The next time she saw Daniel was at a Thousand Oaks Concert..by then her health declined and she was in a wheelchair– it was to be the last of his concerts she would attend– but not the last time she would see her favorite singer.
In Feb. of 2004, my aunt had two heart attacks and had just returned from a few diagnostic tests when the phone rang. I answered it and heard a very familiar voice on the other end. Yes- it was a long distance call from New York to California from Daniel. He asked to speak with my aunt. Once I realized I was not dreaming, I handed the phone over to my aunt and said it was Daniel Rodriguez. She didn't believe me at first. But when she heard his voice, a smile illuminated her face. They spoke for a few minutes and my mom and I also said a few words. Hours later, my aunt was still beaming and has joyfully told all of the nurses that she got a call from America's Tenor.
My aunt said Daniel's best wishes made her forget that she had two heart attacks. Thank you so much Daniel! Your kind thoughts have been wonderful medicine for a woman who has long loved your music. To know that this man who has touched the hearts of millions of people and brought them comfort, also took time to bring joy to my aunt is something we will always cherish.
Over the years, she spoke to Daniel via phone when he was in town, or when she was very ill and he would always raise her spirits with each call. In 2006, when Daniel was in So. Cal for a performance at the Crystal Cathedral, he made a special visit to our house, where he gave a special mini concert for my now completely bedridden aunt. He walked in the door and began singing "Be My Love" as he made his way to her bedside. It was a moment and a day my family will always treasure. A few months ago, Daniel again sang for her– this time singing "Happy Birthday" over the phone. It was a special gift on what proved to be her last birthday.
The last time I saw my aunt was Valentine's Day night 2008. She was blind and had few things to enjoy– no longer able to really eat, and no longer able to move...but she was able to hear. I played "Be My Love" on my Ipod for her...it was the first time she had heard a song in a long time, and the last time she would hear her special song that Daniel sang to her. She kept saying "louder louder" as the song played. It was the last song she ever heard. She died the next morning, but it brings me peace knowing I was able to share my aunt's final Daniel moment. He brought her peace and happiness right until the end.
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A former cop who gained fame as a singer after 9/11 delivers a surprise to a Walmart greeter.
By Molly Morehead, Times Staff Writer, Published November 11, 2005
Dade City, Florida: 4:45 p.m., Craig Edwards was ready to take off from work."All right, I'm going home," the Walmart manager told a couple employees. "I'll see you guys later." The reply: "Yeah, right." The scene just inside the door of the store on U.S. 301 couldn't have been less remarkable. Apple juice on sale for $1.47. Flannel shirts for $13.96.
And Virginia Krumpe sits in her motorized wheelchair, a double strand of pearls around her neck and an angel pin on her chest, greeting everyone who walks in. "Hello," she says with a smile. "Welcome to Walmart." Virginia doesn't know it, but her serenader has just passed through the town of Saint Leo on his way to her.
He is Daniel Rodriguez, the former New York City police officer who gained fame and a new career with his stirring renditions of The Star-spangled Banner and God Bless America after the terrorist attacks of 2001. He performed on television and then victims' families started calling to have him sing at the funerals. Virginia first saw him on TV four years ago and fell in love with his tenor voice. She refers to him as her boyfriend. Virginia is 81. Rodriguez is 41.
On Sunday, she was poking around the music section looking for his third CD, a collection of inspirational songs titled In the Presence. There were no copies on the shelf. Sold out. But a woman shopping nearby overheard Virginia repeating a familiar name. Earlier this year, Karen Perkins sold a home in Land O'Lakes to Rodriguez, so Perkins told Virginia she could get her the CD. Virginia was skeptical. And when Perkins asked Rodriguez for a copy of the album, he said he could do better than that.
Back to Thursday, inside the store: 4:50 p.m. "Hello, welcome to Walmart." Edwards lingers, straightening the candy. Again. 4:51 p.m. A little cluster of employees is having a hard time containing the giggles. 4:56 p.m. Hearts are pounding. Virginia puts a little pink sticker on a package of cookies a customer is returning. 4:58 p.m. Edwards walks in first. "Virginia," he says, "I've got somebody that would like to meet you. Do you recognize him?" Virginia's hands cup her face.
"Hello, Virginia," says a kind-faced man with a New York dialect, jet-black hair and a gold chain around his neck. He hands her a dozen red roses. Sweet and gentle, he waits patiently as she tries to recover from the moment. Her hands are shaking, even as they hold his autographed picture and the coveted CD. Again and again, she says, "I never thought I'd get to meet you."
