When Dionicio Gutierrez, Jr. was growing up, he saw his dad go to work every day at a local dairy. Gutierrez liked the animals, and was fascinated by the farming system. “I like the dynamics of finding out how things work,” he said.
Now, as a Soil Conservationist for the federal government’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, Gutierrez is fulfilling his childhood dreams of being a problem-solver in the field of agriculture.
The journey to get where he is took a while, though. When Gutierrez was a junior in high school, he enlisted in the Marines, and after he graduated in 2000 he went to boot camp and then further training for his marine occupational specialty as a Marine Corps Integrated Maintenance Management Specialist.
“In January of 2001 I was shipped over to Okinawa,” he said. “I was in Okinawa for a year, and that’s when 9/11 happened.”
When the US went to war with Iraq in 2003, he was sent there as part of the first U.S. campaign there, “Operation Iraqi Freedom,” and remained in Iraq for six months.
When his four years of service came to a close, Gutierrez decided to come back to Texas. “I would have re-enlisted, but by that time, I had already met the woman who is now my wife, and we decided to leave California and come back home in 2004 when I got out of the Marine Corps,” he said.
Gutierrez married his wife Pilar in 2004, and in 2005 they had their first child and then moved back to California again. “My wife is a city girl from California, so she convinced me to go back in 2005 to California to live with her family,” he said.
Back in California, Gutierrez began working as a diesel mechanic. “I started off in a lawn mower shop, and I worked my way up to tier 3 John Deere heavy equipment and stuff like that,” he said.
He stayed there for ten years, when the family decided to move back to Texas. “We moved back to San Angelo because my parents lived there, and I got an opportunity to come work for the city of San Angelo,” he said. “We were tired of California life and we felt like we weren’t getting anywhere.”
In San Angelo, Gutierrez got involved with a local church, and began studying to be a pastor. He also went back to school with the GI bill, and earned his bachelors in animal science in 2019 and his masters in animal science, nutrition and genetics in 2020.
Once he finished school, the family moved to Granbury and Gutierrez found a job at the Natural Resource Conservation Service, a federal USDA program that helps farmers and ranchers manage and conserve their land. “Basically I am a consultant for the government,” he said.
A few years ago he was promoted to the position of District Conservationist, which is a planning position with the office in Cleburne. He’ll go out to landowners properties to observe their management practices, and help create a plan for them or to improve it.
Gutierrez’s work can vary from day to day, and they help landowners in various ways. “We do help people monetarily, but we also try to give them as much advice, conservation-wise, as possible, to help make their properties more efficient and be productive,” he said. “We tend to do outreaches to let people know that we’re here for them, because we’re funded by the taxpayers’ dollars, and we’re here to help the taxpayer.”
Gutierrez plans to stay at his job, and hopes to retire in his 50s.
When he’s not working as a Soil Conservationist, Gutierrez serves as one of the pastors at his nephew’s church in Granbury. He also enjoys woodworking and welding, as well as taking care of his chickens and the family pets.
Throughout his life, Gutierrez has found inspiration in his faith and his family. His wife, in particular, has been very supportive over the years. The two met on Yahoo Personals when Gutierrez was stationed in California, and have now been together 21 years.
The Gutierrez family has two children, Isaac, 20, and Izabella, 15. His mother, Ludivina Gutierrez, passed away last year, and his father, Dionicio Gutierrez Sr., lives near Gutierrez in Granbury.
He’s also grateful to the Marine Corps for putting him on his career path. “I appreciate the Marine Corps so much because it gave me a good foundation of knowing where I came from, and knowing who I am now,” he said. “As far as the mechanic side, it taught me a lot of intricacies on disciplining myself and making sure things are done right.”
Gutierrez’ advice to Dublin graduates is to work on finding who they are at their core, and stay strong in their faith.
“Especially with this young generation, I know social media pulls a lot of influence,” he said. “Just try to live your life outside of that bubble. Try to figure out who you are first before you let people tell you who you are — that way, you don’t miss out on things that you want to do because you’re trying to make other people happy. And like I said, always seek God first, because he’ll never fail you. Everybody else around will fail you. You will fail yourself. But He has never failed me.”
Where are they now chronicles what Dublin graduates have done since high school. If you have any suggestions for other grads, email publisher@dublincitizen.com.