Family and friends gathered Wednesday to bury Anthony Goralczyk, a well-known Padre Island volunteer whose life was cut short after a choking incident in May.
Now, his family hopes his story will help save others.
Anthony, who owned a flooring business and was known for helping stranded drivers on the beach with his unmistakable blue truck, died May 21 after suffering cardiac arrest following a choking incident at a restaurant. He was 40.
His mother, Georgia Goralczyk-Arredondo, said her son was known for his work ethic and willingness to help anyone in need.
“Anthony was amazing. The guy could do anything,” she said.
According to Georgia, Anthony learned the flooring trade while helping with cleanup efforts in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. He later started his own business and continued volunteering throughout his life.
“When we had Hurricane Harvey, he spent a lot of time in Rockport cleaning up and helping people. He went to Iowa when they had floods,” she said. “The biggest thing that he enjoyed was pulling people out of the sand. On the beach for free.”
Georgia said she was overwhelmed by the number of people who came to support her family after Anthony was hospitalized.
“As I sat in the hospital in the ICU, I had no idea how many, y’all, hundreds of people came to see me,” she said. “I met so many people that were friends, business people that he had done work for. So many people reached out to us.”
The tragedy began during what was supposed to be a special evening with a close friend.
Georgia said Anthony had taken his friend Bruce, who is battling cancer, out to dinner on Padre Island to celebrate a good day.
“Bruce asked, ‘What are we celebrating?’ and Anthony told him, ‘You had a good day and I want you to experience the best of the best,'” she said.
During the meal, Anthony choked.
“They tried to help him,” Georgia said. “They were able to get the piece of meat out, but it was too late because he went into cardiac arrest.”
Anthony was hospitalized for 10 days before his family made the difficult decision to remove life support.
“I thought I was going to see my son sitting up in a hospital bed with a sore throat,” Georgia said.
The loss has inspired a new community effort called “Anthony’s Legacy,” which aims to place anti-choking devices such as LifeVac in restaurants throughout Corpus Christi and Padre Island.
“Nobody should die from choking,” Georgia said.
The family is encouraging restaurants to add the devices and has launched a fundraising effort to help purchase them for local businesses.
“We want to use his legacy, what caused his death, to save other people,” she said. “My son would want this.”
Back at home, Georgia is finding comfort in another project.
She recently gathered Anthony’s work clothes and plans to turn them into quilts for his loved ones.
For Georgia, those clothes tell the story of the son she knew best, a man who worked hard, loved the beach, and always found a way to help others.
“Daddy loves baby boy,” she said, recalling what Anthony often told his son. “That’s what he would tell Samuel.”
While Anthony’s life ended unexpectedly, his family hopes the mission created in his memory will ensure others get a second chance.