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In Memoriam
Mario Rubio, RIP
What a shame this great American won’t have a chance to see his son sworn in as a U.S. senator.
Not too many people outside of Miami knew the late Mario Rubio. There’s no statue of him in Washington, not even in Miami. There’s no college building, courthouse, or highway named after him. Perhaps there should be. He did some pretty great things under more adverse circumstances than most Americans can even imagine.
Rubio died Saturday at Baptist Hospital in Miami at age 83 after what many people, but almost certainly not Mario himself, would have considered a hard life. Mario went to work at an age when others are going to elementary school. He worked into his late seventies, mostly as a bartender (a most under-appreciated vocation).
Until age 32 Rubio worked in his native Cuba. But after El Jefe Maximo came down out of the mountains, stole Mario’s country, and turned it into a leftist prison, Mario managed to get his family to the United States, one of his great enduring gifts to them. He worked at hard jobs that don’t pay much so that his children — he had four with his wife of 61 years, Orio — could have better.
Well, they have had better. One of those children, Marco, born after the Rubios had made it to America, has achieved a successful career as a lawyer and a politician (managing the latter without having to wear fatigues and carry an automatic weapon). Marco Rubio, former Speaker of the Florida House, is Florida’s Republican nominee for a U.S. Senate seat. He praised his father in this way:
My father knew hard work and struggle from very early in his life. His mother died when he was only nine. The day after his mother was buried he went to work with his father and did not stop working until he was 78 years old.
He was by far the most unselfish person I have ever known, always focused on others, and never on his own well-being. He was especially determined to provide his children with opportunities he himself never had.
My dad worked as a street vendor, security guard, apartment building manager, and crossing guard. But for most of his life he was a bartender, and by all accounts a great one. But the greatest success came from the two most important jobs he ever had: husband and father.
He was very proud of my public service. And over the last 18 months he became an expert channel surfer, constantly searching for my next television interview.
I was blessed to be raised by a world-class father. And I thank God for allowing my father to live long and healthy enough to see that the sacrifices he made for us were not in vain.
The Rubio campaign will pause now, as the Rubio family deals with matters of more elemental importance than politics. But it won’t pause long. There will be an election in less than two months — though the heavens fall. And Marco Rubio has based his conservative campaign on protecting those things about America that allow people like his father to work miracles for their families.
Mario Rubio saw left-wing bullies steal his country. And just because the current band of left-wingers in power in America don’t wear fatigues and carry automatic weapons (and their own nannies won’t allow them to smoke cigars), there are still plenty of parallels that Marco Rubio has drawn attention to on the campaign trail. Along with Mario Rubio’s own personal qualities, it was America’s long-established traditions of limited government, personal freedom, and reliance on capitalism that allowed Mario to be the success he was, and to help lift his children even higher. These are traditions under assault today.
Happily, there are lots of Mario Rubios in America, some with last names that end in a vowel, others not. You’ve got your Smith, Washington, Koslowski, Feldman, Esposito, Chin, Hostetler, Nguyen, Many Goats, et al. They, not the political elites that strive to boss them around and take what they’ve earned, are what makes America the great and exceptional place it has always been, and could remain if we have the wisdom and strength to keep it that way. It’s right that we pay tribute to them at a sad time for the Rubio family.
RIP Mario Rubio.
About the Author
Larry Thornberry is a writer in Tampa.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (19) | Leave a comment
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ggoblue| 9.7.10 @ 7:09AM
sincere condolences to the rubio family. mario rubio has left a legacy of inspiration for his descendants and, through his son, the rest of us.
thank you and god speed mario.
Melvin| 9.7.10 @ 7:46AM
Damn, its tough losing a mother or father. Growing up I figured Mom and Dad were going to live forever. I guess in a way parents do live forever inside us.
It is very thoughtful of American Spectator printing a few lines about this good man.
"Vaya Con Dios el abuelo.
Deborah D | 9.7.10 @ 8:12AM
Marco, soldier on, amigo. Good luck to you and yours. The spirit of your father will propel you to victory. His spirit lives in you and you've graciously lent it to the rest of us. God's speed.
crookedwren| 9.7.10 @ 9:18AM
I grew up in Hialeah, and I grew up with great kids who had hard-working, sacrificial parents like Mario Rubio. They didn't talk to us about the old days in Cuba -- unless we asked. They didn't weep in front of us about having to leave behind everything they had -- because the leftist thugs were going to rob them of everything anyway. But, looking back now, I can hardly imagine how grievous it must have been for them.
I had friends whose families had been really quite well-off in Cuba. Wealthy, I guess. But those fathers weren't soft, nor did they whine about how unfair things were. No. They went to work -- and they worked hard in America for their families.
These families learned -- and spoke -- English. That didn't mean they didn't retain their own language and heritage. They did. But they also admired and respected their place of refuge, their new home.
