|
|
|
R E S O L U T I O N
|
|
WHEREAS, Those Texans who give of their time and talents to |
|
benefit the larger community make the world a better place, and |
|
Richard Cervantes Alvarado of San Antonio, who passed away on |
|
January 21, 2013, at the age of 72, was indeed one such person; and |
|
WHEREAS, The son of John and Amalia Cervantes Alvarado, |
|
Richard Alvarado was born on May 27, 1940, on San Antonio's West |
|
Side; he graduated from Central Catholic High School in 1958 as a |
|
National Merit Scholar and went on to earn his bachelor's degrees in |
|
history and government from Texas A&M University, where he was a |
|
member of the Corps of Cadets; and |
|
WHEREAS, After spending a year teaching high school history |
|
and a year with the federal civil service, Mr. Alvarado joined the |
|
United States Foreign Service in 1964; he served in Bolivia and |
|
Greece, as well as in Vietnam, where he was an advisor on emergency |
|
relief and helped resettle more than 15,000 refugees of the war; for |
|
his efforts there, the Vietnamese government awarded him the |
|
Vietnamese Social Welfare Medal and the Vietnamese Ethnic |
|
Minorities Affairs Medal, and the U.S. Department of State |
|
presented him with the Vietnam Civilian Service Award; and |
|
WHEREAS, In 1969, Mr. Alvarado returned to Texas with his |
|
wife, Hanh, and accepted a fellowship in the inaugural class of the |
|
Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at The University of |
|
Texas at Austin; he worked for more than two years with the Economic |
|
Opportunities Development Corporation in San Antonio; and |
|
WHEREAS, In 1974, Mr. Alvarado joined the staff of the United |
|
Way of San Antonio and Bexar County; he implemented a number of |
|
innovative advances to its infrastructure and donation investment |
|
and was named vice president in 1988; in 1991, he took on the role of |
|
executive director of the United Way of El Paso County and helped |
|
strengthen the participation of Latinos in the organization; he |
|
eventually returned to San Antonio to lead the Nonprofit Resource |
|
Center of Texas as director of consulting services, and although he |
|
officially retired in 2005, he continued working with groups until |
|
the end of his life; and |
|
WHEREAS, Mr. Alvarado was invited to share his expertise with |
|
the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas in 2003; he was |
|
appointed to its board, and in 2005, he was elected to represent |
|
Texas on the group's national board; he also served ACLU Texas for a |
|
year as interim executive director; other organizations that |
|
benefited from his leadership were Healthy Futures of Texas, Youth |
|
Orchestras of San Antonio, Health Care for the Homeless Coalition |
|
Board, Target '90 Health and Human Service Council, the Edgewood |
|
Family Network, and the Children's Association for Maximum |
|
Potential; he was also a member of the San Antonio AIDS Consortium, |
|
the Alamo Area Council of Governments' Regional Health and Human |
|
Services Advisory Committee, the Funding Information |
|
Center-Management Assistance Program Advisory Committee, the |
|
Injury Control Project, the Imagineer Awards Committee, and the |
|
NPAC Fund Distribution and Public Policy Development Committees; |
|
and |
|
WHEREAS, In his leisure time, Mr. Alvarado enjoyed gardening, |
|
experimenting with new recipes from across the world, and listening |
|
to an eclectic assortment of music; he loved spending time with his |
|
family and especially cherished the relationship he nurtured with |
|
his sons, Christopher and Marc; and |
|
WHEREAS, Described as a wise and gentle warrior, Richard |
|
Alvarado made a meaningful difference in the lives of many people in |
|
Texas and beyond, and his contributions will be remembered and |
|
admired for years to come; now, therefore, be it |
|
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 83rd Texas |
|
Legislature hereby pay tribute to the memory of Richard Cervantes |
|
Alvarado and extend deepest sympathy to the members of his family: |
|
to his sons, Christopher and Marc; to his brothers, Rodolfo and his |
|
wife, Elvira, and John and his wife, Melody; to his sister, Marina, |
|
and her husband, Raul; to his six nieces and nephews; to his former |
|
wife, Hanh Alvarado; and to his other relatives and many friends; |
|
and, be it further |
|
RESOLVED, That an official copy of this resolution be |
|
prepared for his family and that when the Texas House of |
|
Representatives adjourns this day, it do so in memory of Richard |
|
Alvarado. |