by Kathy Panicola

Created on: July 09, 2009

My Father in-law was like no other man I have ever known. He was born in a small town in Ecuador on February 10, 1921. As a young man he left Ecuador. His destination was Colombia to find work. While in Colombia he not only found work, but he found the love of his life. A beautiful young woman that he soon made his wife. She was truly the twinkle in his eye. Together they started what would turn out to be a wonderful life, not an easy life but as my father in-law would say, "nothing worth any thing comes easy." He and his new wife started their life together and as time past on they started a family, and their family grew and grew they had eight children, to whom they loved with their whole hearts. I tell you I have never seen parents love theirchildren the way they have loved their children. And even more amazing I have never seen a father love his children the way my father in-law has loved his children. He has always had such pride in saying simple words like, this is my son, or this is my daughter. If you could see the look on his face or his body language,even his demeanor, when his children walk in a room.

And he has past this trait on to his children, they also love their children whole heartily. But this is not the only trait he has passed on to his children. The meaning of "nothing worth any thing comes easy," his children and grand children know this to be true. They know this to be true because they watched him as he lived his life, always working hard so his family would be taken care of. So his family would have what he didn't have. He took every opportunity he could find to make a better life for his family.

He was given the opportunity to move his family to the United States when his children were young, and he worked hard to do just that. You see he wouldn't bring them here without the paper work they needed, because the way he saw it, and the way he believed, was that he needed to get his family here to have a better life and the only way to have that happen was to do what needed to be done through hard work. And work hard he did. One by one starting with the oldest child, his family was on their way to a new life. Seven of the eight children came to this country legally as did he and his wife. And the one child that stayed in Colombia, he had given her the opportunity to come here but she declined. She was getting married and starting a family of her own. And in his true loving and caring way he gave her the families home, so she could

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