Walker's Point fixture Frank Gonzales was grounded in family, community

Frank Gonzales was old school, working class, south side of Milwaukee.

The son of immigrants, he got his first job at a factory when he was still a teenager, and built a home, a 53-year marriage and a family by wrapping his hands in sheet metal for almost 50 years.

He also wrapped his heart around his community, as a lifelong member of his church and a volunteer for numerous civic organizations, always willing to step up for a cause “because it was the right thing to do.”

“He didn’t do it for the accolades,” his son, Frank Gonzales III, said.

“He wanted to be that voice.”

A funeral service will be held Saturday for Gonzales, who died Monday after a battle with cancer.

He was 84.

“He was a tremendous and giving man,” said a statement from Patrice Harris, spokeswoman for the Social Development Commission, an anti-poverty agency on whose board Gonzales served for nearly two decades.

“He was committed to the community, its residents, and those working to foster growth within it.”

Frank Raymond Gonzales Jr. was born June 17, 1932, in Milwaukee to Frank Sr. and Eleuteria Gonzales, who came to the U.S. from Nochistlán, Zacatecas, Mexico.

He grew up in Walker’s Point and the old Third Ward, dropping out of Lincoln High School to go to work for Allis-Chalmers.

Soon after that, he moved back to Walker’s Point, becoming a mainstay at neighborhood institutions — from Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church to Coney Island, the eatery known for its cheap, tasty chili dogs. And there was Topitzes' Groceries, where he befriended Agamemnon “Memo” Topitzes, known as “The Mayor of Walker’s Point.”

“He’d say that after Memo died (in 2012) he became the Mayor of Walker’s Point,” his son recalled.

Gonzales had returned to school to earn his GED, took classes at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Milwaukee Area Technical College. He eventually retired as a sheet metal fabricator from Ludell Manufacturing Co.

He was a neighborhood institution, having built a reputation as a community volunteer.

In 1969, he and a group of parents from the former Our Lady of Guadalupe parish school launched Bruce-Guadalupe Community School, which later merged with the United Community Center and became one of the first voucher schools in Milwaukee.

For decades, he had served on the boards of the Mitchell Park Fourth of July Parade, the Federation of Community Schools and the Walker's Point Development Corporation.

He also served as a perennial volunteer for Mexican Fiesta, the Milwaukee County Department on Aging, the City of Festivals Parade, the South Side National Night Out and his beloved Our Lady of Guadalupe.

"Everything he was involved in, it was always with our mother," his son said.

"It's always been, Frank and Nancy."

Gonzales passed on that spirit of volunteerism to his family, which in 2015 was honored by United Migrant Opportunity Services as the Hispanic Family of the Year.

But because he never served others to earn praise, he passed those accolades on to those he served.

"There are people out there that don't get recognized. There are people out there out there that will never get recognized," Gonzales said at the award presentation.

"So ... on their behalf, I will accept this honor."

Along with his wife Nancy and son Frank III, Gonzales is survived by children Eleuteria, Diana, Denise, Jeremia and Jason.

Frank Gonzales

Visitation will be at 9 a.m. Saturday followed by a Mass at noon at Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church, 613 S. 4th St.