CHRISTIE-ALLEN-CONTE-BETANCOURT HOMEPAGE

MY UNCLE ROBERT

Robert Betancourt

Submitted by Rosalie Conte Christie

My Uncle Robert was the handsomest man. He was tall with jet black hair and brown eyes. He use to love me to run a comb through his hair until I thought my hand would fall off. He worked in a bar at night, and would sleep late in the mornings. He knew I loved to sweep grandma’s house and he would look at me and say “don’t sweep until I go to work, baby”. He suffered with hay fever so bad and he could not tolerate the dust. So I made sure I never dusted or swept around his room after that, until he was gone. Uncle Robert after he came home from the war (ww11) built a large house at 3020 Abdella St. in Tampa. Grandpa Betancourt and Aunt Dolly had moved in with my parents. She was so young to lose her mother and we loved having her and Grandpa Betancourt. Then my parents divorced and Uncle Robert let us all live in the big house, all seven of us. Bless his heart; he stayed in Ybor City in a rented room, as his job at a bar was near. Once a month, he would come over, and get the water, and light bill, and pay them for us. Aunt Dolly and I shared a room and we were like sisters. Aunt Dolly’s job was at the box factory and mama made cigars. The children, my sisters and brother went to school and grandpa stayed home. Grandpa Betancourt was a wonderful cook, but he used every pot, pan, and spoon, and the kitchen was a disaster. Needless to say, we didn’t let him cook too often. We were seven people in that house and we had our ups and downs. We like popular music and every time Grandpa Mateo walked by the radio, he would switch to Spanish music, then we would go by and switch it back to popular. This went on constantly. There was a time when Grandpa developed an itch all over his body and it drove him crazy. The Doctor gave him a medicine to put in the tub and he had to soak in it. Oh, my, that was the most horrible smelling bathroom in the world. Come to find out, it was sulfur. I remember Aunt Dolly use to say, “Let’s go out somewhere, grandpa’s going to take his bath!” We were real happy in that house. On Saturday’s we cleaned the whole house and washed clothes. We tried to get Uncle Robert to move in but he said he like living in Ybor City. We were out in the country; he said that the quiet would drive him crazy. But as I grew older I understood why, after all he was a bachelor and wanted his privacy. At night we would sit and tell joked and stories (this was before television). Grandpa knew so much of the world and his stories were always fun. He told us he won a contest one time on a ship. He ate a dozen fried eggs more than anyone else, but he could never look at a fried egg after that. That made everyone start laughing. It was fun living close to my three uncles. We went from one house to the other and always had somewhere to visit. My cousin Sylvia and Al Jr., who we called Tato, lived next door and I loved my Uncle Al’s wife Rose, she was a happy and jolly person. My cousins and I were very close at that time. I used to wonder about “Tato” he used to eat dog biscuits and if anyone said something, his answer was “If it’s good enough for my dog, its good enough for me”. I use to tell him if he started itching or barking, he had a problem. We romped all over the woods and knew every inch of the area. We use to play at Colon Cemetery on Columbus Drive. The only time my mama ever got mad at me was the day that I came home from playing and I had a pink ribbon in my hair. It said “Rest in Peace”! Anyway, we had so much in that house. I always had a special place in my heart for my Uncle Robert for giving us a home when we needed it. Later on he married Aunt Viola and Grandpa stayed with them and Aunt Dolly and Uncle Jerry Aguiar were married in that very same house, as did Uncle Robert and Aunt Viola. Uncle Robert got cancer before he retired from the rubber factory. He suffered a lot and we all took his death very hard. When I think of him, I remember his singing to me as a child the song “Mexicali Rose”, he knew it was my favorite song. I loved him very much.

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