The Pink Streamer-filled Party

From Sergio Chapa, Dallas, Texas:

I am late in writing this but I wanted to say that meeting John was one of the best experiences at the NAHJ convention in Fort Worth. We hit it off right away and he was always very supportive of my career which would eventually lead me to Dallas.

He opened his home to host a going-away party for a couple of friends leaving the Star-Telegram and for new ones to mingle and meet.

I remember we all piled in an SUV to go. I had to sit on somebody’s lap. Just like high school. *loL*

Message from John's parents:

Las Katies, Hairdos and Christians

John,
I've been struggling with the decision to leave a post here -- on this page. For me, writing an entry is this personal, final confirmation that you, my friend, are truly no longer with us, and that's a thought that is still hard to accept. Every time I think about your passing, tears start to swell but then a fond (OK, hilarious)memory comes to mind and the sadness subsides.

Remember the time at NAHJ in Phoenix when I came back to around room around 2 a.m. and found you passed out hanging off your bed and the music blaring? There were siphoned beers can all over the room. It was as if the Tejano party were held there that night, but it wasn't. I asked you if you would be able to make your early-morning flight. You muttered you would, but, of course, when morning came you were still in a deep slumber and missed it. I woke you, and you sprang up like one of those Jack in the box toys. The first words out of your mouth were: "Girl, how's my hair?!"

You took me to my first and only Dallas Cowboys game in 2003. We beat the Redskins that year and you made sure we had God on our side. We went with two friends of yours -- but you forgot to mention they were former priests! I was waiting for nuns in habits to show up next. It was a little surreal to be drinking beer with ex-priests cheering on the Cowboys, but only you could serve up such a uniquely John experience.

You went with me to my first Katies awards banquet in 2002. They sat us(card-carrying members of what you called "La Joteria")at a table of Christian radio personalities/employees. What could have been a disaster turned into an entertaining evening thanks to you. We were the only ones at the table drinking and then you -- always a fearless soul -- started chatting with them. You playfully teased one woman who revealed that her husband didn't allow her to go to the movies. Then, you dubbed my statues "Las Katies" and gave them bitchy, catty personalities and pretended they were fighting the entire weekend. But what I remember most was that you were so proud of me that night. During our decade-long friendship, you were always supporting me, whether it was attending a banquet so I wouldn't be there alone, or helping me with the San Antonio chapter of NAHJ. You were a dear friend -- loyal and dependable, supportive without being judgmental. May we all live life with your zest.

Missing you,

Daniel J. Vargas
a.k.a La Daniella ("Ay, ay!")

JGM Funeral in El Paso

Create a Free Slideshow

Unity 2004

From McNelly Torres, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida:




This picture was taken at UNITY 2004 in D.C. It was that night that we were
at the hotel's lobby drinking tequila. That is the Texas mafia.

John's Big Bash

Dear Friends of John GM,

In an effort to organize a list of friends who are planning -- or even thinking -- of attending the Celebration of Life for John, please email me at elaine_aradillas@yahoo.com. This will help us keep all of the names and addresses in a single location, as well as plan for the Celebration. An evite will be sent, but information will also be announced at this Web site.

Sincerely,

Elaine Aradillas
elaine_aradillas@yahoo.com

From Mc Nelly Torres, Orlando, Florida:





This picture was taken at UNITY 2004 in D.C.

It was that night that we were at the hotel's lobby drinking tequila. That is the Texas mafia.

La Boa

From Nora Lopez, A.K.A. La Beauty

John,

I had one of the best lunches today! Danny Vargas, Jaime Castillo, Rebeca Chapa, Sonja Garza and I had lunch at Rosario's, where we spent nearly the entire lunch hour telling stories about you. Although Rebeca and Sonja didn't know you as well as Jaime, Danny and I, they laughed heartily at all your exploits. And there were many. How I'm going to miss you my friend.

