Del Rio Grande 0119

JANUARY 2019

Overcoming Adversity JANUARY 2019

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GRANDE / JANUARY 2019

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GRANDE / JANUARY 2019

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FROM THE EDITOR Smooth sailing!

PUBLISHER Sandra Castillo EDITOR Karen Gleason CREATIVE DIRECTOR Megan Tackett WRITERS AND PHOTOGRAPHERS Brian Argabright Karen Gleason Vanessa Salas Megan Tackett ADVERTISING Xochitl Arteaga Alicia Jimenez Ashley Lopez PRODUCTION Jorge Alarcon Roland Cardenas Antonio Morales EDITORIAL karen.gleason@delrionewsherald.com 830-775-1551, Ext. 247 ADVERTISING ashley.lopez@delrionewsherald.com 830-775-1551, Ext. 250 STORY IDEAS karen.gleason@delrionewsherald.com

2205 North Bedell Avenue • Del Rio, TX 78840 delrionewsherald.com Del Rio Grande is published by the Del Rio News-Herald.

No portion may be reproduced in whole or in part by any means, including electronic retrieval systems, without written permission of the publisher. Editorial content does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the publisher of this magazine.

Editorial and advertising does not constitute advice but is considered informative.

There is a proverb I love that says, “A smooth sea never made a skilled sailor.”

It’s attributed to President Franklin D. Roosevelt and also called an old African proverb, depending which web site you look at, and there’s also a song by the pop punk band Neck Deep called, “Smooth Seas Don’t Make Good Sailors.”

Wherever the phrase may have originated, the sentiment it expresses is profound and can be life-changing.

It’s also always fascinated me that it’s not a good idea to help a newborn butterfly out of its chrysalis. The reason is that in fighting its way out of the cocoon that sheltered its metamorphosis, the butterfly’s muscles develop for the rest of its life as a flighted thing.

Release the butterfly without struggle, and it won’t be able to fly.

Nearly everyone I know – and everyone I’ve read or heard about – has overcome some kind of adversity.

In my own life, I battled addiction to alcohol and prescription medications in my late teens and into my mid-20s, a short, but ugly fight that wounded me and hurt many of the people I loved.

I reached a crisis point in that journey when I was 25 and, dragged to sobriety kicking and screaming, began the long slog home. At my lowest point, I was sure my life was over, and I longed for the oblivion of death.

Looking back on that time now, I see that instead of being the end, it was merely the beginning; not even that, the beginning of the beginning, and that all of those hard lessons I was forced to learn as a young woman have paid uncounted dividends as I grew older.

In this month’s issue, we’ll introduce you to some Del Rioans who have endured their own “dark nights of the soul,” and who have triumphed and continue to triumph over the rough seas through which they have sailed.

It is my sincere hope that you will draw some inspiration and courage for your own journey from their stories as we make our way into a brand new year.

We’ve also got some fun New Year’s traditions, just in case you want to stack the deck in your favor just a little, and some tasty, but healthy, granola to keep your hunger in check and a game day michelada to keep you hydrated!

Happy New Year, y’all!

Karen Gleason Grande Editor

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CONTENTS 8

CALENDAR Keep busy this month at these local events.

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KINGS’ CAKE H-E-B honors community tradition with Epiphany treat.

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LOVE, FORTUNE AND HEALTH Ensure a happy New Year with these traditions of Mexico.

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MICHELADA Make game day special with this liquid relaxer.

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Del Rioan Dalinda Diaz finds healing through her love of art.

RESOLUTION RETAIL Use these finds to keep all your New Year’s resolutions on track.

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GRANOLA BARS

SHARP STYLES

Keep your diet on track with these healthy, tasty snacks.

Del Rio attorney Gregorio Flores and family start the New Year in style.

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MAKING LIFE COUNT

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CLOSET CONFIDENTIAL

Bobby Barrera on living a life that matters.

Amanda Salas styles her life after significant weight loss.

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HEART AND SOUL Joey Rios talks about never giving up.

A GRANDE LIFE

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FIGHTING SPIRIT Sammy Mireles on beating cancer and loving life.

THE LONG WALK Del Rio siblings walk the Pacific Crest Trail.

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LAST LOOK Our creative director wraps up the January issue.

ON THE COVER: Sammy Mireles shares his story of overcoming a life-threatening disease. Mireles said he stays positive thanks to the support of his wife, children, parents, friends and his work family at Toyota of Del Rio. • Photo by Karen Gleason 6

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Helping Del Rio Grow!

ORIGINAL LANDSCAPE DESIGNS TREE TRIMMING RETAINING WALLS ROCK WORK CONCRETE PAVERS GROUNDS MAINTENANCE CARPET GRASS WE BEAT ANY PRICE IN TOWN

We are so grateful to be part of this wonderful community!

Wishing you a blessed Holiday Season!

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JANUARY CALENDAR

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Keep busy this month at these fun local events 5 FREE COMMUNITY WORKOUT 10 a.m. - Fitness Beyond RX - 112 Agarita Drive Join Fitness Beyond RX every Saturday for a free functional fitness workout. Get your sweat on, have fun, and meet new people. No experience is necessary and all workouts can be adapted to your ability levels.

4-5 4H LIVESTOCK SHOW AND BARBECUE Various times - Val Verde County Fairgrounds - 2006 N. Main St. A community tradition since 1941, the livestock show and auction showcases local 4-H youth who raise animals including rabbits, goats, lambs and swine. Awards takes place Saturday at 1:30 with the auction to follow.

5 ROSCA DE REYES WORKSHOP 10 a.m. - Casa de la Cultura - 302 Cantu St. Learn to make this colorful, meaningful, traditional Mexican cake with members of the Casa. Remember where you hide the baby!

7 TACOS WITH THE VATOS 6 p.m. - Casa de la Cultura Annex Building - 716 W. Garza St. This event aims to provide a safe environment for boys and men to share experiences and discuss positive approaches to everyday life while enjoying everyone’s favorite dish: tacos. This event is recurring every Monday and January’s conversation theme is “Community.”

17 MYSTERY BOX COOKING CLASS 6 p.m. - Del Rio Community Garden - 210 Jones St. Chef Cortez and students of the Del Rio High School Culinary Arts Program will cook up something delicious and surprising for dinner. Bring any item from your kitchen to the community garden and watch Cortez and his students transform random ingredients into to a scrumptious dish for everyone. Come hungry!

19 MINI FARMER’S MARKET 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. - Del Rio Community Garden - 210 Jones St. Grab your some of your weekly groceries while supporting local businesses at this monthly market. Find coffee, cookies, eggs, honey and more.

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Kings’ Cake Sweet tradition commemorates the gifts of the Magi Story and photos by KAREN GLEASON

Making sure HEB’s giant Rosca de Reyes cake is ready to be blessed before the store’s 2018 ceremony are, from left, Vivian Shuffield, Iris Torres, both of the store’s bakery department and now-department manager Jose Gonzalez.

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he bakery department at H-E-B #2 on Veterans Boulevard is always a busy place, with Del Rioans stopping in for a bag of the store’s soft bollilos, a dozen doughnuts or a loaf of freshly-baked bread.

On the morning of Epiphany, though, the number of people in the bakery triples and quadruples, with dozens of Del Rioans coming to the store for the blessing of a cake to celebrate the Christian holy day.

Epiphany is celebrated by Christians as the day on which God revealed himself to man through Jesus Christ. It is also the day on which the adoration of the Magi is celebrated.

The Magi, according to the Bible, were three wise men or three kings “who had seen his star in the East and had come to worship him.”

