Antenor Uceda Castillo

Mr. Antenor Uceda Castillo Obituary

Antenor Uceda Castillo
September 16, 1929 - November 25, 2018

Atlanta, GA- Mr. Antenor Uceda Castillo, 89, of Suwanee, GA and Lima, Peru, died Sunday, November 25, 2018 at his home with his loving wife beside him.

Antenor was the oldest of eight children, born to Anacleto Uceda Cordova and Maria Castillo Ruiz in Sicaya, located in the mountain region of Peru. In a family of modest means, he was raised on values of God and family first, discipline, and education. From a young age he excelled in his studies, was hard working and ambitious. His parents sent him to Lima for a chance of a better education. There he attended Colegio Militar Leoncio Prado, a military academy, where he distinguished himself in academics and sports. He was graduated from Universidad Nacional de Ingenieria, with a degree in Civil Engineering. For his senior thesis, he designed and built the house his parents lived in until their death. Throughout his life, Antenor was a father figure and role model to his seven younger brothers and sisters.

Antenor had a huge spirit of adventure, big dreams and the fortitude to follow them. In the mid 1950's, the U.S. government placed an international call to recruit engineers, after U.S. engineers were called to service during the wars of the time. He seized the opportunity to come to the United States. The Michigan State Highway Department (Michigan DOT) hired him as an engineer designing and supervising the interstate construction of highways, roads and bridges. Eager to begin work and master his English, he arrived in Lansing in May of 1957. In August of 1958, he married Clotilde (Cora) Tello Pajares at St. Mary's Cathedral in Lansing, Michigan. They had no family and little support in the beginning, but together they overcame many challenges and adapted to their new home with stoic perseverance, which characterized all his endeavors throughout his life. Antenor completed his post-graduate studies at Michigan State University. During that time, the family grew to include one son and two daughters.

His engineering work took him many places, including the jungles of Bolivia where he spent months surveying the land and breaking ground for the Pan-American Highway. Often lost for days to his family, he would emerge as a bearded jungle man with stories of eating whatever the jungle provided and dodging floods and landslides.

As his engineering career flourished, he accepted an international post with the Inter-American Development Bank, based out of Washington DC. Once again, he welcomed a new adventure with courage and determination. With a family of five, and later seven in tow, he traveled across Latin America as a U.S. diplomat for over 20 years, living in Bolivia, Argentina, Uruguay, Guatemala, Paraguay, El Salvador, and Jamaica. His projects in these countries contributed significant advances in transportation and commerce, as well as major developments in infrastructure. He was most proud of the Chaco-Corrientes Bridge over the Parana River in Argentina, a major artery between those two cities. During his years in Bolivia and Argentina, two more daughters joined the family.

Antenor loved his wife and children more than anything, and considered his family to be his greatest achievement. He was strict and demanded discipline and excellence at school from his children, but he also spoiled them, and made them laugh with his funny and silly jokes. He took the kids on trips to see and explore the world, and they were used to returning from road trips carrying new pets and interesting foods they had encountered along the way. He made certain all five of them received a U.S. college education.

Antenor enjoyed the company of friends, loved dancing with his wife, grilling parrilladas Argentinas, spending hours at the beach, listening to his kids sing and play guitar and piano, taking trips to Disney World, attending graduations, and above all, spending time with his grandchildren. He relished his yearly trips to Lima; where he could visit his siblings that he loved dearly, and enjoy the warm weather and his apartment by the ocean. He had a passion for fitness and for as long as he could, enjoyed playing golf, tennis and running, especially the Peachtree Road Race every Fourth of July in Atlanta, in which he ran every year until well into his seventies. He had a fierce devotion to Santo Domingo de Guzman, and through his intercession was able to get through many challenges in his life.

Until the end, Antenor held a deep love and appreciation for the United States, a country, he said, that welcomed and adopted him and provided opportunities for success and happiness for him and his family throughout his life.

Antenor is survived by his wife for over 60 years, Cora, five children and eleven grandchildren: Cora Elizabeth Uceda Frantz, son-in-law Mark Frantz and grandson Mark Christopher; James Anthony Uceda, daughter-in-law Lucy Dalton Uceda; Maria Jeanette Uceda Zyla, son-in-law Warren Zyla and grandsons Patrick John and Peter Nicholas; Patricia Sofia Uceda Schmitt, son-in-law David Schmitt and grandchildren Ryan Anthony, Ethan Michael, Justin Patrick, Andrew Dominic, David John-Paul and Sofia Hope; Silvia Carolina Uceda Burgoon, son-in-law Joseph Burgoon, and granddaughters Chloe Caroline and Annabel Josephine; all of Atlanta, GA.

He is survived by brothers Roberto, Manuel, and Carlos Uceda Castillo, of Lima, Peru; Ernesto Uceda Castillo of Atlanta, GA and sisters Olga Uceda de Olivencia, of Lima, Peru and Hilda Uceda Harris of Tampa, FL. He is preceded in death by his parents, Anacleto Uceda Cordova and Maria Castillo Ruiz, and sister Alicia Uceda Revaz.

Funeral Services will be held Friday, November 30th at St. Brendan the Navigator Catholic Church at 4633 Shiloh Road, Cumming, GA 30040 at 12 noon. Father Matthew VanSmoorenburg, L.C., will be officiating and Father Joshua Allen concelebrating. A reception will follow the service at the church.

Family members and friends are also invited to offer their condolences at McDonald & Son Funeral Home and Crematory on Friday, November 30th between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. at 150 Sawnee Drive, Cumming, GA 30040. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to St. Brendan the Navigator Catholic Church.