Eulogy given by Robert Sanchez

On behalf my sister, Martha, my brothers, Luis and Edgard my brothers and my mom Angelina, we want to thank you for attending this memorial and to let everyone to know how touched we are that you are here with us. 

Today we come to say our goodbye to my father Luis Sanchez. Everyone knew him as Papito, which in Spanish is an affectionate version of Daddy. Even his grandchildren knew him as Papito. This is a very bittersweet goodbye to our father Luis. I know that he is resting now without pain  in the comforting grace of our Lord. 

It was rough the past couple of months as he was dying, and I do not want to dwell on that, but will tell you who he was and how he lived. His passing only reinforced in all of us that he left behind a family that loved him and we all will miss him. The best thing that he left behind for us was his example for loving all his children and grandchildren. 

As time passes, mideeds are not necessarily forgotten, but forgiven. I will tell you my father was not perfect, but neither are we as humans. What Papito truly was, was an example of resiliency, overcoming the challenges of life (and as I look back at his life, he had many, and the odds were stacked against him). He was a proudly stubborn man (in a positive way). I think all his children have a measure of that in all we have accomplished  - personally I thank him for that, because I could have easily quit many things were not for that stick-to-it trait I attribute to Luis Sanchez. 

Born:
Some of you know may not know, but my father and his twin were born in Leon Nicaragua, the last of 13 children to Felipe and Dolores Sanchez on Aug 16, 1928. He had a very hard life after his father was murdered when he was 3 and then his mother passed away when he was 8. His older siblings did not have time or space for him as they were trying to raise their families. He got lost in the shuffle and was basically raised in the street. He had lots of street smart. He dropped out of school in 6th grade and basically  rambling the Central American countries with no direction and multiple jobs until he connected with his sister in Panama in the 1950s. His sister convinced him to go to the United States with her and her husband to start a new life. He emigrated here to the US in 1957 and started to work as Auto Painter. If anyone knew him, it was what he was good at. That left handed spray painter who could spray paint like no one else and he was known throughout the city. 

He returned to Nicaragua in 1961 for a visit when he met my mom. They married and returned to the US to raise their family. The 1960s for a hispanic man in New Orleans was tough on his career and his family. He had had no male role model in his life so everything he approached was as a child. He made many mistakes, but overall he was a good father in raising 4 great kids. This enduring and endearing quality is what I want to base my remembrance of him. As he has passed now, I now understand him better and his approach of life.
 
Family Man:
There are always stories that you forget or try to blot out as you grow older but I have a few growing up...
• Our family car was a giant used Plymouth Station Wagon – It green with wood panel like Clark Griswald's in the Vacation Movie. Although we were too poor go anywhere in it, we would drive to City Park every Sunday to park it in the shade somewhere as he would begin to detail the vehicle. We would have to help, but I really think it was his way of taking us somewhere to go play in the trees and open air.
• Papito LOVED baseball, watching the old westerns and war movies on our 10 inch black white RCA TV. I remember Saturdays as a child he would sit and watch the weekly games and knew most of the players on the teams. Baseball was his addiction throughout the years. He also enjoyed watching the old B/W war movies too. He knew all the actors in these movies and we would watch them with him, which is probably how 3 of his children  got inspired to join the military. 
• He loved listening to music, his favorite songs that he would play over and over were Delila from Tom Jones, Blue Bayou by Linda Ronstant, Please Come Home for Christmas by Charles Brown. He also enjoyed and the big band era music and all the Latin music of Daniel Santos. Whenever he found a song he liked it, he would play over and over. 
• He liked to dance. Tell story of basemant at 4516 Banks. One time he came with us to some event on northshore and he danced with Kirk and she said he was a good dancer. 
• We grew up very poor and didn't have money to do things  but he always has different ways of keeping the kids entertained. He was the master of contraptions too. They weren't pretty and I bet Masking Tape company made a fortune by him but Papito always found ways to make things work with tape.


Grandfather:
• Papito as he got older never really disclosed his age correctly. By his calculations he was 60+ years of age. That would have made him 4 years of when he had me..
• He loved being in social gatherings. Never really talked a whole lot but was content listening. I remember one time at a gathering with April's family, April's uncle was a very chatty conversationalist. I recall him sitting with Uncle Donald the whole party and hardly saying anything. When it was time to leave, Uncle Donald told Papito that he was a great conversationalist. 
• Changed Man. As men older, they get a little more kinder and gentle. Then there was the time I caught Bobby had written on one of his wood dresser drawers with marker. I took Bobby outside and told him he was going to clean and sand that drawer. I saw Papito out there with him sanding the drawer and then chiding me for being too hard on him. I could not believe this was the same man you grew up with..


Character:
• Papito was a very strong man and even in recent years he would astound us all by what he continued to do. It was just this year, at 86 yrs of age he bought a riding lawn mower because he thought he could mow the lawn on the property he lived on. Another time Collins told him that we would return to clean out gutters, he somehow managed to clean them out by climbing on shakey ladder!

Closing
Romans 14:7-9 “For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.”



Papito is what the American dream is about. He came to this country with nothing in his pocket. He did not amass a great treasure or fortune, but he does leave a legacy of 4 Children, 15 grandchildren, 2 Great grandchildren, 2 Nieces and 1 grand niece that are all better off than what he had. Although he was a simple man with no education. He did what he could for us and we all turned out ok. He may not have been the builder of great empires but for my sister and brothers he was our dad and we all loved him. 

We will always remember Papito.

You were loved by so many and I feel blessed that I had the opportunity to have you in my life . Rest in Peace Papito you will forever be in my heart and my thoughts with all my love Always and Forever..

Our thoughts and prayers to the family.  Rest in peace.

Kirk and Charles

Celebrating a life well lived. We will cherish the memories forever. You will be missed Papito! 

Love, Brent, Adilia & Elena

There is an ache in your collective hearts that can only be soothed by your mutual love and support for each other in the years to come.

Grief can be so hard during the holidays, but our special memories help us cope. Remembering you and your loved one this holiday season.

Papito, we miss you terribly and love you. You are resting now and in the comforting grace of our Lord. Robert, April, Robert Jr, and Brett

Papito - you will be missed. Shannon, Bruce and Lacey

You are at peace now.  Love and miss you Papito!

Martha, Collins, Nick and Andrew

OBITUARY

Luis Alberto Sanchez, Sr.

16 August, 1928 – 4 December, 2014

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