HERIBERTO SEDENO M.D. HELPS PRESERVE PEDRO PAN’S HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS

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HERIBERTO SEDENO M.D. HELPS PRESERVE PEDRO PANS
HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS
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Dr. Sedeno, with his substantial gift in the year
2000 to Barry University in Miami, Florida,
helped preserve Monsignor Bryan O. Walshs Pedro
Pan historical collection dating from 1960 to
1962. Barry University serves as the repository
of this collection containing important documents
pertaining to the U.S. government-backed Pedro
Pan program. Dr. Sedeno visited Barry University
during the summer of 2000. At that time, he met
with Sister Dorothy Jehle, OP (then Director of
Archives) who showed him Msgr. Walshs archived
documents. These documents are connected with
Dr. Sedenos stay at Camp Matecumbe, Florida,
from October 2, 1962 to September 11, 1961, as a
participant of the Pedro Pan program.
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Sister Jeanne Laughlin, OP, Ph.D., President of
Barry University later thanked Dr. Sedeno for his
gift specifically designated for use at the
Archive Department for the work associated in the
preservation and cataloguing of Msgr. Walshs
documents. Sister Jeanne, a native of Detroit,
belonged to the Michigan-based Adriane Dominican
Order of nuns. Under her leadership, Barry
University quadrupled its student population and
became Floridas largest private University. She
made international headlines in 2001 when she
became involved in the Elian Gonzalez saga.
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Elian arrived in Miamis shores literally hanging
from a lifesaver after escaping Cuba with his
mother who perished at sea. Elian for practical
purposes became an unaccompanied 6-yr old boy,
reminiscent of the over 14,000 unaccompanied
Cuban children who had arrived to the U.S.A. 40
years earlier. It was around the same time that
Elians fate was being decided by his family,
Cuban and U.S. government, that Dr. Sedeno was
visiting with Sister Dorothy. It seemed
coincidental to Dr. Sedeno that in connecting
with his past, a revival of his story as an
unaccompanied Cuban child arriving in the U.S.A.
a similar story that of Elian, was playing out in
Miami.