MY LIFE CHANGED THE DAY I MET BOLO

I REMEMBER NATALIA TELLING ME   I THINK IT IS ABOUT TIME YOU MET MY FOLKS 

SO...I JUMPED ON A PLANE AND FLEW ACROSS THE PACIFIC TO SAN ANTONIO

I HAD HEARD STORIES OF HIS GUNS AND MARKSMANSHIP...SO I WAS A LITTLE ANXIOUS WHEN I WALKED INTO MARTHA AND BOLO'S HOUSE.

I WOULD SAY THAT WITHIN 2 MINUTES OF NATALIA INTRODUCING US, I FELT HIS HAND UNDER MY ELBOW AS HE PROCEEDED TO GUIDE ME OUT INTO THE BACK YARD WHERE HE HAD A BAR-B-Q GOING

AS SOON AS THE BACK DOOR CLOSED HE TURNED TO ME, LOOKED ME IN THE EYE AND SAID,  SO...WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS, GUY ? 

EVEN AFTER 25 YEARS ON RADIO...I WAS LOST FOR WORDS WITH THIS DIRECT LINE OF QUESTIONING. I FELT HIS GAZE FIXED ON ME AS I STAMMERED MY WAY THROUGH  WELL...UM...I ..UM..LIKE YOUR DAUGHTER A LOT  

THANKFULLY...EVEN AFTER MY BELOW PAR BEGINNING, HE ACCEPTED ME INTO HIS FAMILY WITH OPEN ARMS.

WHEN NATALIA AND I GOT MARRIED, HE WAS AS PROUD AS PUNCH AS HE WALKED HER DOWN THE AISLE TO THE SOUND OF A MARIACHI BAND

AS HE GAVE HER HAND TO ME, I SENSED THAT HE HAD A LOOK IN HIS EYES THAT TOLD ME 2 THINGS

THE FIRST WAS...I WAS THE CAT WHO GOT THE CREAM

THE SECOND WAS....HE KNEW THAT I HAD A TIGER BY THE TAIL....SOMETHING HE REMINDED ME OF OFTEN OVER THE ENSUING YEARS.

ONE OF THE MOST ENDEARING ASPECTS ABOUT BOLO WAS HIS USE OF HIS BRAIN. IF HE DIDN'T KNOW SOMETHING...HE WOULD FIND OUT. ONCE DISCOVERED, THAT KNOWLEDGE WAS RETAINED FOR USE AT A LATER TIME. HE WAS ALWAYS ON THE HUNT FOR NEW INFORMATION. ON HIS LAST AFTERNOON WITH US, HE AND I WERE WATCHING A GAME OF CRICKET FROM DOMINICA IN THE WEST INDIES. OVER THE YEARS WE HAD HAD A NUMBER OF DISCUSSIONS ABOUT CRICKET, BUT THERE WAS MORE HE WANTED TO KNOW, AND AS WE WATCHED THE GAME, HE WAS PEPPERING ME WITH QUESTIONS ABOUT THE GAME, AND WHAT THEY WERE DOING.

BOLO'S STORIES COULD FILL A LIBRARY. IN GREAT DETAIL HE COULD RECALL EVENTS FROM HIS CHILDHOOD, HIS UPBRINGING, HIS EARLY LIFE IN AMERICA, TRAVEL, BOOKS HE HAD READ, FOOD HE HAD EATEN, HEALTH REMEDIES....SO MANY SUBJECTS... ALL TO THE FASCINATION OF HIS LISTENER

TO A PERSON....EVERONE WOULD AGREE THAT BOLO WAS UNIQUE.
TO SEE HIM IN ACTION WAS AMAZING. HE WAS FEARLESS

ONE TIME, WE WENT TO A RESTAURANT FOR A FAMILY CELEBRATION
AS WE WERE ALL MAKING OUR WAY OUT AFTER THE MEAL, WE REALISED THAT BOLO WAS NOT WITH US. WE SOON FOUND OUT THAT HE HAD FOUND HIS WAY BACK INSIDE THE KITCHEN OF THE RESTAURANT. HE WENT THERE TO FIND OUR SERVER, AND OFFER ADVICE THAT HE SHOULD SMILE MORE WITH HIS CUSTOMERS. I'M SURE THAT WAS A LIFE LESSON THAT YOUNG MAN WILL NEVER FORGET  

