News From Native California - Spring 2015 Volume 28, Issue 3 | Page 39

with respect

With Respect
DAVID BELARDES
March 8, 1947–December 29, 2014
in the early morning hours of December 29, 2014, our
captain and my dear friend David crossed over, with his sister Donna, sons Mathias and Domingo, grandchildren, family, and friends sending him on this journey. He was born to
Francis Salagado and Matias Belardes on March 8, 1947. In
David’s early childhood his parents taught him the importance of community service and traditional ways. He married ChaCha (Aurora Paramo Belardes) in 1964 and they had
two sons. They were married for forty years, until she passed
away. David continued the teachings of his elders by instilling the values and ways of the old people into his children,
grandchildren, and community as a whole.
David, also known as Mr. B, contributed a wealth of
knowledge to his village of Acjachema (San Juan Capistrano), where he spent his entire life. His father, Matias, was
the patriarch of San Juan Capistrano and considered by
many to be a go-to person for guidance and financial assistance. Matias’s example of leadership would be David’s foundation for his life’s work. David’s connection to the land was
amazing and I honestly can say there is no other person who
knew the geography of our homeland like he did. David
could name every canyon, river, and mountain in Acjachemen territory and tell stories of people and events that
brought the land alive. He was a conduit for bringing families, scholars, and elected officials together in the spirit of
education, community building, and policy making throughout Orange County.
Mr. B’s accomplishments were vast: chief, chairman, most
likely descendant for the Juaneño Band of Mission Indians
and Acjachemen Nation. He served on many boards and
foundations, far too many to list. Chairman Belardes was
instrumental in bringing the Acjachemen language revitalization movement to the community and his precedent-setting
advice was invaluable in creating and changing environmental policies. He fulfilled his lifelong dream of and was the
major contributor in establishing an Acjachemen Cultural
Center in the heart of his village. Today the Blas Aguilar

Adobe/Acjachemen Cultural Center will be a testament to
his legacy.
My education with David began in the early 1990s while
observing him protecting the remains of a fifteen-hundredyear-old burial of a mother and a child. The image of their
bodies stays with me to this day. I asked him how he did it
and he responded by saying “Yo no mé voy, mé estan llevando”
(“I am not going, they are taking me”). Taking care of the
dead was a priority of David’s for most of his adult life.
With the Acjachemen territory under constant threat of
development, protecting our ancestral sacred sites was at the
forefront of his responsibilities. David’s intellect, wit, charisma, and strategic abilities were astonishing. His unique
qualifications and experience presented opportunities to educate the public on the unjust realities of California Indians. It
was an honor to be his student.
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