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Former presidential aide has roots in Floresville

Former presidential aide has roots in Floresville
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Wilson County News
September 30, 2008
1 comment

He has worked under two presidents, met with kings and foreign leaders, and even helped to craft the North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

Today, he lives and works in both San Antonio and Washington, D.C., where he practices international law, and was one of four winners of the 2008 Baylor University Distinguished Alumni Award.

But the life of retired Ambassador Abelardo L. Valdez, 66, began in Floresville Aug. 31, 1942. Valdez, the eldest of four children born to Maria Lopez Valdez and the late Abelardo G. Valdez, was born during a hurricane that ravaged many areas of South Texas, destroying many homes, including his.

Shortly after Abelardo’s birth, the family moved into a different home nearby, and in the years to follow, his brothers, Ramiro and John, and his sister, Mary Helen, were born.

Perhaps Abelardo’s work ethic comes from his father, who worked as a truck farmer raising crops for sale in San Antonio.

“Other times, he would haul freight for other farmers in the area,” Abelardo said in a telephone interview. “Part of the time, we were migrant workers, but when I became high school age, he decided we were going to stay put.”

Like most other parents, Abelardo’s father also decided he wanted better for his children. As a Mexican immigrant with only a sixth-grade education, the elder Valdez decided each of his children would at least earn a high school diploma.

“Both my parents were very committed to education,” Abelardo said.

Abelardo’s mother, Maria, who has only a third-grade education, worked mostly as a custodian in the Floresville school district, but still found the time and energy to keep an immaculate home, he said.

But both parents spoke very little English, Abelardo said, and bilingual education did not exist. So, after attending first grade at the former Lodi School, his parents sent him to stay with relatives while he attended a school in Crystal City.

“Dayna Suse was my teacher, and she would teach Spanish- speaking kids Spanish grammar so they could translate it into English,” Abelardo said. “By the third year, I was hitting my stride in English.”

Students in Abelardo’s class were separated into two sections, A and B, he said. The lower-performing students were placed in section B while the more advanced, proficient students were in A. Determined not to give up, his work gradually improved in section B until a teacher noticed and moved him up to section A.

“It felt like I had been drafted by the New York Yankees,” Abelardo said.

It was through the dedication of his elementary school teachers that Abelardo said he developed his love of learning.

Abelardo’s lifetime friend, Guadalupe Garcia, 66, remembers visiting the Valdez family home during the summers as a boy. He was one of those who knew there was something different about Abelardo.

 “When we were kids we wanted Abelardo to join the rest of us in playing boys’ games -- marbles, throwing tops, etc.,” said Garcia, who still lives in Floresville. “Abelardo was not interested in our games.  He preferred reading books.  He was already interested in education at a very young age.  He was way ahead of us other boys.”

Abelardo was also inspired by the strong leadership of Floresville High School football Coach Ralph Starnes, who, aside from making championship teams by molding many of Floresville’s boys into athletes, was a man who would never accept the word “can’t.”

“I went out for the football team my first year in high school,” Abelardo said. “We would scrimmage with each other and run plays several times. Whenever anyone would say ‘can’t’ he would go into orbit. He would say, ‘You’ve got to t-r-y! You can’t give up.’”

When he was not in school or at home studying, Abelardo worked a number of after-school jobs, including working as a bottle washer in I.D. Flores’ drug store and as a bagger in Zuniga’s Grocery. Work and school made for a busy schedule, but he was still able to gain admission to Texas A&M University, after graduating from high school in 1960.

“The high school offered no calculus or solid trigonometry,” Abelardo said. “Three students, including myself, took a correspondence course to qualify for admission.”

While at A&M, Abelardo earned a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering and was a member of the university’s Corps of Cadets.

“I was in the Corps of Cadets from the very beginning,” he said. “That is the best school of leadership. I moved up in the corps, leading men. If it hadn’t been for that, my life and career would have been very different.”

But Abelardo’s world nearly came to a grinding halt in May 1962, after just completing his sophomore year. That was when his father suddenly died at the age of 51.
“It was a terrible tragedy for our family,” Abelardo said. “It was a very hard

time for our family.”

