A Year of Loss Ends in Loss 

THE YEAR TWENTY TWENTY inflicted one more painful loss on us before it slithered off into history. On December 8, Calixto Gonzales, our dear friend and longtime TF&G Saltwater Editor, passed away in a Houston hospital.

Cal did not die from Covid-19, but his last days were definitely marked by the disease and its insidious effect on everything, especially healthcare. Battling an infection that attacked his heart valves, Cal was flown from the Rio Grande Valley to Houston’s Medical Center just before Thanksgiving. There, he underwent a grueling day-long surgical procedure to repair his infection ravaged heart muscle. The infection and the surgery left his heart too weak to sustain him on its own, and he hovered for more than a week on life support as his compromised system fought to regain its strength. Ultimately, he lost the fight, but not without holding on like a champion.

Shortly after he arrived in Houston, the reality of the long predicted winter Covid surge began to set in. The hospital where Cal was being treated went into lockdown. This meant that Cal’s loving wife Sandie could no longer be at his side as he suffered through the surgery and its devastating aftermath. She waited hours for sparse updates by text or phone calls from nurses and doctors who were no doubt overwhelmed by the strain of growing Covid admissions.

And so, in what has become a terrible ritual this year, Cal passed away alone, without Sandie, his son Calito, or his parents there to comfort him.

But alone was not how he lived. He had a magnetic personality that drew people to him. Cal was a dynamo of spirit and life. He may have only lived fifty years, but he packed a full lifetime into those years.

Cal loved the outdoors, and was an avid fisherman from childhood. He was also an educator. With an undergrad degree in English from the University of Texas, Cal went on to earn a Master of Arts degree in Creative Writing from Eastern Michigan University. That is where he met Sandra Lyn Blackburn, who would become his wife, soul mate, the love of his life.

After completing his masters, he and Sandie made their home in the Valley, where Cal had grown up, and they both became teachers. Cal taught high school English before taking on the job that became his “pride and joy,” as drama director for an Edinburg middle school.

Early in his professional life, Cal melded his writing skills and educational credentials with his first love of saltwater fishing and began a side career as a freelance outdoor writer.

In 2005, TF&G’s editor at the time, Don Zaidle (another too-soon loss in our family), took notice of Cal’s budding freelance efforts and brought him on board as South Region Fishing Editor. We made him Saltwater Editor in 2007. Between monthly columns and feature articles, Cal wrote more than 300 stories that were published in our pages. Each one of his stories had a special vitality that was tuned in to Cal’s spirit and his passion for fishing.

Cal was one of those gifted writers who required little structural editing. He did require a weapons-grade spell checker, as his zest for getting the words into each sentence often left a wake of hilariously creative misspellings. But the end product was always a tribute to his craft. And on this mission that we shared—to portray and promote the outdoors—his stories always met the prime directive: make the reader feel they are there, or want to be there.

Beyond his writing, Cal’s personality was a thing to behold. To get a small sense of how fun he was to be around, check out this Podcast from a couple of years ago: https://wp.me/p4qAjM-Y01

Rest in Peace, Eduardo Calixto Gonzales. You left us too early, but you left a mark that will not soon fade, if it fades at all.

E-mail Roy at rneves@fishgame.com and Ardia at aneves@fishgame.com

 

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