La Gitana
A Conversation with Luisita Pacheco

Luisita Pacheco is the wife of Ferdie Pacheco, a talented painter and author of numerous books, who was once the Fight Doctor for Muhammad Ali. I wanted to know more about this captivating woman whom I met in a small art studio in Ybor City. I interviewed Luisita on October 11, 2005, while the Pachecos were vacationing at Indian Rocks Beach, Florida. They were in town to promote Ferdie's latest book, Blood in my Coffee. They are residents of Miami and have been married for 33 years.

CCM: Luisita, so much has been written about Ferdie and his career, but little is known about your career as a professional Flamenco dancer. You performed under the name Sevilla, correct? And are of Spanish and American Indian heritage?

Luisita: Yes, the Spaniards could not pronounce my first name, Karen. They said it sounded like one was talking with potatoes in their mouth when they said my name. They asked what my middle name was and I told them it was Louise. From there it became Louisa, Maria Louisa and finally, Luisita. I took the name Sevilla since that is where I learned to dance Flamenco. My ancestors are from Spain and came to New Mexico where my great-great-great grandfather fell in love with an Indian princess. He married her and they migrated to Colorado. My great-grandmother lived on a reservation – she was Navajo. On my father's side, my grandfather was Jicarilla Apache. Nine generations of my family are from Colorado. My last name is Maestas.

CCM: So you were born in Colorado? Do you have any brothers or sisters?

Luisita: I was born in Denver and I have two brothers and a sister – Greg, Michael and Kathy.

CCM: When did you first realize you wanted to be a dancer?

Luisita: From the time I was very young I danced. I would dance in front of the house for people who passed by in their cars. My mother put me in dance class when I was just a few years old and I studied ballet. She would take me to concerts where I saw ballet and Spanish dance concerts. We would see performances by Roberto Iglesias, Jose Greco and Carmen Amaya. It was then I told my mother I wanted to be one of those dancers. That is what I wanted to do – that was my dream. My mother would always say, "You and your dreams."

CCM: How long after that did you begin to dance Flamenco?

Luisita: When I was 14 years old, Jose Greco's troupe came to town and I told my mother I wanted to audition for his company. She asked how I was going to do that since I didn't know how to dance Spanish dance. I told her I was going to fake it. So when I met Greco, he was kind and he let me audition and of course, I was terrible. He said, "Well, you are very talented and you are a very beautiful girl, but you have no technique." He told me I needed to go to Sevilla – he didn't say Barcelona –he said, "Sevilla". He also told me I needed to learn to speak Spanish. I came home and told my mother that, even if I had to swim across the ocean, I was going to go to Sevilla and become a Spanish dancer. My parents did not come from a wealthy background, so they sold their life insurance policy and the next month my mother took me to Spain.

CCM: That was a wonderful thing for them to do for you.

Luisita: Yes, it was. When we arrived in Sevilla in 1959, my mother put me in a convent, and arranged my lessons in Spanish and dance. I danced every day for hours and learned to be the best! My castanets had grooves in them – that's how much I practiced. In four months I learned to speak Spanish because no one could speak English. The Spaniards I met would call me La Gringa (the American)! But then I became more Spanish than the Spaniards as I lived in the convent and learned about their foods and customs.

One day, while practicing at the studio, a gypsy woman came in and said she wanted to read my palm. I told her to go read the other girls palms because I was finishing my dance.

So after she had read everyone, she came back over to me and said, "tú eres la última (you are the last one)", and she had to read my palm or it would be bad luck. She said I was going to cross water and see the world. I asked if I was going to be a famous Spanish dancer. She told me I was going to make money, and a man was going to fall in love with me, marry me and become a very important part of my life. While I was married to him, he was going to become famous. Now I'm 15 years old and I don't want to hear about any man – I just want to be famous.

CCM: So you weren't happy with the fortune that was told by the gypsy?

Luisita: I was furious with the gypsy. But I will tell you I did travel the world – I have been to China, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Europe and the Caribbean, and I did meet Ferdie in my travels.

CCM: How did your professional career get started?

Luisita: I danced at the Hotel Christina when I was just 15. Roberto Iglesias, the famous Flamenco dancer, came in and saw me dance. He said, "yo quiero esa gitana (I want that gypsy) to put in my company." I was very flattered that someone of his caliber would want to take me into his troupe – so I guess I was pretty good – (laughing) – I can say that with all modesty, I was a very good dancer. I left Spain after about a year when my parents said I needed to come home. When I returned home, I explained to my mother I needed to go on tour with someone. I had been in Sevilla dancing and I wanted to continue my career. So I went to New York.

CCM: How did you meet Ferdie?

Luisita: I met him in Miami in August of 1969. I was dancing with a group called Los Chavales de España. Ferdie and I were unaware of a mutual friend named Barry Sinco. He was the entertainment director of the American Hotel in Puerto Rico. He told Ferdie that he met Ferdie's "wife-to-be" and that I was a Spanish-American who spoke Spanish. He said I was a talented Flamenco dancer and that I had "no baggage", meaning I had never been married. He told him if he ever saw Los Chavales de España to introduce himself and he would never regret it. Ferdie told him he was engaged to be married and was not interested in meeting anyone.

CCM: So how did the two of you get together?

Luisita: Ferdie was watching a football game with Gil Clancy and Hector Mendez, a promoter from Argentina, and they were talking about boxing. Hector suggested they go with him to see Los Chavales. Since they were discussing a business transaction for boxing, they decided to go and finish their business there. That was 35 years ago and I looked beautiful with my long dark hair pulled back in a bun, slim figured with wonderful costumes, doing what I loved most in life. Ferdie saw me and he fell head over heels in love with me – it was love at first sight! My first impression of him was his humor. He could be a stand-up comic he is so funny. He made me laugh as he does every day. His beautiful voice and vocabulary also impressed me.

