Manuel Zaldivar
Words by Dorothy Chamberlin
In October 1979, Manuel Zaldivar began his eight-year tenure as Orangewood’s “wild card” pastor. I say that with tongue in cheek, because I don’t know how to classify him. Manuel had been chaplain at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Phoenix prior to his retirement. He and his wife, Ann, had been attending worship at Orangewood. She died a short time before he became Pastor of Calling at Orangewood.
One October afternoon I had an appointment with Sam Lindamood. When I arrived at his office, he laughed and told me: “Manuel Zaldivar just came by to ask me if he might help me by doing pastoral calling. I thought it was a wonderful idea and told him we would put him on the payroll. He said ‘No,’ emphatically. He did not want any pay. I assured him he could not do my work with no pay. With a twinkle in his eyes, Manual said if I insisted on paying him, he would drop the check in the offering plate on Sunday.” Whether or not this took place, I don’t know. We do know he was never “officially” installed. We also know he was a dearly loved person doing pastoral calling on Orangewood families for eight years. He was a very special person who brightened the day wherever he went.
He had no family here, and his health was failing, so in April 1979 he moved to Florida to be near his extended family.
This obituary was found in the Arizona Republic.
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Obituary Manuel J. Zaldivar, 82, who was a chaplain at Veterans Administration Medical Center in Phoenix for 25 years, died Aug. 31, 1964, in Florida. Mr. Zaldivar was born in Cuba and moved to Arizona from Pennsylvania in 1953. He moved to Miami, Fla., in 1979. He was a retired Army major. Survivors include nephews, Carlos Zaldivar and Roberto Rodriquez. Services will be 10 a.m. Tuesday at Orangewood Presbyterian Church, 7321 N. 10th Street. Friends may call from 3 to 9 p.m. today at A. L. Moore & Sons, 333 W. Adams. Memorial contributions to the church are suggested. Reverend Manuel Zaldivar was buried at Greenwood Memory Lawn Cemetery, 2300 West Van Buren Avenue, Phoenix, on September 4, 1984. |
