Candelario's father, Daniel, had lost his job, his car and his apartment before losing his son.
Michael D. CandelarioCHICOPEE – Things had been going fine for Daniel Candelario until February. First he lost his job, then his car, then his apartment and then the unimaginable happened last week when his son drowned while swimming.
Now he is trying to figure out how to pay for the funeral for his 14-year-old son Michael Diland Candelario, who died July 11.
“We were checking out prices and I was shocked. In Puerto Rico it is so different. A good funeral would cost $4,500, and here they were asking for $8,000,” he said.
A group of community members who learned about the family’s plight are organizing a youth night with music and dancing from midnight, July 21 at the Basilica of the Holy Apostles on 339 State St. in Springfield. Those attending will be asked to donate $5.
A memorial fund has also been established for Michael D. Candelario at Freedom Credit Union, account #1005631957.
Candelario said he appreciates the help he is getting from the community and also thanks the other teenagers who tried to save his son.
“Michael was a good kid. What happened was a tragedy. We all told him not to go there, but it was hot that day,” Candelario said.
Police are investigating the accident, but friends whom he was with said the teenager slipped when standing on the top of a dam in the Chicopee River that others had already jumped from. He fell into the water and drowned.
Following a divorce, Daniel Candelario came to Western Massachusetts to find work in 2009. He had seven children, including Michael, who range in age from 18 to 3. Two children stayed in Puerto Rico with his former wife while five joined him a few months later.
An experienced line cook, Candelario found work and rented an apartment.
“I lost my job in February, and everything went downhill,” he said.
Candelario ended up moving in with his mother in Chicopee, leaving seven people crowded into a two-bedroom apartment. Then he learned his mother was behind in bills, adding to the problem.
Things are improving slightly. Last week owners of Spoleto in East Longmeadow called him back to work, and he returned Monday. Even though it will take him more than two hours to get to his job by bus, Candelario said he was happy to have the work.
But that is no consolation for losing his son.
Michael Candelario had just finished his freshman year at Chicopee High. Staff described him as friendly and respectful. Neighborhood adults said he was “a good kid.”
His father said he worried his son was sometimes trying to take on adult burdens.
“We wanted to be grown up so fast. Sometimes he would speak like a grownup and I would say, ‘You are only 14, and you are worrying about things like where to get money to pay bills,’” he said. “I would tell him, ‘You are just a kid. Live your life and have fun and be careful,’” he said.
But Candelario also insisted on standards for his children. He followed his mother’s rules of absolutely no swearing, helping with chores and being respectful to all adults, he said.
His son was always moving. He spent a lot of time playing basketball and riding his skateboard with friends. Candelario said the skateboard drove him crazy since his son broke his arm on it twice.
He hadn’t decided what he wanted to do when he grew up. He loved Audi’s and always said he was going to get a good job and buy one some day, Candelario said.
Along with mourning his son, Candelario said he is happy to see signs up telling people not to swim near the dam and a fence has been mended to keep kids out.
He understands kids want to swim, but there are better places in the river where the water is calm and it isn’t that deep, he said.