Jun 11

Jun 11 A Birthday Tribute

On the occasion of my great grandfather’s birthday this month, I reviewed a tribute given in 1920 on the occassion of his 48th birthday by Nemesio García Naranjo, an attorney, esteemed writer, and friend of Urrutia’s both in México and in exile here in San Antonio. García Naranjo was dedicated to writing about México, and arduously represented its counterrevolutionary voices both in his own publication, Revista Mexicana, and in Ignacio E. Lozano Sr.’s La Prensa (published from 1913-1959).

Here is an extended excerpt from that tribute, in translation:

“Dr. Aureliano Urrutia, born today, 48 years of age, celebrating a quarter century of professional life. On June 16, 1895 in México, he obtained his title of physician, and from then to now, his sprit has walked in perpetual ascension….

“Well trained for tireless study and for the challenging practice of the Military Hospital, Urrutia received his doctorate at barely 23 years of age. He served as an army doctor of regiments for five-plus years in the province, as do most professionals, but returned to the metropolis with a hundredfold energy.

…a man of great boldness. He has the courage to have his own ideas.
—Nemesio García Naranjo

“...With this he participated in the first contest known in his school (in the Faculty of Medicine) and won a distinguished place in the Mexican medical institution....Ten years he dedicated to the profession and educated a brilliant generation. He knew how to make himself loved by his disciples and he infused his soul into the hearts of the youth. In the School of Medicine there surely were other inspiring teachers, but none of them had his gift of connecting with a golden lasso that goes from the teacher’s desk to the student’s benches and with such a directness. The science may be dry and encased like a seed, but you must drop it into the row with a loving hand. This is the secret of the sower.

“As Urrutia’s step into the classrooms left profound footprints, his professional life has also left an exemplary mark on the school of medicine. Twenty-five years of continuous refinement, of constant perfectionism, until reaching the absolute height of his profession;...his arrival at the summit is his triumph over those who cast doubt over the resolve of the national character.

“Even more, Urrutia is a man of great boldness. He has the courage to have his own ideas. He is not a slave of unreasonable authority, and to all the easy successes he prefers the glory of having an original soul.

“In this foreign land, Urrutia has exercised his profession for five years, his life’s profession, surgery. Each of his successes in the United States has been in the name of México. He enjoys the greatest considerations outside our homeland and his wisdom attests, in opposition to the slanderers of our race, that Mexicans are good for something more than killing each other. Urrutia is seen by foreigners with respect, while his compatriots see him proudly as an ambassador of our national thought who holds high the flag of our homeland.

***

“But Urrutia’s greater merit is that he has not confined the cultivation of his spirit to the specialty of surgery, which has so raised his name: his is a multifaceted spirit that has totally engaged the many sides of his intelligence. He has profound knowledge in the natural sciences and is passionate about the fine arts. A painting of bright colors moves him as does a delicate melody. Because of this in México he fraternized with artists and in exile pursues the friendship of poets.

“...In Coyoacán he constructed a hospital that in addition to addressing contemporary science’s demands, was also a work of art, and here in San Antonio, on the most elegant road, he has built a regal mansion, one of those stately houses made to perpetuate the glories of a lineage.

“Urrutia could well have bought with less money a grand house to live in but....He is a man who always prefers to make his own things….he constructed his house and infused it with his spirit, a representation of México in the granite. And as if it was not enough to decorate it with ancient and colonial themes, he surrounded it with enchanting gardens of poppies to evoke the memory of the absent fatherland.

“In the front of the house, Dr. Urrutia placed the Victory of Samothrace...dressed in air, advancing the ship to which it is attached only by moving its luminous wings. A beautiful symbol selected by Urrutia to protect his domain and to preside over all his existence; his soul, always tied to the mast of duty and work, carrying forward his ship with its intent motion…..

“When a life has been fruitful like that of Urrutia, it deserves to be celebrated as a inspiration for character and virtue.”

Feliz cumpleaños y descanse en paz, Sr. Don Dr. Aureliano Urrutia (1872-1975).

Posted June 11, 2023.