Bulgarian opera singer Dimitrova dies at 64

16A | LAREDO MORNING TIMES
SUNDAY, JUNE 12, 2005
OBITUARIES
EVARISTO ‘TITO’ ORTEGA IV
Evaristo “Tito” Ortega IV, 21,
passed away Friday, June 10,
2005, in Boerne, Texas. He was
born and raised in Laredo,
Texas, and graduated from J.B.
Alexander High School in 2001.
He was attending the University
of Texas in San Antonio.
He loved God, life, the outdoors, computers, and was a
very generous person with
everyone. Evaristo was a great
son and friend to all.
Tito, we love you very much.
God bless you.
He was preceded in death by
his paternal great-grandfather,
Evaristo Ortega.
Evaristo is survived by his parents, Evaristo III and Diana E. Ortega; sister, Audry Ortega; brothers, Estevan and Edgar Ortega;
paternal grandparents, Evaristo
II and Socorro Ortega; maternal
grandparents, Donald J. and
Elena S. Provencher; paternal
great-grandmother, Lilia Ortega;
maternal great-grandparents,
Adan and Gloria Coronado;
niece, Emily Rodriguez Ortega;
and other relatives and friends.
A prayer service will be held
Tuesday, June 14, 2005, at 6:30
p.m. in the Hillside Funeral
Home chapel. Visitation will be
from 4 to 9 p.m. Funeral services will be held Wednesday, June
15, 2005, at 8:30 a.m. from Hillside Funeral Home to Christ
Worship Center, Hwy 59 and
Casa Blanca Road. Service will
begin at 9 a.m. Interment will
follow in the family plot after
the service.
Arrangements are under the
direction of Hillside Funeral
Home, 310 Hillside Road.
VICENTA R. MENDEZ
Vicenta R. Mendez, 73,
passed away Wednesday, June 8,
2005.
Funeral services were held
at 8 a.m. Saturday, June 11, 2005,
from the Hernandez, Lopez and
Sons Northside Chapels, 800
Boston Street.
Holy Mass was celebrated at
8:30 a.m. at San Luis Rey
Catholic Church.
Committal services and interment were held in the Veteran’s Section of the Laredo City
Cemetery.
Pallbearers were Ramon
Mendez Jr., Daniel Mendez, Jerry Gonzalez, Joe Luis Mata,
Juan Ramos Jr., Rogelio Hernandez, Ramiro Ramos Jr. and
Antonio Ramos.
CESARIO ANTONIO CARRERA
Cesario Antonio Carrera, 28,
falleció a las 18:30 horas en esta
ciudad en el seno de la Santa
Madre Iglesia Católica, Apostólica y Romana.
Su esposa, Claudia Sanjuana
Zavala; sus hijos, Kevin Zavala,
Kriss Carrera, Cesario Carrera;
su madre, Blanca Alicia Gonzalez, hermano gemelo, Jesus Antonio (Yadira) Carrera; hermanos, Roberto A. Carrera,
Jordan A. Carrera; suegros,
Raul y Nicolasa Zavala, tios y
tías, Santana (Alma) Carrera,
Estela (Miguel) Hernandez,
Fernando Hernandez, Maria
Lourdes (Humberto) Carrera,
Ana Carrera, Hilda Garza; sobrina, Denise Carrera, cuñados,
Raul Arturo (Maribel) Zavala,
Aida Zavala; abuela materna,
Aida Elisa Zavala Vda. De Lara;
GEORGE L. GARCIA
Funeral services for George
L. Garcia, 47, who passed away
Saturday, June 11, 2005, are
pending at Joe Jackson Heights
Funeral Chapels, 719 Loring at
Cortez.
For further information,
please contact (956) 722-0001.
primos, Miguel Hernandez, Jose
Arambula, Dora Zambrano y
esposo, Juan Palomino, Charlie
(Mary) Solis, Rene Hernandez,
Baldemar Hernandez, Hilda
(Cesar) Garcia, Priscilla Garza,
Mayra Carrera, Erika Carrera,
Anita Carrera; amigo, Juan
Navarro y esposa; otros amigos
y demás familiares.
