Pascu Draganel

Pascu was born in Romania. Specifically in Transylvania region. His father Pascu Draganel II and mother Silvia Constantine . He described his childhood filled with time to play with his cousins and friends in the open field, the valley, and the forest. They played football (soccer), warriors, explorers (boy stuff). They would run up and down the hills. Many times they did not want to go home to eat, so they ate what the fields and forest produced: berries (blueberry , strawberry, etc ), mushrooms, other fruits (pears, apples, walnuts, almonds, etc..). They drank water from a stream, a well, and or even a little water hole in the ground. In the winter they would ski, toboggan or snow sled down the hills. Pascu was a smart student, he enjoyed school recitals, and participating in competitive testing.
As a young adolescent he joined the local folklore dance team. He described it as a love hate relationship. He enjoyed the traveling (local travel between schools), he liked the friendly competition between co-dancers (whose timing was better). He did not like the fixed competition between schools. He danced for two years.
When he was almost 16 his parents talked to him about leaving Romania. It had to be a secret. All three applied for their passports. Because at the time Romania was a communist country the entire family would not get permission to travel together. Only two would be eligible to travel. They also had to be specific of their travel plans. Pascu's mother Silvia had an old postcard from a distant relative in Austria. They also picked Austria, because it would be easier to escape to Italy. The luck of the draw, Silvia and Pascu II received their passports. Silvia and Pascu II left on their trip, leaving Pascu (Jr) with Pascu's II brother and family for a two week summer vacation.
Once the fate of the parents was known, that is they were now in Italy requesting asylum in a refuge camp. Eventually requesting immigration to United States of America, Pascu Jr took on the task of earning his keep. His uncle was able to place him at a local factory, he worked as a machine/automotive mechanic. He also took private English lessons. In the mean time, it took almost two years for his parents to able to complete the family unity immigration process to the USA.
Now in the USA the Draganel family resided in Rochester, NY. He enrolled at Edison Technical Vocational High School. He excelled in mathematics and physics. He matriculated in the electrical certification. He graduated and went to work for a local electrical company. After a year of work he decided the east coast was not for him. In the summer of 1979 he moved to California.
After a couple of months looking for work and watching a commercial he decided to learn computers. He enrolled at Computer Learning Center. He was like a fish in water with the computer. This is when we met. At the end of the certification he was the first student to have the most computer hours in practical hands on time and his knowledge of the then (360/40 IBM) mainframe had exceeded everyone's expectations . He was asked to join the teaching staff at CLC.
Pascu taught for 5 years at CLC mainframe operating systems DOS and OS, he also substituted for teachers teaching programming languages such as COBOL, Assembler, and basic. . He went on to work for Federal Home Loan Bank Data Center where he met his first wife (1984).
Pascu then went to work for Wells Fargo Information Technology. We're he spent many years. During this time he picked up the hobby of Bowling, he would eventually excell in. He enjoyed bowling, he went on to win a few amateur competitions mostly held in Las Vegas.
He planned and participated in the successful relocation of Wells Fargo information Services from Southern California to Northern California. During that time (1996), he and spouse divorced. He lived in Northern California many years
Now the next few years would fly by and we were inseparable.
Pascu and I reconnected (2002) after my divorce in 2000. We dated for 3 years, my children slowly knowledge his existence. We were married in 2005. We would take a few vacation trips to Mexico, various locations. We had my daughter's quinceañera in Jalisco. He respected my unspoken boundaries with my children, who he loved as his own. We made plans to retire in Mexico.
We retired in 2011, and on June 2011, we landed in Merida, Yucatan, with two suitcases. We stayed at a condo/extended stay hotel for a month while we got our bearings.
We looked for an apartment and lived in that apartment for 6 years. During that time we traveled to other parts of Mexico. We made friends and established a community. We thought conversational English and even worked with the local/Federal school district English department in the interview process of English teachers. We joined social xpat groups. Pascu joined the bowling league, where he went on to win many games and two years running the end of year MVP. Pascu liked to have fun, he enjoyed the company and the game (before Covid)
We frequently traveled back to the States to visit family and friends.
We stay with my sister Rosalia, Donnie and daughters April and Leah. As our children (Julian and Olivia) grew older and became adults we would visit them at their homes. As time passed they had their own family. We were fortunate to shared in the birth of our grandchildren.
Five years into living in Merida, Yucatan we decided it would be our forever home. We searched and bought our home, shared the trials of remodeling in our adopted foreign country.
We shared the exploit of confined quarters due to the covid pandemic (2020/2021). Yet, we sailed through it. His even temper, common sense and love made this difficult time bearable.
After covid life continued with happy times; visiting family and grandchildren, family and friends weddings, Christmas and other holidays and more travels. Pascu reconnected with bowling buddies Jennifer and David Underhill. The three shared a weekly friendly bowling game. Afterwards we would all go out to dinner. It was an enjoyable weekly outing.
Our last trip to California January 2024, Pascu had no pain, he was dizzy, we took him to the Hospital, after a few test a mass was discovered in his brain, then another in his stomach. He had various complications. He joined the light of lights on February 10th, 2024.
Pascu Draganel a man of his word.
Husband, stepdad, grandpa Pascu, brother-in-law (brother), uncle, cousin and friend.
Stepson Julian Waterbury , grandchildren's mother Natalie Horvath (who has become a daughter), our grandchildren Wyatt and Anastasia.
Stepdaughter Olivia Waterbury-Nelson and husband Jeffrey Nelson (now another son) and our grandson Santino.
Donnie Peterson (Brother-in-law ), Rosalia Peterson (Sister-in-law) , and nieces April Peterson-Shaw (Miles Shaw - husband) and Leah.
Omar Noble (deceased Brother-in-law) nephew Omar M Noble
All thought of Pascu as grandpa Pascu .
He loved them all.
He also has family in Romania, his cousins;
Doina Seceleanu,
Marcel Barla,
Tica Hermeneanu