Obituary of Jose Castanheira Lourenco

JCL was born in Ipanema, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to Portuguese immigrants during WWII. He regretted that his mom did not take him often enough to the beach, but loved working at his father's shop, Casa Lourenco de Loucas & Ferragens. His first adventure was buying a truck and driving cargo all the way up to the Amazon, where he met natives and saw exotic wildlife. His second adventure was moving to NY where he met his wife Amanda at Central Park, and pursued a successful Computer Programming career. His third adventure was building custom homes in NJ with Cassville Builders Inc. He loved Western movies, NY-style pizza, and coffee at any time of day. He was fortunate to visit his parents' homeland and, in particular, Fatima. His last X-mas gift was a Stetson cowboy hat from his son, daughter, and granddaughter in Houston, Texas. It was with much sadness and shock that his family and friends in the US, Germany, Brazil and Portugal learned of his death in Rio on Palm Sunday, March 20th 2016. We thank the many who helped him on his journey back home: Marilena e Marcelo, William & the team at the US Consulate in Rio, Icaro at Maracana FH, Carole, Andre, Glenn at Freeman FH, Charles and Father Roberts at St Gabriels, and Siggi. JCL is survived by Amanda, Joe, Maria & Thomas, and his one-and-only Hannah Zoe.