Although we met as rookies in 1987 at the Express-News, we didn't truly become friends until I first spotted you at the Bonham in October of that year. At work, you were this mostly quiet, shy young man trying to find a place in the newspaper. But when I saw you that night, it was like I was seeing a whole new different person. For starters, you had covered half of your face with green glitter and the other with some white substance. And you were dancing wildly with a purple boa wrapped around your neck. Even then you were doing that dance step I'd see you do years later, you know, the one where you shake your booty while your hands sort of glide down in front of you in a motion resembling cascading water. From then on, Sandra and Oscar and I would always call you Boa. You were still sorta in the closet then, but when we both ended up back at the E-N during our second tour in SA, you were out and about - in flames!

That was one of the things I best loved about you: you were comfortable in your skin. And that gave you confidence in life, not to mention the ability to just walk up to total strangers and strike up a conversation. But you could be flaky, too, mi amigo. How many times did you start a lunch train, or make dinner plans, only to flake out at the last moment - ususally for some minor, contrived reason (my contacts hurt) - leaving the rest of us to spend time with folks we might not have spent time with otherwise. I think it was part of your grand design, to bring people together, whether they wanted to or not. And it worked.

Most of all I will miss your wonderful friendship. It was you who always made the effort to keep track of me, calling me up every three-four months just to touch base. You were always a wonderful listener, with a knack for making people feel like you were genuinely interested in them and their troubles.

At first - especially when a string of reporters started dropping by my desk asking to see my (non-existent) tattoo - I was uncomfortable with your pet name for me: La Beauty. I worried that people would think I actually thought of myself as such - which I'm obviously not. And when other people started using it, I feared they were making fun of me. Only when you said it, my friend, did I know it came from a good place. The last time I talked to you (you called me from the hospital using Macarena's phone), it was the first thing you said to me: Hello Beauty.

I now believe that you gave me a nickname you hoped would inspire me to believe in my inner beauty. And I will always love you for it.

I will miss you terribly Juanito. Que descanses en paz y ahi nos vemos.

Nora Lopez - La Beauty (y que!)

San Antonio Floods

From Kin Man Hui, San Antonio, Texas:

In October of 1998, John and I were paired together to work on stories about the aftermath of damaging floods in San Antonio.

We scoured the city looking for people trying to recover their belongings from their water-ravaged homes. We discovered a single mom with two kids and an elderly father cleaning out their home. The area was destroyed. Household items were strewn all throughout the streets. Parts of homes were ripped apart.

John and I were drained from a long, wet day trudging through mud and muck yet we were glad to find some people who were willing to talk with us.

As I started making images from the scene, John - in his disarming, quiet way - interviewed the family.

Everything went fine until John walked over some pieces of loose wooden boards. John yelled out in agony. I turned around expecting John had slipped or twisted an ankle, but neither was the case. John had stepped on a exposed nail which penetrated his shoe and gone into his foot.

As I was about to haul John to the Jeep and take him to a hospital, the single mother told us she was a nurse and that she had an emergency first aid kit.

John, fighting the pain in his injured foot, accepted the aid. With his shoe removed and his bloodied sock pulled off to expose his wound, John continued to interview the flood victim/emergency room nurse as she treated his injury in front of her destroyed home.

I believe the event somehow endeared the woman to us and we wrote and photographed stories about her and her family's recovery from the floods.

That was the first time John and I worked together... And the most memorable for me. It's memorable not because of his injury but rather because of the way he handled himself in that situation.

From that moment on, I knew John to be a great journalist and a greater human being.

I'll remember his smile, his voice, his laughter and his humanity.

I missed John when he left the Express-News. I'll miss him even more now.

With much sorrow, admiration and respect,

Kin Man Hui

Chuco slang, carnal

From Billy Calzada, San Antonio, Texas:

John,

You were always quick on the Chuco slang: Simon, carnal, ya te fuiste, vaz cruzing en tu gran mueble to the sky...Don't forget tu tapadera. I live in and love San Antonio, but man, I miss El Paso. While we worked together at the Express-News, your presence went a long way toward quenching my longing for El Paso.

That gift you gave was priceless.

