Passed Away On: April 13, 2022
Amelia Gonzalez passed away on April 13, 2022 in Hollister, California at 99 years of age.
Amelia was a caring and devoted wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, great-great-grandmother and friend. She left us on April 13, 2022 to join her late husband Jose Chavez Gonzalez, sons Rudy, who passed at the age of three and Albert, who was killed in 1968 in Vietnam. As a Gold Star mother, joined by her family, Amelia always looked forward to joining others in commemorating her son Albert and the many other “fallen but not forgotten” at the annual Memorial Day Celebration.
Amelia worked for many years for the Fairview Packing Company Cannery in Hollister beginning in the 1950s through the 1970s. There she made many lifelong friends, joining together to form the Club de Damas, a service and social group for Spanish-speaking women of the community, serving many years as the Club Secretary. Amelia was very proud of the scholarships that the organization was able to provide to graduates of San Benito High School. After retiring from the cannery, Amelia worked many years serving customers with her warm personality and ready smile at the family businesses of Gonzalez Market, Gonzalez Liquors and Superior Bakery, making many more friends along the way.
In her later years, by far her best friend, who lived just across the street, was Della (Rogers) Martinez. Della would drive her to bingo every week at the Sacred Heart Parish Hall on Fridays and to the Lyon’s Club in San Martin on Wednesdays. Many times, they traveled for fun and entertainment with the ladies of “Friends Forever” to the Indian casinos and to Reno, Nevada. As Amelia grew older and ill, along with daughter Liz and granddaughters Carly and Jenna, caregivers Cristina and Gabe, Della provided her care and companionship that only a great and true friend could do, even at the very end.
Amelia will always be remembered by her family and friends for her infinite capacity to show her great love for all of us, through thick and thin. No matter how tired she was or how late it might have been, she always made it her mission to treat her family and friends to her great home cooking. Amelia will be sorely missed by all her family and friends.
Amelia is survived by her children Raul, Fernando, Esther, Anna Marie Ramirez (Art), Joe Paul (Irma) and Elizabeth Callahan (Joseph); numerous grandchildren, great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild.
A funeral/graveside service will be held Thursday April 21, 2022 at 12:00 p.m. in the chapel at Calvary Cemetery. Interment to Calvary Cemetery Mausoleum will follow the service.