Peter J. Gomis, Jr., age 84, entered into rest on Sunday, March 12, 2017 at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Bridgeport, CT.  He was born in Derby, CT on September 8, 1932, son of the late Pedro Juan Gomis Puertes (Peter J. Gomis, Sr.) and Remedios Arago Jorge, both Spaniards who immigrated to the United States through Ellis Island in the 1920s. 

He leaves his beloved wife of 50 years, Patricia Gomis of Pego, Alicante, Spain, his beloved son Peter F. Gomis and his wife Carla, two precious granddaughters Nuria Gabriela Gomis and Camila Rosa Gomis, and step-granddaughter Melany Nicole Salvador.  Peter is survived by his eldest sister, Remedios Barrachina, nephews Frank Barrachina, Peter J. Barrachina, Alexander Rostocki, niece Jeanette Mansell, cousin Salvadora Guasp, and several great nieces, nephews, and cousins both in the United States and in Spain.  He was predeceased by his sisters Frances Rostocki of Southbury and Trinidad Gomis of Shelton.

Peter lived the first couple of years of his life in downtown Shelton before his family moved back to Valencia, Spain in the mid 1930s.  When the Spanish Civil War broke out in the summer of 1936, the Gomis family was fortunate to escape the anarchy in Spain by way of Paris with hardly any belongings before returning to Shelton, CT to start a new life.  Peter always recalled this traumatic experience as a young boy.  He attended Shelton High School and the University of Connecticut, all the while spending his spare time working hard with his father who had successfully established a local business as a mason contractor.  After college Peter began working at the General Electric Wire and Cable division in Bridgeport as a production control manager where he remained until 1964.  He decided to change careers and began teaching in the Monroe school system.  He enjoyed the classroom so immensely that he pursued and earned Master’s and Sixth-Year degrees in education.  His passion and appreciation for knowledge and education is something he imparted on his students and continued for the rest of his life.  Peter enjoyed a 28-year career as a mathematics teacher to various grades in the Monroe school system and was extremely involved within the education associations until his retirement in 1992.

He was a warm, sincere, loving family man who enjoyed doing work outdoors or almost any type of project around the house.  He loved to tell the story of how, while on vacation in the summer of 1964, he met and immediately fell in love with a beautiful Spanish girl whom he would eventually marry.  Among his many interests were photography, listening to the radio, classical music, oil painting, anything UConn, and the New York Mets.  His sense of humor was one of his trademarks, which anyone who knew him can attest to.

Calling hours will be held on Friday, March 17th at the James T. Toohey & Son Funeral Home, 92 Howe Avenue, Shelton from 5pm to 8pm.  A Mass of Christian Burial will be held on Saturday, March 18, 2017 at 10am at St. Joseph Church in Shelton.  Burial will follow at Mount St. Peter’s Cemetery in Derby.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions can be made to the Michael J. Fox Foundation or to the American Parkinson Disease Association.

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