José Viegas Bota, dried fruit entrepreneur and former president of the Parish Council of S. Sebastião, and Padre Nobre were honored last Saturday, November 26th, with toponymic references in Loulé.
«Today, in the parish of São Sebastião, two great personalities are being honored who will become part of our city toponymy», said Vítor Aleixo, mayor of Loulé.
Next to the Loulé train station, a few hundred meters from the place where he was born, on December 3, 1927, José Viegas Bota now has his name perpetuated in an artery that he helped to “create”. This is because, through the transfer of some of its land, «it contributed decisively to the opening and tearing up of these roads, – the road that goes to Vale Judeu, and the streets that go over Cerro de Cabeça de Câmara -, and which came to enhance this whole area», as mentioned by his son, José Mendes Bota.
«We perpetuate the memory of a man who lived his time in an intelligent way, very rich in his aspects of life. He was a good head of the family, a distinguished businessman, he was a man who always deserved, from a political point of view, the recognition of his community », said the mayor of Loulé.
In addition to having stood out in the trade and export of dried fruits, and as mayor of Loulé and the parish of São Sebastião, both during the dictatorship and after the 25th of April, José Viegas Bota is also remembered at the associative level, having presided to Atlético Sporting Clube and participated in the direction of the Grémio dos Exportadores de Frutos Secos do Algarve.
Padre Nobre was the other honoree of the day, with the unveiling of a plaque on the artery that gives access to the Ermida, a worship space whose project he helped to develop and which would be inaugurated in 1995. He supported and promoted, together with the commission, the construction of the recreational complex in Monte Seco, and later in 2004, the Parish and Social Center of Loulé would open, another of the works in which he was deeply involved.
On behalf of the Church, the current parish priest of Loulé, Carlos Aquino, joined this session to praise the role of «a Man who served this city and these communities always with a deep apostolic dedication and evangelizing zeal» and highlighted his « sense of justice" and his "prophetic vision of the future" that led to all these constructions.
Analídio Ponte, president of the Board, shared some of the stories he lived not only as a parishioner but also as a member of the committee and parties of Nossa Senhora do Bom Sucesso. «He was a priest who contributed a lot to our parish, thanks to whoever made this decision», he said.
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