James Richard Gonzalez

1951 - 2025

James Richard Gonzalez

August 29, 1951 - January 3, 2025

Penrose, North Carolina - On January 3rd, James passed away quietly in his sleep, by a woodstove fire, in the home he longed to have in the mountains of North Carolina. "Jimmy," born in Chicago, was Doris Jean Hopper Gonzalez' fourth child, his father Jesus Lopez Gonzalez' second. He grew up one of six children in the working-class village of South Holland, Illinois and after graduating from high school served in the US military as an Army paratrooper just like his father.

After military service, James settled near Apex, North Carolina and married Cathel "Tammy" Johnson (Reed) and together they had two beautiful children, Matthew and Erin (Marquart), who now in adulthood reflect the best of who their parents were and are. James loved deeply, lived and worked hard, knew first-hand how tragic the human experience could be, and yet consistently breathed in anything beautiful around him.

Throughout his life, James repeatedly met challenges with a resilient spirt and a passion for living. Like many young American men in the 1960s, his service in Vietnam affected him deeply. Survival became a theme for James from his post-war twenties until his seventies when his passion for western North Carolina and his retirement placed him nightly in front of the stone fireplace he built by hand in the first home that he owned.

James was a successful welder and carpenter owning his own construction business in the Research Triangle area. With his family he loved raising goats, gardening, searching for arrowheads, and sitting on the porch on a quiet Carolina evening with one of the family's cherished pugs by his side.

In his forties, James left the construction industry to attend college for the first time and he proudly graduated with a bachelor's degree from North Carolina State University ('96) and a master's degree in social work from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill ('98). James second career was a compassionate one serving as a family therapist working with children and families affected by abuse and neglect.

It was in these years as a therapist that James retreated more and more into the woods and mountains for respite and reflection. He relocated to the Asheville area to work for the state providing care and therapy for children and families in crisis. He fished the trout streams of western North Carolina and became an accomplished bamboo fly rod maker and wood worker.

Everywhere he went and lived, James was a loyal friend and colleague. He was a devoted father and brother until the end of his life. His passion for life, ability to recover, and infectious laugh and smile are deeply embedded in his family and in those he touched throughout his career and life.

James was preceded in death by his mother and father, his brother Ronald William Gonzalez, and his sister Cynthia Francis Sorrells. He is survived by son Eric Matthew Gonzalez (Michelle) of Sacramento, California; daughter Jessica Erin Marquart (Edward) of Spring Hope, North Carolina; his friend Tammy Reed of Wilson, North Carolina; brother Donald Eugene Gonzalez of Goodyear, Arizona; sister Patricia Ann Cross of Roseburg, Oregon; and brother Randall John Gonzalez of Athens, Ohio.

The family requests that expressions of love and memory for James be directed to the Transylvania Animal Shelter in support of his dog Lily, 1124 Old Rosman Highway, Brevard NC 28712.