Spanish teacher lived an adventure-filled life
Victor Alvarez, who excited two generations of local students
about a world larger than San Benito County, has died. He was
87.
Alvarez died Jan. 19 in Sacramento, where he and his late wife,
Frances Willever Alvarez, moved in 2003 to be closer to their
daughters.
Spanish teacher lived an adventure-filled life
Victor Alvarez, who excited two generations of local students about a world larger than San Benito County, has died. He was 87.
Alvarez died Jan. 19 in Sacramento, where he and his late wife, Frances Willever Alvarez, moved in 2003 to be closer to their daughters.
Alvarez’ life story would not likely belong to a high school teacher living in a quiet town. It reads like the outline to an adventure novel.
Born July 24, 1919, in Guines, Cuba, he was the fifth of eight children born to Joaquin and Ramona Alvarez. He attended primary and middle school at the Kate Plumer Bryan Memorial Presbyterian School in Guines.
He worked in his family’s general store from 10 through high school, and also pitched in at his uncle’s rice mill and bakery. As a youth, he was a competitive long-distance runner and enjoyed movies, dancing, basketball, swimming, and raising birds.
After graduation from high school in 1937, he attended Havana University, where he achieved a doctorate in law, as well as a PhD in philosophy and letters with an emphasis in history.
Upon graduation, Alvarez entered into law practice in Cuba. He immigrated to the United States in 1950 with no grasp of English. While learning his adopted language and working toward a teaching credential, Alvarez worked in a knitting mill and machine factory in Waynesboro, Penn. During his stay in Pennsylvania, he studied Greek, as well as English, and served as an interpreter for his Greek coworkers at the mill.
He began teaching Spanish at Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania, later moving on to teach at Judson School in Scottsdale, Ariz.
He moved to Hollister in 1957 and began teaching at San Benito High, where he remained until retirement in 1981. He and his wife Frances, were married in 1959. He is survived by his daughters, Quina and Victoria Alvarez, son-in-law Rick Reynolds, and grandchildren Leyna and Jared Reynolds.
Prior to his move to Sacramento, Alvarez lived just a few blocks from his classroom at San Benito High School, in a historic home at South and Monterey streets. Among his many interests and pursuits, Alvarez was often seen relaxing as he showered his lawn with a garden hose while nodding or waving at familiar passersby.
Alvarez taught Spanish, using his expressive face to its best advantage, as he mugged for students and told stories of his life and the cultures and languages that he studied. Through him, students learned of his boyhood passion for finches. Of how children in Cuba would “fight” kites, maneuvering them so as to cut away others’ kitestrings.. His family and his boyhood often were woven into his classroom work.
Long before it was common practice, Alvarez taught on the balls of his feet, leaving his desk to pace the classroom, to engage students as a group and as individuals.
In addition to teaching, he enjoyed reading, learning, and the study of geography and world history. Alvarez loved to travel and learn about languages and cultures. In California, he enjoyed movies, gardening, shopping, and his research in healthcare and business.
A memorial service celebrating his life will be held at the East Lawn Memorial Chapel in Sacramento, at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 17. A reception will be held immediately following the service. The East Lawn Memorial Chapel is located at 4300 Folsom Boulevard, Sacramento, 95819.
