My mom had me 8 years after my sister and 3 years after she started working for Mountain Bell.  We grew up in the same house she lived in until she passed away. When I was young I remember going on trips to Salida to see our family. I would always bug her to take me to hike up Tenderfoot Mountain and she would always be like “we can just drive up there” as there is a road to the top. Eventually she would always take me on the hike instead of driving even though she didn’t want too. We also went to the FIBark festival most years which she loved. I played a lot of sports also and she would always show up to all of my games. She truly loved animals, I remember at one point growing up we had 2 dogs, 3 cats, 2 rabbits, a dozen birds and an aquarium full of fish. She also really loved elephants, ladybugs, butterflies and flowers. Another thing I remember is that she always would give me money at the grocery store for the claw machine and I would get her stuffed animals which she kept for all these years and there is a lot of them. She also really liked Christmas, everything from the decorations to the wrapping of Christmas presents to watching the kids unwrap the presents. She used to always text us how many days it was to Christmas, usually starting in August or September.  She was quarky and used to have all of these made up words that only she would use but man they made me laugh. I used to go to the building she worked at as a kid a lot, the Zuni building. That building has a lot of asbestos in it and she was always worried about being exposed to asbestos in her building. The funny thing is that now I am an asbestos abatement contractor and I take a lot of asbestos out of that building. As a kid I always thought she was making a bigger deal out of it than it was but now looking back and knowing the type of asbestos that is in the building there probably was a lot of exposure potential. I am sure that her active voice in the union got the protocols for work above the ceilings that we still follow to this day. Her work in the union was extensive and watching her taught me to stand up for myself, to stand up for people that can’t stand up for themselves and a good work ethic. She would always let me work on stuff like cars and the house when I was growing up even though I didn’t always know what I was doing, but her allowing me to do that stuff let me learn how to do stuff through the best teaching method ever, trial and error. When I was a kid I had many trips to the Emergency room, either for stitches or for broken bones. She had such a weak stomach for blood that I remember a couple of times I had to drive myself with her in the passenger seat because she would be panicking from the blood, I think once when a was about 11 and another time when I was 13. I was not an easy child to raise but no matter how difficult I was she never gave up on me. When I was 8 I lit the bushes on fire right outside of my sisters freshly painted room and because of the fresh paint the windows were open and the black smoke went through the windows and stained that fresh paint.  When I was 13 I stole her Camaro, to go see a girl of course. When I got to Middle School she had to leave work many times to come to the school and meet with the Principal about stuff I had done. Another thing that she taught me when I was older was to call my dad for bail money because she wasn’t doing it! When I was on my extended vacations she would always write me letters and now going through her stuff I found all of the letters I wrote her as well. When I finally got through that phase of my life she encouraged me in my sobriety and helped me to get back on my feet in many ways. After my wife and I got together extending the family quite a bit with the addition of my wife’s children and grand children she loved coming to our family gatherings and she especially loved watching all the young kids playing and having fun. My mom was not a perfect parent but she did do the best she could to raise two children as a single mom and let’s face it, there is no such thing as perfect parents. We all make mistakes and don’t always have the answers because we never know what the questions will be until they are in front of us. For the last 6 months of her life my wife and I had her in our house in hospice care which turns out is the hardest job we’ve ever had especially when we were both still working full time. We did have help from my sister Shelly and niece Angie as well. Even though it was extremely difficult I am glad that we were able to give her the best care during the end of her life. It was tough to watch her decline mentally and not to be able to think of simple words or peoples names. Towards the very end I do think she was trying to say death bed stuff to us but she her words were just incomprehensible. I’m just glad that we were able to respect her wishes of not being in a facility and even though it was so difficult I would definitely do it again. I hope that she is now looking down on us along with our grandma, grandpa and her sister knowing that we will all be OK and that she will rest in peace. 

Fishing with Shane & Viv at Terryall Reservoir 2012, she didn't want to hold the fish but she had fun catching them!! What a great weekend camping. Wish we could have made 1 more trip with you mom, we miss you. 

From Dani ~ ~ My grandma was really into Christmas. She went big every year. She always made sure she took us to see the Christmas lights that were featured in the newspaper, I loved it. I loved Going trick or treating in her neighborhood. Then going to her house on my birthday. I loved her laugh, she always made me laugh when she laughed. She had the most beautiful hair, even until she passed. Long and beautiful. She meant a lot to me. She always saw me and made me feel loved. She listened to me cry about a lot of stuff growing up. She held my secrets dear to her and let me speak them when I was ready. My Grandma loved her family so much and really wanted us all to be together more. 

Mom was an interesting, and passionate woman. She helped instill many passions in me
She was a huge union advocate for the Communications Worker’s of America- local 777, and she made
us understand how important our rights are as Americans, and especially voting rights and civics
awareness.
She was a single mom most of our lives, and she was always a hard worker too. She let me be me. I was
allowed to explore different aspects of religion, politics and socializing. She let me have 3 HUGE parties
in her basement when I was in high school! They were a blast too! She taught me to drive in her ’67
Camaro, and let me drive her to work so I could drive myself to
school. So happy I got that privilege!
She loved animals, we always had cats, dogs and some rabbits too.
Oh how she loved Christmas. She went all out on everyone, sometimes our Christmases were a little
overwhelming with all the presents and goodies she would shower on everyone.
And her yard and wind chimes… wow she had one of the nicest yards on the block and had so many
wind chimes- when my girls were young children they loved her backyard so much and running and
touching them wind chimes was a must! (much to mom’s chagrin)
She was a help myself, my brother and to my girls a lot as they grew into adulthood, helping with
groceries, car repairs, rides, clothes, whatever they might have needed, if she found out she would fly
on over to their houses with a trunk full of food or to help get tires or gas.
The girls remember going on rides with her to look at Christmas lights it was a tradition and boy did she
love them lights!
She loved to feed squirrels and birds, and if there was a stray cat or dog she would do everything she
could to get that animal help and might even start to feed them
And wow, someone that worked for Mountain Bell/US West/Qwest for 30 years! What dedication. I
admire her for that, and how dedicated she was to the CWA union.
Greeting cards… oh mom would give cards to everyone for all kinds of occasions – Christmas, Valentine’s
Day (she would send all the valentines cards by mail to Loveland to assure the cards would have that
cool stamp on it), Halloween, Thanksgiving, and of course birthdays!
The color green. She loved that color most, but also pink.
She was many things to many people, but to me, she was my mom. And I am missing her texting me all
kinds of information, and I am missing her voice. I am grateful I got to spend time with her in her last
few months of life, as the pandemic really made her fearful of going out around too many people. Her
last words to me were “I love you too”
She is now at peace and she will be buried very close to where her beloved mother and sister are buried.

Mardi with family on April 17, 2022 at Meow Wolf.  We had a blast! Rest in peace, Mardi.  Dr. Viviann Pereda 

From Pollie ~ ~ Mardi and I would meet for lunch talk about everything the girls were doing, then laugh because it was Steve and Shelly's problem! 

OBITUARY

Mardena "Mardi" Elaine Cox Rodenberg

May 27, 1949 – April 1, 2023

Olinger Funeral, Cremation & Cemetery - Crown Hill

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