potosi, on February 18, 1913, the same day that his father was born back in 1885 in Asturias, Spain. Because of the war, it wasn’t long before my grandfather, his wife Zeferina, and my tio Raul moved up north to Arizona. He was less than a year old, in fact. My tios Valentin and Mino were born a few years later, in Ray/Sonora, Arizona, a mining town near Superior that is now long gone.

Uncle Raul and Aunt Prudence married in the late 30s. She was born in Cananea, Sonora, but moved to Superior when she was a young girl.

They ran a bakery and a store together in Superior, and then later he delivered milk to the people of the town and surrounding region. Tio Raul was well known and loved in his community, and was very generous to those in need.

Uncle Raul had tons of cigar boxes all over the place, it seemed. He smoked cigars all the time, and it was rare indeed to ever see him without one hanging from his mouth. …I took a few of these boxes home with me once and still have them somewhere. The lids are falling off because they’re so old.

My cousin Olivia wrote the following for inclusion in our family history book, titled “Diaz Family: Spain To America”. Olivia passed away recently. She was the eldest of all our cousins.

I used to love to go up to Superior with my parents, aunts, uncles and cousins to Uncle Raul’s house. It wasn’t very big, but we all managed to fit and we all had plenty to eat. He ran the dairy in Superior and outside was a big refrigerator where he kept the milk and other products he sold. We used to sneak in and help ourselves to chocolate milk all the time. I also loved banging on the old piano that was kept in a closet in one of the rooms. It seems like just yesterday.

I’ll also never forget the time when we all found ourselves (about 30 of us cousins) in my uncle’s living room with our faces glued to the small black and white television. The Ed Sullivan show was on and his special guests that night were none other than the BEATLES! Wow. This was the first time I’d ever seen them and one of their first ever appearances on national tv. Life sure changed for everyone after that experience. We all became Beatle wannabes. My brother Rudy grew his hair long and joined a band, and we all had our favorites. Mine was Paul…

Aunt Prudence suffered from arthritis most of her adult life. She preceded Uncle Raul in death at the age of 69 in 1983.

Tio Raul died two years later at the age of 72.