Filemon Castillo Gonzales was born in Aklan, Philippines on November 22, 1927.  He was second to the eldest out of six children. He worked in several advertising firms in the Philippines from the 60s to the 70s.

Due to the economic and political upheaval in the Philippines during the 1960s, he requested from his younger brother, who was serving in the U.S. Navy to petition him and his family to immigrate to the United States.  He desired to get his children out of the Philippines at the time to provide them with a more promising future.

He immigrated to the San Francisco Bay Area in April 1979, leaving his wife and three children to start a new life. He wanted to ensure that he could secure good employment and financial stability first before bringing his entire family to the U.S. After a year and a half of separation from his family, they were reunited in December 1980.

In 1985, God called Fil to his Church. Fil, while on his work break, found the Plain Truth magazine in a trash bin.  This was the beginning of Fil's reconciliation relationship with God. In 1993, he was baptized into God's Church.

As a husband and father, he ensured that his family was well provided. He loved his children very much, but his grandchildren are his pride and joy.

Fil was survived by his three children, Ronnie, Jollin, and Francis; daughters-in-law, Vivian and Fe; six  grandchildren, Jona, Megan, Joshua, Jared, Jiana, and Jenessa, his younger brother Henry, and Coleen, whom he has grafted into our family when she came to live with us in 2014.