William H. Gonzalez's Obituary
William H. Gonzalez was born in Monticello, Utah, on April 7, 1935, to Jose Prudencio and Carolina Velarde Gonzalez. For the past several years, he suffered from advancing dementia and pulmonary fibrosis, and died peacefully at St. Joseph's Villa in Salt Lake City, Utah, on December 14, 2017 with his family and close friends at his side.\r\n\r\nBill attended school in Monticello, graduating from Monticello High School where he played basketball and, as a senior in 1953, was elected student body president. After attending San Jose State College, Bill served as a medic in the U.S. Army stationed in Chicago. At the age of 26, he pursued Catholic studies in Spain at the Pontifical University of Salamanca, which awarded him a Licentiate in Theology. In 1970, he returned to Salt Lake City and began as a teaching assistant at the University of Utah. In 1977, he received his Ph.D. in Spanish. Then as a professor of thousands of students during his long teaching career at the U of U, he also served as tutor, counselor, mentor and positive role model for many.\r\n\r\nIt took William twelve years to compile and transcribe sacred religious ballads for two of his books, including "Romancero Religioso de la Tradicion Oral" (Religious Ballads of the Oral Tradition) and "Alabados, Alabanzas y Oraciones de la Neuva Mexico, 1598-1998" (Hymns, Praises & Prayers of New Mexico). Growing up in Monticello, Bill heard people chanting these ballads. He was also given the notebook in which his father had written the texts of many of them. He researched the Archivo in Madrid, which owns a huge collection of religious ballads, often written on little pieces of paper. He spent summers traveling throughout southeastern Utah, southwestern Colorado and northern New Mexico gathering oral recordings and written documents of these religious ballads. He was the first person to categorize and publish them. These scholarly books were well received in the U.S., Spain and Mexico. In 1997, William was invited to join the Royal Spanish Academy. At that time, he was only the second U.S. Citizen and one of 26 members outside of Spain to be so recognized.\r\n\r\n William was involved with the Newman Center at the University and he and others realized the Center would be better served with priests from a religious order. They discussed this idea with Bishop Weigand who sent requests to various orders; in 1982, the Dominicans arrived. Around the same time, Bill met with other Catholic Hispanics to express the need for a Catholic Mass in Spanish and were able to get Bishop Weigand's support. By the mid-1980's, the local Spanish-speaking population was finally able to celebrate the Mass in Spanish.\r\n\r\n SOCIO (Spanish-Speaking Organization for Community, Integrity and Organization) was very active in the 1970's and 80's, and William was elected Vice President of its Education Committee. SOCIO met for several years with state and local Boards of Education and was able to convince them to actively search for and hire Spanish Speaking teachers. Another committee was instrumental in getting Spanish speakers hired in local police departments. \r\n\r\n Bill was generous to a fault, and didn't hesitate to help others out financially, give someone a ride, or take someone to dinner or to a grocery or thrift store. When a family member objected, he would say: "Remember how poor we were? Now that I have the money, why shouldn't I help others?"\r\n\r\n Bill is survived by his siblings Pauline G. Pelliccia, Angeline King, Johnson Gonzalez, Patricia Jurasich, and Lenore G. Mille, as well as numerous nieces, nephews, grandnieces and grandnephews. He was predeceased by his parents and siblings Lucian Gonzalez, Julia S. Pascali, Clyde Gonzalez, and Ignacio Gonzalez. He was also predeceased by his life-long best friend Clyde Christensen of Monticello.\r\n\r\n A heartfelt "thanks" to his friends Stuart McDonald, Dr. Deyanira Ariza-Velasco, Jackie Hammer and Pat Gallegos Delgado. To the nurses and support staff at St. Joseph's Villa, Bill says "Gracias, Goodbye and Adios". Finally Bill was grateful to Dr. Robert Helbling at the University of Utah for his continued support and to Dr. Samuel Armistead for his scholarly assistance.\r\n\r\n A memorial Mass will be celebrated at St Catherine's Newman Center, 170 S University 1300 E 200 S) Saturday, January 13th at 11:30 a.m.\r\n\r\n In lieu of flowers, please make donations to the Carmelite Monastery at 5714 Holladay Blvd in Salt Lake City, Utah 84121 or Basic Needs Services at 437 West 200 South in Salt Lake City, Utah 84104.\r\n\r\n Online condolences may be offered at www.odonnellandsons.com\r\n\r\n
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