Roberto Reynaldo Amaya

Roberto Reynaldo Amaya, our loving husband, father, son, brother, uncle, passed away on Wednesday, December 29, 2021, from complications stemming from kidney disease. He was 76. Roberto was born on December 10, 1945 in San Isidro, Cabañas, El Salvador to Joaquin and Lidia (Bautista) Amaya. He studied Economics at the Universidad de El Salvador and oversaw the procurement and purchasing for all the hydroelectric plants in El Salvador in the Comisión Ejecutiva Hidroeléctrica del Río Lempa (CEL) for twenty years. He was married to the love of his life, Maria Rubia, for 50 years and they completed their family with daughter, Evelyn, and son, Roberto.

When he arrived with his wife and two young children in Miami in the late 1980s to escape the war in El Salvador, Roberto worked any job available to provide for his family. He was a humble and proud jack of all trades: He was a landscaper, a handy man on a sailboat, he worked in the kitchen at a restaurant, for a trucking company loading tires, and in a ketchup and condiments bottling plant. Later on, he enjoyed working in the set up crew for many high profile events and concerts at the Miami Beach Convention Center. For the last 30 or so years, he took great pride in being an attendant at Doral Resort and Spa.

At Doral Resort, he was proud of the service and hospitality he provided to guests and in the friendships he had formed over the more than 30 years he was employed there. He was employee of the month several times over the years and was chosen employee of the year in the early 2000s. His positive attitude and funny lines helped make work days go by faster for all his friends and co-workers. Even in the middle of the madness of taking care of thousands of guests visiting for big business conventions, week-long wedding celebrations, world reknowned golf tournaments at Doral, he always kept his cool, worked with integrity, and treated everyone he came into contact with like VIPs. When the pressure of life and work made others lose their cool, Roberto would rise above the noise and treat everyone with the utmost respect and kindness.

Roberto will be remembered as the most devoted and loyal family man. He was the glue that kept his large family – in Miami, Georgia, California, Colorado, and El Salvador – together. He took his responsibility and commitment to his family very seriously: He was his father’s right hand man in the fields of their family farm where they planted corn, beans, and many other food items to sell, but also to feed his parents’ 11 children and large, close knit, extended family.

Where did his work ethic get started? Well, he learned it at his first job – when he started working at 9 months old he used to say. As the first born, he was the precious baby to everyone in his large family. One of his grandmothers would stop by their house at dawn and knock on their bedroom window as she was making her way to the plaza in the center of town to her stand at the market. His mom would then hand her the sweet baby boy through the window. He would spend the morning in the market “helping” his grandmother sell whatever the family was harvesting in the farm. He said he was very good at attracting new buyers with his cuteness. He and his grandmothers were the perfect sales team.

When he was not completing chores at the farm, he went to school and consistently excelled in his studies. He was busy from dawn until late at night, helping his parents at home, caring for his younger siblings, then efficiently working on all his school work before sneaking in some quick games of soccer played at dusk (and sometimes completely in the dark) in dusty farm fields, or just in the middle of the street in front of their adobe house, with his cousins and neighborhood friends. Those days were the source of a lot of stories he would tell about warm memories and hilarious moments spent with his siblings. He was no stranger to hard work, he enjoyed it, and he embraced the opportunity to help his family succeed. When he graduated from the small school in San Isidro and had to move out of their farming town to go on to higher education in San Salvador, his commitment to his family continued. He encouraged and provided for each one of them the same educational opportunities that he had been given.

All his life, after a long day at work, he would sit on the couch to read the newspaper, watch sports on tv, and then, just before turning in for the evening, he would call his family to check on them. Even when he and Ruby went to school in the evenings after work to learn English, and even when they worked three jobs in the late 90’s to pay for college for his two children, he was never too tired at the end of the day to check in with his family. It was a priority for him to stay in touch, to give them a little brotherly advice or to lift their spirits with a funny anecdote or a witty remark to show them he loved them.

He was a loving and devoted husband and father. No matter how tired he was he was always up for throwing a baseball or kicking a soccer ball, playing “loteria”, or telling childhood stories and joking around with his family at dinner time. He was a fun, caring and loving granddad (“abuelito”) to 5 grandkids Though the pandemic made their visits to Miami less frequent, video calls were a blessing that helped him and Ruby keep up with their grandkids’ accomplishments that made them so proud. He loved to see them on video perform at concerts, to discuss the latest soccer games or to measure them to see how tall everyone was getting. When they were together, there was laughter, there was fun, and not a moment was wasted.

He leaves us with a legacy of unconditional love, kindness, good humor, wisdom, a love of sports, and appreciation for the outdoors and simple pleasures (such as a good, long, nap). His family will continue to carry on those gifts and pass them on in his honor for generations to come. Throughout his life, he showed his family that no goal or circumstance is impossible to accomplish if you face them always with a positive attitude, with integrity, humility, dedication, and a large dose of good humor, while holding hands with those you love most. Most importantly, he showed us that nothing is impossible if we have a strong faith that God is walking along with us on the journey.

Though he will be missed dearly and remembered every minute of every day, his family is thankful that he is finally resting. We pray that the Lord has welcomed him and we can’t wait to reunite with him again someday.

Roberto is survived by his wife, Maria Rubia of Miami; Daughter, Evelyn Amaya Ortega (and son-in-law, Roger Ortega); Son, Rob Amaya (and daughter-in-law, Melessa McNeil Amaya); His beloved grandchildren (“his pride and joy”) Gabrielle Ortega, Isabella Ortega, William Ortega, Benjamin Amaya, and Lucas Amaya, all of Atlanta, Georgia; Eight sisters and brothers and many, many, nieces and nephews, as well as a large extended family, all living in California, Colorado, and El Salvador. He is preceded in death by his father, Joaquin Amaya, his mother, Lidia Bautista Amaya, and two younger brothers, Julio Cesar Amaya and Jorge Luis Amaya.

His family is immensely grateful for the devoted care of his medical team, all of whom have become like family over the years. We are thankful for the Archdiocese of Miami Catholic Hospice medical team. They were a blessing to our family by providing healing comfort for his body and spirit.

A memorial service for Roberto will be held on Saturday, March 26 at 11 AM at St. Lawrence Catholic Church (2200 NE 191st St, Miami, FL). Due to covid restrictions, masks will be required indoors and visitation with the family will be held at the church courtyard starting at 10:30 am and will continue immediately following the mass. He will be interred at Our Lady of Mercy Cemetery in Doral, FL in a private family service.