In Spanish and Hispanic cultures around the world, Epiphany is celebrated with a cake called the Rosca de Reyes or “Kings’ Ring,” which is baked to celebrate the arrival of the Three Kings or Magi in Bethlehem.

H-E-B Deli Manager Jose Gonzalez oversees the preparation of the store’s Kings’ Ring.

Gonzalez has worked for H-E-B for 32 years, all of those years with H-E-B in Del Rio. “We’re involved with the roscas for the tradition, celebrating the birth of Jesus and the Three Kings, so we do that,” Gonzalez said The H-E-B bakers assemble an oversized rosca that is typically blessed by one of Del Rio Catholic priests and shared among those who attend the ceremony.

Gonzalez said the bakers begin working on the rosca on Jan. 5 so that it can be ready to eat on the morning of Jan. 6.

Gonzalez said the dough comes to the store already prepared as per a company recipe.

“It includes flour, water, eggs and yeast, lard,” he said. The dough is typically also flavored with anise.

Bakers prepare the dough by thawing it and rolling it into a log shape.

Two-pound sections of the cake are then covered with a topping made of flour, sugar and lard, Gonzalez said.

“That’s the crumbly, sweet topping of the rosca, and we prepare it here in the store,” he said.

The rosca also gets brushed with cajeta, a jam-like topping and dried and candied fruits are laid on top of the proofed loaves.

“Then we proof it for 25 or 30 minutes, and we set it down for another 30 minutes, then we start baking it in sections,” Gonzalez said.

After the sections are removed from the ovens and cooled, bakers hide small plastic figurines of an infant inside some of the sections of the cake.

“We put several babies in there, and the tradition is that whoever finds the babies has to, on Feb. 2, provide tamales and other foods for their friends and neighbors,” Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez said 2019 will mark the seventh year that H-E-B has done the blessing of the rosca inside the store.

The blessing is always a treat, attended by the store mascot, H-E-Buddy, and usually featuring an accompaniment of the Three Kings in costume.

“This is a good thing, because it’s one more chance for us to reach out to our community and show appreciation to all of our customers as well as maintaining an important community tradition,” Gonzalez said. •

Vivian Shuffield, a member of HEB’s bakery department, does a last-minute check on the large Rosca de Reyes cake at HEB just before the 2018 cake blessing ceremony.

HEB deli employee Maria Luisa Morillo serves hot chocolate flavored with cinnamon to persons attending the 2018 blessing of the Rosca de Reyes at the Veterans Boulevard HEB.

HEB deli department manager Jose Gonzalez gets for this year’s blessing of the Rosca de Reyes at the bakery in H-E-B, 200 Veterans Blvd.

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The Three Kings, from left, Ozzie De La Paz, George Montemayor and Alberto Zamarripa, attended the 2018 blessing of the Rosca de Reyes at H-E-B.

H-E-B customers gather in the store’s bakery department during the 2018 blessing of the Rosca de Reyes.

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Father Clay Hunt, formerly of St. Joseph Catholic Church, right, sprinkles holy water over the Rosca de Reyes during the blessing of the Kings’ Ring in 2018. Looking on at left are H-E-B Store Director Janie Garcia and the Three Kings, played by Ozzie De La Paz, George Montemayor and Alberto Zamarripa.

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Love, fortune and health: Mexico traditions to ensure a great new year Story by KAREN GLEASON

Across the U.S., families gather to ring in the New Year and practice a variety of traditions, shooting off fireworks or eating black eyed peas.

The border region has its own set of traditions to ensure a New Year that’s filled with health, wealth and happiness, said Nirce Gomez, director of cultural affairs for the Mexican Consulate of Del Rio. Gomez said some of the traditions are more common in certain parts of Mexico than in others, but her research determined at least five are practiced widely throughout Mexico and in communities along and near the U.S.-Mexico border among residents of Mexican descent.

Those traditions are:

SUITCASE WALK “In the last minute of the old year, into the beginning of the new year, people grab some suitcases and walk around the house, walk around the block, and the meaning is that probably you will travel in the New Year,” Gomez said.

“If you don’t want to travel, just stay in your chair, eating your 12 grapes,” she added.

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Gomez said it is said the farther the walk you take with your suitcase, the farther you’ll travel in the New Year.

“If you only go around the block, you’re probably just going to travel in your own country, but if you go to another block or farther, maybe you’re going to travel around the world,” she said.

SEED BAGS “This is also from my personal experience. My mother-in-law, in Mexico City, she gave me a little bag with some seeds, and with those seeds, she was wishing for me to have a

prosperous new year,” Gomez said.

The small cloth bags, which are traditionally red, are filled with rice, beans, lentils and other seeds and sometimes, tiny matchstick dolls.

EATING 12 GRAPES “The tradition is that you have to eat 12 grapes in the last 12 seconds of the old year, and for each grape, you need to make a wish,” Gomez said.

She said this practice is one of the

most common New Year’s Eve traditions throughout Mexico.

“And if you taste one sour grape, that means that that month will probably be a bad month for you,” Gomez said.

TRADITIONAL MEAL “In Mexico, all the family gets together to say goodbye to the old year and receive the New Year,” she said.

In Mexico, there are also a number of traditional foods served on New Year’s Eve, including lentils.

Gomez said when Mexican families get together, it is traditional for each guest or set of guests to bring a dish to the table to be shared.

COLORED UNDERWEAR “The tradition says that if you wear red underwear, you will probably be lucky in love. If you wear yellow underwear, you will probably be lucky with money.

People wear green underwear for good health,” Gomez said.

She said the underwear must be worn on Dec. 31, New Year’s Eve, to ensure the luck will carry over into the New Year.

“In northern Mexico, it’s very traditional to have barbecue, carne asada, while in central and southern Mexico, families like mine, in Mexico City, usually cook bacalao, salted cod,” Gomez said.

She said families in central Mexico also prepare holiday dishes containing mole and romeritos, a plant native to Mexico, and a pepper called chile gueros.•

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A GRANDE LIFE

Hello, Dolly!

Story by MEGAN TACKETT; Photo by KAREN GLEASON

W

hile wounds from past traumas sometimes never fully heal, survivors find creative, cathartic outlets to help purge their pain.

Dalinda “Dolly” Diaz, 43, returned to Del Rio in 2017 after leaving home when she was 15 years old. She’s worked in IT most her life and uses paper doll art to manage Complex PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) that lingers from prolonged childhood abuse.

“I feel like I never have the right words to explain what I’ve been through and what I’m going through,” Diaz said. “My art helps me express myself without the words.”

Diaz creates tiny paper dresses from colorful craft paper for a variety of toy dolls. She meticulously measures, cuts and tailors outfits specifically for each doll, incorporating bows, skirts, ribbons, collars and buttons into her designs.

The Air Force communications veteran hosts an art hour every Wednesday at the Casa de la Cultura, where she leads a weekly craft project with children and their parents to help express themselves through art using a variety of mediums.

Before moving to Del Rio, Diaz lived in Ann Arbor, Mich., where she belonged to and created paper dresses for a selective,

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elite doll club. The group of collectors met regularly for show-and-tells and swaps and didn’t allow just anyone to join.

“They somehow let me into this club because I was really enthusiastic,” Diaz said. “But I didn’t have the proper dolls so they changed the rules and let me in.”

Missing the camaraderie of her Ann Arbor collectors, she created a club through the Casa, where parents and children come to bond over the shared interest in dolls.

“It really means something sentimental to play dolls with children,” Diaz said. “To just be able to sit and play is therapeutic.”

