Adele Rodriguez died quietly in her sleep on April 21, 2011, in Lake Oswego, Oregon. Born in Seattle, Washington, Adele grew up in the Hollywood district of east Portland. She was blessed with a community of close childhood friends, several of whom attended school together from Fernwood Elementary through Grant High School and on to Oregon State College. Though her childhood was shaped by the Great Depression, it was filled with family adventures, including cherished trips to their summer cabin on the Washougal River in Washington. At Oregon State College Adele majored in home economics and, in her senior year, was elected president of the Association of Women Students. After graduating in 1942, she entered a dietetics internship at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. In October 1943 she joined the US Army as a Lieutenant in the Hospital Corps and deployed to England, France and Germany. After the war she worked as a dietician at Langley Hospital in San Francisco, before marrying Sumner Rodriguez upon his graduation from Stanford Law School.
The young couple chose to settle in the frontier town of Madras, Oregon in 1949. The area was growing rapidly due to an agricultural boom made possible by the recently completed North Unit Irrigation project. In Madras they formed life-long friendships that would enrich Adele’s life for the next 60 years. A bundle of energy, Adele dedicated herself to her family and the Madras community with wide-ranging activities such as nurturing the Jefferson County Library Association, passing along her homemaking skills through 4-H leadership, and serving as the first dietician at Mountain View Hospital. With a dear group of women friends, she enjoyed a book group called “Study Club” for over 50 years which inspired her to sponsor the Madras “Community Reads” events. Adele loved the sunshine and stark beauty of Central Oregon, exploring its landscape on foot, horseback and cross-country skis. Birds were special favorites, and she found joy in the yellow brilliance of goldfinches and the melodious songs of the western meadowlark. The greatest satisfaction in her later years was sharing in the exploits and adventures of her eight talented grandchildren.
Adele is survived by her three children and their spouses, Kay and Jim Young, Sally and Doug Cramer, Glenn Rodriguez and Molly Keating; and her grandchildren, Sarah, Heidi and Karl Young, Lee and Dan Cramer, Alex, Evan and Luke Rodriguez.
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