ALAMO DEFENDERS DESCENDANTS
10TH ANNIVERSARY

Hello All,

The Memorial weekend of the Alamo was fast and furious. My niece Carrie and I drove to San Antonio from Fort Worth. We left Friday March 4th in the afternoon. San Antonio is about a 4 hour drive from Fort Worth. By Texas standards that is a quick trip.

That evening we picked up Enrique Sandino who portrayed General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. Enrique brought his wife and two son’s with him. For those of you who are not aware Enrique’s sons are named after Casey. The oldest is named Casey. The youngest is Oliver Patrick and shares Casey’s middle name. Casey is also their Godfather. Enrique’s wife Judith is one of the Director’s at Penny Lane, Casey’s chosen charity.

After picking up the Sandino’s and taking them to their hotel near the Market Square in San Antonio. The Sandino’s were hungry and wanted to go to the River Walk and find somewhere to eat. We ended up at a restaurant called Steers and Beers . A restaurant that had a bar on the second floor. After we were seated at our table Casey called. The founder of the Alamo Defenders Descendants Association, Lee White, and her husband Larry had already taken Casey to dinner and all three of them met us on the River Walk.

During dinner Casey Sandino was telling Casey Biggs about an acting job he had done. Casey Sandino went on to talk about “the Star Trek guy” he had seen on the studio lot. “He was blue.” He then proceeded to look through his digital camera for the photo “the blue Star Trek guy” let him take. Casey Biggs looked at the photo. Low and behold it was a photo of Jeffrey Combs as Shran the Andorian..

Both of Enriques son’s do acting and modeling work. Oliver just finished a three week shoot on a series called Medical Investigation.

After dinner Casey bought everyone ice cream at The Marble Slab. Casey enjoyed a nice stroll back to his hotel which was nearby. I took the Sandinos back to their hotel. We all had to get up early the next morning.

SATURDAY, MARCH 5, 2005

Shortly before 8:00 am Carrie and I picked up the Sandinos. There was a special showing of the IMAX movie, Alamo: The Price of Freedom. In addition to being the 10th anniversary of the Alamo Defenders Descendants Association, it was also the 17th anniversary of Alamo: The Price of Freedom.  Casey and Enrique were special guest speakers. They told stories of how they were cast. The movie was originally supposed to be a documentary. Casey was cast at the last minute. Enrique changed some of Santa Annas scenes to keep more in line with the real Santa Anna’s character. and auditioned horses. In fact the horse Enrique rode exuded the same arrogance Santa Anna did. Most of the shooting was done at night so basically they were on a midnight shift. During the line in the sand scene, the other actors had planned to play a practical joke on Casey but his performance was so moving that they couldn’t bear to do it. It was a real treat to hear the behind the scenes stories.

It was time to see Alamo: The Price of Freedom. I have seen this movie more times than I can remember. Being a Texan and Tejana the story is part of my history. Yet every time I see this movie I end up in tears. There is one scene where Enrique strolls to where Travis’ body is laying with sword still in hand. Santa Anna takes his foot and taps the sword out of Travis’s hand. It is a scene that still makes me angry.

So far, Alamo: Price of Freedom is the most accurate portrayal of the battle of the Alamo. None of the big budget Hollywood movies did it justice. My two favorite Alamo movies is of course The Price of Freedom and Viva Max. Viva Max is a comedy about a Mexican General that decides to reclaim the Alamo it was done in the ‘60's and Jonathan Winters is one of the actors in it.

After the movie, Betty Anderson the president of the Defenders Descendants told Lee White there was a crew doing a documentary that wanted to interview Lee, Casey and Enrique. After Casey and Enrique finished their video interviews everyone perused the IMAX gift shop until it was time to meet at the Buckhorn Museum.

This luncheon was provided by the Alamo Defenders Descendant’s Association. It included an informal business meeting for the organization. Lee had arranged to have a table available so that Casey’s CD’s and photos could be sold to raise money for the scholarship fund. Enrique has recorded a CD of him reading poetry in Spanish. For those of you who can understand Spanish it is well worth the money. Enrique brought some CD’s and donated part of his proceeds to the scholarship fund.

After the luncheon everyone went to try to get a little rest before having to be back at the Alamo Chapel for the Candlelight Memorial that started at 8:00 pm.

The memorial was beautiful and moving. Thirteen candles were lit signifying the thirteen days of the siege. Casey read the Travis letter of February 24th addressed to the People of Texas and all Americans in the world.

Note: The IMAX theater gift shop carries the soundtrack to Alamo:The Price of Freedom which contains several tracks of Casey narrating and reading the Travis letter.

After Casey read the Travis letter he gave the key address. After which roll call was held for all the Defenders, scouts, couriers, non-combatants and survivors of the Battle of the Alamo. The state or country name was called, a re-enactor would carry the flag of that state or country and the names were called. Amazing Grace was played on the Bagpipes. It is a very emotional ceremony and a great privilege to be allowed to attend.

After the memorial there was an informal gathering at the Historic Menger Hotel.

After the informal gathering we all attended a private party that is thrown every year. This year it was at an abandoned warehouse. I jokingly told my niece. “Wow, an Alamo Rave”. It was great. People were in period costumes. It was like stepping back in time to 1836. The beverages were behind a facade painted like an old cantina. Another door had the Alamo Facade and all the deserts were there. There were bales of hay covered with fabric to sit on. There were musicians. Unfortunately it was also lightly raining. There was some cover but when the rain and wind picked up we all opted to retreat to our homes. We took Casey and the Sandinos to their hotels and called it a night.

SUNDAY MARCH 6TH, 2005

Casey wanted to have breakfast with the Sandinos and us at Mi Tierra. We had made plans the night before. We picked Casey but were unable to contact the Sandinos. Enrique finally called us as we pulled up to the restaurant. Their hotel was about 5 minutes from the restaurant. I dropped Casey and my niece Carrie off so they could get us a table. After getting back to the restaurant with the Sandinos we all had a wonderful breakfast and final visit before it was time to take Casey to the airport.

Mi Tierra Café is located at the Market Square. This is a wonderful place because it has lots and lots and lots of cool places to shop.

After eating I left my niece with the Sandinos to explore and shop at the Market Square. I took Casey to San Antonio International Airport.

When I got back to the Market Square I found out that the Sandinos had planned on doing the Mission Trail. They had originally planned on the Mission Trail for Monday and the River Walk for Sunday. I suggested since it is a driving trip that they do the Mission Trail while I was still there to drive them around. We saw some very beautiful missions and learned a lot of history. After the Mission Trail we went to the River Walk for a late lunch. The weekend was coming to an end and it was getting time to head back to Fort Worth. After eating and returning the Sandinos to their hotel, Carrie and I returned to my Aunt’s house. We packed our things, said our good byes and started the late foggy drive home.

Mimi had called and suggested that we stop in Temple to eat and visit her. We met Mimi at the I-Hop where she treated us to a meal. We really really appreciate her for doing that. Her suggestion was a life saver. I was so exhausted. It was just the thing I needed to be refreshed enough make the rest of the journey.

Everyone had a wonderful time. We will be sending Diane some photos to post.