Volunteering at the Casa, Diaz provides herself and her young participants a safe place to decompress and escape the sometimes harsh world of real life.

“I want to help any way I can so we don’t produce any more broken dollies,” Diaz said.

Diaz thanks her family, the friends she’s made since returning to Del Rio and Casa organizers for providing her a safety net when things get tough.

“I’m constantly looking for ways to heal myself and cure myself,” Diaz said. “I’m lucky to have really good people who have stood by me.”•

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The

Michelada Recipe and photo by MEGAN TACKETT

January is full of high-stake football games that, for some, require liquid relaxation to get through. The michelada is a flavorful Mexican favorite full of spice, cerveza and citrus.

This beverage is easily customizable depending on how much hot you can handle. Bottoms up!

Ingredients • Mexican lager • Hot sauce • Limes • Worcestershire sauce • Soy sauce • Salt, pepper, paprika or any desired seasonings

Method 1. Begin by making the rim mixture. On a small plate, Pour out some coarse salt and mix in pepper and paprika. Take a chilled glass and rub a lime around the rim. Press rim into mixture, creating the dressing.

2. Add a couple dashes of Worcestershire, soy sauce and hot sauce into the glass, along with a squeeze of lime juice and a couple shakes of pepper.

3. Fill glass with ice. Slowly pour lager into glass, pausing for foam to settle.

4. Use a spoon to gently mix beverage together.

Taste and adjust as needed. Garnish with lime and enjoy.

*Some recipes call for Clamato juice. Feel free to add a splash before pouring in the beer.*

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No-bake

Granola bars

Photo by MEGAN TACKETT, Prepared by JORGE ALARCON

Looking for a healthier way to snack this New Year? Try this healthy and hungersatisfying no-bake granola bar from twopeasandtheirpod.com. Make a batch before your work week and have them on hand to grab before you run out the door.

These bars are the perfect treat to hold you over between meals.

Ingredients • 2 cups quick oats • 1 cup crispy rice cereal • 1/3 cup roasted salted almonds • 1/4 teaspoon salt • 1/4 cup unsalted butter • 1/4 cup brown sugar • 1/4 cup honey • 1/3 cup almond butter • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract • 1/4 cup chocolate chips, melted, optional

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Method 1. Spray an 8×8-inch square Pyrex pan with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.

2.In a medium bowl, combine the oats, cereal, almonds, and salt. Stir and set aside.

3.In a large sauce pan, add butter, brown sugar, honey and almond butter.

Heat over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally until the mixture starts to bubble. Once bubbling, cook for 2 minutes while stirring. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla extract.

4.Stir in the dry ingredients. Stir until well coated. Pour into the prepared pan and press the mixture evenly into the pan. If desired, drizzle melted chocolate over the tops of the bars.

5.Place the bars in the refrigerator and let cool for at least 30 minutes before cutting. Cut into bars and serve.

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Making Life Count Del Rioan Bobby Barrera transcends devastating loss of limbs Story and photos by Karen Gleason; contributed photos by Bobby Barrera

R

oberto “Bobby” Barrera greets me with a smile and a hug under the clear blue November sky. A mild breeze is blowing, carrying on it the susurrus of water flowing down the San Felipe Creek as we take a seat near the memorial in Lt. Thomas Romanelli Park.

Barrera is a native Del Rioan. He was born here and attended local schools, graduating from Del Rio High School in 1966.

“We had to play a little straighter because Dad was a cop,” Barrera said of his early life, growing up as the son of I.R. Barrera, Del Rio’s first Hispanic chief of police. “We goofed off, we did our things that we shouldn’t be doing. He always cautioned us, but if we got caught doing something like running a red light or something, they would cut us some slack.”

Barrera said his best memories of childhood are intertwined with the stream that burbles a few dozen yards away from where we’re sitting.

“I lived, that’s Stanley Street over there (across the irrigation ditch), and I lived on the next street over, Hutchinson, so swimming, every day, sometimes twice a day. I had two brothers; Richard, my older brother and I, we’d go swimming every day, to the Blue Hole or the Pig Pen. That was the neatest thing. I had several cousins that lived two houses away from us, and Dad and Mom never made us get a summer job or anything, so we spent the majority of our time swimming.”

Barrera said he wanted to join the Marines straight out of high school. Today, he chuckles about his mindset and attitude in those days.

“I saw too many John Wayne movies, one, and second, I thought I was tough shit. The other reason, walking home from Del Rio High School, we walked right by the old federal building (now the county judicial center). There were posters all on the sidewalk, of all the recruiters that were there. The Marine Corps uniform sold me. I said, ‘That’s what I want to do. That’s what I want to be.’ Dad and Mom tried to talk me out of it, and they did for two years.

“Dad said, ‘Go to college.’ I was the fourth kid in the family to graduate from high school, and none of them had gone to college. I finally went to college to please my dad. I drank a lot of his money for two years, and finally I said this is not what I want, so I volunteered to go into the Marines. I volunteered in 1968 and went in in 1969,” he said.

Barrera said he believed he had made the right decision as soon as he got to boot camp.

“The two years that I was in college, about the only courses I passed were the PE courses. I was in top shape, so when I got to boot

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camp in San Diego, Calif., a lot of the kids that were out of shape, they took a beating. I was doing what I wanted to do. I was living my dream, if you will,” he said.

“People don’t remember this. There was a two-year enlistment back then. They didn’t tell you about it, on the condition that you would go to Vietnam, and I said, ‘Aw, hell, that’s exactly what I want.’

I saw the stuff that was going on on TV. It was on the daily news, so that’s what I wanted. When I left, there were several of us from Del Rio, and I said, ‘I’m going to go out and end all this silliness in Vietnam. I’m going to go put an end to all this crap,’” Barrera recalled with a laugh.

When I observed he sounded ready to kick ass and take names, Barrera chuckled and shook his head, “I sure was, until I found out the Vietnamese that were smarter than I was.”

“And because I was on a one-year enlistment, they were going to send me to where all the action was right away, where the replacements were being needed,” he said. “We completed advanced infantry training at 6 in the evening. At midnight, we were on a plane going to Vietnam. That’s how badly they needed the replacements.”

Barrera arrived in Vietnam as a Marine Corps infantry rifleman in August 1969. He landed in the northern part of the country and a jeep delivered him to his new company.

“Six weeks later, I got blown up,” he said.

The reality of the war, though, made itself known right away.

“The first night we were there, a Vietnamese infantry infiltrated the line and threw in a satchel charge, a bag with explosives, and it cut one of our guy’s throat, his jugular, and he died. That was the welcome. I got scared, I did, but it never really sunk in, like, ‘Oh, shit, what did I do?’ I was doing what I wanted,” Barrera said.

He had been in Vietnam just over a month when he and his company were tagged for yet another patrol.

“We had been out on patrol, the company, and we came in on the 15th of September, and they said, ‘Okay, guys, you’ll be here for two, three days before you go out again,’ so the next day was dies y seis de Septiembre, so some of the Mexican guys got together, and we got some beer and we were drinking. Around 9 o’clock, we were right by the company headquarters, and we heard the phone ringing, and they were talking, and they said, ‘Okay, we’ll send someone out.’

They came out and told us, ‘Hey, guys, cut it, get ready, get your gear ready, you’re going out in the morning,” he said.

Two Vietnamese informants told Barrera’s superiors where a large cache of rice, ostensibly to help enemy combatants, was being stored.

“We went out in a convoy of vehicles, and we went out around 8:30 or 9, five amtracs, about 45 people more or less,” Barrera said.

