Today, one day after Father's Day, I wanted to pay tribute to my Godfather, who never had the chance to be a father but whom I considered as my second father. On June 19th, 1937, Bilbao fell to the troops of General Mola and, like many other properties, my godfather's family, the Sota and Urresti were subjected to acts of theft and looting.
My godfather, José María Miguel Ramón Juan Bautista Valentín Máximo de Urresti Sota, was the son of José Agustín María de Urresti Campuzano, husband of María de los Ángeles de Sota Aburto, born in Bilbao in 1920.
His father, José Agustín de Urresti had is part, alongside Antón de Irala e Irala, Manuel de la Sota y Aburto, Ramón de la Sota Mac Mahon, José Urresti, Juan Aramburu and Eustacio Arrítola, then Jesús de Galíndez, Jon Bilbao, Jon Oñatibia and Cipriano Larrañaga, of the Basque Government in exile whose offices were established at the New Weston Hotel and later at the Élysée Hotel, both in Manhattan.
My father and my godfather met in Biarritz in the 1950s and very quickly became inseparable. José-Maria becoming my father's witness and a few years later my godfather and much more than that, having always considered him my second father. Apart from being friends, they have worked together all their lives and I also had the chance to work with them for a few years. When I think of them, two memories immediately come to mind. The first, the ferocious rounds of golf at the Biarritz le Phare golf course and the annoyance of my father who remained several meters short at all the drives next to José. And the second, when we were boating together and these two were called the Captain (my father) and the Admiral (my godfather).
In September 1990 when I went to visit my Godfather to tell him that my father, his friend, had passed away, I knew it was going to be more than difficult. Indeed it was, I lost him 1 month after my Dad in October 1990.
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