April 26, 1961 - July 9, 2020
To all our wonderful Family and Friends, We wanted share Brian’s life with all of you.
Brian’s parents married young, his father Ismael was 19 years old and his mother Marilyn was 16 years old, and even though they married young, they had a wonderful marriage. Brian’s first 11 years began April 1961 in Los Angeles CA with his parents and older sister Pamela, and grandparents living nearby. When Brian was brought home from the hospital, Pamela said, “my baby”. This bliss didn’t last long, they fought often, usually Pamela beating Brain up, even though Brian was bigger, he thought because she was older, he couldn’t beat her up. They were either thick-as-thieves or arguing; usually Pamela saying, “Mom tell my brother”…… Years later the Gonzalez family moved to Lockeford CA. Marilyn wanted to get away from the smog and constant traffic in LA. For a while they lived with the Haworth family and Brian became great friends with Tony. They had many mischievous adventures together, from swimming, BB-guns battles, motorcycles and singing, they would record themselves singing. It was a riot. Brian & Tony hung out with two girls from the same congregation, Kim & Terry, and he would on occasion speak of the fun the 4 had growing up. Brian had another dear friend, Kevin Eldridge, they worked and went to the same congregation together. Many years later Kevin was killed at a shooting range by a random customer. Brian felt fortunate to have many great friends through his life, even the time he and a buddy drove up to Camanche Lake to go fishing, I think drinking along the way, because when they got up there, they accidently drove into the lake; he regularly reminisced about all his friends through his 59 years, he felt blessed.
In time Brian’s parents opened an auto body shop, called Mr. Ish Custom Auto Detail Shop in Lodi, later Pamela got married, and life was rushing by, so some years later Brian’s parents decided to have a third child; Brian & Pamela got a new little sister named Tama Chante’, she is 17 years younger than Brian, and now all grown up with a family of her own. Brian took delight in teaching Chante’ naughty things; like climbing out of her crib, or slang words or using her to fetch him things. When Brian & I dated, I gave Brian a stuffed dog named Bentley, and Bentley had a heart on his tummy that read, “you’ve got my heart”, and it sat on Brian’s bed and was forbidden to touch; so of course little Chante’ wanted it, so Brian used that as bait to get him stuff, like food or the remote, it worked each & every time.
Brian had a special gift in his life, the joy & friendship of both sets of grandparents, and they always lived close by his entire life. He was especially close to his maternal grandparents. His grandma Madora would make him pj’s and quilts and baked for him, but he especially loved her fried potatoes, and when he was young, he played & worked alongside his grandpa Warren in his gardening business. Brian would be paid in ice cream at the end of the day. Brian’s grandpa Warren was one of Brian’s groomsman at our wedding. He thought of his grandpa Warren not just a grandpa, but a friend. Brain and I met through a cousin of Brian’s. The night we met, I couldn’t figure out why this guy was so goofy, especially Infront of someone new, later she found out he had stopped by a friend and had a beer, most likely a few beers. Brian thought he was funny, like Steve Martin. I was drug to every Steve Martin movie ever made. We got married in 1980 and lived in Lodi CA for 19 years. In the beginning Brian & I were always on the go. For years we were involved with hot rods and car shows. One Rod-Run Brian’s parents were in the lead car, and Brian & I were following, Brian’s dad Chevy had a new engine and it began to smoke, so Marilyn thought they were on fire and grabbed Chante’, who was a toddler in her left arm and frantically searched for the car door-handle with her right hand, because she was preparing to jump. The only reason she wasn’t successful, was because in her panic, she couldn’t find the handle. Car seats were not part of life back then. The car was fixed and all was well. We used to constantly ride our bikes, we would peddle from Lodi to Lockeford to Brian’s grandparents, visit, then head for home, but the peddle home was always the worst. I would try and hold onto Brian’s bike seat, but he would keep ahead of me so I couldn’t grab on, we would often ride through people’s sprinklers to cool off, it was a long hot ride. We joined a health club and kept very busy with swimming, tennis, jogging (jogged to somewhere and walked home), racquet-ball, and working out. Brian could play racquet-ball for hours, and before I would get into the court with him, I made sure he was already tired out, because Brian always played to win. Brian and Pamela always played games so seriously, saying, OK, play-offs, neither would except defeat, both were very competitive. The congregation we attended at the time; the guys used to play mud football. It was supposed to be two-hand-touch, but typical young guys, they were rough and covered