After being named Texas Disabled Veteran of the Year in 1998, Roberto “Bobby” Barrera went on to be elected the national commander for Disabled Veterans of America.

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Barrera was riding on top of an amtrac, an armored transport carrier.

“When we got to the staging area where the five tracs were, they told me to get on trac one, which no one likes because if there’s a mine, the first one is the one that’s going to catch it.

I got on it, started talking to some of the guys, and someone else came up and told me to go to trac three,” Barrera said.

Barrera’s sense of relief was short-lived.

“Trac Three happened to be the one that Carlos Hathcock was riding on, and he wasn’t scheduled to be on there, because he had the bounty on his head. . . Hathcock was a cocky son-of-a-bitch. He carried a white feather, and that was his calling card. When he made a kill, he’d leave his white feather to let you know who did it,” Barrera said.

Hathcock, one of the most famous military snipers of all time, had 93 confirmed kills in Vietnam. The incident in which he and Barrera were injured, which ended the military service of both men, is recounted in Hathcock’s book, “Marine Sniper.”

“We were riding along the highway, and then we turned off the highway to cross through a rice paddy to where we were going.

The tracs followed each other exactly, and the first trac went through, the second trac went through, nothing,” Barrera said.

As the third trac passed, Barrera said he heard an explosion that knocked him out.

Then he heard a second explosion that jarred him back to consciousness.

“I’m told that the first explosion was the 500-pound bomb that was rigged with a land mine, and the second one was the fuel tanks going off, and that’s what got us, a huge fireball. It was commanded, it was remotecontrolled, someone was sitting there, so we were set up. I guess the moral of that story is never hitch a ride with a guy that has a bounty on his head,” he said with a laugh.

The two Vietnamese and the six Marines riding on the trac, including Barrera and Hathcock, were all badly burned, but all of them lived.

After the explosion, the Vietnamese who had ambushed the convoy began shooting and those from the convoy returned fire. A chopper was summoned to ferry the wounded away from the ambush site.

“All of us walked on. My skin was hanging like a latex glove. All of us were burned, but we were all alive and walking and talking. We all walked to the helicopter. I didn’t feel any pain until I got on the chopper, and then it was real

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Two photos of Roberto “Bobby” Barrera as a Del Rio High School senior in 1966. Barrera, born and raised in Del Rio, grew up close to the San Felipe Creek. He was one of three sons of the city’s first Hispanic chief of police, I.R. Barrera.

bad,” Barrera said.

He remembered asking himself when he fell off the trac, ‘What in the hell have I done? What am I doing here, halfway around the world?’

That’s when it really hit me.”

From the chopper, Barrera and his injured comrades were transported to the USS Repose, a Navy hospital ship anchored in Da Nang Harbor. From there, Barrera began the long trip back to south Texas and the military’s premier burn ward at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio.

“I never really realized how badly I’d been hurt until I was in San Antonio. I still had all my limbs. They weren’t blown off. They were badly burned, but in the hospital, I developed an infection they call phycomycosis. It’s like a fast gangrene, and it eats the flesh and there is nothing to stop it,” Barrera said.

But even as he arrived at the burn ward in San Antonio, Barrera said he still had not grasped how severely he had been injured.

“There were some guys out there playing football, and I was in one of those buses with the stretchers and I remember telling someone, ‘Hey, let me go play football,’” he said. “I probably didn’t realize how bad I was until they were reassuring my family. See, all these things they weren’t telling me; it was just what I heard. It was when they told my family I was going to live, ’cause for a while they weren’t sure. I was in intensive care, and at one point they told my family they had done everything they could do,” Barrera said.

But even though Barrera survived the attack, his trip back to Texas was akin to trading the frying pan for the fire.

“The infection, they first spotted it on three fingers on my left hand, and the doctors came and told me they were going to have to take three fingers off that hand, and I had said I couldn’t live without a hand, and I said, ‘Eh, three fingers, okay,’ so when they brought me back from surgery, I looked down at my hand, and there was nothing there. The doctor, I’ll never forget, he was real apologetic, with tears in his eyes, and told me, ‘I’m sorry, we had to take the whole hand,’ so I said, ‘Well, I guess you goddam Army doctors don’t know how to count,’” Barrera said.

The infection next appeared on Barrera’s upper lip, so they amputated as much of the soft tissue as they could. He was told that if the infection had penetrated his sinuses there would have been nothing the doctors could have done except watch him die.

Barrera also lost his entire left arm to the infection.

Barrera lived, and now knows exactly how lucky he was, but admits that was hard to see at the time.

The hopelessness that shrouded his life is something he remembers clearly.

“It’s when I got out of the hospital, and I had survived, and they were doing plastic surgery and fitting me with prostheses and all. On one occasion, I was in intensive care, and my dad came in, and I knew he always carried his service revolver, and that day I had decided I didn’t want to live anymore. The pain was too much, and I didn’t want to live like this. So Dad came in, and I said, ‘Dad, do have your gun?’ He said he did, and asked me why, and I asked him to shoot me. I told him I just didn’t want to live. I told him I was tired of being in pain and

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Roberto “Bobby” Barrera strikes a pose at Camp Pendleton in California, where he attended Marine Corps infantry training.

After boot camp, infantry training and advanced infantry training, Barrera was sent to Vietnam, where he spent six weeks in 1969.

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that I didn’t want to go on with my life. He talked with me for a long time, two hours or more, and we talked and we laughed and we cried, until he was sure,” Barrera said.

But Barrera’s battle with despair was far from over.

He said it nearly overwhelmed him again when he was finally released from the hospital and was retired from the Marines.

“I couldn’t do squat. I felt I couldn’t do anything with my life, and that’s when I turned to drinking. I lived on a dayto-day basis by drinking, by going to the beer joint, going to the corner store, with no direction to my life,” he said.

Barrera said he spent years in an alcoholic funk, until April of 1974 when he married Maricelia Marin, whom he’d met six months before. His wife’s sister was dating one of Barrera’s buddies, who had also gone to Vietnam, and Barrera asked him to set him up with her.

“My wife is the reason my life changed. If I hadn’t met her, I think I would have been dead or in jail or something, because she’s the one who saw through all the games that I played, and she wasn’t like my parents who would always forgive me. She was forgiving when she needed to be, but she held me accountable,” Barrera said.

He and Maricelia have now been married 45 years.

Barrera said acceptance of his new circumstances was the most difficult part of taking his life back.

“I honestly think it was learning to accept that I was not

GRANDE / JANUARY 2019

the same person, that my whole life had changed, that all the things that I used to do were things I couldn’t do anymore.

It’s overcoming the feelings of despair, overcoming the attitude of ‘pobrecito me,’ poor me. There’s another past national commander of DAV (Disabled Veterans of America) who said it perfectly, ‘We choose to focus on our abilities rather than our disabilities.’ I had to accept that, yes, there’s things I can’t do, so let me focus on the things I can do,” he said.

In May 1975, Barrera’s sister-in-law was preparing to go to college, and her excitement kindled a fire in Barrera’s own heart.

“At one point, I told my wife, ‘I wonder if I could go back and get the degree I never did,’ and she said, ‘Why not?’

She said, ‘We can do it.’ Not you, we. That same week I called St. Mary’s (University in San Antonio), where I had wasted Uncle Sam’s money one semester after Vietnam,” he said.

The school agreed to take him back, but placed him on scholastic probation, giving him a single semester to prove himself.

He took four courses, earned three As and a B, and twoand-a-half years later, graduated with a bachelor’s degree in psychology.

