A gentle and kind Hillcrest fixture, Enrique Gama, passed away suddenly this past week. For decades, he was a constant presence at the Union 76 service station on Sixth and Robinson. He seems to have always been there. Passing away at age 54, he started work at that service station 28 years ago.
A gentle man with a kind word for all, he was scrupulously honest in all of his work but, more importantly, he always had a twinkly smile that said that everything would be OK.
If you looked around the lot, it was always filled with more than a dozen cars, often “beaters” where those who are just scraping by knew that their car would be properly taken care of at the most reasonable price.
A number of his clients gathered for a spontaneous memorial on Tuesday, Nov. 12. Their feelings were best expressed by one person who said: “While he was like a doctor for my car, he was a friend who had a caring relationship with me.”
A father whose daughter was recently engaged, he was the sole supporter of his Tijuana family. In a real sense, he was part of our Hillcrest family and we are poorer because we will no longer have him in our lives.
The family established a Go Fund Me account so that anyone who knew him, was touched by him, might make a donation to help defray his funeral expenses and to help them since he was their sole support.
— Written by Rene Smith, Hillcrest
