euskalkultura.eus

27/10/2020 - Oñati. Gipuzkoa

Publicado por su sobrino Imanol Galdos Irazabal en Facebook::

Gaur utzi gaitu osaba Jose Luisek. Ixilean joan zaigu, Covid-ak merezi zuen bukaera duina galerazi du. Maitasun asko eman eta jaso du ordainetan. Gazte gaztetan Oñati jaioterria utzi eta urteak eman zituen New Yorken Harlem eta Broxen. Gerora Bilbon Santutxu auzoan. Baina oso bukaera arte horrenbeste maite zuen New Yorkekin harremanari eutsiz. Bizitza oparoa izan du.. Munduan zehar, han eta hemen, horrenbeste eman duen Kanonigo Laterandarren kide. Ohore zuri, osaba! Har beza atseden!. Egun haundirarte.

Today our uncle Jose Luis left us. He has left in peace and silence. The covid has prevented us from saying goodbye as he deserved. At the age of twenty-five he began his priestly work in New York. He did exceptional work mainly in Harlem and Bronx. Although he returned to the Basque Country, he returned every summer to the United States, a country he loved. Many of his friends in New York have not been able to say goodbye to him. But they will always remember his dedication to the community, his charisma, his good humor and the love he has always dedicated to everyone without distinction. He has given much love and he has been very much loved. His life has been exemplary and now he deserves eternal rest. Rest in peace. Agur osaba!

Adaptado de un texto anterior del propio Imanol Galdos:

87 years ago (March 25, 1933) our uncle Jose Luis Galdos Guridi was born in the Migelena farmhouse in Oñati (Basque Country). He became a priest in 1957 as a member of the Order of the Canons Regular of the Lateran. One of the main convents of the order worldwide is in Oñati. From there hundreds and hundreds of priests went to many places in the world: Argentina, Puerto Rico or Dominican Republic. On April 17, 1963 he arrived in New York. He was the fourth Augustinian in a list that followed him later. The first of these was Aita Madina (the composer of Aita Gurea), also from Oñati, who left Salta (Argentina) to settle in Albany (New York).

His first destination was St. Teresa's Church on the Lower East Side in Manhattan. He was there for a short time at first. But then when he was already stationed in Bilbao (Basque Country) he returned for more than thirty years, during the summers. From there he moved to Brooklyn and then spent over fourteen years was at St. Lucy Church in Easter Harlem (Second Avenue). Before his return to the Basque Country, he spent his last year as a priest in the parish of Our Saviour in Bronx.

When he was fully integrated into the city, the needs of the Order took him first to Madrid and then to Bilbao, to the Santutxu district, where for more than 35 years he carried out work that goes beyond the strictly religious. He retired to the Convent of Oñati from where he left for New York.

New York was his passion. From Oñati almost without fail for almost thirty years he used to return for some weeks to St. Teresa's Church in Manhattan where he began his adventure in New York, on many occasions to replace Patxi Garmendia, son of Zaldibia (Basque Country) and who became a bishop.

Endowed with a special and unique charisma, in New York he was very much loved by each of the communities with which he worked side by side. His American friends of Italian, Puerto Rican, Dominican, German or any other origin adored him. And he never forgot to be united with the Basque community of New York and its Eusko Etxea.

As my brother Iñaki reminded us, the masses he celebrated during the Aberri Egunas in the Eusko Etxea of New York are very moving. He was a great host for all of us along with people like Henry Arana and Aurora who came to New Work from Oñati and other parts of the Basque Country.

Iñaki Galdos Irazabal, hermano de Imanol. en Noticias de Gipuzkoa, "Un timbre en East Harlem":

Hace varios años, cuando se empezó a hablar acerca de la película de Spielberg sobre Pío Mortara, no fueron pocos los que me llamaron para que les hablara sobre los Canónigos Regulares Lateranenses de Oñati, conocidos como los agustinos. Y les hablé, vaya si les hablé. Les hablé de Fernando Urkia y sus obra teatrales; de Patxi Madina y su excelsa obra musical; de Julián Sagasta y su órgano; de Luis Mallea y su Lagun Onak de Buenos Aires; de Bedita Larrakoetxea y sus traducciones de Shakespeare al euskera; de mis maixus en nuestra entonces incipiente ikastola; les hablé también, lógicamente, de una gran labor pastoral en todo el mundo, que sigue a día de hoy y esperemos que continúe durante largos años.

Nuestro tío José Luis, al que hoy despedimos, ha sido uno de ellos. Aquel joven de Migelena que comenzó subiendo con su caballo a dar misa a Aurrekomendi, continuó en Manhattan y terminó en la bilbaína Santutxu, nos ha dejado sin sacar ruido, legando grandes recuerdos que, sin embargo, quién sabe cuánto durarán. Y es que somos de memoria frágil y, en el fondo, incapaces de transmitir a los que nos siguen la importancia de muchas pequeñas –a la vez de grandes– historias, aunque no todas aparezcan en libros y wikipedias. Pasamos en pocos años de reivindicar honores de personas a no reconocerlas ni en las fotos.

Es por ello por lo que, a falta de hijos, a uno le emocionaría saber que alguno de sus sobrinos tocó un día el timbre en un piso de East Harlem, por ejemplo en la segunda avenida con la 103. Y que aquellos neoyorquinos de origen puertorriqueño le invitaron a pasar y le explicaron cómo su tío abuelo, aquel vasco lleno de vida, amor y humor, ayudó a levantar todas aquellas viviendas que dignificaron sus vidas. En definitiva, a uno le emocionaría saber que serán en el futuro multitud los jóvenes que se percatarán de una vez que en sus familias, en sus barrios, en sus pueblos, hay historias que merecen ser conocidas, recordadas y transmitidas. Agur, osaba.

GB