I still see your beautiful smile and upbeat personality.even towards the end, always with a smile. You were a true hero! One of your nurses patty v

     What I appreciate most from the more than 20 years that I was lucky enough to be friends with Rigoberto Linares were all of the great conversations we had. We could discuss just about anything. We talked about family, we talked about sports, we talked about work and we even talked about God. Rigoberto brought his good common sense, his cheerful attitude and his ever-present sense of humor to all of the conversations. 

     When we met back in late 1989, though, it was almost unimaginable that we'd ever have those kinds of talks. Back then I couldn't speak any Spanish, and Rigoberto didn't yet speak much English. 

     I originally approached Rigoberto one day when I saw him working as part of a gardening crew a couple of houses away from the home that my wife, Emily, and I had bought in Calabasas. I had an old push lawnmower that worked terribly  – it was pulling up big chunks of turf instead of cutting the grass. So I thought I'd ask someone with the gardening crew at my neighbor's house if they could help me for at least a few weeks, until I bought a better mower and got my own gardening tools.

     We struggled a bit to understand each other, but what Rigoberto communicated when we first spoke was that he would come back that Saturday to do our lawn. What I didn't realize was that Rigoberto was trying to start his own business and I was becoming one of his first clients.

     As it turned out, I never got around to buying myself another lawnmower. Rigoberto did a great job for us, so I happily entrusted him with our landscaping. Most importantly, Rigoberto always was pleasant to deal with. In the first couple of years that I was his customer, the language barrier kept us from getting to know each other well, but we had many friendly conversations.

     Things changed somewhat a couple years later, around 1992 or 1993. My employer at the time offered Spanish classes to encourage more people on our staff to learn the language. I took the classes enthusiastically but realized that I needed to practice speaking Spanish more often if I wanted to learn quickly. Rigoberto was the person who graciously helped me out. He took the time to chat in Spanish with me when he would come by every Saturday afternoon. He seemed very pleased that I was trying to learn his native language. At first, on the Saturdays he came to my home, Rigoberto and I would spend just a couple of minutes chatting in Spanish. After all, Rigoberto's English by that point was becoming much better and, if we had anything specific to discuss, it was easier to do it in English. But Rigoberto would make sure I got some good Spanish practice every week. So did Rigoberto's  wonderful wife, Leticia, on the days when she accompanied him to our home. I still don't speak the language perfectly today but just about the only reason  I can communicate in Spanish is all of the patient help that the Linares family provided. And Rigoberto's encouragement – and sometimes his good-natured kidding when I would make mistakes – motivated me to improve.

     As the conversations expanded in both English and Spanish over the years, I got to know Rigoberto better. I gained a real appreciation of what a fine person he was. I admired how, through his own hard work and resourcefulness, he built his own business and bought a home for himself and his family. I admired even more how deeply devoted he was to Leticia and how much his whole family meant to him. In recent years, it was always a pleasure to hear about the grandchildren and to realize how much fun Rigoberto had when he visited them.

     The rest of my family, too, enjoyed seeing Rigoberto. He worked very hard but, when my children were young, he was always willing to take a couple of minutes to chat with them. And if the kids were playing sports, he would take a few moments to kick the soccer ball around with them or to try a basketball shot or two. Emily remembers what a comfort it was to see Rigoberto and his cheerful smile the first time he came to our house after the big Northridge earthquake. When Emily suffered serious health problems about seven years ago, Rigoberto every week asked how she was doing until she completed her long recovery.  That meant a lot to me.

     As Rigoberto faced his battle with cancer over the last year, he never seemed to lose his upbeat attitude. He was determined to keep fighting, and was brave, hopeful and full of faith. I was impressed by his thoughts about a doctor who said his disease was terminal. “The doctor doesn't decide, God decides,” Rigoberto told me. During a period last year when he was feeling better,  Rigoberto was enthusiastic about returning to work. Rigoberto did a big overhaul of our landscaping, which was needed after we completed an expansion on the back of our house, and I could see how pleased he was at how great our new garden looked – the result of his terrific design.
At Rigoberto's funeral, I was struck by all of the beautiful photos of him with his family, and how all of the pictures showed him with that big, cheerful smile. What it told me was that his life was well-lived, surrounded by people he loved. That was the Rigoberto who, I'm proud to say, was a friend of mine for so many years. May your memories of him always be a source of comfort and a blessing to you.

Funeral Service

Pierce Brothers Valhalla Memorial Park and Mortuary

Rigoberto Linares

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OBITUARY

Rigoberto De Jesus Linares

10 February, 1963 – 2 February, 2013

Pierce Brothers Valhalla Memorial Park and Mortuary

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