Juan ‘Pepe’ Jose Gracia: A mechanic and a devoted son to his mom

This story is part of an ongoing Miami Herald series chronicling the lives of South Florida COVID-19 victims.

Juan “Pepe” Jose Gracia was a devoted son to Nilda La Rosa, 92, caring for her until he died from COVID-19 four days after his 66th birthday.

Gracia was born in Havana on May 5, 1954. He immigrated to Miami with his grandmother and sister in early 1961, and his parents followed a few months later. His mother became a teacher while his father, Jose, worked as an electrician.

Gracia was a self-employed mechanic, and, according to his cousin Mercedes Ortiz, worked a lot. “He was always fixing cars, we were always telling him to get out of the house,” she said.

Ortiz remembered a time when she, Gracia, and his sister, Ivette Thomas, were children and got in trouble for hiding unwanted food from their dinner.

“Our grandmother was very strict and wouldn’t let us leave the table until we had finished eating all the meat on our plate,” she said. “He didn’t like eating meat, so I would have to eat it, or if I was too full, we’d put it in a potted plant in the corner of the dinner table.”

His mother, who also tested positive for COVID-19 but did not exhibit life-threatening symptoms, has not been told of her son’s death because the family fears traumatizing her.

Gracia leaves behind his mother, his cousin, his sister and four nephews: Ricardo Martinez, Louis Thomas, Spencer Thomas, and Brent Thomas. He was preceded in death by his father.

Laura Antunez, a Florida International University journalism student, wrote this story for the Miami Herald.

This story was originally published June 30, 2020 at 2:58 PM.