by Taline Perez
Thank you to all of you attended Sergio's memorial and to those of you who weren't able to come but called to give your condolences or told us in person how much you love us. Here is what I read about his life. You can also see a video that was shown at the link at the end.
Sergio’s Life Story
On September 23, 1966, in a small town in Villa Guerero, Mexico, Sergio was born at home to Jose and Victorina Perez . In 1966 the Acadmy Award winner was “The sound of Music.” Why do I say that? Sergio loved trivial information and he would have told you that, and some how could memorize all the Academy Award winners but not remember where he put his keys. His two brothers, Mike and Carlos, welcomed him. What a great day! His parents, Jose and Victorina, continued to fill their home with yet another baby boy soon after, Mario. Three years later the family decided to leave their home and come to the United States in 1970 for the betterment of their family and children’s future after Jose spent a few years working in the United States and going back and forth. Along came two more siblings, Christina and Leticia. While Sergio’s father worked hard with his hands to build the home he and his wife still live in today in Rosemead, Sergio spent a lot of his time with his sister, Christina, allowing their imaginations run wild playing with their invisible friends like Witchy Poo and Frankie and putting on shows. He was often left to supervise his sister because he was the compliant kid and got along well with everyone, some times being left out of the fun stuff. By the time he was in middle school, Sergio discovered he would rather sing and dance than play sports. No surprise when he and Christina performed a dance number in the school Talent Show and he joined choir. He was quite a good dancer actually. So much so, he later taught our friend Victor how to dance Armenian for his wedding when he married his Armenian wife. Then, for our 10 year anniversary we went to Laguna and came across a Caribbean band playing music outside, and guess who knew how to dance Caribbean? Sergio. The only Mexican guy on the dance floor, because he had befriended a group of Jamaicans on a boat once who invited him to their party. At the end of middle school, his sister Christina was diagnosed with Leukemia and Sergio’s attachment to his sister grew and his search for God was awakened as his parents began to know and trust Christ like never before, through the people who surrounded them through this hard time. He made a vow to Jesus at this time that transformed the way he lived out his life. In ninth grade he was approached by a college recruiter at a college fair on a field trip. She asked him where he was going to college. “I’m not.” he responded. “Why not?” “I can’t. My grades aren’t good enough.” What are they? “ “B’s and C’s” “You can go to college.” “Oh ya? okay.” Well, that’s pretty much all it took to convince him. He went right to work to get into college and had straight A’s by his senior year. He became the first in his family to be a college graduate from Biola in 1990. He loved the dorm life! What a struggle that was. Study or be with friends....hmmm,? What could be better than living with friends all the time? Socialization built in. But just like that 5 minute conversation with a stranger who encouraged him, he realized how much of an influence he could have on people. During college he got word of a camp in Santa Cruz, Camp Hammer, and began to work there during his summers. He fit right in after having been an Awana leader and volunteering in church to work with youth for years. He became a legend up there. His camp name was Hula and it stuck to him for life like the many life long friendships he built. I didn’t realize the impact he had had on people and they had had on him until he was invited to speak there after we were married. Three campers had asked him that week if he was interested in adopting them. It was heart wrenching for Sergio. He would’ve adopted hundreds of kids if he could have. Greg, a camper at the time, who became one of his good friends recently gave me a treasure pile of letters from Sergio to him during these years. Long letters (because Sergio was a talker) filled with the many stories the girls and I have been hearing about his caring encouraging personality and availability and love for others. Sergio’s motto for the way he lived life was setting its coarse, “People First.” He truly was not connected to or got any sense of security from anything in life except people, which is not so hard to do for such an extrovert, but it went beyond that. People first with purposeful intention. He loved people! He could be friends with just about anyone, any age, any back ground, and any culture and easily struck up conversations. And soon enough he had won him over. He could look beyond petty obstacles which for some us would be the end . He was planning to move to Santa Cruz, but God had other plans. His love of travel also began during this time, being invited to friend’s homes and happily and comfortably blending in. After college he started his new job at Laurel Elementary in 1990. The perfect fit for someone who loved kids, was fun, and who’s goal in life was to do something that mattered and made a difference. Sergio didn’t know at the time that his first job out of college would turn into 27 years of teaching elementary students at the same school except for two years in Africa and one year at Ceres after he returned back to the U.S. Pretty stable guy huh? He’d tried school council and grade level representative and got the PTA Service Award in 1992 but his favorite was the end of the year Filed Day for the entire school. He loved the Olympics and that so many students could be recognized. In fact he wasn’t a big believer in awards because it’s so limiting in what people choose to recognize. He believed being awarded for your God given gifts wasn’t anything you had done. Now working hard, developing your character, making sacrifices, good decisions...those things maybe. In fact he made the girls repeatedly enter contests to learn how to loose well. I have to say, that we had different teaching styles. My goal as an English teacher was primarily to teach English to high school students and fight for the underdog. His goal, was to get to know you and make sure you knew you were known and were important so you were able to learn and do your best. He’d often comment, “If a kid knows you love them, it’s pretty easy to do well and behave.