Candace Arlene (Strong) Gonzales

Candace Arlene Strong/Gonzales, 71, of Cottonwood Arizona, born December 9th, 1951’ in Rockford Illinois, at Swedish- American Hospital, left us to be with our Lord Jesus on May 12th, 2023. She and her husband Joe Gonzales along with her mother Vonna Strong owned The Holly Hock House and then Home Sweet Home Antiques on Main Street in Cottonwood Arizona, for 30 years.

She attended elementary school in Rockford, Illinois and graduated from high school in Scottsbluff, Nebraska. The family moved first to Williams, Arizona and then to Winslow, Arizona, where she met her future husband, Joe Gonzales. They married on May 16, 1981, at The First Baptist Church in Winslow, Arizona. They later moved to Cottonwood, Arizona. While there, born to this union on December 24, 1989, a son, John William Gonzales “J.W.”.

She was preceded in death by Earl Orvile Strong and Vonna Mae Clark/Strong, her parents. She is survived by her husband Joseph Anthony Gonzales, their son John William Gonzales, her siblings, sister Anvel Velvet Strong/Moore, brother Craig Earl Strong and Craig’s wife Jane Oxendale/Strong along with many nieces, nephews and their families.

She was an attendee of Verde Community Church in Cottonwood, at the time of her passing. She also attended other evangelical churches from Illinois to Arizona. Jesus, and her family and friends were everything to her. Hunting for antiques and treasures on many trips to yard sales, and antique stores, as well as to the family homestead in Meadville, Nebraska were some of the things she enjoyed the most.

Being greatly missed, her family is looking forward to seeing Candy again someday.

There will be no funeral services and a memorial service is being planned for later this year.

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