Hello my name is Brian Mogote (possibly one of the low life friends) I worked with Jona at In-N-Out Burger for a few years and became pretty close friends with him during that time period. Both of us eventually went into management and were shipped out to different stores. He used to come over all the time and sometimes spend the night and play video games to the early hours of the morning. The thing about Jona was that he always knew how to become an expert at each game and would eventually win most of the time.
I never knew Jona was sick, I think the last time I saw him was when I went to eat at Lucille's. There he was working and doing everything with a big smile across his face. I believe at that time we exchanged phone numbers to keep in touch but it just never really happened. He called me a couple times and vice versa, he would invite me to Halloween parties but I never took him up on it. During that time in my life, my life was slowing down a bit and Jona was doing what every young person would do enjoying life. At that time my daughter was pretty young so going out wasn't very easy for me but Jona always understood and he was always nice to my then girlfriend (now wife) and my daughter. I think he was one of the only friends of mine that never really had a problem pronouncing my wife's name Ilima or daughters name Mahea. When ever I would talk to him after our working days at the same store, he would always ask how they were doing.
When I told my wife about Jonas passing she was of course stuned too. She shared a memory about him and I'll share it with you. One of those nights Jona spent the night, the next day I went to work and so did my brother leaving Jona, my wife and daughter the only ones at the house. My wife wakes up seeing Jona sleeping on the couch thinking nothing of it, then cooks some breakfast for her and my daughter eats and goes back to the room. She comes back out later and now sees Jona up and playing video games, now she's thinking is this guy going to leave or what? Time passes by and now its lunch time and Jona is still there so she starts cooking lunch and asks Jona if he wants lunch and he says sure so Jona, my wife and daughter sat at the kitchen table and ate fish sticks and mac-n-cheese (my daughters favorite).
I have so many other memories of Jona, I could go on for a while but I'll rap it up now:
To Dawn I never had the pleasure of meeting you but I want to say thank you for being there for Jona, you must be a special girl. Stay strong and may god bless you.
To Sarah I do remember watching you and Jona having your arguments and then we would be driving away and he would be laughing because he just knew how to push your buttons but I could just see it on his face that, that was his way of showing his love for you.
To Stef, you were right Jona knew he had you wrapped around his finger and he adored you being his baby sister. To Mr and Mrs Nord thank you for raising a great person, even though Jona may have made you worry at times. I can honestly say you never really had to because he always tried to do the right thing but were all human and he just slipped from time to time.
Since his passing I realized that life is short and I may never meet another good person like Jona again, he was one of a kind and great friend I just felt a lil bad because I should have never lost contact with him. I wish I could have been there for him like he was for me so many times...
My wife and I recently had our 2nd child a boy, on the Tuesday after Jonas passing, during that time I just couldn't get Jona out of my head but after attending the services and using this as an outlet to express my feelings about Jona I feel much better so thank you for having this and having a great service. Lastly I can only hope that my son is half the man Jona turned out to be.... May god bless you all. If I can help any of you out in some way please just email me and I will do what I can.