Ryan Everett Rojas

Ryan Everett Rojas, beloved and most magnificent son, brother, cousin and friend, was born on May 27, 1987 in Covina, California. He passed to Heaven suddenly and unexpectedly on September 24, 2021 at his home in Buford, GA. He was in NO way intending to leave us that day as he had many goals and plans for the future, including working that day, going to a football game that night and plans with his brother for the weekend. He was preceded in death by his maternal grandfather Henry Stone and maternal grandmother Grace Stone, his paternal grandfather Jaime Rojas and paternal grandmother Lydia Rojas. He is survived by his sister Lydia R. Rojas and brother Jason J. Rojas, his mother Pamela Luberti and step-dad Carlo Luberti, and his father Jaime Rojas Jr. and step-dad Peter Hilton. He is also survived by many cousins, aunts, and uncles.

Ryan proudly served his country as a Medic in the United States Army in Afghanistan. Using his well earned GI Bill, Ryan was always pursuing higher education in several exciting areas as he had a huge thrill for life and adventure. He pursued film making in New York City and underwater electrician training in Florida, as well as several other areas of study including the arts, writing, acting, etc. He worked briefly as a model in California, with Flintstone Pavers in Savannah, GA and had other related jobs over the years. But, primarily he loved traveling this country and enjoying the natural beauty of the ever changing landscape as one travels from coast to coast. He had a fierce love of family and friends that kept him traveling from place to place. He also loved his many pets and especially Buddy, his faithful German Shepherd. He was loyal to all. Amazing, he was just amazing!

Ryan was kind and loving, funny and charismatic. He had, as his Aunt Virgy so correctly put it, the “it factor.” People gravitated to him and he was absolutely the life of the party. Most importantly Ryan had a lifelong love for and faith in God, through Jesus Christ. The hope he had because of this relationship with Jesus, sustained him through many disappointments and losses along his way. Ryan never, ever, ever gave up! The last two months of his life, he could be found reading his Army Bible every morning. He is with our heavenly father now and having the best time of his eternal life. We will be united again soon!

Ryan’s funeral service will be on Saturday, October 23rd, 2021 at 11:00 AM followed immediately by a reception at Montecito Memorial Park and Mortuary, 3520 E. Washington Street, Colton, CA 92324 (909-825-3024). In lieu of flowers please donate to Wounded Warrior Project in memory of Ryan Everett Rojas. Thank you.

Most significantly about Ryan’s life was his undying love for God, through Jesus Christ and in the past two months, I have witnessed Ryan reading his Army Bible every day for almost an hour. It has been an amazing thing to see and comforts me now. Ryan had many significant disappointments in his life but through each he remained faithful to God, hopeful and ready to start over again. His faith was incredible, though at times he thought he was too much of a sinner to make it to Heaven. I assured him that Jesus wants the sinners, loves the sinners, saves the sinners. You should know that too. Ryan would want you to know, there is always hope as long as you know Jesus. Ryan is with Him now. How great that is! I believe if Ryan had stayed here longer he would have become a published writer and that he would have found his career in service to people, using all the skill sets he had pursued along the way and including his sufferings and pain and drawing from his amazing ability to love and accept people for exactly who they are and where they are at. Here are some of Ryan’s own words that if you follow, you will most surely live a better, happier life. This was written 04/05/07:

“To make this world better, we need to care about each other; but we must not just say it, we must mean it. You must have an interest in people. You can’t just persecute someone and expect to get a good reaction from them. You have to get on the same page. You have to get inside of yourself and find something you can connect on and you have to be genuine for the reasons you are doing it. You have to consider their past and the people involved in their life. When a person is born, they are free from sin. One of the only things that doesn’t change about the person throughout their lifetime, is their eyes. So, I can tell when I look into someone’s eyes if there is still at least some good in them. Understanding is to not retaliate when somebody does something that gets on your last nerve, but to instead try to think about why they might have done it. Understanding is putting yourself in someone else’s shoes and trying to feel who the person is. Understanding is not getting mad at someone just because they have a completely different look on things than you.”

In closing, more of Ryan’s own words dated 1/22/07:

“I don’t know how people see me because I am not them, but if I had to guess how they see me I would say they see me as friendly and fun to be with: a good friend. People like to be around me and the reason I know this is that my house is always filled with lots of my friends and I always have many calls waiting for me on the answering machine from friends who want to get together. My friends most likely see me as happy-go-lucky, fun loving and someone who values them and listens to their problems. This is true, but there is more to me, more to what I am about. I have serious goals and plans for my life which I yearn to make into reality. The fun loving, good listening part of me wants to be that and more and inside me there waits a writer, longing to come out. Someday, I will accomplish all my goals. I’m sure you have to be a pretty good writer to become a Psychologist, so it’s good that both of these goals go together. I hope to fulfill my goals by writing a book about my life someday so that people can read it and say, “this guy had a pretty cool life and he was a great guy!”

So maybe you didn’t get to write a physical book Ryan, but your amazing life was your story. You did listen to, understand and love all of us! So, in a very significant, real, and wonderful way you did accomplish your goal, because yes Ryan, you had a pretty cool life and you were/are a great guy! We are so proud of you Ryan Everett Rojas! We love you forever!