Felix Rodriguez Soliz

Felix Soliz was a cowboy with no horse to ride. He was born August 6, 1947, in the wrong century, far more comfortable mending fences and slow cooking beans than pressing buttons on a device. He was a butcher by trade. He cut meat for more than forty years and he loved the work. He understood muscle and tendons far better than any doctor, and could season meat more expertly than any chef.

Felix grew up in Beeville, Texas, in the last vestige of the wild west. He learned to fish with a tin can, a piece of string and a hook, and never manned anything fancier than a two-man paddle boat. He loved life most at it's slowest pace, savoring a cool breeze on a hot day, enjoying every color of a Texas sunset. He worked the majority of his adult life in Arlington, Texas, home of the Dallas Cowboys. He had one wife, Angie, that he cared for a half century, and one child, Orlando, that he taught to hunt and fish. The most important mission of his life was to instill old west values into the next generation, which he did, with his son, Orlando, and later his only granddaughter, Brianna, who also chose the cowboy way.

Felix grew up the youngest of four siblings, brother Tony, sisters Beatrice and Teresa. In his lifetime, he lost his parents; brother, Tony and sister Beatrice; but passed the best way a cowboy could, accompanied by the people that meant most to him, his son, Orlando; and life love, Angie. He is survived by his sister, Teresa Castillo; wife, Angelita Trigo Soliz; son, Orlando Soliz; granddaughter, Bri'anna Nikole Soliz; grandsons, Eric Aaron Soliz and Scott Peter Soliz; Brianna's mother, Rosa; and mother of Eric and Scott, Theresa.

Among the many lessons Felix taught, not with words, but his own example, the two most important were the rewards of hard work and the value of family. He never short changed either. His legacy of old-fashioned values will be carried into the next century, no matter what those years may bring.

Vaya con Dios, old soul. Spark up that heavenly grill and save us a place at the table.