Henry Molina

Henry was the type of guy who was always looking for a good laugh and always the first to provide one to his family. You could always count on Henry to add his own embellishments, own twists and exaggerations to a story with the sole purpose of getting a reaction and creating some laughter from his friends and family. He was a man that people would say had a tough looking exterior and perhaps didn’t seem approachable. But to his family and friends he was Dad, he was “Honey”, he was Mijo, he was Brother, he was Carnal, he was Hen-reee, he was Uncle Henry. Inside that tough exterior was a man with so much love, so much emotion, so much compassion and above all the biggest heart you could ever imagine.

Henry was born on July 14,1977 at General Hospital in East Los Angeles, California. He was the son of Fausto and Lupe Molina. He spent his early childhood in Boyle Heights where himself and his six siblings lived in a small one bedroom house. At a very young age Henry already expressed a big sense of style. He had a long black trench coat that he insisted on wearing to school every day even on the hottest days. His mother would often refuse but clever little Henry would stash the coat and any other clothing and change out of his clothes at school. Anyone that knew Henry knows that fashion, music & style were always a big part of his life.

As a small child in Boyle Heights, this is where Henry made his first attempt of being an entrepreneur. With a neighborhood friend, he made an arrangement / split agreement on the profit of selling eggs to the neighborhood. These weren’t any ordinary eggs…these were double yolk (doble yema) eggs and even as a small kid Henry knew that this was an opportunity that he could ‘hustle’ and sell well. Several years later he moved to Hesperia, California. Here Henry suddenly went from the busy, neighborhood streets of Los Angeles to now being in a big open space, nothing but desert all around and living on a dirt road. Now with this big open space Henry and his siblings found plenty of ways to occupy and amuse themselves. Now instead of selling eggs, they were throwing eggs. One day Henry and his siblings decided they’d hide up on the roof of their neighbors house and throw eggs at passing cars down their dirt road. All was well until one of the cars they egged pulled right into the driveway of their house and it was then that they realized it was their Dad’s friend’s car they had covered in eggs! In their fear and nervousness of leaving the scene in hopes of not getting caught, their younger brother was so nervous that he walked RIGHT OFF OF THE ROOF. Nonetheless to say, they all got caught….

In his teenage years Henry grew to always be one of the most popular guys in school. Always leading by his sense of style and natural leadership which lead him to be very popular with the girls. One of Henry’s favorite stories that he would recount on various occasions to all over the years is being pulled out of class in High School by the yearbook committee. Where they then proceeded to interview him for a bio and take a multitude of pictures with him and of him around the campus. He got a two page spread exclusively about him and his personal style in the yearbook that year.

As an adult Henry moved to Las Vegas along with most of his family. After working a few random jobs, he was lucky enough to be helped out by his older brother Luis who provided him a position within the construction industry. This is where Henry remained and grew for the rest of his career, eventually becoming a union journeyman carpenter that would allow him the opportunity to travel and work on incredible projects that he was extremely proud to be a part of. He collected stickers from every jobsite he worked on and wore them proudly on his hardhat. He was a working class man, who worked incredibly hard for his family and was the best provider to his wife and children.

Henry was also a man who loved to help his family. He had an incredible amount of love for his mother, his sisters, brothers, nieces, nephews and cousins. Even in the worst of moods, worst of times or amongst family conflict he’d always be there, always willing to do what he can and would be the first to let go of an argument. As a friend, Henry was the same, always willing to help a friend out whether it was just as a listening ear, financial need or even helping them out with a job. That’s who Henry was.

Nothing about Henry was boring. He was creative, crafty, driven, always looking for the next project. He had a love of music, cars, tattoos, style, even sewing and was always seeking a burst of ADRENALINE. He loved thrift store shopping. He’d spend hours there just looking to see what random old cool unique knick knacks / antiques he could find. He had a large collection of records and antique cameras that he continually added to from his thrift store shopping endeavors. He loved to work on projects as he had a garage full of tools and he was adamant that there wasn’t anything that him and his tools couldn’t figure out and fix. If he was out of projects, he’d simply create one or take on a new hobby. All of us who knew and loved Henry knew his hobbies had a high turn over rate. That was Henry though, always looking for the next thing.

What most people don’t know about Henry is that he was an incredible decorator. Christmas, Thanksgiving, Birthdays, no one had a better sense of placement then Henry. No one was more particular, more stubborn in how things needed to look than Henry. This is why he also hated decorating because he often self-created it into a stressful situation due to his high expectations for himself.

On June 21, 2008 Henry married Crystal Gutierrez in Las Vegas, Nevada. They were blessed with two children: one son, Christopher Presley Molina and one daughter, Tuesday Belle Molina. Henry’s love of Elvis Presley was the reason for his son’s middle name since his wife refused to name him Elvis! Together they consented on their daughter’s name years before she was born as Henry had briefly dated a girl named “Tuesday” in high school and always loved the name. His wife agreed and everyone thought it was the strangest thing…

There was nothing that Henry cherished more than being a dad to Christopher and Tuesday. There is nothing that he wouldn’t do for them. He loved laying the blankets out in the living room and watching movies with his kids. They watched Young Guns a lot (his favorite movie). He loved taking them for late night trips to Sonics for ice cream and slushies. There is nothing that he could say no to for them as he had this insatiable need to constantly provide for them in every way. He always said that his son Christopher was the best son, kind, sweet, big-hearted, never gave him any trouble. To all who knew Henry well, there was little less he despised more than the heat & the sun so when his daughter Tuesday asked if he’d take her to Cowabunga Bay Water Park for the day just the two of them…Henry took a deep breath, lathered his 100 SPF sunblock on, placed on his shades and smiled and slid down waterslides all day with his daughter. This was a testament of the type of dad Henry was.

Henry Molina passed away on June 13, 2019 at Desert Valley Hospital in Victorville, California. He is survived by his wife Crystal and his two children Christopher and Tuesday. Services were held at Palm Northwest Mortuary. Henry was laid to rest in Palm Northwest Cemetery.