Raquel Manuela Orozco

Raquel Manuela Orozco was known to most of her friends and family as “Rocky”. She was a tough girl with a fighting spirit. She first greeted the world in Bell, California at the Mission Hospital. She was born on July 28, 1972 to her parents Robert F. and Patricia A. Orozco.

Some of the fondest memories she had of her parents included attending USC Football games, an Oakland Raider game at the Oakland Coliseum, a Pow Wow cruise to the Bahamas, Vegas road trips, and visits to her grandmother in Mexico.

Growing up Raquel was heavily involved in playing sports in school and after school activities. She grew up in Bell Gardens, California until she was 9 and moved to El Monte, California at the age of 10. She played volleyball, basketball, and softball throughout grade school at Lambert Park for Frank Lloyd Wright elementary. As a young girl, it was the enjoyable part of her schooling.

Raquel had a large extended family, but only had one younger brother Robert. They fought a lot but always loved each other. Each year for Memorial Day, we gathered as a family to spend our holiday together. We would take the time to spend a few days on the Colorado River, sharing our laugher and love with one another.

Her paternal grandparents are Francisco Pacheco (deceased), Manuela Flores Orozco. Her maternal grandparents were Mervin & Rosalie Evanston (both deceased). Raquel loved her grandparents dearly. In her younger years, she cleaned her Grandma Rose’s house often and would share stories of how funny both grandparents were, telling her about life and family history. Raquel also enjoyed visiting her grandmother Manuela in Mexico. She always said, “My grandma cooked the best frijoles and eggs for me.” She loved when her grandmother visited us here in El Monte.

Her fondest memory of all her grandparents was the deep love she felt from all of them; she knew the feelings that they had for her and how much they cared for her.

She had many special relationships with all of her extended family. She would always enjoy spending time with her cousins here locally. Even with such a large family, Raquel made a point to connect with each person on a special level. She would always stay in touch with our relatives in Northern California, Arizona and Northern Mexico.

Special family gatherings such as birthdays, holidays, and simple barbecues were spent together with family members throughout the years.

CHILDHOOD:

Raquel grew up in a house in El Monte with her mom, dad and brother and has lived there for most of her life. The neighborhood we lived in was near both her elementary school and high school. Everyone in our immediate area knew each other and Raquel made many life long friends in El Monte.

Raquel played in sports at every chance she could. In elementary school she played volleyball, basketball and softball. She won many awards in mathematics at school and received many sports trophies for her participation in extra curricular sports. She belonged to the youth group at the Church of the Nativity in El Monte. She was in the choir at Frank Wright and always spoke of Ms Churchman, the choir director, and is where she grew a love for music. She collected stray animals as a youth; any animal that needed a home found its way into ours. She loved to run track and ride her bike around the neighborhood.

She also loved to play with her cousins, playing Atari games and having dancing contests. She would love to play tag and hide-n-go-seek outside in the neighborhood. She loved board games like Candy Land, Monopoly and also Uno.

Raquel loved to read when she was younger. One of her first collections was the Chronicles of Narnia. Her love for animals led her to titles like Where the Red Fern Grows.

Raquel attended Frank Lloyd Wright Elementary school in El Monte, CA. Some of Raquel’s biggest accomplishments during this time would be her development of her artistic skills in art class in 7th grade.

She had many childhood friends that grew up in the area. Some of her friends included Brandy Ruiz, Christina and Gabriel Rothenhausler, Joshua Alvarenga, and Teddy Rosario. She also made friends with those who ended up moving out of the neighborhood, but would still keep in contact with them. Raquel was a life-long friend.

From an early age, Raquel always had pets. Her first cat was named Prince and many others would follow and receive her love and care. She loved her cats Baby, Bandit, Guapo, Booties, Raider, Inker, Ms Kitty, Patches, Freddie, Toby and many more. Raquel kept animals close to her and loved to talk to her animals all the time. Raquel was an animal lover. She would care and nurture them. Her love for them was so great and they knew that they were safe with her and would always wait for her at the door and cry for her when she was gone.

Every year we would travel as a family to Parker, AZ for Memorial Day. Aside from that each year we would plan beach trips, camping and amusement park visits. We would also frequently take a trip to Northern California in the Bay Area to visit relatives and would spend time with them.

ADOLESCENCE:

Raquel attended Arroyo High school in El Monte, CA, from 1986 to 1990. She loved math as a subject and her favorite classes were Physical Education with Coach Kleine and Coach Costello, and Math with Mr Witkofsky. Her activities and sports included softball, basketball and track-n-field. She would also support the band and choir to support her brother who was a member. She would volunteer to walk along the band at parades and football game performances and had many friends throughout high school. Raquel was a member of the JV/Varsity Girls Basketball team, JV Softball and Varsity Track & Field. Raquel medaled in track and field in the shot put. She also received awards for her sports teams in softball and basketball and received her Varsity letters in those sports.

