Mr. Gilberto Antonio Garcia

Gilberto Antonio Garcia passed away May 4th, 2023. He was born a joyful and loved baby boy to his parents Michael and Annabelle Garcia in Apple Valley, California on March 6, 1976 and grew up in Barstow California alongside his sister Christina (Garcia) Franks. His love for life, family, and God made him pursue experiences head-long and with a joyful heart. He remembered with fondness his second breakfasts where he would run across the street, borrow his grandpa Torrez’s newspaper before anyone else had read it, and sat and ate another breakfast made by his grandma Torrez. He was proud of his family. He dearly loved his cousins, aunties and uncles. As a child, he had a few medical issues including the discovery of his hearing loss and his need to wear leg braces. His parents worked hard to make sure their son was as healthy as he could be and despite his issues, he was happy and enjoyed life. He gained life-long friends at Cameron Elementary school including his teachers. In middle school and high school he attended the California School for the Deaf in Riverside. There, he expanded his world and gained many more friendships. He traveled, he played the drums, and he signed songs for many events. Gilbert shared his love with so many by volunteering to speak to youth and performing his signed songs everywhere he was invited. His first job was for his aunt Sandra where he worked as a filer. His favorite part of the job was having lunch with her. He later began working for Polo with his aunt Bea where his favorite part of work was going for lunch too. As an adult he decided to pursue a career in teaching. First, by following in his dad’s footsteps and attending Barstow Community College, where he also fell in love with acting. He then moved with his sister to San Bernardino, California to continue his education at California State University, San Bernardino. There, he continued to act, perform signed songs, and pursue his goal of teaching. It was there he also met his fiancé Candice Chavez in 2002. Their love for each other was immediate and they were rarely ever apart. He Graduated from CSUSB with his BA in Liberal Arts and began his teaching credential program. It was then that he began to show signs of illness. He left his credential program and found out he had chronic kidney disease. In 2006 he moved with Candice and her mother Monica Chavez to Irvine while she continued her education and he sought medical treatment. He then discovered he also had a blood clotting disorder. His medical diagnoses never stopped his love of life. He was a substitute teacher at CSDR, he traveled, enjoyed his family and continued to perform. As his illness progressed, it became too difficult to work at CSDR so he began working closer to home at Disneyland. He loved his time there where he could share his joy with the world. He earned recognition for his customer care and simply enjoyed life. As his illness continued to progress he began working less and less and by 2012, he could not work anymore. Despite his continued illness, he experienced so much happiness with the marriage of his sister to Larry Franks and the birth of his nephew and niece Jake and Kalissa. He was also an important member of the Chavez family where he became a second son, uncle, nephew, and cousin. In October of 2012, he and Candice moved to New Jersey so she could pursue her career. His adventures continued on the east coast with their many trips from Washington D.C. all the way up to Massachusetts. He made many more friends with the locals and enjoyed his time. Gilbert’s health problems continued to wear on him. The complications from balancing his blood clotting disorder and chronic kidney disease had him in and out of hospitals and by 2018 he was forced to start dialysis and began pursuing a kidney transplant. During this process, the doctors discovered Gilbert had 3 coronary blockages. They were able to stent them and save his life however, he began having heart failure from that time forward. During this time Gilbert underwent many surgeries and procedures but he never lost hope that he would find treatment for his illness and through it all remained positive. Each procedure was fraught with risk given his many complications but Gilbert fought for his life with each procedure because he loved his family and his life so much. He began to struggle with severe anxiety that took away his ability to eat. With his strength from his faith and the encouragement of his family and friends he was able to push past these episodes although they would plague him off and on until the end. By the fall of 2021, Gilbert had exhausted all of his medical options in New Jersey and moved back home to continue his fight for his health at Cedars Sinai Medical Center. He underwent a heart valve replacement in hopes to make his heart strong enough for a kidney transplant. Unfortunately, we lost Gilbert in the midst of one of his bad anxiety episodes. Gilbert fought for every minute of his life. Gilbert was a life-long Catholic and drew much of his strength from his faith. He was a voracious reader and collector of books. He dearly loved his family and friends and despite his own health struggles he maintained contact with everyone he could, checking in on them and making sure everyone else was doing well. His love, his faith, and his strength through all that he faced should serve as an example to all of us what it means to live a full life and how we each should fight for a good life spreading love and joy wherever we go.

He is survived by his parents Michael and Annabelle Garcia, his brother in-law and sister Larry and Christina Franks, his nephew and niece, Jake and Kalissa Franks, his Fiancé Candice Chavez, his mother-in-law Monica Chavez, His brother in-law and sister in-law Ceasar and Aida Chavez, and his nephew and nieces Joseph, Adrienne, and Dajah Chavez.