Fiesta Hispano Americana-Wharton Tx.

Fiesta Hispano Americana
P.O. Box 1102
Wharton, TX 77488
ph:
fhawc@yahoo.com

Grand Marshals

Current Grand Marshal

2009 - No Parade

2008 - Linda Gonzalez

Linda Gonzalez, CPA, is this years parade marshal for the 27th annual Fiesta Hispano Americana. This year's parade is dedicated to the memory of Janie Ybarbo, longtime Fiesta Hispano Americana member and supporter, who died this year. Gonzalez was born and reared in El Campo and received her B.B.A. deree from Southwest Texas State University in 1979. She now owns her own firm, Linda Gonzalez P.C.. in Houston. Gonzalez has more than 25 years of public accounting experience, including significant experience providing tax consultation and planning for closely-held businesses including corporations and partnerships.

Gonzalez also provides tax and fi- nancial planning for entrepreneurs and tax consultation and structuring for inbound foreign investors.

Her professional activities and affiliations include being a Leadership Houston Graduate; board member of Houston Community College Spring Branch Advisory Committee, Women's Business Enterprise Alliance and Leadership 2000 Mentorship Program, Inc.; chairman of the Houston Chapter TSCPA Audit Committee; advisory board member of Latin Women's Initiative; and Committee member of Houston TSCPA Scholarship Committee

She is a member of Leadership Houston, The Houston Minority Business Council, the Houston Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, American Association of Hispanic Financial Professionals, the American Institute of CPA's and the Texas Society of CPAs.

Gonzalez has served as a past treasurer for Leadership Houston; past chairman of Spring Branch ISD Hispanic Advisory Committee, Houston Chapter CPAs Helping Schools Committee, Christus Gulf Coast Strategic Planning and Finance Committee and InterEthnic Forum; and past board member of Christus Health Gulf Coast MBOB.

2007 - Bruno Ybarbo

Past Fiesta Hispano Americana President for more than 16 years of dedicated service

Mr. Yarbo was the longest acting Fiesta Hispano Americana president. Mr. Yarbo and wife Janie were among the first five founders of the Fiesta Hispano Americana organization which was established in 1982.

Bruno Ybarbo was born in Gonzales, Texas on October 6, 1934. Bruno's family moved to Wharton when he was nine years old. Mr. Ybarbo worked in the grocery industry at Sansings Grocery when he was a young man. In 1966, he started working for S.L.. Miori Co. After working there for 40 years, Bruno retired in 2006. During those years, in 1982, Bruno and wife Janie along with three other people decided to start an organization which would benefit the Hispanic youth of the area. "After being a long time resident in Wharton", Bruno says, "I wanted to start an organization that would help the youth continue their education past high school." "Hispanics needed help to acheive their goals of a college education, it was all about education!" The early years were tough, however, corporate sponsors started donating monies and the Fiesta Hispano Americana was off and running. Bruno Ybarbo was president of the Fiesta Hispano Americana for more than 16 years of it's 26 years in existence.

Bruno stepped down as president from the Fiesta Hispano Americana a few years ago. Bruno says, "It was time for a younger generation to take over." "The civic organization needed new ideas and more ways to use technology to get the word out about the organization." Bruno has been blessed with two children and two grand-children.

2006 - Arnold Guerra - Retired Wharton High Teacher

2005 - Andres Garza Jr. - Wharton City Manager

City Manager Andres Garza, Jr. began his career in public service in 1977 as an Administrative Assistant in Pearsall, Texas. In 1979, he was promoted to Assistant City Manager in charge of Finance. He began serving as Pearsall City Manager in 1980 and served until May 1994. He is currently serving as the City of Wharton City Manager and has done so since 1994. He currently serves as a Board of Trustee on the Texas Municipal League Intergovernmental Risk Pool (TML-IRP). He served as chairman of that board from 1994 to 1996. He currently serves on the TML Small Cities Advisory Council. He received a BBA Degree from Southwest Texas State University and is a member of Texas City Manager Association and International City Manager Association. His wife is Adeline Garza and they have two children, Andrew III and Adam. He enjoys almost all-outdoor activities including hunting, fishing, camping, and golf.

2004 - Family of Fallen Solider in Irag -

SGT. Richard Arriaga

Hometown: Ganado, Texas, U.S.

Age: 20 years old

Died: September 18, 2003 in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Unit: Army, Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 4th Battalion, 42nd Field Artillery Regiment, Fort Hood, Tex.

Incident: Killed in an ambush by small arms fire and a rocket-propelled grenade in Tikrit.

