Claro Alarcon Obituary (1964 - 2023)

Claro Alarcon, aged 58, passed away unexpectedly on Monday, February 13th, 2023, in his home in Imperial, CA. Claro was born at Imperial County Hospital located in El Centro, CA on June 11th, 1964, to Sabina Reyes Ortiz and Trinidad Alarcon. He came into the world at 5:17 am as an adorable green eyed, blondish baby. For the first few years of his life, Claro spent lots of time in Mexicali with his grandmother Panchita while his mom Sabina worked to support the family. Needless to say, Claro got into lots of mischief as a little boy. He loved telling the story of how he jumped off of his grandmother's roof while holding an umbrella so that he could fly like Mary Poppins. Plus, the day he invented his own Olympic sport and catapulted across into the neighbor's yard and almost lost an eye. Thus, the scar over his left eye. Claro attended schools in Brawley, CA as a child. He started kindergarten at Ruth Reid Elementary School at the age of 5. From there, he went on to Miguel Hidalgo Elementary until he completed the 6th grade. It was during his years at Miguel Hidalgo that he started friendships that continued into his adult life. He enjoyed playing flag football and basketball with friends during his years at Miguel Hidalgo. He then attended Barbara Worth Junior High School for grades 7th-8th. It was during this time that his passion for music started to take root. He worked at the Brawley Theaters in order to save up money for his first Les Paul electric guitar. Claro then went on to high school and graduated from Brawley Union High School in 1983. During his time at BUHS, he was on the BUHS Wildcats wrestling team. Claro was in publications class and was part of the team that worked on and put together the BUHS yearbooks. On any given day during publications class, you could find Claro and his friends at various businesses in Brawley trying to sell ads for the yearbook. Others in class, including the teacher, often wondered what they were really up to. Claro was also the editor of the school's newspaper, The Wildcat, and contributed various articles during its publication. During his high school years, Claro worked at Del Taco part time. He saved up his money to indulge in his passion for music. By this time, his love of music was cemented. The rock band KISS was his number one band. His love for the band continued throughout his entire life. He attended his first KISS concert while he was in the 9th grade on November 29th, 1979. He also went to Queen's start of The Game Tour on July 5th, 1980. Led Zeppelin and the band U2 also held a place in his heart. Some of the biggest highlights of his life were actually getting to meet Paul Stanley from KISS and Bono and The Edge from U2. After graduating from BUHS in 1983, Claro attended Imperial Valley College for a brief period before moving away to Oceanside. There, he attended Palomar Jr College. He then enlisted in the United States Marine Corps (USMC) and served his country from 1985-1989. He was stationed at Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base, serving one year in Okinawa, Japan. After serving in the USMC, Claro returned to Brawley. He then went to work for Calcot, Ltd for a couple of years before joining United States Customs and Border Protection in 1991, where he dedicated 31 years of service. He spent the majority of his years there working in the cargo section inspecting trucks as they crossed the border. He formed many friendships throughout his years with CBP. Occasionally, you could spot Claro at various locations throughout the Valley doing recruitment for CBP. Manning the recruitment booth at the California Mid-Winter Fair was sometimes one of those locations. He also enjoyed traveling out of the Valley to other states for special training sessions that CBP sent him to. He was very meticulous when it came to performing his duties with CBP. During his time off from work, Claro enjoyed his football with a passion. His all-time favorite team was the Raiders. He loved playing fantasy football. Football season was when he came alive. He had numerous TVs mounted on the wall in his living room to keep up with all of his football games. In addition to football, Claro loved rocking out at concerts, jamming out to Rock En Espanol, and sharing his love for music with everyone he knew and loved. His favorite bands were, as stated earlier, Led Zeppelin, U2, and of course, KISS. He was always willing to share life advice with anyone interested in hearing it. He had accumulated lots of valuable life lessons throughout the years. Claro also used some of his spare time to work on his 1991 black Ford F-150. It needed lots of repairs, still does, but he never got rid of it. He is preceded in death by his younger brother Bernardo "Bernie" Alarcon, and survived by his two sons Angel & Cristian Alarcon, his grandson Augustus Alexander Alarcon, his older sister Beneranda Foret, his older brother Alvino Alarcon, and his mother Sabina Reyes Ortiz. Claro took great pride in sharing his experiences, advice, and words of wisdom with everyone who would listen. He was a hardworking man, well-respected by his colleagues, and took great pride in getting the job done. He was a tough, humorous, cautious, frugal, resourceful, and very responsible man. Although he may no longer be with us, he will remain forever in our hearts and memories. Claro Alarcon - Celebration of Life & Schedule of Events 9:00am-11:00am - Frye Chapel & Mortuary Doors open 11:30am - Burial @ Riverview Cemetery 12:30pm-3:30pm Lunch/Gathering @ ACC Hall