In Memory of Our Hero, Raymond I Rodriguez

For those of you who may not know me, I am Ray Rodriguez's daughter, Elizabeth Ann Rodriguez. As many have always called me, "The Baby," since I am the youngest of my Dad's kids. My heart is broken as I write this message to all of you to share that my hero, best friend, role-model, champion, man of my life (my mom’s first), my rock, my Daddy has left us to join our other family members in Heaven. Leaving behind his four loving children, his beautiful wife, siblings, nieces, nephews, grandchildren, cousins and countless others who loved him dearly.  On my brother Raymond's birthday, September 14, 2020 my dad suffered a massive brain hemorrhage which is a severe type of stroke after falling and hitting his head on his dresser at home. In a matter of minutes, my Dad lost the ability to speak clearly and became paralyzed on his left side.  The road that followed was extremely difficult for all of us, but God is merciful. With Covid-19 turning the world upside down and hospital protocols being drastically different we were unable to see my Dad in the hospital in the days that passed from the night he was admitted. Thankfully, the ER doctor allowed all of us in to see him. All my brothers arrived within a few hours of him being admitted as did his sister, Lilly. We were all supported by our incredibly strong and loving significant others and our beautiful cousin Val.  My brothers, my mom, my auntie and I all stayed in the hospital room with him until it was time for them to take him into the ICU to prepare for his emergency craniotomy.  Our Dad, even in the immense amount of pain he was in, struggling to verbalize his thoughts due to the paralysis and brain hemorrhage iterated the following words to us, "Take care of each other, take care of your mother, and I love you." That was the last time our Dad was able to speak to us.    This morning, September 26, 2020, our Dad started his eternal life in heaven. As I said before, God is merciful. We were able to bring him home so that he could spend his last days surrounded by everyone who loves him so dearly and pass peacefully in his own home with his wife and children by his side.  Our Dad was a king to us. He was a business man, politician and served for many years as the President of the Latin Business Association and dined with powerful political individuals such President Ronald Reagan. He loved to show everyone his moves and danced alongside Clint Eastwood and John Wayne.   His favorite person to dance with was our Mom, who he always called his one true love and the woman of his life.  He was a story teller and a comedian who could entertain us endlessly for hours telling his stories and jokes. Many of which started with, "In the beginning..." He was a social butterfly that could literally strike up conversations with complete strangers, keeping them fully engaged in what he had to say. Grocery trips always took a little longer since he would stop and talk to absolutely everyone in line. He was a mentor, a coach and forever both a teacher and student of life. He was so many things in his beautiful life but most importantly to me, he was my rock and my best friend. I take solace in prayer and knowledge that he left us the way he would have wanted to, surrounded by his family which was always the most important aspect of life to him.  As we prepare for our lives without our Dad there are several responsibilities that need to be handled. For those who knew our Father and Family and wish to contribute, the amount we have listed for the GoFundMe is to help cover his funeral arrangements. Our Father was a Cathedral High School alumnus, IBEW Local #11 Member & Teacher, Knights of Columbus Member and Latin Business Association President (2 terms). As I am sure many of you can imagine, our Mom is devastated as are we. We are doing as he told us and taught us, taking care of her and each other. If we are blessed to achieve our goal, any additional contributions will be set aside to assist us in caring for our beautiful mother, the love of his life and ours.  We know our Dad touched many of you with his kindness and warmth. Please know he loved his family and friends dearly. I will be sure to update this page and Facebook with service details as soon as they are finalized. In the meantime, as my Dad always said, "Lord, you did your part, now I will do mine."  God bless our Dad, our Family, and all those loving and supporting us in this difficult time.