in mud by the end of the game. Brian would be complaining how much pain he was in, then say, I hope they play next week. Curious how we both ended up being so fluffy. Brian & I had 6 years together, before children came into our lives. We wondered if we would ever have children, because the stork was taking its time, but our first son Gregory was born close to our 6th year anniversary, and Timothy arrived 4 years after that. It was now a perfect family of 4. Our life was busy, with our faith and always trying to take the boys daily to the park, or Mickie’s Grove or Lodi Lake to run & play or ride their bikes. We lived next to a school, so we took advantage of the big grass field and play ground. Even when Timothy was still in diapers, Brian would have the boys climb up & over the fence, instead of walking around and in through the gate. Thankfully neither son fell while scaling the fence, they climbed like chimps, our sons have always been full throttle. We regularly went on long bike rides and then we would have a simple picnic before peddling home, the peddling home seem to take forever. We enjoyed camping, hiking, fishing, shooting, the zoo, the ocean, Golden Gate Park, Old Sac, historically places of interest, and always seeking out the next adventure. Brian even tried surfing with
Timothy in Fort Bragg, it was hilarious! He looked like a massive penguin. As our sons grew, the activities changed. We had to work around everyone’s school schedules and jobs, and trying to get the 4 of us together was challenging, everyone went different directions. The outings to the park changed to a BBQ at the park & a game of football with a nerf foot-ball, and the joy of running with a stick was long gone.
Brian deeply loved his family, and even when Brian had worked a long hard day at the City, he was always available to help or play with our sons. Brian made sure Gregory & Timothy both had great bikes, he always kept them working and in great shape, something he as a kid really enjoyed. Timothy loved to play Monopoly, he was fierce about it, and he would get Brian & Greg to play, but he would cheat the entire time, and neither ever caught on, one time, he was cheating, and still lost. Brian always supported each son’s interest; for a while Timothy loved tether-ball, so Brian built him a tether-ball court, then it was basketball, then onto lifting weights, so our garage became a complete gym to bulk up, we had free weights, a fitness machine and punching bag with boxing gloves. Brian & I were always trying to keep up with their interest, be it trading cards, bikes, swimming, camping, fishing, shooting, and music. Each played an instrument, Gregory played alto Sax and Timothy played Bass and the trombone, and both could copy songs & music off the radio or TV, Timothy loved to ride skateboards, he spoke of the X games for a while, Gregory enjoyed computers, and they both enjoyed construction & welding. Gregory thought about under water welding for a while. Just the thought of that made me nervous. Brian always included Greg & Tim in building projects, teaching them along the way, the backyard has so many creations built by the 3 of them and under our bed has 6 boxes of pictures to chronicle the journey. We were blessed with two priceless treasures in our lives; Gregory and Timothy. We lived many happy years in Lodi, and after about 19 years in Lodi, we had the opportunity to build a home in Galt, and lived there for 21 years prior to Brian’s tragic death.
Brian has worked for the City of Stockton for the last 19 years. Prior to the City, he worked for Buz Oates in Sacramento, in property management, and prior to that, for Paragon Property Management in Stockton, and before his property management days, Brian worked for Frank Susich Masonry in Galt, but his first paying job was for his father’s detail shop in Lodi CA, called Mr. Ish Custom Auto Detail. Brian was always trying to hustle work; he took caring for his family very seriously. Brian would say he learned all sorts of tricks and how to rig something from his father, and he learned roofing & construction skills from his father-in-law Clay, but his big break came when he went to work in the masonry trade; it wasn’t just about masonry, he also learned how to operate heavy equipment. He said those 3 jobs paved the way for him to be able to work for the City of Stockton, a job he adored.
Brian’s love of cars was very early in his life. He especially loved to collect Hot Wheels and muscle cars & hot rods of all sizes. Along with his father, Brian also restored cars. His first, was his mustang, as he would say, it was cherry. Later he sold it to buy and restore a 42 Ford Truck, and after it was perfect inside & out, his wife {me} drove it over 50 and burned up the new engine; he never said not to go over a certain speed. No more vintage cars.
Brian worked hard to care for everyone. He came from a large extended family, who he loved very much. He had so many fond memories growing up; he often said, he grew up like people you saw on TV shows like; Leave It to Beaver and Happy Days. He said it was a perfect childhood.
