Antonio F. Frexes' Obituary
Frexes, Antonio F., 89, born in Havana, Cuba passed away on December 16, 2019 in Coral Gables, Florida. A mass for the eternal rest of his soul will be celebrated on Friday, December 20, 2019 at 11:15 am at Church of the Little Flower in Coral Gables, Florida. Graveside service to follow at Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Cemetery.
The family kindly requests that donations be made in Antonio's memory to the Belen Jesuit Scholarship Program. Donations may be made directly on https://belenjesuit.myschoolapp.com/page/support-belen/why-give/giving-form?siteId=987&ssl=1
EULOGY:
I am Ana Frexes and I am the 5th daughter of this wonderful man we call: Father, Daddy, Papi, and Pop. My 4 older sisters are: Maria, Patricia, Cristina and Laura. This eulogy and words of love about our father come from all of us that include: His 14 grandchildren here today that are: (Patty, Andrea, Tony, Maria Victoria), (Ana Gabriela, Ben), (Eddie, Sophia, Kiko), (Adam, Andrew), (Nico, Nati, and Marcos). His 2 grandchildren are: Victoria and Ema. His forever son-in-laws are: David, Albert, Donald, Eddie and Spike. My dad is survived by his sister Tia Lugui, and she and her daughter Luli are here today. His wonderful caretaker is Anita who cared for him, and loved him, to his last breadth and she is sitting with us.
This is the church where my parents gave me life – “Religious life” - because at this same spot is where they brought me to be baptized after I was born in Miami. My 4 older sisters were born and baptized in Cuba. So, my dad would always tell me that I was the only one that could become President. Little did I know, that we would be bringing our dad here to the same spot for his “last hurrah” after his wonderful and amazing life that he led to Age 89. You know, life has a way of going in circles, and I guess that’s why they call it the "Circle of Life". We are all born into this world but are only meant to be here for a little while, with the ultimate Home being Heaven. Our father firmly believed that and preached that to us. That’s why he never “sweated the small stuff”. His religious beliefs and traditions were always followed to the letter of the religious law. Our Dad was a Belen Jesuit graduate in Cuba, and an Agrupado under the loving reign of Padre Llorente who passed away some years ago. On the day of his funeral, I asked him if he was going to the funeral, and he said … “No, why I would go, he's not going to be there, he’s already in Heaven.” Padre Llorente schooled and married our Father and Mother, and as children we attended many of his retreats at the Agrupacion.
Our Father was born on 8/15/30 in Holguin, Cuba. His parents were Antonio Frexes and Aida Sainz. They were both very strict on our Dad mandating his excellence at school which was a trait that he passed on to us. Our grandfather was a physician in Cuba, and our Dad followed in his footsteps becoming a General Surgeon after graduating from the University of Havana. While he was living there, he met our Mom, Maria Estilita, who was born and raised in Havana. After they met, they dated for 5 years and then married for the next 52 years.
Our Mom was a Pharmacist in Havana, but then stopped working to raise the family. She was the daily watch on us, while our father was away at work, but when the ax needed to come down she would call our Father for backup. Our mom dedicated her life to us and always reminded us of that. She was an amazing Mother to us, and Wife to our Dad. She was also extremely religious graduating from the Sacred Heart in Cuba. She passed away 12 years ago, and so we are very blessed and grateful to have had our Dad, for as long as we did, after her passing.
In Cuba, our Dad and grandfather, being both physicians, worked together at “Clinica Frexes”, which happened to be on “Frexes Street” and was also on the same block as our Home in Holguin. Our parents made it very easy for us to visit our roots within a #1 block radius. While in Cuba, my 4 older sisters were born a year apart, so my parents decided to wait 3 years hoping they'd change the chromosome cycle, but no way, I was born, another girl, and their “5th daughter”. They saved the best for last!
Our parents left Cuba in 1963 with the permission of the Cuban government. My dad knew Castro from High School and operated on his Mother, so he knew him well. When requesting permission to leave Cuba, he told the Government that he needed to leave, and they said OK, but why are you taking your wife and 4 children? He said, “because my wife is pregnant – which with me - and was having pregnancy issues and might need a blood transfusion so we need everyone. He promised to himself, that if this worked, “he would never eat Chocolate again, a food that he loved more than life itself. The government granted his request, and we all left Cuba together, and never looked back. While we grew up our Dad never told us of “this promise” and always said that “he was allergic to Chocolate”! When we found out a few years ago that he wasn’t allergic to anything, but Penicillin, we told him, that he had fulfilled his promise ten times over, and that here was a big chocolate cake. He ate the whole thing!
