Monty Ganzon
October 15, 1948 ~ July 17, 2024
Manuel “Monty” Ganzon, of Asheville, NC, died peacefully at White Oak Manor in Charlotte on July 17, 2024. He is survived by his sisters, Luzviminda and Virginia (with husband Rick) and many nieces, nephews, grand-nieces, and grand-nephews who he loved and helped throughout his life. He is now greeted in Heaven by his parents, Felix and Dionisia; and his sisters, Teresita, Gloria, Nelia, and Consuelo.
Born in the Philippines, he came to the United States at Christmas in 1972 with his sister, Virginia, to join their parents and their sisters, Gloria and Nelia, in Asheville. Soon after, he saw a storefront sign that read “See the World” in bold letters below a big picture of the earth. So he walked into what he assumed was a travel agency. What he had missed (because he wasn’t very tall) were the words above the picture of the earth: “Join the Navy”. He’d walked into a military recruitment center. And so began his first career, enlisted in the US Navy where he served a few years as a medical technician.
After the Navy, he restarted his mission to see the world — beginning with a trip to France and Germany. When he returned to Asheville, his family marveled at his exotic gifts — Toblerone chocolates from Switzerland, sweet Spätlese and Auslese wines from Germany, and the strangest thing of all, Perrier mineral water from France. These treats, so unfamiliar to Americans (and Filipinos!) in the late 1970s, were informed by his exceptional palate, and each one came with an education and a story.
He changed his name from Manuel to “Monty” because he thought it would be easier for Americans to remember, but his family and older friends knew him as “Manny.” Ambitious and adventurous, Manny tried out many new careers, none of which related to his college degree. In Washington D.C., he waited tables at a prominent hotel, where Saudi Arabian sheiks tipped him in hundred-dollar bills. Ever-modest, Manny said, “this is too much!” But the sheik insisted. “This is for you,” he said, “And this is for your father. And this is for your sister…” as he handed him bill after bill. Another international customer always asked for Manny, and sent him home with tins of caviar to share with his astonished family.
Manny sold insurance in Los Angeles where he and his father shared an apartment on Hollywood Boulevard. Later, in Monterey CA, he and his sisters opened a restaurant named “Daisy’s Deli,” in honor of their mother. In Las Vegas, he even tried his hand at real estate.
He often returned to his hometown of Tarlac City, Philippines, where he supported and mentored his grand-nephews. He made frequent donations to his boyhood Catholic school, Don Bosco, and to the nuns who taught at his sister’s Catholic schools. He visited Dubai, Canada, Australia, and many European countries. He lived in Germany and in Turkey, and worked in Bosnia at the height of the war, but his favorite place on earth was southern Spain, where he lived as a young man and again in his sixties. After his last stay in Córdoba, Spain he returned to his family in Asheville.
All around the world, Manny will be remembered for his colorful, one-of-a-kind personality. He was brilliant and charming, imaginative and unpredictable. In one moment, he could be headstrong, foolhardy, or tempestuous; in the next, prayerful, thoughtful, and gently compassionate. The poet Walt Whitman, in Song of Myself, wrote words that Manny could have inspired, “Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself, (I am large, I contain multitudes.)” Yet one thing in his life was constant: his wholehearted generosity. To friends and family, he always gave everything he could, wrapped in joy with no strings attached. He gave away his belongings and time, his food and his money, without thought of his own needs or future. And thus he died with few possessions but rich beyond measure. The love he left behind is his great final gift.
A Funeral Mass will be held on Tuesday, August 20, at 11:00 a.m. at St. Eugene Catholic Church in Asheville, followed by the Rite of Committal at Sky View Memorial Park.
Services
Funeral Mass: August 20, 2024 11:00 am
St. Eugene's Catholic Church
72 Culvern Street
Asheville, NC 28804
(828) 254-5193
http://www.steugene.org
Inurnment: August 20, 2024 12:15 pm
Sky View Memorial Park
US Highway 70
Swannanoa, NC
(828)298-4037
Funeral Home Assisting The Family:
Groce Funeral Home - Patton Ave.
1401 Patton Ave.
Asheville, NC 28806
(828)252-3535
http://www.grocefuneralhome.com
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On behalf of the St. Eugene Church Bereavement Ministry, I would like to express my condolences for the loss of your loved one. Know that our Ministry is praying for your family during this time of sadness. Please be in touch with us if there is anything we can do to help your family.
Blessings,
Ginny Raviotta
St. Eugene Church Bereavement Ministry