Page created by: BethAnn Bouchard-Bracken

A musician’s musician and friend; A health and fitness warrior; A kind, giving man with a heart of gold.

Jesse is the kind of person people love and gravitate to. You instantly like him when you meet him. He opens himself to you immediately. He listens and does whatever he thinks needs doing to help someone else.

Jesse’s mom and dad braved and overcame much to get their family to the safety of the United States from Castro’s Cuba when Jesse was only 5. His personality is deeply rooted in family, faith and perseverance.

He is a volunteer at the National Blues Museum in St Louis. He champions the the perpetuation of the genre with Jams to unite local musicians and singers and merge them with the future.

Diagnosed three years ago, that is how he faces his daily struggles with Parkinson’s Disease. He lets music fill his soul and heal a little with the melding of his guitar strings. And we, his friends, gather around him and give and get strength from him. Because he doesn’t give up even when the pain is so clear on his face.