CCM: Ferdie was a doctor in Miami and also Muhammad Ali's doctor. I understand he treated families in poor neighborhoods?

Luisita: Yes, he was important in the ghetto as a doctor treating patients for $5 a visit. He did not charge people over 65 or children under 2 years old. He treated all the boxers and their families for nothing including Muhammad Ali.

He treated and helped the Cubans when they came to his office at S.W. 8th Street. He was the first doctor to get boxers that boxed on television safety measures, and the first to have ambulances at each boxing match in case of emergency. A boxer had died in his arms because the doctor was getting a hot dog and wasn't in attendance. Ferdie, at the time, was working as a commentator. I was proud when he left Ali because he knew (Ali) was being damaged and told him to quit. Ferdie was a physician first and a corner man second. He could not stay and watch this happen.

CCM: After you met Ferdie, was that when you decided to settle down and stop dancing?

Luisita: Before I married Ferdie I wanted to open a dance school and I did eventually open my studio in Miami. I started teaching and I had a school for many years. I am very proud of what I did and I gave of my talent. I wanted to have roots. I lived out of a suitcase for 12 years and I enjoyed every minute of it. I would not change a thing. After I had my daughter I knew I had to change my life because I wanted to be with her. I didn't want to be in the studio all the time. I wanted to raise her, so that is what I did.

CCM: So you and Ferdie have just the one daughter?

Luisita: Yes, her name is Tina Louise Pacheco.

CCM: You have stayed busy helping Ferdie with his work, haven't you?

Luisita: With Ferdie, I have grown so much in other avenues. I edited 15 of his books and typed each one. I learned the computer, learned how to manage his artwork, and do all his shows and promote his work. So, I have been behind this man. When I met and married him, he was a doctor and he hadn't written a book, sold a painting, or been on television.

CCM: Thinking back, was there anything in your career you wished you had done?

Luisita: Yes, I wish I had worked with a dance company in Spain and grown that way. But opportunity came and I didn't take it. Sometimes you have to take the opportunity when it comes, but things stand in your way and opportunity is lost.

CCM: Do you still have family back in Colorado?

Luisita: Yes, I have my mother, my cousins, my aunts, my sister – they all live in Colorado. My brother from Louisiana is staying with us in Miami. He lost his home due to the hurricane and is very ill. (On Christmas Day 2005, Luisita's brother Mike died.)

CCM: It sounds like you stay very busy.

Luisita: When Ferdie had a stroke 3 years ago I had to take over everything. I had to take care of him. But, since his stroke an astonishing thing has happened. Either blood went into another part of his brain and opened a new avenue of thought, I don't know; but ever since then, he has dreams every night. These are stories that have a beginning, middle and end. So far, he has written 50 of them and had them published in La Gaceta Newspaper in Tampa. He is on a fast track now. It's like he is in a race and can't wait for the finish line until he has done what he needs to do before it ends and he wins the race or dies.

CCM: I understand you had a very strange dream shortly before Ferdie had his stroke.

Luisita: Two weeks before his stroke, I had a dream that we are driving to Tampa and, as we arrive, he is having a stroke in the car. I stop the car and run up to some people to ask for help with my husband, and no one helps me. I told Ferdie about my dream and he said, "I hope that doesn't happen to me". Two weeks later, we are driving to Tampa and he starts to have a stroke in the car, but this time I knew what to do. I called a childhood friend, Dr. Victor Martinez, who came over, took him to the emergency room at St. Joseph's Hospital and saved Ferdie's life. I love that man – can't thank him enough.

CCM: So before his stroke you were just helping him but now you are doing more?

Luisita: Right, except I don't paint and I don't write. He still paints and writes even though he had a stroke. I paint also, but no one knows about it. I have to manage his work so I don't have much time to paint. Most of my paintings have gone to my family and friends.

CCM: What do you like to paint?

Luisita: I paint women and children – kind of primitive, Indian faces.

CCM: Maybe we need to do a Luisita Sevilla art show?

Luisita (laughing out loud): I'd have to start painting more.

CCM: Has Ferdie's painting changed since his stroke?

Luisita: He still paints as fast he did and he doesn't have a model – it all comes from his brain.

CCM: Luisita, you are an example of someone who had a dream and pursued that dream no matter what! Plus, you had these wonderful parents that helped you with your dream by making personal sacrifices.

Luisita: I have used creative utilization since I was very little, but I didn't know what it was. I would see myself in another time, in another place. I kind of did that with Ferdie's art. I told him that his art was good and he needed to start painting big! So he did, and it has kind of snowballed since.

CCM: You visualize these things in your mind?

Luisita: Yes, it is like an arrow or laser pointing and telling me this is going to happen. If you really focus on something you can make it happen.

CCM: Maybe you have some ancient Indian ancestors guiding you.

Luisita: Yes, I think I do.

CCM: So what do you see in the future for you and Ferdie?

Luisita: He is a narrative painter – a historical painter of Tampa. I feel he will be recognized, as he should be. He has written many books on it and painted hundreds of paintings on it – I think he will be recognized.

CCM: Sounds like that old gypsy woman turned out to be right. I'm glad you let her read your palm that day – she set you on the right course.

Luisita: I think she did.

"La Gitana: A Conversation with Luisita Pacheco" by Marilyn Esperante Figueredo appears in Volume 1, Issue 3 of Cigar City Magazine.

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