Daniel Munoz

Daniel Munoz, age 23 passed away in a horrifying accident that can only be described as a nightmare. He gave his girlfriend a kiss, and told her he would be working on a project in the garage while she was studying. His brothers, nephews, and sister-in-law’s, thankfully were not in the house. About twenty minutes after Daniel went into the garage, his girlfriend heard an explosion. She ran to his aid, and a neighbor helped pull him out. I will spare you the graphic details, but when she saw him, she knew that Good Friday, would be his last day on Earth.

Daniel had parents who he strived to impress (which wasn’t hard for him, he was incredibly talented), four brothers, one niece, two nephews, and one more on the way. He was incredibly close to his family, and wanted to be near them at all times. His niece and nephews were of the utmost importance. He told me he would go broke trying to get the boys prepared for hunting. He always called his neice “his girl”, and said she ranked first. His mom was almost tied with his niece, and his girlfriend was a very distant third. It never bothered her, though, he had so much love to go around. Although he used to drive his girlfriend crazy, he was the person who got her through everything, and pushed her to be a better human.  One thing he was exceptionally talented at, was giving the girls around him a hard time. Daniel had no filter, and didn’t care to develop one.  He would say the most wildly inappropriate things, and just laugh when it pushed their buttons. He always got away with it, because it was always out of pure, love. When his girlfriend would cook for him he would say “it’s delicious, but it doesn’t compare to my mama’s”. She  was never offended because it’s true, she could never compare to the delicious food his mother had been giving him his whole life. His favorite was her mole de poyo, con aroz.

How could we possibly forget to mention his love of movies and cartoons, and how 80% of his dialog was movie quotes, and of course the voices to go along with each one. Sometimes we would hear a noise and it would register a few seconds later that it came from Daniel, he never failed to keep us in a healthy, roaring laughter. It wasn’t always voices though, sometimes he would think of a crass joke, or a ridiculous action, just to get someone to put a smile on their face. He used to say his goal was to make his brother David laugh every time he saw him, which also wasn’t hard. The brothers are such fools when they’re together, no one can keep a straight face around them.

Daniel was an intellectual, although he would never say he was. He was so smart, he literally always had some sort of project or idea brewing in his head. He was always doing informal research just to better his knowledge. His love for hunting, peace and quiet, guns, welding, fixing things, all attest to the kind of person he was. He found out in the morning of April 14 ^th , that he had ten more classes before he would obtain his associates degree in welding technology. He sounded so chipper on the phone. He tried to keep his truck clean even though he was always lugging around welding equipment for school, or his dusty, muddy tool box for work. With his leatherman at the ready, and his work boots ALWAYS with him, he was ready to help anyone fix anything, build anything, move anything.  Even though he was the hardest worker anyone had ever met, he still was strangely particular about his clothes and personal hygiene. He always looked good, it didn’t matter what he was wearing. Especially with those green eyes with a hint of gold to accent whatever he was wearing.

There is no way to ever explain the love Daniel had for religion and God. He would never judge anyone if they were of a different faith, he would simply understand that he had his love, and they had theirs. He always made sure he went to church, and prayed before each meal. I think his need to help people was stemmed from his connection to God.

He has made his presence known several times since his death. He wants us to know he is here, he wants us to know God took him to help us, not to hurt us. He will spend his afterlife shielding his loved ones from any harm, because that’s what he would do if he was here. There is nothing that can fill the void in our hearts, but we need to keep believing. He is here, he wants us to know he is here.

Funeral Services will be held on Friday, April 21, 2017 at 11a.m. at St. Damien of Molokai Parish, St. Vincent De Paul Catholic Church. The family will receive friends on Thursday from 2–4 and 6–8 p.m. at the Pontiac Chapel of Sparks–Griffin Funeral Home, with Rosary service at 7 p.m. Interment Mayville Cemetery.