“ He knew how to nurture. Sergio continued teaching while working on his degree, getting his Masters degree in Educational Administration in 1996, but struggled with using it up until two years ago. Why? Because that would mean more paperwork and less relationships with students. He just couldn’t do it. Thank goodness! I don’t think he would have been happy. He lived in The Ivory Coast for two years teaching middle school at The International Christian Academy, a boarding school from 1997-2000 and he absolutely loved it. His second year evaluation read, “Sergio is an excellent teacher. He is enthusiastic and creative. What stood out most to me however, was his love for the students and their love and respect for him. He would invariably be found with a crowd of students around him. He also had the same rapport with his colleagues and with the parents of the students in his classes.” He was the dorm parent of course and taught social studies and bible. He was known for being the only one who left campus to roam around town and get to know the people and try new foods! Insects, shawarma, African food, Lebanese food, anything really. He would try anything to eat. Like so many of you who have swooped us up into your arms, he did the same for those students who turned into extended family and friends for him. He developed such good friends in Africa. So much so, that he refinanced his house to add a room once but ended up going to Holland to see the Goldbergs instead. Then invited Yohan to come here from Korea and back and forth. He was afraid to tell me this when we met because he was still paying off his loan. But lucky for him, I had spent a small fortune myself on travel so I understood exactly what he was talking about. His generosity and hospitality never ceased. He would share anything, his money, his time, his talents, his food, and his heart. When we first moved to Whittier it seemed like he knew everyone! Adriné would tell him, “You’re like a movie star Baba.” Everyone knows you. He knew your name, siblings’ names and things he had talked to you about. Everyone knew where he lived and we had no privacy. This is why we moved. Just kidding. He got to know his students and their families, and several of you like Ivan became his good friends. He was more than happy to go to birthdays, graduations, sports games, communions and weddings. We had to create a separate budget fund for this. There was always room for one more chair at the table for Sergio. Any road trip we took included multiple stops at friends’ homes he knew in a variety of cities. He had a great ability to accept people as they are, where they are, and not hold anything against anyone. He forgave easily, but also read people very accurately. When we were getting married, we took a test to see how well we knew each other by answering questions about the other person and also answered questions as the other person would, and what do you think Sergio scored for me? 100% accuracy. He had only known me for for a few months, maybe 10-14 dates. Love is not blind. It loves regardless. In August of 2004, Sergio signed up on E-Harmony because his brother, had told him he was hearing good things about it. Well, in August my friend, Annie gave me a birthday gift, a year of high speed internet if I would sign up on E-Harmony for three months. Hard to pass up. But I got much more than high speed internet. Sergio went fast. But he said he had been single a long time and knew exactly what he wanted. He told his mother and brother he had met his wife after our first date. He repeatedly told me he had no time to waste and even asked me if Armenians marry Mexicans on our first date. What a guy? Straight to the point. He paid for pre-engagement counseling, hoping that might speed things up for me. This is what I had been waiting for. An honest, God fearing man, who respected me, and all women for that matter, and worked hard. Plus, the added bonus of being a happy, uncomplicated man, a teacher, traveler, and so much fun, not to mention good looking. One of his first emails to me said, “I look athletic, but I’m not.’ Yeah! An athletic looking guy who didn’t spend hours in the gym away from his family. We got married within a year, on August 14, 2005 and celebrated our one year anniversary of knowing each other while on our honeymoon in Spain. Sergio’s first list had 500 people on it just for his side for the wedding, and he was feeling bad about leaving some people out. I wanted to save money for the future in order to stay home, but he said, “The kids are going to come. We’re not going anywhere for a while. We better go now.” He was right. Our adorable Adriné was born in 2006 (and again Sergio was the only man in the NICU holding his baby for up to eight hours a day), and long awaited for Nairi came September 20, 2010 three days before Sergio’s birthday. He always told her she was the best birthday gift he’d ever received. Sergio was a faithful man, loving father and husband, who played with his kids first and then looked up the scores for sports games he missed so he could still have conversations about it with the guys. He was in constant dialogue with us daily, lead our family with love, grace, encouragement and patience based on the strengths we each had. He believed in prayer. He prayed on January 6, 2017 and I wrote about it the next day. “... last night, before dinner, Sergio was praying as he often does. We can't understand him, but in the middle of it, he paused, took a deep breath, and slowly said, "Put .......your.....helpin ..........hand......on........us." The girls started giggling out of joy and my eyes filled up with tears. “ Since then, hundreds and hundreds of cards, help and donations from people, I don’t even understand. Complete strangers, to people who knew him 20 years ago, to our friends, neighbors, our church here at Granada (where he volunteered during college actually), other churches, schools, our community in Whittier, and family. How did we get in the Whittier Paper and channel 7 news? I can’t comprehend it. But God has provided for everything, even though he allowed Sergio to be taken. But as he’d always say to us, don’t worry about money, it will all work out. And many of you have told us, “He did the same for me.” or “He would’ve done the same for me.” He was one of those dad’s that read every night, sang a song and had an endless supply of hugs and kisses and the best ideas for birthday parties. He was a great story teller too. He is the most influential man the girls will ever know and I am grateful for that. They have a great foundation and he has set the bar high. He was the biggest blessing ever in my life and the most healing relationship I’ve experienced, beyond what I could have imagined, and so our loss is great, and it feels that way. I can truly say I am grateful I was given the opportunity to love and be loved like that, not perfectly, but sweet and good. His commitment to us gave me the greatest freedom because I felt safe and secure, even if for a short time. He accomplished more, influenced us more, and loved us more in the last 11 1/2 years than some people do in a life time. His legacy for us has become his abounding love for us and others and his faithfulness to God. He told me once that some people love God and so they minister to others. He said he loved people because God loved Him and so he ministered to others. One of the reasons the girls know God well is because of their relationship with Sergio. Regardless of how many times Adriné asked him, “Do you still love God, Baba?” “Are you still a Christian Baba?” after he was diagnosed with brain cancer, after he had two brain surgeries, after his strokes, when he could and couldn’t speak and even when he was dying at the end of his life, his answer was always “Yes.”
You can see the video at the link below. It requires you type in the password which is: Sergio
https://vimeo.com/213943358
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