Cooper's Rodriquez has grown up fast

By LANCE FLEMING / Staff Writer

Richard Rodriguez will spend Thanksgiving Day eating turkey and all the trimmings today, just like thousands of other people in Abilene.

After that he'll probably end up falling asleep in front of the TV while watching the Dallas Cowboys, just like thousands of other people in Abilene.

Then on Friday night he'll go out and play a football game for Cooper as the Cougars try to beat Irving Nimitz at Shotwell Stadium.

And after the holiday weekend is over, he'll go home.

But not to a home like a lot of people in Abilene live in. He'll go home to the Ben Richey Boys Ranch where he shares a cottage with several other boys.

He'll go back to his life of chores and rules on the ranch.

And he'll go back to his life without a living relative.

At 17, Rodriguez has become, quite literally, his own man.

Growing up fast

Rodriguez's story really goes back to his birth on Dec. 4, 1978.

He was born in Amarillo, but was given away when he was three months old. To this day Rodriguez still has no information on his natural parents or any of their relatives.

He grew up in California, but moved to Abilene shortly after his eighth birthday.

By the time Rodriguez had turned nine years old, his adoptive father had already died of lung cancer and he was living with his adoptive mother and older sister.

"I had a few problems, and my sister and mother were both having medical problems," Rodriguez said. "One of the teachers at Locust Elementary (where Rodriguez was a student) recommended the boys ranch to my mother. She thought it would be best if I went somewhere where I would be taken care of properly."

Rodriguez promptly moved to the ranch and took up residence in a cottage, which is similar to a house that can hold up to 12 boys. Each boy has his own room, and each boy has chores in those cottages.

He's been there ever since.

"It's just like a regular home," Rodriguez said. "We have our own house parents and rules and chores that we have to do. To me it's the same as having a regular family. Plus there's a lot of guys I guess you'd consider brothers."

He would need them between the time he was 12 and 15 years old. His mother died of a heart attack when he was 12, and his sister died when he was 14. Rodriguez still doesn't know how his sister died, saying, "No one told me."

Three deaths in the family in six years is quite a lot of grief for a young man to go through.

"But it's something I was forced to deal with, and I chose to go on with my life," Rodriguez said. "I figured that's what my father would have told me to do anyway. But I had a lot of help getting through it."

The tragedies - losing two sets of parents and one sister - have forced Rodriguez to grow up faster than some 17-year-olds.

"I'm pretty sure I've seen things some teen-agers won't see their entire lives," he said. "I've seen my mother die right in front of me when I was 12, and I've seen my sister die at 21 years old, and I still don't know how or why. Because of those things I was forced to grow up a lot faster than some teen-agers."

But he's had help.

Rodriguez has been "adopted" again by the family of Dr. John Wray in Abilene.

The Wrays are the surrogate family for Rodriguez; the people he shares holidays, spring breaks and summer vacations with. One weekend a month, the boys at Ben Richey get a "home visit." And since Rodriguez doesn't have a home to go to, he goes to the Wrays.

He'll usually spend a week at Christmas, the week of spring break and one week in the summer with the Wrays. There are several other occasions that he'll spend with the family.

"He's just been accepted as part of the family," Jan Wray said.

The two parties met about 41/2 years ago when Rodriguez and the Wray's son played together in the Key City Little League. Dr. Wray helped coach the team both boys were on, and that's where the relationship first started.

They continued to see each other at church, then the Wrays decided to take Rodriguez in when they heard that he really needed a place to go.

It's worked well ever since.

"I'd consider the Wrays my family," Rodriguez said. "They're closer to me than anybody."

Mrs. Wray said, however, that Rodriguez was a little taken aback by the enormity of family life.

"I don't know if I would say it was hard on everybody," she said. "But I think Richard was a little overwhelmed at first, because we have three kids and they usually have friends tagging along with them. Plus we have two little girls, and he had to get used to having those girls picking at him and treating him like an older brother. It wasn't hard, but it obviously took some time for all of us to become real comfortable with each other."

And in the time that the Wrays have known Rodriguez, Mrs. Wray said they've seen him grow up quite a bit.

"He's had to take on a lot of responsibility for himself," she said. "They're well supervised at the ranch, but as far as his own initiative or ambition, he doesn't have that gentle prod that a lot of kids have.

"But we've seen accept a lot more responsibilities," Mrs. Wray said. "And at times he's very protective of our little girls. We've seen that relationship develop. He really watches out for them. When he's traveled with our family, he really protects them. So, yes, we've seen him grow up a lot."

His shining moment

Rodriguez experienced the highlight of his athletic career last Friday night when he returned the opening kickoff 91 yards for a touchdown against El Paso Irvin.

But he had no family there to share the moment with him.

You can bet, however, he was thinking about them.

"This whole thing has gotten easier as time has gone on," Rodriguez said. "But I still think about them and pray about them a lot."