Healthy Bodies Fitness pays tribute to thier fallen Member.
Billy Funk
December 4th 1984 - October 31st 2009
Vaya con dios Billy written by WNBF Pro - Brad Loomis Billy was 24 years old and was a graduate from Portola High School. Although he never went to college or trade school, his skills and knowledge were amazing. He could skillfully operate Heavy Equipment like earth movers and bulldozers, frame a house, rebuild an automatic transmission, or repair your craftsman cordless drill. His prize posession was his HUGE Chevy 4x4 that he was completely rebuilding from the ground up. His e-mail "bigchev468" was named after the bored out 454 he had invested thousands of dollars in. Billy and his two brothers, Dan and Eddie, started Funk Automotive Repair just a few short months ago and the business was booming. He had told me that in one Saturday they had brought in $4,500. Billy and I could talk for hours about automobiles
Billy was an athlete. He possessed that freaky farmer strength that came from years and years of manual labor. The kind of strength you get from carrying Engine Blocks, stacks of 2 x 4's, splitting cords and cords of wood and operating jack hammers and ground packers. His physique and strength were the kind that made people question if he were on steroids. Although he was not fantastically co-ordinated, he was as smooth as silk on a motorcycle. Probably from experience and his understanding of motorized vehicles, he could clear doubles with ease and negotiate the trickiest hills.
Billy was a regular Ricky Carmichael
There is no doubt that I am going to miss the heck out of Billy. Why is it that training partners become so close? I think it's the pain they endure together. They willingly push eachother to the limits. They want that pain, and they expect thier partner to give them hell and support them to get through it. The following 3 days were rough. We were going to do our first power lifting meet together in 2 short weeks after his death. Even though I knew better, I was expecting to hear that lifted Mazda pickup with the KC lights on the front pushbar pull up to the gym. Then expect to see him come swaggering in with his baseball hat, red and black dufflebag in one hand, and coffee with milk in the other. It never happened though, no matter how hard I was willing to deny what had happened.
Billy loved to workout, and I loved to workout with him. He would attack things with reckless abondon. Almost like he were invincible. I would always play dad and warn him, "arch that back on those deadlifts, hold that tuck when you press." He would always nod in agreement, then we would put on another 5 or 10 pounds. I will miss him no doubt. I will miss our long talks after the workout about the same 3 or 4 subjects. Working out, automobiles, eating, or business. We would talk for hours sometimes about the same subject, just finding new angles or new stories to tell. I will miss him telling me about how when he was a kid his family would fire up the generator at night and gather around the TV and VCR watching the same movie or the same epiosode of the Dukes of Hazzard. I will miss listening to his IPOD blasting on the stereo while we workout, training to ACDC, Hank Williams Jr., Van Halen, Def Leppard, Kenny Loggins and all the Rocky Music. I will dearly miss Billy Funk, Vaya con dios my brother.