He had never thought what he had wanted to do with the rest of his life, and when asked, remembered talking to other wounded vets about their disabilities and told college officials he thought he’d like trying a career in counseling.

He graduated from St. Mary’s in 1978, and he and Maricelia returned to Del Rio, where he applied for a job with the school district. Dr. Cartall, then a member of the school board, helped get him his first job.

“Right there in his office, he picked up the phone and called the superintendent and they said okay, have him come apply,” Barrera said.

He also wanted to earn a degree in counseling, so he enrolled at Sul Ross and began working on his master’s in guidance and counseling.

He taught for five years at Del Rio High School, then decided he didn’t want to do that for the rest of his life.

He next went to work as a counselor for the juvenile probation department. After five years as a counselor, Barrera decided to change jobs again.

“That’s when a vacancy at Laughlin Air Force Base came open, at the Family Support Center . . . and they hired me,” he said.

About this same time, in 1998, Budje Smith of Disabled American Veterans, an organization of which Barrera was a member, submitted his name for Texas disabled veteran of the year.

“I got selected, then I got selected for the national,” he said, adding the honor came as a surprise to him. “I also got a call from the CEO of the DAV, and he said, ‘We want you to run for national office in the organization.’ So I applied, and I ran and I got elected in 2004, then you go through six chairs before being national commander.”

Roberto “Bobby” Barrera, right, rides in a Jeep in a Fourth of July parade in Plattsville, Wisc., in 2009, while serving as the national commander of the Disabled Veterans of America (DAV). The men in the front of the Jeep are both members of the Plattsville, Wisc., DAV chapter.

Barrera became the DAV’s national commander in 2009. He is still active in the organization.

“One of the neatest parts, in 1997, they started the idea of erecting a monument in Washington, D.C., dedicated to disabled veterans from all branches of service, and they started the process,” Barrera said.

In 2012, he was asked to be on the board of the foundation raising funds for the project.

One of Barrera’s quotes is memorialized on the monument: “I know what my purpose in life is, and if what I went through can help someone go through what I did, I’m okay with that.”

Barrera said he has made presentations around the country and notes that a life’s success hinges on what he calls “the four Ss.” “The first ‘S’ is a support system. Without a support system, all these things would not have been possible. Someone has always been there for me, carrying me, giving me a swift kick in the butt or giving me the chance to prove myself,” he said.

The second ‘S’ is a spiritual relationship.

“It’s not religion. It’s having a relationship with God, and I always preface that by telling people I’m sharing my relationship with God and with Jesus Christ. You have different religions, different gods. I’m telling you to develop a relationship with your God, develop that spiritual relationship.

“Twice I died on the operating table, and twice I was brought

back. One of my other buddies from Vietnam says how lucky you were to be in a great hospital to save your life, and I think it wasn’t the doctors, it was God. God had a purpose for me. All along He’d been carrying me,” Barrera said.

“The third ‘S’ is a sense of humor, and I’ve always had that,” Barrera said.

He tells a story of how his mother always gave her three sons the same gifts for Christmas, and one year after Barrera had returned for Vietnam, she picked out a flannel shirt and a pair of gloves, and his sister, slightly horrified, said, ‘This is for Bobby?

You want to give Bobby a pair of gloves?’ You have to be able to laugh and have fun and not take life so seriously,” Barrera said.

The fourth ‘S’ is “self.’

“When I do the presentation, I ask people, ‘Do you know what my name, Barrera, translates to?’ It means, obstacle, barrier, a wall, and I tell them, ‘I didn’t get anywhere until Barrera realized Barrera’s biggest Barrera was Barrera himself.’

“The other thing I tell people is that after boot camp, when we came home for 20 days leave and I knew I was going to Vietnam, I was with my girlfriend, and I told her, ‘I hope if something happens to me over there, it’s something minor, a flesh wound, or something so severe that it takes my life, because I don’t think I could live without a hand,’ and shit, that’s exactly what happened.

And guess what? Yes, I can, and yes, I can be successful and enjoy life and help others,” he said. •

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Heart and Soul Physical limitations are no match for the drive of Joey Rios Story and photos by BRIAN ARGABRIGHT

I

t’s hard enough trying to accomplish your goals when faced with everyday challenges like traffic, money woes, weather and more.

Try to do it with a body that somedays just refuses to cooperate.

Joey Rios has been doing that for his entire life.

Rios, 29, is currently studying mortuary science at San Antonio College with the ultimate goal of becoming a funeral director. He works at the world-famous Menger Hotel, cleaning up wherever needed.

And he does all of that despite being legally blind in one eye and with a body that wages a daily war against cerebral palsy.

Rios is paralyzed on the right side of his body meaning he is unable to drive. Still, he doesn’t let any of that stop him from being the same hard worker that made him a part of Del Rio High School’s district championship-winning cross-country

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team.

Running became Rios’ life, and his story and that of his desire and will to compete became a part of the program’s lore.

“I was starting to be lazy, so I wanted to go out and do something. I didn’t just want to be at home and not do anything,” Rios said. “When I first went to practice, coach (Ric) Smith was shocked to see that I actually decided to do it. He said he was going to see what I could do. He thought I just wanted to be the football team’s manager. The first day was hard. After the first or second week, I scared my mom, though.”

Rios’ mom, Nora Carrillo, said the physical exertion of cross-country running caused severe back spasms in her son.

They became so bad that she took him to the emergency room.

There, a physician recommended that Rios quit running because of the toll it was taking.

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“I don’t know why he wanted to start running. I think what lured him to the sport was the unity of all the runners involved.

He was never left alone. They run as a pack, as part of a team,” Carrillo said. “When the doctor said he should stop, I stepped back and let Joey make the decision.”

Rios never stopped. He never won a race on his own and while he always finished near the back of the pack, there were more times than not that he didn’t finish last. As a tradition, once his teammates completed their race, they would double back and run alongside Rios, encouraging him to reach the finish line.

He eventually grew tired of the show and demanded to be left alone to finish his race. But he relented at his final race as a high school student, and crossed the finish line with his teammates, the “blue crew,” in tow.

But all of that is a part of Rios’ past. His present is marked by what he describes as hardship based solely on his appearance.

His weakened eye often doesn’t look the same way as his healthy eye and he walks with a distinct limp. They’re physical things he can’t control, but he said he doesn’t allow them to define who he is.

“It’s been tough. You’re always going to have those people who will put you down, but you have to roll with punches. One thing I learned early on - if I fall, I have to get back up and go from there,” Rios said.

Rios’ work and school schedule, as well as a lack of steady transportation, means he has little time to come home. He admits 30

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he misses the little things, like his grandmother’s and mother’s cooking, but his drive to prove doubters wrong keeps him from dwelling on what some people would see as his hardships.

“I’ve had my share of supervisors who didn’t see potential in me. They don’t know the struggles I’ve had. I always want to go out there and prove them wrong,” Rios said.

Even after a decade away from high school, Rios is still inspiring people. He said his time at college has inspired his mother to pursue her own collegiate degree, and he said he speaks to people regularly who say they’re inspired by his fight and his desire to make his life better.

That dedication and inspiration led Smith, who is now the school district’s athletic director, to name a cross-country award after Rios. It’s still presented annually to the runners who best exemplify Rios’ desire and dedication to the program.

“For me, it’s a humble honor,” Rios said. “I’ve always looked up to coach Smith. He hates it when I say this, but he’s like the Coach Popovich of Del Rio. He’s always taken the time to counsel me and talk to me. He’s one of the reasons I’m where I’m at now.”

