TOMBSTONE TUESDAY: Emilio Lamar Vela (1939 – 2011)

There are many wonderful things about living in small town versus a big city. People know one another, they are neighbors, friends, schoolmates, and business acquaintances. Status isn’t measured by wealth but by involvement, trust, loyalty, reliability, and positivity. This is a place that can easily become home, and there are so many families here that prove just that. Families that have invested so much to the small towns across the county. For me it can be hard to pick just one person to write about because their family members are so intertwined. Emilio Lamar Vela is one such person. The Vela family were tightly knit, and they relied on each other and lifted each other up. 

Emilio Lamar Vela was born on July 1, 1939, to Emilio Vela Jr. and Bertha Cantù Vela, and he had one sister Delphine. He was raised in Port Lavaca, and he stayed to raise his family here. Lamar attended Port Lavaca High School through the 10th grade, and at that time he moved to San Antonio and attended Saint Anthony’s Seminary. In 1960 he found out he had sugar diabetes and had to quit his studies to enter the priesthood as he was unable to finish his studies. He then came back to Port Lavaca to live. 

The Vela family first came to Port Lavaca in 1919. His grandfather Emilio Vela Sr. and his grandmother Salome Chapa Vela had 8 children when they moved from their home in Hildago County. Emilio was a merchant there and had a general store. When they got to Port Lavaca, they moved to Six Mile and Emilio Sr. farmed. They also had a baby girl who was born in Port Lavaca. In 1927 his grandfather died of a heart attack. 

Three of his boys, Emilio Vela Jr., Earnest Vela, and Edward Vela, decided that farming was not for them. Edward moved to Cuero and in 1920 Emilio Jr., Lamar’s father, took a job working for Ed Melcher Company on Main Street in Port Lavaca. In 1928 Emilio Jr. went into business with his brother Ernest and they opened a small grocery store on the corner of Main Street and Guadalupe in what is known as the Cruse building. It was successful and they gave their friends credit for the loyalty they showed in doing business with them. It wasn’t long before they opened another store named Red and White Food store and Velas Mercantile. The business grew rapidly, and they added other items like livestock feed, household goods, clothes, and even tires. They also carried merchandise at both stores that Vela’s exclusively sold. Earnest and Emilio soon built a big store on the corner of Main and Virginia streets where the school once sat. 

In 1953 Emilio Jr. died of a heart attack. At that time Bertha sold his share of the business to their other brother Edward. Vela’s grocery had grown into the largest grocery store in Port Lavaca, and they had stores in Placido, Cuero, Yorktown, and Bloomington. Edward died before Earnest, and Earnest kept the store running until his retirement. 

Lamar grew up working in his father’s and uncles' stores and learned the merchant trade. After he returned from San Antonio, he took a job managing the Ben Franklin Store on Main Street. When the Viking Mall opened the Ben Franklin Store closed. 

Lamar decided to put that merchant experience and knowledge to work and follow in the footsteps of his father and uncles and open his own business. In 1968 he opened Comet Fence Company and ran it for almost 20 years. He also opened a pet store and named it Comet Pet Shop on Main Street. At that time aquariums were all the rage. Comet Pet Shop had the best selection of tropical fish in the area. With birds, turtles, puppies, kittens and more, it was a favorite place with all the kids in town. In 1973 he expanded his business by opening a Comet Pet Shop in the Shopping strip mall in Victoria. After a year he closed that store and came back to run the store here. Other businesses he opened and ran were Comet Miniature Golf and Vela’s Trade Store. 

 In 1976 he married Shirleen Wick of Hallettsville. The couple had two sons, Emilio Anthony Vela IV, and Louis Gerard Vela. Even though he had to give up the priesthood he and Shirleen remained continually active in the church. He taught Confraternity Christian Doctrine, was a church lector, and oversaw the music ministry of the church prayer group. He also was the radio commentator for Sunday Mass from Our Lady of the Gulf Catholic Church. 

Shirleen and Lamar attended classes at the Catholic Archdiocesan Seminary in San Antonio. 

Shirleen worked as a nurses aide at Retama Manor Health Care Center. She passed away September 30, 1989. Emilio Lamar Vela went to join her May 14, 2011. They are buried in Port Lavaca Cemetery.

The Vela family has grown deep roots in Port Lavaca and Calhoun County. I imagine that like me, many of you remember shopping at Vela’s, visiting the pet shop, and enjoyed a night out playing miniature golf. They are good memories for me, and they were much more personable than the big chain stores we have today. They have been active in their church, local organizations, and charities. They forged friendships and they gave the community quality and good friendly service in all they did. They are a wonderful example of the strength of family and the continuity that each showed to their customers, neighbors, friends, and citizens of their hometown. It is families like the Vela’s that make small towns a special place to live, and this little county has plenty of them. 

Resources

Shifting Sands of Calhoun County

Port Lavaca 1840-1990

The Place I Live