The Miami Herald, Inc.; a Knight Ridder publication. One Herald Plaza, Miami, FL 33132-1693 - Saturday, October 12, 1996 Edition: Final Section: Front Page: 1A Word Count: 859
Carol Rosenberg, Herald Staff Writer

"I closed his eyes. I was there at the end," said Tony Lopez, 35, as he sewed a final few stitches into a panel for the Cuban-American nurse and part-time poet who died of AIDS-related cancer in Coral Gables on Oct. 7, 1995.

Pernas, 34, was born in Havana and came to Miami as part of the Mariel boatlift, Lopez said. His mother had thrown Pernas out of her home, Lopez said, because he was a homosexual.

"He came here alone," Lopez said. "He put himself through school. He was Cuban, he was very typical Cuban."

So, the coffin-size three-by-six-foot quilt panel included a Cuban flag, a photograph of the brawny man surrounded by angels, and a love poem penned by the dying man -- "Porque te amo de verdad" (Because I truly love you).

Pernas' panel was one of about two dozen brought to Washington from South Florida, devotedly carried by some 125 friends and family members of AIDS victims. They joined tens of thousands more who gathered with the nearly 40,000-panel, 42-ton quilt containing the names of more than 70,000 AIDS victims for a collective catharsis and show of political clout.

All day long, volunteers with indelible-ink pens passed out buttons to quilt visitors that bore the message "I'm Voting in Memory of . . ." so people could fill in their loved one's name.

Others moved through the grassy Mall as the quilt was unfurled Friday morning -- a nearly mile-long tapestry of photos and fabric memory stretching from the Capitol reflecting pool practically to the base of the Washington Monument. Hundreds of tissue boxes were discreetly placed 20 feet apart. Lopez, an accountant, came with a planeload of Miami-area participants who arrived Friday morning, including a delegation from the New World School of the Arts and representatives of Body Positive, a South Florida HIV-positive support group.

A busy weekend

They raced to a hotel near the Watergate, whizzing past the Mall long enough to glimpse an outdoor exhibit of statues by Colombian artist Fernando Botero before heading into a full weekend of activities -- adding new pieces to the quilt in the morning, marching in a candlelight vigil at night.

Lopez lovingly handed Pernas' piece to quilt registrars assembled in a tent for cataloguing -- and watched as white-clad volunteers gently pinned it alongside a traditional patchwork Tree of Life memorializing a woman and her 4-year-old daughter, both AIDS victims from New York City.

"To be honest, there's a sense of relief," Lopez said as he received a certificate declaring his panel No. 3,131 among the newly arrived pieces.

Earlier, he had sat almost alone on the lush green Mall and finished it. `An average Joe'

"He kind of looked like Andy Garcia," sighed the Cuban-American, California-raised Lopez in a spontaneous stream-of-thought. "He was just an average Joe, just trying to make it day by day."

He said the two men had met when Lopez moved to Miami nearly four years ago. Pernas was already sick and had no one to take care of him. So Lopez did.

"I cared very much for my friend -- and no one else would have done it," he said. "I wanted to do something for him."

He declared himself satisfied with his handiwork -- a bit of stitching here, some of the self-styled poet's writing there -- and pronounced his work done.

"Look, not everyone can make a Botero statue," he said, "but this is something I can do. It's the love you put into it, acknowledging him by doing this. As I see it, this is a celebration of life -- not dying."

CAPTION: color photo: The AIDS quilt stretches the length of three football fields from the Washington Monument to the Capitol (a), Tony Lopez sews the last few stitches of a panel in memory of his friend Rafael Pernas as Ernie Lopez looks on (a); photo: Sharon Cashin is comforted by Pat Grasser as they stand before the personalized panel of her son of the AIDS quilt (a)

MARICE COHN BAND / Herald Staff LABOR OF LOVE: The monumental AIDS memorial quilt, left, stretches the length of three football fields Friday from the Washington Monument to the Capitol, bearing the names of 70,000 Americans who died of AIDS. Above, Tony Lopez sews the last few stitches of a panel in memory of his friend Rafael Pernas, a Cuban-American nurse and part-time poet who died a year ago in Coral Gables. With him is Ernie Lopez, director of Body Positive, a South Florida HIV-positive support group. Tens of thousands gathered at the Mall. KRT Photo REMEMBERING: Sharon Cashin, right, of Marquette, Mich., whose son is memorialized in the AIDS memorial quilt, is comforted Friday by Pat Grasser as they stand before the personalized panel.

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