Rios said he hopes to complete his schooling in May. After that, Rios said he’s ready to go right to work. No matter what happens, he said, there’s always been a plan in place for him.

“There have been times were I doubted where I was headed, but God said this going to take time, but you’re going to do this,” Rios said.•

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Del Rioan Sammy Mireles at his home, showing off the “Sammy Strong” bracelet.

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Fighting Spirit Battle with leukemia strengthens Sammy Mireles’ resolve, outlook on life.

Story and photos by BRIAN ARGABRIGHT

W

hen Sammy Mireles started feeling more tired than usual he could have never imagined that it would wind up being a fight for his life.

Mireles’ inquiry into why he was getting tired so easily became a battle against leukemia, a cancer of the body’s blood-forming tissues. It was a battle that saw him spend months confined to a hospital, lose more than a quarter of his body weight and find a lifesaver in his own progeny.

And even though he’s been through a war that took its toll on him physically and emotionally, it’s one that in his heart he knows could be rekindled at any moment.

Mireles, 38, said he’s always been active. A former standout basketball and football player for the Del Rio Rams, Mireles said he was always ready for a workout or at least a run when he noticed in the summer of 2017 he would tire more easily even after short runs. On his days off, he would just be exhausted, not wanting to do anything with his family.

As a general sales manager for Toyota of Del Rio, Mireles would hold meetings each morning to fire up his sales staff.

Now instead of being the firebrand his co-workers had come to know, he was struggling to maintain his energy, needing a chair to help hold him on his feet.

One day in August, while getting his haircut, his stylist noticed his lymph nodes were swollen. She suggested he get checked, so under the advice of his mother, Carol Mireles, Sammy visited with Dr. Veronica Cadena and underwent a series of tests to find out just what was wrong.

“They told me I would be contacted in a week,” Mireles said. “That next day I got a call from the doctor’s office, and they said I needed to come in immediately. They wouldn’t tell me why so I got nervous. I was supposed to pick up my dry cleaning but instead went to the doctor’s office where hopefully they would tell me what was wrong with me.”

“They told me the tests showed that my white blood cells were unusually high and I would be sent to a specialist for a second opinion. I had no idea what any of the stuff they were talking about meant, so I just asked. They said, ‘It could be cancer’,” Mireles said.

The next day, Mireles and his wife, Renee, and his parents traveled to San Antonio to meet with a specialist. Mireles said the doctor looked over his records and began talking about treatments and clinic visits and more. Mireles mentioned what Cadena had said about his white blood cell count and

what that meant.

After a few more minutes of examining Mireles’ chart, and consulting with fellow experts, the specialist delivered the sobering news.

“As soon as he finished talking with other experts, he looked at me and said I had leukemia and that I would be sent to Methodist Hospital and would begin chemotherapy,” Mireles said. “My mother and father were on one side and my wife was on my other side and in that instant I just saw my family crumble. In my head I knew I couldn’t do the same, I felt that I had to be strong for them, so instead of fear I developed this attitude of ‘let’s go!’ I felt like I could face whatever was going to come next. With every step of the process that was described, I tried to stay strong and said ‘let’s go, let’s do this.’

That was the beginning of the next two months of being on the same floor, in the same room, as I battled leukemia.”

Mireles never had a romantic view of his situation. He was aware of what was at stake and that his body, which was already damaged and led to both his kidneys and liver failing, might not be ready for what lay ahead.

“This was the most aggressive form of leukemia out there.

The doctors told it to me straight – I could beat it, but it would come back. Being in that hospital room, all I wanted to do was get out, feel the wind and the sun again. I wanted to stay active, so I walked the floor. I walked past hospital rooms, people living their last days, hearing the worst of the worst, but I wanted to use very part of my body while I still could and all my strength while I could,” Mireles said.

As part of his fight, Mireles and his wife - whom he calls his rock - decided to document his progress through a Facebook page called Team Sam vs leukemia - www.facebook.com/ togetherwewinsam. The videos posted on the page chronicle Mireles’ path, from the first days of treatment to the last, from the good days to the bad days.

“We wanted to document everything. We wanted to leave some kind of legacy for our kids, showing all this positivity in the face of something so terrible,” Mireles said. “There were some days I didn’t want to make the videos, but Renee always reminded me that there was someone out there, someone watching these videos, who was being inspired or sharing the message about overcoming adversity. She was my push, so whether I was on camera or it was me, under a sheet, not wanting to face the camera, we made those videos.”

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Sammy Mireles is joined into his Methodist Hospital room by his children Aleksa, Savian and Sergio as well as by his boss, Nick Khoury, president and chief executive office of the Khoury Group, which owns Toyota of Del Rio. Mireles said the support of the community, especially his work family, led by Khoury, helped carry him through his most difficult times during his fight against leukemia.

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Renee Rodriguez Mireles, Sammy Mireles’ wife and Sergio Mireles’ mother, receives a signed football and speaks with then-Del Rio Rams head football coach Frenchey McCrea Jr., prior to Del Rio’s game at Kerrville in 2017. The younger Mireles was a wide receiver on the team and after learning his father had been diagnosed with leukemia, the team rallied around the family to show its support.

The videos spread across the world. Mireles said he received messages of encouragement from all around the US and from places such as England and Ireland, all of them saying they were praying for him and his family and encouraging him not to give up the fight.

After three months of chemotherapy, it was determined that Mireles needed a bone marrow transplant, but first there needed to be a donor. Mireles used the Team Sam page to put out a call for a donor, but despite 1.5 million people viewing the video, nothing solid came from it.

“We had a match in Spain, but there was no contact information for this person. We had no way of finding him. My brother, Sergio, looked to be a match, but he was eliminated in the final tests. We had about a month to find a match, and little did I know it was someone in my backyard the whole time,” Mireles said.

That someone would be his oldest son, Sergio.

Mireles sat down with his son and discussed the idea. He said he never forced his son to make the choice to save his father’s life because Mireles wanted to make sure that this decision wouldn’t impact his son’s own health in the future.

“That was my biggest concern. I told him that if this in any way was going to hurt him in the future, I didn’t want him to go through with it. I also told him that if he chose not to do it that I didn’t want him to be burdened with the idea that he could have saved my life. He’s my son, and I loved him no matter what he chose,” Mireles said.

The younger Mireles was all in and underwent the necessary tests to determine if his cells would work. He had to undergo a series of procedures to extract and harvest the necessary stem cells that would be transplanted into his father in the hopes they would create new and healthy bone marrow.

On Jan. 21, Sammy underwent the transplant surgery.

Everything was a success and Mireles admitted he felt

Sammy Mireles displays a “Sammy Strong” bracelet. Several hundred of the orange bracelets were sold to help raise funds to aid the Mireles family as Sammy battled leukemia.

stronger and better than he had in months, but dark clouds were on the horizon.

A few months after the transplant, Mireles complained of feeling ill again. This time it was walking pneumonia and it hit him hard. He returned to the hospital, his weight dropped to about 154 pounds, and his body was so weak he couldn’t even stand on his own.

The worst part, Mireles said, was that he never knew how bad it actually was.

“I was on my death bed, but I would keep telling everybody I felt fine. I remember my mom came to see me and she had to leave the room to cry. I coded a few times and the nurses had to rush in and save me. My dad sat down with me and told me how great it was to have my kids around, but he said, ‘I’ll be damned if I’m going to raise them. You’re going to raise them!’,” Mireles said.

“I truly didn’t realize I was dying. My wife told me I was giving up, so I decided to go back to what helped me before and decided to walk the hospital floor again, get that only exercise I could. The first time I tried to walk I took six steps before I collapsed. The next time, I took nine. And those steps grew more and more every time. Those little walks put me on the path to feeling better.”

