A beloved prankster ‘truly one of a kind’
This article is part of our Remembering Lives Lost project to honor victims in the Houston region whose families have chosen to publicly disclose their cause of death as COVID-19.
The particulars of Michael Anthony Gomez Sr.’s life are this: He was 59 when he died on July 20 of COVID-19. He was in a hospital, alone, unable to be with his wife, Jane, his son Michael Jr., and his daughter Amanda, along with her husband Edwin and their son, Nathan.
Happier things about Gomez show up in the flood of warm remembrances from his extended family and many friends that appear on a memorial page of the
Brookside Funeral Home website. These kinds of stories are both numerous and unique — and so easy to lose track of, given the staggering toll of COVID-19 deaths that spiked this summer in Texas.
The state reached another grim milestone this week: More than 10,000 people have died of the new coronavirus in Texas. Latinos are among the groups that have been disproportionately affected.
A native Houstonian from the Northside/Northline area, Gomez worked for 35 years at Walgreen’s, in different capacities. His family does not know how he
contracted the virus. Nor does it matter at this point. They want to celebrate his life, not focus on his death.
Reached by email, his niece Lauren Gomez, who is hearing impaired, pointed to the tribute she posted online.
“You accepted me as your own blood, when my dad adopted me,” she wrote. She remembers being the giggly, 5-year-old flower girl at his wedding and meeting the newlyweds’ first puppy, a cocker spaniel named Goliath. She remembers Mike and Jane’s first home, a little white house; and their move to a bigger house that became family central for holidays — “the bar, the Christmas karaoke, the barbeques, the sleepovers.” Gomez always had barbecue pit and smoker going, and a cold one for the adults, she said.
“Your parties went out the house, both yards, in the street. You danced and sang like no one was watching, but believe me, we all were.”
When Lauren was semicomatose after a serious medical mishap five years ago, she couldn’t see her Uncle Mike but from the scent of his cologne and the touch of the gold bracelet he always wore, she knew he and her Aunt Jane were beside her bed. “That meant everything to me,” she wrote. “And it hurts me that I couldn't return the favor.”
Lauren’s brother, Kevin Gomez, was 5 or 6 when Mike called him on his birthday, pretending to be the president of the United States. Kevin cried “like crazy,” fearing he was in trouble. Later he came to love his uncle’s frequent pranks. “It was fun to finally get in on the jokes with him,” he said.
Martha Tamez, a cousin, fondly remembered Mike Gomez’s visits to Monterrey, Mexico, where he loved eating enchiladas at Taqueria Juarez and seeing sights such as the picturesque town of Santiago, overlooking the lakeside at Presa La Boca and the caverns at Grutas de Garcia.
Miranda Magallan, a close friend of Gomez’s daughter Amanda, recalled spontaneous trips to Galveston for ice cream. Gomez entertained the kids as he drove by singing in “ridiculous voices,” always encouraging them to join in. “He was just the coolest, funniest guy,” Magallan said. “He was truly the best at all of his titles. Amazing dad, loving husband, coolest father-inlaw, proudest grandfather, one of the guys with all of our guys. And no matter which role he was playing, you saw him do it with true happiness, with that signature smirk on his face.”
Barbara Corrington, a classmate and former cheerleader from Stephen F. Austin High School, remembers Gomez as a tall, broad-shouldered football player and drama class star who was kind and authentic. “You took to the stage with confidence and were able to freely shift into character, all the while taking the audience with you, commanding our full attention,” she wrote. “When you smiled, your eyes came with it. … You had a way of making whoever you were speaking with feel like they were special.”
She was in awe of him on the football field, too. “You stood out on that line, Gomez, as you stood out in life, truly one of a kind.”