I have read your tributes to George Gutierrez and I agree that your emotions have a tendency to flow. George Gutierrez, without any doubt in my mind, was as fine a man as any one individual can expect to be. I know that I was always impressed with his keen sense of humor; for he always had a joke for all at the tip of his tongue. I was also impressed with his ability to work numbers by memory. George was a human calculator. I would throw numbers at him and he could calculate the correct answer for me every time; no pencil & paper, no calculator! I also know, for a fact, that his immediate family was the most important factor weighing in his life. He, as any father would, would be willing to sacrifice himself in place of his children and wife. I am just like everyone else, in this respect; I miss George very much, I miss his smile, I miss his sense of humor, I miss his jokes, I miss his friendship! Marty and I decided that we were going to renovate our house, in Mart, with the understanding that it would increase the value of the house, once we were ready to sell and move to San Antonio. I went to the bank and took out a loan for x thousands of dollars with "renovation" as the purpose of the loan. I looked in the Waco Tribune and found a person named "Mr. Reak" under house remodeling. I called his number and made an appointment with him to come and look at the house, give us some estimates. Mr. Reak assured me that he and his crew could fix our house to our liking. In fact, he stated that our house would look like a "Doll House" by the time that they were through with it. Little did I realize it at the time, but more appropriate wording would have been, our house would look like a "Dog House" by the time that they were through with it. Suffice to say that Mr. Reak was the classic "Rogue, Con Artist." Of course, I believed this smooth talker and I agreed to let him work on my house. The day came that they were to start working on our house. Nothing that they worked on ended well. The brick was leaning away from the house, they didn't level the house properly, and their concrete work was horrendous! To add insult to injury, Mr. Reak could not, for whatever reason, remember that I was Mr. DeLuna. He constantly called me Mr. Lummus. He constantly made excuses for his poor workmanship and when I pointed out this fact, he would tell me, "Don't get nervous Mr. Lummus, don't get nervous!" I told George this story and he laughed so hard that he actually cried tears. Hope scolded him for laughing and I will always remember him saying, "But, honey, listen to the way that Carlos is telling the story. I'm laughing at the way that Carlos is telling me the story, especially the part about, Don't get nervous Lummus, you done got nervous on me Lummus!" Of course, at that particular time, only George could see the humor among all of this situation. George had that magical touch with words; he could talk to you, one on one, and make you feel as though you were the only person worthy of being on top of the pedestal. He had that mystical power about him that could put smiles upon faces, no matter what the circumstances where! I feel because of George's unique persona, the Angels in Heaven carry him upon their shoulders/wings! I hope and pray that he knows how much I miss him and that he knows that I thought of him as a tremendous personality! The World was definitely a better place with George present......... Brother-in-law---Carlos Deluna