Richard John Rodriguez

Richard J Rodriguez was born in Bakersfield on September 13, 1953, to Manuel and Teresa Rodriguez and died March 30, 2026. Richard attended Bakersfield City Schools, Frank West, Golden State Jr. High and South High. He attended Bakersfield College and then transferred to the University of Southern California where he majored in music, specializing in saxophone. After graduating from USC, he returned home and earned his teaching credential at CSUB.

His first teaching assignment was back at his old Jr High school, Golden State, where he was the band instructor. He then taught at Delano High School and finally at Curran Jr High School where he worked for over 30 years as the band and orchestra teacher and introduced his students to mariachi music and steel drum. He was an advocate for music education and equity and in 2004 received the Multicultural Music Educator of the Year Award from the California Association for Music Education.

In his early years, Richard played for various local bands and worked at Gutcher and Armas Music fixing instruments during his summers. He later played with the Bakersfield Symphony and Bakersfield Music Theatre. His family loved watching him perform in the Bakersfield Municipal Park Band at Beale Park for 54 summers! Starting at age 17 on his treasured alto saxophone.

Richard was an avid hiker starting as a Boy Scout camping with his father and brothers. He climbed Mount Whitney with his wife Cheryl and best friend Marc Tipton and his wife Sheri. He instilled this love of nature in his children with camping, fishing and snowshoeing in Sequoia National Park.

After retirement, Richard was a member of the Kern County Search and Rescue. He became a seasoned ham radio operator, known by call sign KK6RJR to fellow W6LIE amateur radio club members.

Richard was a kind, loving and selfless husband, father and grandfather. He is survived by his wife of 45 years Cheryl, daughter Lauren and son Colin (Christine) and grandsons whom he adored, John and Eli. Also survived by his siblings, Alfred (Marlene), Alice (Ben), Steve (Mona), Eddie (Monica) and Susie (Dino) along with numerous nephews, nieces, cousins, and Aunts Pauline Mesa, Mary Valdes, Petra Cervantes, Delores Ruiz and Mary Ortiz.

Services will be held at St Francis Church 900 H Street on Wednesday, April 15th beginning with a Rosary at 9:30 am and mariachi Mass to follow at 10:00 am. He will be buried at Union Cemetery honored by his park band following the Mass. Reception to follow. Any color attire is welcome.

We are so proud of the man he was and of his unwavering courage fighting glioblastoma. In lieu of flowers, donations to these causes would also honor his legacy:

Glioblastoma Research - Dr Lai’s team at UCLA took exceptional care of our dad: https://lailab.dgsom.ucla.edu/donation

Sierra Club - giving.sierraclub.org

Boys and Girls Club Kern Arts Program - https://www.bgckc.org/donate