The Interior Decorator Within

From Aman Batheja, Fort Worth, Texas:

John always made sure of finding ways to help friends out, even when they didn't ask for it. When I first moved to Fort Worth, I had an empty apartment I needed to furnish. Without missing me a beat, John told me to take his couch. He said he was getting a new one and needed to get rid of the old one in a hurry. I offered again and again to buy it from him but he kept telling me I was actually doing him the favor by taking his perfectly good slightly-used couch off his hands.
That was three years ago. A few months back, John stopped by my home (different apartment, same couch) and dropped off some more furniture including a wood table, a mirror, a frame and two wooden crosses. He never explained why he was giving us these beautiful items but he said he wanted to get rid of them and thought we'd like it.
Now that John's gone, I look around my home filled with John's generous cast-offs. I think he may have missed his calling as an interior decorator.

One of my last memories of John: He sent me a card two about a week before he died. He was still recovering from his latest surgery but seemed optimistic about getting the transplant and a fresh start. In the card, he wrote, "One thing I keep telling myself is that it doesn't matter how one falls down, but how one gets up."

JoJo

Every time I hear this song I think of John because he liked it, especially the chorus where the teens yell LEAVE. He listened to top 40 radio a lot and had a habit of calling me when a song he liked was playing, and he'd say nothing but just let the music play and then hang up. There was always a back story, like this one was one that he said his niece Emily (who was around 14 at the time, I think) liked. He had visited El Paso and came back knowledgable about the teenage ways. And he was so awed and sort of concerned that his little niece was growing up and the songs she liked and Jojo. He was like, "que sabe esta jojo de esas cosas?" but he grew to like the song and would sing it and would put his hand up to me and tell me at work Get Out, just so that I could respond LEAVE! and we'd laugh. every time i'd hear jojo on the radio i'd call him, even recently. and hang up. cabron.

this probably doesn't make much sense to other people but you know how you and people who you're close to develop these weird little habits that are one-on-one and no one else gets or thinks is funny. i think john had lots of those private jokes with people. those are the best kind.

The Night Shift

from Patricia Talorico in New Castle, DE:

John and I worked together at The News Journal in Wilmington, Del. At the time, we were both working the dreaded 3 to 11 p.m. shift, but it wasn't that bad, because John was always so much fun to be around.

John was the night police reporter and we always would take our dinner break together. One night, we went to a restaurant and John brought along a portable police scanner so he wouldn't miss an important police or fire call. Restaurant workers saw, and heard, the scanner and immediately became concerned. John was wearing a long, rumpled trench coat and he kind of looked like Columbo. He told the restaurant workers not to worry. "We're not
the police; we're from the Department of Health." The surprised and scared look on their faces was priceless. John and I laughed until tears streamed down our faces. Thank goodness the restaurant staff had a good sense of humor. But, just in case they didn't, we ordered take-out and left. We laughed all the way back to the office. I loved John's infectious laugh and his kindness. It served him well in the crazy world of journalism and in life.

Gracias!

From John's cousin Michelle Pechan:

Thanks to all of John’s friends/work colleagues for being such a good friend to John. He spoke of all his friends so fondly. My family loved him very much and we’re so proud of everything he accomplished. John and I grew up on opposite sides of El Paso. We didn’t see each other all that much growing up but as young teens we would from time to time hang out together at the horse races while our dads were betting on horses we were in the game room playing pinball and video games. Once in college, I really got to know John and spent a lot of time with him. The John I knew was smart, compassionate, caring and a lot of fun. I don’t think I ever heard him say a bad thing about anyone, okay maybe about Bobby Joe Hill, but he was mean to us at a UTEP basketball game and wanted to fight John! Still, John is one of the best persons I know. I have WAY too many more stories about his/our (and Monica and Andy and Raymond) crazy college antics most of them centered around UTEP athletics, which he loved and dancing and drinking. I’ll never forget his craziness and especially his laughter. I know we’ll see John again and I know that he is with his grandma, whom he loved and missed very much. Cheers John and GO MINERS!

Happy Times!

From Analisa Nazareno:

These are some photos from my wedding in 2002. John came down from Ft. Worth to San Antonio. He is pictured with my friend Alejandra in one picture and dancing in another. He was a wonderful, loyal and loving friend.

Juancho, the Slangmaster

From El Catrin in San Anto, Jaime Castillo

Although I was only a couple of years behind John at UTEP, we didn't become close until we crossed paths at the San Antonio Express-News. John and I immediately gravitated to each other around our shared El Paso roots and our allegiance to the Miners in football and basketball. We would often communicate in the "El Chuco" version of border slang that left our colleagues from the Rio Grande Valley wondering what the heck we were talking about.

