Claremont COURIER/Friday, January 23, 2015

Raymond H. Marmolejo

OBITUARIES

Loving father, grandfather and great-grandfather

Raymond H. Marmolejo, a longtime
West Covina resident, died on Saturday,
January 17, 2015. He was 82.
He was born on October 20, 1932 in
Van Nuys, the third child in a family of
five boys and three girls. The family
moved to Montebello before settling in
East Los Angeles.
Young Raymond was a well-behaved
and mechanically-minded boy, who enjoyed assembling intricate airplane models that his mother would hang from the
living room ceiling. He met his wife of 62
years, Dolores Lola Vasquez, when he
was 11 and she was 9. She and his sister
Rosie were good friends and he would
tease her about her clothes and glasses.
Apparently, the adage that boys only tease
the girls they like is true, because they began dating when she was 14 and he was
16.
Lola wanted to have a big family when
she got older. Raymond was so caring
with his four younger sisters, it was obvious he would make a great father. It
didnt hurt that he was handsome and always dressed sharply. Because she was so
young, she kept their budding romance a
secret for a year. She would tell her
mother she was going to the movies with
Rosie and instead go out with Raymond.
Favorite dates included trips to the beach,
to a museum or to Knotts Berry Farm,
which was free at the time. There, they
would sit on a covered wagon and listen
to live music.
With the Korean War raging, Mr. Marmolejo was inducted into the Army when
he was 20. He married Dolores on January 3, 1953, nine days before he was due
to report for duty and just a week after her
18th birthday. She wore a blue dress she
borrowed from a friend for the ceremony,
which was held at the house of the Justice
of the Peace in Montebello. Being that

they were just starting out, they didnt

have much money. They celebrated afterwards by sharing a chili dog.
Mr. Marmolejo was released with an
honorable discharge that March after it
was discovered he had a torn tendon. He
returned home and began working for a
company that manufactured bathroom
fixtures. When that company went out of
business, he took a position with OKeefe
and Merritt, a company that manufactured stoves. After a layoff in 1958, he got
a job at Continental Can. He was hired on
as a temporary employee during a flu epidemic, but they liked him so much they
hired him permanently. By the time he retired from the company in 1981 at the age
of 49, he was a Class A machine maintainer.
Mrs. Marmolejo got her wish of having
a large family. In December of 1953, she
and Raymond welcomed the first of eight
children, a daughter named Margaret. The
family grew quickly with the addition of
five boys and two more girls. Mr. Marmolejo was a patient father and a big help
around the house. When he was found doing dishes, he would joke that he had

been caught doing womens work. Still,

he never hesitated to clean up or cook. An
intuitive mechanic who always said,
Anything can be fixed, he also kept the
household appliances in ship-shape order. For the Marmolejos, family came
first and that included longtime friends
who became like family. Company was
always welcome, and few people left
without a hot meal and a cup of coffee.
After his retirement, Mr. Marmolejo
supplemented his pension by fixing cars.
He could fix any problem with any
model. He loved cars, Mrs. Marmolejo
said. It was more of an instinct. He always knew what to do. He repaired an
endless array of friends and family members cars and kept his own automobiles
in perfect condition.
A week before he died, he fixed the water-pump on his blue three-quarter ton
Spirit of 76 Bicentennial GMC truck.
He doted on his grandchildren and, later,
on his great-grandchildren, and taught his
grandson Brian how to fix cars. His
garage was his headquarters, housing
every tool imaginable, hung neatly from
pegboards.
When he wasnt tinkering with cars, he
enjoyed repairing and painting garden
statuary, watching the Military and History channels and playing Dr. Mario on

Nintendo, a game he proudly beat. He

made a mean salsa, often using his own
homegrown tomatoes, and relished acquiring shoes and flashlights, insisting
you could never have too many of either
item.
Mr. Marmolejo had a gift for contentment. He always spoke with satisfaction
of the career he had forged at Continental Can and always felt he had lucked out
by winning Dolores heart. He will be
deeply missed by his family.
He was predeceased by his sons,
David, Vincent and Raymond Jr. He is
survived by his wife, Dolores; by his children, Margaret, Casey, Danny, Rose, Elizabeth and Martin; by his sisters, Rosie,
Virginia, Josie and Lindy; and by his
grandchildren, Jenifer, Brian, Philip,
Emily, Heather, Jennifer Lynn, Brittany,
Dakota, Natasha, Milena and Loran. He
also leaves six great-grandchildren and
countless nieces, nephews and friends.
A viewing will be held on Sunday, January 25 at 5 p.m. followed by a Rosary at
7 p.m. at the Hillside Chapel at Rose Hills
Memorial Park, 3888 Workman Mill
Road in Whittier. Funeral services for Mr.
Marmolejo will be held on Monday, January 26 at 11 a.m., also in Rose Hills Hillside Chapel.

Douglas Dowell
Douglas Dowell, a longtime Claremont resident and Cal Poly Pomona
professor, died on Wednesday, January
14, 2015. He was 90.
Services will be held on Thursday,
January 29 at 11 a.m. in the chapel at
Clairemont Mortuary, 4266 Mount
Abernathy Ave. in San Diego. Military

honors will be presented immediately

following the ceremony at Miramar
National Cemetery, 5795 Nobel Drive
in San Diego.
A full obituary on Mr. Dowell will
be featured in a future edition of the
COURIER.