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May 7, 2017 |
JUAN
- The Greeting: “Rocci Baby, how you doin’,” asked Eduardo Ureta.
- He always seemed like he knew something you didn’t.
- A good sense of humor, a good laugh.
- He always wanted to know the skinny.
- He posted a lot on Facebook, in Spanish.
- Pictures galore. Picturesque places. Been to so many.
- . . .By the pool, towel wrapped around, swimming pool over his shoulder, mountains in the BG.
- . . .On a boat with a life jacket on, waterfalls in the distance.
- . . .Leaning on a fence at Volcan Osorno (volcano) on the shore of Llanquihue Lake.
- . . .Sailing The Aventura in San Francisco Bay in 1973.
- . . .Believe It: With Fidel Castro. The guy got around.
- . . .Relaxing with a good cigar.
- . . .Always wine, the accompaniment.
- . . .Or champagne, sitting in a bucket on the table, him in a chaise lounge in Pebble Beach with Maria Casanueva.
- . . .Always ready to toast.
- Good God! Hippy-looking in Marin Country, Cali back in ’72. Charles Manson?
- The aviator sunglasses and regular glasses too.
- The sun tan. The necklace, the bracelet.
- The hats . . .
- . . .A signature sign. Often duplicated by friends.
- . . .Big on straw, with the band around the base.
- . . .A top hat with Richie and Barbara Adams at a function, all three duded up.
- . . .Ball caps worn frontwards and backwards.
- . . .A bandana scarf.
- . . .A pancho he wore walking the line in a NABET strike.
- . . .The blue jeans, the jacket.
- Proud of his family and his native Chile.
- On the road. On the Harley.
- Many ABC years. Editor in the 1” tape room: two, two and three, the machines. Maybe one quad.
- . . .Crashing and burning but not upset.
- . . .But he could get upset and become a Spanish hot-blood.
- . . .Monday through Friday but sometimes the weekend.
- Then to NBC, an intake operator.
- . . .When he died, Meet the Press gave him an on-air credit: “In Memory of Juan Ureta.” So nice.
- A classic picture of him: with John Williams and Richie out to dinner somewhere.
- Often he and Richie would pop up to the fourth floor and stop by my office, see what was going on.
- . . .We’d talk a bit and then they had to go cuz of World News. I didn’t cuz I was a slave to the weekend.
- . . .On their way out the door they stopped and called to me.
- . . .I looked up and saw them bending over with their bare asses mooning me. Then they were on their way.
- . . .It was pretty funny.
- On Jan. 25, Richie posted on Facebook that his dearest friend Juan had died at hospice in Arlington after a long battle with cancer.
- People couldn’t believe it and many didn’t know he was sick.
- Richie sat with him that morning and held his hand. He was not in pain.
- “Throughout his years of illness he maintained a sense of dignity and calm,” wrote Richie.
- Juan was a unique person. He was the man.
- UH . . . Big Man in Town—The Four Seasons, 1964 on Philips Records.
- . . .That he was.
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