Jose L. Silva
September 19, 1931 - June 11, 2018

WESLACO - Jose L. Silva, 86, passed away on Monday, June 11, 2018, surrounded by his family at his residence in Weslaco. He was born on September 19, 1931, in Salineño, TX to Manuel and Agapita (Salinas) Silva. Joe was the baby of the family, raised with six older siblings. The family moved to Elsa in 1942, where Joe graduated from high school in 1949.

Shortly after graduation, Joe joined the National Guard from 1951-1953, then the US Army, serving from 1953-1955 during the Korean War where he spent most of his time in Heidelberg Germany. While Joe was deployed, a good friend of his, Raul Gonzalez, was working hard back home searching for Joe's new bride. Raul asked Emma Cardenas, who was working at Burton Auto at the time if he could send her picture to his friend Joe, who was stationed in Germany. Joe and Emma wrote letters back and forth from that time until his return in May when they met in person. They fell in love and were married on September 8, 1957, at St Joan of Arc Catholic Church in Weslaco. From the time they were married, Emma was always Joe's first priority.

Emma recognized her husband's intelligence and encouraged him to go to college. Joe started at Pan American in Edinburg and transferred to the University of Texas at Austin, where he earned his BBA in Accounting in 1961. While at UT he was a member of Beta Alpha Psi, a National Scholastic Honor Society. The journey was a struggle, Joe going to college, while Emma worked and took care of their first born, Joel and continued to work at Burton Auto. Their efforts paid off and Joe began his career as an accounting professional.

After college, Joe first joined the A.K. Polis accounting firm, then Taormina Produce and finally Smith, Fankhauser, Voigt, and York where he worked as a staff accountant. In 1965, he became a licensed CPA and he began his own accounting firm with Emma as his first hire. She and Joe grew their accounting firm for the next 35 years until their retirement when they sold to Hales, Bradford, and Allen.

Joe and Emma had four children, Joel, Melissa, Judi, and J. Joe was a very involved father, and spent many weekends participating in boy scout events, coaching little league games as well as attending Friday night football games and half-time performances, softball games, theatrical plays, dance and music recitals, band and choir concerts and numerous other events. Joe was an excellent role model for his children, demonstrating the importance of higher education, hard work and the value of family. He worked long hours and was very dedicated to his work, but he always made time to drive his kids to school and join the family for dinner every night. Each summer Joe and Emma would plan exciting destination vacations, load up the four kids for a road trip and log thousands of miles over the span of several weeks making lasting memories, visiting sites all over the US, from Yellowstone, the Redwoods, Washington DC, and the Grand Canyon, to name a few of their favorite stops. Over the many years, they also spent many long weekends at Padre Island where he taught all of his children the joy of fishing. When the kids were older, Joe and Emma continued to fish at Padre Island and travel together, traveling throughout the US, Spain, Canada, Hawaii and Mexico City.

Joe and Emma were also very involved in their church, St. Pius X Catholic Church, attending mass regularly. He was an active member of the Parish Council during the 1970's and served as finance chairman.

Joe was involved in his community and profession. He was a member of the Texas Society of CPAs and American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, serving as the President of the Rio Grande Valley chapter of the Texas Society of CPAs from 1975-1976. He served as City Commissioner and Mayor Pro-Tem for the city of Weslaco from 1971-1975.

Joe was a self-taught musician, learning to play the piano and guitar at a young age and encouraged his children to develop their musical talents. He spent most evenings after dinner playing his favorite songs on his guitar and piano and loved entertaining guests when they came to the house. He also loved traveling, playing golf, fishing, reading, and sports, but his favorite pastime was spending time with his children and later his grandchildren and attending all of their events.

Joe is preceded in death by his parents, Manuel and Agapita (Salinas) Silva and his siblings, Maria Silva, Francisco Silva, Lauro Silva, Manuel Silva, Melida Ramos and Amadeo Silva.

He is survived by his loving wife of almost 61 years, Emma, children, Joel Lamar Silva, (Hope Romero) of Westlake Village, California, Mary Melissa Hoover, (Todd Dudley) of Houston, Judi Lynn Hopper, (Brad Alan) of Houston, J Louis Silva (Kimberlee RaeTerry) of Austin, grandchildren, Aaron Zachary Silva (Danielle Jacoby) , lan Lamar Silva, Brittanie Michelle Polasek, Kimberly Ann Polasek, Jonathan Theodore Polasek, Rebecca Nicole Polasek, Finley Nicole Hoover, Jenna Nicole Hopper, Carson Joseph Hopper, Dillon Jeffrey Hopper, Quinn Nicole Silva, Elliot Reese Silva and great grandson, Cooper Hudson Silva .

The family would like to thank the many people that helped care for Joe during the last few months of his life, including the wonderful employees from Kindred Hospice, specifically Reynaldo Sobrevilla and Antonia Ambriz and also Cristal Gonzalez, Olga Gonzalez and Dr. Hector Amaya and his staff. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations are made to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research.

Visitation will be held on Friday, June 15th, from 2-9pm, rosary at 7pm, at McCaleb Funeral Home Chapel. Mass will be held on Saturday, 1pm, at St Pius X Catholic Church in Weslaco. Interment will follow at Highland Memorial Park.

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