Know Your Neighbors: Gabe Tapia
, Wal-Mart employee, tattoo artist

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Gabe Tapia, 24, of Rock Falls, fills orders in the deep freezer at the Wal-Mart Distribution Center near Sterling, and also does tattoos part time at Skeeter’s in Dixon.

Gabe and his wife, Jennifer Tapia, 30, live in Rock Falls. He has two children, Jasmine Lee, 8, and Isaac Lee, 7. He is the son of Salome and Maureen Tapia of Sterling and has a sister, Belinda Tapia, 20, of Davenport, Iowa, and a brother, Alex Tapia, 6, of Sterling.

On-the-job lesson: Hard work pays off.

Alma mater: I graduated in 2004 from Sterling High School and I’ve taken some classes at Sauk Valley Community College.

Philosophy: If you put your mind to it, you can achieve anything.

Hearts: Working out, painting and watching “LA Ink.”

Darts: Mowing the lawn.

Haunts: Skeeter’s.

Hero: Any tattoo artist who’s famous. They’ve worked hard.

First job: I was a dishwasher at the Friendship House in Rock Falls when I was 16.

First car: A 1992 Pontiac Grand Prix when I was 16.

Read this: “The Da Vinci Code,” by Dan Brown.

Phobia: Heights.

Guilty pleasure: Sleeping in.

I’d like to meet: Pablo Picasso.

In the dictionary next to: Unique.

Trading places: I’d like to be Corey Miller, a famous tattoo artist. I’d like to see what it’s like to be part of one of the biggest tattoo shops in America.

Trading spaces: I’d like to visit Hawaii. Around there is where tattooing started.

Best thing about Rock Falls: It’s quiet.

Shout out to: Trey and Angie Rumley, the owners of Skeeter’s.

Do you know someone who ought to be featured in Know Your Neighbors? Write to Phil Hartman at phartman@svnmail.com or call 800-798-4085, ext. 524.

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