Moises C Gonzalez M.D.

Dr. González was preceded in death by his parents, Moisés A. and Elisa González. He is survived by his wife of 64 years, Iris; his children, Francisco J. González and his partner, Kevin; Anaïs E. González; Moisés A. González and his wife, Karla; his niece Ariadna (Ari) Díaz-Rodriguéz, who was like a daughter; his grandchildren, Francisco and his partner Mia, Carson, and Iris, and Elisa Sofía; his cousin Cedema Rodriguéz Caballero; and 12 nephews and nieces.

After completing his secondary education in Santa Clara, Moisés followed his passions to Havana, enrolling concurrently at both the Academia San Alejandro, a prestigious arts academy, and the School of Medicine. While he formally pursued medicine rather than art, he remained a talented lifelong painter.

Earning his MD in 1959, he completed his Internship at the Clínica Bautista and almost two years of an orthopedic surgery residency before serving as the Chief Medical Officer in the Eradication Campaign of Aedes aegypti, the mosquito vector of Yellow Fever, in early post-revolutionary Cuba. This led to a World Health Organization Fellowship and study at the Public Health School in Mexico, DF, where he earned a Master’s Degree in Public Health in 1962.

During this time in Mexico City, he and Iris secured visas to emigrate to the United States, a country he revered for its commitments to liberty and to which he was always grateful. But he never lost his fervent devotion to the language and culture of his beloved Cuba.

Through diligent perseverance, he began practicing medicine at the VA Hospital, Waco, Texas in 1964, and later accepted a consultancy for the World Health Organization in 1967. During this time he travelled widely, meeting with health and government officials throughout the Caribbean basin. Though he loved this role, it was a greater commitment to family that compelled him to resign: mounting a successful campaign to secure his parents immigration when his father in Cuba was diagnosed with cancer.

Settling in San Antonio, now with his wife, three children, his parents and wife’s father, he turned to Family Practice. For 40 years, Dr. González was a true family doctor: sometimes treating three generations at a time. He treated clergy of any faith for free. When people couldn’t afford medicine, he paid for it. He made house calls.

At the end of his practice he served as Medical Director at the Dominguez State Jail. He was a great jail doctor: strong and steady, fair, compassionate.

It wasn’t easy to get him to retire (or to get him to stop driving!). He was opinionated and headstrong and would have worked to his last day. More than anything, he was someone who provided — and for many — with unflagging duty and quiet generosity. He was a great letter writer, always in beautiful cursive. He signed many a letter to his children with the simple words he leaves for us now: be good and be happy.

A Private Family Service was held on Saturday, June 26th. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Humane Society of San Antonio at www.sahumane.org.