Bennie Mike Gomez
Bennie Mike Gomez, 2624 West Ridge Court, died Tuesday, March 28, 2007, at St. Francis Medical Center in Topeka. He was 87.
Mr. Gomez was a foreman in Materials for the Santa Fe Railroad for 42 years before he retired in 1984. After he retired, he worked for Southwest Publishing Company in Topeka, was a security guard at the Wolf Creek Lake, worked for Prairie Port Plaza and was an attendant care worker for the East Central Kansas Mental Health Center. He served in the U.S. Navy. He moved to the Emporia area in 1935, then moved to Topeka in 1961 and to Carbondale in 1993. He and his family returned to Emporia in 1995.
The son of Florence and Margaret Jane Harvey Gomez, he was born June 13, 1919, Sanford. He married Deloris Giger on June 13, 1940, at Admire. She survives.
Mr. Gomez worked with the Boy Scouts for 30 years. He was a life member of Optimist International; Sertoma Club; Carbondale Veterans of Foreign Wars; and American Legion Ball-McColm Post 5.
He is survived by one daughter, Sharon Vernon of Emporia; two sons, Michael Gomez of Oakdale, Minn., and Stephen Gomez of Beaumont, Texas; one sister, Charity Duckworth of Colleyville, Texas; three brothers, Peter L. Gomez and Martin Rowland, both of Dodge City and Bobbie Cavitt of Oklahoma; 16 grandchildren; and many great-grandchildren. A son, Alan Gomez; a sister, Marguerite Gomez; and four brothers, Theodore, Walter, Donald and Cecil Gomez, died earlier.
The funeral will be at 2 p.m. Saturday at the First Congregational Church. The Rev. Chad Poland will conduct the service. Mr. Gomez will be cremated after the service. The family will meet friends from 7 to 8 p.m. Friday at the Roberts-Blue-Barnett Funeral Home.
Memorial contributions made to the First Congregational Church or checks made to the EACC Foundation for the Peter Pan Park Playground Fund may be sent in care of the funeral home, P.O. Box 175, Emporia, KS 66801.