IN MEMORIAM: FORMER TSC PRESIDENT DR. ALBERT A. BESTEIRO

By Paul Resta Ph. D.

UT-Austin

I know that Albert touched all of us here in profound, and likely, very different ways.
We are here to celebrate his life when his light was at its brightest. For Albert had
made a life of love, friendship and accomplishment beyond measure.

He adored his wife Ollie, his children, Albert Jr., John and Sonya and his grandson Dil

lon. He enveloped both his family and friends in a circle of unbounded love and support.

To me Albert was an amazing force that never settled for the way things are but rather for the way that things should be. His entire life was a continuing story of commitment to making things better in education, government and his church community.

As a member of the Brownsville city council and President of the Brownsville Independent School Dis

trict Board of trustees, he worked tirelessly to make government and education more responsive to the people’s needs. He would listen to all voices in the community but would always particularly seek out and listen to the voices of the disenfranchised that were seldom heard or had little power.
As a Bi-National planner Albert was loved and respected for his success in building
partnerships to strengthen the economies and improve the quality of life for people on
both sides of the border.
Albert was also a gifted teacher who had great passion for both his students and his
subject matter. He always held high expectations for his students and, because they knew
how deeply he cared for them, they seldom disappointed him.
He carried this passion with him to Texas Southmost College where he believed in
every fiber of his being that the community college was the door of opportunity to a
new and better life, particularly for those who had limited access to higher education.
He also carried this passion to his position as Executive Director of the Border College
Consortium. In this role, Albert brought together the leaders from all of the community
colleges along the border and inspired them to work together to make their institutions
more responsive to th

e needs of underserved students.
He later became President of Texas Southmost College where, through his vision and
leadership, he reshaped the institution to offer the highest quality education to all of
its students.

Unlike any educational administrator I have ever known, Albert would
regularly go into the cafeteria at lunch-time to sit down and talk with students to better
understand their needs and concerns. His door was always open and he was respectful
and open to all voices. His commitment, however, was always to the students and he had
no tolerance for any administrator, faculty or staff person who took their role and position
Even in retirement, his commitment to helping poor students have opportunities in
higher education is evidenced by his working to establish the Santa Cruz Men’s Club
Scholarship Fund.

We learned last night that the name of the scholarship fund was to be changed to the Albert Besteiro Memorial Fund. As you know the family requested that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made to this fund

in Albert’s honor.
So although Albert spent most of his professional life in education, I think we also all
know that he never stopped being a geologist.

How many times have you ridden with
Albert when he would suddenly stop the car to point out some interesting geological
feature? How many have had the experience of Albert pulling out his great box of
rocks and listening to his explanation of the age, significance and composition of each
When you would hear Albert talk about some of his solitary geological explorations into
the remote and dangerous mountainous regions of Mexico or the jungles of Guatemala,
you realized that his adventures would make for a good Indiana Jones sequel.

One of his trips was to a par

ticularly remote mountainous region of Mexico. It was said that
sometimes people going into this area would disappear and not be heard from again. On
this particular trip he recruited a man who lived in this area to be his guide. The man
would say little and often had a menacing demeanor.

In traversing some treacherous terrain in the mountains, Albert’s mule lost its footing and both he and the mule tumbled down the steep slope. Albert was seriously injured and while lying at the bottom of the ravine thought of the very real possibility that the guide might simply take his belongings and leave.

But, as we all know, Albert had an amazing ability to bring out the best in people in all walks of life. And so this taciturn guide came down and made a tremendous effort to carry Albert back to his simple abode where the wife used native plants to heal his wounds, fight the infections and calm his fever. They cared for him until he was well enough to return home.
Albert was remarkable in so many ways and one of the biggest blessings in my life was
the day he appeared at my office at the University of New Mexico. He came to see if we
would be willing to work with and assist the Border College Consortium.

I, of course, agreed to do so and from that very first meeting, we quickly developed a deep and lasting bond of friendship. I was honored to be taken in as part of Albert’s extended family. I felt
that Albert was my brother in truth if not by biological fact. A couple of years later Albert
served as best man and Ollie as Maid of Honor at our wedding and that made our joy
One of the things that I miss most is Albert’s incredible sense of humor and his infectious
laughter. He had this magical ability to enter a room of strangers and somehow instantly
transform them into friends.

Another unique aspect of Albert was his ability to always surprise you and often in the most unusual circumstances. In the early 80’s while I was in Washington D. C.. working with another dear friend of Albert’s, Manny Justiz, I received a call from Ollie that Albert’s heart condition had worsened and that they were going to do open heart surgery the next day. I told her I would come immediately and caught the next flight to Houston.

We were all worried and concerned as five-way bypass surgery was still a relatively new surgical procedure at that time. Ollie and I stayed with Albert in the preop room and, then after they put him on the gurney and were about to wheel him into the operating room, he reached out and took Ollie’s hand and mine.

While holding them he said: “Ollie, as Paul is our witness, I want you to promise two things before I go into surgery. First, if I survive the surgery, I want you to promise that you will stop always exchanging the gifts I give you. Second, if I don’t survive, I don’t want you to pay the doctor."
We are all blessed to have been touched by this man whose entire life was committed
to making things better for others. He had a kind, humble and generous spirit. He was a
loving husband, father, grandfather and a loyal friend. He also was a man of deep faith
who was without guile or deceit.
We all know that Albert is in heaven now. No intermediate steps for Albert for he was
a pure soul and his whole life has been dedicated to making things better for people. We
thank God that we were the fortunate ones who were able to share his life.