Rocío

Rocío is a fierce idealist and a compassionate fellow traveler. She doesn't waver in her principles, yet recognizes that failure may lead to great creations. Rocío marches toward excellence, intolerant of laziness, in contrast to those who stumble toward mediocre renown, abetted by corruption. She is most stringent with herself. She laughs, a full-bodied laugh, channeled from the belly of the earth. She is an ocean boulder; she is a sculptor's chisel; she is a grassy field.

Rick

Rick makes anyone feel comfortable. He could meet a notorious criminal and not judge. He nourishes himself on others' thoughts, doings and motivations, especially when foreign to him. And so he engages others, amplifying their excitement for life. Despite exceptional talent and understanding, he is humble, content to let others live and explore their path. He is also unflappable when challenged with a problem or situation, calmly innovating solutions. These qualities converge to make an excellent mentor, one who demonstrates and invites.

Lucho

Lucho sang ballads in the middle of the last century. If you're of hispanic descent, your grandparents may have known him, and an even older song, "The Bardo." In Spanish, a bardo is something of a traveling poet, minstrel, or troubadour, a word no longer used commonly. The song is an old-fashioned tale of unrequited love. A simple tale of heartache resulting from unspoken emotion.



A poor bardo fell in love
with a girl of high society.
His life was that of an unhappy clown
that laughed, wanting to cry.

Wandering after her, the poor bardo would
sing to the orchids where his love dwelt
And the girl, with no idea
that the bardo adored her
married another.

They say, that on a moon-filled night
under a blanket of stars, the troubadour died.
Those who knew him said that on that night
you could hear the laments of love.

And the girl, when she learned the story,
the true story of the poor troubadour,
she said, wailing in madness,
"sorrow is killing me today,
because I loved him too."

"What a shame! Why didn't he tell me?
If I had only known, today I would be entirely his."

Charles

Charlie understood that a grandparent's role is to convey excitement for living. And that, despite all the hells and heavens of life, you can live well, because at least one person has done it before. For many of Charlie's formative years, his mother was in a coma due to a failed experimental treatment. He was by her side every week, while also building his life. Moving away after high school, he rooted in one place for life, with a vision and love for community, in the deepest sense. He loved the simple as well as the political, his family life organized his perspective, he tended the inner and the outer man, a man with integrity, at once common and spectacular.

He was a regular guy.