Fallen Marine’s wife gets fund help

Deirdre Newman

Dinora Reynosa and her husband, Rafael, were looking forward to the

birth of their first child when Rafael, a Marine, was killed by a car

bomb explosion in Iraq on May 29.

Dinora, general manager of Rubio’s in the Costa Mesa Courtyards at

the time, is now enduring the rollercoaster of pregnancy on her own,

without the emotional or financial support of her husband.

Some of her customers are working to help her fill part of that

void. Tamara Rather and her family were frequent customers of Dinora,

out on leave since her husband died.

The Rathers started a fund for people to donate to Dinora and her

baby -- a girl due in October. Dinora was thrilled when she found out

about the Rathers’ compassion.

“It was just as everything gave me light,” Dinora said. “[Rafael]

always wanted to be an example for kids. He was always into

education, and when she told me that, it was like, ‘Wow.’ It answered

a lot of my questions. They didn’t even know him.”

Rather, 20, was inspired to create the fund based on two parts of

her life that motivated her to think about giving to others. She is

the philanthropy chair of her sorority at UCLA, and her church had

recently done a series on financial planning, where church leaders

gave congregation members up to $100 and told them to do something

positive with it. Tamara and her family started the fund with the $60

they received.

“I didn’t know her but knew my parents did, and they were really

affected by it,” Tamara said.

Dinora was married to Rafael for 3 1/2 years, and they dated for

eight years before that, she said. He was a family man who loved to

host get-togethers at their house in Riverside.

“He was always really outgoing, always liked to barbecue at home

and have friends over and was very spiritual as well,” Dinora said.

“Every time he tried to do something, he wanted my family and his

family together. Or if he knew he was going to make a decision, he

always wanted the family involved.”

While her family and his have supported her in her time of crisis,

the past few months have been extremely difficult, she said.

“I’ve been going to a doctor a lot, because I’ve been losing

weight instead of gaining, especially in the seventh month, but the

baby is really healthy and pretty big -- that’s what’s keeping me

holding on,” she said. “And going to the cemetery three to four times

a week and talking to him in a way that lets me get out what I feel.”

Tamara’s mother, Shelly, said it’s inconceivable to her what

Dinora is going through.

“Dinora is so sweet, and to think of her for the rest of her life

... ,” she said, her voice trailing off.

* DEIRDRE NEWMAN covers Costa Mesa. She may be reached at (949)

574-4221 or by e-mail at deirdre.newman@latimes.com.