Con profundo dolor participan a usted y a su apreciable familia rogándoles eleven al ser
supremo las oraciones que su
piedad les dicte por el eterno
descanso de su alma.
El duelo se recibirá en Hillside Funeral Home, 310 Hillside
Rd. Horario de visita dará inicio
hoy domingo 12 de Junio del
2005 de 5 a 9 p.m. Se efectuara un
rosario en la capilla a las 7 p.m.
El lunes 13 de Junio del 2005
habrá una visita de 4 a 9 p.m. Se
efectuara un rosario a las 7 p.m.
El cortejo partirá el martes 14
de Junio a las 8:30 a.m. de Hillside Funeral Home para una
misa en St. John Neumann
Catholic Church. Misa dará inicio
a las 9 a.m. Posteriormente partirán para el cementerio católico.
Arreglos fúnebres están bajo
la dirección de Hillside Funeral
Home, 310 Hillside Road.
PABLO ‘DAD’ CASAREZ JR.
Pablo “Dad” Casarez Jr., 60,
passed away Tuesday, June 7,
2005, at his place of residence.
Mr. Casarez was born in
Laredo, and had been a resident
here all of his life.
He was preceded in death by
his parents, Pablo and Mercedes
Casarez.
He is survived by his wife,
Josie Rosales Casarez; daughter, Linda Casarez (Ricardo
Lopez Jr.); sons, Rey (Linda)
Casarez, Cesar Casarez, Luis
Casarez (Claudia Villarreal),
Pablo Casarez III and Carlos
Casarez; grandchildren, Linda
Lee Casarez, Antony Casarez,
Luis Gerardo Casarez Jr.; 22
grandchildren; one great-grandson; brothers, Ramon (Aurora)
Casarez, Francisco (Consuelo)
Casarez and Pedro (Diana)
Casarez; sisters, Elena Alva, Alicia (Manuel) Cruz and Evan-
gelina (Lalo) Villarreal; and numerous family members and
many friends. Sandy Alva was
raised as a daughter by Mr. and
Mrs. Casarez.
Visitation will be held Sunday, June 12, 2005, from 4 to 9
p.m., and a rosary will be recited at 7 p.m. in the Hernandez,
Lopez and Sons Northside
Chapels, 800 Boston Street.
Funeral services will begin at
8:05 a.m. Monday, June 13, 2005,
from the funeral home chapel.
Holy Mass will be celebrated
at 8:30 a.m. at San Luis Rey
Catholic Church. Interment will
follow in the Calvary Catholic
Cemetery.
PARIS — Jose Beyaert, the
1948 Olympic gold medalist in
road racing and a longtime
coach of Colombia’s national
team, died Saturday in a hospital
where he had been treated for
various health problems, his son
said. He was 79.
At the 1948 Olympics in London, Beyaert won a bronze
medal in the team time trial for
France as well as his gold in
road racing. He was well-known
in Colombia for winning that nation’s tour in 1952.
Beyaert stayed in Colombia
for most of his life, working as a
coach and radio commentator,
his son said.
The Beyaert family remained
in Colombia until nearly five
years ago, when they fled that
country’s conflict, which pits
leftist rebels against right-wing
paramilitary factions and government forces.
Jim Exon
LINCOLN, Neb. — Jim Exon,
a Democrat who served two
terms as governor and three
terms in the U.S. Senate for Nebraska, died at a hospital Friday
of natural causes, his family said.
He was 83.
The broad-shouldered sena-
Angelita Campos Muñoz, 92,
passed away Thursday, June 9,
2005, in a local hospital.
Mrs. Muñoz was born in San
Francisco Del Rincon, Guanajuato, Mexico, and had been a
resident of Laredo for most of
her life.
She was preceded in death by
her daughter, Ana Maria Perez
and by her son, Alfredo Perez.
She is survived by her sons
and daughters, Juana Price, Zeferina Torres, Fidel (Josefina)
Perez, Francisco (Graciela)
Perez, Alberto Perez, Juan
(Maria) Campos, Eugenia C.
