Juan Alberto Negron-Vargas

Juan Alberto Negron-Vargas was born on May 20th, 1934 in Aguas Buenas, Puerto Rico to his father,
Felipe Negron and mother, Rufina Vargas. There were 16 siblings in his family. His surviving sister,
Mayin Negron, who resides in Avon Park, Florida is here with us today.

Juan was better known to his side of the family as “Berto” or “Bertito”. However, to everyone else who
knew him, they knew him as “Johnny”.

His brother Victor brought him to New York in January 1953. He began working in a factory making
children's dolls with his brother Victor and sister Mayin. According to Johnny, all three of them were
fired from the factory when Victor tried to bring the labor union to the factory.

After that, he started working at Nedick's Restaurants, rising to the position of a relief manager covering
various restaurants throughout Manhattan, New York.

In 1957, he began working at the General Motors assembly plant in Tarrytown, New York on the night
shift.

He accepted The Lord as his personal Savior in 1959 at Christian Mission John 3:16 in The Bronx. He
was offered a position of Utility Man, which came with a raise. However, he turned down the position
because it was still on the night shift and he wanted a day shift position so that he could attend church
more often. The following night at work, he was sent home at midnight and told to report back to work in
the morning during the day shift. When he arrived in the morning, he was given the position of a Utility
Man on the day shift because nobody else on that shift qualified for that position. After approximately 10 years in this position, he was offered a supervisor's position, but he turned it down due to the rotating shifts required, which would have prevented him from attending church again. He eventually retired from General Motors in 1990 after 33 years of service.

While attending Christian Mission John 3:16, he became involved in various positions. He was a member
of the choir, the orchestra, a Sunday School teacher, deacon, syndicate, and treasurer of the church.

On July 3rd, 1966 Johnny and his future wife, Zulma Gonzalez, started dating while they were on a
church trip to Niagara Falls and immediately began to plan their wedding. Both of them actually share
May 20th as a birthday and it happened to be that May 20th of the following year fell on a Saturday, so
they planned the wedding for that date. On December 24th, 1966, Johnny and Zulma officially got
engaged and eventually got married on May 20th, 1967 as originally planned.

On March 29th, 1969, Zulma gave birth to a handsome baby boy. They named him John Albert Negron.
She initially wanted three children. However, after childbirth Zulma vowed to never have another child
due to the labor pains. She honored her vow and never had another child.

In September of 1975, Johnny and Zulma purchased their first home on Homer Avenue in The Bronx.
They lived there until they moved to Cupey Alto, Puerto Rico on March 14th, 1991.

They lived in Cupey Alto with Zulma's mother, Julia, and her brother, Efrain. While living in Puerto
Rico, they then began to attend Mission Christian John 3:16 in Caguas. While attending church in PR,
he again became involved in various positions. He was a member of the prison ministry, a Sunday School
teacher, and cleaned the church.

They lived in Puerto Rico until moving to Davenport, Florida into their newly built home in January
2005. Once here in Florida, he began to attend Calvario Church in Orlando. At this stage in life, he did
not get as involved in the many church ministries. He assisted in the Domestic Violence ministry, dressed
as one of the three kings during the holidays, and played his guido from the church pews during services.

Johnny was an extraordinary and remarkable man of God who was loving, very generous, caring, and
had a tremendous sense of humor. Because of his character and through his selfless generosity, he has
impacted many lives and generations to come. His grandchildren called him “Papa John”. He also had a
very contagious smile and laughter.

Johnny spent his last days living with Zulma and his son, John, until he went to be with The Lord on
Friday, February 21st, 2020, just seven weeks after the passing of Zulma's mother, Julia. He loved The
Lord and we are certain that he is resting in His loving arms.

Johnny is survived by his sister, Mayin Negron, his wife, Zulma, his son, John and his wife Violette, his
grandchildren, Victoria Ashleigh, John Anthony, and Brianna Marie, as well as numerous nephews and
nieces. He is also survived by his sister-in-law, Myrta and her husband Jose “OJ”, and his brother-in-law
Jose “Cuco”. He had one great-granddaughter, Asuna Jasmine, who was born after his death in August of 2022.

Johnny will always be in our hearts and will be greatly missed.
Your family and friends will always remember you!