Rodolfo Hernandez

Rodolfo Martinez (Rudy) Hernandez passed away from this life on Friday, April 28th, 2023, in Monahans at the age of 93. He was born to Ramona and Miguel Hernandez in Del Rio, Val Verde County Texas, on Sunday, February 12, 1930.

Viewing will be held from 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM Thursday, May 4, 2023, at Harkey Funeral Home. Rosary is scheduled for 7:00 PM on Thursday, May 4, 2023, at St. John the Apostle and Evangelist Catholic Church. Mass will be 11:00 AM Friday, May 5, 2023, at St. John the Apostle and Evangelist Catholic Church with burial to follow at Monahans Memorial Cemetery.

He lived in Del Rio until he was eight years old. His family relocated to Sanderson, Texas with the Southern Pacific Railroad. As a child, he often rode the train solo, back and forth between Marfa, Texas and Sanderson, to visit his grandmother there. His experiences growing up during the Great Depression and WWII, had a lifelong effect on the good and great man he would become.

When Rudy was 17 years old, he came to Monahans to work for the Texas Highway Department. He met and later married Ruth Samaniego Marquez on September 28, 1950. They were married almost 58 years until her untimely death in 2008.

Rudy was drafted by the Oklahoma National Guard and served in the U.S. Army as a Rifleman in the 45th Infantry Division, 179th Regiment, 2nd Battalion, H Company, during the Korean Conflict. He was involved in heavy combat against the Red Chinese and endured grueling and punishing conditions there. He returned to Monahans to build a good life for his wife and son. He and She never moved away.

Rudy is preceded in death by his parents; his beloved wife, Ruth; his brothers, Enrique (Henry) Hernandez and Israel (Ray) Hernandez; his friend and companion Gloria Carrasco.

He is survived by his brother, Ruben M. and sister-in-law, Margarita Hernandez of Odessa, Tx. Also surviving Rudy, is his son, Richard Lee and daughter-in-law, Elizabeth Hatchett Hernandez; three grandchildren, Valerie Marie Hernandez, Christopher Eliot Hernandez, and Jacqueline Rene Amaya; seven great grandchildren.

Rudy was an old school Man of the World who was charitable with his time and money. He was an expert at tying knots and braiding loops back into rope. He preferred to tie down and secure a load with rope rather than using a strap. In a time long gone bye, he was a dependable and reliable trouble shooter and serviceman for Texas Electric, now TXU. He served his community well. Be it in service to his fellow comrades in arms with the VFW, in his work at St. John’s Catholic Church, serving as a Monahans City Councilman or fishing with his buddies.

Though he has outlived most of his contemporaries, he was proud of his generation for what they accomplished and what they stood for.

Pallbearers are as follows: Christopher Eliot Hernandez, Jacob Christopher Caballero, Aidan Saul Caballero, John Michael Amaya, Jr., Jaime Luis Hernandez, and Alfred Lara Jr.

Honorary Pallbearers are as follows: Ivy Valenzuela, Frank Warren Vallie II, Danny Caballero, Michael Samaniego, Richard Hernandez, Raymond Fuentez.