Castedo family per Emilito

While on board ship, he became very sick and his mother was told by the ship's doctor that he was unlikely to survive the journey. Somehow, she found a wetnurse (nodriza) on board the ship, and this wet nurse (whose photograph is in this database) suckled Manolo back to health, to the point where it was noted that he had a ruddy complexion by the time the boat arrived in Cuba.

At various times over the years he served as athletic director of St. Mary's High School; treasurer of the Paterson Catholic Conference; president of the Clifton Chamber of Commerce; treasurer of Paterson-Hawthorne CYO; president of Totowa Borough PAL. He was a member of the Bergen-Passaic Health Services Agency, and served a chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Passaic County Community College. He was president of the Passaic County Community College Foundation and trustee of St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center, St. John's Cathedral and Holy Sepulcher Cemetery. He was on the board of the Boys' Club of Paterson, the Liceo Cubano, and the New Jersey State Organization of Cystic Fibrosis. He was a member of the Knights of Columbus, and was on the Hispanic Commission of the Diocese of Paterson and a committee of the Paterson Community Support Fund. "When I think of Mr. Lagos, I remember the stirring words employed by the ancient Romans to characterize their most illustrious Caesar, 'If you want to see his monuments -- look around.' Look around my friends; not even the blind could fail to see the enormous contributions of this good and decent man." -- Gustavo A. Mellander, President, Passaic County Community College.

Explanation: after the death of his two siblings, Antonio and Dolores, who had been born in New York, his mother -- accompanied by Manuel and his sisters Carmen and Victorina -- returned to Cuba where she felt safer with child. His sister Dolores Emilia Manuela was born here in 1917. On their return, he was diagnosed with pink eye and was not allowed on the boat with the rest of his family. His mother, heeding the warnings of her husband that the US was about to declare war (World War I was raging in Europe) and that she would not be allowed to return if that happened, took the other three children and left Manuel. (They arrived in the US on 2 April and the US declared war on Germany 4 days later.) He stayed, therefore, in Havana, where he lived with his grandmother, and went to school there. He left Havana on 9 October 1919, when he returned home, via Baltimore, on the S.S. Alfonso XIII, with his Uncle Manuel. It was in Havana that he became acquainted with Oscár (Oscarito) GONZÁLEZ RODRÍGUEZ, who was later to visit the US and attend school in Paterson. (On New Year's Eve 1958/59 Oscár would escape from Cuba on the same plane as Fulgencio Batista).

This did not keep him from the attempted clutches of Spain. A 10 Sept 1925 letter from the Spanish Consulate in NY reads " . . . no hay lugar a la mas leve duda. Usted es hijo de padres españoles y ademas ha nacido Vd. en España, y por lo tanto, aun cuando su padre se haya hecho ciudadano americano, ello no le exime a Vd de tener que cumplir sus deberes militares en su Patria que es España". (There is not a shadow of a doubt: you are the son of Spanish parents and were born in Spain, and therefore, although your father has become an American citizen, this does not exempt you from having to complete your duties in your fatherland which is Spain) . . . which of course he never did.