IN LOVING MEMORY: PAMELA RODRIGUEZ
Pamela Joan Rodriguez – born May 4, 1941 died August 14, 2021 Pamela had four children; Michelle, Michael, Mark and Melissa. Michael (Mike) died two days before my mom did. She has 9 grandchildren; Justin, Ashley, Laura, John, Steven, Stephanie, Tiffany, Cindy and Mike.
Pamela's adventurous attitude combined with her upbringing made her unafraid of trying new things – moving to a new house, taking on a new job or getting a new car. She drove everything from a VW bus to a sports car to a pick-up truck. Mom’s faith was strong and she encouraged a Christian lifestyle.
She loved to color, paint, crochet, and needlepoint. Her favorite color was salmon/coral. She also enjoyed fishing. She enjoyed doing whatever her grandkids liked so that she could better connect with them. She played video games with Justin, would go to John’s performances at Casa Manana and encourage his singing. She once went with Ashley to McDonald’s and ordered 10 Happy Meals just so Ashley could get the beanie baby toy that came with it. She kept a piece of paper with Laura’s signature pinned to the wall above her desk because when Laura became famous she wanted to already have her autograph.
Pamela was generous. For example, she once bought Christmas presents for some neighborhood kids.
Pamela worked hard. When my she became a single parent with no financial support, she got to work. For two years she worked full time, working nights and went to school full time during the day to get RN (registered nurse) license while parenting 4 children. After that she worked for a neurosurgeon and studied to get her physician’s assistant license. When she moved to Texas she worked in a few different hospitals, always as the charge nurse.
Pamela played with abandon. She liked to color with old fashioned crayons and a coloring book. Long before any Facebook memes, she literally liked to “dance in the rain.” I can see her with her arms outstretched, her head tilted back and spinning around while getting drenched. She was often spontaneous, like when we’d get home from school she’d say “Get in the car. Let’s go see the sun set” and we would drive an hour to the beach to watch the sun go down. One time she put green food coloring in some scrambled eggs so we could have green eggs and ham. I have a fun memory of her opening a can of pitted black olives and putting one on each of my fingers so I could eat them that way.
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