Emilio M Zundt

Emilio M. Zundt age 86 passed away on Wednesday, April 12, 2012. He told us when she died that his happiness was buried with her in a small plot outside the family church in Asherton. He would not be happy again, he said, until they were together. On April 12, just a few days after his 86th birthday, the man known as Emilio "EZ" Zundt, daddy and grandpa got his final wish. Emilio was born in April 7, 1926 in the small Texas town of Asherton not far from where he met the love of his life Esperanza. The son of a German immigrant and a Mexican beauty, Emilio grew up working the fields and breaking his back on a hot summer roof. He didn't attend much school but there was nothing he couldn't figure out or build with his own two hands. In 1950 Emilio settled down with a ‘good woman' who loved him, he said even through the young, crazy party days that were Leopard Street. Together they had eight children: Emilio JR. (Elizabeth), Immelda (Ernest J Reyes), Angela, Teresa (Paul Valerio), Elizabeth (Robert Palomo), Estella, Gracie and Joseph (Annette). He was grandfather to 23 grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his wife Esperanza Zundt. Emilio worked for more than 30 years at the Sears Warehouse on Agnes. Every morning he would sit to read the newspaper and share a cup of coffee with his wife before walking the 3 miles to work. On his trek home he would often stop in to visit his friends where he would share a laugh before heading home for a dinner that would include the tortillas that made him fall in love in the first place. He was a good sport and always up for a good laugh. He wouldn't even complain when granddaughters who loved the smell of his sawdust skin and Swisher Sweets would climb all over him like a jungle gym and put ponytails in his white hair. Esperanza's passing was hard on everyone who craved her cooking and her hugs but no one more than Emilio. He rarely laughed; he sometimes cried and refused to dance even with girls who had once stood on his feet to Nat King Cole as babies. We his family struggle now not to be selfish or sad. We imagine him happy on this-his holiday- when he is once again with her. And somewhere above, looking down on all the love they have created, they are dancing again. The family will be receiving friends at Trevino Funeral Home 3006 Niagara at Port on Sunday, April 15, 2012 from 3:00 pm to 9:00 pm with a Holy Rosary to be recited at 6 p.m. Rites of Christian burial will be celebrated at 2 p.m. Monday at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Asherton, TX.; burial to follow at Asherton Cemetery.