Our grandfather Enrique "Henry" De Lille was born in Guanacevi, Durango, Mexico, the son of noted pharmacist, professor and scientist Pedro De Lille Borja and gifted pianist Maria Aizpuru Alvarez.
He was the beloved brother of Pedro, Marie, Antonia, Hector, and Mario.
When I was a little boy, I was fascinated by the stories my mother would tell us of her father's childhood in Chihuahua. It seems that when Henry was not quite a teenager, he was traveling with some family members when Pancho Villa and his soldiers boarded the train they were on, looking for youngsters to recruit into Villa's army. Henry escaped when his grandmother hid him from view behind her long skirts.
Henry's family fled the Mexican Revolution in 1913, and first settled in El Paso, where his father soon found employment teaching pharmacology. The family moved to Los Angeles, after Henry's father had a chance encounter with a childhood friend, who persuaded him to go to California and open a farmacia there with him.
Undeniably brilliant, Henry spoke four languages and he was first licensed by the State of California as a pharmacist in 1921. Henry, a natural scholar, passed the test on his first try without studying for it. Henry managed the Owl Pharmacy in downtown Los Angeles, where he met our grandmother, Elise "Elsie" Marie Day, who was working there as a clerk. Henry and Elsie soon fell in love, and when the rest of the family returned to Mexico following the Revolution's end, he chose to stay behind. Henry and Elsie were married at St. Martha's Church in Huntington Park on February 18, 1924.
He was the beloved father of three daughters, and he was a devoted and unforgettable grandfather.
Henry became an American citizen in 1938. My mother recalled that he avidly followed the advent of World War II, and being a sensitive soul, he was absolutely devastated when France fell. He was a quiet and eminently dignified man, and a devout Catholic who never lost his faith. He finished out his career working for Thrifty Drug Stores for many years.
I deeply wish that I had known you, but you are in my thoughts daily. You had a difficult life, struggling for many years with depression and haunted by a need for perfection. You were a good man, a loving father and husband, a man who worked hard, tried the best he could and who saw and appreciated the beauty and humor in life. I hope I have made you as proud of me as I am to be your grandson. Vaya con Dios, abuelito. You are sadly missed but fondly remembered always.
He was the beloved brother of Pedro, Marie, Antonia, Hector, and Mario.
When I was a little boy, I was fascinated by the stories my mother would tell us of her father's childhood in Chihuahua. It seems that when Henry was not quite a teenager, he was traveling with some family members when Pancho Villa and his soldiers boarded the train they were on, looking for youngsters to recruit into Villa's army. Henry escaped when his grandmother hid him from view behind her long skirts.
Henry's family fled the Mexican Revolution in 1913, and first settled in El Paso, where his father soon found employment teaching pharmacology. The family moved to Los Angeles, after Henry's father had a chance encounter with a childhood friend, who persuaded him to go to California and open a farmacia there with him.
Undeniably brilliant, Henry spoke four languages and he was first licensed by the State of California as a pharmacist in 1921. Henry, a natural scholar, passed the test on his first try without studying for it. Henry managed the Owl Pharmacy in downtown Los Angeles, where he met our grandmother, Elise "Elsie" Marie Day, who was working there as a clerk. Henry and Elsie soon fell in love, and when the rest of the family returned to Mexico following the Revolution's end, he chose to stay behind. Henry and Elsie were married at St. Martha's Church in Huntington Park on February 18, 1924.
He was the beloved father of three daughters, and he was a devoted and unforgettable grandfather.
Henry became an American citizen in 1938. My mother recalled that he avidly followed the advent of World War II, and being a sensitive soul, he was absolutely devastated when France fell. He was a quiet and eminently dignified man, and a devout Catholic who never lost his faith. He finished out his career working for Thrifty Drug Stores for many years.
I deeply wish that I had known you, but you are in my thoughts daily. You had a difficult life, struggling for many years with depression and haunted by a need for perfection. You were a good man, a loving father and husband, a man who worked hard, tried the best he could and who saw and appreciated the beauty and humor in life. I hope I have made you as proud of me as I am to be your grandson. Vaya con Dios, abuelito. You are sadly missed but fondly remembered always.
