Manuel (Manny) Rodriguez Jr

    Manuel (Manny) Rodriguez Jr. was born on Sept. 15th 1938. His Father, Manuel Rodriguez Sr. was an immigrant from Spain and his mother, Edith (Essie) Rodriguez was an L.A. native. 

    Manny grew up in El Modena where he helped his family take care of the orange groves. He was the oldest of 3 children. Billy and Dee Dee were his younger siblings. Both now deceased. 

    Manny graduated from Orange High School but had spent his Sophomore year at Mater Dei. He made many lifelong friends during these years.

    In 1965, he married Pat Ehrhardt. With this marriage came 2 stepchildren, Terri and Lance, whom he loved very much. Manny and Pat had 2 girls together, Danelle and Stacie. Danelle, now deceased had one son, Jonathan Hammer, 25. Stacie is married to John Beke and together they have 3 boys, Josiah 27, Christopher 22 and Matthias 17.

    In 1975, Manny married Donna Campbell. They moved to Ontario in 1979. Many happy memories were made there. Manny and Donna would have been married for 46 years this May.

    Manny loved music. He loved to sing and dance and play guitar. He even won a swing dance contest in his youth. He was a car enthusiast. He enjoyed going to car shows with his grandsons. He loved to collect and work on cars. His favorite car was his 57 Chevy painted Cadillac Blue. 

    He loved to cook and entertain. He was great at both. People would line up to eat his tacos. Manny enjoyed life and he loved people. He made friends easily. If fact, the saying, "a stranger was just a friend he hadn't met yet," was very true of Manny. He was greatly loved and will be forever missed.

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