Edward Godinez 
Memorial
Service
December 7, 2021__ The San Bernardino National
Forest is mourning the passing of Acting Airtanker Base Manager Edward Godinez. The Forest staff joined his family for
a memorial service in Yucaipa on Wednesday, December 8. It was live-streamed on
the Forest's Facebook page at approximately 11:00 A.M.
Godinez passed away Saturday, November 13th due to
a work-related illness. He was the Acting San Bernardino Airtanker Base Manger
and had recently been selected to serve in that role permanently.
Edward Godinez’s family shared that he was so many things to so
many people. “He was a son, a brother, an uncle, a fiancé, a firefighter, a man
of God…and now he’s our angel,” they wrote. “Eddie once posted a quote by Oscar
Wilde: ‘You don’t love someone for their looks, or their clothes, or for
their fancy car, but because they sing a song only you can hear.’
“When it came to Eddie, we could all hear it. His song was our favorite.
He made everyone feel like family. He gave the best hugs. It’s hard to put into
words what made Eddie so amazing.”
His colleagues share that same sentiment. “He was
loved, it will not be easy to summarize the impact he had on us all,” said
Leslie Casavan, the National Airtanker Program Manager. In a remembrance from Godinez’s airtanker crew, they said, “Edward
never judged anyone for their inexperience and took it upon himself to
personally develop each of us not as ‘firefighters’ but as a community, as
friends, and as people.” And colleague and friend Marc Durocher looked up to
Edward’s leadership, saying, “He wanted those he worked with to be curious, to
learn daily and to grow as individuals to accomplish their goals and he never
hesitated to go out of his way to make sure this was accomplished.”
Edward Godinez started his Federal career in 2013 with the
Forest Service as a contracted firefighter on the Angeles’ Roadrunner Crew
(Type 2). From there he went on to work in New Mexico with the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service at the Bosque del Apache and Bitterlaken National Refuges. In
2019, Edward came to the San Bernardino as the Airtanker Base Engineer before
being selected for the Air Tanker Base Manager duties.
Cards may be sent to: Godinez Family c/o San Bernardino National Forest,
602 S. Tippecanoe Ave. San Bernardino, CA 92408.
Could it be that Edward’s life motto might be the same
as
The San Bernardino National Forest -
Caring for the land and serving people
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