It was the fall of 1959. I had boarded the SS Evangeline touring ship about three months ago. The ship had to go to the dock, for maintenance for a week, at the end of September. I went to spend that week in New York.
I had already been to New York a few years before so I knew the city. On my agenda of things to do, I had put going to visit the headquarters of the Permanent Mission of the Dominican Republic to the United Nations because I was interested in personally meeting our ambassador, Dr. Enrique de Marchena Dujarric. He had heard references that he was quite a genius, that he was multilingual, that he spoke Russian, as well as English, French, Italian, Portuguese, German, and of course Spanish.
He was a complete musician at the symphonic level, founder and president of the Santo Domingo Symphonic Society. Arranger and composer, member of the Language Academy, journalist, and columnist for Listín Diario. Among her decorations, which were many, was the French Legion of Honor. He was ambassador to several countries, as well as Chancellor and Minister of Education. When I met him he gave me an exquisite treatment that I have always treasured.
Enrique Eduardo de Marchena and de Marchena. When the Marchena ambassador received me in his office, he had his young son Enrique Eduardo at his side, who when he saw me exclaimed, oh, Ellis Pérez, he from the Hit Parade! That moment began a friendship that would eventually reach the degree of brotherhood. That day we arranged to meet in the afternoon in a cafeteria bar called Sam’s. Enrique eventually graduated as a surveying engineer and tourism operations management. He was the man who put the “Costambar” project in Puerto Plata on the Dominican tourism map, was a founding member of “Adompretur” and wrote a column in the weekly “The Santo Domingo News”. He also wrote a large number of articles on industrial and tourist development in the Listín Diario. Following his father’s heritage, he became an opera and jazz critic, writing extensively on these subjects. He received the “El Timón de Oro” award given at the ITB, he also received the Annual Tourism Award in 1987. He was president of Asonahores.
Enrique de Marchena Kaluche, son and grandson of the Enriques de Marchena, although young, has been working his own path. We will talk about him later.
Source:
Listin Diario
