We write this obituary to honor the life we shared with our beloved Gustavo Luis (Gus) Garcia. The Austin American-Statesman did a better job than any of us could do to describe his remarkable public persona and all of the historic firsts that he accomplished.
https://www.statesman.com/news/20181217/gus-garcia-austins-first-elected-hispanic-mayor-dies-at-84
However, he led a far richer life with his family and friends. In his younger years, you could often find him at Morris Williams or Jimmy Clay for a round of weekend golf with his friends. He was a huge sports fan, and his favorite sport was baseball, and he followed the St. Louis Cardinals. By far his biggest love in sports was all things Longhorns, but especially the Texas baseball team, where you could regularly find him in the stands at the Disch. He was a big fan of Augie Garrido and that era of Texas baseball, Gus really admired the Zen Master. As he got older, he had to give up golf, so he found other outlets to enjoy the good things in Austin. He would often go to the hike and bike trail around Lady Bird Lake, and walk for miles around the trails, often stopping to talk to old friends and make new friends. His favorite Texas park was Enchanted Rock, especially on days when he could go with his family, still climbing up to the top with his young grandchildren. He also became an integral member of a musical group, M.O.V.E., (Musicians Organized as Volunteer Entertainers), singing lead vocals for the band at various senior living centers around town. He also spent a lot of time visiting schools and spending time as a mentor to students. One of his favorite things later in life was going to the Gus Garcia Middle School, later renamed Gus Garcia Young Men’s Leadership Academy, and talking to the students and teachers there. Later in life, he and his wife Marina would spend many wonderful hours at the Gus Garcia Recreation Center, where they made many new friends.
Good memories were made with his family on the many vacations that we took together. The typical summer vacations were weekends in Houston, Saturday at Astroworld and Sunday at the Astrodome, watching our Astros play in the 8th Wonder of the World. Many a vacation was spent on Mustang Island and Port Aransas, and sometimes, we’d all go all the way south to South Padre. We shared a trip of a lifetime, driving from Austin all the way to Montreal, stopping many places along the way. We also frequently went on our regular trip to Laredo to spend time with family, among our cousins, aunts, uncles, parents and grandparents. We all got to know that route from Austin to Laredo down IH-35 all too well.
The love of his life was Marina, his wife of 58 years. He often said that she was his best and closest friend, the braintrust, the person that he trusted most when he had to contemplate difficult policy issues both while on the school board and the city council. They made a great team, and had the happiest of marriages. On his last full day on earth, he told his family that he had married a wonderful woman who did remarkable things all throughout their marriage, but especially the last few months of his life, when she was his primary caregiver here at their home.
What made him the happiest as he settled into retirement was watching the progress of his five grandchildren, four of whom are currently full-time students at the University of Texas at Austin, with the youngest grandchild attending Stephen F. Austin High School. He loved and supported them, marvelled at all of their achievements, and always encouraged them to excel in whatever they did. To the people of City of Austin, Gus was Mayor Garcia, to his many nieces and nephews, he was Tio Tavo, and to his five grandchildren, he was simply “Huelo.”
Marina and his family wish to thank https://www.hospiceaustin.org/ Hospice Austin, and the wonderful group of caring nurses, CNAs, doctors, social workers and others who came to his home several times every week. They extended his life, and gave quality care and comfort to Gus during the last few months of his life on earth, and provided immeasurable support to Marina and their sons and daughters-in-law.
Gus was born Jan. 23, 1934 in Zapata Texas and died on Dec. 17, 2018, at his home in Northeast Austin, and is survived by his wife Marina (Gonzalez), his sons and daughters-in-law Gus Jr. and Norma (Lopez), Victor and Jackie (Legere), and Carlos, and his five grandchildren, Anthony, Aaron, David, Nicholas and Ella.
There will be a private service for immediate family and then, there will be a public memorial celebration at 3:00 PM on January 5, 2019 at Austin City Hall.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the charity of each person’s choice.
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