Beach Memorial Medical Center. A Celebration of Life service will be held on Sunday,
February 9 at 1:00 PM, at The Pacific Condominiums (850 E. Ocean Blvd.) in Long Beach.
Marel was born on September 20, 1934, in Wilmington, Calif., to Luciano Evangelista LaRoque
and Frances Marie Cox LaRoque; she was the second of seven children. As a child, Marel
attended Wilmington Park Elementary School and took tap dancing lessons with two
neighborhood friends, which led to performing in some school shows. Although she spent
much of her childhood in Wilmington, Marel and her family relocated several times while
her father served in the U.S. Navy during World War II; they lived in San Francisco,
Philadelphia, San Diego, and Guam, which included overseas trips on the U.S.S. General
Randall and U.S.S. General Mann Navy troop transport ships. After the family moved back to
Wilmington in 1948, Marel enrolled at Phineas Banning High School, where she was a
member of the Girl’s Athletic Association, Drill Team, The “Ladies” Club, and the California
Scholastic Federation, an honors organization. She graduated Valedictorian of her class in
1951 at the age of 16 and went to work for Western Auto in Wilmington, which included a
few months of training in Minneapolis, Minn.
In 1952, Marel married her first husband, Ralph Espino, and gave birth to her first son, Ralph
“Ralphie” Franklyn Espino, in November. While her husband was stationed at March Air
Force Base in Riverside, Calif., Marel worked for the Riverside Community Hospital in the
laboratory. The marriage ended in divorce and she moved back to Wilmington and pursued
an education in medical administration. Soon she was working at the Sea View Medical
Group in Wilmington. Marel married Alvin William Fields in August of 1960 and gave birth to
her second son, Jonathan Scott Fields, in May of 1970. They lived in West Los Angeles, then
San Diego. During that time, Marel also continued working in the medical field, including
helping a plastic surgeon establish a new medical practice in Encino. Her passion for
collecting antiques with her husband turned into a small business for a time, and she gave
many precious treasures to friends and family. Marel also loved traveling, visiting cities such
as New York and Boston, and traveling to England several times to visit friends who lived
there.
COMPARTA UN OBITUARIO
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