Brian worked for the City of Stockton for the last 19 years and unlike most, he enjoyed his job. He never complained about having to go to work. Quite often Brian’s stories would be about his job at the City, he really liked all his co-worker’s and spoke of them often.
As time went on our little family of 4 grew; Gregory got married to Amanda and Timothy married Rebecca, and they gave us the most perfect grandchildren ever born. We have our 7-year-old Mason, 4 ½ year old Ian, 4-year-old Kelsey (we call her Pip), and our last of our brood, 3-year-old Nathan. Gregory’s family of 4 live in Elk Grove and Timothy’s family of 4 live in Acampo. If you had a conversation with Brian, he would have bragged about his 4 grandchildren or sons within the first 5 minutes of you talking to him. Brian stayed home for many weeks during the beginning of COVID and to help him pass time, he painted pictures for the grandchildren, and now they have something special that Papa Brian made just for them. That was Brian’s true existence of living, the deep love he had for his family. He enjoyed working and building creations in his garage for the yard or family, but his true happiness came from playing with his grandchildren, be it; in the yard or a board game, that he seldom let them win. Brain would build bird houses, bird feeders and do art projects with the grandkids in the garage, he even would paint & glitter. Besides Brian’s love of his family, he had a not-so secret other love; Food. He loved to talk about recipes, cooking and the eating. He loved the eating, especially burgers, burritos or any kind of Mexican food. Brian has always taken an interest in gardening, nature, he enjoyed the peace & quiet of it, watching the birds and life & plants grow, but in the last few years, Brian & I shared the appreciation of vegetable gardening. A passion Brian was taught by both of his grandmothers. This year’s veggie patch was growing great, lots of veggies to eat.
Brian was also a bible student his entire life and he attended the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Woodbridge CA. Many people believe when they die, they will go to heaven, but Brian & I and his entire family believe in an earthly paradise. We believe Brian is asleep for now, and one day Jesus Christ will call his name to judgement, to live in an eternal earthly paradise, where death, pain and sorrow will no longer exist. Even though we are all very sad and trying to cope with Brian’s death, we and the entire Gonzalez Family look forward to seeing Brian again, along with all our loved ones who have passed away. We look forward to a new perfect world here on earth. That is the hope Brian had believed his entire life. To help you understand better, please look it up for yourselves in your own Bibles or at JW.org. John 5; 25, 27,
28, 29, John 3:16, John 17:3, Revelation 21: 3,4, Acts 24:15, Psalm 37:11, 29, Ecclesiastes 9:5, 2 Timothy 4:1.
Brian is survived by his wife Gayle Gonzalez of 40 years, our son Gregory & his wife Amanda, their children Mason & Kelsey Gonzalez, our son Timothy & his wife Rebecca and their children Ian & Nathan Gonzalez, his mother Marilyn Gonzalez, and Brian’s little sister Tama Chante’ Kraemer, Cousin’s Arlen, Lee, Luke, & Chemar Adams, Uncle Joe & Aunt Lisa Gonzalez, Cousin Bethany Gonzalez, Uncle David & Aunt Lisa Gonzalez, Uncle Ernie Gonzalez, Auntie Sally Robbins ~ cousins Raymond, Rachel, Richard, Ruthie, Bobbie, and Elizabeth Bernal, Aunt Ruth-Ann Zamora ~ cousins Ester, Sarah, Joseph, Felipe, Mary, Izreal, Leah, and Jesse Zamora, Aunt Margaret & Marcus~ cousins Jeanne & Marty and tons of family, and many dear friends who we love like family.
Brian is proceeded in death by his older sister Pamela Synowicki, his father Ismael Gonzalez, and both sets of his grandparents J. Warren &; Madora Adams, and Joe & Esther Gonzalez, and his cousins Robert Zamora, Donald Adams, and Vera Adams.
Brian will be greatly missed by his entire family, but especially by me. I no longer have a confidant, someone to talk to & share endless stories with about our children and grandchildren. This September we would have been married 40 years and have been together since I was 15 ½ years old and Brian was 17 years old. We were even baptized together in Dec 1979. This has been a huge blow to our entire family and we all are struggling to cope with the tragedy. We appreciate all the prayers, love and support from family and friends. We are taking life moment by moment.
We sincerely want to thank everyone. We love you all.
Please leave your condolences below.
Cherokee Memorial is honored to serve the Gonzalez family.
