Chadwick Allen Gingher

He was the life of the store - the one with the jokes, the comforting words and the patience to listen to an elderly customer tell seemingly endless stories of the good ol' days, even when there was work to be done.

But on Aug. 22, he told his girlfriend, Juana, that he was tired and was going to take a nap. Chad, 47, never woke up.

A Long Beach native, Chad was 16 when he started working parttime for Long Beach Paint, which was owned by a family friend. He quickly became knowledgable about all kinds of paint and painting products and was the go-to guy for both professionals and do-it-yourselfers who needed advice.

He later went to work for Coastal Paint and six years ago, he bought the business.

Funny thing is, Chad never liked to paint and always hired a friend to do the work for him.

What he did like to do was anything involving the ocean. He loved to surf, swim, drive a speed boat, go out on his wave runner. He also loved to travel. He and Juana were planning a cruise to Mexico.

He even brought the ocean into the home he shared with Juana. His 80-gallon salt-water aquarium contained, among others, Nemo, a large clown fish, a lobster, five kinds of crabs, eels and others. Working with his fish each night was a kind of therapy for Chad after a hectic day at the store. He washed the rocks and gravel, rearranged the arches, sometimes creating a small reef, other times a cave.

Chad had a keen business sense, combined with an almost child-like sense of wonder. He loved to see and learn new things, was up on every new level of technology (he was especially fond of face-to-face computer chats with his mom every evening) and adored and coddled his pit bull, Lily.

Go to his Facebook page and you’ll read a long stream of compliments about his kindness, his sense of humor, his eagerness to make others laugh and feel comfortable with him and with themselves. There are even some references to his prankish side, as in, ahem, water balloons mysteriously falling to the street from a second-floor apartment window.

He and Juana met online. Juana fell in love with his smile; they were both looking for love. “Give me a chance,” he messaged her on My Space. “Maybe I can be the one for you.” And he was.

Chad was survivored by his Parents, Carolyn Taylor and Ronald Gingher; girlfriend, Juana Bodewitz; sister, Chere; aunt, Susan Putnam; uncle, John Roland; nieces and nephews.

Services: Visitation: 4-6 p.m. Friday, Luyben Family Dilday-Motell’s Mortuary, Long Beach. Funeral service: 11 a.m. Saturday, Grace First Presbyterian Church, Long Beach.