Xosé Antonio García Cotarelo

It’s with a heart both full and heavy that we say goodbye to Xosé Antonio García Cotarelo—our Pepe, our husband, our father, our “Pepe de Regos.” To know him was to know a man of quiet, profound depth, a soul who carried the weight of a courtroom with the grace of a poet and the warmth of a grandfather. I’ll never forget the way he’d sit at his desk, surrounded by towering law books, only to look up and spin a fantastical story for the grandkids about a brave little fox from Regos, his eyes twinkling with a mischief that belied his years. He found magic in the ordinary, and he made everyone around him feel like they were part of a wonderful, ongoing story. For us, his family, he was the anchor. He built a life of unwavering love with his beloved wife, a partnership of over sixty years that was our foundation. He was a father who showed up—not just with advice, but with presence. I see him now, teaching his sons to fish on the quiet rivers of Galicia, or patiently helping his daughter with homework at the same kitchen table where he’d later draft his novels. Sunday lunches were legendary, filled with his booming laugh, debates that ranged from the latest legal precedent to the fate of a fictional character, and the feeling that this perfect, noisy, loving circle was the greatest achievement of all. He was a grandfather who believed in