Marina Rodriguez

Our beloved Marina appreciated everything in nature, but especially loved birds and flowers. She enjoyed gardening, cooking for her family, and looking after God’s creatures. She was most often found tending to her personal botanical paradise, cooking an incredible meal, or laughing alongside her adoring husband, Luis.

Marina will be remembered as a doting wife, a loving mother, a thoughtful sister, a devoted grandmother, a generous neighbor, a loyal friend, and to the animals in her care- a miracle worker. There should be decades more of memories for her family to remember, but she was tragically taken too soon due to an unforeseen accident. Those who could make it rushed to the hospital to say their last goodbyes and Marina was surrounded in love and covered in prayer by her immediate family who were at her bedside as she transitioned from this life on the evening of Tuesday, October 11, 2022.

Marina was preceded in death by her parents and two siblings, Dagoberto Cruz and Miguel Cruz.

Those who are left to cherish her memory and celebrate her exemplary life are her 5 daughters: Reina Maritza Nataren (Benjamin Nataren), Ana Rios (Randy Rios), Eileen Vanessa Rodriguez, Marisol Rodriguez, Adanelie DeRobertis (Jose DeRobertis); 10 grandchildren: Reina Marisol Meli, Karla Arroyo, Luis Roberto Arroyo, LoryAnn Williams, Mercedes Rios, Luis Miguel Rios, Ayden Allen Cotiere, Sean Colin Cotiere, Carianna Isabella Ramos, Sebastian Luis DeRobertis; 1 great grandchild: Joseph Michael Meli; and 7 siblings: Julio Cruz, Elba Cruz, Abel Cruz, Juana Mena (Obed Mena), Ana Arce (Antonio Arce), Cesar Cruz, and Gerardo Cruz; as well as nieces, nephews, cousins, godchildren, important friends, her neighborhood, and the birds who would literally come knocking at her front door.

Marina was a godly woman full of life. She was energetic, spirited, fiery, spicy, courageous, resilient, tenacious, and always a fighter. She never let up. She always found a way: nothing was impossible for her and she never let anything get in her way. Everyone always went to her for strength and advice. She was tenderhearted, nurturing, incredibly loving, openhanded. She was always willing to help anyone in need and ready to give the very shirt off her back; or if necessary - the shirt off her husband or children's back, if she had already given hers to meet the need of someone less fortunate than herself. Marina always made family and friends feel loved, nurtured, and cared for. She was a righteous woman full of moral integrity and a strong moral compass.

She was the embodiment of the woman described in Proverbs 31, “more precious than rubies.” In Marina, Luis found a “virtuous and capable wife.” It is written: “Her husband can trust her, and she will greatly enrich his life. She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life. She finds wool and flax and busily spins it. She is like a merchant’s ship, bringing her food from afar. She gets up before dawn to prepare breakfast for her household and plan the day’s work for her servant girls. She goes to inspect a field and buys it; with her earnings she plants a vineyard. She is energetic and strong, a hard worker. She makes sure her dealings are profitable; her lamp burns late into the night. Her hands are busy spinning thread, her fingers twisting fiber. She extends a helping hand to the poor and opens her arms to the needy. She has no fear of winter for her household, for everyone has warm clothes. She makes her own bedspreads. She dresses in fine linen and purple gowns. Her husband is well known at the city gates, where he sits with the other civic leaders. She makes belted linen garments and sashes to sell to the merchants. She is clothed with strength and dignity, and she laughs without fear of the future. When she speaks, her words are wise, and she gives instructions with kindness. She carefully watches everything in her household and suffers nothing from laziness. Her children stand and bless her. Her husband praises her: “There are many virtuous and capable women in the world, but you surpass them all!”” (‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭31:11-29‬ ‭NLT‬).

Always hard-working since childhood, she sold everything; from drinks to soccer players out on the field, to fine jewelry in affluent neighborhoods. Marina had her very own diner when she was 19 years old. It was successful and she had many customers. She wanted and sought a better life for her two young daughters, Reina & Ana, so she actively looked for opportunities to work in the United States. In October of 1974, this very brave Salvadorian woman responded to a classified ad in her local newspaper, was hired, and took a plane for the first time in her life to leave her country and the life she knew behind to travel to Costa Rica where she would work as a nanny and chef to a family headed by a former ambassador to Spain and owner of the famous Galletas Pozuelo or Pozuelo Cookies Company. After working for this family for a year and a half, a serendipitous conversation with a fellow nanny opened the door for her to work with another family in the United States. Within the span of a few days, Marina obtained a visa and contract to work in Miami, Florida, with an affluent family. A year later, she moved to Queens, New York, where in a small Spanish speaking church, she met her future husband, Luis Rodriguez.

