Fortunato Velasquez

Fortunato Velasquez, Jr. November 3rd, 1942 to April 25th 2025. He was known as “Fortune”. He passed away surrounded by loved ones. He is survived by his younger brother, Louis R. Velásquez, as well as, his daughters Andrea Velasquez Kessler, Teresa Velásquez, Sara Marie Hartwig, and Jaqueline Magoon, his son-in-laws Dean, Brian, and Justin, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. In addition, the many godchildren and families that adopted him in La Paz, Honduras. Preceded in death by his parents, his youngest brother, David, and his grandson 2LT Travis Morgado.

Fortune was born in Porterville, California to parents Fortunato Sr and Helen Velásquez.  He and his brothers Louis and David picked produce in the summers from orchards in California, Oregon and Washington alongside his parents who had immigrated as infants with their mothers from Mexico.  He joined the Air Force when he was 18, married Juanita aka Gina Caballero whom he met while stationed in San Antonio Texas, graduated from San Jose State University, and studied to be a Registered Nurse while helping to raise two daughters. He studied law at Hastings Law School in San Francisco prior to moving to nursing and was a probation officer in San Jose, California before returning to his father’s farm when his father succumbed to cancer. 

When Fortune was 38, he met and married his second wife Ronda Woods. Together he became a father for the third time to another daughter. At the time Fortune worked at the Tule Reservation in California as a nurse with the Tule Indian tribe. First nations history had always been a passion of his, and he held the time he spent on the Tule Reservation dear for the rest of his life.

In 1990 Fortune’s youngest daughter was born with his girlfriend Tammy Fonseca. Fortune was a skilled nurse who worked and volunteered in a variety of environments from giving flu shots, working in mental hospitals, to leading the Emergency Room as lead RN.  He enjoyed nursing and used those skills when he was accepted into the Peace Corps at age 66, where he was sent to Honduras. Once there he found a new calling supporting the children at the Fundación Señor San José (a children’s home) in La Paz alongside Sister Edith Suazo Fernandez. 

Fortune struggled with alcoholism most of his life, when he moved to Honduras he became sober, and found peace, tranquility, and harmony with the children he helped serve.  He felt it was his way of making penance with his past.  He came back to the US to fight the cancer caused by his disease.  Fortune was smart, inquisitive, artistic, loved to read, travel, and experience new things. He was also an avid writer and completed several novels, short stories and poems. He passed on these appreciations to his children, grandchildren, and godchildren. He will be missed by many. 

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