[PCO Profile] Hard Work Pays Off

 
"A self-made man is a fool who forgets that he had a mother" are the words Jose Tomeu lives by. They also are the words that have helped him build a new life in America following the Bay of Pigs Invasion and a pest control business that struggled at its birth.

Tomeu, a Cuban native, enjoys life in Alachua, Fla., where he is president of Alachua Pest Control. And although his business is thriving, life wasn’t always as sweet as it is now.

When Tomeu was 17, his family escaped Cuba and the dictatorship of Fidel Castro. Looking for a fresh start, his family came to America to find new opportunities. What Tomeu found was something that had been lost to both him and his family.

"We came here and left everything we had," Tomeu said. "We came here in December 1960. It was a different country, but the American people from the get-go were wonderful to us. We didn’t speak the language, but the people were nice and they wanted to make you feel good."

But to Tomeu’s dismay, shortly after his arrival in the United States, he was sent to Guatemala to train for the Bay of Pigs Invasion, just one month after settling down. After being captured by the Cuban military during the Bay of Pigs Invasion, Tomeu had a decision to make — 30 years in prison or a $100,000 fine that he would never be able to pay.

He chose prison.

"We were very naïve," Tomeu said of his younger days. "We had a failure there and I don’t blame the failure on anybody. We were captured; there were 1,200 of us and we lost about 80 people. We were just glad that we didn’t get killed."

Just when Tomeu felt weak enough to give up — he weighed only 110 pounds while in captivity — the light at the end of the tunnel peaked its way into the barracks he stayed in that barely held its 210 captives. For the second time, Tomeu was leaving Cuba to return to the United States.

Freedom called him back on the second anniversary of his first arrival in America when the United States freed those taken captive.

"You cannot believe the feeling," Tomeu said, fighting back tears. "We were able to go home." And while he remembered this as one of his greatest days, Tomeu recalled one of his first memories upon arriving back home.

"One of the things I remembered was when the women walked by us, I smelled perfume for the first time in three years," he said with a chuckle. "And it smelled good."

A NEW JOB, A NEW LIFE. When Tomeu returned to the United States, he hopped around the job market before finding a part-time job at a pest control company. To bring in extra money, Tomeu took this job to supplement his paycheck as a firefighter. After years of saving money, he bought Alachua Pest Control in 1975.

Years after a gross income of $12,000 in its first year, Alachua has prospered and recently celebrated its 30th anniversary in May.

And through all of the struggles he dealt with in building his company, Tomeu said he has learned the most valuable lesson of all: perseverance.

"You learn a lot about losing and not winning," he said. "You can’t win them all. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be fun. If you fail, you get up again and it’s good to realize that."

Tomeu is grateful for where his life has taken him. After years of struggling and overcoming obstacles throughout his life, he seems to enjoy the simple life. And although dreams can come true anywhere, Tomeu found that his dreams came true in America.

"You can work; you can become a millionaire; you can go to jail if you mess up. You can do whatever you want, so go get it," he said, pausing as his voice broke. "Only in America."

The author is a contributing writer to PCT and can be reached at jwagner@giemedia.com.