Yolanda Maria Malloy's Obituary
Yolanda Maria Malloy (nee Rodriguez) was born on May 12, 1931 at San Diego Quintard Hospital and passed away at Kaiser Hospital on January 8, 2023. Her mother was Jessie Maria Alarcon and father was Rigoberto Hanon Rodriguez. She had a total of seven siblings.
Yolanda was someone to admire. Every wonderful adjective from A to Z could be used to describe her. She was intelligent, artistic, hard- working, loving, and a survivor. There are so many life happenings that shaped Yolanda and thus she was able to accomplish a lot during her life. These are things that shaped who she was.
Yolanda’s interest in singing began in third grade. Her teacher had a great impact on her not only because she was a great teacher, but because she encouraged Yolanda to use her beautiful voice by saying “you have a special gift.” Her sister, Jessie, brought this to the attention of her mother. In fifth grade, Yolanda and a few others from Logan Elementary school were asked to sing Christmas carols on KGB radio. Yolanda sang in the Boys Club Variety Shows (Logan and neighboring schools) and at St. Anne’s Catholic Church. In seventh grade, Yolanda sang for the USO downtown in the Army/Navy YMCA armed services club on Broadway. Yolanda was invited to sing all over town in musical comedy shows. The first show that Yolanda auditioned for and performed in was called One Touch of Venus. In eighth grade, Yolanda performed in a musical revue, “Night in June.” Her natural gift of singing led her to get free voice lessons. Yolanda shared her gift at the Cathedral High School Choir for one year and then the following two years at San Diego High School as a soloist. This was a very special time in her life as she talked dearly about her friends, the choir, and her small group of choir friends who called themselves the MOB’s (a secret code for the Mystical Order of Bums, of which they were not).
While in tenth grade, her sister Helen and brother-in-law Bill took Yolanda to see a musical show called The Chocolate Soldier at the San Diego Zoo at the Wegeforth Bowl. After seeing the production, Yolanda decided that she was going to be a part of this group called the San Diego Light Opera, known as Starlight Opera. Yolanda’s determination to be a part of it led her to audition for them. With only one piece of music in her hand, she took the bus at night to State Street to Washington Elementary. Needless to say, Yolanda performed as the youngest female singer in all the shows that summer: The Chocolate Soldier, Show Boat, Naughty Marieta, Rose Marie, and The Red Mill. Yolanda continued to perform with the company for seven more years doing some fifty shows: Call Me Madam, Bitter Sweet, Songs of Norway, Up in Central Park, Carousal, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Music Man, Kismet, Student Prince, Brigadoon, Finian’s Rainbow, The Great Waltz, Blossom Time, The Merry Widow…Her friends from Starlight enjoyed gathering and singing during the after-hours at the Red Fox Inn on El Cajon Boulevard. Later in life Yolanda came back to perform in Starlight. Many years later at a San Diego High School reunion luncheon a friend recalled standing on the hill above the Starlight Bowl and hearing this beautiful voice coming up from below only to find that it was coming from Yolanda.
Yolanda continued to share her voice with others at St. Joseph’s Cathedral during high school and San Diego State University. Upon graduation from high school Yolanda received a scholarship for her excellence in music. She was extended an invitation to sing with Howard Brubeck while attending SDSU. Yolanda’s strong desire and hard work ethics to be educated led her to get a degree. Amid deciding to become a teacher, she went to work in private business with the San Diego Water Department. While working there, Yolanda sang with Robert Shaw and did some major works: Verdi Requiem, Berlioz,
Requiem, The Haydn Creation, Carmina Burana…After giving the teacher or singer some thought, Yolanda decided not to get her credential right away but instead to give it her best shot in New York. With no money backing, or political connections that make things easier, she left with pure determination to capture her dream.