Now, the worst appears to be behind Mireles and his family.

He’s returned to work, motivated and energized as ever. He’s even added motivational speaker to his resume, spreading his message of hope and the important of remaining strong in the face of adversity. He also spreads the cause of bethematch. com, home to the National Marrow Donor Program.

“I’ve learned not to take the little things for granted. For me, every day is a new beginning for me, and I truly feel like I’m prepared for anything that I might face. That’s just how life is. I know now that if I focus on the things that are truly important then everything will work out,” Mireles said. •

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As we count down to 2019, we’d like to share our thanks and best wishes with everyone who has been a part of our year. We’ve really enjoyed spending time with you, and we hope the next twelve months bring you countless reasons to celebrate.

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Working out and losing weight is one of the most common resolutions year to year. Start small with a yoga mat, kettle bells, sliding disks and other equipment from Marshalls.

Resolution Retail

What better way to start off 2019 than to burden yourself with the pressure of committing to a New Year’s resolution?

These finds might help you keep your self-improvement plan, but even if you fail, you’ll still have a new something to show for it.

A cute planner is a fun way to motivate yourself to stay organized. Find this 2019 day runner and other fun organizers at Marshalls.

Trying to dine out less? A good cookbook will keep you eating healthier at home while saving money. Find this cookbook at True Value.

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Tea is an excellent substitute if you’re trying to cut back on coffee or soda. Find this gorgeous Demdaco hummingbird teapot, teacup, infuser and saucer set at True Value.

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Sharp Styles Dress to impress with these sophisticated looks from JCPenney.

Styling and directing by Megan Tackett; Photography by Vanessa Salas; Wardrobe provided by JCPenney

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Gregorio wears navy J. Ferrar slim fit suit pants and a white Stafford dress shirt under a St. John’s Bay crewneck sweater with a Van Heusen tie. Romina wears a Liz Claiborne print blouse and a Van Heusen tube skirt.

Romina wears a burgundy Worthington blouse and a black Liz Claiborne skirt.

Marcelo wears a children’s three-piece suit by Van Heusen.

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Gregorio wears a Geoffrey Beene dress shirt under a J. Ferrar slim fit charcoal suit with a J. Ferrar tie.

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Romina smiles in navy Worthington “perfect trousers” with a floral Liz Claiborne blouse.

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CLOSET CONFIDENTIAL

Amanda Salas Story and photos by MEGAN TACKETT

Editor’s note: Middle school teacher Amanda Salas is a thrift store champion and describes her style as funky-fresh, yet classic. She’s especially excited to get back into favorite vintage finds after recently dropping 190 pounds. Salas rewards herself by constantly updating her eclectic, second-hand wardrobe, handing her unique pieces off the next thrifty shopper.

Personal style Years ago I had broken up with a boyfriend and googled, “How to get over a relationship quickly?”

Google advised me to remember my single self. I booked a flight to Madrid, Spain and decided to reinvent myself. Spain definitely left an impression in regards to my style. I flew my mom out there, and we were in awe of the women. We never saw one woman or girl in jeans. Everyone was in either dresses or skirts with classy blouses and stockings.

They looked absolutely beautiful, and it really made me appreciate fashion and style for the first time.

Fashion icons Hands down Elizabeth Taylor, Meghan Markle and Frida Kahola. I’ve always been fascinated by Frida’s struggles and the beauty she derived from all her challenges and obstacles.

“I love our Hispanic culture with bright colors and flowers and feel it always adds an elegant touch to just about anything!”

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Fashion philosophy I’ll be honest, my true fashion philosophy has nothing to do with fashion, itself. My philosophy is to wear whatever makes you feel happy. If being in sweats all day makes you feel happy, go for it!

If wearing a ballroom dress makes you feel happy, more power to you! I loved a passage I read once and it stated your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes.

Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.

“My philosophy is to wear whatever makes you feel happy.”

“My friend gifted this vintage Dooney and Bourke purse to me. She found it in a rummage sale in San Antonio.”

Your favorite thrift store find About 95 percent of my wardrobe is from thrift stores. However, I absolutely love my jean jacket. I’m able to wear it with just about anything and it has stayed with me for a good five years so far.

Thrift shopping advice Have fun and go out of your comfort zone.

Be a kid again and play dress up. You’ll have more fun with no expectations and you’ll be surprised with what you find.

“This one was found in our hometown shop of Alessi Bazaar. The owner has such a beautiful variety of outfits and accessories and this was one of the gems I found there!”

Thrift shopping strategy Mama Chelo, my grandma, has a pretty good motto when it comes to any type of shopping. She always advises, if you want something, go ahead and get it if you can!

Enjoy those simple pleasure in life and do things for yourself every now and then.

When it comes to thrifting, just go with an open mind and be patient. It really is like

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“I absolutely love my jean jacket. I’m able to wear it with just about anything and it has stayed with me for a good five years so far.”

finding a needle in a haystack but when you find the perfect outfit, it feels like a million bucks.

Save versus splurge I seem to rotate pieces from my closet every three months and donate to the Faith Mission here in Del Rio, so I’m always on the hunt for new and fun outfits. It’s addicting when I find them for $5 or less!

Favorite designers I absolutely love homemade outfits, so I am going to say Alice Sanchez.

She’s one of my best friends and our school nurse. She is a true artist when it comes to the dresses and jewelry she’s created. She puts so much time and attention to every little detail in her dresses.

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“This was gifted to me by my dear friend Alice and she bought it in a small boutique more than 30 years ago. She had previously gifted me a beautiful sweater dress and it was the dress that she was looking to accessorize when she wore it years ago. She actually bought it for $3.50, but to me, it’s priceless.”

“Each jewelry piece is found at different locations and usually to try to compliment an outfit I found. This bracelet was found in a sale bin at an HEB in San Antonio. It was on sale for $5 and has been such a great asset to so many different outfits.”

May all your dreams turn into reality and all your efforts become great achievements in the new year!

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The Long Walk Del Rio siblings conquer Pacific Crest Trail As told to KAREN GLEASON; contributed photos by DANIEL BAUTISTA AND GABI BAUTISTA

Earlier this year, Del Rioan Gabi Bautista and her brother Daniel Bautista, a former resident of Del Rio, completed the Pacific Crest Trail, which stretches more than 2,600 miles from Mexico up the spine of the American West all the way to Canada. Daniel Bautista spoke with Del Rio Grande Editor Karen Gleason about his and his sister’s walk: Grande: Tell me a little bit about yourself.

Bautista: Although I’m not native to the state, I definitely consider myself a Texan through and through. I was born in Guam, and due to my dad being military, we bounced around quite a bit until settling down in Del Rio when I started third grade.

Gabi and I are the middle children; we also have an older sister, Robyn, and younger brother, Austin. Robyn lives

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out in California and was a speech pathologist and is now transitioning into a career in UX/UI. Austin is out in Dallas and works as a credit analyst.

My parents are still there in Del Rio with my mom, Patricia, teaching at the high school and my dad, Rob, working on Laughlin Air Force Base as a munitions inspector.

As for myself, after graduating from Texas A&M with an engineering technology degree, I served in the Navy

for five years as a helo mechanic. I’m currently out in Portland, Ore., working on a change in career into the tech field, more specifically software development.

Grande: How long have you been hiking? What made you decide to try the Pacific Crest Trail?

Bautista: I think I really started getting into hiking and camping when I joined the Boy Scouts in the sixth grade. I had never gone backpacking though, until 2016.

