Manuel Daniel Rodriguez

Manuel D. Rodriguez was a loving and caring husband, father, brother, and grandfather.  He was born in Bogota, Colombia and was raised in California since the age of two years old.  He was a wonderful, smart, and caring high school teacher who touched the lives of countless students along his path of being an educator for 45 years.  He began his teaching journey in Medellin, Colombia teaching English and eventually met and fell in love with Olga, his wife of 54 years during their time at the University in Colombia.  They moved back to California for a short time where he taught at North High School in Riverside before moving to Honolulu, Hawaii to teach Spanish and ESL to the Japanese students at Hawaiian Mission Academy for 16 years.  During those years he raised two daughters: Sandra and Sasha whom he loved dearly and sacrificed everything to make their dreams and lives better.  After Hawaii, he moved his family to Grand Terrace, CA and taught at Poly High School in Riverside, CA for the last 15 years and was assistant soccer coach.  He finished his career back in Hawaii as principal of Hawaiian Mission Academy until he retired as teacher and principal in 2009.  He loved helping students and motivating them to be the best they could be. His love for soccer began when he lived in Colombia, playing for fun with his friends.  It transformed into a career as assistant soccer coach with his friend and colleague Coach Tom Tilson at Poly High School from a simple scrimmage game after school between his Spanish students and the Varsity soccer team, in which he and his students ended up winning.  Those years turned out to be the best years of his life which he got to help coach games and win alot of games even become CIF champions (which he was always proud of).  He was a very honest, loyal, honorable, friendly, and caring teacher and friend to everyone he met along the way and loved to “talk story”.  During his time in Hawaii he also enjoyed being involved in the Seventh day Adventist church and going to different churches in the Hawaiian islands preaching and serving Jesus.  He always stayed close to Jesus and loved serving God in all he did.  He will be surely missed and loved and will remain in our hearts and memories forever until we all meet again in the coming of Jesus Christ our Saviour and take us to Heaven.