Update: Family tells of 20-year-old Mark Gipson-Diaz’s life and
legacy.
Navy Master at Arms Seaman Mark Gipson-Diaz died Jan. 26 at age 20 in a car crash in Sicily.
The Gilroy resident “leaves behind so many friends and family members” including five siblings, said his mother, Shirley Diaz. She hadn’t spoken to her son in almost a month and called him around noon on Saturday. Just as she was about to leave a voice message, assuming he was out with friends, she heard a knock at her front door and opened it to a man who delivered the news of her son’s death.
She was told that her son and his passenger, a 17-year-old friend, died in a car accident. After wrapping up an afternoon spent playing paintball games, Gipson-Diaz was headed back to the barracks at the U.S. Naval Air Station Sigonella in Sicily. The family has still not learned many details of the accident but they are immaterial, Diaz said.
“It all seems irrelevant,” Diaz said. “No matter what anyone says, it’s not going to bring him back.”
Originally born in Oceanside, to Gwen Waldraff, Gipson-Diaz was adopted by his biological mother’s sister and her husband, the Diazes, when he was 2. His father, Luis Diaz, served in the Marine Corps for 15 years and Gipson-Diaz grew up on a military base until he was in middle school, when they moved to Gilroy.
“He wasn’t like me,” said Luis Diaz, who now works at Dassel’s Petroleum in Hollister. “He was always trying to help people.”
Over the years, he shared with his family his hopes of working as a part of a search and rescue team upon returning to California.
Gipson-Diaz joined the Navy when he was 17 and shipped off to Korea for a year after graduating from Gilroy High School in 2005. His parents were surprised when he joined and had to sign the recruitment papers since he was still a minor.
“Is this what you really want?” they asked over and over.
After returning home for his Aug. 13 birthday, he was stationed in Italy in September as a member of the military police. His mother remembered how his flight to Italy left from Mineta San Jose International Airport one September morning at 5 a.m.
“He stayed out all night and walked in at 4:55,” his mother said. “He was 20 years old, headed to Italy, with not a care in the world.”
Stationed at Sigonella, Gipson-Diaz was a part of the military police that patrolled the base. Situated in the middle of the Mediterranean and nicknamed the “Hub of the Med,” Sigonella is the primary logistical support element for U.S. Sixth Fleet operations.
“He loved his job,” she continued. “He always wanted to go to Italy. The minute he put on that uniform, he held his head up with such pride.”
A viewing will be held from 4 to 9 p.m. Tuesday, at the Habing Family Funeral Home. The Diaz family will be holding an Honor Guard service for their son and brother at 10 a.m. Wednesday, at the Christmas Hill Park amphitheater.
For more details and comments from Gipson-Diaz’ friends and family, check back in on the Web site for updates and read Friday’s Dispatch.
