Javier Rodriguez

Javier Rodríguez, of Hawthorne, CA died at a hospital on March 13, 2024, surrounded by his loving family after a brief and brave battle with lymphoma. He was 77.

 

Javier touched the hearts of many people; he leaves behind a legacy of cherished memories, hard work and love for family.

Javier was born on July 28th, 1946, to José Rodríguez and Rosa Carrillo in the family’s ranch in El Zapote, a now abandoned hamlet in Juchipila, a town in the Mexican state of Zacatecas that sits in a region with high emigration rates to the United States.

 

The second oldest in a family of 12 children and the eldest son, Javier worked hard from an early age, helping his father plant corn on the family’s land and care for their cattle. Born with an adventurous spirit, he left home as a teenager and joined a work crew that traveled throughout México laying down highways.

 

Later, he ventured to the United States with his father, who first came to the U.S. in 1945 as part of the Bracero Program, a World War II-era agreement that allowed Mexican immigrants to work in the U.S. as guest workers.

 

Javier’s adventurous spirit took him out of his town but his longing for home was always present, and he often returned to Juchipila to visit his family and his girlfriend, Ofelia, marrying her in 1970. That year, he and his new wife immigrated to Venice, CA in search of a better life for them and their future family.

 

Always a hard worker, Javier made shoes and carpets in Los Angeles factories, washed dishes at LA restaurants, and picked strawberries and limes and other vegetables in the fields of central California. In 2013, he retired from Custom Hotel, now Hotel June West, near the Los Angeles International Airport after working there for 25 years as a maintenance engineer.

 

He was a handyman and always generous with his talents, helping his family with car and home repairs. He dabbled in car mechanics and was known in the family for his makeshift fixes on his children’s cars, leading to a longstanding family joke that the patchwork repairs were “a Dad’s Mickey Mouse.”

Javier was an honest man who loved spending time with his family and never turned down an opportunity to travel. Amicable and talkative, he made friends easily and in retirement enjoyed traveling to his hometown where he could spend hours talking with men of his generation under the shade of a tree known colloquially as El Palo Verde, or The Green Stick.

Javier is survived by eight siblings, his beloved wife of 54 years Ofelia Salazar and his five children Julia Rodríguez, Hilda Rodríguez-Besada (Alberto), Oscar Rodríguez (Blanca), Ricardo Rodríguez (Xochi), and Carlos Rodríguez (Vanessa). He is also survived by his granddaughters Patricia González, Samantha Rodríguez, Camila Besada, Victoria Rodríguez, Ana Lucia Rodríguez, and Alitzel Rodríguez. Javier was preceded in death by his father and mother, sisters Arcelia Rodríguez, Honorina Haro and Hortencia Saucedo, and grandson Richard González.

A funeral will be held on Tuesday, March 26, 2024, at Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery in Culver City, CA from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Viewing hours are from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. At noon, a funeral Mass will be held at Saint Joseph Catholic Church in Hawthorne, CA. The burial will be held in Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery at 2 p.m.

Please join us in remembering Javier, a loving son, brother, husband, father, grandfather, uncle, cousin and godfather. He will forever remain in our hearts.