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JOSUE HIDALGO
DATE: Wednesday, September 20, 2006
Josue Abisai Hidalgo, a two-time all-league cross country runner for Rancho Cotate High School,
died in a car crash in Rohnert Park on Sunday. He was 18.
Born in Mexico City on July 15, 1988, to Guadalupe and Carmelo Hidalgo, Josue was the youngest
of three children.
At the age of 7, Hidalgo and his family moved from Mexico to Sonoma, where Josue, or ``Abi'' as
he was called by close friends and family, attended Sassarini Elementary, Altamira Middle, Sonoma
Valley Charter and Sonoma Valley High schools. Before his sophomore year in high school, the family
moved to Rohnert Park, and Hidalgo enrolled at Rancho Cotate.
Every year at Rancho Cotate, Hidalgo took a woodshop course, becoming a skilled artisan, according
to his brother-in-law, Hunt Bailie of Sonoma.
``Every Christmas and every anniversary my wife and I had, he would make a picture frame or chess
board -- always inscribed `With love, from Josue,''' he said.
Hidalgo also enjoyed cooking, another skill he shared with those he cared about, Bailie said.
``It didn't start out with full meals, it started out with burned rice and eggs,'' Bailie said.
``He always liked to surprise people with their favorite meal. On special occasions, he would bake a
cake without being asked, just to surprise someone. We would always see Abi walking towards you with
a plate full of something and a big, fat smile.''
Running was a passion in Hidalgo's life. He was an honorable mention all-North Bay League cross
country runner in 2004, and was named to the second-team all-league squad in 2005.
``He was the kind of guy that loved to go to practice, but it just came naturally,'' Bailie said.
``He didn't have to try hard at it.''
Hidalgo graduated from Rancho Cotate last spring and was enrolled at Santa Rosa Junior College.
In addition to Bailie, Hidalgo is survived by his parents, Guadalupe and Carmelo Hidalgo of Rohnert
Park; sisters Yuni Bailie of Sonoma and Nuri Hidalgo of Rohnert Park; as well as aunts, uncles, cousins,
grandparents and great-grandparents.
A memorial visitation will be held from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. today at Parent-Sorensen Mortuary and
Crematory, 850 Keokuk St. in Petaluma. Funeral services will be held at 4 p.m. Thursday at the same
location.
The family requests that visitors dress in white.
Memorial donations may be made to Camp St. Michael, P.O. Box 9447, Santa Rosa, CA 95405 or the
Abisai Memorial Fund, P.O. Box 1745, Sonoma, CA, 95476.
-- Kerry Benefield