Veteran dental professional retires after a 35-year career

By TONY VINDELL
LFN

LOS FRESNOS – A veteran dental worker, who learned the trade while serving in the U.S. Air Force, is retiring after more than 35 years in the same line of work.

Barbara Rodriguez, a dental assistant for Dr. Adam Lalonde since 2005, has decided to leave the workplace so she can spend more time visiting her granddaughter in Dallas.

“I am old enough to leave,” she said.

“I had a wonderful boss and wonderful people I worked with.”Rodriguez said a lot of changes have taken place during the years she has worked in dentistry, particularly with technology.

The clinic patients are also something that has left a big impression on her life, she added, as some of today’s patients are the children their parents brought to the clinic years ago.

Rodriguez has been active and is still involved with the community.
She was a board member of the Los Fresnos Housing Authority and is a Sunday school teacher with the local Baptist church.

“I have been here for many, many years,” Rodriguez said. “I am going to miss the office and the wonderful people I worked with. There is a sense of sadness, but I am ready to leave.”

Dr. Lalonde said Rodriguez has one of the biggest hearts in town as she always strives to help others.

“Every time she gets a bonus, she turns around and spends it on someone else,” he said. “She is a very hard worker and giving person, and we are going to miss her.”

Rodriguez will leave at the end of this month, but the clinic staff and her boss gave her a going away party with cake and punch earlier this month.