By Adriana M. Chávez
El Paso Times (Texas)
EL PASO, Texas — Martha and Cesar Arreola were inseparable.
The couple always held hands as they took walks through their Central El Paso neighborhood or went shopping with their two children. Cesar Arreola often called his wife of 16 years outside if there was a beautiful moon in the sky or a particularly striking sunset.
But after Cesar Arreola’s death early Sunday, Martha Arreola will have to raise their two children alone.
Cesar Arreola, a 37-year-old detention officer with the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office, died after he fell ill Saturday as he was trying out for the Sheriff’s Office Special Reaction Team. The team is used to control unruly prisoners or quell potential riots at the county’s detention facilities, said Deputy Jesse Tovar, a Sheriff’s Office spokesman.
“We were always together, always together,” Martha Arreola said.
Cesar Arreola, a detention officer for 14 months, was dedicated to his job, she said.
“He was very happy there,” Martha Arreola said. “He was planning to become a deputy, he was just waiting for the academy to open.”
She said her husband, a Gulf War veteran, was also dedicated to their children Jazmin, 13, and Angel, 10. The couple were already planning their daughter’s quinceañera and a trip to Hawaii to celebrate her 15th birthday. He was also an active volunteer at Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church, 2709 Alabama.
Martha Arreola described her husband as “the perfect man” who loved football, particularly the Pittsburgh Steelers. He had been hoping to see the Steelers play in this year’s Super Bowl, she said.
On Monday, Tovar said Chief Deputy Sylvia Aguilar authorized that all flags at Sheriff’s Office facilities be displayed at half-staff through the date of Arreola’s burial. All uniformed personnel will also wear a black mourning band or a strip of black tape across their badges through the end of Arreola’s services, Tovar said.
Funeral arrangements for Cesar Arreola are pending.
Copyright 2009 El Paso Times