Adalberto A. Aguirre

ADALBERTO A. "BETO" AGUIRRE, SR. SAN JUAN - Adalberto A. "Beto" Aguirre, Sr., 86, of San Juan went to be with the Lord on Saturday, June 8, 2013. He was born in San Juan, Texas on February 6, 1927 and lived there his entire life. He is preceded in death by his parents, Cirilo and Rita Aguirre; two brothers, Cirilo Aguirre, Jr. and Ramon Aguirre. Beto graduated from PSJA High School in 1945 and served in the US Army from 1945 to 1947. He attended Pan American University. He spent nearly 40 years of his professional career in government service, most of which was with the US Treasury Department - Customs Division. After retirement from government service, he was head of security for the PSJA School District until 1999. For anyone who knew Beto, they knew that sports were his passion. While in high school and college, he participated in numerous sporting events, including football, track and field, and boxing. Baseball, however, was his ultimate passion. He played semi-pro baseball here in the Valley and Mexico as a second baseman until the age of 45. He not only played, but managed and coached for several semi-pro teams. In 1978, he organized a Post 101 Pharr American Legion Baseball Team. Beto was later appointed District 15 American Legion Baseball Chairman which covered from Zapata to Brownsville. In addition to American Legion baseball, Beto also spent many years coaching youth baseball and thereby positively impacting the lives of many young people in this area. Beto is survived by his wife of 52 years, Noelia C. Aguirre of San Juan; two sons, Beto (Jennifer) Aguirre, Jr. of Pharr and Jaime Aguirre of McAllen; two grandchildren, Russell and Jami Aguirre; five sisters, Araceli Aguirre of Kansas City, Missouri, Rosario Cortez of Pharr, Angelica Richards of Virginia Beach, Virginia, Lucila (Sam) Lopez of Kingsville and Melva (Ramiro) Pedraza of Chicago Heights, Illinois; numerous nieces and nephews. Visitation will be held from 5 to 9 p.m., with a 7 p.m. rosary today, June 11, 2013, at Memorial Funeral Home in San Juan. Funeral mass will be held at 10 a.m. Wednesday, June 12, 2013, at Memorial Funeral Home Chapel. Interment will follow at San Juan Cemetery. Pallbearers will be Nieves "Queenie" Cortez, Ric Cortez, Cesar Cortez, Robert Navarro, Ted Saenz, and Martin McDonald. Honorary pallbearers will be Fidel Baldazo, III, Jorge Baldazo, Richard Cortez, Xavier Fox, Michael Richards, William "Sonny" Ingram, and Russell Aguirre. Military honors will be conducted by VFW Post 8788 of McAllen. Funeral services are under the direction of Memorial Funeral Home in San Juan.