Cuauhtemoc's & Sylvia's Laredo TX  October 2004  Vacation Photos

                                        and the 1954 MHS Reunion 2004
                                                                         Click on small photos to enlarge them.

Erasmo Riojas,  

I thought I would pass this on to you two for your info.
This was originally sent out on 12/22/03I thought it was interesting to pass it along
.

Cactus Garden Cafe and I answer her and gave her all kinds of info about it and the area around including the Cortez Courts across the street.

Well a day or so later I located ebay and was looking for Cactus Garden and Lo and Behold I found the postcard but just looked at it and went back to my e-mail and sent Candance more info about it and then

I went back to ebay about 30 mins later and I could not find the card no more. I tried and tried to no avail. I kept checking for pictures of the C.G.Cafe but no luck. Saturday Dec. 20 I called John Avant because he and his wife had sent us a letter an photo of them for Christmas and we were discussing this and that when I mentioned to him about the Cactus Garden card I was looking for and he said "I have one" I descibed it to him and he said that is the one I have.

Well It was exactly as the one I had seen at ebay. I told him where did you get it and he said Ebay. I said well that is where I saw it about 5 months or so ago. Again he said that is about the time I got it. Ironic, we both saw the same card almost at the same time without each knowing of the other looking at it.

 About two and a half weeks ago I visited the site Ebay which I do

daily and happened to see an item that had just been posted for

sale which I had been searching for 50 years. 

The post read that the Item  was for sale and described it as a school year book

from 1954 of MHS Laredo , Texas . It was like if someone had

put it there for me since I had been looking for it for so long.

I immediately tried purchasing thru my ebay account but for

some reason my code could not be entered and the post also

said if someone else got there first it would be sold to that person.

Sort of like first come first served. I then called my good friend John

Avant who came to the rescue. He also belongs to Ebay and asked

me for my mail address and said "I just bought it for you". When you

receive it you can pay me for it which I did about 8 days later.

I was very thrilled when I got it since I had never seen it before.

As I opened it, (The post also said it had some writings) I saw on the

first page it had the name an address of the owner which happened

to be a friend from school. Her name was Christina Duarte.

I did not now whether she was in Laredo or not or if she had sold

it since the person who put it on the internet was from  Rowlett , Tex.

outside or around Dallas . I have a  1997 phone book of Laredo and

looked under the last name and checked them all and bingo there was

one with the same address.  I decided to call that number not knowing

if Christina was still in Laredo or not.  I asked the person who answered 

If Ms. Christina Duarte was in and he said she is in town but is at her neace's house and they gave me the number to call her

and when I did call that second number I was told she was at another

place and got a third number. Her niece told me she was in town

because her older sister was very ill and that she had died this

morning (June 20, 2004). I expressed my condolences to her and

proceeded to call the third number where I finally got to talk to

her.  

I expressed my Condolences to her on the death of her sister

and told her "sorry for calling you at this sad time but did not know

your sister had died", and she said it was ok. Yes, I did told her who

I was, that I was a friend from high school and that we had some of

the same classes together way back in the 50's.

I then told her I had located thru the internet a school year book of

MHS from 1954 and had purchased it and that when I received it around

8 days later I found out it had belonged to her and was very curious

as to how it ended up on the internet since books from that era are

next to impossible to find. I asked her if she had sold it or something

and she said she was shocked and said she thought it was at home

on Mesquite , Tex. So she did not sell it and still there was the mystery

of how it got to the internet. 

 I asked if she had had her house ransacked at one time and she said no but then she said "let me

think back".  She then said that they had moved from Dallas to

Mesquite and that they had some items put in storage and that

sometime later her daughter told her to get the items out of storage

and eliminate paying storage fees. So they did that and while sorting

out the boxes in storage the daughter suggested to get rid of the

item they no longer needed and they did and gave them to a man

who was collecting discarded things.  

She figured the Pitahya went in one of the boxes discarded.  Probable the man who collected the

boxes put it for sale or had someone else put it for sale on the internet.

I told her if she wanted the year book I would be more than glad to

send it to her since it was hers and that I had made some copies

of the four classes at that time and she said to go ahead and keep

it, that she knew I would take care of it and to send her a copy which

I will do. 

To me it was like if someone had put that on the internet for me for

some reason.  Strange how things happened.

I was also friends with her brother since 1944 and  through  high school.

He died some years back.

I have never seen a year book from MHS for sale thou.

I was lucky that nobody outbid me for the school year book. The

starting bid was $ 20.00 plus S&H and no one outbid John Avant who

was doing the bidding for me. School year books from the 50's

sell from $ 60.00 on up.

Regards,       Temo Rocha        

   Temo's latest pictures on the web are HERE!

   Temo's rememberances of Laredo Texas HERE!

                 The Hamilton Hotel