My name is Tony Rodriguez. My wife, Marilyn, was Sarah’s supervisor and friend at Long Beach Memorial hospital. We read the article about our beloved Sarah and were touched.
Thanks for telling her story. Hard to believe she’s gone. To say we miss her would be a gross understatement. Sarah had an innate quality to unite people. She was direct and authentic.
I wrote this essay for my wife and her staff after reading your newspaper story. Thanks for the inspiration. Thought you’d like to hear from the public about that wonderful woman and her beautiful family. Keep up the great work! Print will never die.
Friday night. Date night. Marilyn and I have been married since 1981 and appreciate each other more and more as the years fly by. We take turns choosing where we want to go for dinner in the Long Beach area where we’ve lived since 1988.
We have our favorite places that we usually circle back to every other month. Places like Super Mex on Spring Street, Simmzy’s in Belmont Shore and Glory Days in Seal Beach. We used to go to the Elephant Bar and Mario’s in Lakewood and El Torito and the Tilted Kilt in Long Beach but they’re all closed. Sign of the times. The restaurant business is highly competitive and capricious. Customers come and go but you still gotta pay rent and meet expenses. Good food or good service aren’t enough. You have to have a combination of both if you want to survive.
We make it a point to support our local small businesses. They are the backbone of our great city and our great nation for that matter.
Tonight it was my turn to pick and I made the decision to dine in Seal Beach for two reasons. One, we wanted to watch the Dodgers-Giants game and two, I wanted to pay my respects to the memory of Sarah Krueger.
Sarah was one of Marilyn’s nurses at Long Beach Memorial hospital. They worked together for more than twenty years.
We pulled into the parking lot of Coach’s Sports Grill, located at the corner of 12th Street and Pacific Coast Highway in Seal Beach.
That’s the spot where Sarah lost her life last August 11th. She was struck by a motorist as she crossed the intersection and died at Memorial shortly thereafter.
Shocking news. A tragedy that left her husband and three children in shock and stunned her friends and co-workers at the hospital. She was only 46 years old.
I told Marilyn I was going to write a story about Sarah and asked her how she would describe her. She said Sarah was sassy and fun-loving. That’s our Sarah. She was a spunky blonde that melted your heart with her radiant smile and made life a joyful adventure.
We’ve known her since the 1980’s when she went to Wilson High School with my daughter Tanya. She made people laugh. She spoke her mind. She loved to cook. She loved music. She was very witty and charming and genuine.
People like Sarah leave a huge void in our hearts when they leave this world. They remind us that life is precious and fleeting. Sarah was not perfect. She was all too human and her humanity gave her a sense of grace, faith and humility.
Marilyn and I had dinner and then drove by what I now refer to as Sarah’s Corner. Then we drove by her house and prayed for her beautiful family. They’re hurting, for sure. We all are. On April 30th Sarah would have been 47. Her friends walked in her honor. I read the article in the Sun newspaper. Made me cry.
