Felix A DeJesus

Beloved husband, father, grandfather and friend, Felix Amen DeJesus, 77, passed away peacefully on October 17, 2015 in White Plains, New York. Felix was born on August 21 1938 in Isabela, Puerto Rico is survived by his wife, Nereida DeJesus, and his four children: Felix DeJesus Jr., Xavier DeJesus, Dennis DeJesus, M.D. and Marilyn Colmenares. Grand Children include: children of Xavier DeJesus: Xavier C. DeJesus , Alex B. DeJesus, Marc A. DeJesus, Max C. DeJesus, and Neahra R. DeJesus; children of Dennis DeJesus M.D.: Lexi DeJesus, Dennis DeJesus, Jr. , Paisley DeJesus(00) and Mia DeJesus; children of Marilyn Colmenares: Gabriella Colmenares and Francisco Colmenares. Felix was a proud American Puerto Rican who arrived in the Bronx, New York City during the Great Migration (1950) and established himself as a skilled blue collar worker. Most notably as a laborer for one of the World Trade Center labor unions where he worked thousands of feet above the city street installing aluminum windows using a combination of welding, riveting and high performance epoxy adhesives specially made for the tall task. Later he also trained as a licensed Barber and enjoyed wielding his straight edge razor and pointy barber’s scissors with pride. He also worked as a maintenance technician, door bellman and various part-time jobs including as a frozen pizza delivery, cake delivery through the busy streets of the five boroughs. His strong work ethic and devotion to self-reliance were notable attributes of his personality that carried on to his children. He was also a self-taught, multi-talented, DYI person that included auto mechanics, electrical work, mechanical maintenance among other skills - (He could adjust the timing on an engine using his pinky to feel the valves).
Felix was a hard working man who believed that one should learn a trade and work for a living and who never relied on public services. He would rather work three jobs than give in to the Welfare mentality. He adamantly encouraged his children to do their best in school and enjoyed the fact that they enrolled in New York City’s notorious Aviation High School, Brooklyn Technical High School and Rockaway Beach High School. He similarly encouraged his children to attend college and was also proud of their graduation from area colleges including, Pace University, Buffalo University, CUNY, Harvard, and Cornell. Without a doubt, he played a huge role in enabling his children to achieve and accomplish in their education and professional lives by virtue of his leadership by example through his hard work but also by the many hours he devoted in his lifetime to help his children in any way he could. Whether it was driving them around for Orchestra recitals, bringing home wonderful reading material that often included college level text books, teaching them how to fish, driving them to college campus tours or by giving them the inspiration to pursue their dreams. His special circle of friends from the union shop to the grocery stores in the Bronx, to his co-workers and neighborhood friends loved him dearly and often reminded his children of how proud he was of them. He was a great humble man, a great father and great husband and great grandfather that overcome many adversities to ensure that his family would prosper.
Most importantly, he loved and protected his wife Nereida DeJesus to the last moment of his life. He also adored all his grand children especially touching the lives of those grand children who lived close to him with his warmth and kindness. He was an avid New York Mets fan who just before his death was cheering on the team to a 2015 Division Championship which they achieved just two days after his death!