Manuel
”
Manny
”
Gutierrez died on Jan. 10 in Santa Cruz.
Manuel “Manny” Gutierrez died on Jan. 10 in Santa Cruz.
Manuel was the first born of Rose Gutierrez and the late Manuel Gutierrez of Morgan Hill; husband of Sally Gutierrez of Santa Cruz; father of Martin Gutierrez of Alameda, Luis Gutierrez and Evelyn Zuniga of Gilroy, Andrew and Marie Gutierrez of Hollister, Charles Gutierrez of Santa Rosa, and Jesse Gutierrez of Modesto; grandfather of Brandy Juarez of Morgan Hill, Melissa, Vanessa, Jeremy and Rebecca Gutierrez of Gilroy, Terese, Sofina and Edward Valdez of Hollister, Victoria Gutierrez of Hayward, Russell Gutierrez of Santa Rosa, Jesse Gutierrez Jr. of Modesto, Angela Gutierrez of Watsonville, and Andrew, Stephanie and Manuel Gutierrez of Hollister; great-grandfather of David, Selena and Juan Pablo Juarez of Morgan Hill and Julia Sterling of Hayward; brother of Fred Gutierrez of San Diego, Julian Gutierrez and Natalie Velasquez of Hollister, Esperanta Romero of San Jose, Rose Williams of Santa Clara, Eva Kaufenburg of Salida and Dolores Grey of Hollister; brother to the late Frank and Mary Gutierrez; and father-in-law to Juan Zuniga of Gilroy, Ann-Marie Gutierrez of Santa Rosa and Debby Gutierrez of Gilroy.
Manuel was born in Santa Barbara on Nov. 26, 1923. He grew up in Morgan Hill and graduated from Live Oak High School. He served in the U.S. Army at Fort Lewis where he trained medics for combat in World War II. He boxed Golden Gloves as “Kid Martin.” After his discharge, he became a cement mason and was a member of Local #300 of the Cement Mason and Plasters Union of San Jose for 54 years. He became an expert at designing free-hand style cement church crosses.
He was a member of the First Hispanic Masons of Morgan Hill and the Coyote Sporting Clay Club, the American Water Fowl Conservation and Ducks Unlimited. He was a founding member of the Santa Cruz Fly Casters Chapter and taught fly fishing and fly-casting. He was a conservationist and naturalist who was also an avid bow hunter and tournament skeet and trap shooter.
In addition to being an enthusiastic outdoorsman, he was a black belt in Judo and Seensei for the Gilroy Community Dojo where he held classes for women and children as part of the Gilroy Community Recreation Department. Manuel loved to hunt deer and duck, and he will be greatly missed by all those who had the pleasure of hunting and working with him.
He will be greatly missed by his wife, children, stepchildren, grandchildren, mother, brothers and sisters and especially his black lab Joe and his champion mutt Megan. May his spirit forever roam free in the trees and valley of his beloved Alpine.
A private memorial service is planned for a later date. In lieu of flowers, a donation to Ducks Unlimited would be appreciated.
