Rodolfo

Euclides Rodolfo Diaz was born to humble parents in Havana Cuba on July 6, 1932. Rodolfo was the only son of his mother, a simple country cigar factory worker, and his father, a pharmacy aid. He enjoyed the boy scouts, the beach, and kayaking while growing up. He worked some years as a draftsman for an architectural firm in Havana, and at the age of 26 he married Maria Pilar Colomina in 1958. Shortly thereafter, in 1961, he welcomed his first daughter, Veronica, and a year and some months later, Pilar became pregnant with Eric. With a toddler and a pregnant wife, he and Pilar courageously emigrated to the United States to flee the communist government that had just taken over Cuba. He and Pilar sacrificed everything they knew to save their children from growing up under that oppression, and came to Miami with hardly the shirt on their backs, to try to forge out a new life for their children, not speaking the language nor having jobs. 

In Miami Rodolfo began working as a cook in a pancake house. Eric was born during this difficult time in 1963. Soon thereafter, Christians in Delaware afforded Rodolfo and Pilar an opportunity to move their family to Delaware where Rodolfo was able to find work in a Chrysler assembly plant. After a couple years in an apartment, Rodolfo and Pilar were able to purchase a house and welcome their third and last child, Rudy, in 1966. With Pilar working as a kindergarten teacher, Euclides, now known as Rudy, worked for 30 years in an automobile factory. In spite of his divorce with Pilar after close to 20 years of marriage, and in spite of short temper and other character flaws in his humanity, he had redeeming qualities and was very faithful to his duty as a provider, and was generous with his limited means towards his children, giving them what he could materially, and educating them in private, Catholic schools through high school. 

After retirement, Rudy followed Pilar to West Palm Beach, bringing his elderly mother along with him. He visited her daily at the nursing home, and later remarried his mother's caretaker after laying his mother to rest in 1997. After 13 years, in the midst of his second divorce, he became a widower. He continued to live quietly, going to the gym daily, until his mid 80's when he could no longer be on his own. He went into the care of his son, Eric, for several years, and then an assisted living home for the last five months of his life, until his death on January 27, 2024. His ashes are laid to rest with his mother's grave in Our Lady Queen of Peace Catholic Cemetery in WPB. He will be remembered as having a great sense of humor and loving to laugh. He loved going to the spa, and working out in the gym there as well. He was a very pragmatic and simple man who did his duty in providing for his family, with no guile in his heart, and never any resentment or grudges towards anyone. We give thanks to God for the soul and the life and the love of Euclides, and for the family he brought to life. He is survived by his three children, Veronica 62, Eric 60, Rudy 57, and 7 grandchildren, Jose 33, Teocali 24, Christina 22, Mary 21, Francis 19, Theresa 16, Hannah 15. May Euclides Rodolfo/Rudy Diaz rest in peace!