“Hey sister…” This became a familiar call to me whenever I went across Hemphill Street from the ARC residence to the offices. Rodriguez a short, stout Hispanic man about age 53 living in the streets, would call out to me whenever he saw me. Rodriguez was friendly and loved by all who encountered him.

I first met Rodriguez in 1985 when I started working for The Salvation Army in Houston, managing the Thrift Store. Every few weeks, he’d come into the store and say, “Hey sister, my church is having a revival.” This was code for I need some new/clean clothes. I would allow him to get a new set of clothing and he would wear it until his church had another “revival.”

One evening, as Jim Sneed, a Houston police officer, who worked with us part time, and I were locking the building we looked up and saw Rodriguez coming down the street. Jim looked at me; and broke out laughing. Rodriguez had a plastic kids Viking helmet on his head and was carrying a 6-8 foot wood closet pole. Looking like a chubby Don Quixote, on second thought maybe more like Sancho Panza. He marched on down the street, when he got to us he fell over (probably due to his being drunk) onto his back. We kept telling him to get up out of the street. Holding onto the pole with both hands, he struggled rocking back and forth,much like a turtle on it’s back,refusing to let go of the pole. Finally, we decided to pick him up and put him on his feet. He then marched on down the street.

This was on Saturday afternoon. Monday morning I was crossing over to the offices when I heard…”Hey sister“; here came Rodriguez. He said “you saved me; you saved my life the other day.” He grabbed hold of my arm and wanted to give me a kiss and hug. His hair and beard were crawling with lice. At first I struggled to get away but finally gave in, gave him a hug and kissed him on the cheek, he let go and went on his way. I only saw him once or twice after that, never knowing what happened to him. Many times today, I think of Rodriguez. He was a happy go-lucky, friendly person even in his circumstances.

Do you have a Rodriguez in your life? If you do, please tell us about him/her.