Cuban expatriates reunite to recall revolutionary escape
By Lynda Zimmer
Monday June 29, 2009
Darrell Hoemann
Cuban expatriates who graduated from the University of Illinois, from left, Ana Maria Ferran Parent, Raul Ley-Soto and Ricardo Jimenez look over yearbooks as they reminisce with the Rev. Richard Mullen during a reunion Saturday at the High School of St. Thomas More for Cuban children who were sent to the U.S. in the early 1960s after Fidel Castro assumed power in the island nation. Mullen was the chaplain at the Guardian Angel Home in Peoria when it welcomed members of this group and also graduated from the UI.
CHAMPAIGN – "Salud!" the former Cubans shouted as they toasted the Catholic chaplain who welcomed them to Illinois 47 years ago.
The occasion was a weekend reunion for 11 of the 14 Cuban youths who finished their educations in central Illinois. Some reconnected in Florida 10 years ago. Others had not seen each other for 47 years.
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