Man Injured by Saragosa Twister Dies 13 Years Later
October 13, 2000by Jeanna Cuny, Odessa American
SARAGOSA - It's been more than 13 years since a tornado ripped through Saragosa, claiming 29 lives and injuring 121
people, but for one family, the wound is still fresh.
Ramon "Kiki" Meneses, 35, of Saragosa, died Monday in Houston as a result of injuries suffered in the Saragosa tornado 13 years ago.
A funeral Mass was celebrated Thursday at our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church with the Rev. Mike Alculino officiating.
Meneses was in Saragosa when the twister hit the night of May 22, 1987.
"Today at Mass, the priest was saying that it would bring a lot of the memories of the tornado back to a lot of the people here," Reeves County Constable Tomas Martinez said.
"He had come to save his sister-in-law and get her out of the house," Meneses' sister, Rita Valdez, said of his actions the night of the killer storm.
Martinez recalled the events of that night
"He was going to warn her and tell her about the tornado," Martinez said. "She was in a trailer home and he was in his car. The wind was so high, he grabbed the fin on the back of his car to stay on the ground and it broke loose."
When Meneses fell, his head struck the ground, causing severe injury to his brain, she said.
For two months afterward, Meneses was comatose in an Odessa hospital. His family then moved him to a rehabilitation hospital in Houston. Six months later, doctors told his family that Meneses was in a partially unconscious state and his brain damage would affected his ability to control his movements.
After they received the diagnosis, Meneses was transferred to an El Paso nursing home, so he could be closer to his parents.
One day, staff members were bathing Meneses and accidentally dropped him. The fall restored his conscious, although he still had no control over his movements, Valdez said.
"He remembered everything," she said.
After her mother passed away, Valdez's father told her that she would be in charge of caring for her brother. She took Meneses to a care facility near her home in Houston.
"We communicated by his eyes," she said, adding that speaking was difficult. "He was always alert. It was only the muscles in his body that didn't work
"He had kind of a voice he tried to get out," Valdez said. But after two years of struggling, he no longer had the strength to speak, she said.
Through it all, his sister said, he never gave up.
"He always fought for his life," she said.
The Odessa American
Ramon "Kiki" Meneses, 35, of Saragosa, died Monday in Houston as a result of injuries suffered in the Saragosa tornado 13 years ago.
A funeral Mass was celebrated Thursday at our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church with the Rev. Mike Alculino officiating.
Meneses was in Saragosa when the twister hit the night of May 22, 1987.
"Today at Mass, the priest was saying that it would bring a lot of the memories of the tornado back to a lot of the people here," Reeves County Constable Tomas Martinez said.
"He had come to save his sister-in-law and get her out of the house," Meneses' sister, Rita Valdez, said of his actions the night of the killer storm.
Martinez recalled the events of that night
"He was going to warn her and tell her about the tornado," Martinez said. "She was in a trailer home and he was in his car. The wind was so high, he grabbed the fin on the back of his car to stay on the ground and it broke loose."
When Meneses fell, his head struck the ground, causing severe injury to his brain, she said.
For two months afterward, Meneses was comatose in an Odessa hospital. His family then moved him to a rehabilitation hospital in Houston. Six months later, doctors told his family that Meneses was in a partially unconscious state and his brain damage would affected his ability to control his movements.
After they received the diagnosis, Meneses was transferred to an El Paso nursing home, so he could be closer to his parents.
One day, staff members were bathing Meneses and accidentally dropped him. The fall restored his conscious, although he still had no control over his movements, Valdez said.
"He remembered everything," she said.
After her mother passed away, Valdez's father told her that she would be in charge of caring for her brother. She took Meneses to a care facility near her home in Houston.
"We communicated by his eyes," she said, adding that speaking was difficult. "He was always alert. It was only the muscles in his body that didn't work
"He had kind of a voice he tried to get out," Valdez said. But after two years of struggling, he no longer had the strength to speak, she said.
Through it all, his sister said, he never gave up.
"He always fought for his life," she said.
The Odessa American