Professor, scholar, known for being authority on history of S.A.
Felix D. Almaráz Jr. — a longtime scholar and respected authority on the history of San Antonio and South Texas borderlands — was known for his deep voice and gentle manner.
Almaráz, 89, died at a local hospice care facility Wednesday morning. Funeral arrangements, including a viewing and Mass at St Luke’s Catholic Church followed by a burial at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery, are pending.
“Dr. Felix Almaraz — a professor and a trail blazer in local history has passed away. May he soar with the angels and rest in peace,” Bexar Heritage Outreach Manager Mari Tamez posted on Facebook Thursday morning.
Almaráz, a longtime professor at the University of Texas at San Antonio, where he taught from 1973 to 2011, focused his research on the Texas borderlands and the influences of Spanish culture on the Lone Star State.
The scholar grew up on San Antonio’s South Side, graduating from South San Antonio High School, and taught in Harlandale schools while pursuing his doctorate in history. Almaráz addressed the teenagers in his classes as “my dear students.”
He often participated in historical re-enactments, playing the role of a missionary or a Spanish royal officer. For San Antonio’s 300th anniversary in 2018, Almaráz portrayed Father Antonio de San Buenaventura y Olivarez in commemoration of the founding of the first mission site, Mission San Antonio de Valero, on May 1, 1718.
Almaráz also served as chairman of the Bexar County Historical Commission, retiring from that appointed post in 2021. He received a Hidalgo
Award for nearly 50 years of service on the county commission. The panel meets monthly and provides advisory support on all aspects of the county’s history, including historical markers, archives, preservation of historic cemeteries and local celebrations. He was president of the Texas State Historical Association from 1996-1997.
Almaráz helped with a local nine-year community campaign to have the San Antonio Missions, including the Alamo, inscribed as the first UNESCO World Heritage Site in Texas in 2015, said Sharon Skrobarcek, a friend and history scholar who serves on the county historical commission.
“He was one of the foremost historians of Texas borderlands history. His legacy will live on through his students and his writings,” Skrobarcek said. “He’s just so well known and so well revered, really worldwide. They know him in Spain, France, everywhere.”
During a 2016 presentation on the 325th anniversary of the 1691 Spanish expedition that led to the naming of San Antonio, Almaráz noted that history is ever-evolving. The small expedition led by Gen. Domingo de Teran arrived on June 13 — the feast day of St. Anthony.
“History, if it stays the same, then it’s no history. And so we hope that we make changes,” he told about 50 retired teachers and members of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas.
In 2005, a group of Texas historians published a book, “Tejano Epic: Essays in Honor of Felix D. Almaráz Jr.” (Texas A&M University Press), exploring his influence and body of work, including five books and 50 scholarly articles.
“Every now and then a scholar appears in the field of history whose outpouring of works earns them special tribute and homage,” a promotion for the book stated.
Among his most recognized books were “Tragic Cavalier: Governor Manuel Salcedo of Texas, 1808-1813”; “Knight without Armor: Carlos E. Castañeda,” a biography of the noted University of Texas historian; and “The San Antonio Missions and their System of Land Tenure.”’
Near the end of his life, Almaráz continued to hold a seat as a scholar-in-residence at St. Mary’s University.
He is survived by his wife, Delores, and daughter, Felisia.