Pedro Villalpando- Gomez

Pedro Villalpando Gomez was born on September 8, 1953 in the town of San Miguel El Alto, Jalisco to Rosalio Villalpando and Francisca Gomez. He came from a poor family with strong moral values and catholic background; rosary prayer was their most dear tradition. He was the fourth eldest of eleven siblings. Growing up in poverty wasn’t easy, yet it inspired him to continue with perseverance to become a successful man and give his children the life he was unable to have growing up. His faith in God and prayer helped pave his roadway to success and humility.

As a young child, he attended private school with the seminarians and nuns. He completed his first communion on June 15, which is the feast day of Sacred Heart of Jesus. At the young age of eight, he was already business savvy selling peanuts, gelatin, gum and anything else he could find to make some money. He would borrow money from his aunt to buy goods to sell and as he made profit, he would pay her back. At a young age, Pedro's father became disabled after a fire accident that took the life of his brother and injured the eldest brother. Pedro was the third eldest son, so a few years after the accident he moved to Mexico City along with his older sister to help support the family. During his first weeks in Mexico City, he suffered many hardships; he would sleep in a car at the parking lot he was working for. Pedro and his sister also delivered bread on a bike throughout their neighborhood for their uncle’s grocery business. Soon enough along with his sister Ina, they were able to buy a small room. Slowly, they saved money to build a bigger house and were able to bring their parents and younger siblings in hope of a more comfortable lifestyle and better opportunities. Over the years, more income was needed to support nursing school tuition of the younger siblings so he dropped out of business school and left to Chicago, Illinois in hopes of fulfilling this need. At the age of 19, he returned from Chicago to reunite with his family and friends. He had a few extra savings which he used to travel and visit his friends in Degollado, Jalisco, the town where he met the love of his life, Leonor.

Soon after meeting Leonor, she moved to Los Angeles, California. By then he was madly in love so he followed her in hope of a future engagement. They married August 26, 1978 and two years later, their first-born Irene arrived. Pedro always dreamt of returning to his hometown so he worked hard, saved some money, and moved his growing family to San Miguel El Alto where he started his own car business. A few months later, Pedro and Leonor had their second daughter Claudia and as his business became more successful, he was kidnapped by sham federals. After that incident, he decided to move his family to Herald , a farming town near Sacramento, California, where safety would not be an issue. There he acquired a job as a farm hand and a mechanic at Pep Boys. Because he loved the peacefulness of the farm life so much, he decided to settle there with his family for several years. In the summer of 1988, his first son Pedro was born. His drive to provide more for his family and seek greater investment opportunities led him to move to Rancho Cucamonga, where Leonor’s brother and family also resided. However, finances became rough in Rancho so he took his family back to Herald until he would become more financially stable. Pedro always had a drive for adventure and travels, which somehow lead him to move his family down to McAllen, Texas. Months later, Pedro and Leonor delivered their “Michellita” during the hot summer of 1992. To continue supporting his family, he took a job as a landscaper, worked hard at construction sites, and made several business networks. He was charismatic, had several friends, and quickly made more friends everywhere he went. Among them was a general contractor that helped him with the construction of his first house. After a few years of struggling to build up his construction business, his last child, Charles, was born, and like a miracle from God, this marked the start of his successful business which he proudly named Superior Homes. His hard work, dedication and faith finally saw its fruits. His dream of becoming a successful business man became true. However, in the summer of 2000 during a family road trip to California, Pedro and his family suffered a near death experience during a rollover accident. Luckily the entire family walked away from the accident, and after living many years in Texas far from relatives, Pedro saw it best to move back to Rancho Cucamonga to be closer to family.

In the winter of 2001, the family relocated to Rancho Cucamonga where they spent countless summers traveling to Mexico visiting family and friends. There was no question that Pedro was indeed a family man and always knew that family came first with all his decisions. As his business in California as a real estate investor became more and more successful, he was able to work less and enjoy the small things in life. Pedro and Leonor had the opportunity to travel to Mexico often, visit various cities across the state and regional festivals, taste different foods, and enjoying what matters most in life.

However, after coming back from Mexico in the summer of 2011, Pedro learned the unfortunate news that he had stage two esophageal cancer. His family was devastated but he was determined to attack the problem head- on. He decided to fight, so he underwent several weeks of radiation and chemotherapy treatments in hopes of removing the tumor and becoming a healthy man again. In November of 2011, he went through major surgery which removed the tumor and part of his esophagus and stomach. Thankfully, at the time the doctors told him he was cancer-free soon after the surgery. Recovery after this major surgery was not easy, but he followed up with all his appointments and trusted his physicians but above all God’s plan. Naturally, he maintained the hope that he would fully recover, however his symptoms began to worsen six months after his surgery. He was hospitalized and underwent several tests to determine the cause of his declining health; which was determined to be due to the cancer which returned and was now spreading to various vital organs. With no chance for chemotherapy, doctors gave him no hope for recovery.

Pedro fought like a warrior for his life, in hope to defeat his disease, but his body wasn’t responding. After much physical suffering, Pedro passed peacefully on the morning of June 15, at 6:24am, which is the day of Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, the same day he did his first communion at the age of eight. He is survived by his wife Leonor and five children, Irene, Claudia, Pedro, Michelle, and Charlie and three grandchildren, Stephanie, Joshua, and Emily.