MANUEL QUINTANILLA SALDIVAR JR.

Age: 84

BELIA ROJAS SALDIVAR

Age: 81

DAISY SALDIVAR

Age: 6

DEVORAH “DEVY” SALDIVAR

Age: 16

DOMINIC SALDIVAR

Age: 14

XAVIER ADAM SALDIVAR

Age: 8

Manuel and Belia Saldivar spent 59 years of marriage together, raised five sons together, and died together, their hands intertwined. They were trying to escape the floodwaters with their son and four great-grandchildren from Pasadena when their van was swept away on Green River Drive near Greens Bayou. Manuel suffered from dementia and Belia from Alzheimer’s disease, so when floodwaters began rising in their neighborhood, their son, Sammy, offered to help get them and the children, from Pasadena, to safer ground. There was Daisy, the youngest, a social butterfly who wanted to be a teacher when she grew up, collected Shopkins figurines and princess dresses, and had a particular affection for stray cats, according to her mother. There was Xavier, a third-grader who loved swimming, turtles and the color green, who greatly admired his greatgrandfather’s military service and dressed up as a soldier every Halloween. There was Dominic, a rowdy jokester, a trombone player in the Pasadena High School marching band, a Rockets and Texans fan, and a member of the ROTC with aspirations of enlisting in the military. Finally, there was Devorah, the oldest, who got all A’s at Pasadena High School, excelled at reading and writing, and sang in the choir. She loved lizards and talked about becoming a veterinarian. She coveted her James Harden jerseys. Sammy was driving the van when it slipped backward into high water. Sammy escaped through the open driver’s window but he could not open the rear hatch to rescue his parents or the children. The family was found, still together, on Aug. 30. Manuel and Belia were in the front seat holding hands.