When Letty and I were dating before we got married, John would refer to her as "La Hyna," or my girlfriend. Our apartments were our "chantes" and John's sea green Ford Escort was "la ranfla."

One day, John came into the newsroom wearing a new sportcoat. I commented, "Mira que guapo." Without missing a beat, John responded, "Me lo caipié." (For the record, I'm not even sure how to spell "caipiar," but, in El Paso, it means to steal or "kipe.")

John always loved to plan lunches, pitting disparate people together just for the fun of it. Once, he asked me to go to lunch with some colleagues, who I knew, of course, but not very well. At the last minute, he pulled out of the deal, saying he had an interview. I always thought he did it on purpose, just to see what my reaction would be.

John loved stirring it up, in the best sense of the phrase. Once, he started a rumor that our colleague, Nora Lopez, had a tattoo of a rose, which bore the words "La Beauty." After spreading it around, John sat back in the corner and watched with great delight as one reporter after another asked Nora to see a tattoo that never existed.

I already miss the little bit of joyful chaos that Juancho brought to the world.

Te guacho cabron,

Jaime Castillo

Desde San Antonio, Remembering John

From Scott Huddleston, staff writer, San Antonio Express-News --

John had an infectious smile. His smile would make us smile. I used to like to say things to make him laugh, and it was pretty easy because he smiled and laughed a lot. He left a huge wake behind him through the lives he touched. I'm glad that there will be a celebration of his life. That's as it should be.

One year, in 1989, he struck up the idea of performing in the media's gridiron show in San Antonio. I had thought, "Man, I don't want to be in a dumb show." But John and I were buddies, so I went with him to the cast call. Well, soon after that he had to pull out of the show because he'd gotten a job in Delaware, of all places. And as he's gone from city to city for the past 18 years, I've stayed in San Antonio. And guess what? I'm still in the freakin' gridiron show, which this year is Nov. 3 at the Guadalupe Theatre. John, we'll drink an extra cold one for you at the cast party!

John had a certain wisdom, an inner restless peace, that allowed him to tap into all kinds of cultures. He and Macarena were among the few pillars of stability when we needed them here right after 9-11, writing stories about the fear, bigotry, insentivity and paranoia that had taken over. John's last story before the attack on Sept. 11, 2001 was about the diverse chaplain program at Lackland AFB that meets the needs of all major religions. That might have been a good primer for what was about to occur.

Going back to those early days, in 1989 when we were cub reporters -- John was my age -- he had this wild story about aliens in Alamo Heights, an upscale suburb near downtown. Not undocumented aliens. I'm talking about "alienlike beings" like from another planet! Someone had painted some figures on the streets, and the suburban police had no idea where they came from. I think Roddy Stinson milked that story for a couple of columns.

John! That was one crazy-ass story, bro! I made you laugh again, didn't I? Peace, Scott

NAHJ

The National Association of Hispanic Journalists, which John was a member, remembers JGM here.

Help!

We’re looking for JGM pictures, video, stories… anything you may have so that we can add to this blog.

Send us your recuerdos to:

jgm.memorial@gmail.com

And make sure to sign the guest book. Click on the link at the top right-hand corner of this page.

gracias!

UPDATE: Friday Funeral Service

After the 11:30 mass at Our Lady of Assumption Catholic Church, 4800 Byron, in El Paso, the family is inviting friends to share a meal at a restaurant (and not at their house).

For those of you who would like to send the family a card, you can mail it to:

3507 Flory
El Paso, Texas 79904


And we'll keep you posted on plans for the upcoming celebration -- October 27th in the DFW area.

El Paso Times Remembers John

Former Herald-Post journalist dies at 43
By Michael D. Hernandez / El Paso Times
El Paso Times
Article Launched:08/20/2007 12:00:00 AM MDT

John Gutierrez-Mier, a former reporter for the El Paso Herald-Post whose career in journalism brought attention to some of society's most overlooked people, died Friday in Dallas. He was 43.

The native El Pasoan was a general assignment reporter for the Herald-Post in 1996 and 1997, wrote about minority affairs and religion for the San Antonio Express-News and had covered minorities and the homeless for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram since 2002.

