Keshena man remembered for family, work and Menominee roots
Keshena families gathered at St. Michael’s for Emelio Rodriguez, whose burial plans tied his death to Menominee traditions and Middle Village.
Fr. David Barrett Hall at St. Michael’s Catholic Church in Keshena became the center of mourning for Emelio R. Rodriguez, with visitation beginning after 4 p.m. Friday, May 15, followed by a traditional prayer service at 7 p.m. John Teller, Sr. was to preside, and traditional funeral services were held Saturday at 2 p.m. at the same hall before burial at the Menominee Nation Cemetery in Middle Village.
Rodriguez, 28, died unexpectedly Monday evening, May 11, in Shawano. Born July 2, 1997, in Milwaukee, he was the son of Albert Rodriguez and Clarice (Zhuckkahosee) Wilber, and he was lovingly raised by Doyle Wilber, who taught him many of the things he enjoyed most in life, especially hunting and fishing.
His path through school and work reflected the rhythms of Menominee family life and northeast Wisconsin labor. He attended the Menominee Tribal School, later graduated from Oneida High School, worked in the Door County cherry orchards after graduation and was employed at the time of his death as a machine operator at Johnsonville Meats. Johnsonville describes itself as America’s No. 1 brand of sausage and lists its main Wisconsin operations in Sheboygan Falls, a reminder that the work supporting Keshena families often reaches far beyond Menominee County.
The obituary remembered Rodriguez for more than his jobs. He enjoyed fishing, playing video games and occasionally trying his luck at the casino, but it said he would be remembered most for his sense of humor and the time he shared with family and friends. He leaves behind his son, Emelio Rodriguez, Jr., his special daughter, Xiomara, the mother of his son, Ariana Lepscier of Keshena, his brothers Ross Paul LaRoque of Shawano and twin brother Armando Rodriguez of Berlin, along with several aunts, uncles, relatives and friends. He was preceded in death by both sets of grandparents.
For Keshena, the service details carried the weight of familiar places and familiar customs. St. Michael Parish is located on the Menominee Indian Reservation, and burial at the Menominee Nation Cemetery in Middle Village keeps the final farewell close to the community that shaped him. That closeness sits within a deeper Menominee history, one the tribe traces back 10,000 years in Wisconsin and parts of Michigan and Illinois, through a land base that shrank from an estimated 10 million acres to a little more than 235,000 acres, before federal recognition was restored on Dec. 22, 1973. The tribe’s origin story begins at the mouth of the Menominee River, about 60 miles east of the present reservation, and identifies the Bear, Eagle, Wolf, Moose and Crane clans, ties that still give families in Keshena a shared sense of place when one of their own is laid to rest.
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