This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: De Armas in Havana, Miami, Newark Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/kRC.2ACE/4635.1 Message Board Post: Dear Ms. De Armas, I knew a Roberto De Armas. He was like an uncle to me. He and my uncle, Jose ("Pepin") Owen e Hierrezuelo, had a business in Havana, in which they rebuild furniture, decorated people's homes, etc. Mr. De Armas has considerable artistic talent. He is red-haired. He was about 32 when I was a child, in the mid-sixties, so he would be about 67 years old today. He and a few bachelor friends of my father and mother would frequent our home (well, OK, they were like my parent's adopted over-age children and we were hoping to marry them off). The latest (I hope it was not the last) time I saw him he was married to a raven-haired, green-eyed Cuban beauty. He lived in Newark, New Jersey. If you find him, please say hello to him for me. Please let him know that my mom, OFELIA OWEN e HIERREZUELO, has gone on to a better life at a young age several years ago. I am still in touch with the Hierrezuelo family, though. Tell him that I remember taping his beautiful voice singing with my mother and also listening to him with my auntie, ROSA DELIA OWEN e HIERREZUELO, singing boleros and tangos and attracting the whole neighborhood to our block. If you know about tango and singing, this is not an mundane talent! Legend had it that his voice held the hurt of a broken heart, from his youth. He did not deny it. I did meet a De Armas, an attorney, and asked him whether or not he was related to Roberto De Armas, but he did not seem to remember him. I told him about how we called him "Colorin" for his red hair, how his mom lived in Miami and he visited her often, how he was quite a Bohemian. He answered: "Bohemian?! Yes, that sounds like a De Armas. We probably are related." Mr. Roberto De Armas is quite outspoken, in fact, he and my mother always wanted to start a movement wherein they could vote AGAINST candidates rather than always FOR candidates. He also got along famously with my mother's brother, his business partner, who could also be rebellious, especially when asked to do guard/security duty on his block in order to maintain his business. He was willing to lose his business rather than walk around snooping on the neighbors, after the Revolution and lived in Cuba as a "freelance interior decorator". "Colorin", (Roberto De Armas), came to the United States and made signs, created graphic decoration, etc. He sure spent enough time with our family to be more than just an honorary member. We also loved his sense of humor and his love of politics, although he never did like any particular candidate for political office. Just a note to let you know that you may be related to a musically talented, artistically talented, very funny at times, very caring man and very loving son. I hope you find him. If you do, give him my e-mail address. My brother, father and I would love to speak with him again. Cordially, Ines Diaz-Owen