Gutierrez-Mier was at a Dallas-area hotel Friday recuperating from an Aug. 7 heart surgery at nearby Medical City Hospital when he died, his family said.

Yolanda Mier said her son was plagued by a congenital heart defect that required many surgeries and procedures for much of his life.

"I was always very proud of him and his work," she said. "But I think he could have gone a long way and done more if he didn't have all of these health problems."

A memorial Mass for Gutierrez-Mier will be celebrated at 11:30 a.m. Friday at Our Lady of Assumption Catholic Church, 4800 Byron.

In addition to his reporting responsibilities, Gutierrez-Mier excelled at coordinating events for reporters and was instrumental in helping to organize the 2004 convention in Fort Worth for the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, colleagues said.

A graduate of Irvin High School and the University of Texas at El Paso, Gutierrez-Mier also worked for the News-Journal in Wilmington, Del., during the early 1990s.

He is survived by his parents, Juan and Yolanda Mier of El Paso, brother Rodolfo Mier of Houston, and sisters Margaret Horsch of El Paso, and Marie Metz of Orlando, Fla.

Yolanda Mier said her family has been touched by the condolences they have received from her son's friends and colleagues.

"We've had calls from so many people, reporters from Ohio and California, just all over," she said. "I'm overwhelmed to know that so many people admired him and cared about him."

Michael D. Hernandez may be reached at mhernandez@elpasotimes.com;546-6151.

Adios from El Paso

From Gustavo Reveles, El Paso, Tejas:

A wonderful El Paso journalist and great all-around guy died last Friday. His name was John Gutierrez-Mier and I was lucky to have been his friend. John, who worked at the El Paso Herald-Post for several years until the paper folded in 1997, was a minority affairs reporter for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. He was 43 and died waiting for a heart transplant.

I met John in 2003, when we both began working at the Star-Telegram. You couldn't help but become a friend to John, who greeted every morning with a wonderful disposition and a dedication to journalism that I still envy. He was a great reporter. He had a way to make his subjects feel so comfortable, that no matter the subject, they managed to open up to him and give way for a great story. A Google search for John's name reveals great stories about some of the people that more often than not were ignored by the media: the poor, the under served, ethnic and racial minorities and the socially oppressed. If he had done else, he would have left an important legacy behind him.

But John was above all a wonderful individual. That 2003 I spent my first ever Christmas away from home. Sensing my sadness, John not only to invited me over to his apartment where all his family had gathered to celebrate, but he and his family treated me as one of their own. For that, I will always be grateful.

I had the chance to observe John in several conferences and conventions, and the one thing that always amazed me was how many people -- some of them very well-known journalists -- counted him as a friend. John had a knack for giving the people he most cared about nicknames. He fell on his Mexican upbringing to give anyone a caring term of endearment. Our friend Cythia was dubbed "La Wifa" because when they first met she was about to get married. He somehow thought our friend Joaquin's name sounded like someone was saying "walking" and so he called him "Andando" (get going, in Spanish). Alma was "Sour Sister" because of what her name means in Spanish. There was "La Beauty" and "La Francesa." He had one for me, but I won't get into it.

His services will be on Friday here in El Paso. People from throughout Texas as well as both the East Coast and West Coast will fly in. More proof of how far-reaching John's enthusiasm for journalism and life as a whole was.

Ahi te guacho, loco.

Go Spurs Go!

from Suzanne Hoholik:

I sat next to John GM at the Express-News my last three years in San Antonio. There are so many stories and memories when I think about him. But it's the little things that made him special. How he thought Minnesota and my home state of Michigan were the same, his endless, random questions while on deadline, going to Mass with him on Sundays at San Fernando, watching the Spurs play, getting food poisoning while watching the Spurs play. After I moved back to the Midwest, he'd often call to question my loyalty to the Spurs, especially when they played the Pistons in the finals. I read Macarena's post about nicknames and JGM always called me by my full name - Suzanne Hoholik, as if he were announcing it to a crowd. JGM was loved by many, including me. He made a difference in the world.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Suzanne Hoholik, Columbus, Ohio

John's Last Day

From Gary Pina, Aug 21, Ft. Worth, Texas

I had lunch with John GM Friday about 1 p.m. I knew I couldn’t make it to the night event, so I told him that I would call Friday when I woke up. “Where are you?” he said, and I told him I was on my way. I could tell by his voice that he was glad I was coming.

