Junior Amber Garcia faced a very tragic death this year of her cousin, Joey Pesina, on September 22, 2016.
Pesina had just graduated high school two years ago before his life was taken in such a brief amount of time. He was loved by many people and brought laughter and joy to the hearts of those who knew him. The relationship that Amber had with Joey was a remarkable one and she will never forget the memorable moments she spent with Joey.
“Joey was like a cousin to me, he lived with us and he would always buy me food, and we would always go out somewhere fun on the weekends. Before Joey passed away we started getting really close,” Garcia said.
There was never a dull moment around Pesina and his contagious smile spread around to those who were close to him. He was always around at family barbecues, or when his family was feeling down he would always be around to pick them back up on their feet. The amount of love and joy that he brought to the family is something that Garcia will always remember.
“Joey would never fail to make me laugh. Whenever we were feeling down he would always be there to cheer us up, and he was always there to help us out whenever we needed him,” Garcia said.
Pesina was really focused on his future, especially on his career of becoming a professional boxer.
One of Pesina’s greatest accomplishments was boxing. He was looking forward to becoming a professional boxer and going to college last year before the death of his best friend, Gabriel Blue Riojas.
“One of Joey’s greatest accomplishments was boxing. He was a true boxer, and he was in a couple of competitions that he won, he also earned many trophies,” Garcia said.
Coincidentally Pesina passed away on the one year anniversary of Riojas’s death. They had a great bond and acted as if they were brothers. Before the tragic accident occurred, Pesina was just coming back from visiting Riojas’s candlelight vigil and was on his way back home.
Gabriel and Joey can finally be together at peace. They were so close that they couldn’t be apart from each other any longer.
“They couldn’t be apart from each other any longer so God brought them together,” Pesina’s mom, Nancy Moreno said.