| Diocesan News

God is.

“The No. 1 thing in David’s and my life is God and religion,” Carmen, 57, said. “No. 2: the family. No. 3 is extended family. No. 4 is more family. And No. 5 is our job. Our profession.”

They also make it clear that life matters.

Stop by their store, at the corner of West Martin Luther King Boulevard and North Armenia Avenue, and this fact becomes immediately clear - from the pro-life pamphlets and videos to the fetal models to the large banner inside the store that reads, “If you’re pregnant, it’s a baby. Choose life.”

As devout Catholics, they practice what they preach. When they got married in 1969, they did not use contraception, but followed natural family planning, David, 61, said. In the years that followed, three sons became part of their family.

When David became a pharmacist, he worked for several companies, but the couple decided in the mid-1970s to start their business. As owners, the couple decided not to sell birth control pills or other contraceptives, a practice they have kept to for about 30 years now.

“We wanted to please God first before men,” David said. “God's laws and our faith meant more than anything else.”

The couple, who were born in Cuba and met each other in Tampa, do not know how many lives they have touched because of their pro-life witness, which is offered in English and in Spanish.

“Only God knows,” David said.

But Carmen recalls one woman who came into the store who considered the fetus growing inside her as “real and alive,” but her friends kept telling her to have an abortion because, if she didn’t, she would be “crazy.” The woman happened to see one of the pro-life signs at David’s Pharmacy, Carmen said, and told her friends, “Somebody else doesn’t think I’m crazy.” And she decided to keep the baby.

“Because this issue has crossed the line into chemical abortion, which is the birth control pill, Depo-Provera, Norplant, RU-486, I consider it a privilege from God to stand up as a light among the darkness in this world,” Carmen said. “Politically, I might not be able to changes these laws, but I can educate people.”

She and her husband educate people in English and in Spanish.

“This is strictly the work of God, the work of God in our daily lives, while we're doing our work to earn a living,” Carmen said. “This is a mission. If I had to choose a mission in life, I would choose to work with the mentally ill. I would work with abused children. God wanted David and me to do this work and all we did was to say yes.”

Their customers seem to appreciate their service and commitment.

“When customers come in, they’re treated like a person, not like another number,” said Dale Kimball, a customer for 19 years, who added that the Cartayas are “loving, but firm” in their pro-life views. Kimball said he knows of another customer who drives from Spring Hill - about 45 minutes away - to patronize the store.

But further proof is that, several years ago, Walgreens opened up just yards away from David’s Pharmacy, Kimball said.

“David’s business didn’t change at all,” he said. “It kept thriving because of their commitment to the community. There’s David and there’s Goliath 100 feet away. I always joke that David is still winning.”