My husband, Rodger Dean Craig was born in Evanston, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, on June 29, 1923. He passed away at a convalescent home in Los Angeles, California on April 25, 2009.

He was born in a nice family, with his parents, two elder brothers, two elder sisters and one younger sister.

Rodger was a World War II hero. The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 1941. Rodger joined the Marine Corp. in January of 1942, only one month after the brutal attack. He was just 18 years old and was a high school senior student.

After finishing the three-month boot camp in San Diego, California, he was onboard a ship and departed from Port Hueneme (near Oxnard, California) to the Guadalcanal Island in the South Pacific Ocean.

At that time, Guadalcanal Island had the fiercest fighting between the Japanese and the allied forces. Before the war, the island belonged to the British. During the war, the Japanese invaded and occupied part of the island, and the allied forces wanted it back. Guadalcanal is a tropical island, where there were many mosquitoes and many solders contracted malaria. The condition was perilous.

After two years of fierce fighting, there came a turning point. The Japanese troops started to retreat and eventually left the island.

From September 1945 to November 1945, Rodger made another tour of duty to the Pacific. This time the destination was the New Hebrides, island group of South Pacific, east of Australia.

Rodger was fortunate. He received honorable discharge on January 1946. In total, he served four years in the Marine Corps. During the war, his specialties were heavy automotive and aircraft mechanic. In addition, he was qualified as a rifle marksman and a pistol sharpshooter.

But his elder brother, Norman, was not so fortunate. He was a B-24 Bomber pilot in the Air Force and unfortunately Norman never returned home and a hero considered missing in action.

After coming back from the war, Rodger devoted his energy to his career and family building.

In October, 1946 he married Miss Nancy Jane at Wilmette. Nancy Jane was a graduate of Northwestern University. Their honeymoon was taking a yacht ride from Michigan Lake through most of the Mississippi river and arriving in New Orleans. They sailed through the Caribbean Sea and visited Havana, Cuba. Cuba was democratic at the time. Fidel Castro was not in the picture yet.

Nancy passed away in the early 90's due to an illness.

Rodger and I met in Guadalajara, Mexico in 1990. We married in 1995. It has been 14 years since we married and we had a wonderful time together.
When we were in Guadalajara we went to the theater every weekend to watch a performance. We also went to the colonial Tlaquepaque, the fine arts section of the city to check out the antique shops. There we encountered the owner of a bronze foundry. He poured a small bronze bell with the name Connie and Linda on it. He was the sweetest man with a gentle soul.

Rodger liked to travel. Three times, we traveled to the mainland of China and Taiwan. In China, he was very impressed by the engineering work of the dam on Yangzi River, and the palanquin (a sedan chair) of Huang Mountain. He was also amazed by the tourist attractions of Beijing, Xian and Shanghai. We also traveled to the former Soviet Union, Europe, Israel, Turkey, Cyprus and Greece. Once, Dorothy, one of the sisters of Rodger, went together with us to visit London.

I have too many good memories of Rodger, but to me, the most unforgettable ones were his kindness, humor and sincerity. Once, I was sick, and I had to stay in a hospital. Rodger never left my side and was there to take care of me and mend me back to health. He was always there for me.

Once, at a party, when one of my shoe laces became untied. Rodger gracefully huddled down and retied it. I am not a reckless driver but sometimes I drove too fast. Then Rodger would say, "Ava, if you want to hit something, hit it slowly."

It seemed he had no fear. He was always in control over his emotions. I've never seen him lose his temper. I've never heard him yell and up until his Parkinson's disease, I had never seen him cry. His patience and steady temperament made him the perfect husband and companion.

In 1998, Rodger and I returned from Mexico and decided to settle down in Los Angeles where I had many old friends. Rodger had no problem mixing in and he quickly became friends with everyone. Every summer we would vacation with our friends in Escondido (near San Diego, California) where some of our friends owned a time share at a popular resort. We had great times together. Our group had a nickname, "Happy Family" and we went to many interesting places together.

Rodger was very nice to my daughters. His spirit of adventure and zest for life were always present. He insisted on being present at all family functions whether it was a graduation ceremony, a friends' wedding, Thanksgiving dinner, Christmas, or just a regular Saturday family gathering. He was there for Linda's high school graduation and he was also there to watch both our daughters graduate from rivaling universities (USC and UCLA). Rodger was also there to watch both girls marry off and start families of their own.
Rodger had many hobbies. Sailing and wind-surfing were some of his favorites. He was also good at star-gazing and astro-navigation. The fact that he navigated the sailboat to Cuba and came back safely proved that he had a good command of these knowledge and its application. Rodger had a serving tray studded with the constellations of the Big Dipper and Cassiopeia. Flying airplanes was Rodger's other hobby. He owned a Cessna 172 Sky hawk single engine airplane for 30 years. This hobby later on developed into a career. He became a flying instructor. Many of his students went on to become capable pilots.

Although Rodger accomplished many challenging and amazing tasks, he remained a humble man. He never boasted about his accomplishments. As hard as everything was, Rodger had a way of making it easy. If there was something you didn’t know he had a way of breaking it down so that you could understand.

In recent years, Rodger was diagnosed with the Parkinson's disease. As some of you may know, Parkinson's disease is a degenerative disease of the brain that often impairs motor skills, speech, and other functions. For Rodger this meant his hands and feet would always shake uncontrollably. Sometimes he would be in pain. When Rodger started loosing his ability to take care of himself we felt a nursing home facility may be the best choice for him because he required 24-hour medical care and supervision.

During this period Rodger developed a good rapport with the nurses and his roommates. The head nurse Rose once said, "Rodger is so nice and kind. He reminds me of my father." But over the last few years, we all saw how his health deteriorated.

Rodger liked milkshakes and whenever I would visit him I would bring him a large one. I would visit with him as much as I could. We would go on walks together. Not too far from the nursing home, there is a public garden and many people plant their vegetable there. When he saw some corn stalks that grew there, he taught me an American proverb: Knee high by Forth of July. With this inspiration, I started a vegetable garden at my own backyard. So far we have planted tomatoes, sweet corns, cucumbers and bell peppers.

Rodger passes away on April 25, 2009 during his sleep. He passed away without any discomfort.

In the days after Rodger's passing I couldn't believe that Rodger was really gone. He had always been there for me.

Rodger's last wish was to spread his ashes in the Pacific Ocean. Hopefully his spirit will continue to swim, surf and play along the shores of the Pacific Ocean.

In so many ways, my Rodger was an incredible man. Rodger never said very much, yet he touched so many people's lives. He never showed off despite building his career from the ground up and securing a comfortable life for his family. He never complained - not even once - as he struggled with his crippling Parkinson's disease. And perhaps most amazing of all, he never lost his sense of humor amidst extremely difficult circumstances.

Although Rodger left us, his spirit will be with us forever. He set an example of hero for all young people. In WWII he exemplified the spirit of the Marine Corps: Honor, Courage and Commitment. He was a father-figure to our daughters. He was kind, humble and sincere.

I love him this life, next life and forever. Within a year, I lost Rodger but I gained two new-born grandsons. Is this re-birth?

Rest in Peace, Rodger

Yours always,

Ava