Alex was known throughout his long life as an inveterate storyteller, joker, and generous patron to the townspeople of the Lower Valley and El Paso. He was famous to all for his hearty laugh, usually following some moment of blue-piqued humor. No doubt offensive to some, it served to engage friends, clients and family across the Valley spectrum.
Officially his primary occupation for forty years was owner of the Boston Store of Fabens, Texas, a family business, but his activities outside his beloved store varied greatly, especially in local and state politics. He was the county and regional chairman for Republican campaigns of George Herbert Walker Bush for US Senator-- “Tejanos con Bush”--and for Barry Goldwater for President. Affectionately known as the “Mayor of Fabens,” Alex Fierro was president of the Fabens Water Board for four years, helping to bring fresh water to informal settlements along the border that had experienced outbreaks of cholera. He was also president of Project Bravo in Fabens and its Executive Director in El Paso, an agency dedicated to improving the lives of low-income families along the border. As a notary public for forty years, he advised and guided, at minimal cost, hundreds of townspeople through taxation and immigration issues that they could not have afforded otherwise. This, he said, was one of his proudest accomplishments. A lifelong conservative libertarian, after many years of dedicated service to the poor, he added with amusement, “I might have been a Democrat.”
Alex was born in 1927 and grew up in Fabens. As a teenager Alex flew his airplane over the town entertaining residents with hair-raising stunts. Self-proclaimed lover and fighter extraordinaire, these were attributes for which he says he was roundly criticized. He attended Texas A+M, University of Texas at Austin but graduated from Texas Western University (now University of Texas at El Paso) with a major in accounting and a minor in mathematics. His academic career was interspersed with stints in the Air Force nearing the end of WWII, in which he served as a pilot and financial administrator in post-war Germany. While at Texas Western, he was a member of fraternities Delta Sigma Pi, a professional business fraternity, and Tau Kappa Epsilon. He was on the Texas A+M and University of Texas swimming teams, holding the Southwest conference record in 220m-freestyle in 1953. He was an avid photographer and loved beautiful cars.
Lesser known are his origins as son of prominent businessman Palemon Fierro, originally of Ciudad Guerrero Chihuahua, and Maria Montenegro de Fierro, of Chínipas de Almada, Sonora, Mexico. His uncle Roberto Fierro Villalobos was the first man to fly solo from Chihuahua to New York City and as governor of Chihuahua proposed that aviation would provide the means to govern and unite a geographically disparate northern Mexico. No doubt this influenced young Alex’s aspirations to become an aviator.
He is survived by Mary T. Fierro, devoted wife of sixty-three years, in a marriage noteworthy for its passionate ups and downs. He leaves behind his son Richard Alex Fierro of El Paso and daughter Annette Fierro, professor at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, and four grandchildren: Kristina Fierro of El Paso, Brittany Fierro of Phoenix, Alejandro Ashworth of Harvard University and Philadelphia, and Claudia Ashworth, of Vassar University and Philadelphia.
He will remain beloved for his generosity of spirit and action and his never-failing laughter.
Visitation hours will be held at Martin Funeral Home, 128 N. Resler Dr., El Paso, on Friday March 24, 2017 from 5:00 to 9:00 pm with the Rosary starting at 7:00 pm. Mass will be held at Martin Funeral Home West Chapel Saturday March 25, 2017, at 10:00 am.
Services entrusted to Martin Funeral Home West 128 North Resler Dr., El Paso, TX 79912 www.martinfuneralhomewest.com
COMPARTA UN OBITUARIO
v.1.8.18