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Francisco Cruz: The Quiet Guitar Player

 

Francisco Cruz was not much for words &emdash; the kind of guy who would go to a party, look over the dance floor and head straight for a dark, quiet corner. When Mr. Cruz, a security guard for Summit Security in the World Trade Center, did have something to say, he let his guitar speak for him, spewing out fiery renditions of tunes by Jimi Hendrix, Carlos Santana and Jose Feliciano. "Music was his life," said his brother Tomas Cruz. "It allowed him to escape outside of himself. He would just come alive."

Music hooked Mr. Cruz, 47, at an early age. While kids all around him were busy dreaming baseball, Mr. Cruz became mesmerized by a neighborhood kid who was learning to play the guitar, and earning lots of attention because of it. Young Mr. Cruz wanted to be cool, too. "But we didn't have a guitar, and our mother didn't have the money to buy one," his brother recalled. "So we would steal my uncle's guitar and hang out in the hallway with it, like we knew what we were doing."

Soon, Mr. Cruz had taught himself and his younger brother how to play. "I'll never be half as good as he was," Tomas Cruz said, "but when I'm playing, it keeps me with him and takes me back to our good times."

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From "Profiles in Grief" of The New York Times