Our grandfather Enrique "Henry" De Lille was born in Guanacevi, Durango, Mexico, the son of noted pharmacist, professor and scientist Pedro De Lille Borja and gifted pianist Maria Aizpuru Alvarez.
He was the beloved brother of Pedro, Marie, Antonia, Hector, and Mario.
When I was a little boy, I was fascinated by the stories my mother would tell us of her father's childhood in Chihuahua. It seems that when Henry was not quite a teenager, he was traveling with some family members when Pancho Villa and his soldiers boarded the train they were on, looking for youngsters to recruit into Villa's army. Henry escaped when his grandmother hid him from view behind her long skirts.
Henry's family fled the Mexican Revolution in 1913, and first settled in El Paso, where his father soon found employment teaching pharmacology. The family moved to Los Angeles, after Henry's father had a chance encounter with a childhood friend, who persuaded him to go to California and open a farmacia there with him.
Undeniably brilliant, Henry spoke four languages and he was first licensed by the State of California as a pharmacist in 1921. Henry, a natural scholar, passed the test on his first try without studying for it. Henry managed the Owl Pharmacy in downtown Los Angeles, where he met our grandmother, Elise "Elsie" Marie Day, who was working there as a clerk. Henry and Elsie soon fell in love, and when the rest of the family returned to Mexico following the Revolution's end, he chose to stay behind. Henry and Elsie were married at St. Martha's Church in Huntington Park on February 18, 1924.
He was the beloved father of three daughters, and he was a devoted and unforgettable grandfather.
Henry became an American citizen in 1938. My mother recalled that he avidly followed the advent of World War II, and being a sensitive soul, he was absolutely devastated when France fell. He was a quiet and eminently dignified man, and a devout Catholic who never lost his faith. He finished out his career working for Thrifty Drug Stores for many years.
I deeply wish that I had known you, but you are in my thoughts daily. You had a difficult life, struggling for many years with depression and haunted by a need for perfection. You were a good man, a loving father and husband, a man who worked hard, tried the best he could and who saw and appreciated the beauty and humor in life. I hope I have made you as proud of me as I am to be your grandson. Vaya con Dios, abuelito. You are sadly missed but fondly remembered always.
He was the beloved brother of Pedro, Marie, Antonia, Hector, and Mario.
When I was a little boy, I was fascinated by the stories my mother would tell us of her father's childhood in Chihuahua. It seems that when Henry was not quite a teenager, he was traveling with some family members when Pancho Villa and his soldiers boarded the train they were on, looking for youngsters to recruit into Villa's army. Henry escaped when his grandmother hid him from view behind her long skirts.
Henry's family fled the Mexican Revolution in 1913, and first settled in El Paso, where his father soon found employment teaching pharmacology. The family moved to Los Angeles, after Henry's father had a chance encounter with a childhood friend, who persuaded him to go to California and open a farmacia there with him.
Undeniably brilliant, Henry spoke four languages and he was first licensed by the State of California as a pharmacist in 1921. Henry, a natural scholar, passed the test on his first try without studying for it. Henry managed the Owl Pharmacy in downtown Los Angeles, where he met our grandmother, Elise "Elsie" Marie Day, who was working there as a clerk. Henry and Elsie soon fell in love, and when the rest of the family returned to Mexico following the Revolution's end, he chose to stay behind. Henry and Elsie were married at St. Martha's Church in Huntington Park on February 18, 1924.
He was the beloved father of three daughters, and he was a devoted and unforgettable grandfather.
Henry became an American citizen in 1938. My mother recalled that he avidly followed the advent of World War II, and being a sensitive soul, he was absolutely devastated when France fell. He was a quiet and eminently dignified man, and a devout Catholic who never lost his faith. He finished out his career working for Thrifty Drug Stores for many years.
I deeply wish that I had known you, but you are in my thoughts daily. You had a difficult life, struggling for many years with depression and haunted by a need for perfection. You were a good man, a loving father and husband, a man who worked hard, tried the best he could and who saw and appreciated the beauty and humor in life. I hope I have made you as proud of me as I am to be your grandson. Vaya con Dios, abuelito. You are sadly missed but fondly remembered always.
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