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Sunday spotlight: Lara keeps things running for county
Posted: Monday, Feb 04, 2008 - 09:34:18 am CST
 | | CHECKING SUMP PUMP - Hector Lara, who does maintenance work at Uvalde County Courthouse, checks the operation of a sump pump in the basement of the courthouse Thursday. Lara has worked for the county 20 years. (Staff photo by Margaret Palermo)
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In order to find Hector Lara, maintenance man with Uvalde County, it was necessary to descend a staircase specifically designed for a trip into the bowels of the earth, or, in this case, the Uvalde County Courthouse basement.
Lara, with co-worker Robert Gonzales Jr., was leaning hard on a pipe wrench gripping a fitting on a pipe leading from another pipe overhead to a basketball-sized hole in the concrete cellar floor in a space not much bigger than a rental storage shed.
At one end of this dark little pocket of the universe was an industrial-sized green generator, next to the steep red-painted concrete stairs with the five-inch risers. At the other end was a small table and a desk against one wall.
Lara has worked 20 years for Uvalde County, though not always in the courthouse.
I do everything from raking leaves, cutting grass, trimming trees, refurbishing furniture, carpentry, plumbing, electrical, he said. I learned most of it through my ag teacher, Irwin Klaus out of Knippa. He was the FFA teacher.
Before going to work for the county, Lara said he worked in the oil fields, all the way from here to Canada in about 26 states. In the oil fields, he worked with a seismic crew.
I worked in the oil fields a long time before I got here, he said. I was a migrant worker before that. He also worked for American Aircraft here 22 years ago, building planes, XPs and UL fiberglass layout.
The Knippa native attended school in Knippa and earned his GED.
I come from a very large family, he said. He said he has 10 living brothers and sisters. Four passed away. Dad raised all of us.
Lara said he loves riding motorcycles and owns a Harley-Davidson.
He also enjoyed playing baseball and softball and, until 1999, played softball in a Sunday league here.
He is married and he and his wife, Sylvia, have two children, Hector Lara Jr. and Krystle Deann Lara, as well as four grandchildren. My daughter is going to college in San Antonio, he said. My boy works for Martin Marietta here.
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