When I got to the hotel, I went upstairs to room 358. The third floor is L-shaped and his room was the last one on the left. I noticed a lot of students mingling in the lobby, and as I rode up the elevator, one of them told me that they were medical students there for an exam. I knocked on the door.

He said he wasn't feeling that well, but he wanted some fruit, and wanted to go to CVS. We went to a Chinese Buffet place on the other side of 635. He had a slow, deliberate walk, and wore dark shorts and sunglasses.

He ate a plate of fruit while I filled my plate with Chinese food.

We talked about people, the Hispanic Communicators and NAHJ. He asked about people at the S-T. “And how was John, you know, John, I can’t remember his last name,” he said. I answered that John Silva was doing fine. John was like that, always asking how everybody was doing.

He said he was on the C list for heart transplants. He also said that the heart surgery he had last week went well. And he thought the medical staff at Medical City was great. They cared about him.

He asked me to call Telemundo or Univision to see if they wanted to chronicle his life as he waited for heart transplant. He said Hispanics don’t donate their organs. He wanted to let people know about what he’s going through. It was a good story, and something that needed to be told. I told him I would ask the news directors at both stations.

Then we went to CVS, where he picked up a few items to help his stomach. I dropped him off at the hotel and then I left to work.

Later, as I was writing the e-mail to Martha Kattan, the news director at Univision Channel 23, I got the call.

John had died.

La Licha

Way back (the mid-1990s), some of John's friends also knew him as "Gurlina."

That was when, briefly, we were next-door neighbors.

I knew him as "GM," because I wasn't one of the gurlz.

John Gutierrez-Mier wasn't afraid to be your friend -- whoever you were, the big boss or the office pariah.

John specialized in making interns, security guards, the high school students on the teen advisory board, and the international journalism fellows feel they were part of the newsroom family.

In good times and in bad, he always did his share to help other people feel warm and appreciated. Whether he was well or ill himself, he always wanted to know how you were doing.

And while John didn't always remember what he was doing the night before or just 10 minutes ago, he remembered birthdays. And he remembered mothers. And he remembered your cat.

And for all of this, I will always remember him as my dear, dear friend. And I will reflect on how he lived his life, and try to be kind to everybody, just as he was to me, as he was to everybody.

From Analisa Nazareno, Aug. 20, San Antonio

Apodos

From Macarena Hernandez:

John had a nickname for everyone.

Nora Lopez, state editor over at the San Antonio Express-News was La Beauty; E-N Columnist, Jaime Castillo, was El Catrin; Elaine Aradillas, a former E-N reporter, was La Hispanic Barbie; Analisa Nazareno, a former E-N business writer, was La Licha.

I always complained to him about my nickname – no beauty or Barbie for me.

He called me Cacarena. And I called him La Pinche Queena… always made him laugh.

Big Bro

From Rudy Mier, John's younger brother, who lives in Houston:

We had the typical "Big brother, little brother" relationship growing. Calling each other names, imaginary lines in our room, all the things siblings do.

He was and always will be my Big Brother.

My brother was always the "Life" of all our family get togethers no matter how big or small it was, he would have us laughing.

My brother had many gifts, but as I reflect on my brother's life, his greatest gift to me was how he always made me feel interesting and important no matter what was going on or plaguing him.

If there was one thing John remembered it was Nuestra Senora's day in December.

Post-Funeral

John's good friend Macarena passed this along:

John’s family called me last night and asked that I please ask all of you to come by their home after… They said they wanted to meet all of John’s friends and break bread with them.

They’re planning a meal after the services at John’s mom’s house.

3507 Flory
El Paso, Texas 79904

915.565.6476 (ph)

The church is really close to where the Gutierrez-Mier family lives.

Feel free to pass this info along to others who plan to attend.

