Farewell, my friend, you were taken from your family and friends too soon.

For Chano:
My heart burns with pain, knowing that I can't be there with the family at this sad time. It hurts so much, knowing that Chano was taken long before his time.

Let me tell you what Chano was to our family. We lived next door and Chano and Shirley took us under their wings. We spent holidays and celebrations with our lovely neighbors. I have family, but they live hours away and I couldn't always be there for Thanksgiving and Christmas Day, Easter or birthdays. But to Chano and Shirley, we were the little family next door and they adopted us.

Chano was a real man. He took all the young people under his wing, and he showed my youngest son how a real man lives. Taking care of and loving his family, not running the streets and acting a fool. Family was everything to Chano and he treated my son like family. I will forever be grateful for his influence on my boy, and the other fine young men and women that he helped bring up.

And not just my son. My daughter also saw how a real man treats his family -- with love and respect. He was always ready to give a hand, whether it was taking a sink apart to fish her friend's grill out of the trap, or give us a jump when I left the headlights on. Again.

Chano was one of those real men who influence all those around him, not by flaunting money or power, but by being the strong family man.

I believe that we all belong to the Great Spirit, to God, and Chano has only stepped from our plane of existence and on into the next. Energy doesn't disappear. The spirit doesn't disappear. He has only abandoned the mortal shell that ties us to this earth.

And now that Chano has his wings, he can spread them and fly wherever all the family is, birth, blood, and adopted, whether in Texas or Oregon or West Sacramento, he is still with us. He is still watching over his family, his children, and all the rest of us.

His essence remains with his beloved Shirley and his children, and his memory remains with us all.

His mortal shell is laid to rest, but his spirit has been set free.

Let me say, thank you Chano, for all that you've done for us all.

Fly free my friend.