BOLO NOT ONLY ACCEPTED ME INTO HIS FAMILY...HE ALSO EMBRACED MY PARENTS, MY DAUGHTER AND MY BROTHER AND SISTER IN LAW WHEN THEY VISITED US IN SAN ANTONIO. HE MADE IT PLAINLY OBVIOUS THAT MY FAMILY WERE HIS FAMILY....AND HE LIVED BY THE PHRASE...MI CASA ES SU CASA...MORE TO THE POINT...MI FAMILIA ES SU FAMILIA !!

ONE OF MY FAVORITE PICTURES IS ONE OF BOLO AND MY MUM. THERE THEY ARE, LOOKING UP THE REAR END OF A DANCING TOY KOALA, EXAMINING AS TO WHERE THE BATTERIES WERE INSERTED. AS I SAID....HE WAS ALWAYS LOOKING FOR NEW INFORMATION.

I WILL ALWAYS GIVE THANKS TO BOLO FOR HELPING ME TRANSITION TO A NEW LAND AND CULTURE, AND THE GUIDANCE, SUPPORT AND LOVE THAT HE SHOWED ME

SO....IF HE WERE TO ASK ME AGAIN TODAY...SO...WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS, GUY ?  I WOULD REPLY TO HIM...

BOLO...MY PLANS ARE TO BE A COMPANION TO YOUR SON

TO TAKE CARE OF YOUR BRIDE THE BEST WAY I CAN

AND TO LOVE YOUR DAUGHTER UNTIL MY LAST DAY

THANK YOU FOR ALL YOU GAVE ME BOLO.....THANKS DAD

Eulogy for Olaguibel Fernando Bolo Trevino  Sept 25 1934  June 4, 2015
On a gravestone, you always see the date of birth  dash  date of passing.
The dash is the life of the individual. 
This is Bolo's dash.
The Trevino clan was originally a Jewish family from Spain known as Sephardic Jews. During the Spanish inquisition, the Trevino clan immigrated to Mexico to hide from the inquisition. To further hide from them, the Catholic faith was adopted but secretly, the Jewish faith was practiced. After several generations, the Jewish faith was forgotten while the Catholic faith was engrained. During this time, it was common to mis-spell last names to further hide. It is not totally clear but it is expected that Trevino was original from Italy near the fountain of Trevi.
Bolo was born in Monterrey Mexico in the 1930's. He was born into a wealthy family with maids on each floor, dinners with mayors, business tycoons, and all the luxuries of wealth. His father was a high level manager for the largest cement company in Mexico and business dealings often occurred at home. 
Bolo had infinite freedom while his father worked, and his hobbies were shooting, hunting, and science  specifically chemistry. 
Of course, in his youth he would venture out to hunt and shoot with his friends most of which were descendants of other Jewish emigrants from countries such as Italy, France, Germany, and Russia. 
Some of his stories included sharpshooting adventures such as shooting cigarettes from each others mouths, apples from tops of heads and long distance turkey shoots. As a child, he won a competition shooting against adults in one of these turkey shoots of which the details are not proper in today's world. He would take rides atop city buses and shoot things along the way. It's not clear what he shot, but he was mostly challenging his accuracy skills and not shooting with intention to hurt any people. Well, as far as we know. It is unlikely that if he actually had the bus driver's permission to do this but my guess is it was without consent.
All of his uncles were doctors with scientific educations. These mentors gave him science kits and ideas which would form his interest in science and technology later in life. Hs stories include attempting to make explosives with chemistry sets, and other related activities. He later told of how stupid it was to do this because one wrong move and .. no more Bolo.
He was a bit mischievous and it was common for him to be dropped off at an uncle's ranch for several weeks to keep him out of trouble in the city. Of course he always had his rifle which I now treasure.
He was a vicious fighter due mainly to protect himself from neighborhood bullies. He was very small, and his larger peers would soon regret picking on him because Bolo followed no common rules of fighting. Without going into detail, lifelong injuries would be reminders of picking on Bolo.
