Dr. Luis G. Valdes attributed his medical vocation to his father, Dr. German Valdes. a country physician in Cuba. Luis observed him at work and heard stories about patients in his native town of Yaguajay. Consequently, Luis had a country-boy personality with great warmth for people, children and animals. In 1961 he was involved in the Bay of Pigs invasion and narrowly escaped being jailed or killed. Booking a two-way passage for his family on a cargo boat, he arrived in West Palm Beach, Florida. He never used the return ticket. The family had tourist visas and sought political asylum in the US because of professional and personal harassment and persecution by the Communists. Dr. Valdes never saw his native Cuba again. When he took us fishing in Galveston, he brought his outboard motor and rented a boat. He would lift the 8 horsepower Chrysler motor from his bright red VW Beetle and into the boat. We were his children; he was our hero. The love that he had for my Mother was deep and genuine. He was a rock of Catholic faith taught to him by Jesuit priests. Anywhere, anytime he could strike up a conversation with strangers. His friends were "his treasures", and he had hundreds! Ignacio Valdes M.D.
