When Robert F. Kennedy decided to duck through the kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles after declaring victory in the 1968 Democratic presidential primary, Juan Romero revelled at his good fortune.
It meant the 18-year-old busboy might get to shake hands with his hero - the man he'd assured himself would be the next president of the United States - for the second time in two days.
For years, Juan Romero would wonder what more he should have done to save Robert F. Kennedy in 1968. Source: AAP
Romero had just grasped Kennedy's hand when gunshots rang out, one of them striking the senator in the head.
Kennedy would die the next day and the teenage Mexican immigrant who had idolised him would carry the emotional burden of that encounter for most of his life.
Romero died on Monday in a Modesto, California, hospital following a heart attack, Rigo Chacon, a longtime family friend and former TV newsman, told The Associated Press. He was 68.
Romero, who moved from Los Angeles decades ago, spent most of his life in the Northern California cities of San Jose and Modesto, Chacon said.
He worked in construction, including concrete and asphalt paving, enjoying the often-gruelling physical labour with no intention of retiring any time soon.
Juan Romero holds crucifixes sent to him to replace the Rosary which he gave to the Senator. Source: Getty Images
For decades, each time Romero saw black-and-white news photos of himself (a baby-faced busboy gently cradling Kennedy as he lay sprawled on the hotel's concrete kitchen floor) he would wonder what more he should have done to save Kennedy.
Only recently, he said during rare interviews this year, did he finally come to terms with that struggle.
He said he still carried the example Kennedy had set as he campaigned for equality and civil rights.
"I still have the fire burning inside of me," Romero said.
He was working at the Ambassador Hotel the day before the June 1968 California primary when Kennedy and his aides ordered room service and he was called on to help deliver it.
June 5, 1968: Presidential hopeful Senator Robert F. Kennedy waves goodbye to his supporters as he prepares to leave the Ambassador Hotel ballroom. Source: AAP
"All I remember was that I kept staring at him with my mouth open," he would say later.
Finally, Kennedy approached, grabbed Romero's hand with both of his and said, "Thank you".
"I will never forget the handshake and the look ... looking right at you with those piercing eyes that said, 'I'm one of you. We're good,"' Romero said.
As they talked, Romero pressed a set of Rosary beads into the senator's hand as news photographers frantically took pictures. Kennedy died the next day at 42.
When he visited Kennedy's grave at Arlington National Cemetery a few years ago, Romero wept as he spoke directly to the senator.
Romero is survived by daughters Elda Romero, Josefina Guerra and Cynthia Medina; a son, Greg Romero; and grandson, Chris Ortiz.
