Everyone called me Tony. My full name is Antonio Gonzalez Lopez, named after my father, Antonio Brancamontes Lopez. We just had different middle names. My middle name was Gonzalez, which was the maiden name of my mother, Maria Gonzalez. If I had grown up in Mexico, there would have been two last names, the last name of my father followed by the last name of my mother. But in California, as a U.S. born American, I was christened with a first, middle and last name. So both my Mexican born parents were still honored in my name.
It wasn’t until much later on in my adult life, after my departure from the Roman Catholic church, when I “fashionably” started using my real name, Antonio. It “just happened” to coincide with the time when the Spanish actor, Antonio Banderas, became very famous.
There was a shy person within me. Even though people saw me as quiet and introverted, I very much enjoyed being with people. Listening to their storie of struggle and hardship, or happiness and triumph, of their faith in God or their lack of it, was very interesting and exciting