That is the kind of father that he was, always sacrificing for his family and stopping at nothing to protect us or provide for us. He was the Ultimate Giving Tree. Plus, even more, in our home, we were 5 daughters, our mom and always female dogs, so he was really the Ultimate Saint. While growing up, we loved to go shopping, and I would ask him, Papi, you always let us use your credit card to buy whatever we want, and he would respond, “Well, I don’t want to you to be psychologically damaged if I don’t give it to you. (You can imagine, this was music to a young girl’s ears!)
Among the many amazing qualities, he had, were: integrity, loyalty, persistence, intelligence, humbleness, sweetness, diplomacy, work ethic, but the most important one of all was his pure unconditional love for his family. We asked his grandchildren to write some qualities of their grandfather that stand out and they said:
Adam Steed- Grandson
-When I think of him, I think of someone dedicated to his family above all else, an intellectual, someone who enjoyed learning and pushing his mental capacities, a loving father/grandfather who always took pride in the accomplishments of his kids and grandkids, a role model, an avid chess player who, solely by example, pushed Adam to excel in an activity that positively changed his life; and of a loyal dedicated husband who always wanted the best for others, both of those he cared for and even strangers.
Ana Gabriela- Granddaughter
- Always being prepared, with his glasses, notepad, and pen in his front shirt pocket, always 100% present when you spoke to him; and that she always felt heard by him, and that he was always willing to play dominos
In 1963, when we arrived in Miami, and were at the Freedom Tower getting food handouts and food stamps. He told us that “we will never return to receive a handout after this”, because he was going to provide for us until the day he died. Another promise, he fulfilled.
After arriving from Cuba, our Father did his medical retraining to revalidate his license as a Medical Doctor in the US. He read Schwartz’s double volume books on General Surgery, cover to cover, and became a Board-Certified General Surgeon in the 1970(s). He operated at Palmetto Hospital and his practice was called “Segal, Berg and Frexes”. The patients loved him. He was an amazing and well-respected doctor, with an incredible disposition, bed-side manner, and love for his patients, honoring his hypocritic oath. The office waiting room was always filled with patients wanting to see him. 80% were there to see him, and 20% were there to see the other 2 doctors. He was very loved by his staff.
While my sisters and I grew up in Miami, and were figuring out what our profession would be, our Dad, despite being traditional, insisted that all 5 daughters have a profession at a high level, that we be independent, and capable of supporting ourselves and our families; because “you never know what might lie ahead”, and we needed to be prepared for it - through our ability to earn a living and contribute to society. To that end, he sacrificed even more putting us all in private schools and higher education. Out of my 4 older sisters: Maria, followed in his foot-steps becoming a General Surgeon; Cristina, a Plastic Surgeon; Patricia, a civil enginee; Laura, a high level finance director at Baptist, and myself, a lawyer, who could get us all out of a trouble, if needed. We made him and our Mom proud, and they in turn, fulfilled their obligations and promises to us.
When our parents hit their 50th wedding anniversary, we asked our Father if he wanted to renew his wedding vows, and he said, in his typical one-liner fashion, “why, I meant them the first time”. Some of his other great quotes were:
Don't change your horse in the middle of the river
Keep it Simple
Keep your Dukes Up
Be careful what you write
You can marry a bricklayer as long as he loves you
Pick your profession, whatever you want and do it to the fullest
In closing, I would like to read you a poem that was sent by his nephew, Tony Sanchez, son of our Tia here, as he could not be with us today.
“When Tomorrow Starts Without Me”
When tomorrow starts without me, please try to understand, that an Angel came and called my name, and took me by the hand. The angel said my place was ready, in Heaven far above, and that I’d have to leave behind all those I dearly love. But when I walked through Heaven’s Gates, I felt so much at home, for God looked down, smiled at me, and told me, “Welcome Home”. So when tomorrow starts without me, don’t think we’re apart, for every time you think of me, I’m right there in your heart.”
That was our Dad, the best man that ever lived in our eyes. We LOVE YOU Pop. Will see you and Mom in heaven. We thank you all for coming today to honor our Father on is last day on earth. God Bless you all.
Ana M. Frexes
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