Raul Villegas Salinas

Raul V. Salinas Sr. was born in Laredo, Texas, in 1933. He lost both his parents at a very young age, and his early beginnings are shrouded with mystery even to those closest to him. As an orphan by age 14, he had to fend for himself. Raul slept in cemeteries and the streets until he was old enough to join the U.S. Army where he served his country during the Korean War. After his time in the military, he settled in Corpus Christi, Texas, where he worked loyally for the same dairy plant, Knolle and Hygeia, for over 25 years. He married the love of his life, a woman 5 years his senior, my grandmother, Maria Guadalupe Salinas, in his 20s. Their marriage lasted over 60 years until his passing on Oct. 6, 2021. The marriage produced five children (Sylvia (Erbey), Raul Jr. (Cleo), Robert and Hector), 14 grandchildren, and 12 great-grandchildren The fourth-oldest child passed at childbirth but this tragedy did not sway the couple from bringing in one more child into the world. Now with a family he never had growing up, Raul achieved the true rags-to-riches American Dream.

Raul was preceded in death by his parents, brother, two sisters, and granddaughter-in-law. He is survived by his wife, sister, four children, 14 grandchildren, and 12 great-grandchildren. He was a quiet man with a smoky, deep voice and a smile that disarmed the hardest of hearts; a contagious laugh that was usually sparked by real-life slapstick humor (ask my uncle when Raul purposely left a metal spoon next to a crock pot for hours only to serve his grown son with a hot bowl of beans and an even hotter metal spoon); a man that carried much hurt in his heart but was from a generation that no matter how much pain he was in, whether it be physical or emotional, he would not burden anyone else with it. Raul never met a beer he did not like — though he preferred Old Milwaukee. His adventures earned him the titles of “the Don,” “the Man,” “the Myth,” and “the Legend.” There are songs and stories about Don Raul that are shared between people in small towns in Mexico with the most respect and love imaginable. A boy from nothing, now with everything. It’s said that you cannot take anything with you when you are gone, but in true Raul fashion, he gave his family all that he had left, the metaphoric shirt off his back, the last dollar in his pocket — his love, his time, his smile and heavenly laugh.

The funeral mass for Mr. Salinas will be 11:30 AM Friday, November 12, 2021 at St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church, 2829 Ackerman Rd. Kirby, Texas 78219. Following the mass, a committal service with military honors will be at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery, San Antonio at 1:15 PM.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.colonialuniversal.com for the Salinas family.