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Obituary

A woman who lived for God and family

Known as "Mama" to all who knew her, Hortense Rubio made time to volunteer for civic and charitable groups.

By MARTY CLEAR
Published April 15, 2005

HORTENSE "MAMA' RUBIO: 1913-2005

YBOR CITY - While growing up in Ybor City, Hortense Rubio's parents didn't have a lot of money.

Her parents, the Alfonsos, worked at nearby cigar factories and every morning milked their three cows. They kept just enough to get them through the day and bottled the rest to leave on the doorsteps of poorer neighbors.

Such acts of kindness set the tone for her entire life. She died Tuesday (March 29, 2005) at age 91, leaving a legacy of service to her community.

"The things that were always important to my mother were God and family," said her son, Charles Inman.

Despite raising two sons and working as a nurse, Mrs. Rubio, known as "Mama" by friends and family, always made time to volunteer for local civic and charitable groups.

She was a founding member and past president of the Ybor City Pilot Club and a past president of the Girls Club near Cuscaden Park. Her efforts earned her Woman of the Year Awards from the Tampa Women's Circle and the Pilot Club.

Mrs. Rubio lived and worked in Ybor City until she was in her 30s. She graduated from Jefferson High School, worked at WT Grant department store in Ybor and later took a job as a doctor's assistant at a clinic in Ybor.

By that time, she had already been married and divorced. She and her sons, Charles and Don Inman, lived with her parents in Ybor.

"My mother was from the old school," Charles Inman said. "She was a disciplinarian, but she didn't believe in hiding anything from the kids. We could always come to her and talk about anything, even when we were little. She was always there for us."

While working at the clinic, she found her calling and the love of her life. She enjoyed the work so much that she enrolled in the Chicago School of Nursing.

She left her teenage sons with her grandparents for two years, but they never doubted their mother's commitment to them.

"We were with family, and we knew she was doing this for us," Charles Inman said. "And she would come back and see us when she could."

When she returned, she married a doctor from the clinic, Dr. Manuel Rubio. They worked together for the next 15 years, mostly in the Circulo Cubano and Centro Espanol clinics.

"He did a lot of good for our family," Charles Inman said. "My mother had enough money to be comfortable for the first time in her life. Until the day he died, he was the one I called Dad."

Mrs. Rubio had a passion for cooking and an open-door policy with family and friends.

"A lot of my friends ... ate more often at my house than at their own houses," Charles Inman said.

Every Sunday, her sons, in-laws, nephews, nieces and cousins gathered at her home for a big meal.

After Dr. Rubio died in 1977, Mrs. Rubio lived with her son Charles on Davis Islands and later in Ballast Point.

Her health had been slipping in recent years, but she remained focused on her family.

"I think the greatest thing, in her eyes, I ever did for her was to give her a grandson," Charles Inman said. "And she always said she didn't want to die before she became a great-grandmother."

She got to enjoy her great-grandson for about six months before she died of complications from back surgery.

[Last modified April 13, 2005, 16:39:09]