Sergio Vasquez remembered waking up on the morning of Dec. 12, 2008, with an undeniable feeling of dread looming overhead.
He hadn’t heard from his son, Elton Samir Vasquez, 21, in a few days. Elton was visiting his mother in his hometown of Managua, Nicaragua.
“Elton was very responsible, so when I hadn’t heard from him all day, I was worried,” Sergio said. “When the call came through, I already had a bad feeling because the line was bad and it was very early in the morning.”
Elton died in a car accident at 5:20 a.m. on a Sunday morning in Managua on the Pan-american Highway. He was the only fatality. His sister, Silvia Vasquez, 28, and her boyfriend, Jeffer Alvarado Aragón, 23, survived the crash.
According to El Nuevo Diario, a Nicaraguan newspaper, Aragón, who was driving, lost control of the car as it sped down Nandaime-Rivas Rd. The vehicle crashed into a billboard post and severed the car in two. The accident threw the pieces of the vehicle on either side of the road. Elton, who was sitting in the backseat, died upon impact.
“They said he didn’t feel anything,” Sergio said, “but they don’t know why they swerved. There were no animals in the road that they could see and nothing was in front of them. [Elton] died there, in the street.”
Sergio said he will remember the last time he saw his son forever.
“He hugged me long and hard in the airport and I knew in this moment, I felt -something I will not forget. I said, ‘Son, be careful and when you get there, call me.’ I feared there would be an airplane accident. I never thought about a car accident.”
Sergio and his son emigrated from Nicaragua to Houston, Texas, 12 years ago. Elton attended Robert E. Lee High School, where he was “an excellent student” who participated in a magnet program. He took advanced classes in subjects like history and pre-calculus, won many academic prizes and worked at a nearby Kroger’s on the weekends.
“He was always above his level,” Sergio said. “Very dedicated to his studies. He never did anything bad – no drugs, no alcohol. He lived simply; said it was necessary to be happy.
“When he got accepted to A&M, he told me he wanted to go there because it was very prestigious. I listened and agreed that it could do a lot for his future.”
At the time of his death, Elton was a senior mechanical engineering major who worked at the Reynolds and Reynolds Company in College Station in his free time. His father said he liked documentaries and was a big fan of scientists like Charles Darwin and Albert Einstein. He had talked with Sergio about applying for an internship with NASA, and his father had encouraged his son to accept the challenge.
“He was very intelligent, especially in mathematics; he was a marvel at math,” Sergio said. “It was fun for him. He put in a lot of unnecessary time doing his math work. It was more for him than just ‘two plus two is four.’ ”
Elton was an environmentally aware student who planned to use his interest in eco-consciousness and science to develop a “revolutionary” means of air transit that would be faster and dispel fewer pollutants into the air, Sergio said.
He said he believed his son’s memory will live on in his dedication to advancing the world through science and his earnest quest for knowledge.
“I was very proud of my son and I’m very proud of his memory. The idea of him will always continue on in other people. He had big ideas for the future that could advance science a lot.”
“He followed his dreams and aspirations, and he’s not dead for me. He will always live on in my heart. He will always be studying. I love him very much.”