Funeral arrangements

update from the DFW Network:

John Gutierrez-Mier's funeral will be at 11:30 a.m. Friday at Our Lady of Assumption Catholic Church, 4800 Byron, in El Paso. In lieu of flowers, John's mom asks for people to send a donation to the Transplant Unit at Medical City Dallas. Checks should be made payable to The Living Gift at MCD, Medical City Dallas, 7777 Forest Lane, Suite 750, Dallas, 75230. The contact number is 972-566-7199.

John's body is being cremated on Monday. His parents are flying in Tuesday to pick up his belongings and take the truck back to El Paso.

A Celebration of Life memorial service for John will be held in Fort Worth or Dallas on October 27. The location has not been determined.

DFW Network of Hispanic Communicators Guestbook

The Dallas-Fort Worth Network of Hispanic Communicators, which John was an active member, has a temporary guestbook here where you can also share your thoughts.

Thanks for forwarding the info.!

Messages

I realize a forum would be easier but if you'd like to share your thoughts or an infamous John story you can do so in the comments section or email jgm.memorial@gmail.com and I can post a longer entry.

Also, I know some reporters in the DFW and San Antonio area are working to set up an contributions account to plan John's Celebration of Life which will be on Oct. 27. Once those accounts are set up I'll post the information here.

Those plans are pending, but again, updates to come.

Posted by: Cynthia Leonor Garza (cyndisan@gmail.com)

Memorial Service

A memorial service will be held at 11:30 a.m. Friday, Aug. 24 in John's hometown of El Paso. Name of church/location to come.


posted by: cynthia leonor garza

San Antonio Express-News obit

Reporter wrote of overlooked groups
Carmina Danini
Express-News

John Gutierrez-Mier, a former reporter for the San Antonio Express-News whose favorite stories were about groups that were vulnerable, has died at 43.

On the staff of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram since 2002, he died Friday in Dallas of what is believed to have been a heart attack, said an aunt, Virginia Gutierrez of Philadelphia.

He had been on short-term disability status from the Fort Worth newspaper since April.

"John was a reporter who worked hard to connect with the communities he covered. He liked to tell stories about real people and real lives," said Rex Seline, Star-Telegram managing editor/news.

"He had been battling health problems for many months, and we had hoped he was getting better. This turn of events is shocking and sad."

Born with a congenital heart defect, Gutierrez-Mier was on a waiting list for a heart transplant. To buy him time until the transplant could take place, doctors performed triple bypass surgery Aug. 7 at Dallas' Medical City Hospital.

He left the hospital four days later and was resting at a hotel before flying home to El Paso on Saturday, 11 days after the surgery.

"John was so passionate about covering communities of color. He was devoted about bringing stories about people who didn't have a voice," said Macarena Hernandez, currently a staff writer with the Dallas Morning News and formerly with the Express-News.

"He felt like it was his duty to explain Islam. The day before he died, he called some of his sources to tell them he wouldn't be back for a while," Hernandez said. "He was even making plans what to do post-transplant, like teaching English to immigrants."

In covering minority affairs and religion at the Express-News, Gutierrez-Mier paid attention to areas not often covered before, such as African American neighborhoods and San Antonio's gay community, said Henry Krausse, at the time an assistant city editor who supervised him.

"He introduced a lot of readers here to aspects of their city they were completely unaware of, like the role of East Side churches in keeping kids in school," Krausse said.

"He was always coming up with ideas for feature stories that had a larger cultural point. He was one of the friendliest people I've ever met, and he got out of the office and got around, and those two things produced great stories."

A graduate of the University of Texas at El Paso, Gutierrez-Mier had also been a reporter with the News Journal in Wilmington, Del., and the El Paso Herald-Post.

He'd been with the Express-News in the 1980s and returned to San Antonio in November 1997, one month after the Herald-Post closed down.

In 2002, he went to work for the Star-Telegram.

He is survived by his parents, Juan A. Mier Jr. and Yolanda G. Mier, both of El Paso; a brother, Rodolfo Mier of Houston; and two sisters, Marie Metz of Orlando, Fla., and Margaret Horsch, also of El Paso.

A funeral service is pending.

A celebration of life will be in the Dallas-Fort Worth area Oct. 27.

cdanini@express-news.net

Fort Worth Star-Telegram obit

JOHN GUTIERREZ-MIER (1963-2007)
Writer worked to bridge gaps between cultures
By MIKE LEE
Star-Telegram staff writer

DALLAS -- A week ago, John Gutierrez-Mier checked out of Medical City Hospital in Dallas after heart surgery.

