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THE ODUBER & FIGUEROA Family Brief History.....A Legacy

Dr. Gustavo A. Oduber (1928-2001) was born on February 28th, 1928 to Simon “Champi” Quant Oduber and Sarah Oduber Arends. Dr. Oduber was kindly given the name Dolfi by his parents and friends at the time as he grew up on the Dutch Caribbean island of Aruba which is part known as the ABC islands which included Curacao and Bonaire.

Dr. Oduber went on to study at Mount St. Mary’s College in Emitsburg, Maryland and continued his dental studies at the University of Maryland Dental School in 1953 and was the youngest graduate from his class and VP of his Alma Matter. His eloquence, intellect and commanding character was due to his strong genetics handed down from his distinguished family history and background when the first Oduber named Jean-Pierre arrived from France via Spain during the French revolution in the mid 19th century. The name Oduber was originally spelt “Audubert” in French.

His father was a member of the Panamanian Consulate on the island as well as president of the Rotary Club. As the Chinese immigrated to the Caribbean his father, by Dutch law governing the islands, for the Chinese families to be able to live in Aruba one must have an Aruban “guardian” thus making it legal to acquire residency. So Champi sign off for 5 Chinese families and up to today the descendants of both are well regarded as family for ever (Chinese way for honor + respect). Sarah, his mother was an astute business woman during the 1930’s to well over 1960’s which was very unusual thus making her somewhat ahead of her times.

Dr. Oduber became one of the first dentist along with his friend Dr. Eloy Arends in Aruba as such he was involved in numerous functions in the Aruban political arena and had worked as a dentist for the government for some time. Later on, as always an avid researcher, decided to attend the University Dental School in Maracaibo to finish his love in Oral Surgery. After hisappointed by the parliament as Minister of Education in 1967 hee became a parliament member for the Netherlands Antilles representing Aruba for 16 years. At one point he was the president of his party called Partido Patriotico Arubano (PPA). During his tenure he was nominated to the first Latin American Congress in 1974 in Venezuela where he joined forces with his distant relative from Costa Rica Daniel Oduber who later became the first elected democratic president of Costa Rica in 1975. Today, The John F. Kennedy Technical School was the first vocational School in Aruba whom Dr. Oduber had the honor to name after one of the greatest Presidents of the U.S.

Dr. Oduber (RIP February, 2001) married Julia Leonor Quigley Figueroa (RIP September, 2001) from Puerto Rico whom he met while attending dental school in Maryland. She was extremely talented, intelligent, strong character, and resilient as well, she later on became one of the foremost primitive artists on the island of Aruba during the 1980’ and 90’s. Her paintings has been published in the first book ever written by Jennifer Smit and Adri Martes called “ARTE Dutch Caribbean” in 2001 (Ammazon.com). Julie, as she was kindly called, came from one of the most prominent families in Puerto Rico. Her father was Thomas Quigley and her mother, America Figueroa, a lawyer at the time, was the daughter of Jose Victor Figueroa Reyes and granddaughter of Don Jose Ramon Figueroa. She administered and oversaw the coffee plantation up and down on a horse. Today the Historic Society of Puerto Rico wrote a historical bibliography of Julie’s family. The story goes that Don Jose Ramon Figueroa, a powerful coffee Baron during the industrial revolution in the latter part of the 19th century, was the exclusive exporter of coffee to the Vatican as well as to the U.S. and Europe and a friend to Thomas Edison. Consequently, Don Jose while a senator and a distiguised polititioner in Ponce (1916-1934)introduced the first electricity to Puerto Rico http://www.prepa.com/historia.asp Don Jose Ramon Fiqueroa, Jose Victor's father, was the founder of a small town called Villalba in the central cordillera where his coffee plantations were located. The book is entitled “El Duque De Villalba” accordingly. Bronze Statue at the central plaza in Villaba http://transglobalresource.us/docs/Monument.jpg.. Other links: http://www.prfrogui.com/home/Villalba.htm http://cgi.ebay.com/Jose-ramon-Figueroa-y-la-fundacion-de-Villalba-1981_W0QQitemZ310015168384QQcmdZViewItem

During Dr. Oduber & Julia Leonor Oduber-Quigley’s marriage had four children Gustavo A. Oduber II who resides today in Miami and is an accomplished Pen & Ink Artist, Gourmand, Investment Advisor & an International Trader. He is a graduate of Northeastern University, class of 1982 as well as an honor graduate from the prestigious culinary school of Johnson & Wales in Miami class of 1998. He has a son Gustavo A Oduber III married to Carol and have two great children Julia Leonor & Gustavo IV residing in North Carolina and, Richard G. Oduber is married to Charleen and have two children who lives in Frankfurt Germany. He is a Master Sergeant serving 21 years in the U.S. Army (tours of Duties Gulf War I and Afghanistan), Glenn P. Oduber, a contractor, has two beautiful girls, and of course their beloved sister Carmen J. Yeguez-Oduber with two children who is a successful business woman both residing in Aruba.

--75.74.1.198 (talk) 02:48, 1 March 2008 (UTC)Today all four children enjoy the arts and have one of the largest collections of Dutch Caribbean primitive oils and acrylic paintings. The family will be building a museum in memory of their mother “The Julie Oduber-Quigley Museum” in Aruba.