The nickname Bolo was created because his maternal grandmother insisted on naming him Olaguibel and said, and then we will call him Bolo. This is because Olaguibel is a last name that would have been lost in the family generation or two before, and she had used it for her own son, also calling him Bolo because Olaguibel is too hard to say, but when her son died and my father was born, she insisted that he become the new Bolo. His nick-name was also Bolo since it was too difficult to say Olaguibel. He was always proud that it was one of the few names in the world that had every syllable in it.
His father played Classical Music, which was engrained in Dad's mind and filtered thru his children. This music was not your boring elevator music, but what could be classified as the heavy metal of classical music back in the 30's and 40's which is being played for his service today. He made these CD's for me and Natalia since we had grown up listening to his music and since I now have similar taste in music. 
Although all of his cousins had been sent to Medical School by his own father, Fernando Trevino, Bolo could not due to a catastrophic event which lead to his family living in poverty for the remainder of his youth. He did not finish school. Instead, he joined the US Air Force because he knew he could obtain a future there. 
This future included an education in electronics, and US citizenship. His classwork was difficult because he could not speak English, yet he scored at the top of his class in all academics. He was also not proficient in math. In electronics, math was paramount so he solved problems in his own way and often had the highest scores in his classes. He always regretted not formally mastering algebra, and so he impressed upon his children how important this would be to their future. 
Once educated, his duties were to maintain the newly developed radar technology which was full of cumbersome electronics and dangerous side effects. If you accidentally stood in front of an operating radar dish, your insides would be cooked  literally. Of course we now use radar technology to warm foods in microwave ovens. 
After finishing his military stint, he went back to Mexico. His high tech education was the perfect instrument to dive into the modern age of computers  in the 1950's when computers were the size of rooms. 
Although not formally educated, he developed unique Bolo methods of fixing computers (called machines back then). This includes using tongue depressors, pencil erasers, and other household items to assess and repair almost every troublesome system, even though sitting in the background was a desk full of troubleshooting guides and specialized tools.
Because of his imaginative problem solving skills, he was in high demand during his career, and he made his employer pay overtime which was unheard of back then. His long hours produced income which was often large multiples of his peers and bosses. 
In his employment with the growing computer world, he fancied fine cars, fine guns, fine watches, and fine photographic equipment, and he counted his income in terms of bricks of ammunition. 
Eventually, at the age of 26, he met mom while fixing a machine at a lightbulb factory. He was instantly infatuated with what he called her electric eyes. While her beauty was a clear attraction, he knew he would marry her the moment she showed him the home where she lived. It was a simple and humble home, and yet she beamed with pride introducing him to her life. He knew her soul was a perfect match for his, and he married her soon after. They enjoyed four years of child-free wedded bliss before I was born. Two years later, Natalia was born, and the doctor said, I am so sorry. It is a girl. He had wanted a girl and thought the doctor was an idiot. 
Bolo's skills were soon needed in the US, so he was sent to New York to train and fix machines and mom was at his side. They lived in upstate New York for four months where they began their bi-national life. Upon completing this and other business travels, he went back to Mexico  but this time Mexico City.
