Juan Fonseca

Someone once said if you’re the baby of the family be honored it means your parents finally had the perfect child and they stopped at you! Johnny was the exclamation point on the family for his parents Guadalupe and Benjamin.

He was a beautiful baby and had long dark eyelashes and deep dimples on his cheeks. He attracted a lot of attention from his big sister’s girlfriends who were more than happy to give him all the attention he could want. Johnny attended San Juan Elementary School through the 2nd grade. He had a rambunctious and playful side as he and his three brothers would venture out into the West TX desert, which happened to only be a few blocks from home. On their adventures It wasn’t unusual to encounter the creatures of the desert, rattlesnakes, scorpions, and tarantulas just to name a few. They also dug tunnels to play soldier in their back yard which always carried and element of risk because of the danger of cave ins.

The weather around El Paso varied widely from blazing summer heat to freezing heavy snow in the winter. Often Johnny would be out playing in the snow with only socks to serve as gloves and it wouldn’t be long until a snowball fight ensued. Regular snowballs are only fun for a while, eventually the danger and destructiveness need to be increased, especially if you’re playing with brothers. The next step was putting small rocks in the snowballs which ultimately lead to a few cuts and bruises.

The family didn’t have electricity or natural gas in the house so one of Johnny’s childhood chores was walking down to the small neighborhood store with one or all his brothers, to purchase coal oil to run the stove. As a reward they could buy some 2 for 1 cent candy or when they were feeling really fancy, they could get a large Hersey bar for only five cents.

Halloween was always a fun holiday. The boys didn’t squander the opportunity to go out and get free candy from the neighbors. Often, they would go out, fill up their sacks or pillowcases, run home, where they would dump out the candy and then they’d go back out again for more.

Mom worked hard and long hours which left the sisters, Rosario and Margie to do a lot the raising and feeding. But no one really complained since they made the best homemade tortillas, better than anything you could buy from the store.

In 1960, the family left El Paso and headed west to Los Angeles. Mom, dad, and the three youngest boys arrived in LA and did their best to put down roots. Finding stable employment was challenging at first. There were some nights when all 5 of them needed to sleep in their 1959 Chevy Impala. Early on the family was pretty nomadic moving from place to place, making it hard for the boys to attend any one school for very long.

Mom and dad decided they needed to make a bold move, so they left LA and headed north to the San Joaquin Valley in Central California and started working on a ranch. Juan’s sisters were married and remained in the southern CA area. Not only did the ranch provide work, it also provided housing. The family lived and worked on the ranch cultivating grapes, peaches, walnuts, and almonds. Alfalfa or hay as you may know it, was also grown to feed the cows on the ranch.

But that hay had to be bailed and stacked, which his hard, sweaty, backbreaking work. It was up to Johnny and his two brothers Charlie and Pete to make it happen. Although it was tough, Johnny actually enjoyed it. Johnny’s older brother, Ben helped occasionally but he was older and wasn’t around as much. Eventually Ben would join the Marine Corps and was ultimately sent to South Vietnam. Johnny attended a small country school with just four rooms for elementary and junior high school. The school had two grades and shared a classroom. A brass bell pulled by a rope was the method to ring in the school sessions.

After graduating from Johnson Joint School Jr. High, he attended Turlock High School and joined the freshman wrestling team. Continuing in his daredevil ways he developed a close friendship with Tom Brower. The dynamic duo rolled three vehicles and got into mischief continually. He remained in Turlock and shared an apartment with Tom when the family moved back to southern California. He and Tom worked on many of the area ranches until Johnny moved back to southern California as well to be close to family.

Johnny lived with his parents in Rosemead and Baldwin Park, CA intermittently for several years. Johnny also became a father and has two daughters, Corrina and Mercedes and 8 Grandkids along with Xavier a grandson who is no longer with us.

Johnny then moved to Reseda, CA and was employed by CALTRANS in Tarzana as a Road Crew member. Eventually Johnny transferred to the CALTRANS Bloomington location with a promotion and after 27 Years in December of 2018 he retired from CALTRANS

Johnny had a love of motor sports, especially drag racing and NASCAR. He had quite an extensive collection of race cars and car memorabilia, enough to literally fill up a room. Collecting Rat Fink Figures was another hobby he enjoyed. His knowledge of vehicles, how they worked, and how to fix them was extraordinary. He could tell you the year, make, and model just by seeing a car. He had a Chevy pickup that was his pride and joy. He even gave it a name, Heather. He kept Heather for over 18 years until he traded her in for a newer Chevy Pickup named Phoebe.

Johnny met his wife Kerstin on the internet in the Fall of 2011. The way Juan tells the story: he saw Kerstin online and took the risk to reach out to her. She wasn’t interested and deleted him. Six months later he got back on the site and tried to give it one more shot, and this time it worked. The two went on their first date on her birthday in February at Puddingstone Lake in San Dimas. They met for coffee because that’s what you do. The problem was neither of them really drank coffee so they needed creamer just make it palatable. However, Johnny couldn’t have milk. Soy milk was the only non-dairy option so that’s what they chose. If you’ve ever put soymilk in your coffee, you know that it looks like the milk is sour. The unappealing appearance of the coffee was enough to break the ice and the two got to chatting. While they were on their walk Juan noticed some Nuns sitting by the lake and thought that was probably a good sign.

After they dated for several months, Kerstin introduced Juan to her church, and he became a Greeter at that church the very first time he visited.

Both were active in church and enjoyed the church Bible study and Senior Church functions. Juan made some friends in their church who also enjoyed the car scene and they would often go to gar shows together.

Juan and Kerstin made the journey to Germany where he met her entire side of the family! He enjoyed that visit immensely. Kerstin’s mother fell in love with Juan’s mannerisms and his quiet observant demeanor. Even though there was a language barrier between him and her, they had no problems communicating.

The most important thing for Juan and Kerstin was just being together. Whether they were visiting family and friends or going to the grandkid’s baseball games, taking drives to the Mountains, going to Flea markets, or just staying at home watching TV, their bond was unbreakable.

Kerstin described Juan as her protector, he was old school when it came to seeing his role as a husband as keeping her safe. And he succeeded! When she was with him, she felt, safe, secure, like nothing could touch her. Sometimes his protection could be a bit much, he always had to walk closest to the road in case a car got out of control. He could also get a little carried away making sure a cart didn’t bump into her at the grocery store, but most of these inconveniences just resulted in quiet moments of laughter between the two of them.

Juan’s faith, and his love for Kersten got him through some of his most challenging moments.

Juan’s faith, and his life, could be compared to the diligence it takes a sports team to make it to the championship game, or for a NASCAR driver to win a race. But you don’t win the World Series by accident. You don’t cross the finish line first without a plan, and a solid team on your side. The owner, the manager, the crew chief, the engine specialist, the tire specialist, the engineers, the pit crew, the team truck driver, and the driver to all be on the same page, working toward the same goal. There are crashes, disappointments, highs and lows. It takes years and years of hard work, diligence, preparation, and one day you get to walk out on that stage and get your trophy. Juan trained, he was diligent, he was disciplined, he was prepared, he had an amazing team by his side, you all, and it’s a beautiful image to imagine him walking into heaven, arms outstretched to receive the crown he worked so hard for here on earth as he enters eternity’s winners circle!

Juan will be deeply missed by all who loved him.