Recalling Nacho & Israel

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This tragic Fourth of July weekend will long linger in our collective memories. The Hill Country flooding was a horrific — and ongoing — nightmare. We grieve and pray for the families and friends of the victims.

Tragedy struck much closer to our Northeast Texas home on Sunday afternoon. Ignacio “Nacho” Aguillon, 53, and his son, Israel, who was 11, died in a head-on collision in Upshur County. An SUV driven by a 16-year-old crossed the center line on Farm-to-Market Road 852 near Lake Gilmer and struck Nacho’s 1997 Nissan pickup, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety. I learned this just minutes after texting Nacho to ask him to move a fence gate when he planned to come out this week to finish a fencing project he had begun the previous week.

Nacho was an extraordinary fence builder and a truly kind human being. We met four years ago when he fixed the fence in what is now Pancho’s pasture. I have never seen anyone who could build a fence as quickly  and as well as Nacho. When it was time to add and repair more fence in advance of adding to our critter collection, I texted him. He and Israel came out a few days later, identically dressed in Western shirts, jeans, boots, and straw hats. Israel firmly shook my hand first, followed by Nacho.

Nacho and Israel, a handsome boy with a winning smile, were inseparable. He and his wife had four other children, now mourning the loss of their father and brother. The Aguillon family is well-known in the Rosewood community of Upshur County and the close-knit Harmony school district, where the children attended school. I found a photo of Israel online from last November, when he was one of the Students of the Month at Harmony Intermediate School.

I offered to pick up the fencing materials at his preferred store, Hewitt Farm Supply, between Gilmer and Big Sandy. Nacho texted me a list of materials, which I printed out before heading up there. As I handed the list to the pleasant woman behind the counter, I asked, “Do you know Nacho?” She smiled widely. We talked about how skillful he was at building farm fences of any type, and how invariably cheerful he was. She said that anyone who came into the store looking for someone to build or fix barbed-wire fences was told to contact Nacho.

He showed up at 6 a.m. a week ago Monday with a crew that included Israel and other family members. The crew built a pen approximately 200 feet long, added a 250-foot fence to the side pasture, with wooden posts sunk alongside the t-posts, and secured the existing fence along the creek.

They were finished by 11 a.m., except for hanging two gates that were on back order. It took them roughly five hours to do what I figure “normal” fence builders would take at least two days to complete. That was how Nacho rolled, smiling the entire time.

I texted him last Saturday that I had gotten the gates and wanted him to do a bit more work. He replied quickly that he planned to show up the following week. The following afternoon, I texted again about moving a gate. That text was never answered.

A GoFundMe account has been established to help the family, who lost their principal breadwinner. It describes the bond between Nacho and Israel as “something truly special, not just as father and son, but best friends. They were always together, whether working side by side or simply enjoying each other’s company.” We witnessed that as they worked here at Three Geese Farm.

As so many who knew Nacho and Israel, our hearts are heavy. As I look out the picture window by my desk, I can see the fence Nacho and his crew built, an “Aguillon Fencing” sign tacked to one of the wooden posts. Every time I see that fence, I will think of this humble, hardworking, and kind man, and his lovely son.

(If you would like to donate to the GoFundMe account set up for the Aguillon family, please click here.)

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