The last time I saw the "Mayor" was on a beautifully sunny day in September, 2007. I was leaving a meeting at the Laredo Medical Center and there he was sitting in a wheel chair, by himself, on the sidewalk of the hospital entrance. I was very happy that he instantly recognized me, and I walked a few steps to talk to him. I did not know his condition, but the strength of his "Sherwood" greeting, and the smile on his face relieved my apprehensions. Now the "Mayor", over a 26 year acquaintance, never called me "Ed", Mr. Sherwood, or anything other than just "Sherwood." Yet the way my last name was pronounced in his distinctive Italian American accent, it seemed perfectly fitting and agreeable to me.
"Mr. Mayor it is so good to see you", I said. He took my extended right hand in both of his, and his eyes seemed to light up. He was dressed, as he always was in public, in a suit and tie. A brown suit that conveyed authority--even at 94 years of age while in a wheel chair. Then to my utter surprise he said: "Ed, what I miss is not being involved".
I first met Aldo Tatangelo in the early '80's in Laredo. I had moved to Laredo with General Motors, and had been asked to serve on the Laredo Development Foundation's Board of Directors--probably since GM was one of the few national corporations with a "maquiladora" in Nuevo Laredo at that time. Aldo regularly attended the board meetings, and was never at a lost for suggestions as to how to bring industry to Laredo. He also frequently voiced the concern that Laredo needed to promote technical education to achieve his goal of economic development. It was not long before he said to me, and David Leyendecker at the Chamber of Commerce, that he had a job for us. Aldo wanted a "Laredo Manufacturers Association" to welcome industrial prospects (kind of an industrial "Welcome Wagon") and to promote engineering and technical careers for Laredo students. With Aldo's strong direction, Dave and I did as we were told by the Mayor, and the LMA was born in May, 1984.
After winning re-election, Aldo then focused on "beautifying the city." He especially concentrated on making the downtown into a tourist center. My wife, Carol, and her then 700 + member student Youth Council were pressed into service, along with many others, to picking up trash, holding various events, and whatever our energetic Mayor might think of. It was a fun, optimistic, heady time. Laredo National Bank held street parties, the Jalapeno Festival has held by the old City Hall, and tourists flocked to the La Posada Hotel and San Augustin Square. Every Saturday, buses from other parts of Texas would park downtown, discharging there out-of -town passengers to cross into Mexico to shop. In 1985, a race track opened in Nuevo Laredo, adding to available tourist activities, and giving name to the "Tack Room" restaurant at the La Posada.
We miss Aldo, he died this March. I know though, that if only in his mind, and in our hearts, he never stopped being involved.
