A pastor, missionary, composer, singer, painter, a published poet and novelist, Hugo Riquelme was a renaissance man in the truest sense of the word. He was born in Santiago, Chile, on October 15, 1935 to Pedro Juan Segundo Riquelme Virano and Rosa Amelia Recabarren Venegas. He passed away the evening of September 10, surrounded by family, after a stroke earlier that day.
As a youth, his artistic and intellectual talents won him a scholarship to art school, which he declined in order to attend the seminary where he trained to be a pastor with the Assemblies of God church. Shortly thereafter he would meet Carolina, his wife of 62 years, with whom he raised four sons. His missionary work took him all over his native Chile, Argentina and Bolivia. In July 1977 Hugo and his family left Chile for the US, first to New York City and, following a brief stint in Puerto Rico, to Holland Michigan, where he has resided since 1980.
Throughout his time as a pastor Hugo never abandoned his art, often channeling his creative spirit through his work within the church. He recorded several Christian music albums of his own arrangement and composition, some of which have been uploaded to Youtube by admirers of his music. He was also a writer of short stories, fiction novels, and poetry, often under his pen name Shimon Recab. One of his proudest achievements was the publication of a book of poetry (“Hubo una vez un pueblo” 1992), dedicated to the Jewish people and inspired by his own Sephardic Jewish heritage.
In the 1990s, Hugo became editor of La Paloma, the Holland Sentinel’s Spanish-language weekly and was a regular contributor to area Spanish-language newspapers. Hugo later returned to his original love of drawing and then took up oil painting with a passion. Over the years, he had several book readings and art gallery exhibitions in West Michigan.
Throughout his life, Hugo Riquelme was a devoted family man who dedicated his last years to ensuring the wellbeing of his children and grandchildren while caring for his loving spouse and life partner. He always had something interesting to say and his wit and Chilean sense of humor will be missed by those who knew him.
Hugo is survived by: his wife Carolina; his four sons, Peter (Georgina), Leonardo, Conrado (Alessandra) and Pablo (Jennifer); eight grandchildren, Christian (Tina), Jonathan, Alexander, Anthony (Amanda), Leonardo, Gabriella, Rodrigo, and Marcelo; seven great grandchildren, Elijah, Isaac, Judah, Aiden, Layla, Brayden, and Adrian. Hugo was preceded in death by his younger brother, Manuel Eduardo Riquelme Recabarren.
A memorial service will be held at Lakeshore Memorial Services, 11939 James St, Holland, on Friday September 13 at 5:30pm.
A graveside entombment will take place Saturday, September 14 at 10:00am at Restlawn Memorial Gardens.
