Allow me a minute to write a personal post. This is my father with the 3 of us visiting my grandparents in Sagua La Grande circa 1959.
My father passed away on Monday night after a long year of medical issues. He was 89. We were fortunate to have him for 88 very healthy years until his problems began a year ago.
He was born in Sagua La Grande, Las Villas. Along with his 2 brothers, he graduated from the Jesuit school there and eventually got into banking with Banco Continental Cuba. He rose to be a very young assistant manager of the bank’s branch in Calle 23 in the Galiano section of La Habana.
All of that abruptly ended when the private banks were expropriated in 1961-62.
Along the way, he married my mom and the 3 of us came along.
We left Cuba in 1964 and found our way to a place called Wisconsin.
Most of all, he had those qualities of decency and honesty that so many Cuban men of that generation had.
I thank him for a lot of things, including the decision to stand up to communism. He never supported what Castro did to Cuba. He really loved Cuba and hated communism.
RIP Silvio F. Canto.
He always enjoyed Babalu and I’m sure will continue to do so from his special place in heaven.