It was a trip in Colorado with two of my buddies from there in Del Rio, Mark and Bryan Veliz, as well as Gabi.

I had a blast out there, and it was actually through the research of that trip that I initially found out about the Pacific Crest Trail, or PCT, as it’s called.

It seemed like a pretty cool thing to do but I didn’t really give it much thought.

Whenever I decided to get out of the military, I revisited the idea. The date for my end of service perfectly lined up with the time that the through hiking season typically starts.

I gave Gabi a call and she was game. We started planning for the trip soon after.

That was about a year-and-a-half prior to when we actually started.

Grande: How did you prepare?

Bautista: As far as preparing for the hike physically, I didn’t have any sort of special workout routine. I mainly just carried a weighted pack on the day hikes that I was already doing. Nothing too heavy, around 25 pounds.

We went decently light on our gear for the trip so we didn’t plan on carrying more than around 35 pounds max.

Our average pack weight for the trip, including food and water, probably wasn’t more than 25.

I’d say it’s actually pretty common for people to get on trail without much training. The expectation is that you can get fit as you hike. I was actually struggling at the beginning to keep up with Gabi’s fast pace, but a few hundred miles in, and I ended up being one of the faster hikers on trail.

Pace really doesn’t matter too much, though, as long as you meet your daily

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mileage goals. It was nice for me, since I was notorious for sleeping in, and I could still catch up with my group after they got a early start.

Besides that, I think the most useful preparations we did was go on a couple of shakedown trips. These were essentially shorter backpacking trips that we took our intended gear on to test everything out.

I did one on the Trans-Catalina Trail while I was still out in San Diego and another with Gabi in Guadalupe National Park in west Texas. Those two trips were pretty useful in fine-tuning our gear. I actually ended up switching out my shelter afterwards.

I also did a bunch of logistical planning as far as where we might need to send food boxes to and which towns to

resupply in, but I didn’t find that sort of planning to be particularly useful. Decisions for that were usually made on a week-to-week basis on trail and could vary heavily depending on if we were hiking in a group with others.

Grande: Tell me about the hike itself: When did you and Gabi start?

Bautista: We started our hike on April 7, which was coincidentally the day my military contract was officially complete. The trip lasted until Sept. 19. During the trip, we ended up taking a little over 30 days off, “zero days” where we didn’t hike at all. This was generally to hang out for a bit in particularly cool trail towns or to get some

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needed rest between sections. All in all, we ended up with about 4.5 months of actual trail time.

Grande: Describe the journey. What was your favorite part? What was the hardest part?

Bautista: The PCT is divided up into sections. Oregon and Washington are their own sections, and California, being so large, consists of three parts: the desert, the Sierras and Nor Cal. I’d say that the Sierras are pretty easily my favorite section. Every day was a walk through some of the most beautiful scenery I’ve ever seen. The hiking was also some of the toughest, with large elevation gains, post-holing in snow and fording rivers. With pristine mountain lakes and views from on top of the world, the payoff was more than worth it.

The desert was surprisingly high on my list as well even though it tends to get a lot of flak from some hikers.

There is just so much diversity in not only the terrain being traversed, but also the people and trail towns we encountered.

Speaking of people, one of the most refreshing things on trail was the amazing amount of support we received from others. Known as “trail angels,” these people would

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help hikers out with anything from giving a ride into town to giving out much appreciated food and drinks right on trail.

Some were former through-hikers while others didn’t even hike and just wanted to do something nice. Most wouldn’t even accept donations. It was just really nice to see that kind of generosity coming from complete strangers.

I can’t say anything on trail stood out to me as particularly difficult. Maybe the biggest thing for some people would be that the whole journey is kind of a grind.

Every day on trail is pretty much the same routine: wake up, find a good spot to poop (Sorry if this is TMI. As I’m sure Gabi can attest, it’s one of the main components of the day for hikers, and I felt it couldn’t be omitted), eat, breakdown camp, hike, eat, hike, setup camp, eat, sleep, repeat.

That may sound like an oversimplification, but apart from trail towns and maybe going off trail for a bit to explore some interesting attraction, that’s all there really is to it.

Granted, through all that, you get to explore awesome places and meet amazing people which is really the heart of the PCT. Grande: What was the most unexpected challenge you

encountered? What lessons, if any, did the journey teach you?

Bautista: I think the main thing for me that kept the hike from feeling like much of a grind was just the sense of progression. Every 20 to 25 mile chunk was adding up to the larger goal of completing the trail. On a smaller scale, each day made it one day closer to getting to the next resupply and being able to stuff my face with town food.

These little pit stops broke up the trail into nice week-long backpacking trips that chained together to form the trail.

This made it pretty easy to not think about the daunting task of hiking 2,650 miles, but only having around 100 miles or so until the next stop.

Grande: What advice do you have for anyone attempting a similar feat?

Bautista: For anyone attempting the trail, I’d say it is pretty important to know exactly what you want out of it. For some it may be a social endeavor. Others may be trying to get away from something or want to maximize time outdoors.

I’d say most just wanted an awesome adventure. Being

able to define success will make it a lot easier to make the big decisions on trail such as whether or not to stay with a group you like when plans differ or even if staying on trail a couple of more months to complete the trail is worth it.

Grande: What are your future plans? Are you planning any other long hikes?

Bautista: It’s fairly common for people who do a through-hike to continue doing them. Plenty of people we met on trail had either already hiked the PCT before or had previously hiked the Appalachian Trail, the PCT’s east coast counterpart.

I personally don’t think I’ll be hiking a long trail again.

The main difficulty of hiking a trail such as the PCT is the sheer time commitment. It just happened to work out for me perfectly that I could take such a large time off.

I’ll probably max it out to one- or two-week trips from here on out. I don’t have any specific trips on the immediate horizon, but I would like to summit Denali within the next three years. Ideally, I’d be able to stay out here working in the Pacific Northwest so that I would have access to the Cascades and mountains like Baker and Rainer for training. We’ll see, though. •

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Last Look Hello readersI’ll be the first to admit, I’ve had a pretty easy life.

Aside from a few “first world problems,” my first 31 years on this earth have been a cake walk (Actually I’ve never won anything from a cake walk, so maybe that’s not the best analogy).

Listening to the hardships and perseverance of the subjects featured in this issue really puts life in perspective. Bobby Barrera earned his master’s degree after an explosion burned 40 percent of his body during the Vietnam War. Amanda Salas lost 190 pounds after a her pregnancy caused a bulging disc in her spine, severely impairing her mobility. Considering this, I think I can get through a particularly brutal Monday.

It’s common to experience brief spurts of motivation every New Year. But if Joey Rios can run a marathon with cerebral palsy, and Sammy Mireles can survive leukemia and become a better person because of it, what excuse do you have to fail at your resolution?

I shouldn’t preach. My last resolution was to curse less. Anyone who’s seen me stub my toe knows that that didn’t work out.

We hope this issue inspired you to accomplish your goals with hard work and a steadfast spirit. Whether you’re going after a new job, cutting back on carbs, or going back to school, you got this!

Sincerely, Megan Tackett Creative Director

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- Romina and Gregorio Flores swing their son, Marcelo, during the fashion shoot.

- With no animal rights activists in sight, Megan tries on a vintage fur coat at Hilda’s.

- Karen Gleason debriefs with Sammy Mireles after the cover shoot at Toyota of Del Rio. - Amanda Salas pops out from a rack of vintage clothes at Hilda’s Thrift Store, one of her favorite second-hand spots in Del Rio.

Wishing you and your family a

Happy New Year

2019

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