Poth resident Bill Millikin, whose son attended high school with Abelardo, said, “Abelardo had a tough time in college. He was financially strapped, but he managed to make his way through there.”

A group of men from the local chapter of the American G.I. Forum, one of whom Abelardo remembers to be Jesse Malacara of Floresville, learned of Abelardo’s situation.

“They offered me a $500 scholarship loan, payable within 10 years of graduation,” he said.

Because of the loan, and taking on jobs during the summer, Abelardo was able to graduate from A&M in 1965. At this time, he had been working for three months with the Army Corps of Engineers when he had accepted a commission into the Army. With the Vietnam War escalating, Abelardo became increasingly determined to pay back his loan as soon as possible.

“I was working long hours and making good money,” he said. “I visited Mr. Malacara to pay off the loan.”

During their meeting in the kitchen of Malacara’s Floresville home, Abelardo noticed a copy of the San Antonio Light lying on the kitchen table. On the front page was a story of how several of newly elected President Lyndon B. Johnson’s aides were from Texas.

“I said, ‘It would be a great job, being a military aide,’” Abelardo said. “I was to report to Fort Belvoir, Va., and then to Fort Polk, La. I was already set but Jesse asked me if I would like him to go talk to Sam Fore Jr.”

“That was a great experience, almost magical, sitting in a humble kitchen having a conversation about a newspaper article and thinking about what a great job that would be,” he said. “I’ve been a lucky man all my life, having had many magical moments. I’m very happy for that.”

Abelardo agreed to talk to Fore, who was a longtime personal friend of Johnson and the publisher of the Floresville Chronicle-Journal.

“Mr. Fore said, ‘Jesse tells me you’re going into the Army,’” he said. “Then he said, ‘I’d be happy to write Lyndon a letter.’”

After a week of battle exercises at Fort Belvoir, Abelardo said he was summoned to headquarters and told that he had been asked to meet with the president’s chief military aide.

“I almost fell out of my boots!” he said.

During the interview, Abelardo learned that he had been recommended to begin working for Johnson as a junior military aide.

“Here I am, just left Floresville and College Station and I’m parachuted into the White House six weeks later,” he said. “It was like a totally different planet.”

He also said, “Two people who had nothing to gain, except satisfaction to help someone advance, went out of their way to help me: Jesse Malacara and Sam Fore Jr.”

Abelardo was among 10 junior aides who worked in varying capacities for Johnson, he said, assisting him with all state occasions.

“I traveled with the president to the first summit conference of the presidents of the Americas in 1967 in Uraguay,” Abelardo said.

Abelardo also remembers some of the other junior aides on that trip, who later went on to other high-level jobs, including Gov. Chuck Robb of Virginia, C-SPAN founder Brian Lamb, George Mason University President Alan Merten, and U.S. District Judge Tim Leonard of Oklahoma.

From there, it was on to law school at Baylor and Harvard, then to The Hague Academy of International Law in the Netherlands to study international law. But Washington called once again during the presidency of Jimmy Carter, who selected Abelardo as an assistant secretary of state and subsequently as his chief of protocol. In that capacity, he assisted the president during official visits to foreign countries and when foreign dignitaries made official visits to the United States.

“In every job I had, I realized I was moving into something I hadn’t done before,” he said. “I liked that challenge.”

But for a man who has been more places and done more things than many Americans, Abelardo still remains humble.

“One lesson is the human dimension, that it’s all about human beings,” he said. “Life is about family, friends, and colleagues, people you never expect to meet or offer you a hand surprise you. That’s what counts.”

He added, “No matter how important the job is for kings, queens, or prime ministers, they’re also human. In working very close with people, I had the chance to observe that. They’ve got very important jobs with great abilities, but they’re also human beings.”

Above all else, Abelardo still clings to his faith in God.

“Without that, nothing is possible,” he said.
 


Your Opinions and Comments
 
Severo Valdez  
Mesquite, Tx. 75149  
October 5, 2008 11:22am
 
 
Very isspirational, with can-do attitude.
and faith.
 

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