Dying Denver man said murdered grandson had arrived to get him

Gilbert Garcia had a different perspective than many kids.

Teens often play sports and work out with the dream of being a famous athlete, or at least to be popular in school.

Denver Police Department

Gilbert Garcia, Adams State College student

Gilbert was a body builder largely because he needed to be strong enough to help his grandfather.

When Gilbert was 11, his grandfather, Juan Ortega, had a stroke and lost the ability to walk.

Gilbert always helped his grandfather, but when he turned 15 he started bathing him and carrying him. He could do it because he lifted weights, his mother Melissa Rodarte said.

Juan Ortega called Gilbert “my big fella.”

He wanted to help people like his mother, a medical assistant, had always done. Also, a male nurse had for years cared for his grandfather and Gilbert admired him. He wanted to help people in the same way.

Though he was hampered by dyslexia, he studied hard and went to Adams State College in Alamosa on a scholarship. He enrolled in the nursing program. He was the first one from his family to ever go to college.

Gilbert’s views about life were different than many of the other kids. Though gangs were running throughout the Cole neighborhood, he stayed clear while attending Bishop Machebeuf Catholic High School in Denver.

“His favorite saying was, ‘We have two strikes against us. We’re Hispanic males and we have to go to college,’ ” his grandmother Yolanda Ortega said.