In Mexico City, he started his family but trouble was brewing. Economic signs indicated that he should continue his career in the US, so we moved to Houston for about 30 days, then to set up permanent residence in San Antonio. It was common to move temporarily to Minnesota, Corpus Christi for many months while he trained on new machines.
During this period, Bolo sacrificed everything to maintain a successful family. His childhood experience with poverty led him to never allow that to happen to his family so he always signed up to be on call to earn as much overtime income as possible. It was common for him to work 70 hour weeks  but he cherished his weekends barbequing steaks and sipping on Scotch and smoking his pipe. This would later bite him with his brush with oral cancer  which he survived.
Throughout his life, he was always very forward, intense and spoke his mind. To some this was overbearing, while for others it was viewed as the best form of communication. This was his form of showing love  I think he called it tough love and expected us to have thick skins  to never take offense to his ways bit to know that this was his way to communicate his love for us.
Although he was Chincy with spending, he still loved his nice cars and would often pay cash in order to not pay interest on a loan. His greatest pride was putting his kids through college and saving enough so that he would not become dependent on his kids later in life. 
Other sacrifices included fighting with doctors during hospital episodes with my sister, calling them idiots to their face when misdiagnosing or mis-treating the illness. He told me of the time he successfully negotiated with US immigration officials when they threatened to deport his family due to paperwork issues. 
During a company layoff near the age of 60, he worked in a used car dealership to keep the income and health insurance active. This employer had a few bad apples, one of which was a bully and of course Bolo quickly showed him what happens to bullies when they mess with Bolo. At age 60!!
Upon retiring from the computer world, he kept pace with technology learning about all subjects on the new Internet, but soon discovered he had oral cancer.  He twice survived cancer episodes  each resulting in more restricted lifestyle changes. This was a major roadblock in his life which was a total change in daily activities especially eating, which he loved so much. 
After learning to cope with his new liquid diet, he could write a gourmet book on the many different ways to liquefy all kinds of foods for his new form of nourishment. Of course he would not follow any known rules and created Bolo recipes for his new food adventures.
His greatest fear was growing old, decrepit, senile, and a slow suffering decline. To prevent this, he maintained an active healthy lifestyle, studied and read incessantly, and solved challenging puzzles. The internet was his new source of interesting and challenging information, which he often compared to other sources to make sure the info was accurate. 
His home office is full of charts, graphs, and lists of various things such as his health stats, which he had charted on his own Excel graphs, food intake diaries, detailed charts containing nutritional content on every fruits and vegetables. His last years were spent relaxing, reading, learning, and staying active. To an outside observer, his 80 year old body looked and acted like a 55 year old. 
Bolo's lifelong goals were met and exceeded, and he passed suddenly without warning or suffering while sitting in his favorite chair watching a movie. Although a shock to all, he lived and passed exactly how he planned, and we should not be sad but celebrate that this was Bolo's final perfect plan, executed the way he expected his life to be.
This is Bolo's Dash  an example for all of us.

