Everett “Speedy” Gonzalez, age 83 of Shakopee, passed away peacefully, surrounded by family on Friday, October 13th 2023. A Celebration of Speedy’s Life will be held at Holiday Inn Express & Suites, 4550 12th Avenue East, Shakopee, MN 55379 on Saturday, November 4th from 1pm-4pm. Afterwards, there will be a gathering for family and friends at 5pm at Shakopee Bowl, 3020 133rd Street West, Shakopee, MN 55379 for bowling and sharing stories of Speedy.
Speedy was born August 24th, 1940 to Manuel Fernandez Gonzalez and Signe Elizabeth Kosonen in Tampa, Florida. Spending his childhood years in Florida, later he moved to Bloomington with his mother where she married his step-father, William “Bill” Rogers in 1953, and gained step-brother Gene, and step-sister Marlene. Known by his family as “Ev”, Speedy had many happy years as a teenager with Bloomington as his stomping ground.
Speedy was a 1959 Graduate of Bloomington High School. Prior to earning the nickname of “Speedy” he gained the nickname “Gonz” in high school, which he had embroidered on the back of his leather jacket.
After graduation, Speedy joined the US Navy in 1961 where he was a firefighter stationed in Minneapolis. He met his first wife, Jackie, while in the Navy and welcomed his first born daughter Robin in February of 1965. He honorably completed his service with the US Navy in 1966.
Speedy met Cathy Lamke in October of 1967. Ten short months after they met, Speedy and Cathy were married in South Dakota on August 31st,1968. The happy couple recently celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary.
Speedy and Cathy lived in Minneapolis, Bloomington, and Howard Lake where they spent many happy years together with their Yorkshire Terrier “Yorkie” before deciding to move to Chaska. In November of 1975 they welcomed his second daughter Tina, and shortly thereafter his third daughter Anit in August of 1977. Speedy always wanted to have a son, but was graced with daughters instead, and he had to get crafty with their names. Tina was named after Speedy’s favorite uncle Tino, while Anit was named after Tino’s wife, and Speedy’s favorite Aunt, Anita.
In 1978 Speedy and Cathy bought their house in Eden Prairie, where they lived for 11 years. While in Eden Prairie, Speedy would decorate the house for Christmas with every inch of roofline, windows, and trees with Christmas lights, not only for the enjoyment of his children, but also for the neighborhood. He would have bottle rocket wars in the neighborhood streets with the neighbors, and also watch drive-in movies on the roof with his children from the drive-in that was a few miles away. In 1989, Speedy and Cathy bought their hobby farm in Jordan. At the hobby farm, Speedy tried out his never ending skills as a beekeeper, a maple syrup enthusiast, and also a weekend lumberjack; splitting endless cords of wood for winter heat. He also knew how to have his fun, and made miles of paths for his three wheeler. In 1993, Speedy and Cathy had their home built in Prior Lake, where he could have year-round access to fishing on Prior Lake. During this time, Speedy and Cathy bought a camper in Mille Lacs so they would have a “home away from home” and a quiet spot to get away from the busy city. They purchased their current townhome in Shakopee in 2019.
Speedy worked as a salesman for the majority of his life. He worked briefly as a pharmaceutical salesman in Florida, a salesman for Pacific Toy House, and finally a route salesman for Frito Lay Inc, where he retired after 35+ years of selling Doritos and Cheetos to the masses of Bloomington. He made many lifelong friends with his coworkers, store managers and owners along his Bloomington route.
Speedy was a Jack of all trades and loved to tinker. He learned the majority of his handyman skills from his step father Bill. Speedy worked part-time as a handyman, painting, plumbing, remodeling, and landscaping. If anyone needed help replacing a light fixture, faucet, sheetrocking, installing retaining walls, or any household chore, Speedy was there to help.
Speedy devoted unlimited time to his grandchildren. He also loved and acknowledged all of his fur-grandkids, referring to them as grand-puppies and grand-kitties. He loved all of his grandkids, even if they had four feet and tails. While in his 60’s, Speedy enrolled in Tae Kwon Do classes with his grandchildren Dustin, KyLee & KayLee, all of them completed the required classes to earn their black belts. He loved taking his grandchildren fishing, hunting, camping, go-karting, 4-wheeling, and mini-golfing. Speedy and Cathy also loved to travel with the grandkids, taking them to visit their great-grandparents in Arkansas and North Dakota. He also took a trip to the East Coast with Dustin, KyLee & Kaylee visiting New York City and Niagara Falls. In 2022, Speedy became a great-grandfather to Tanner and McKenzie and he was anxiously expecting to welcome his 3rd great-grandchild in January 2024. One of his greatest joys was being able to walk his Granddaughter KyLee down the aisle on her wedding day, August 5th, 2023.
Throughout his life, Speedy was very active with all of hobbies. An avid bowler, hunter, and fisherman, he has many trophies that he enjoyed to display and tell the stories of how he “caught the big one”. Always willing to tell a joke or a story, his favorite Ole and Lena jokes never got old, even after hearing them a thousand times. A lover of the ‘Champagne of Beers’ Miller High Life, he even had an extensive beer sign and tap handle collection.
Speedy had the heart of gold, and would have given the shirt off his back in the middle of winter if anyone was in need. He loved unconditionally and cried at each and every goodbye. This is not “goodbye”, this is “until next time”.
Speedy is greatly missed by his loving wife Cathy, children Robin Sundem, Tina (Jason Fairbanks) Lundell, Anit (Tomas) Elke; grandchildren Dustin Gonzalez, KyLee (James Jr.) Minor, KayLee Lundell, Sohnia Fairbanks, Ryan Sundem, Sean Sundem; great-grandchildren Tanner Gonzalez, McKenzie Minor; sister Marlene (Gary) Meyer, sister-in-law Rita Rogers, and many other loving relatives and friends.
He is preceded in death by parents Manuel Gonzalez, Signe Rogers, William Rogers, brother Eugene “Buck” Rogers, best friends Joseph Kadlec, and Rich Spagl.
