Graciano Montanez Gomez

He was a leader, mentor and political force in the Inland Empire. From 1972-1978 Graciano became the first Latino to be elected to the San Bernardino Unified Board of Education. Raised in segregated Redlands where Mexican Americans lived in the Northside and attended segregated schools, he knew from personal experience that Mexican Americans did not receive the same quality of education as Anglo-American students. Determined that Latino students would receive a quality education, Graciano led the charge to desegregate the San Bernardino schools, worked to stop unfair employment practices and promoted hiring of Latinos. Graciano counseled hundreds to pursue a college education and to make a difference. In his honor, the San Bernardino School District established the Graciano Gomez elementary school in 2014.

A major influence in local Democratic politics, Graciano campaigned for those he believed would work for a good and fair government and rallied support for the first wave of Latino elected officials in the Inland Empire.

Graciano co-founded the Philip Marmolejo American Legion Post 650 in Redlands in 1949; Mexican American Confederation in 1968; Casa Ramona multi-service community center in 1970; Inland Counties Roundtable in 1989. At 63, he co-founded the respected Inland Empire Hispanic News and was publisher from 1987-2009. From 1988-2007, Graciano and the Board of Sinfonia Mexicana of San Bernardino brought Mexican classical and symphonic music as well as the popular Mariachi music to San Bernardino. Graciano was instrumental in the founding of Sinfonia Mexicana Mariachi Youth Academy in February 2009. In 1993, Graciano Gómez co-founded the Riverside Latino Network in Riverside. In 1998, the Inland Empire Hispanic Lifestyle Magazine chose Graciano as one of thirty-five most influential Latinos in San Bernardino and Riverside Counties.

Graciano was born in Wilmington California on December 18, 1924 to Filomeno Gómez and Marta Montanez. He moved to Redlands with his family in 1932. Graciano graduated from Redlands High School in 1943 and joined the Army Air Corp during World War II from 1943-1945. He married Stella Salazar in 1952. They had six children, and divorced in 1973. Graciano married Trini NietoGomez in 1978. Graciano was diagnosed with bladder cancer in 2016 and died of heart failure a year later. A loving husband, brother, father, and grandfather, Graciano is survived by his wife of 39 years, Trini Gómez, 2 sisters, and 4 children, Loretta Schnaus, Barry Gómez, Paula Grissom, Geneva De La Rouge; 4 grandchildren, 2 great grandchildren, and 2 step-children, Anna and Vanessa NietoGomez; 5 step-grandchildren and 5 great step-grandchildren.