'We still feel his spirit, his connection with us'
On May 24, a group of eighth-grade students held a memorial tribute for their teacher, who suddenly died of cardiovascular disease March 28 at the age of 45.
According to Pablo Márquez’s wife, Kathy Lingafelter of Joliet, the students landscaped Gompers Junior High School’s courtyard and planted apple trees; they also wrote poems and letters.
Students at Joliet Central, where Pablo used to teach math, built a bench for the garden.
“They wanted to do something big in his honor,” Kathy said. “And they wanted to do something where myself and my family and his family could be invited to. And so they came up with the memorial tribute. ... They loved him that much.”
In addition, Joliet Central High School started the Pablo Márquez Scholarship Fund and honored A.O. Marshall Elementary School with the Pablo Márquez Community Award for hosting a cultural celebration in the neighborhood, said Jeff Grimes, a Joliet Central High School Spanish teacher, moderator of the school’s Club Puentes and former co-worker of Pablo’s.
“We still feel his spirit, his connection with us,” Jeff said. “We just want to honor some of his ideas and his passion for the community and for students.”
Jeff said Pablo also was training for an upcoming 5K. Jeff and some friends ran the 5K in his honor after Pablo’s death.
Jeff said he met Pablo through mutual friends in 2006 and began working with Pablo in 2011 when Jeff began teaching at Joliet Central. Through collaborating with other staff, including Andy Harris, a JCHS ESL teacher, they started Club Puentes for JCHS students “interested in learning about diversity,” according to the club’s Facebook page.
This also led to the annual Kermes celebration to honor the legacy of Cesar Chavez (the third annual event was held April 19) and a peace walk, which was held May 24. When Pablo taught at Central, Jeff said he met with Pablo at least once a day to share ideas on ways to better meet the needs of students.
“His classroom was a think tank to transform the community,” Jeff said. “He was all about transforming the community. ... He taught people how to embrace other cultures and he taught people how to embrace their culture.”
Jeff felt Pablo embraced his own Puerto Rican heritage and studied various aspects of that culture, especially when it came to social justice, politics, economics and philosophy. Pablo was all about community, and that’s why honoring that spirit with Pablo Marquez Community Award is so appropriate, Jeff said.
“It will be given to a new group every year,” Jeff said. “The thing in common is community and through community, empowering people in the community, teaching them how to use their voices in positive ways to effect positive change.”
Ernest Crim, a JCHS U.S. history teacher, revitalized a Brother 2 Brother program at Central with Pablo in 2012, which Ernest now co-leads with Gandhi Schlote, a former history teacher who will teach government and economics in the fall, Ernest said.
The club focuses on life skills and academic skills to help JCHS students succeed, Ernest said. Pablo often shared his childhood struggles with math with the students so they could overcoming challenge was possible, Ernest said.
Ernest said Pablo had genuine passion for his role and often came to school early to help students and always “put people first. In fact, Ernest was surprised Pablo taught math because he knew so much about politics, sociology and astronomy.
“We had a lot of deep conversations,” Ernest said. “I felt like he should have been teaching my content.”
Kathy said that after teaching in the JCHS math department for nine years, Pablo felt ready for a change and wanted to work with middle school students, which was possible once he earned a master’s degree and a bilingual certificate.
Through co-teaching with Richard Kelch at Gompers, Kathy said Pablo helped students with their English skills. These were students who did not qualify for full bilingual services and attended regular language arts with their English skills. She feels his love for bilingual education originated in his childhood, Kathy said.
“He was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and his parents were educators in Puerto Rico,” Kathy said. “In the ’70s, there was a big push for bilingual teachers to come and teach in Chicago public schools. So his parents moved here. ... He was a proud Puerto Rican.”
(Pictured above: Kathy (center) and Pablo's parents: Ruben and Gysela.
Kathy isn’t surprised so many people loved Pablo. He was smart, funny, kind and loving, she said.
“Pablo was a man of love,” she said. “He was easy to be around. He made everyone feel like that person was his best friend. He could talk about music, he could talk about art or philosophy or a book he read or a podcast he listened to. He could talk about math and he was a humanitarian.”
He helped people whose cars stalled and held doors open for disabled people. He was involved with animal rescue and is survived by Lola, a bull dog, and Mona, a cat, Kathy said.
“He had a lot of love,” Kathy said. “He showed unconditional love to everyone he met and accepted people for who they were.”
Send donations for the Pablo Márquez Scholarship fund to Joliet Township High School District 204, 300 Caterpillar Drive, Joliet, IL 60436.
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