Calling him, "My Hero", Martin Sheen Sunday June 13, 2010 is announcing that a Roman Catholic Mass, memoriializing the life of his brother, Carlos Patrick Estevez will be said this week in Malibu, California, where he lived for many years. Who has died.

"He died peacefully, quietly, slowly drifting away" Sheen said, "with my wife Janet, his Sister Carmen, and me at his side".

The three had tended to him for several weeks at Sunshine Haven, prior to his passing following a long battle with terminal lung cancer.

While most consider the family business to be in acting and the entertainment world, Carlos Estevez followed a different path. His mother, Mary Ann (nee Phelan), an immigrant from Borrisokane, County Tipperary, Ireland and his father Francisco Estevez from Parderrubias, Spain, met in a US citizenship class, fell in love and married in Dayton, Ohio to start and raise their family of 10 children, two daughters and eight sons, including Carlos, who was one of several sons born in Paget, Bermuda April 25, 1936.  Carlos' father worked for NCR (National Cash Register) in Dayton and Bermuda but his mother died suddenly when Carlos was fifteen. Carlos is remembered as a patient and loving brother to the six younger siblings left following their mothers death.  Of the family members in the Rio Grande Valley tending to Mr. Estevez,  Ramon (Martin Sheen), was born in Dayton, Ohio, and currently is a TV and Film actor living in California. His only sister, Carmen Estevez, was born in Dayton, Ohio and is a retired English teacher in Spain.

Martin Sheen's announcement continues: "My oldest living brother Carlos, was my hero, because he was the first member of the Estevez family to seek abstinence of alcohol through the 12 steps of the A.A. or Alcoholics Anonymous program, which led the way for other family members, like myself, to be able to live a life of sobriety and sanity". Without Carlos, as my mentor and my older brother, I do not know where I would be today."

Following graduation from Chaminade High School in 1955 Carlos volunteered for military service serving as a Photographic Cartographer for Naval Intelligence (was honorably discharged as a Petty Officer from the U.S. Navy in 1959). He served as a merchant seaman aboard U.S. Navy aircraft carriers, in coordinating air operations, and followed a life of traveling the world and serving the security and comfort of passengers of the Hispanic, and the Italian Cruise Lines.  He was also a Chef on ships, serving oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. He worked with a thoroughbred horses in Louisville, Ky. and finally as a landscaper.  In his final days, Carlos' preference at the Sunshine Haven in Olmito Tx., was to sit on the screened in porch to watch the ducks, birds and other wildlife which frequent the feeders and water ponds beside the wooded back yard.

Carlos wished to be remembered as an advocate for living a life, free of the horrors of the disease of alcohol & mind altering drugs and as an example to others of why they should not smoke, since he was dying of terminal lung cancer, the result of 64 years of smoking.  He began smoking at the age of ten, picking up the habit from his mother.  He said, "a life of addiction to cigarettes begins with the first puff, a life of addiction to alcohol and drugs begins with the first drink or ingesting chemicals for the first time.  It's all downhill from there for you and for your family."

The Estevez Family wishes to thank the people of the Rio Grande Valley for befriending Carlos the over 10 years he lived here, and especially to the staff of both: the hospice organization Odyssey's HealthCare Sandi Jo Funk Hospice, which began caring for him at his home in Brownsville, and; the Sunshine Haven residential special care facility in Olmito, Tx.  "We see why he chose to move here from Louisville, Kentucky because of the tropical climate and of the nurturing, friendly, hospitable, blended hispanic anglo culture of the people of this region."

A life long bachelor, who never married, Estevez is survived by his 5 siblings and numerous nieces, nephews, and grand nieces and nephews who will miss him and strive to learn from his example and from his mistakes, as he lovingly asked them to do.

Pending memorial arrangements the family requests in lieu of flowers, that donations be made to Sunshine Haven, P. O. Box 4478, Brownsville, Texas 78523-4478.  Sunshine Haven, a non-profit 501 (c) 3 corporation, is seeking to raise $50,000 to provide electrical, air conditioning and emergency AC power for 8 additional bedrooms.  The new wing, when the funds are raised and the wing completed, will almost triple its capacity to serve dying patients and their families who need compassionate care. There is a long list of people who are on the waiting list to get a bed at Sunshine Haven, but must be turned away for lack of space. There is currently only room for three, for a facility, which serves all of Cameron and Willacy Counties.  In Hidalgo County, Comfort House in McAllen has the capacity to serve 10 hospice care clients, and Aurora House in Weslaco, which can serve 4!

Following Carlos' wishes, following cremation, a Memorial Mass was said in his name in Dayton, Ohio, which was the location of the last Estevez family residence.

Written by Ron Whitlock

Edited by the Estevez Family

Carlos Patrick Estévez 1936 - 2010