SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — Nestor Vallar has spent more than two decades working to honor his father's legacy — and his latest effort has paid off.
His father, Vitaliano Vallar, was a Navy sailor who painted portraits of military dignitaries while serving aboard his ship in the 1940s and 1950s. According to Nestor, his father's commanding officer recognized his talent and pulled him from cooking duties to paint admirals and other important figures.
"When his captain realized that he had a lot of talent, especially in oil, and they took him off cooking duties and had him paint all these important admirals," Nestor said.
Nestor has spent years collecting his father's original paintings and trying to identify the subjects depicted in them.
"It's been a long journey trying to figure out who all these individuals were," Nestor said.
"We didn't know if they were still alive or where these paintings went," Nestor said.
Along the way, Nestor said he felt his father never received the recognition he deserved.
"I realized that he didn't really get much recognition from the Navy during that time period," Nestor said.
Determined to change that, Nestor reached out to San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria's office to request a certificate of recognition — but was initially turned down.
"When I emailed Todd Gloria's website. I waited, waited, didn't hear anything," Nestor said.
The response he eventually received was a rejection.
"After careful review, we regret to inform you that we are unable to grant your request at this time," Nestor said.
Rather than accept the denial, Nestor pushed back.
"But that didn't stop me, so I went ahead and fired a reply email and asked, ' Would you mind reconsidering? '" Nestor said.
He resubmitted his request with additional materials, including photographs, news clips, and documentation of events tied to his father's work.
"I added his pictures, ABC News news clips, his paintings, and events that we did," Nestor said.
A week later, the answer had changed.
"It says, thank you for submitting your request for a certificate of recognition from Mayor Todd Gloria. We're pleased to inform you that your request has been approved," Nestor said.
Mayor Gloria issued a statement in response to the recognition, saying in part:
"Vitaliano Vallar's story reflects both that legacy of service and the extraordinary talents so many sailors brought with them. I'm grateful to Nestor Vallar for working to preserve and share his father's artwork, and I look forward to presenting a City of San Diego certificate of recognition honoring Vitaliano's contributions in connection with his exhibit," Gloria said.
With this milestone behind him, Nestor is already looking ahead to his next step in preserving his father's legacy.
I asked Nestor what comes next after more than two decades of research with his brothers.
"I'm gonna move on to the next accomplishment, heading to Hawaii next week, and I'm gonna try to find more of his paintings," Nestor said.
Through it all, Nestor said he hopes his parents know how far this journey has come.
"I hope that he's proud of what we've done so far… and that he's smiling. And my mom is smiling," Nestor said.
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