5:01 p.m. An older couple walks in. No greeting for them. The woman looks around at the crowd, which has grown to about 20, does a little spin of confusion and disappears into the store. 5:03 p.m. Rodriguez kneels at her chair and sings. It's a love song. There is joking and clapping, and Virginia finally understands why she was called into work on her day off and why they told her to dress nicely. She learns that the greeter she was filling in for didn't really have a doctor's appointment. Then finally, tears. She holds his hand to her face. She never expected this. She'll never forget it, she says.
Virginia has worked at Walmart for 13 years. First in fabrics, and for the past eight as a greeter. People she knows have told her to quit. Too old to work, they say. She won't, though, so three years ago her doctor surprised her with the motorized chair. 5:13 p.m. The breathtaking moment is over, but Virginia is still shaking a little.
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2002: Singing NYC policeman rekindles patriotism, Ron Greeson - Brown News, Connersville, Ind.
A light breeze blew across the warm August night in this small, midwestern city. But this was a special night during a special event. It highlighted one special man, a man who has become known to people across the nation and around the world. At the center of the baseball diamond stood Daniel Rodriguez, a native New Yorker and New York City police officer, doing what he does best - singing patriotic songs.
The event was the 2002 15-and-under Babe Ruth Baseball World Series and this weeknight of play was the final night of round robin play. It was not an especially big night in the eight days of youth baseball in the tournament. But the youth league park was jammed with over 8,000 fans, thousands of whom came to see, and hear, the man who has become the face, and voice, literally, of the public safety officers in these United States. It wasn't that way one year ago.
He was just another NYPD officer, a man who represented the department and sang at some functions, on his own, and on the behalf of the department. But then came Sept. 11, 2001, and like those of millions of Americans, the life of Daniel Rodriguez changed forever.
Hundreds of fans moved forward to meet, greet, hug and talk to Rodriguez, who autographed shirts,hats, CDs, programs, and even arms. He did it all with a friendliness and grace you don't always see when a celebrity does a public autograph session. "Daniel has been a joy, even from the time I picked him up at the airport," said Butch Bunzendahl, a crewcut-headed man in charge of taking care of the invited daily celebrity guests at the Series.
"This might be our biggest attendance night of the Series," he continued. "People have really come out tonight, and it is a wonderful thing. The ceremony was something I'll never forget, and I don't think the people who were here will ever forget, either."
Rodriguez belted out God Bless America, and then in front of all the youth league teams, assorted luminaries on the field, a lineup of public safety officers, a rising water fountain beyond the centerfield fence, and the misty-eyed fans, he sang the National Anthem. He finished amid booming fireworks, to the roar of Americans for whom the New York City policeman has become a symbol of all that is good and noble about America.
On this night, he spoke to the young, the old, men and women, many of whom seemed awestruck and emotional, not able to speak to a man who struck such an emotional chord with a nation reeling from a national catastrophe, even in a city so far away and different from here as New York City. Many misted up, and couldn't speak, as if in hugging this man, the symbol of many who died, they were hugging the victims themselves. to have items autographed and pay their respects... even one local police dog stood at attention as if saluting Rodriguez.
"It's wonderful to travel around the country. I get to do symphonies and people have such positive comments for me," the singer related. "The comments are so heartfelt, and it's so nice for me because it makes me feel like I've done something positive with my life. "I come not just as a singer representing something that is so positive and so good," Rodriguez continued. "After 9/11, I was given not just the ability to sing, but the opportunity to sing about something that is positive and good, and that is a blessing that was given to me by God.
"I am a man of faith, and faith has brought me this far and it will take me the rest of the way, wherever that is." He was in the middle of the action on the fateful day of September 11. " I was in City Hall when the first plane hit the building, and I headed down to Ground Zero," he explained. "I was heading down there when the first tower collapsed, trying to help people, people who were running to get out of lower Manhattan. We just tried to render assistance whenever we could.
"We were covered in debris ourselves, and I spent most of the next two weeks at Ground Zero," he continued. "In the first week, I was on the morgue detail, and then the first call to sing (at funerals) came." The singing at events that were televised followed, and now Rodriguez is a national figure. On this night, people in the far-away Midwest met a man they felt they knew, representing a love of something that is shared by Americans of all races, economic stratas, locations and backgrounds.
Daniel Rodriguez came and touched these people at this youth baseball tournament, just as he had on television many months before. And the mood of the night was perhaps best reflected by one elderly white-haired lady as she approached the autograph table on this night.
"Thank you, Mr. Rodriguez, for coming to our town," the lady said softly. "It means so much to us, what you did and what you are doing. You have such a beautiful voice." Rodriguez simply smiled and answered, "thank you for the compliment and for coming out to see me, and may God bless you," he said quietly as the lady clutched his arm, then leaning on a walking cane, moved out of the tent.
