 |
| Manuel Morales Morales / Abuelo Manolo |
Manuel Morales Morales was born on June 17, 1886 to Justo Morales- Rivera and Margarita Morales-Morales; in Naranjito, Puerto Rico. He is the grandchild of Justo Daniel Morales De los Santos & Maria E. Rivera; great grandchild of Braulio Morales [Founder and Mayor of Naranjito] & Ursula De los Santos; great great grandchild of Justo Morales De la Rosa & Maria Santiago and great great great grandchild of Don Eusebio Morales & Doña Maria De la Rosa Velasco.
To a genealogist, the above sequence of names has meaning and a certain degree of importance to determine the ancestral origin of a given person; in this case Manuel Morales Morales, my paternal grandfather. But does not give you a true picture of the character of the person. The character of a person is defined by what he believes and the truth of what he believes is revealed by how he behaves and relates to others.
Manuel Morales Morales was a farmer, a husband and a father of 9 children. In the picture to the right [back row right to left] David, Noemi, Eliseo, Abuela- Aurelia {Yeya}, Abuelo Manuel {Manolo}, Rosa Maria, Manuel Jr {my father}, [bottom row right to left] Eva, Irma and Conception {Pura}; not in picture, Samuel {died at birth}.
From this point forward we will refer to Manuel Morales Morales as abuelo Manolo or just Manolo. The anecdotes of Manolo that I am about to share some of them were shared with me by other members of the Morales clan. He was known for playing his Cuatro {small version of guitar with 5 pairs of metal strings for a total of 10 strings} and serenading the ladies in the neighborhood. Of course he serenaded single women of his own age. If there were any younger ladies he always would tell his grandchildren, yeah he was a match maker. As far as I know, Gogie my cousin, most of the time was the recipient of Manolo attempts of match making. Of course when Gogie found his wife to be she definitively was vetted by abuelo Manolo. Gogie was front and center to abuelo Manolo because abuelo lived with titi Eva, Gogie's mom.
This anecdote that I am about to share is of first hand experience. I remember one Christmas eve the Morales family had a get together at Titi Eva's. Most of the family had already arrived and we were in our usual talkative mood. The women, some in the kitchen cooking and sharing, others setting the tables. The men always were playing one of two table games, "Casino" a card game or Dominos. The purpose in Casino is to accumulate the most amount of cards in one's own pack, certain cards have different values so on and so forth{playing the game was more of socializing than money because no bets were allowed, you won or lost based on points; the greatest benefit was getting to know each other}. In my family, we played Casino frequently. My father used it as a tool to teach his children how to add, subtract, multiply and divide. He used it also as a means to build father and son bonding [more about Dad on another occasion]. Well there they were in full bloom of a game of Casino. Manolo on a rocking chair play a "danza" with his "Cuatro". Entertaining all who had ears to hear. Of course he was a multitask-er and every now and then made a comment to one of the players, "you shouldn't have done that move" or "I saw that coming a mile away", always putting his two bits in. Then my eldest brother arrived, the game stops temporally also the music and all attention shifts to my brother's arrival, after all the hugs and kisses were done; abuelo Manolo lays his eyes on the beautiful lady that was holding on to my brother's arm and says, who is this lady holding your arm and my brother proudly presents her as his girlfriend. Manolo says to her, where are you from? She kindly replies, from Caguas. Monolo locks eyes with my brother and says, how is it possible that you have gone all the way to Caguas, with so many beautiful ladies in San Juan? You could hear a pin drop and then everybody shuffled around to form a hedge of protection and changed the subject to soften the dense cloud that just formed. What a reception! The lady in question in time rose above the occasion with flying colors, so much so she became my sister-in-law and I am proud of it. Abuelo Monolo, was a very frank man, like we say in spanish "sin pelos en la lengua". That is how he was and I am sure that more than one in-law was pasted thru the acid tests of Manolo. Now days we remember these events and laugh. Besides his frankness and serenading/match making, abuelo Manolo had, a knack for making friends and had a kind and giving heart to those in need. He shared his faith the "Jibaro" way, frank and in your face. On one occasion he was ridding the public bus la "AMA". During the ride he notices this young lady with a "Rosario" in her hand, he turns to her [remember the reception he gave my sister-in-law], and says, I thank Jesus Christ that he saved me from the slavery of that religion and now I am a protestant. WOW! In spite of Manolo"s approach that lady to this day is a believer in Jesus Christ, I know because this story was shared by Manolo's eldest grandchild. That lady happened to be a very close friend of Loyda.
On another occasion abuelo Manolo was staying at Titi Noemi and Florito's residence in Guaynabo. In those days because of his age he would go to bed as soon as the hens were put in the chicken coop to sleep. One night about 2 to 3 in the morning a big noisy ruckus woke him up, he went to the window and saw nothing, then he yelled at the top of his voice, "mueve, mueve, mueve...que hora mas...para estar robando". [I will translate this but believe me the humor will be lost in the translation.] He called out to whom ever was out there"move, move, move{meaning make movement so I can see where you are}...what a stupid hour you picked to steal..." buy this time Florito was outside checking the area and Noemi was trying to calm down her father. To no avail he did not stop until he was satisfied.
 |
| Aurelia Nieves, Suarez de Morales |
In a more sober note, there is an incident that talks volumes about his character. The picture above in which Manolo appears with his wife of always, Aurelia and children was taken at the site of one his properties.
The story is as follows {as per my cousin Gogie} back in the late twenties early thirties during one of the several purchases of land the federal government made in Puerto Rico; a brother of Manolo who had been educated and worked either for the US armed forces or federal government, became aware that a mayor purchase of land was about to take place in Puerto Rico, what caught his eye was that his brother's name was on the list of land owners, Monolo's land was smack in the middle of this transaction. Manolo's property include what is today: "Extencion Villa Caparra, a big chunk of Fort Buchannan, it also included the track of land that runs west of Amelia Industrial Park all the way and including Monagas Equestrian park [south of the road of Luchetti Ind Park]. That is a huge piece of land. Manolo's brother [ whose name I will not mention] came to Puerto Rico to alert his brother that the federal government was about to expropriate his land; so he told Manolo before you loose the land sell it to me that way you will get at least something instead of nothing. The transaction took place. My grandfather sold it for close to nothing, while his brother got a gazzilion of $. My grandfather later became aware of what his brother had done to benefit himself. Till the day my grandfather, Manuel Morales Morales died, he never spoke evil against his brother; as matter of fact he visited his brother frequently and never treated him or his family wrongly nor brought up the subject.
1Jn 2:10 He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is no occasion of stumbling in him. ASV
Back From The Past
Recently in 2012 my pastor and friend Bill Pier preached a message and in it he made a statement that has stuck with me; he said, it amazes me how much people worry about money they don't have.
Php 4:6 In nothing be anxious; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. 7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus. 8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honorable, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. ASV
PS:
There is a tenth child (male) that was recognized as a child of Manuel Morales Morales. The acknowledgement took place after Manuel (1886 to 1970) and Aurelia (1886 to 1968) past away. I have not personally met him or his family. I would love to meet them.
Until next time, be good and love your brother.
