Lydia Conde Rodriguez

LYDIA C. RODRIGUEZ 1933 - 2021

Our Mom's story starts in the early 1900s in northeast Mexico where her mother (who later twice became a widow) was living with her first husband. The family fled their ranch when a family member shot and killed a neighboring ranch owner over a boundary dispute. The family feared retaliation even though the shooting was in self-defense. They wound up moving to and settling in south Texas where Mom was born. She was the 7th of 8 children, the second to the youngest. Mom's father later died when she was 6 years old.

Mom met our Dad, Jose Rodriguez, while working in a packing shed. They married when she was 16 and he was 19. They went on to make a life together for almost 60 years until Dad passed away in 2009.

Mom had a 3rd grade education and Dad being an orphan, never got the chance to attend school. In order to survive, they along with their 6 children, followed the crops. They picked cotton in Texas, Arkansas, and Louisiana. They never picked cotton in California, but they picked almost every other crop imaginable.

Following the crops meant moving every few months. That also meant the kids attended between 3 and 5 different schools every year up until about high school. All of which served to further convince Mom and Dad that education was the key to a better life. With Mom and Dad's encouragement and support, five of their six kids obtained a college degree with two of them obtaining a graduate degree.

In the late 1980s, Mom was working for a company by the name of Tex-Cal. At the time it was one of the biggest private landowners in California. The United Farm Workers was trying to unionize the workers and the company resisted those efforts. The matter wound up going to trial. The company was represented by a lawyer, a former Marine officer, known for his aggressive demeanor. The union lawyers worried that their witnesses would wither under his cross-examination. The union won the trial, in part, because of one particular witness. Rumor has it that the company lawyer was never able to lay a glove on this witness. Who was this witness? Our very own Mom!

All Mom asked of her kids, and later her grandkids and great grandkids, was to make a commitment and then show up and do it. To be better than our best excuses.

Te queremos mucho Mom and we miss you already. You and Dad will forever live in our hearts!!!

Lydia is preceded in death by her husband Jose M. Rodriguez, son, Simon Rodriguez; infant daughters, Nora and Elena Rodriguez; daughter, Maria Castillo; granddaughter, Krista M. Rodriguez and granddaughter-in-law, Juliana Castillo. She is survived by her son, Jose Luis Rodriguez; son and daughter-in-law, Daniel and Connie Rodriguez; daughter and son-in-law, Diana and Stan Sherrill; daughter and son-in-law, Nora Rodriguez and Sergio Tamayo; son, David Rodriguez; grandchildren, Junior, Hope, Reynaldo and Julie Rodriguez, Tomas, Marissa, Marcos and Lotta Rodriguez, Brianna and Luis Santoyo, Simon and Serena Castillo, Samuel and Wendy Castillo, Nicholas and David Sherrill, Cassandra Johnson, Carlos Rodriguez, Monica and Jarmare Davis; great-grandchildren, Santiago Guerrero, Vanessa Williams, Daniel, Jeremy and Ezara Castillo, Jamel Davis; great-great-grandchildren Camila and Isabelle Rodriguez and Amareay Hamilton as well as numerous nieces, nephews, other relatives, and friends.

Viewing will be held on Sunday February 14, 2021 from 5 - 8 pm at Basham Funeral Home in Lamont.

Funeral Mass will be held on Tuesday February 16, 2021 at 1pm at St. Augustine Parish in Lamont.

Due to Covid19 masks are required to be worn.

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