Rodolfo Rios Guzman, Jr.

Rodolfo Rios Guzman Jr., Rudy to those who knew and loved him, passed away December 28, 2022, his wife of more than 50 years at his bedside. He was 83.

Born to Rudolph and Eva Guzman in San Antonio on May 6, 1939, he was the oldest of brothers Richard and Ronnie Guzman. Rudy grew up in the Alazán-Apache Courts on the city’s West Side, then in his early teens moved to the South Side neighborhood of Palm Heights. There on Walton Avenue, the Burbank High School grad first saw Mary Helen Lozano, his future wife, at her home just four houses up the street on the same block.

Rudy joined the United States Air Force and courted Mary Helen through letters sent from a tour of duty in Vietnam as a military policeman. The nearly next-door sweethearts married June 1, 1968. Rudy then earned a science degree at St. Mary’s University and worked at Kelly Air Force Base for 38 years, retiring just weeks before its closure.

A devoted father as well as husband, Rudy raised his son René and daughter Celeste to always ask questions, listen and do what’s right, not what’s easy.

Rudy loved the Spurs and the Cowboys, jazz and Jim Croce, and taking way too many pictures of Battle of Flowers parades almost as much as he loved God and his usher work at St. Paul Catholic Church, where he volunteered for nearly 30 years until 2020.

Rudy was preceded in death by his parents and brothers. He is survived by his wife Mary Helen Guzman; children René Guzman and Celeste Guzman Mendoza; daughter-in-law Maia Adamina and granddaughter Maddie Guzman; and son-in-law Michael Mendoza.

FUNERAL SERVICES

Visitation will begin on Tuesday, January 3, at 6:00 P.M. with a Rosary at 7:00 P.M. at the Angelus Chapel.

Funeral Mass will be offered Wednesday, January 4, at 10:00 A.M. at St. Paul Catholic Church. Interment will follow in San Fernando Archdiocesan Cemetery No. 2.