ROSALIE A. RODRIGUEZ
HERSCHEL DON PENCE ROSALIE A. RODRIGUEZ
Rosalie A. Rodriguez, of Valley, Ala, age 83, died on Saturday, Dec. 22, 2007. She was born on Feb. 18, 1924, in Raton, N.M.

She is survived by her children, Daniel and wife Jean Rodriguez, of Valley, Ala.; Elanor and husband Jim Stuart, of Pendleton, Ore.; Robert Rodriguez, of Westwood, Calif., and Sonny Albela, of Calif.

She is preceded in death by her husband John P. Rodriguez, her son Larry Rodriguez and her daughter Felipa Rodriguez.

Memorial services were held on Monday, Dec. 24, 2007 at the Johnson Brown Service Funeral Home Chapel in Valley.

Flowers will be accepted or memorials may be made to Chattahoochee Hospice in her memory.

HERSCHEL DON PENCE
Herschel Don Pence, 96, passed away Dec. 19 in Oakdale.

Herschel was born in Chicago Ill., October 1911; he was the youngest of five children. His family moved to San Luis Obispo California in the early 1920s.

Herschel dropped out of school after the eighth grade to work as a truck driver and auto body repairman.

On Aug. 1, 1931, he married the love of his life, Laura Louise Long, in San Luis Obispo, a marriage that lasted 66 years until Louise's death in September 1997. There were two children born to this union: Helen Nadine Pence and Chesley Don Pence.

Herschel was blessed with a high tenor voice and began singing in the Baptist church choir in San Luis Obispo and continued singing throughout his life, at church, weddings, funerals, community events and in lodge meetings.

In 1942, while working as a mechanic at the Sterling Motors truck dealership in San Francisco, he was sent to Delleker in Plumas County, California to service some new logging trucks. When he returned to San Francisco, he loaded up his family and all their belongings and moved to Delleker to work in the logging industry for the next 14 years.

In 1949, he moved his family to Quincy, where he continued working in the logging industry as a mechanic for Meadow Valley Lumber Company and as a logging truck owner.

In 1956, he and Louise moved to San Jose, where Herschel bought a truck and started hauling cars out of the new Ford factory in Milpitas. He later bought a dump truck and started working in the construction trade, working up and down the length of California, building freeways. He eventually bought three new trucks in 1960 and worked them in constructing Interstate 5 and Interstate 80 over Donner Summit.

Herschel retired and moved to Coulterville in 1978 and then to Oakdale in 1987. Herschel was a hard worker; he built two homes for his family, one in Delleker and one in Coulterville.

He was also very creative and came up with many very interesting inventions. Herschel loved airplanes and owned several in his lifetime. He learned to fly from Frank Nervino at the Nervino Airport in Beckworth.

Herschel joined the Masonic Lodge in Beckworth about 1946 and later transferred his membership to the Quincy Lodge (Plumas #60) where he was a member until his death. He was also a member of the White Shrine and the Quincy Methodist Church.

Herschel is survived by his daughter Nadine of Oakdale, and his son Chesley and wife "Sam", of Quincy. He is also survived by four grandchildren: Herschel John “Jay,” Chesley Don Jr. “Budd” Pence and Laura Leiss, all of Quincy, and Tern Mansell of Spokane Washington. Herschel is also survived by 13 great-grandchildren and three great- great-grandchildren.

As he requested, there will be no services. Herschel will be laid to rest next to his wife and his only sister in the Oakdale Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the hospice and/or Shriners Hospital.

< Prev		Next >