SALT LAKE CITY

OUR SWEET HOME
IN SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH IN 1980

The dice had been thrown on the table, Northwest, through Glen Nelle and Piero Ruffinengo proposed and elaborated the idea of my transfer to the U.S, while my wife and I had discussed the idea thoroughly, and no possible point of disagreement was left out to chance. Fanny and I had decided to face the challenge, so, by mid May 1980, I submitted my resignation to Jose Antonio Correa, the CEO of COFIEC, and gave him a month to find a replacement for me. Correa was shocked by my resignation, he tried in many ways to convince me to stay, and he thought and said it, that I was taking a risky step in exchange for a high and solid position in one of the most prestigious banking institutions in the country, where I had an open future in my hands. I thanked Correa for his words but I told him I had already made a decision and that I was a man whose word was more important than his signature. There was no possibility of revesing our decision. Dr. Correa announced my resignation to the bank and invited my wife and me for a farewell cocktail party at his luxurious 11th floor apartment in one of the nicest buildings in town; “El Gato Pardo”. The highest ranking members of COFIEC and a few other executives of the Quito banking community attended this cocktail party, in which Correa spoke a few words “to say many thanks and good bye, and wish the best to a good friend and an extraordinary executive of COFIEC who will be hard to be replaced”. I said also a few words to thank Dr. Correa for guiding me through the world of banking of which I was a complete neofite when I entered COFIEC, I also expressed my gratitude “to Dr. Correa and all those in the bank and outside it, who helped me successfully go through the core of the banking business”. Finally, I said farewell to all of those in the organization who helped me successfully accomplish my responsibilities.
Our group of Guayaquil friends in Quito organized at least three separate farewell parties for us, in each one of them, tears were shed, as all and every one of our friends, boys and girls, said in very few but expressive words how much they were going to miss us, and how much they wanted us to succeed in our new life, far away from them. Those were unforgettable times; we fully appreciated then, and we will continue to remember those real demonstrations of friendship and camaraderie.
In July 1980, I flew to Salt Lake City all by myself, to try to find housing for my family and schooling for my two young children; Mariuxi and Rafael Jr. (“Rafaelito”). By the beginning of August my family joined me in SLC. Fanny was seven months pregnant so we would not be able to postpone her trip any longer, lest she was forgiven to fly. We stayed for a full month in an apart-hotel before we found a three bedroom nice house in South East Salt Lake City. We chose this house mainly because it was located in a very quiet neighborhood, had a price that I could pay for, but, more than anything else, because the school nearby, Woodstock Elementary was, according to the information we gathered, an excellent school for our children and was only four blocks away from our place.

THE WASATCH MOUNTAINS, RIGHT
IN FRONT OF OUR HOUSE IN SLC

Like most other schools in Salt Lake City, this was one where 90% of the children were Mormons. We were a bit concerned about this fact, as we had been told by many of our friends that, given the fact we were catholic, our children might not be well accepted in the school and we as a family might not be welcomed in the community. On the contrary, we soon found ourselves within a community that not only had happily accepted our children in the school, but to us as their neighbors. I can’t find the proper words to express our gratitude to all those neighbors who in one way or another made us feel welcome to their community. Contrary to what many people had thought, none of our neighbors ever tried to change our religious believes (which have always been strong) and they didn’t miss one single chance to be helpful and gracious to us.

By October the 1st, 1980, we moved in to our new place, located at 5986 Fontainebleau Dr, SLC, Utah, 84121.The house was a three bedroom, ten year old, previously owned by a couple of retired people who were moving to Las Vegas and who were pleased to leave in the house, at no cost to us, a great part of their furniture and kitchen stuff, including some fine dining ware. We bought the house for $85,000, with a 25 year mortgage, with monthly payments of approximately $600. We were very happy with our place; it had a nice front yard with two beautiful pine trees by the sidewalk, and a large backyard with a very tall oak tree and a beautiful cherry tree which gave the house a sense of an age which it really did not have. A beautiful and well cared for grass was part of both, the front and the back yards, something that I really began to love and care for. From the front window of our house we could see the impressive Wasatch Mountains which became all covered by snow in the winter. Commuting time to my office in downtown SLC was about 30 minutes in the morning and afternoon rush hours and taking the kids to school was only a matter of minutes.

WOODSTOCK ELEMENTARY, THE SCHOOL OUR CHILDREN ATTENDED IN SALT LAKE CITY


It hadn’t been two weeks yet since we moved in, when one morning, at seven A.M , I woke up and looked through the front window, just to find out that a heavy snowstorm had fallen during the night, which had completely blocked our drive way. I was literally blocked by two feet of snow on the ground and by two large branches of one of my pine threes which had fallen victim of the heavy snow. I came out thorough my front door just to look around and think about what to do to be able to go out to work, while wondering of how unprepared I was for this kind of weather. I must have looked pathetically terrified, thinking that I had to manually remove all that snow, just at a time when my next door neighbor, Mr. Barnet (I later found out he had been a very respected Bishop of the LDS Church), who was wearing a heavy jacket and a furry head protector which at the time seemed one of those used by the Eskimos, loudly said hello to me and asked what I thought of what I had in front of me. “Good morning, I said, I’m terrified at what I’m seeing, It seems that I won’t be able to get my car out of the garage”, he smiled and said to me:”don’t you worry neighbor, I’ll help you in just a moment”, and in a matter of minutes, he, in fact, brought out his chain saw and cut the fallen pine tree branches in pieces small enough to be removed from the driveway, which he did it himself, and immediately he brought his snow blower and blew off the snow from my drive way, even before the street began to be cleared for traffic, which also happened before it was time to take the kids to the school and for me to go to work.

UTAH UNDER SNOW


Mariuxi and Rafaelito had a ball when they came out and saw the snow on the ground. They were extremely happy to see the snow for the first time in their lives and began playing with it as soon as they got out of the house. I took them to school and as they entered it, they were still laughing and playing with the snow, just as many of their peers were doing that morning in mid October 1980. Meanwhile, Fanny’s tummy was getting bigger and bigger, the doctor had said the baby was due by end October and advised us to get prepared for the great day.

In my next posting: A NEW MEMBER OF THE FAMILY ARRIVES