Obituary: Roseville
Published 12:00 am PDT Monday, April 28, 2008
Story appeared in METRO section, Page B3
Rodolfo Marquez Cuellar, a longtime Roseville resident who championed the rights of farm workers and started one of the area's first bilingual newspapers, died Saturday. He was 80.
"He told me to become involved in politics and be involved in my culture and be a part of community service because that's what he was all about," family friend and Roseville City School District board member Rene Aguilera said. "I looked up to him and will totally miss him."
Mr. Cuellar was born in 1927 to Francisco and Maria Cuellar in El Paso , Texas
After his parents separated when he was a teenager, Mr. Cuellar moved to Roseville
A U.S. Army veteran, Mr. Cuellar met and married a Roseville woman named Velia Alice Ojeda. The couple had a son and a daughter.
His children were still in school when Mr. Cuellar decided to complete his high school diploma. It was while he was going to night school in 1967 that he became involved in the Chicano civil rights movement and began writing letters to the editor.
"He wrote about how we're Americans, but we're Mexican Americans," his son, Rudy Cuellar Jr., said. "He got a lot of flak for that. I would get pressure from some of the kids at school, who'd say, 'What's wrong with your dad?' But he wasn't breaking windows. He was just expressing himself.
"People didn't understand. Everybody wanted to just assimilate, and so did we. But he was saying it's important to understand what's happened in the process."
Mr. Cuellar soon began working with the Placer County Democratic Committee, and was a vocal supporter of labor leader Cesar Chavez, collecting canned food to take to striking farm workers in the Central Valley .
Mr. Cuellar helped found the Mexican American Political Association of Roseville and was instrumental in bringing Chavez and Sacramento artist, educator and writer Jose Montoya to Roseville
"They spoke to people, usually small crowds, but nonetheless it was exposure that people didn't get," said his son, an artist who was affiliated with the Royal Chicano Air Force.
Eventually, his father's activism got him in trouble with his employer and he was forced to retire while he was still in his 40s.
"He was an agitator," said the son. "I remember hearing one man say he was being a 'Kenmore .' "
The loss of his job, however, led Mr. Cuellar to a new career in journalism. He started a bilingual newspaper called El Progreso, where he worked as editor, reporter and photographer covering politics and local events such as Mexican Flag Day.
"At that time, I was also a journalist and so I'd give him rides, or he'd give me rides to events," said Aguilera. "His favorite line was, 'Make sure you document every event, because once you document it you have it for life.' "
Aguilera said Mr. Cuellar took photographs everywhere he went and wanted to compile some of his collection into a book.
Mr. Cuellar also remained a political activist, leading the campaign to elect Gilbert Duran to the Roseville
"He taught me a lot," Aguilera said. "He made a big difference in a lot of people's lives not only politically, but making them aware of their culture."
About the writer:
Call The Bee's Jennifer K. Morita, (916) 773-7388.
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