Eliseo "Chayo" Flores

Eliseo “Chayo” Flores, beloved brother and uncle who held God and family close to his heart, died Sept. 12 at St. John’s Hospital after a recurring illness. He was 89. A Rosary will be recited at 7 p.m. Friday at Johnson’s Funeral Home. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Saturday at St. Mary’s Catholic Church with Father Joey Faylona as the celebrant. Interment will follow at Calvary Catholic Cemetery. Eliseo Flores was born on June 14, 1927, in Sanderson, Texas, to Francisco and Rumalda Flores. He was one of 11 children who lived and worked with their parents on the Hat A Ranch, a sprawling West Texas ranch, where they worked cattle and other livestock, among other chores. In the 1950s, Flores family began transitioning from ranch work, all of them and their families eventually settling in San Angelo. Eliseo Flores had been married briefly and had no sons and daughters of his own, but he had countless children in his nieces and nephews, who loved and admired “Uncle Chayo” for his kind words, generosity and acts of kindness. “He was a father to me, like he was to all of his nieces and nephews,” said Isabela “Bella” Flores, a niece who lived with him her entire life. “He believed in you. He believed you could achieve anything you wanted. He loved you for your individuality and he wanted you to stand strong on your own.” In San Angelo, he used the skills developed on the ranch for his daily work. He worked as a plumber with the John Bright Construction Co., working in West Texas and for a time in Iowa; with the J.D. Burk Construction Co., and with the plumbing company owned by his brother, Richard Flores. Although he had transitioned to the city life, he never lost his love for the ranch life, so in the early 1970s, he, his brother Richard, and sister Mary purchased and worked a small ranch between Ballinger and Talpa. The parcel served not only as an opportunity to return to what he grew up with, but a chance for his nieces and nephews to learn construction, plumbing, welding and fencing building, raising cattle, sheering sheep, riding horses, milking goats, and feeding guinea hens and chickens and collecting eggs, along with hunting quail and dove. “The ranch was like where it all began for him, so returning to one was like a connection to his parents and a link to the bloodline for us nieces and nephews,” Bella Flores said. “This is where many of us learned the trades for life and where we learned to do chores first before we could play.” And, “Uncle Chayo” loved cars, owning a few of what are now considered classic or vintage vehicles, including a 1962 black Pontiac Bonneville; a 1967 yellow Mercury Cougar; a 1971 blue Buick Stratomist Skylark and a few pickup trucks, including a 1961 blue Ford, a 1956 blue Ford and a late model black Ford. The latter two had cattle racks over the beds, allowing him to not only carry livestock, but, separately, a multiple of nieces and nephews on rides in both the city and the ranch. Eliseo “Chayo” Flores is survived by his siblings, Richard Flores, Mary Flores and Francisco “Kiko” Flores, who will serve as honorary pallbearers, and dozens of nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents; his brothers, Daniel Flores, Isaac Flores, Isabel “Bill” Flores, and Rosendo Flores; and sisters, Ernestina Sedeño, Octavia Sedeño, and Olivia Batla; two infant twins siblings, and several nieces and nephews. Pallbearers will be Domingo Sedeño, Andy Sedino, Philip Flores, Roy Flores, Mac Sedino, Jr., and Justin Zamudio.