The $2,500 Joe Rivera, Aurora de la Garza Portraits~The Gift That Keeps on Giving

San Benito, the quaint little town that butts up against Harlingen along Highway 77, honors its heroes.  The town has no chiseled rock as in Mt. Rushmore, but does have an imposing water tower painted in honor of hometown legend Freddy Fender.

The Cameron County Court's annex building is also somewhat of a shrine, honoring the lengthy, but undistinguished service of outgoing District Clerk Aurora de la Garza and County Clerk Joe Rivera, not only with their names on the building but an extravagant $2,500 portrait of the pair hanging inside.  

You may recall that the portraits were allegedly ordered by Rivera, who despite his 36 years in county government, forgot to get a purchase order.  When a fuss was raised about the cost of immortalizing the duo behind glass, a friend of Aurora, Dr. Robert

Robles, invited folks over to his spacious home and, according to reports at the time, raised $1,800. Whether or not Joe Rivera came up with the remainder is not widely known.  

What we have learned, though, is that Dr. Robles' nephew now works at the San Benito District Clerk's office from where he occasionally can check on both of the pricey portraits.  So, at least in terms of this young man's career, the portrait fiasco had a happy ending.