Carlos Yanez Guzman

Carlos Yanez Guzman was born on Nov 15, 1948, in Rangerville, TX to Tomasa Yanez and Guadalupe Guzman. He later moved to California where he spent most of his younger life into his early adult years. Carlos was drafted to the Army in 1969 and served in the Vietnam War. He returned to spend time in Texas and later moved to California again, where he met his beautiful wife of 45 years, Maria Elida Guzman. There he was introduced to her children, most of which were grown and raising their own families. Elvia was the youngest of Maria's first five children who followed both Carlos and her mother to Colorado, thus building a special relationship with Carlos, that she came to call him dad. Elvia remembers him cruising around Pismo Beach, CA in his 1965 mustang and later in Colorado, him stopping by her work in Longmont, Co to see how she was doing and if she was needing anything.

He is survived by his wife Maria E Guzman, sister Olga Godoy, along with daughters Karen Beggs (Bubba), Elvia Gallegos (Gary Joseph), stepkids Janie Buenrostro (Fred), Emma Estrada (Mario), Ernesto Almaguer Jr, Maria Davis, grandchildren that grew up with him, Leticia Ybarra (Joe), DJ Conyac and Dorian Conyac, Great grandchild, Vanessa Geer (Datone), Naylie, Alanhi and Bynicio. 2 great grandchildren Domingo Avina Geer and Damiion Avina Geer along with many more step grandkids and great step grandkids

Carlos' stomping grounds were in Salinas, Ca, and nearby towns. Grover City, Ca on the Central Coast region of California, is where he met Elida and her children. Here they resided for a few years before he moved to Colorado in July of 1979, with Elida and Karen. They lived in Greeley for a short time before moving to Fort Collins, Co and eventually settling down in Wellington, Co until 2014. Carlos and Elida moved to Longmont in 2014 where daughter Elvia provided a loving home. They then moved to Lafayette in 2017 where he and Elida continued to live with Elvia and her husband Joe. Elvia and Joe lovingly provided a home full of love and laughter for Carlos during his last years. He was able to form a greater bond with Leticia and her family during that time. Thank you, Elvia and Joe, for being so great and kind to my dad. We cannot thank you enough. I know he was very appreciative for your generosity and likely one of the many reasons he was so attentive in making sure he always had his Joe's red beer readily available!

Carlos was a natural musician and played the accordion, guitar, and drums. He played in a Mexican Music band, for many years when he moved to Co, and performed in the Fort Collins, Greeley Co, Rawlins Wy and Scottsbluff, Ne areas. His love of Oldies and Spanish music brought the TV show Johnny Canales to the tv every Saturday morning where he would record the music played on VHS. This also gave him the idea to try to share his musical talent with his daughter Karen, in which he began to teach her how to play the drums. Due to his love of music, he gave his grandsons nicknames referring to Spanish dances, DJ was Guero Polkas and Dorian was Huapango, rarely calling them by their given names. Over his years truck driving, he gave DJ and Dorian toys reflecting the types of trucks he drove. Dorian recalls when he was in Elementary school, grandpa taking him out to eat burgers and loved going on cruises with him as a young child.

Carlos was employed in the Fort Collins area and worked for Green Lawn Sod, The Pickle Factory and Varsity which was a contractor for Budweiser. His goal was to drive a semi-truck so he could see the country. He finally went forth with that dream and went to school to get his CDL license and began many years of truck driving, He was employed by Navajo Trucking, and was able to transport goods cross-country through the US, which he very much enjoyed. He loved the fact he was able to take his wife, Elida along with him on several of these trips which made his job all the sweeter. He later became an owner operator/trucking proprietor. Carlos was proud of having his own semi as he was able to take his wife on more of these hauls and on occasion brought his grandson DJ on a couple of those trips.

In 2010 Carlos retired from trucking and was able to relax and enjoy much free time, which included, taking nice long drives with his wife, and heading to the mountains and enjoying some casino life! He would make these trips with Elida, Elvia, and stepdaughter Maria. One time they had lost all money and left, but he stayed back to continue battling the slots and won the jackpot! He immediately called and had them "turn back!" He had won big and gave them monies to continue playing throughout the evening. Carlos brought jokes and smiles to those who met him casually or knew him personally. Carlos had a sense of humor about him that many found endearing. Many of his jokes were funny...only because he is the only one who understood them, which made them all the funnier! Before the burdens of dementia began to plague Carlos, he was a very social person and would enjoy visiting friends in nearby towns and seeing his family. His sense of humor still stuck with him until the end, which we were happy to see.

One of the humorous things he always did was, any time one of his stepdaughters called, he would call them his “favorite”. At times, he couldn’t identify the voice so he would ask, who is this? And we would reply, “your favorite” and it would bring hearty chuckles to all who were present during the call.

During our younger years, we all spent some time together during a family reunion in Milpitas at our sister Maria’s home. We were ALL together, including Carlos. We had an amazing time laughing, eating, and telling stories. Our visits to Colorado became more frequent. Carlos would never let us leave without providing us with “little somethings” such as cute little tin canisters filled with either gum or candies. They are fond memories that will be cherished forever.

He was extremely fond of all his grandchildren. He would pick up Leticia as a little girl in his short box Dodge Ram and buy her and his daughter, Karen, lunchables and strawberry milk, which made the girls think they were so cool! He liked giving gifts to those he loved, which included a Selena DVD to his great granddaughter Vanessa. He also wanted to buy her the Selena collector’s CD, so he was careful in ensuring he purchased the right one for her. He would see her often at the truck stop car wash where her dad worked when she was a young girl, and often showed up with fruit or some other food stuffs he happened to have in his truck. He loved giving money to Alanhi, and she recalls he would give it to her with a big smile! Her younger brother Bynicio says "the one thing I remember about ggpa is that he never remembered my name!" His granddaughter Leticia, says her husband liked how Carlos would always call him Joey, as there was already a Joe in the family, this was easier for him to differentiate between the two.

Carlos Guzman passed away on February 5, 2022, and is preceded in death by his father, Guadalupe Guzman, mother Tomasa Yanez and sister Flora Guzman

A a celebration of life for Carlos will be held Thursday, February 17, 2022 at 10:30 AM at Ahlberg Funeral Chapel, 326 Terry St., Longmont, Colorado 80501.