Antonio Ribeiro, what a man. He dedicated his life to his family, friends and work, but you might rightly ask, what else is there? Well, it can be found in his resourcefulness, intelligence and dedication to the best for Antonio’s family, friends and work.
Outside school and the family business, Antonio spent much of his young life enabling his polio-stricken brother who was unable to move around easily. But seated, he played several musical instruments, wrote much of the music for his band and won the checkers championship of Portugal. After his brother was getting to his many gigs independently, Antonio began a long courtship of Adriana. She is the only daughter of political parents, then living at the top of an Amadora hill in Estado Novo. This long courtship up the hill and through the politics of the day continued through his military service. In the military, his work in electronics and its applications focused on communications, in particular, antennae design. His intelligence and resourcefulness led to work for International Telephone and Telegraph and other well known private sector companies having contracts to design, build and troubleshoot communication networks in Portugal, Africa, North and South America.
Antonio and Adriana were blessed with their daughter Paula during the first year of his private company work, troubleshooting a Portugal-wide communication network. His success at solving problems with this and other electronic systems, eventually took this young family to Mozambique and Angola during the final years of colonialism. There they saw it all through blistering heat in Guinea-Bissau, driving past wildlife in Okavango and Namibia and getting the last ship out of Angola as the MPLA and UNITA fought for control of Luanda in late 1975. Along with the wild and unfamiliar beauty of West Africa, new friendships, daily challenges and nearby combat, Antonio saved enough money to build their dream house in Amadora.
Unfortunately, the April 1974 Carnation revolution’s destabilization of Portuguese society and economy meant that Paula could not easily continue her university studies. So Antonio decided to drop everything - a steady job, a new house, family and friends- to move to Canada where he started completely anew at Rockwell Industries. There he quickly graduated from working on the assembly line to management, where his experience and resourcefulness saw him temporarily moved to Brazil and Argentina. The advent of the first free trade agreement in1989 saw many United States affiliates leave Canada. Antonio managed the last project for Rockwell Canada, which was a set of communication hubs for the American military. Finishing this on-time with a dispirited and disappearing workforce took a major toll on his health. The company’s appreciation for this extraordinary effort and past service came in the form of a generous pension, allowed him to retire early. Forthwith, he expanded his work for the Portuguese Congress and began teaching Portuguese language and culture to young, first generation Portuguese Canadians. Antonio and Adriana continued to make friends at their Latin partner dances, and meet almost daily with their long-term Portuguese friends at Nova Era bakery. However in 2017, Paula who was by then a highly successful McGill university professor, died prematurely.
These are the facts of his life. Many who read this may be familiar with much or all of this. Although it speaks to his dedication to family and work, it says little about how he was with other people. He was my father in law and he became a friend. Paula first introduced me to her parents outside a hairdresser’s shop in Yorkville. Initially, Antonio seemed a bit stern. Perhaps this was because his old world formality was new to me and certainly because Paula was his only daughter. However, once invited into his and Adriana’s house, I was gracefully, lovingly and sometimes hilariously folded into their family. We met their friends and I enjoyed an entirely new culture, cuisine, an unfamiliar warmth and a forever promise of help when we needed it. I heard many of his stories, some about accomplishments, sometimes funny stories about his relatives, and often really personal stories that endear me to him forever. I saw and felt the love he had for Adriana and Paula. When Paula died, part of him did as well. But after her funeral, he invited me to be with them always, regardless of how and with whom my life developed. Along with a few other friends of mine, Antonio and Adriana saved me after that terrible time.
To those of us who knew him as family, as a friend or a colleague, I trust you felt his generosity as I did, his love of family and friends, and his commitment to the best for all of us.
Antonio Ribeiro is greatly missed.