Times were tough for Raul Rodriguez in the Great Depression, but he soared as youngest Latino naval aviator in history during World War II.
It was a sweet gesture Father Ramon Valera made at the beginning of the memorial service for 99-year-old Raul Rodriquez at Mission Hills Catholic Mortuary recently.
“You know when something costs $0.99 cents and sometimes you just give them a $1.00?” the priest said. “I think we can just give this $1.00 to him.” He and his late wife, Val — the beautiful, movie booth ticket girl he fell in love with and was married to for 61 years — were godparents to more than 30 children. Thirty. You don’t get that kind of trust and respect without earning it.
Times were tough everywhere when Rod was growing up during the Great Depression. The San Fernando Valley was no different. As a boy, he shared one room with four sisters, and his packed lunch for school was too often saltine crackers, said his nephew Dan Somerville. And, like Will Rogers, he loved to pull your leg. “He told everyone he used to have to walk to school barefoot in the snow,” his nephew laughed.It was around 1934, at the age of 10, that he started building model airplanes, and his future began to take shape. His first job was as a hangar boy in 1939 at Metropolitan Airport, now Van Nuys Airport.He moved on to working at a flight school seven days a week from dawn to dusk for $14 a week.
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