Luis and Marina spent everyday together talking, walking, reading, playing, laughing, traveling, everything. They were married for 12 days shy of 44 years. In that time, they sang hymns and harmonized together, read the Bible together, and loved each other deeply. Their first daughter, Vanessa, was born 9 months and 12 days after their wedding day. They also welcomed daughters Marisol and Adanelie, all three born in New York.

Luis and Marina traveled the world, going to El Salvador and Puerto Rico almost every year. They also frequented México and Canada. They enjoyed cross Atlantic flights to England, France, Spain, Italy, and Switzerland. They ventured south to Central America to explore Costa Rica and Panama - as well as took multiple family road trips stateside, down the east coast to Orlando and Miami, Florida. Another memorable journey took their family of 5 cross country from New York to California to visit tio Abel (Marina's brother) and his family. The Rodriguez’s were lovers of adventure, taking expeditions to Bear Mountain in New York and going to theme parks often. Together, they experienced Six Flags in New Jersey, went to Sesame Place, Dorney Park, Action Park, and Hershey Park, Pennsylvania, as well as a trip to Washington, DC. Marina and Vanessa took a cruise to the Bahamas.

In 1994, after 18 years in New York, Luis and Marina decided to move to Florida having loved all of their summer vacations at Disney World and visits to the Feliz family (dear friends from Rehoboth Church in NY) home in Miramar. Marina, Luis, and the children stopped at a hotel off of I-95 and I-4 and told the hotel clerk they were moving from New York to Florida and wanted suggestions for places to live. The hotel clerk said that Tampa is a great city to live in, so my parents agreed that was where they needed to go! Always adventurous in spirit, they believed they were guided to Tampa and decided to settle here.

Tampa life included family "linners"(late lunches/early dinners) which were enjoyed several times a week! Her food was incredible! Marina could whip up delicious meals at the drop of a hat with whatever she had on hand. She always made sure to have enough groceries to feed an army with short notice, storing cans of food and drinks in unexpected places! Some of her signature dishes were tiritas de carne, pollo sudado, huevo con tomate, sopa de res, sopa de pollo, her famous El Salvadorian quesadilla and many more. Marina found comfort in her daily practice of horticulture in her very own backyard. Thanks to her attentive cultivation, family, friends, and neighbors alike appreciated the bounty that came from her labor as well. Everyone wanted a bag of papayas, star fruit, avocados, or mangoes when in season.

Proverbs 12:10a reads, “The righteous care for the needs of their animals.” This could not be truer of Marina Rodriguez. She healed and brought little animals back to life. She loved birds so much that the ducks in the neighborhood pond would peck at her door for her to give them bread. She revived her children’s pet goldfish, Taxi. She even operated on a tumor on the back of her bird's claw. The bird was already on its side, listless at the bottom of the cage. She doused a cotton ball with hydrogen peroxide and iodine tincture, disinfected the tumor, heated up a razor blade, then sliced the tumor off, added more peroxide, followed by Neosporin, and bandaged it. The bird was perched and chirping the next morning. It lived many years more after this surgery. While working on sick animals, she always said, "Creatura tuya es, Señor. En el nombre de Jesús!"

To say that she will be desperately missed is a serious understatement. She left an impression on each of those who knew her, one that will remain in everyone's hearts. We’re confident her spirit will eternally live on through us as there is a little bit of her in each one of us whose lives she touched. So much more could be said of this woman we all loved, the epitome of faithfulness and good works. Gone too soon, Marina is forever in the hearts of those who loved her and those she so beautifully loved. We are encouraged in the knowledge that she is enjoying paradise while our family and her many other loved ones find comfort in each other and in the multitude of fond memories that we collectively share. We choose to memorialize her, not in the somberness of death, but in the celebration of her well-lived life believing that as she faced her Maker, He replied, “Well done good and faithful servant, well done.”

WITH SINCERE APPRECIATION:

Our family appreciates your outpouring expressions of love, prayers, and concern. We are filled with gratitude for the many kindnesses and acts of condolence. We thank all of you for the cards, flowers, telephone calls, food, visits, and your earnest prayers for her and us. From the bottom of our hearts, we thank you and love you.

A graveside service for Marina will be held Monday, October 17, 2022 at 11:00 a.m. in Garden of Memories Cemetery, 4207 East Lake Avenue, Tampa, FL 33610. A celebration of life will be held 4:30 p.m. Monday, October 17, 2022 at Gateway Christian Academy, 14205 North Florida Avenue, Tampa, FL 33613.