Alfredo Del Mundo Rodriguez MD's Obituary
Alfredo “Freddie” or “Fred” Del Mundo Rodriguez, age 79, passed away on Wednesday, September 25, 2024, in Dallas, Texas. He was born on January 12, 1945, to Pascual Vergel Rodriguez and Susana Villanueva Del Mundo, old families of Santa Clara District, Pasay City, Metro Manila.
Freddie slipped away from this life peacefully. For days, he was surrounded by sunshine, love, laughter, and music. He was serenaded by loved ones. Family and friends gathered around him, eating, talking, exchanging chismis (gossip), laughter and sharing memories.
As an adult, Freddie was known for his humility and sense of decorum. But as a child, he delighted in throwing mud pies against the wooden picket fence that surrounded their home. He loved fireworks. He couldn’t wait to be the first to welcome the new year and light up the sky with firecrackers. He would also carry sticks, composed of potassium perchlorate, titanium, and aluminum – that when set aflame, would sizzle, pop, and shoot sparks into the dark. He would run around the Rodriguez compound waving and shouting New Year tidings. It is through the grace of God that Freddie’s hands and fingers remained intact; Freddie would become a surgeon, specializing in the intricacies of the nerves, tendons, muscles, and tissue that composed the hand. Most of all, he enjoyed reshaping and restoring the human body: breast surgery, face lifts, rhinoplasty, abdominoplasty, cleft palates, burn victims…he was a master.
One of Freddie’s most cherished memories from his youth was learning to swim in what was once Luneta Beach. Up until the 1960s, this area, situated in what is now the waterfront of Rizal Park, was an appropriate place to swim.
Freddie was a prolific student. His voracious love of learning inspired him to excel in school. He applied for and was accepted into a rigorous academic program which would grant him admission to medical school after 3 years of college.
He met his wife, Joselita “Ninette” Domingo, when they were in medical school at the University of Santo, Tomas (UST) in Manila, Philippines. Freddie, a 4th year student, was doing a rotation at the Outpatient Department when he saw Ninette, a 2nd year student. He was immediately drawn to Ninette’s beauty and charm and wondered what he could do to impress her. Back then, it was commonplace for medical students to wind plastic wrap around their stethoscopes to keep them clean. Upon noticing that Ninette’s stethoscope was unsheathed, and thus vulnerable to bacterial insults, Freddie offered to wrap it for her.
Freddie and Ninette married on August 26, 1971, and in 1972 Freddie and Ninette, with their infant daughter, “Gigi”, emigrated to the United States of America. The same year, Freddie began his general surgery residency at Rutgers Health/ New Jersey Medical School.
From the beginning of his medical school education, he knew that he wanted to become a plastic surgeon. During his fellowship in Ohio, Freddie attended a conference in Dallas, Texas. There, he was greeted with sunshine and warm weather, a stark contrast to the
biting cold of Cleveland. Instead of bare branches, there were blooming Magnolia trees. Lured by the shiny new one- story spec homes with brick facades he called Ninette who was still finishing up her residency in Ohio with now 3 young kids. He excitedly told his wife of the life that they can build in Dallas. No more shoveling snow off cartops.
After relocating the family to Texas, Freddie founded his medical practice, Southwest Plastic Surgery Center in Mesquite. For over 40 years as a plastic and reconstructive surgeon, he became lifelong friends with fellow physicians, healthcare staff and patients.
These decades-long friendships fueled numerous volunteer medical missions, his love for dancing, and experiencing various cuisines around north Texas and the globe.
Freddie was always in search of new experiences, ideas and ways to improve his overall well-being. He loved reading travel, timepiece, and architecture magazines. He even found worthy reading material in junk mail, catalogs and advertisements. And in fact, he would save some of the more provocative advertisements to show his children.
Ever the doyen of the aesthetically appealing, he loved fashion, collecting pens and vintage watches, and antique shopping with his wife. Moreover, he loved traveling, museums, botanical gardens and exhibits at the State Fair where he could learn something new. During his last days, he would watch public television and news channels to feel connected to the world outside of his hospital bed. While we are glad that he no longer must experience the world through the glass windows of a facility, we wish more than anything he was still here to make jokes, to have long conversations with anyone he met, and to eat foods discovered on YouTube. Freddie will be missed every day and all the days after.
He is survived by his loving wife of over 52 years, Joselita Rodriguez, MD., his daughter and son-in-law Marie and Stephen Archambault, daughter and son-in-law Anna and John Acuña, son and daughter-in-law, Joseph and Elizabeth Rodriguez. He is also survived by favorite granddaughter, Annelise Rodriguez, and whenever he saw her his eyes sparkled. Additionally, he is survived by his older brother and sister-law- Rosalino and Cary Rodriguez, and sister-in-law, Alice Rodriguez, DDS. And he is survived by his dear nephews and nieces Miguel, Juan Carlos, Margaret, Erwin and Susana Rodriguez.
He is preceded in death by his parents, Pascual and Susana Rodriguez and his younger brother Robert Rodriguez.
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