Beloved TCU groundsperson who died of COVID-19 was ‘friendly to everyone,’ son says
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Adalberto Cruz Jr. never met anyone who worked as hard as the man he was named after.
Jose Adalberto Cruz Hurtado, known to family and friends as Beto Cruz, learned to become a handyman of all trades as a teenager in Mexico, his son told the Star-Telegram. Around 19, he began coming to California a few months at a time for work through the Bracero Program, out in fields for hours on end picking crops like grapes or lettuce. After he married his wife in Mexico around 1986, they moved to Fort Worth to be closer to her family who immigrated. He took on construction jobs to support their three kids, and built additions to their home at night.
For the past 13 years, Cruz Hurtado put all of his acquired skills into his job as a groundsperson at TCU, where he was a familiar face on campus who could be seen carefully trimming hedges, or mowing fields, or planting beds of flowers. As memorable as his tireless work ethic, his son said, was his ability to connect with people through simple conversations or interactions.
Cruz Hurtado, 62, died around 5 a.m. Thursday of complications from COVID-19 at Baylor All Saints Hospital, with his wife and daughter by his side. Cruz Jr. saw him that morning too but was waiting in the lobby since only two people could see him at a time. His father was losing oxygen fast and suffered a heart attack.
In the two days since his death, Cruz Jr. has kept hearing from those in the TCU and Fort Worth communities saying his father had an impact on them. When the mailman came on Friday, Cruz Jr. told him his father had passed, and he broke down into tears.
“Even the mail guy knows him as a friend, not just the guy in the white house or the red house, or the guy with the nice yard,” Cruz Jr. said over the phone on Saturday. “He was a friend.”
He leaves behind his wife, Maria Carmen Cruz; his children, Cruz Jr., Clemencia Cruz and Angel Cruz; and four grandchildren.
News of his death has rippled across the TCU campus in Fort Worth, causing students or staff who even knew him casually to mourn his felt absence. In an email that went out to the campus community, Vice Chancellor Yohna Chambers wrote, “He was a devoted husband, father, friend and an important part of our TCU family.”
Cruz Hurtado, according to his son, had a soft-spoken and generous spirit that lent itself to a job where he was surrounded by people. He could be friends with anyone, young or old, because he was always a “perfect gentleman” and “friendly to everyone,” Cruz Jr. said.
He could also be a teacher and role model to those he took under his wing, the type of person who would warmly welcome a new employee and show them the ropes.
“He would do that kind of stuff for everyone,” Cruz Jr. said. “He was the kind of person that — he can take his food out of his mouth to give to you.”
Born in the central Mexican state of Guanajuato, he was working in construction jobs when he became a part of the Bracero Program for farmworkers that represented a historic partnership between Mexico and the U.S. He was able to secure permanent residency in America, years later, in part because of this program.
One of Cruz Jr.’s favorite childhood memories was when, around the time he was 10, his father would come home from work around 6 or 7 p.m. only to put in more work. He took a big light outside so he could build expansions to their small two-bedroom house, hammering away in the quiet of night. His kids were growing up fast, Cruz Jr. said, and they needed more space.
“That’s one of the biggest and beautiful memories like that of him — he always worked hard for what he wanted for his family,” he said. “He sacrificed too much for his family.”
‘He was an angel that descended’
Cruz Hurtado learned on Jan. 4 he had tested positive for the coronavirus. His wife and daughter also contracted the virus but had more minor symptoms, like a loss of taste and smell.
His death, Cruz Jr., came as a shock to his family, as he seemed to be getting progressively better over these past couple of weeks he was in the hospital. He took a sharp turn for the worse the night before he died, his oxygen levels plummeting and heart rate rising.
“We start thinking that it’s just like a dream from which we’re gonna wake up and he’s gonna be at home, mowing the yard, taking care of his plants,” Cruz Jr. said. “But he’s not.”
The messages of support he’s been receiving — in phone calls, social media messages and face-to-face interactions — have meant everything, reminding him of all the lives his father touched. He said he can’t find the words to thank people.
He didn’t know his father, as great as he was, could have been so important to so many.
It makes him feel proud of him, he said.
“I thank God for letting me have that father for 38 years,” Cruz Jr. said. “I realized that he was an angel that descended to take care of us.”
A visitation with the family is set for Sunday afternoon on Cruz-Hurtado’s front lawn in Fort Worth. They’re doing the outdoor tribute “because too many people have been asking for it,” Cruz Jr. said.
The funeral, which is open to the public, is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Monday at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church in Fort Worth. He will then be buried at Laurel Land Cemetery in Crowley.