They deserved the highest regard and respect.
Looking back, I think about the extended families that many left. The old family heirlooms. The irreplaceable things among the stuff of our lives.
I wonder how they could bear to leave behind the homes they had built.
But then again, that home changed. Their homeland had been "fundamentally transformed."
Boy, had it.
I no longer live in Florida, but I carry with me a deeper understanding perhaps of the evils of Communism, Marxism, even the severe limitations of Socialism. I carry that understanding partly because I grew up with some of the finest people in the world -- those brave people who left Fidel's radical transformation to come to a land full of opportunity. That "pursuit of happiness" or opportunity that we have enjoyed in this country for so long.
PJ| 9.7.10 @ 9:47AM
Now, if only you can remind Gloria Estefan & other Cubans, like her, on how horrible the conditions Fidel created in the country she & her relatives fled from.
Ken (Old Texican)| 9.7.10 @ 11:04AM
Mario,
I hope you are enjoying your reunion with friends and family, and the Lord Jesus Christ.
I hope to shake your hand someday soon. Thank you for helping raise a "Mark" the rest of us can benefit by.
Mark and family,
Life here is but a moment. Your Dad will just have finished visiting with a couple of his life-here heroes when you join him.
I hope to meet him too.
Ken
Tim| 9.7.10 @ 11:18AM
I also do believe "Mario" will see his Son sworn in as a United States senator!
JmsA| 9.7.10 @ 3:57PM
Requiescat in Pace, Don Rubio.
Mike Rogers| 9.7.10 @ 11:45PM
Rest in peace Mario: You've done us all proud!
Go Mario - may your leadership and vision take you to the top!
Mike Rogers| 9.7.10 @ 11:46PM
(Oops - typing too late at night - corrected version)
Rest in peace Mario: You've done us all proud!
Go Marco - may your leadership and vision take you to the top!
Sandy Paton| 9.9.10 @ 9:25PM
I went to college with a young woman whose family fled Cuba. Her father had been a doctor. Her mother a teacher. They left without a word to family or friends. It was the only way. While they were on the plane, the police came to arrest someone. Connie's father bowed his head, expecting to be taken to prison. Instead, the police arrested one of his medical students in the seat in front. God bless your father for bringing you here safely Marco Rubio. God bless you for making a powerful mark on this country and standing for freedom. If I lived in Florida, I would work on your campaign. Godspeed!
Princessa| 10.14.10 @ 12:56AM
Firts off i would like to say thank you to Larry for the wonderful article. I appriciate that you took the time to at least "try" to figure out my Abuelo and the life he led and the many sacrifices he made thru his 83 years. As much as was said in your amazing article, there was so so much to the man named Mario Rubio, or to me my Abuelito and my guardian angel.
He never spoke a foul word of anyone or anything, (except his cuban food and coffee, which could only be properly prepared by Abuela Oria his wife, or the neighborhood cuban bakery).
It was the little things about abuelo that hit the soft spot. like this whistle he used to make, and no matter what was happening or where we were, every grandchild he had, including me would immediately focus all our attention into whatever Abuelo needed us for. which was never anything big. he liked to just be with the ones he loved and that will forever carry on in the Rubio name. My favorite and most missed thing to do with my Angel Abeulo was to just sit around with the younger grandchildren at our feet while we watched either sports or news on the television. not a word had to be said, because the love was just understood. he would do anything for anyone and it shows in your legacy abuelito. you lived for us, you made us who we are, and now we will live for you. never forgeting your smell, smile, or sense of humor. its bittersweet looking in the mirror everyday at my electric blue eyes, knowing they came from you and knowing i cant call you or visit. (at havana harrys danny stopped eating his meal, just to say "you know you have abuelos exact eyes, thats weird") This comment would probablly never end because i could talk nonstop about him, he was literally that amazing. so in closing abuelo we all love and miss you everyday. you will never be forgotten and always missed. i love you abuelo and i know you got this campaign in the bag! oh and abuelo, please thank god for me, because he let me have 20 years with you
and thanks to all the comments that are positive and uplifting especially in a world where feelings are disreguarded and rudeness is the norm when emotions are involved. god bless you all
Sofia| 10.18.10 @ 1:08PM
This is lovely. Your abuelito was a wonderful man, by all accounts. I'm about the same age as you and lost, two years ago, my Bela (couldn't say abuela when I was baby and the name stuck). I have so many memories that remind me of yours. :) Cuban grandparents rock, obviously. I wish you and your family luck and love and hope for a rousing victory for Marco!
Christian Louboutin | 6.23.11 @ 4:08AM
Not too many people outside of Miami knew the late Mario Rubio. There's no statue of him in Washington, not even in Miami. There's no college building, courthouse, or highway named after him. Perhaps there should be. He did some pretty great things under more adverse circumstances than most Americans can even imagine.