

Marlene Rodriguez, age 76, passed away quietly at her home in San Antonio, Texas, on August 25, 2014, surrounded by her family after a long life and a short battle with liver disease; laughing, as she always did, in the face of Life's embarrassing misfortunes, right up to the end.
She loved reading good books, shopping by touch, sharing great restaurants and spoiling her friends.
Born in 1938, in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania; she was the youngest, prettiest and certainly feistiest, of Charles and Emma Patterson's nine children.
Graduating from Beaver Falls High School in 1956, Marlene enlisted as a WAF with the United States Air Force where she met and married Louis Rodriguez ("Rod" to his friends), the handsome young airman with whom she would spend the next fifty-three passionate and tumultuous years.
After a decade raising her children to school age, Marlene, always ambitious and outgoing, embarked on a successful Civil Service career spanning 29 years and taking her to bases in every corner of the world.
Whether rooting out fraud and waste as an Inspector for AFCOMS (the Air Force Commissary Service, Randolph AFB), helping thousands of civilian employees maximize their retirement income as a Retirement and Compensation Office supervisor at Kelly AFB or leading thousands more "downsized" Air Force personnel through the bewildering retirement maze as a Lead Retirement Specialist with the Air Force Personnel Center (Randolph AFB) she approached every situation with a generous heart, a deep knowledge, a keen understanding and a wicked sense of the absurd.
Throughout her life Marlene was always ready to lend a helping hand to those in need, give a bit of hard-earned advice to those unsure, point out the next step to those whose strides faltered or whisper a word in the right ear about those whose worth and hard work should be noticed and rewarded.
Preceded in death by her husband, Louis Rodriguez,
Marlene is survived by her son, Raymond Rodriguez and his wife Lori; daughter, Rene Rodriguez; son, Richard Rodriguez; her sister, Eileen Hoover; longtime family friends, Jenny and Myles Downey and the many loving friends and relatives touched by her laughter and her generosity.
GRAVESIDE SERVICE
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2014
10:30 A.M.
FORT SAM HOUSTON NATIONAL CEMETERY
1520 HARRY WURZBACH
In lieu of flowers, please consider memorial contributions to the Crisis Center of Comal County.
Arrangements with
PORTER LORING MORTUARY NORTH 2102 NORTH LOOP 1604 EAST SAN ANTONIO, TX 78232 (210)495-8221
COMPARTA UN OBITUARIOCOMPARTA
v.1.18.0