- Date Of Birth: April 9, 2003
- Date Of Death: January 15, 2021
- State: Michigan
Samuel Caleb James Gonzales, age 17 years of Benton Harbor, Michigan, son, grandson, athlete, outdoorsman, and friend to everyone he met died at 8:20 p.m. on Friday, January 15, 2021 at Beacon Children’s Hospital in Memorial Hospital, South Bend, Indiana from injuries suffered in a motor vehicle accident on January 8, 2021. His family is grateful for the first responders and hospital staff whose care helped provide one more week of life.
He was born on April 9, 2003 in Saint Joseph, Michigan to Nicole Renee Hernandez and Matthew James Gonzales. He was a senior at the W.A.Y. Eau Claire (Michigan) High School and had previously attended Niles Community Schools. He worked part-time at the McDonald’s restaurant in Benton Harbor, and has lived in this area all of his life.
Sam was a member of the football, basketball, and track teams at Eau Claire. He enjoyed hunting throughout the area, fishing in area waters, and had fished in 4 of the Great Lakes. He also enjoyed camping, often on the shore of Lake Erie, but his greatest passion was riding on the Niles Skate Park.
Surviving family includes his mother, Nicole Hernandez of Benton Harbor and his father, Matt Gonzales of Niles; grandparents Barbara Jones-Tokarz of Benton Harbor, Michael (& Robin) Flannery of Niles, and Lupe Gonzales of Benton Harbor; Sam’s siblings, Kiera Drake, Ja’korie Hernandez, Alandra, Avy’anna, and Aniyiah, Gonzales, and Vernon Price, Jr.; and an amazing circle of great friends.
Sam spent his seventeen years loving life, playing hard on the teams, hunting, fishing, and camping every chance that came along, and perfecting jumps at the skate park. All of his activities were completed with other people, and everyone became a friend, evidence of his quiet but firm belief in God and His mission to love people.
