SAN ANTONIO – It’s a detail often unnoticed by many who see the iconic mural “The Spirit of Healing” gracing the front of the Children’s Hospital of San Antonio —one of the angel’s wings is shorter than the other.
“That’s supposed to be Jesse Trevino’s arm,” said Michael Roman, one of the apprentices helping Trevino lay thousands of colorful tiles.
After he lost his right arm fighting in the Vietnam War, Trevino learned to paint with his left hand becoming one of the most admired and respected muralists in the art world.
Trevino died Monday at the age of 75 following a long battle with cancer.
During the time he spent with Trevino, Roman recalls seeing a painting on the floor of Trevino’s studio.
“A Vietnamese woman with her baby strapped to her back — beautiful, kind of looking back,” Roman said.
Not only were they painted on a paper bag, Roman said, “It looked different.”
When he asked Trevino why that was and why it was unfinished, Roman said Trevino told him, “Michael, that’s the last thing that I did with my right arm.”
Roman said he was stunned.
“There were no words,” he said.
Roman went on to create a West Side landmark when he painted a mural at W. Commerce and Colorado honoring Vietnam veterans like Trevino and his own father, depicted reading a letter from his sweetheart and future wife back home.
Having earned a Purple Heart, Trevino would later join Chapter 1836 of the Military Order of the Purple Heart, commanded at the time by Roman’s father, Tony.
Tony Roman said many considered Trevino an inspiration and a role model in the largest chapter in the nation with 800 members.
Roman said they know Trevino went through hell and back, yet he became who he was, showing, “Nothing is impossible.”
He said Trevino showed them, “We can continue on with our lives and do something productive.”
Funeral arrangements are pending at Porter-Loring Mortuary.