Alfred M.
Alfred M. (Ted) Rodanas
d. April 15, 2017
Alfred M. Rodanas (Ted), Bedford native and lifelong American patriot, died age 96 on April 15, 2017. Growing up on ninety acres along the Merrimack River, now known as the Bedford Heritage Trail, Ted attended the Peter P. Woodbury School and graduated Central High School. Ted lived during a time when rifles were commonplace in homes and successful woodsmen were admired not feared. He and his friends built their own long bows, carved and fletched their own arrows, and lived a rural boyhood lost to history. These skills served him and many others during World War II.
Employment at Pratt and Whitney Aircraft Company earned Ted a deferment from conscription during the war but he could not abide this privilege, and chose combat over corporation. He was recommended by the National Ski Patrol System for mountain training with the elite Army 10th Mountain Division, the famous ski troops... "It is desired that he be forwarded from the reception center to the Mountain Training Center, Camp Hale, and Pando, Colorado." He traversed Italy with these troops and survived brutal combat conditions, returning home a changed and hardened man.
Ted received two Bronze Stars, the Combat Infantry Badge and a lifetime of tension and stress known now as P.T.S.D.
Not one to suffer fools or phonies gracefully, always a patriot, he had great difficulty understanding today's privileged, pampered, self-absorbed society.
Among his closest friends was Arthur J. Dobles, fellow WWII veteran and owner of Dobles Chevrolet, Ted's lifelong employer. They hunted and fished extensively together, bought adjacent ocean side properties and remained friends for fifty plus years.
Surviving a lifetime of loses including his beloved farm home to conflagration, the depression, World War II, and the death of his first born son Richard in infancy, Ted remained a man of conviction and strength. In many ways he lived and died a man's man.
He was predeceased by the love of his life, Virginia (Orbin). Survived by their twins Kristina and Michael, Michael's wife Donna, grandson Rex and fiancé Morgan Friel, granddaughter Vanessa, and her husband Jones Bazalgette.
All services will be held private. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to VFW Post #8401, PO Box 10144, Bedford, NH 03110.
Employment at Pratt and Whitney Aircraft Company earned Ted a deferment from conscription during the war but he could not abide this privilege, and chose combat over corporation. He was recommended by the National Ski Patrol System for mountain training with the elite Army 10th Mountain Division, the famous ski troops... "It is desired that he be forwarded from the reception center to the Mountain Training Center, Camp Hale, and Pando, Colorado." He traversed Italy with these troops and survived brutal combat conditions, returning home a changed and hardened man.
Ted received two Bronze Stars, the Combat Infantry Badge and a lifetime of tension and stress known now as P.T.S.D.
Not one to suffer fools or phonies gracefully, always a patriot, he had great difficulty understanding today's privileged, pampered, self-absorbed society.
Among his closest friends was Arthur J. Dobles, fellow WWII veteran and owner of Dobles Chevrolet, Ted's lifelong employer. They hunted and fished extensively together, bought adjacent ocean side properties and remained friends for fifty plus years.
Surviving a lifetime of loses including his beloved farm home to conflagration, the depression, World War II, and the death of his first born son Richard in infancy, Ted remained a man of conviction and strength. In many ways he lived and died a man's man.
He was predeceased by the love of his life, Virginia (Orbin). Survived by their twins Kristina and Michael, Michael's wife Donna, grandson Rex and fiancé Morgan Friel, granddaughter Vanessa, and her husband Jones Bazalgette.
All services will be held private. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to VFW Post #8401, PO Box 10144, Bedford, NH 03110.
To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of Alfred M. (Ted) Rodanas, please visit our flower store.
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