On March28th, 1997 I went to look at an office / warehouse that I was planning on sharing with a friend that I met through Chief Auto. He and his sister were opening an internet company and needed an office. I needed to move my business out of my home office into a warehouse. Little did I know that on that day, my life would forever be changed. Needless to say, we got that office and what I got as part of the package was the greatest gift a man could ask for…a beautiful, loving wife.
Over the next couple of months, we did an office build out and I was able to spend each day in the company of Kimberly Susan Montano, oh, and Brian too: ) It was exciting and stressful, but it was soon after Kim and I met, that there was an attraction that we both were eager to explore. By May, I mustered up the nerve to ask her out. On May 23nd, 1997 we went on our first date (Jurassic Park-The Lost World). The following year we moved in together-The coming years were exciting. The knowledge we acquired as a group was amazing and uncharted.
Kim went to work for Toyota, while I continued with Fun2Go and school. Those first few years were exciting, we traveled, to Idaho, Seattle, New York, New Orleans, and more. On 12-31-00, I proposed to her at the City of Fullerton’s First Night-It was sidewalk chalk night, so I had planned an evening with family and friends and I had come by earlier and spelled out in 4 different areas "Will" "You" "Marry" "Me", fortunately she said yes. Little did she know I had a fifth word prepared, just in case it wasn’t looking good… "Someday" just in case (Joke of course.)
The coming year we planned our wedding-we got married in Dana Point overlooking the harbor and the reception was aboard a tall masted ship (the Spirit) that at the time you could rent for events. So for the invitations, we sent messages in a bottle…it was fun! We went on a Caribbean cruise and enjoyed ourselves with all of the delights the Caribbean had to offer. When we got back from our honeymoon in February 2002, shortly after we opened our Tow away jet ski rental company “Fun2Go Motorsports.” The next few years would prove to be filled with some of the craziest peaks and valleys that even an amusement park would be impressed.
2003 was quite a ride with my mother dying in April, me graduating from CSULB in June the same month that Mindy got married to Mike Cruz on June 27th, 2003. It was a fine affair with the Montano flair. That fall we took Kim’s Father, Mike to Washington DC. Mike said to her that it was the best gift he ever got, which warmed Kim’s heart. Mike passed the next summer 6-22-2004. And that same time, a week before Mike’s death, we got the dog that would start the revolution of pups to come, our most favorite dog of all time… RUBY!!
In 2006, Kim came to me and said what about an abatement business, a business that we don’t have to slept jet skis around, she went on to say Dino isn’t happy with what is going on with his life, so why don’t we bring him down here and Dino and I will get it started, while you maintain Fun2go and then you transition over, when the time is right. It was a slow start to PEAS, it took nearly 2 years to get the license and everything set up. And if that wasn’t enough I thought I would kick it up a notch, by expanding Fun2go to include, Costa Rica and then, Lake Castaic, Lake Perris, and Silverwood Lake. It again made for some incredibly crazy Days and nights!
On November 19th, 2006 Kim and I’s world would forever be change when we welcomed into the family Mindy’s first son… Mason Isaac Cruz. Wow, to watch Kim illuminate in his presence was something to behold.
In Jan of 2007, I went to Costa Rica for 4 and ½ months and Kim would come for a week every other month. Kim came to Costa Rica to set up our state of the art "Point of Sale" system, and I had cameras installed everywhere so Kim could log in and see me anytime. It was referred to as “Joe’s world.” By the time I got back in May, we launched our Tow away location on Beach Blvd. at Derricks Yacht sales, In August of 2007 we moved the Tow away office and PEAS to her Brother Brian’s building that he just purchased.
Mindy’s second bundle of joy, Ethan Myles Cruz was born on March 21, 2008. Right after Ethan’s birth, Mindy made Kim and I proud when she graduated from Fullerton. Things were starting to get really interesting. That year in August of 2008 we opened up Fun2Go#4 at Castaic Lake, and concurrently Pacific Environmental did our first major project at UCLA which nearly bankrupted us. The abatement business had a rather auspicious beginning, but would later prove to be everything we had hoped for and more. On December 11th 2008, Kim hand delivered our next most favorite dog… G G.