He moved into a hotel near the hospital where medical students, some of them Muslim, live.

Mr. Mier greeted them in Arabic, which he had picked up while writing news reports about Islam after 9-11: "As-salaam alaikum." It was a moment, his friends said Saturday, that illustrated two important parts of his life. He spent a career in the newspaper business trying to bridge gaps between cultures and races. And he lived with health problems that had followed him since childhood and ultimately cut his life short.

Mr. Mier, a Star-Telegram reporter since 2002, died Friday. He was 43.

"John worked hard to connect with the communities he covered," Managing Editor Rex Seline said. "He liked to tell stories about real people and real lives. He had had health problems, and we had hoped he was getting better. This turn of events is shocking and sad."

Mr. Mier, who was born on Nov. 28, 1963, grew up in El Paso. An aunt, Virginia Gutierrez, spotted Mr. Mier's writing ability when he wrote an obituary for an uncle when he was a teenager.

"It was just a beautiful narrative story," she recalled. "We figured, 'Wow, this guy can write.'"

After earning a journalism degree at the University of Texas at El Paso, Mr. Mier got a reporting job with the San AntonioExpress-News.

Even as a rookie, he brought people together in the newsroom, said Nora Lopez, an Express-News reporter. He gave people playful nicknames -- Lopez's was La Beauty -- and tried to get people to socialize. "He was notorious for bringing people out of their normal lunch cliques," Lopez said.

Mr. Mier moved to Philadelphia in the early 1990s and commuted to the News-Journal in Wilmington, Del. He became active in gay and Hispanic politics in Philadelphia and was also a union leader at the newspaper, said Sam McLaughlin, a longtime friend. "The true John came out in Philadelphia," McLaughlin said. "No matter where else he went, he just kept to that true John."

But while in Wilmington, he had to have surgery to repair a heart valve in 1992 and spent months recovering.

He spent time as a public-relations writer for the 1996 Olympic games in Atlanta and then returned to daily journalism at the El Paso Herald-Post, which closed in 1997. He returned to the Express-News,and began to specialize in covering minority communities, which he thought got little coverage in traditional newspapers.

After 9-11, he began covering San Antonio's Muslim community. He read the Quran, visited mosques, and watched and re-watched a PBS series on the religion, said Macarena Hernandez, a reporter at TheDallas Morning News who worked with him in San Antonio.

"John was very passionate about communities of color, people whom newspapers traditionally ignored," Hernandez said. "He and I had very intense conversations about the coverage of Muslims, blacks, Latinos, the poor, gays and lesbians."

When he arrived at the Star-Telegram, he was assigned to cover minority affairs, homelessness and poverty issues.

"Some of the best work he did was when he was writing about our diverse neighborhoods," said Metro Editor Lee Williams, who supervised Mr. Mier. "Not every reporter has the ability to walk into these neighborhoods and disarm people, which let him get to the heart of what was going on."

Mr. Mier was on a team of reporters that won a second-place award for investigative reporting from the Texas Associated Press Managing Editors' Association in 2002 for a report card on local hospitals. In 2004, he and reporter Karen Brooks won second place in the Houston Press Club's Lone Star Awards for stories about the deaths of a group of undocumented workers.

In 2005, he and reporter Jeff Claassen took an in-depth look at colonia-style developments on the outskirts of the Metroplex, where pockets of substandard homes existed despite the area's growth and affluence.

Since late 2006, Mr. Mier had had more heart procedures and surgeries and had become seriously depressed. The last surgery was Aug. 7, and he was on the waiting list for a heart transplant, Hernandez said.

When Hernandez arrived to visit Mr. Mier on Friday night, he did not answer his door. After a maintenance man was summoned, she said, they found Mr. Mier unresponsive. The medical students whom Mr. Mier had befriended came to try to revive him, Hernandez said.

"Even his death was such a beautiful moment of all these different people coming together and trying to save him," Hernandez said.

Funeral arrangements were incomplete Saturday.

mikelee@star-telegram.com

Mike Lee, 817-390-7539