Time to say goodbye…

There was a little boy who dreamed of becoming “El Presidente” as he lay on the sidewalk, in Asuncion, Paraguay, waiting for the “mercado” to open so he could get meat for the family table. This boy grew to manhood and was offered a Fulbright Program Scholarship because of his scholastic excellence. He came to the United States and enrolled in the engineering program at the Georgia Tech University… when you see the skyline of Atlanta, Georgia you will see the many buildings that he designed, if you travel on I-285 or encounter the intersection known as “Spaghetti Junction” you will have put your faith in the bridges he designed. The “King” and “Queen” buildings are also part of his designs…. this little boy who lay on the street at the tender age of eight to wait for the market to open so he could purchase food for his family’s table became a well respected Engineer instead of President of Paraguay.

One Sunday he saw a family coming to eat after-church-lunch at a Hickory House in Atlanta…he came back for several weeks looking to see if this family was back, and they were. One Sunday he told his friends that he was going to ask the daughter of that family for a date, when they made fun of him and said he couldn’t do it, he bet that he would buy all their dinners that day if it didn’t work…. Long story short, he did, and she… after telling him he would have to get permission from her preacher dad, said yes… and that’s where the story of Sergio and Harolene began. 

After many years, two children and four grandchildren later, today he is being memorialized. The disease that stole his ability to work, communicate, and function, took him from his family.

Although we were divorced, and he was re-married we continued to have a good relationship… he was a wonderful dad and amply supplied my needs for the household and myself… so when he was put in an assisted living home to receive the help he needed, I was able to go and sit with him at times. I would talk and he would occasionally try to answer me and even though I couldn’t understand what he was trying to say, I knew he understood me. 

The morning that he left us I had gone to see him. I knew our son was there with him and I wanted to be a comfort to him and say goodbye to the man whom I had married and had many years with… I did. 

I prayed over him, kissed his forehead and told him I loved him and said goodbye. It was a goodbye that started more than three years ago when that disease really seized him, and now Sergio Leguizamon, one of the founders of Browder+Leguizamon Architects and Engineers is finally taking that long awaited and well-deserved vacation. 

He is loved and respected by all his family and peers, a man known for his great generosity and kindness as well as all his designs, now rests in the arms of Jesus.

Rest in peace Sergio, we love you.