Ricardo Rodriguez Jr.

Ricardo Rodriguez Jr. was born April 26, 1998 in El Paso, Texas. He was the middle child and ironically the tallest of the entire Rodriguez family. He was named after his dad by myself, his older sister. He was my first best friend.

Ricardo participated in youth football, playing for the Northeast Mustangs as #57. He was a lineman and loved every second of it, even if it terrified our mom to no end to see him out on the field. He never complained and always showed up to practice with a positive attitude, ready to take on anything and anyone. He eventually went on to play football in middle school and high school. He was a Cowboys fanatic and always promised our Dad he would one day take him to a Cowboys game- a promise he fulfilled Thanksgiving 2018, when he took the family to Dallas to see the game.

He began his eventual lifelong love for band in the 5th grade when he picked up a trombone and essentially never put it down after that, passing on his love for music to our youngest sister. He hated practicing at home, but showed up to early morning practice ready to give it his all.

Despite already being a part of football and band in high school, Ricardo decided to follow in my footsteps and join JROTC. I made him promise he would outrank me by the time he graduated and that was another promise he carried out- he eventually became the Cadet Command Sergeant Major of Parkland High School's JROTC battalion. Even then, I was always the one behind the scenes, putting his uniform together before every inspection and board he went to. This became a tradition all throughout his high school years and persisted once he joined the Army.

After high school graduation, Ricardo went on to attend New Mexico Military Institute in Roswell, NM. He attended for about a year before enlisting into the US Army Reserves as a 68W Combat Medic, once again following in my footsteps. His ultimate goal was to pursue a PhD in child psychology- he had a natural talent for reaching out to people and wanted to use that to help others. In February 2018, he graduated AIT from Echo Company, 232nd Medical Battalion at Fort Sam Houston, the same company I graduated from.

He then returned to El Paso to live with our parents and found a job at the same place as our Dad and was eventually able to move out and get his own apartment and buy a Mustang, his dream car he always wanted. In his spare time, Ricardo coached the Northeast Raiders, a local youth football team and continued to support his friends, wanting nothing more than to help them reach their dreams.

Ricardo's niece, Heidi, loved when he would come over to our mom's house to eat. She was the light of his life, and also annoyed him endlessly, following him everywhere. He was her Tio Taco, and she loved to roughhouse with him.

Ricardo is survived by our parents, myself, our youngest sister Melanie, his niece Heidi, his brother-in-law Christiaan, and too many friends to count, for whose never ending support the Rodriguez family is eternally grateful.

Visitation will be from 5:00-9:00pm Thursday, December 13, at Funeraria del Angel Kaster-Maxon & Futrell, 8817 Dyer Street, El Paso, Texas 79904. Funeral service will be 10am Friday, December 14, at the funeral home followed by Committal at Restlawn Memorial Park Cemetery.