David Corallejo Gonzalez

Cremation arrangements for Mr. David Corallejo Gonzalez, 95 of Longview, TX are under the direction of Croley Funeral Home in Gilmer, TX. A private family memorial service will take place at 6:00 p.m. Saturday, August 11, 2018, at the family home. Please contact the family for details at 903-931-1125.

David Corrallejo Gonzalez was born in 1923 in Mexico City, D.F. He passed from his earthly body into heaven on August 3, 2018. It is so hard to believe he is gone. I have not yet grasped it. My daddy was, by far, the best dad anyone in the world could ever wish for. He worked very hard since he was a young boy. At age 13 he was working on the locomotives running the train for his dad who was terminally ill with cirrhosis of the liver, his mother died very young with complications in labor and he was left to raise his 7 siblings. Anytime he ever talked of them he cried. He carried a lot of pain, and sadness with him. He lived many treacherous, starving years in the jungles of Mexico and then finally came to the US looking for work in 1937. He went to work at Youngstown Sheet and Tube where he invented a way to speed up production. He always found a way to do everything a different way that was almost always more efficient. They tried to kill him there when they threw him in the fire pit where they heated metal. He managed to push off the red hot iron off of him and save himself. He was admitted to a hospital for 9 months due to his burns. He was married to his first wife, Chella, and they had 3 children Gracie, Dianne, and David. Dianne preceded him in death 2007.
We lived in East Chicago Indiana, where I was born in 1974. Dad later bought a farm in Malvern, Arkansas where we had many cattle, pigs, chickens, and horses. My mother is from Tampico and she wanted to live closer to her family, so he wanted her to be happy and we moved to McAllen, Tx closer to the border where my brother was born in 1978. He took us to Tampico several times a year. We continued to travel to places and even moved to Guadalajara because he thought he was going to get rich selling clocks. We stayed there a few years then moved back to McAllen. We stayed there a few years where he worked very hard selling mesquite firewood. He cut and then split the wood with an axe. He was very strong! Made a lot of money doing it. He always took us to the beach. We would catch crabs with chicken. He took me fishing in the channel for catfish. He always loved to fish! I remember him always taking us to the flea market which was boring to me but he always loved it. I was a rotten child!!! 11 years old and still he carried me like a little kid, on his shoulders or his hip because I was just too lazy to walk, and he would do it! I regret that now but I still remember it like yesterday. We joined a church and my mother insisted we moved with the pastors when they moved from there. They moved to Longview and as she wished, we followed. In 1987 we moved here and about 4 years later they split up and she moved to Ft Worth and he moved to San Marcos with my brother Richard. When the divorce was final she got the house in San Marcos he and my brother bought and he got the house here. My mother got custody but we both chose to stay with my dad. There was nothing he wouldn't do for Richard or I. He would make Rib Eye steaks for Richard every day. It never got old to him. He worked at a lot of places here. We were very rich but somehow he always spent his money mostly on me. I had no concept of $. Probably still don't. If I wanted something I never got a no. I had my first car a mustang GT convertible 5.0 and probably 10 tickets before I ever got my license. The only one with a Mobil bag phone of anyone I knew. He worked at McDonald's, Big Lots, Hardee's, Dunstons Steak House, Olive Garden, Longview meals on wheels, and a few other places. He was loved by everyone he met. He even started cutting trees again. Then in 2000 I had my first child. He loved Kolby like his own son. He would go crazy to see Kolby every day. He asked for him and my brother Richard all the time! Daily! He said that was the best thing that ever could have happened to me because something had to slow me down. He would wait on the front porch with a machete every night until I came home and if someone brought me home he wanted to know who it was and boys were immediately run off. In 2001 his pride and joy came along. Brianna has been his doll ever since. I had Sydney and they were close but Brianna was his heart. I went to work at Rexam in 2005. I divorced their dad and he chose to take care of them while I worked. They had the best grandfather any kid could want. I worked nights so all day they stayed gone. He took them to Chuck E Cheese ever day, or kids station, or the park, or the movies, and out to eat daily at Ryan's, Dairy Queen, or at the mall. I'd go places and everyone knew him and my kids and looked at me like who are you? He was loved by everyone. Now that my children are teenagers, they would bring their friends to stay overnight and he always thought they are eating all our food. It was so funny yet drove me crazy! His diabetes was always high but it never stopped him from wanting to eat all the sweets he could stand. He always thought everyone was out to get him. Guess it rubbed off on me. He had a heart attack in 2010, and got a pace maker. In 2015 He wanted to go to the casino for his Birthday and broke his femur at the casino. I thought that was the end of him. He still went in to gamble then we came back to Longview to go to the hospital so he wouldn't be stuck in Shreveport. But in 2 months he was just as good as new. 2015 was a hard year for him. He struggled with diabetes, lost a lot of weight, spent more time in bed, stopped eating all his favorites, and stopped walking as much as he should. Lost most of his hearing and quit going as much as he did. He was 93 still driving but shouldn’t have been. He was so depressed when he wasn’t able to drive anymore. He was the best dad in the world and I'm going to loose my mind. He enjoyed his last few years floating the Guadalupe river, bowling, playing pool, eating menudo or soup from our dear friend Blanca, and most of all fishing in the pond my husband Shelby dug and made for him to fish in. He loved the plants and trees I planted in the front yard and I released the rabbits and he enjoyed watching them and the peacocks and the fish all from the front porch. He always said funny stuff like the last time we were at the hospital, he said while we are here tell them to take some of your cheeks off. He loved all the attention from all the nurses. He was the biggest flirt I’ve ever seen. Every woman got his attention! He winked and smiled and flirted nonstop. Avocados were one of his favorite things to eat. He was full of smiles and love to everyone. Extremely comical. He loved Dr Lowe a radiologist who always took time to fix his back several times he fractured it, anytime something went wrong, late at night early in the morning, he helped with all my crazy questions in trying to save my Daddy. He was loved by most and made an impression to most but especially me!!!! I was his daughter that wouldn’t let him go. He was my everything and I will now be lost without my Daddy. God received him today and I only pray I will see him again for eternity. He’s with his mother, father, sisters, brother, and his very best friend he missed so much Melvin Coile. He has so many grandchildren, and great grand children I can’t even begin to count!!! He had one surviving sister, and only one daughter passed before him. I will miss him more than words can say but I know he’s in a better place! I LOVE YOU PAPA!!!