By Hugh Martin
BISCOE — On Dec. 21, Stephanie Haywood Gomez and her three children were preparing for Christmas and anxiously looking forward to her husband’s arrival to spend four days with the family.
Julian Gomez Mazaba was on the way home to Biscoe from his job in North Dakota where he had been working more than a month on an out-of state-construction job with his North Carolina employer.
Hopes for a family holiday were dashed when she got the news that her husband of nearly 15 years had been killed in a traffic accident in North Dakota.
“Today my world ended,” she posted to her friends on Facebook.
According to the North Dakota Highway Patrol report, the SUV in which Julian and three other men, all from North Carolina, were riding collided head-on with a Mack truck when the SUV’s driver, Derek M. Sorrell, attempted to pass another vehicle on U.S. 52 near the town of Drake.
Killed in accident were Mazaba; Sorrell, 27, of Spencer; William M. Webb, 25, of China Grove; and Scotty R. Eagle, 24, of Salisbury.
The driver of the semi, who was from Texas, was treated at a local hospital for what was described as non-life-threatening injuries.
The four men were working in North Dakota for KRC Building Solutions in Rowan County. They had completed a crucial phase of that job and were on their way home to be with their families during the Christmas season.
“I was at a friend’s house, helping her look after her mother, when my son called me to let me know that a deputy was at the house wanting to speak to me,” Stephanie said. “I had been texting Julian over and over and he wasn’t responding, which didn’t seem right because he always texted right back.”
“I don’t want you to tell me what you’re going to tell me,” she told the officer.
Stephanie said that she already had a feeling that Julian was dead when the deputy confirmed her suspicion the day following the accident.
“I was on autopilot,” she said. “I had people returning calls that I don’t remember making.”
The Phillips Funeral Home Chapel in Star was packed for the funeral. Julian Mazaba was laid to rest the day after Christmas.
“He had a lot of friends,” Stephanie said. “He would talk to anyone. He was always the one at a party to go around and speak to everyone there. You couldn’t make him angry unless you did something to the children or me.”
Julian, the youngest of five children, graduated from high school in his native Vera Cruz, Mexico, and tried to join the Mexican Army.
“They told him he was too skinny,” Stephanie said, laughing. “He was really interested in the military. He said he wanted to be a soldier and go to Afghanistan.”
After being turned down by the Mexican Army, he decided to join his brothers in America. He landed a job his first week in North Carolina and worked extra shifts to send enough money back home to his mother to build a new house.
“It was just a small block house, but to her it was a mansion,” Stephanie said.
Julian had all his papers to allow him to work here, but he always wanted to become a United States citizen.
“He didn’t want us to receive any type of government assistance because he didn’t want to be thought of as a burden to the United States,” Stephanie said, “Julian wasn’t afraid to work. He liked being outdoors working and sweating.”
Julian was a skilled construction worker who helped build Green Ridge Elementary School in Biscoe. When that job was finished, he wanted to stay on with the contractor, but because he had no driver’s license he could not travel to their job sites.
He sold his tools to help support the family while he searched for another job.
Stephanie said Julian deserves to be remembered. “He was a really good father, a good husband, and he was there to provide for us.”
Julian and the other three men were the only employees of KRC Building Solutions and the company was good to them, Stephanie said. Julian was excited to have the job, but he missed them and was looking forward to coming home to spend time with the family.
Stephanie said the owner of the company, Curt Ribelin, had been working with the crew in North Dakota, but had flown ahead to the next job site in New York to make preparations. He left the SUV with the crew so they could drive home for Christmas.
“I spoke to his wife, Heather, the other night. She said that her husband is so distraught that he doesn’t even know if he wants to go back,” Stephanie said.
“We thought of them as family. They were family,” Heather Ribelin had said.
Stephanie said she wants to start nursing school. She has stayed at home with the children and made soaps and crafts to supplement Julian’s income, but doesn’t have the heart to continue for now.
“Julian wanted me to stay at home and encouraged me to do the things that I like to do,” she said.
Her crafting will continue one day in her spare time, she said, but her priority now is to go to school and get a good-paying job so her children will be able to go to college.
“Julian didn’t have to die such a violent death,” Stephanie said. “We lost everything. We lost someone that we all loved, a person that was fun to be with. Nothing feels the same, nothing tastes the same and nothing sounds the same without him here.”
The KRC Company has established a fund to assist the families of Mazaba, Sorrell, Webb and Eagle at CommunityOne bank on Jake Alexander Blvd. in Salisbury. Contributions may be made at any branch of CommunityOne Bank.
For more information, call (704)633-0091.
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