Rafael Galindo
As one of the classiest men that could pull off both a three piece suit and tie equally as impressively as a bath skirt with suspenders, Raffy was larger than life.
He worked hard, he had integrity and he lived with terrible aches and pains everyday and said mind over matter would see him through. He was a daddy and a daddo to his two daughters (the dancing bear and number 4), he was a bampa and the pooge to Trist and his Kaelee boy, he was chum for 58 years to his beloved Christina. He was Lele to his wonderful sister Aurora and Dad to his “son in-love” Rick (he never said in-law). He was funny as hell, grumpy as can be, and generous to those he loved. He had a knack for being playful and no one was off limits; he played practical jokes on total strangers if you let him.
He believed he could make a go of a restaurant where he would serve “yucca mucca” leftovers that almost always included eggs and canned peas.He was an avid gardener, part-time electrician grafting extension cords to everything (because everyone needs 30ft of cord on the iron) He had a great singing voice and an addiction to jam. He single-handedly kept the toothpick industry afloat, he loved Pavarotti and soccer.
He would have stayed longer if he could but that would just be to keep the rest of us happy. In the end, Covid-19, pneumonia and lung cancer was too much. Go figure it took more than one thing to take him. A flame that bright is so hard to extinguish and for those that must live on without him, we take comfort that his flame burns in us as well.