Jose Luis “Chelis” Vazquez Rios, the ever-cheerful blind beggar who frequented local marts of trade, died in his sick bed early Monday, October 28, aged 56.
Vazquez had spent several months bound in a body cast and confined to his humble Chapala home to recuperate from a fractured spine caused by a serious fall he took back in June. Under the stress of heavy medication and changes in his dietary and exercise habits, last week his health took a sudden turn for the worse.
A small group of distant relatives, friends and neighborhood children, plus a social worker from DIF Chapala – about 20 in all – accompanied his 94-year-old mother Maria Rios at the simple funeral mass and burial service held on October 29.
Ajijic silver merchants Ileana and Julio Cesar Lopez, retired teacher Pete Molesky and artist Carol Rome spearheaded an informal support group that was helping provide Chelis with medical supplies, meals, bedside care and other means of comfort. Donations that had been collected to buy him a hospital bed were spent instead to cover funeral expenses. Benefactors are now considering ways to assist his aged mother in getting by without the aid of any immediate family.