By Ricky Doc Sauceda
(Dedicated to my Daddy, Ricardo Castro Sauceda, b. 04/08/1935, d. 10/08/1995)
My daddy’s life ended in a parking lot on the Northside of Houston, Texas – an area called Greenspoint. He was a security guard for a run down apartment complex. My short story, A Noble Boy, details the event. Who was that man laying on the ground lifeless?
He was born in Raymondville, Texas on April 8, 1935 to Ventura and Santos Sauceda. There were a total of five children in this family: Juan, Manuela, Ricardo, Norma and Guadalupe. My grandpa died from overexposure to radiation from X-rays of his brain.
(Ventura’s best friend was Carlo Lizzardi, who was my momma’s daddy.)
Daddy was forced to become a man at the age of nine. If I had not been misbehaving in my early teens, we would never have sat down and talked. He would never have told me his life’s story. But, because I was troubled and misbehaving we did indeed talk.
What daddy shared was a story of severe poverty. He also shared how hard he worked every day and never gave up. He was always coming up with solutions because there was nobody else to do it. My Uncle Juan was a drunk, Aunt Meme was only concerned about love and the other two were young and not capable of helping out.
While walking on his way home one day, a car struck him and sent him flying and he fell to the ground with a thud. The driver never stopped. Daddy got up and limped home. He lay crying in pain that night. His injured leg was too much to bear without crying. His older sister came over to him and struck him over the mouth with a shoe. Now he was in more pain.
He once had trouble in school with some bullies. He was asked to fight them after school one day. The morning of that day, he placed a sling shot in the railroad tracks that he crossed each day. After school he made his way over to the area, sat and waited. The bullies saw him and made a dash for him. Daddy just sat there waiting. As they got close, he presented his slingshot and commenced to firing a barrage of stones at them. He jacked them up really good.
Another day, some bullies were attacking his younger brother, Lupe. He pulled a small tree out of the ground and beat them with it. The tree came up roots and all. Lupe was amazed by this. My Uncle Lupe loved my daddy.
Grandpa Sauceda used to take daddy fishing with him. He used to take daddy to see the other family members in West Texas at what used to be our family ranch. It became part of Big Bend National Park and is known as a place to lodge now – the Sauceda Ranch…now renamed, but it can be researched. You will discover the true background of this land. Daddy would talk to his uncles and they gave him a verbal history of our family. They even told him that our family name had something to do with trees. We are also French and Italian.
They were right. In middle school my oldest son was researching our family’s name for a school assignment. It was then that we discovered that the name means “near a Willow.” A simpler explanation is the root word - a Latin word - SALIX, which means “Willow Tree.” (The Sauceda family has been in Texas since it was occupied by us - the Spanish. Some went back to Spain, some stayed. We stayed.)
Daddy had some uncles who were Pentecostal in his childhood. They gathered every weekend in a small Rio Grande Valley country town, not Raymondville. Food was prepared on Friday before sunset and placed in baskets - fish and bread. As soon as the sun went down, they began a revival in their tent. Many people came to join them. They did not stop worshiping until sunset the next day. Then, they ate the fish and bread. Daddy's uncles were preachers.
Daddy dropped out of school in the ninth grade. He was working at the local movie theater. There he sold tickets, cleaned and ran the film projector. He was dating my momma then. He would give her passes so she could go and see movies with her sisters, brothers and friends. This was something that always was dear to my momma, my sisters and me. Our parents were special and had a long history together.
Daddy worked as an insurance salesman, car salesman, pest controller, business owner, security guard and finally truck driver. He went back to security guard at the end of his life. My daddy had worked continually throughout his life.
It was in his last years he was SAVED. He attended church regularly. He was very sad about losing momma and was her friend at the time of his death. Even my step-dad liked him. He was one heck of a man.
I am honored to be the son of my father. I am happy to be a child of the Living God. Amen.