Rodney Warren Vance

Rodney was born May 4, 1948 in the town of Alamosa, CO to parents Warren and Helen Vance.  He lived the first few years of his life in the small, nearby town of Manassa, CO, and at the age of five the three of them relocated to Albuquerque, NM where Warren found work as a mechanic.  Rodney learned how to fix cars from his father, and his lifelong love of cars and working with his hands was born.

During his early years the family made frequent trips back to Colorado where Rodney learned the value of hard work by bailing hay and rounding-up cattle on his uncle’s ranch. He always had a fondness for country life and was never afraid to get his hands dirty. During this time he also developed a deep love of animals and always had one or more dogs around to keep him and his family company.

As a teenager he developed a fondness for music, country music in particular, and taught himself to play the guitar.  He put this skill to use later in his life when he joined a band called The Thomases & Gospel Express, writing music and travelling the state playing concerts at local churches and teaching his own boys how to play guitar as well.

He attended Del Norte High School where he fell in love with a sweet girl named Bonnie Moore. She was smitten by the thin, blue-eyed boy who always wore jeans and western style cowboy shirts that his mother made for him.  He graduated from Del Norte in 1966—the first graduating class of the then new high school and not long after signed up for the U.S. Naval Reserves.

In 1967 he was called up to serve in the Vietnam War aboard the U.S.S. Westchester County LST (Landing Ship Tank), which carried troops and ammunition up and down the Mekong Delta.  On the night of November 1, 1968 two Vietcong divers slipped into the muddy waters of the delta and placed two mines on the starboard side of the ship as it lay anchored for the night. The resulting explosions ripped open the hull, ruptured the fuel tanks and killed 26 men.  The ammunition and C-4 explosives on board were luckily unaffected by the explosions. Otherwise the ship would have surely sunk, and many more lives would have been lost.

Rodney was integral as a DC3 (damage control petty officer) in repairing the damage enough to keep the ship seaworthy until it could reach dry dock for more extensive repairs.  For these actions he received the Military Medal of Merit and was honorably discharged from the navy a short time later.

He returned to Albuquerque where on January 3, 1969 he married his high school sweetheart, Bonnie.  On November 13, 1970 they welcomed their first son, David, to the world. The three of them moved to Farmington, NM where Rodney worked as a pipe fitter until 1973 when they moved back to Albuquerque.

In September of that year he began a 32 year career with Public Service of New Mexico working to keep people’s lights on.  Just a few days after beginning work at PNM their second son Kevin was born followed three years later by their final son Kenneth.  Rodney loved his boys and, just like his father, valued teaching his sons about car maintenance, plumbing, home repairs, and how to grow up to be good men.

In the early 1990’s Rodney returned to school where he earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Phoenix.  He and son Kevin (who graduated high school in 1992) had a joint graduation party, feeling equally proud of one another.

In 2005 he retired from PNM and kept himself busy with hobbies.  He designed and built a new deck for his house; took up knife throwing for which he designed and built himself two targets in his backyard; began a gun collection and enjoyed taking his sons and grandson, Dylan, to target ranges for practice.  During this time he also began volunteering at local hospitals as an EMT B and started his own handyman business.

More than anything he cherished these post-retirement years being surrounded by his loving family.  His son, Kenneth with his wife Natalie and their three kids, Dylan, Sevan, and Lucy were a constant and loving support for Rodney and Bonnie.  He enjoyed helping Sevan and Lucy with their homework, playing with them and their two little Chihuahuas and teaching Dylan how to skeet shoot.   He always appreciated when they would help him around the house and got a kick out of Lucy reading to him.  He loved his grandkids so much, and they loved their Papa.

He also loved getting weekly phone calls and annual visits from his son Kevin, who lives in Portland, OR.  The two of them shared a love of reading, movies, and true-crime television shows.  They both have a dry sense of humor and laughed together a lot.  He loved to laugh.

In the last months of his life he also appreciated re-connecting with his son David, who lives in Texas.  He was over the moon when he called.  The two of them always bonded over sports, especially football, and most especially the Dallas Cowboys.

In 1996 Rodney suffered a heart attack while commuting home from work.  Always self-sufficient, he drove himself to the hospital where doctors were able to clear a blocked artery.  This began a 22 year long battle with heart disease that included open-heart surgery, multiple hospital stays, and two more heart attacks.  On October 28, 2018 Rodney lost his battle with heart disease and passed away at the home he and Bonnie shared for more than thirty years.

He will be sorely missed.