(Amadeo) Arismendez and
Maria (Santiago) Moncivaiz; numerous grandchildren and greatgrandchildren; and sister, Justina
Muñoz.
Visitation will be held Sunday,
June 12, 2005, from 3 to 9 p.m.
and a rosary will be recited at 7
p.m. in the Hernandez-Lopez and
Sons Northside Chapels, 800
Boston Street.
Funeral services will begin at
10:30 a.m. Monday, June 13, 2005,
from the funeral home chapel.
Holy Mass will be celebrated
at 11 a.m. at Holy Redeemer
Catholic Church.
Interment will then follow in
the Calvary Catholic Cemetery.
Bulgarian opera singer
Dimitrova dies at 64
By VESELIN TOSHKOV
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Colombian racer, coach
dies of health problems
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ANGELITA CAMPOS MU ÑOZ
tor, nicknamed “Big Jim,” started
in the Nebraska Democratic Party as a precinct worker and was
its chairman when he made his
first bid for public office, winning
the governor’s election in 1970.
Exon was elected to the Senate in 1978, serving through
1996.
He was the only Nebraskan
besides George Norris, the architect of the state’s one-house
Legislature, to win five consecutive statewide elections.
Exon remained a familiar face
on the campaign trail in his later
years, throwing his endorsement
behind his party’s top candidates.
Vasco Goncalves
LISBON, Portugal— Vasco
Goncalves, a former prime minister who played a key part in the
1974 April revolution that toppled
30 years of right-wing dictatorship in Portugal, died Saturday,
the Portuguese government said.
He was 83.
Gen. Goncalves was prime
minister of four socialist provisional governments between
1974 and 1975 before being ousted by a more moderate wing in
late 1975.
A controversial politician, he
was responsible for nationalizing
banks and insurance companies
following the April revolution.
SOFIA, Bulgaria — Bulgarian
opera singer Ghena Dimitrova, a
soprano who sang on the world’s
foremost stages, died Saturday.
She was 64.
Dimitrova died in a hospital
in Milan, Italy, according to the
Bulgarian National Opera. The
cause of death was not disclosed.
Dimitrova, who was born May
6, 1941, in the Bulgarian village of
Beglezh, studied voice at the Sofia
Music Academy and made her
professional debut in 1965 as a
soprano at Sofia’s National Opera.
In subsequent years she performed at Milan’s La Scala, the
Vienna State Opera, the Paris
Opera, Berlin’s State Opera, London’s Covent Garden and New
York’s Metropolitan Opera.
Elvio Giudici, one of Italy’s leading opera critics, said that what was
remarkable about Dimitrova’s
voice was its power and extension.
“She was capable of great extension, great energy,” Giudici
told The Associated Press in Italy.
Giudici said Dimitrova’s style
was particularly suited for dramatic performances, but added
she was “very versatile.”
“She was a very generous
singer,” Giudici added in a telephone interview. “She did not propose original interpretations, she
did not open new horizons, but
rather walked on the path of consolidated tradition.”
When Dimitrova first appeared at the Metropolitan Opera
in 1987, it was in the title role of
Puccini’s “Turandot,” a part that
requires tremendous vocal power
and high notes that can cut
GHENA DIMITROVA
through the heavy orchestration.
“She is a wonder,” wrote
Manuela Hoelterhoff, the Pulitzer
Prize-winning music critic of the
Wall Street Journal, in her review.
“Years of singing the ice
princess in Vienna, Verona and
Milan have hardly blunted her
penetrating soprano or diminished her range.”
Dimitrova also will be remembered for her performances in
“Aida,” “Il Trovatore,” “Tosca,” “Cavalleria Rusticana,” “Manon
Lescaut,” “Macbeth” and “Othello.”
One of the highlights of her
career was her appearance as Abigaille in Giuseppe Verdi’s “Nabucco.”
Dimitrova was considered a
national hero in Bulgaria, and the
state news agency BTA reported
that a fund will be established in
Dimitrova’s name to support
young opera talents.