Tuesday, November 24, 2020
Tony, for those of you who did not know him, was a very brave man. Knowing his illness in 2004, Tony elected to serve a second time as President of the Elk Grove S.E.S. Festa for the 2006 Year. During his acceptance speech, he said "I know the sickness that I have but I want all the young people out there to know there is nothing to be afraid of. If I can be President again as sick as I have been, then any of you young people who are in good health should be able to be President also". That speech pretty much hit me hard right between the eyes and later when Tony asked me to be his Vice-President, I knew I had no choice but to accept and I am glad that I did. I am also glad that I got to know Tony, Alice and their nieces who marched with us in all those parades much better. During one of those Parades in Oakdale, the temperature reached 118 degrees. I had asked Tony not to march because of the heat and we had other people there to march and carry the flags for him but Tony said " I have friends here that supported me during our Festa so I have to show my support for their Festa too." That was not only brave, but honorable as well. No one else that I know would have participated in that parade right after have gone through a cancer treatment! One of my first impressions of Tony when I first met him some thirty years ago was that he was a man of character, he wanted to buy a small tractor with a scraper but he didn't want to trade in his old tractor because it had done nothing wrong. When I stopped by his Dairy some twenty years later or so he greeted me by asking how my mom was doing and he let me know that the other feed company he was buying from was still treating him very well. I didn't even bother trying to give him a sales pitch because I knew that he was loyal to any one that treated him fairly so I just handed him my card and told him to keep us in mind. To my wife and I, Tony was just as genuine as anyone could possibly be. What you saw with Tony and Alice both was genuine compassion for others and pride in their heritage and a desire to share their life experiences with others. Tony will not be missed because he will always be remembered and... if someone is always remembered, they are always with us and can't be missed. (A quote from my grandfather, Manuel T. Leal in February 1960 after the death of my other grandfather Jose M. Lourenco~ )
