Ruben Garcia Venegas of Los Angeles, California, passed his final breath on September 30, 2021, at the young age of 69, but his larger than life, humorous persona, and trademark stubbornness will live in our hearts forever.
He was born on February 21, 1952 in Hollywood, California and raised in La Puente. He went to Workman High School, but like many others, he dropped out to help his family. He always aimed high and his hard work and effort landed him a job as a manager at C.R. Laurence, where he dedicated 30 years of his life. He loved what he did and created many friends that became practically family to him.
He despised a few things, one of them being spaghetti. A few of us learned that the hard way. He also hated half assed projects. In his words he would say “it looks like Tijuana in here”.
Ruben also had many things he loved. He loved his wife Ana Venegas and his many children and grandchildren, but not as much as he loved his Kansas City chiefs. He loved giving his wife headaches, dancing, having a beer with good company, cracking jokes, and most of all spending time with his family.
He was famously opinionated and tenacious, Ruben handed these qualities down to his children, Ruben Venegas, Teresa Perez, Jeniffer Venegas, Brenda Venegas, Melissa Venegas, and Amy Venegas.
He took extreme pride in his 7 grandchildren, Zoey Salgado, Annabelle Salgado, Edward Palma, Joseph Perez, Natalie Guerra, Craig Hudson, and Eli Ruiz.
Ruben always told it like it was, he would tell you the truth even if it wasn’t what you wanted to hear. But he was supportive all the way. He was a big story teller too. The one story that’s most memorable is when he told us about the time he came out on television. If you knew Ruben you’d know what show he came out on. He fondly reminisced about good friends, good drinks, and good times.
He was also known for ending every sentence with “you know what I mean”. That was his famous catch phrase. I remember taking him to his doctor’s appointments and he’ll tell the nurses, “I’m here for a good time not a long time, you know what I mean”.
He really lived his life to the fullest. He traveled the world and had little to no regrets. His devout stubbornness and upbeat funny demeanor did him well throughout his life. And even in his last days, he was strong and smiling right up until the end of his journey here on earth.
He will be greatly missed and remembered for his jokes by many of his friends and family. All I ask is for everyone to grab a beer in a final toast, in honor of Ruben, the best Dad I could ask for, you know what I mean?
