Herminia C. Rodriguez

Two weeks shy of her 101st birthday, Grandma made it home to her beloved Sacred Heart, Jesus. She’s prayed for this day for 63 years since her adored husband made his journey Home. She was born December 3, 1917 in Centerpoint, Texas. This is where the outlet mall is in San Marcos. That property back there was her daddy’s ranch! It was a rural but thriving German/Hispanic community. When she was young, they had a “swept” dirt floor that my great grandmother kept meticulously clean, while her daddy ran the general store. She married a man she met only once. She was 13 when they met on a cotton farm outside of Corpus Christi. Grandma was clothed from head to toe (she hated the sun!) in her parents’ clothing and said she looked like a tonta. Couldn’t hide her beauty, though. My grandfather spotted her at the weighing station and never looked back. He courted her by letters until the day he came to ask for her hand. Dancing and local dances were her absolute favorite thing to do. She went to every community dance she could manage and probably left a slew of admirers in her wake. :) She once told me about a gun duel between two men over a woman at a dance. These people weren’t playing! After living in Corpus for a short time, she and her husband moved to Austin in 1937 to make a go out of a new life in a bustling city. They lived on the east side for a while then moved to her current house on 53rd St in the 1950’s. Grandpa Romaldo passed away from Leukemia in 1955, leaving Grandmama to finish raising 6 kids. She always had multiple jobs, even at a time when race could make that difficult. This included time as an elevator operator at the historic Driskill Hotel where a painter was so overcome with her beauty, he painted her portrait which still hangs in her living room. She also nannied for a well-off family and even worked at the State Hospital, amongst many other things. Her life centered around feeding the people she loved, making us laugh, and loving beyond reason. She read her bible prolifically and prayed without ceasing (literally). She even kept composition books listing out her daily prayers (upwards of 2 dozen plus rosaries) where she would keep track of what she had done for the day. Praying was her priority, ALWAYS. Even in the hardest of times, Grandma kept a sense of humor about her. She would roll her eyes at anyone who irritated her (full blown 13 year old style, she wasn’t trying to hide it!). She stuck her tongue out in every picture. She would whistle and sing ALL THE TIME. And if the birds didn’t respond, she would yell at them. Seriously. She was the absolute toughest person I have ever met. We’re talking about a woman who broke her femur at 98, then her hip just weeks later, and bounced back after an invasive surgery to correct it. Her heart doctor always applauded the fact that her heart was stronger than many of his patients half her age. Where did she get this strength? I think it’s hereditary. Her mother was born in the 1880’s, taken by her father back to Mexico, and WALKED back to Texas at the age of 5 with her big brother. She was then placed in a convent for raising, allowing her more education and stability than most during that time. Great Grandma definitely wasn’t raising any damsels in distress! Herminia was our family’s cornerstone. She was the glue that held us all together. She was the bridge to link her generation of our family to the current generations. With her earthly body gone, we are also losing a precious and irreplaceable insight into who we are and where we come from. That said, my heart rejoices knowing that she ran into the arms of her first love, Jesus. She’s with her parents, her husband, all of her sisters, her son, and the countless friends and family who went before her. Where we are left feeling incomplete without her, she is whole again. God is so good.