Obituary of Jose Gonzalez-Hernandez

   Jose Alfonso Gonzalez-Hernandez age 49, passed away peacefully surrounded by his family in Nampa, Idaho on December 30, 2021. Jose was born in Mexico City, Mexico on March 19, 1972. He lived in Mexico with his family until he was 6 years old. He had many adventures and stories he shared about his time there, spent with his siblings, cousins, his Mother and Grandmother. When he was 6 years old his family relocated to California for a short time, then to Hillsboro, OR where he remained for 43 years.

   He went to David Hill elementary, Eastwood Middle School, JB Thomas Junior Highschool and Hillsboro Highschool. He loved sports and played football and wrestled in High School and Junior High. He left school during his senior year and pursued a GED. He then went on to work for Non profit organizations, Virginia Garcia Clinic for low income families, The Housing Development Corporation for low income families and started a mentoring group for young boys there. He was a fun and attentive mentor there and even took the boys to his own house several times to go hot tubbing and play in his yard or watch fireworks. He was very dedicated to serving others and his community. He then went on to work for Community Action Organization where he worked for several years. He developed a community directory with all the services available to anyone in need. This was a huge undertaking and he did it so well, the

community started the first 211 service using his directory as their reference. During this time of his life he took a few computer classes, studied on his own and pursued programming which he mostly learned by doing self study in his spare time. He then got a job in the corporate world doing Q&A for Corvel Corporation in downtown Portland. He learned a lot at this job and met some very good friends. He kept learning more about programming on his own and developed many leadership skills as well. He left Corvel to go back to a non profit. He worked at Portland community college, for a program for migrant farm workers that wanted to do classes and get their GED. He loved this job and reaching out to his community. He was always recruiting at farms, hanging flyers in restaurants and starting conversations with strangers just to find people he could serve in this capacity. This program lost funding and he was without a job for about 6 months, but was blessed through this experience. He then got a job working for Tualaty Hospital with one of his old friends from Corvel. He became an intricate part of this team and loved all of his co-workers who also became good friends. When Covid hit the hospital took some losses and Jose ended up without a job. He started searching for a new job and found a job with St Luke’s Hospital in Boise, Idaho doing Business Intelligence. He was able to work from home for a few months in Oregon before the big move to idaho. This gave him the time to prepare himself and his family for the move. He gained great respect for his co-workers at St Luke’s and was learning a lot. He always loved a good challenge and definitely was challenged at this job, and loved it.

   Jose met the love of his life, Cassandra, while they were going to high school and working together at Taco Bell in 1989. Once together, they were inseparable for 32 years. They were married on May 22, 1993, and soon began their family with his son Malachi being born in Sept 1996, his son Asa born in March 2000,his daughter Ariella born in Jan 2004, and daughter Tierzah born in Oct 2007. He was the kind of father that made his kids try new things. He was always doing projects on cars, around the house or taking crazy adventures. He would always take the whole family or at least 1 or 2 of the kids. He started taking his kids fishing when they were little and even threaded fishing line through his 2 year olds belt loops just to make sure he wouldn’t fall in. He was an avid fisherman, clammer, crabber and everything having to do with catching fish. His wife joined him in these adventures about 10 years ago when the kids were old enough to not have to worry too much about them being safe while fishing. Jose would never admit it, but Cassandra outfished him many times, he was a great mentor. Jose was the master of fixing anything, all he needed was YouTube and some ingenuity and he could get it done. He would NEVER quit. If he couldn’t figure it out, he would try and try again until he figured it out.

   God and his family were the most important things in his life. He made it very clear and shared his love of God with everyone. He served people so completely and knew how to love the unlovely. Those that seemed too scary to talk to, or that others would ignore, Jose would put his arm around and share his love and faith with them, always leaving them with a prayer and some warm food. He would give the shirt off his back to anyone who needed it and actually gave away his shoes twice while on the bus. He loved his children and mentored them from the time they were very young. He taught them to love God, to be kind to each other and everyone they came in contact with and led by example. Malachi and he would talk on the phone for hours after we lived far away. Asa was his side kick and shenanigan partner, they were always trying new crazy things with projects and tools. Ariella had his heart from the start and was always asking very deep questions that he loved to answer and always finished with a hug. Tierzah was his baby and he loved her more. They watched the whole Little House on the Prairie series together and just finished recently. He also did “Dadable” with her and they would read together everyday. He was a wonderful Father who instilled God, the importance of family and love in each of his children’s hearts where he will always live on. Cassandra and Jose were inseparable and did the smallest things together just to spend time with each other. Grocery shopping, running errands, but most of all date night religiously EVERY WEEK. Tuesday was their night and everyone knew it. They were the best of friends and loved each other more than ever after almost 29 years of marriage. Moving to Boise was hard for the whole family. There was no family in Boise, but Jose made great friends, found a great church and started building his community. Jose’s family are all so important to him and he talked to his mother on an almost daily basis. His siblings were all important and we had them to our house many times the past few years and made it a point to stay in contact with them as often as he could.

   He is survived by his Wife Cassandra Gonzalez of Boise, ID, Children Malachi & Sarah Gonzalez of Hillsboro, OR,Son Asa Gonzalez of Boise, ID, Daughter Ariella Gonzalez of Boise, ID and Tierzah Gonzalez of Boise, ID. His Mother and Step-Father, Manuela and Jesus Pacheco of Irrigon, OR, and his siblings Diana Arispe of Hillsboro, OR, Rocina & Higinio Campos of Portland, OR, David Avalos of Vancouver, WA and Lori & Michael Fenwick of San Diego, CA, Many In-Laws, Nieces and Nephews, Cousins and friends.

   Jose was truly a man of God who lived every day trying to bring others to Christ by caring for them, and including them. His family and loved ones will miss him dearly in this life, but look forward to the day when they are reunited in the presence of their Savior Jesus Christ. The funeral service will take place at the Calvary Chapel Boise at 123 Auto Drive at 10:00 AM on

January 8, 2022, following a viewing at 9:00 AM at the same location. The burial service will be at 11:30 at the Morris Hill Cemetery. The family is grateful for the increase of love, support, and kind words at this difficult time.