In the summer of 2009 we opened Fun2Go#5 (Lake Perris) and Fun2go#6 (Silverwood Lake) and guess what? Mindy had our 3rd bundle of joy June 2, 2009 Logan Donald Cruz was born. That same year, Dino and I had a random encounter with a guy named Tim Prindle from IRR. He introduced us to his boss, the one and only, Dan Hartwell. This meeting would prove to be one of the most significant encounters for Pacific Environmental Abatement Solutions Inc.
In the coming years, doors for our abatement company would continue to open and success with it. The wild ride that ensued for Dino, Kim, and I, would be one of the most incredible that any of us had been on. As time wore on, and PEAS’ success grew, but more importantly our reputation grew even faster. Through hard work, good business, and trained staff, our one van operation grew into 2, and then 3. The writing was on the wall, that Kim’s urging to become an abatement company back in 2006 would prove to be the greatest gift and greatest business we had done or been a part of.
In 2010, I started kicking around an idea that would later become a real live, patented product called, the Pocket Containment. Through Kim’s urging, and Don’s special skills, we were able to transform an idea into reality. PEAS would continue to grow and evolve at an incredible rate, throughout the years to come. On September 30, 2011, we decided to close our entire Costa Rica Operation due to the fact that simply put, on a slow bleed. It was an incredible experience and created times that will not be forgotten, but with the overwhelming success of Pacific Environmental, it no longer made sense to divert time away from PEAS. That was also the year we downsized Fun2Go by closing the Castaic Lake Rental location.
In 2012, Kim and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary, by staying at the same hotel we stayed at on our wedding night and shortly after we went on a week-long cruise. It would turn out to be our last vacation, other than weekend getaways to New York and Las Vegas.
In June of 2014 Kim began to feel a discomfort in her right side rib area and after reading on the Internet she thought it might be her gallbladder, so she did a couple gallbladder cleanses hoping that would ease the discomfort. It helped for a while, but on August 4th we went to the emergency room, and they were already to remove her gallbladder, but needed to perform a Catscan and that is when our world would completely change. The Doctor said we have good and bad news, he said, “Good news is…your gallbladder is clean, bad news is…you have a tumor in your lung. Through testing they determined that they would do a lobectomy and remove a portion of her lower right lung and if things went well that would be a cure. So on October 15, 2014 again our world would be rocked. I will never forget when Jill and I were taken to a side room at the hospital and received the news that the cancer had metastasized, spreading to the lung lining and so they left her lung intact and we proceeded to the next treatment option, which was chemotherapy.
For the next three and a half months, Kim had to endure the toxins of chemo, which if you have ever been around it, you know that it is one of the hardest things someone has to do. After the sixth round of chemo we did a petscan and discovered that the treatments didn’t work. We at that point went to Rational Therapeutics, where we met with Dr Nagourney, someone we respected and trusted. We got testing done to attack her specific cancer. We started that treatment, and after three rounds, we did a petscan and discovered nothing had changed. So at that point, we were offered a clinical trial through UC Irvine, we decided to give it a try since our options were limited and it seemed promising. Kim continued to show immeasurable strength and battled until we discovered shortly after Christmas that the trial did not work and the cancer was spreading. At this point Kim was weak and slowly the cancer overcame her and she was lost to us on February 1, 2015.
This day will live on as the day I lost everything. She and I’s lives were so entwined in so many ways, personal and business, it is hard to separate them. Kimberly has left a business legacy with our abatement company Pacific Environmental & Abatement Solutions Inc, our Jetski Rental company Fun2Go Motorsports, our Entertainment company Fun2Go Entertainment, our safety apparatus company Pocket Containment, and our 4 plex which is in our living trust. Kimberly is survived by her mother, daughter, two brothers, sister, her 3 grandsons and I.
