By JUAN ESPINOSA
Family and friends of retired lawyer Guillermo Garibay, 75, were shocked Jan. 10 to learn of his sudden death in a traffic accident in Colorado Springs. His wife, Christina, survived the crash, and was hospitalized with unknown injuries.
Little is known about the fatal accident, but the word about Garibay’s death spread on social media like a wildfire.
“Woke up to the heartbreaking news of the loss of a great man and friend — Guillermo Garibay,” posted Denise Torrez, former president of El Movimiento Sigue. “He was an advocate for all his clients, especially his immigrant clients. He was a legal observer for many of our protests and fought alongside us countless times to try to make this world a better place.”
A tragic aspect of Garibay’s unexpected death is that he and Christina had only been married two years. Symbolically, their marriage bridged North and South America. She is Brazilian and he is a homegrown Chicano raised in Kansas. Judging from his FaceBook page, the couple racked up a few thousand frequent flier miles traveling between Colorado and Brazil.
As an attorney, Garibay was a respected public defender for 25 years and retired into private practice. One of his specialties was immigration. Out of the courtroom and out of the office, he enjoyed an exuberant lifestyle that included dancing, cycling, hiking, gardening, cooking and world travel.
He was a graduate of Kansas State University and the University of Colorado Law School. At CU, he was a member of the Chicano Law Students and the United Mexican American Students (UMAS).
His law school years in Boulder were defined by UMAS and the Chicano Movement. Mixed in with the Anti-War, Women’s Liberation, and Gay Rights movements, the 70s were pivotal years. Major events of the era include the Denver Police attack on the Crusade for Justice, and the deaths of six activists known as Los Seis de Boulder in two car bombings.
During his time in Boulder, Garibay met Ramona Becerra. They were married in 1984 and moved to Durango in 1993. They helped form the Durango Latino Education Coalition, a nonprofit group that offered tutoring and scholarships to students. They shared a passion for dancing and formed the Colores Latinos of Durango dance group. They had three sons.
Garibay was widowed in November 1998 when Ramona and two of her students died in a rollover accident near Walsenburg. They were returning to Durango from a dance recital in Manhattan, Kan.
The artful dancer dodged his own death in 2007 when he flew over the handlebars of his bicycle and broke his neck. The crash happened while Garibay was training near Lake Pueblo for a cross-country endurance race scheduled for November in Costa Rica.
Fortunately, he was wearing a helmet, but the impact took its toll on his neck and back. He found out later that he had fractured the second vertebra in his neck and crushed another in his upper back and had suffered a concussion.
In the ensuing years, Garibay earned a reputation as the dancing lawyer. He sponsored Salsa Nights at different Pueblo venues and gave lessons.
In a FB post Yolanda Jade remembered the Salsa Nights. “…My dances with Guillermo were always my favorite! He made dancing look so flawless without any effort. The love and compassion he showed everyone is something I have always admired! He is loved greatly and will be missed so much!”
In his own FB post about his wedding day with Christina, Garibay reminisced about meeting her in Columbia. “My sister Rachel reminded me that I had shared with her my dream of having a loving relationship with a Brazilian woman. I realize when I asked Cristina to dance in Cartagena two years ago that this was the Brazilian woman I had dreamed of loving.”
In addition to Christina, Gadibay is survived by two sons, Marcos and Amando Garibay and stepsons Arturo Jiminez, Nicholas Bangan, George Romic and step daughter Renata Romic.
Guillermo was a well-liked and respected member of our small high school class at Monsignor Luckey High School in Manhattan, Kansas. Everyone at school liked him and I know he will greatly missed by family and friends. His was a life well-lived. May God bless him and may he rest in peace and happiness.