February 17, Remembered

 

By Vivian Narvaez

 

Today, the Cuban Genealogy Club of Miami, Florida celebrates its first anniversary.  It is difficult to believe, glancing back to that Saturday afternoon when the original founders of the CGC “officially met” in Carolina Calderin’s sunny family room, that one year later, in addition to boasting a growing membership, we would also be on the road to incorporation, a scant three months from celebrating our first conference, in possession of a fully functional website and, in short, brimming over with enthusiasm and ideas on how to make reality the CGC’s main reason for being:  to foster the study and preservation of Cuban Genealogy. 

 

It bears pointing out that when I say, “officially met,” it is because those who came together that afternoon had already grown to know one another through supportive and enthusiastic exchanges at CUBA-L, the genealogy bulletin board hosted by the Cuban Genealogy Center. 

 

What took place when we left behind our computers and gathered around the table of bocaditos, pastelitos and notebooks that had been lovingly prepared by Carolina, was merely the natural outcome of those exchanges:  the cementing of friendships that already hinted at permanence, the strengthening of bonds of mutual support, and an eagerness to share the glad tidings that Cuban Genealogy was alive and well and ready to embrace a new generation of Cubans and Cuban-Americans who, brought up on family traditions and legends -- whether in Havana, Miami or any of the many regions where Cuba has carved a second home for itself -- were determined to rescue their history and preserve their roots.

 

So, it is only fitting if on this February 17, I give special thanks for Carolina Calderin’s generosity, for Carmen Roque’s wisdom, for Martha Ibañez-Zervoudakis’s warmth, for Mariela Fernandez’s steadfastness, for Antonio Bechily Carreño’s erudition, for Annette Piedra Baquedano’s youth, for Jose Morales’s creativity, for Lupe Diaz’s perseverance (she did not let her leg cast keep her away from our Tertulia Matancera), for Techy Somoza-Manso’s support, for Eddie Ramos’s humor, for Martha Moreira’s energy, for Marie Zaret’s dedication, and for that miracle called Cuban Genealogy that will keep us all working in its behalf -- jointly or separately -- for as long as our hearts and minds retain the memory of a beautiful island called Cuba.