Santiago has been blessed by not having to choose between family and a career. He's able to incorporate the two. And although he no longer comes from such humble means, his children still know the meaning of hard work. At the age of 7, Santiago gave his oldest son Rafael two cows. His job was to raise them, feed them, care for them, and ensure their health and safety. Over the past 14 years, Rafael, accompanied by his younger brothers Francisco and Jose Carlos, have done just that. The boys now have more than 80 heads of cattle and have sold hundreds of others. Rafael has now started to lend his graphic design skills to the family tequila business and is involved with much of the marketing. Francisco, 17, has also started to spend more time in the office and less on the farm, leaving 11-year-old Jose Carlos to oversee the cattle business.
The legacy of the Gonzalez family continues. The fourth generation is being groomed to continue in the ways of their relatives and take pride in hard work. Compromise is not acceptable and indolent work ethics are intolerable. As Santiago and his brothers work to grow the tequila company here in the United States, he is confident the future of 3 Amigos is in capable hands. "If you have a strong family, everything else follows," he says. "When you grow up with the love of good parents, it's amazing the strength you get from that. Success will follow regardless."
Oldies Car Club
Funeral For A Friend
Louie Gonzalez was a great and generous man. We all loved him very much and he will be missed. He was born on Feb. 6, 1956, in Texas. He was raised by his parents Sophia and Antonio. When he was a small child he moved to California. Louie was the type of man who was loyal to all those who surrounded him. He had a big heart, which those who knew him saw with their own eyes.
Louie loved cars. His first car was a '66 Charger hot-rod. When he met his wife Jolynn, whom he loved and adored, he knew about her love for lowriders, so they got a '54 Chevy Bel Air. We can honestly say that only he saw the vision of what that car would look like. That car became his baby, so much so that a lot of people knew him by the description of his car. All anyone had to say was, "Do you know Louie, the one who drives the red '54 Chevy?"
Everyone who knew Louie, knew that all you had to do was call him up and ask him for a favor and he was the first one there and the last one to leave. He cherished all his friends and Oldies Car Club members who were there for him and Jolynn. He loved all his children: Vanessa, Rosanne, Brandon, Louis, and Daniel.
There are no words to describe Louie to the fullest, but if you knew him you would understand that we could write pages and pages about him and it still wouldn't be enough. So we are going to end this story by saying that Louie is not gone forever, he is living eternal life now and we all know he is our angel watching over us. God bless Louie, that guy with the red '54 Chevy, his wife, family, friends, and his Oldies club members.