Pharr victim of bus crash remembered for generosity

PHARR — Javier Lindel Garza's friends will always remember him for trying to build a better world.

Garza, 60, of Pharr, was involved in public service most of his life. The Georgetown University graduate joined the Peace Corps in the early ‘70s and traveled to Peru as a volunteer. Years later, he would become a country director for the Peace Corps in the Dominican Republic and Bolivia.

"He was just a really good-hearted person," his best friend Luis Solis said. "He worked hard to help others his whole life."

Garza was among the 11 people killed Monday when the charter bus in which they were traveling to Zacatecas, Zac., was struck by a tractor-trailer near Saltillo, Coah.

Solis, 58, of San Antonio, was in Pharr on Thursday evening comforting Garza's family after finding out about his friend's fatal vacation trip.

He had been friends with Garza, whom he called "Lindy," for 40 years after they met in Edinburg while they both worked for the Model Cities Program, an element of President Lyndon Baines Johnson's Great Society and War on Poverty.

He will always remember his best friend's charm and his sense of humor.

"I never knew anyone who had the capacity to bring people into his life so easily," Solis said. "During this intense moment of grief, I wonder how many other people must be feeling this."

The Pharr native was also popular in Austin, where he served as president and chief executive officer of the Meals on Wheels program for 16 years.

"He was a dear friend to so many people, the folks he fed," said Dan Pruett, who took over the program after Garza retired in 2004. "He took a small program and turned it into a vibrant, thriving agency. ... He made my job easy."

Pruett said the Meals on Wheels program served 600 meals per day when Garza began in 1988. By 2004, the program was serving 1,700 meals per day and offering transportation services and minor home repairs for people in need.

"He was a very gracious man," Pruett said. "He was a tireless advocate for people who had little."

____

Ana Ley covers law enforcement and general assignments for The Monitor. She can be reached at (956) 683-4428.