1993 Grand Marshal- Felix Fraga

Retired HISD Teacher

Political offices sought or held: Member, Houston City Council, District H, since 1993; trustee, Houston Independent School District, District 8, 1990-93. Education: BS, University of Houston, 1952; master's degree, Our Lady of the Lake University of San Antonio, 1954. Background: Native of Houston; board member, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, End Hunger Coalition, Houston Youth Symphony, Houston Homeless Coalition. Personal: 65, incumbent. Wife, Nelly Fraga; two children

1986 Grand Marshal- Gus Gonzales

Wharton Native / Activist

1984 Grand Marshal- Bill Balleza

Houston KPRC TV Anchorman

A native of San Antonio, Bill began his career at KSAT-TV after three years in the Marine Corps, including 13 months in Vietnam as where he was positioned as a scout/sniper. Although he started behind the camera, Bill quickly moved to the other side of the iris, as a general assignments reporter.

Education is also important to Bill. He spends time outside of the studio devoting himself to children of all ages and backgrounds.

He is deeply committed to supporting at-risk students and he lends his time to the George I. Sanchez Charter School.

Always smiling, Bill values his family, which includes his wife, Missy, and his three children, Heidi, Travis and Kate. Although busy, he finds time to indulge his passion for woodworking and for involvement in his childrens' athletic activities.

1983 Grand Marshal- Roy Benavidez

Congressional Medal of Honor Receipient

Roy P. Benavidez, is a former Green Beret sergeant who received the Medal of Honor from President Ronald Reagan for heroism while wounded in the Vietnam War. Roy P. Benavidez lived in El Campo, Texas,

On the morning of May 2, 1968, Benavidez, a staff sergeant with the Army's Special Forces -- the Green Berets -- heard the cry "get us out of here" over his unit's radio while at his base in Loc Ninh, South Vietnam. He also heard "so much shooting, it sounded like a popcorn machine." The call for aid came from a 12-man Special Forces team -- 3 Green Berets and 9 Montagnard tribesmen -- that had been ambushed by North Vietnamese troops at a jungle site a few miles inside Cambodia. Benavidez jumped aboard an evacuation helicopter that flew to the scene. "When I got on that copter, little did I know we were going to spend six hours in hell," he later recalled. After leaping off the helicopter, Benavidez was shot in the face, head and right leg, but he ran toward his fellow troops, finding four dead and the others wounded. He dragged survivors aboard the helicopter, but its pilot was killed by enemy fire as he tried to take off, and the helicopter crashed and burned. Benavidez got the troops off the helicopter, and over the next six hours, he organized return fire, called in air strikes, administered morphine and recovered classified documents, although he got shot in the stomach and thigh and hit in the back by grenade fragments. He was bayoneted by a North Vietnamese soldier, whom he killed with a knife. Finally, he shot two enemy soldiers as he dragged the survivors aboard another evacuation helicopter.

When he arrived at Loc Ninh, Benavidez was unable to move or speak. Just as he was about to be placed into a body bag, he spit into a doctor's face to signal that he was still alive and was evacuated for surgery in Saigon.

Benavidez was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross in 1968, but a subsequent recommendation from his commanding officer that he receive the Medal of Honor -- the military's highest award for valor -- could not be approved until a witness confirmed his deeds. That happened in 1980, when Brian O'Connor, the Green Beret who had radioed the frantic message seeking evacuation, was found in the Fiji Islands. O'Connor told how Benavidez had rescued eight members of his patrol despite being wounded repeatedly.

Ronald Reagan presented the Medal of Honor to Benavidez at the Pentagon on Feb. 24, 1981. When Reagan presented Benavidez with the Medal of Honor, he asked the former sergeant to speak to young people. Benavidez did, visiting schools to stress the need for the education he never had.

Born in south Texas, the son of a sharecopper, Benavidez was orphaned as a youngster. He went to live with an uncle, but dropped out of middle school because he was needed to pick sugar beets and cotton. He joined the Army at 19, went to airborne school, then was injured by a land mine in South Vietnam in 1964. Doctors feared he would never walk again, but he recovered and became a Green Beret. He was on his second Vietnam tour when he carried out his rescue mission.

Over the years, fellow Texans paid tribute to Benavidez. Several schools, a National Guard armory and an Army Reserve center were named for him.

But he did not regard himself as someone special. "The real heroes are the ones who gave their lives for their country," Benavidez once said. "I don't like to be called a hero. I just did what I was trained to do."