While in New York in 1956, Yolanda worked for the Eastern Greyhound Lines. She worked a split shift so that she could audition. Yolanda sang in some off broadway variety shows in hopes of getting picked out of hundreds of singers and dancers. Yolanda gave it her best shot while she was there. Once Yolanda returned to San Diego, she worked for the Mueller Trucking Company and then North Island. During which, Yolanda worked on her teaching credential. She woke up early hours of the morning and studied late into the evening to make a better life for her two children, Martin and Tamara, that she raised virtually on her own. Yolanda was hard working, determined and received no free hand outs, an amazing lady. Once Yolanda completed her studies, she was selected to be a fourth-grade teacher at Encanto Elementary. Meanwhile, she sang at the Unitarian Church as a soloist. She worked on beautiful pieces of music which included St. Sans Oratorio with a 15-piece orchestra with members from the San Diego Symphony.
Yolanda taught at Encanto for twenty-one years. While there, she directed the school choir and went back to San Diego State to receive her master’s in education. She had many fond memories of eating lunch with her Encanto teacher friends. Then Yolanda transferred to Lafayette Elementary and spent another eight-and-a-half years there. During her teaching and love of it, she touched the lives of hundreds of children. She found it important to educate them, enlighten them, direct them, and encouraged them to be open and interested in everything around them. Yolanda wanted them to be the best that they were capable of being. She expected this of herself, too.
Yolanda continued throughout life to spread her love of singing. The singing was like the fire that lit her soul and kept her strong. Upon looking through some music I found a note that she wrote that expressed that music cleared up all the dirt in her life. Yolanda sang in the Master Chorale doing major works and in connection with the San Diego Opera, participated in additional Starlight shows, sang with the Choraleers and Serra Naders, the San Diego High School Alumni choir and was invited to sing as a soloist for many weddings. Yolanda also enjoyed singing at a restaurant called Marios and Latinos and at the Miramar Officers Club. She joined the Mission Choir and took two trips to Europe: Italy in which she sang for the Pope for the Easter Mass, twice to Spain, France, and Portugal. Her choir director reminded me recently, that her close group of lovely choir friends formed a group and called themselves the Basilica Babes. She loved sharing time with them and singing with them at the yearly Festival of the Bells. In addition to that, she sang the Verdi Requiem under the direction of Eduardo Mueller for the 100th Anniversary of Giuseppe Verdi with the Opera Chorus and Master Chorale.
Yolanda accomplished so much. Anyone who knows her can’t do anything but admire her. Throughout the years, she made wonderful friends. Family always remained a high priority for her. Yolanda made lasting impressions on the people she met and the hundreds of children she taught. Yolanda’s talents, love of life, love of family, determination, need to educate and endurance is to be marveled at.
In closing, I’d like to thank all her friends and family for telling Yolanda how special and loved she was. Even though Yolanda was divorced from Robert Joseph Malloy, they remained friends until his death in 1998. She always admired him for his intelligence and found him to be very handsome. She found strength in male role models around like her brothers Rigoberto Rodriguez and Ray Hannon and brother-in-laws Bill Rosebush, Bob Nelsen, Joe Mousley and Sam when she needed it. Her sisters Helen, Jessie, Blanche, and Francy all had a special place in her heart. Yolanda is survived by her sister Helen Rosebush (Rodriguez, 97) and brother Raymond Hannon (85) And finally, I want to give special recognition to my children, her grandchildren Alexis Nicole Snodgrass, Zachary Malloy Snodgrass who she shared her love of music with, and my husband Steve for showing her love, being so thoughtful and treating her like a princess. Steve was always there for her when she needed anything like assisting walking, special request dinners, trips to the hospital…he treated her like a queen. Yolanda was always so proud of her family. She loved sharing stories and love for her two children, Martin Thomas Farrell and me, Tamara Ann Malloy-Snodgrass, daughter in law Joan Farrell, granddaughter Kelsey Elise Ochaba, Kelsey’s husband Joe Ochaba, great grandson Huxley Riley Ochaba, and beloved Riley Nicholas Farrell. Yolanda always had a kind thing to say, had a positive look on life, and the determination to go on.
In remembrance of my mom who was beautiful inside and out.
Tamara Ann Malloy-Snodgrass
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