Seferino Ortiz Gonzalez

Seferino Ortiz Gonzalez, 92, of Uvalde passed away on September 26, 2024, in Uvalde. 

Visitation will be held on Tuesday, October 1, 2024, at 2 p.m. with a rosary at 7 p.m. at Rushing-Estes-Knowles Mortuary. A funeral Mass will be held on Wednesday, October 2, 20204 at 10 a.m. at Sacred Heart Catholic Church. Interment will follow at Hillcrest Cemetery. 

The great depression and a tragic house fire that led to the loss of his younger brother sent young “Chefe” to live with his grandmother and his aunt. He was raised apart from what became 14 siblings. Although raising him was a struggle, his Aunt and Grandmother had him go to church and school regularly. At his church he served as an alter-boy; some daily responsibilities included taking the nuns’ cow to and from a pasture every day. He excelled in his studies, but circumstances forced him to leave school and start a life of work; one that continued into his late 80s. He started shining shoes at a local Uvalde hotel to help support his family. On occasion he would be rewarded with a hamburger on the back steps for his efforts. 

The job he spoke of most fondly was his time as a sheep shearer; “en la trasquila.” He traveled to the northern United States with a migrant crew of laborers living on the ranches; enduring hardships but also making lasting memories. He bought a truck and contracted with Ore-Ida in Idaho and settled with his family for a time in Burley. His trucking led him then to New Mexico and finally back to Uvalde where he worked for White Mines for years. A devastating accident forced him to leave trucking. Never one to sit around, in his recovery, he got on with a fencing crew and he learned the business. S.O. Gonzalez fence company ran from 1988 until about 2020. He also took pride in what he built. Driving along a lonely highway he would sometimes point out a stretch of fence that he’d built years before; always noting that they still looked brand new. He built hundreds of miles of ranch fence all around central and south Texas; most of those miles of fence are still standing.

He was born on December 3, 1931, in Uvalde, Texas to Julia (Ortiz) and Catarino Gonzalez. 

He married Dora Sanchez on June 8, 1950, in Uvalde, Texas. 

He is survived by his wife of 74 years of Uvalde; daughter, Elza Navejar and husband, Oscar of Uvalde; son, Seferino Gonzalez, Jr. and wife, Eloisa of San Antonio; brother, George Gonzalez and Federico Gonzalez both of Greeley, Colorado; six grandchildren, Patricia De La Garza, Erica Caldwell, Roberto G. De La Garza, Jr., Sonia McDaniel, Vanessa De la Garza, and Seferino Gonzales, III; seven great grandchildren, Lee Caldwell, Jr., Ashley Caldwell, Dylan Navejar De Leon, Destiny De Leon, Max McKinney, Luke McKinney, and Jake McKinney; three great-great grandchildren, Ryan Drew Fernandez, Rayleen Navae Mirilez, and Teodoro Mirilez. 

He is preceded in death by his parents; daughter, Olga De La Garza, grandson, Oscar Gonzalez Navejar, Jr., brother, David Gonzalez, and sister, Marie Daley. 

Pallbearers will be Dylan Navejar De Leon, Lee Caldwell, Roberto G. De La Garza, Jr., Seferino Gonzalez, III, Seferino Gonzalez, Jr., and Ryan Fernandez.