She dated Charles Allen during her high school years. She loved to go dancing; those were her favorite dates. Raquel attended her prom with Charlie in southern California. (although the details are too far back to remember)

Raquel would hang out around the stadium and conservation park to walk or run. She would frequent Pizza Hut and B-n-B burgers. Raquel’s first car was a Pontiac Fierro in her junior year of high school in 1989. She enjoyed driving that around and loved to give her friends a ride. Her first part-time job was at Pizza Hut right down the street from Arroyo. Raquel had many friends in high school. A list of a few of her friends: Ernie Chavaria, Laura Quiroz, Gabby Canedo, Stephanie Apostol, Raquel Abaya, Christine DeLaCruz, Marie Lanoy, and Mia Rivas. Raquel mostly hung out at house parties with her friends or at high school football games.

She was part of the Class of 1990 and graduated from Arroyo High School in El Monte in June of that year. When Raquel graduated high school, she took a trip to Havasupai Falls in the Grand Canyon in Arizona. She hiked down into the canyon and back up with her Aunt Wilma; it was the most memorable experience of her life.

Raquel loved education. She learned that from her grandfather Mervin. She realized that the importance of education was to gain knowledge. For that reason, she continued her education by taking classes at Rio Hondo Community College and Mt. San Antonio College. She attended UEI and began developing her skills with computers. Raquel graduated from UEI’s Networking Technology Program in 1997 along with her A+ Certification.

Raquel’s primary occupation was as an office assistant/computer technician. Raquel’s first full-time job was as an office assistant at Orkin. After that, she held several different and unique positions with several different companies such as EarthLink and Bank of America. Probably the most unique job Raquel had was when she organized and planned a breakfast/lunch for the Annual Pow Wow held in Orange County for the Indian Center. Part of her job was to coordinate and plan this big event to host the Native American dancers and singers for the Pow Wow. Everyone enjoyed the event and delicious food she prepared.

Raquel had worked many jobs and had put forth her best effort and work ethic to perform her duties. She was a valuable employee. Raquel had been part of the workforce from an early age. She worked many jobs from waitress to cashier, as a care giver to program manager, and most recently as a program assistant.

Raquel gained many friends throughout her career. She was a hard working, happy employee and was able to build rapport with clients, co-workers, and superiors. She will always be remembered for her smile; she would brighten the room when she walked in. Her hobby and best loved element of life was music. Raquel would spend endless hours listening to music and creating CDs for her friends and relatives. She wanted to share those songs with everyone. She loved to sing Karaoke as much as she could. She shared that hobby with her mom and would venture out to sing karaoke at several places around town. Raquel loved all music from Oldies like the East Side Story Collection to Elvis; she loved Old School to contemporary rap. She would love to play Mohave Bird songs. She will live on through music. Every person can remember some song that she would play for them and would be reminded of her.

She loved to collect movies. Those were her favorite things to enjoy with people. She loved Tyler Perry’s movies as well as countless others. She was a fan of comedies like Friday. Her favorite shows on television were Hawthorne, CSI: Special Victim Unit, Fraiser, and many shows on Animal Planet. She would watch Pit Boss and any Elvis movie that would come on television.

Raquel’s favorite time of year was summer. Her birthday was in July and would love to travel down to the beach or the coast line if she could. Her favorite holidays were Thanksgiving and Christmas so that she could spend it with family and friends. She always wanted to visit Memphis and see Graceland because she loved Elvis since she was a small child.

Raquel’s favorite foods were steak, lobster and Mexican food. She loved the Indian Tacos that she could get at the Pow Wows. Her favorite drinks were diet coke and Hawaiian Punch. She also enjoyed drinking socially with friends.

Raquel loved USC and Raiders football. She would make it a point to try and make it to USC games with her Uncle Terry. She would frequent Lamppost Pizza in El Monte to watch the Raider games and also made it to the Oakland Coliseum to see a live game with her mom and extended family.

Raquel was baptized and confirmed Catholic, but had found her own connection with God through prayer and her many friends like Sister Gloria as a Christian.

Raquel suffered a massive stroke which she was unable to recover from. Raquel passed away on June 30, 2011, at the Presbyterian Intercommunity Hospital in Whittier, CA. She was 38 years old when she passed.

Raquel was preceded in death by her Father, her maternal grandparents, and her paternal grandfather. Raquel is survived by her mother Patricia and her brother Robert.

Services were handled by Custer Christiansen Mortuary and the Parker Funeral Home

Raquel will be laid to rest at Parker Cemetery in Parker, AZ.

PERSONALITY:

Raquel was a very outgoing person. She was a multi-tasker who was fact oriented. She managed her friendships and relationships with people through her feelings and emotions. Her greeting to you was her smile, so bright and full of happiness. She will forever be part of our memories and livelihood. We love you Raquel.