Dad, My Father, Bolo
September 25, 1934- June 4, 2015

I want to tell you everything about my fascinating Dad. If I did, it would take me hours, days, years, a whole book or more! But most of you already know what a complex and interesting guy he was. That he was a little crazy, crazy about me, my mom, my brother, and about everything he learned. Dad was and still is my greatest teacher and he gave me the life that I have. He also gave me everything I wanted. When we moved to San Antonio from Mexico, when I was four, I remember looking for houses. One had red carpet. That was all I noticed about it since red was my favorite color. I was not interested in price, floor plan or location. I wanted the one with the red carpet, and Dad gave me the house with the red carpet. It was 1974.

In that house, he taught me to turn the bedroom or hall light off by walking back to the light if I forgot to turn it off, then, when I did it again, he had me walk backwards to turn it off, then when I forgot again, he made me crawl back to the light to turn it off, and then finally, I when it happened again, I had to crawl backwards, like a crab. I walked like a crab that many times until I learned. Now, even my husband will tell you, I often turn lights off when others are still in the room. 

He always spoke to me in English and only when we were in Mexico did he speak to me in total Spanish. Yet he spoke nothing but Spanish to my mom, and that was his amazing mind and generosity, to teach me what I needed and to keep his original language with my mother. 

He did not want me to mix the languages, and he wanted mostly for me to speak well in English, so that I would assimilate well when I went to school. He taught me to write my numbers before my teacher did, and in fact, when I showed Mrs. McAdams, my kindergarten teacher, my #2 before we were writing our numbers, with a curl at the top and another at the turn of the number, she told me it was wrong. He taught me to add and subtract before my teachers did. He taught me to multiply and then to divide before it was in my curriculum. No wonder I loved math so much. I already knew it before it was taught to me in school. And this was because of him. If I ever had a question about a vocabulary word, a spelling of a word, or the meaning of a word, he would only have one answer for me:

My thoughts and prayers are with your family at this time. "Bolo" was a joy to visit with and the family as well. Prayers for you Martha and Natalia. Think of you guys often Luv Debbie Rusch

Querido primo Bolo, Te nos fuiste de manera inesperada pero fue mejor así.Lo que menos hubiéramos deseado para ti era una muerte complicada o dolorosa,ya bastante había luchado contra su enfermedad y siempre con mucha valentía.Fuiste un hombre afortunado pues te encontraste en el camino de la vida una excelente compañera. Fuiste amado por tus hijos y por tu nieto. Siempre admiré tu inteligencia y el entusiasmo por estar siempre al día en todos los aspectos. Disfrutamos mucho nuestras visitas a tu casa... y nuestras conversaciones por el skype(bendita tecnología). SIEMPRE ESTARÁS EN NUESTROS CORAZONES. Raquenel

From the very first time I visited SA, for Natalia and Stewart's wedding, Bolo welcomed me into the family and made me feel right at home. Since then I have had many wonderful visits with Bolo and Martha and was very happy to be able to share Christmas celebrations in 2014, having the chance to introduce Eileen to the family. Bolo was his own man. He held well thought through opinions and loved to be able to share information and views. I would say that he had a true passion for life, and that he was a real family man, clearly loving his wonderful wife Martha and his kids (and their families). Eileen and I have very fond memories, and know that Bolo will be sadly missed.

We remember Bolo with great fondness for the way he welcomed our son, Stewart, into the family when he married Natalia. On our visits we had lots of laughs and healthy discussions on a variety of topics, from the making of manudo to the way to make Beth's "black cake". 
Vale Bolo, we'll always remember you buddy.

Beth & Don Horne, Port Macquarie, Australia

Bolo was always so kind to me, the last time we spoke was only two weeks ago, with the wonders of technology, Bolo on speaker phone and me on skype through the computer, its very cute really. I feel very fortunate to have been able to meet him when I came to visit a few years ago and hear many of his stories. He is a wonderful man x

Dear Bolo, it is with great sadness that I say goodbye to you in this world, but we share the great hope that there is a new life after this.  The years we spent working together at Fort Sam Houston were memorable.  Your life stories and your commitment to your family were inspirational.  Thanks for all the good memories which sustain us in this life.
Yesterday, I had a dream.  You were at the gate meeting St. Peter.  He explained the wonders of heaven and your new life, and how joyous you will be in whatever endeavors you pursue.  You told him that sounded great, and that you loved art and music, but first, you wanted to know how the  #!*$@^%  CP415 card punch worked.....

(For the uninitiated, the 415 card punch was Control Data's 20th century
version of the 19th century threshing machine)

Te amo amigo!

I am honored to have been a part of Bolo's life the last 6 years and will fondly remember him calling me "Kiddo."  If there was ever anything you mentioned that he didn't know every detail about, he considered it his mission to research it and tell you all about it!  I've never met anyone like Bolo and will never forget his zest for learning and desire to "teach."  I am blessed to have the son he raised as my husband!  Thank you, Bolo:)

Vamos a extranar mucho al tio Bolo, el, mi tia Martha y mis primos son una razon importante para decidir mudarnos a San Antonio. Laura mis hijas y yo nos quedamos con muy bonitos recuerdos de el pues convivimos 8 anios. Que en paz descanse. Que mi tia, primos y familias encuentren pronto el consuelo.

AVIS DE DÉCÈS

Olaguibel Fernando "Bolo" Treviño

25 septembre 1934 – 4 juin 2015

Sunset Northwest Funeral Home

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