Rafael Sida Santillan

Rafael S. Santillan was born in Ordway, Colorado on January 4, 1928. On Thursday, July 20, 2017, he went home to the Lord and is reunited with his wife Emily, his daughter, Annie, his siblings and many friends.

To Rafael’s amazement, he lived to be 89 years old. At one time in his life, before he married and while he was living a bit recklessly, he really didn’t think he would make it to 30 years old.

He was a wiry little guy, and in 1930s and 40s El Paso, Texas, he found life to be a battle he often fought his way through.

So, in 1946, while just 17 years old and a senior in high school, perhaps it seemed natural that he should go to war. He asked his father to sign a document to allow him into military service early and he joined the navy.

His older brothers, Robert, Marcos and Ignacio had all served in the army during WWII. Marcos was killed at the Battle of the Bulge.

Rafael, much younger than Marcos, found the loss of his brother to be incentive to serve his country.

The 7th of 8 children, Rafael went into the Navy at the end of the war. Though he never finished high school, he had a very high IQ and qualified for the submarine squadron. He received his training at the Naval Submarine Base at New London, Connecticut.

He served in the submarine squadron based out of Pearl Harbor. He served his ship as a bow and stern plane and rudder operator from 1946 until 1949.

During those years he crossed both the equator and the 180th Meridian, by Navy tradition earning membership to the Sons of Neptune and the Domain of the Golden Dragon.

During his years in the navy, he visited port cities all around the Pacific, including ports in Australia, Japan, Hawaii and Alaska.

After Rafael was discharged from the navy, he headed to Los Angeles, California where his parents and several siblings had relocated.

While out for a drink one night he met Rome Moreno, who invited him home for dinner. Ralph accepted the invitation. When he rang the doorbell, Rome’s sister, Emily Moreno answered and for the next six decades they were inseparable.

Soon after meeting Emilia, Rafael gained employment as a boilermaker in Local 92. He was a hard worker and a good manager and often found himself assigned to be the shop steward.

His ability to be fair toward both union and contracting company was beneficial to everyone and meant that he was often called on to negotiate and make peace when things went wrong.

Rafael had an innate understanding of the big picture, so, while his managers trusted him to do the right thing for the union, Rafael’s goal was that both sides should benefit in the end.

At the end of his career, he ran a team at the San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant in Southern California. That work was highly specialized and required months of training before they could begin. At times, they worked in the “hot area” and he deployed teams to work one man at a time for 7 minutes at a time. He enjoyed both the training and the work and was very proud of his team there.

Rafael was a devoted husband to Emilia Moreno Santillan for 62 years until her death on Easter Sunday 2016.

He was a devoted father to Annie, Victoria, Rafael (Rafe), Ed and Adel. He was also a good father to many more than just his own kids. Rafael was always there whenever family or friends needed a hand. He was a living example of Christian generosity and service. At the end of his life, Rafael was a father, grandfather, great-grandfather, and great-great grandfather!