BY FRANCISCO GUAJARDO
Enrique “Henry” Maldonado was born in Edinburg, raised in San Carlos, and sometime in 1969 met Margaret Gonzalez at a dance in Elsa.
“I loved to dance and was dancing with someone else at the time,” Margaret recalls. “But, Henry sought me out, we danced the night away, and spent the next 50 years together.”
When Henry fell victim to COVID-19 on Nov. 28, 2020, at DHR Health in Edinburg, he had just experienced the most glorious four-day period next to Margaret, who also checked into the same hospital after being diagnosed with the virus.
Margaret tells the story of Henry’s last days.
“We spent the last four days sharing a room at DHR,” Margaret said. “We told stories, laughed, and cried late into the night. Now, what am I supposed to do without him? We were married for 48 years.”
Omar, who also bore close witness to Henry as the first-born child, reports how the nurses at DHR described the energy coming from the Maldonado hospital room.
“The nurses said mom and dad were chatting like lovebirds, sometimes so loudly they thought they might be keeping other patients up at night. But they said, ‘you know, they’re just enjoying each other,’ and decided to let them celebrate each other. That brought such peace to me,” Omar said.
Omar and his younger sister Yvette felt so grateful they bought Christmas trees for DHR staff and patients in the COVID-19 unit.
“Our father died with such dignity. The healthcare providers were simply heroic, and that story should be told over and over again. They don’t get the credit they deserve for putting their lives on the line every day to give others a chance to live. We saw that firsthand,” Omar said. “In a time of worry and uncertainty, the staff made every effort to make our parents feel as comfortable as possible. Their efforts should be recognized.”
While Henry succumbed to the ravaging virus, Margaret lived to tell of the horrors that played out before her eyes.
“I saw something like a war zone in the hospital. It was horrible. Humongous machines everywhere, patients crying out for help. I tell people, you have no idea what this is like. Wear a mask!” she said.
As DHR was besieged, Omar textures the war-like metaphor.
“It was like a war zone with love,” he said. “The nurses and staff were so humane in an environment that is almost impossible to manage. But they did.”
“The scene was horrible, but I’ll be honest, I cried when the doors opened, and the nurses and other workers formed lines when it was time to leave the hospital,” Margaret said. “While they were happy for me to be released, I knew I was leaving Henry behind. I didn’t want to leave.”
With seemingly opposite personalities, Henry and Margaret made the perfect couple.
“My mom can fill a room with her presence and big hearty laugh, while dad was soft spoken, strong in his conviction but soft in delivery,” said Yvette, Henry and Margaret’s daughter.
“Dad was a gentle giant, more reserved than mom, but a go-getter, a scratch-made hustler,” she said. “We were there for the long hours at the office, the visits to potential clients; I saw how hard my parents worked. Dad’s work ethic drives me every single day. He had a steadfastness about him … I was daddy’s girl, and got away with things, while Mom was strong willed—the disciplinarian.”
“When we were about to get in trouble, Mom would start counting. ‘If I get to three,’ she’d say. You wouldn’t dare let her count beyond two,” Omar said. “To this day we don’t know what getting to three means. Dad, on the other hand, could easily get to 20… He let us get away with things, but we never tested mom.”
Margaret was the anchor of the family, and she afforded Henry the ability to take risks. Henry was about 30 years old when he “quit his supervisory job with the Texas Alcohol and Beverage Commission.”
“That was a big risk,” Omar said. “But, he did it because he wanted to be closer to home and the ability to work for himself.”
In the mid 1970s Henry and Margaret came back home after stints in Austin and Corpus Christi.
“Tío Henry saw an opportunity,” said Gilbert Maldonado, a nephew to Henry.
“He was the youngest of nine children and the first Maldonado to attend and finish college, a pioneer in that regard. He was a migrant worker but never let ‘being behind on his studies’ hold him back,” Gilbert said. “I saw him work through the night on his college papers. He inspired us and planted the seed for all of us nieces and nephews about the importance of having an education. He showed us how hard you had to work to get what you wanted. I was the first nephew to work alongside him when he came back home.”
“Dad spread the notion that no matter your circumstances, you can control the outcome of your life. If you get a good education, find your passion and outwork the next guy, you can do just about anything,” Yvette said. “We have successful professionals in our family. From lawyers to doctors, educators, entrepreneurs, even a judge and an architect. My dad was extremely proud of the family and what the Maldonado name has become.”
“Dad and mom worked hard to make the family business into a success. My dad believed in making a personal connection with clients. He would go door-to-door from Laredo to Raymondville to South Padre Island,” Yvette said. “He wasn’t pushing his business on people. He was educating the community. Empowering people with knowledge to make their businesses successful. In turn, he gained their trust, and life-long clients.”
“He helped businesses start in the right way, he’d help them get their TABC license, with continuing education, and he’d counsel them so they could sustain themselves,” Omar said.
It appears Henry was a natural at building relationships, and he understood how to translate that skill into a strong business, and a successful life. Since he launched his TABC certification business in 1987, Maldonado Business Services has easily certified half a million people.
“Teaching dad’s TABC certification classes is where we got our start. Dad put Gilbert, Omar and me to work as certified instructors. Those classes allowed us to build our confidence speaking in front of large audiences,” Yvette said.
When the community had the opportunity to participate in a memorial service for Henry, droves of cars lined up to pay respects, in a drive-by service. Omar declares that one of his lifelong goals is to have a similar impact on the lives of others like his father did.
“I’ve often said, at the moment of my death I want to leave this earth having lived a life where the community will comfort my children and share with them the stories of how I lived my life. Yvette and I are still being comforted by so many wonderful stories, shared by so many friends Dad made along his journey,” Omar said.
It is clear Henry Maldonado lived a life worth living, and it is evident others benefited from his 71-year stay on earth.
Que en paz descanse Enrique “Henry” Maldonado. Rest in peace.
Francisco Guajardo, chief executive officer for the Museum of South Texas History at 200 N. Closner Blvd. in Edinburg, authored this story as part of an ongoing series entitled Bearing Witness. The museum’s effort aims to document some of the Rio Grande Valley lives lost to COVID-19. For more information about the museum, visit MOSTHistory.org.
