Funeral services for Raul Cardona Sr., age 79, of Albert Lea will be held at 10:30 a.m. Thursday, Dec. 21, 2006, at the Church of St. Theodore. The Rev. Jim Berning and Deacon Mike Ellis will officiate. Interment will be in Hillcrest Cemetery.

Visitation is 5 to 7 p.m. with a Rosary at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Bayview/Freeborn Funeral Home. Visitation continues one hour prior to the services at the church.

Raul died Monday, Dec. 18, 2006, at the Albert Lea Medical Center.

Raul Cardona was born July 1, 1927, to Pedro and Catarina (Luera) Cardona in DeHanis, Texas, and grew up there. In March of 1946, he was united in marriage to Maria Nieves Sanchez in Eagle Pass, Texas. The family moved to Albert Lea in 1956 where Raul worked at the Albert Lea Foundry.

They moved back to Eagle Pass in 1991 and back to Albert Lea in 2000 after the death of their son, Raul Jr. Raul Sr. was a member of the Church of St. Theodore and the LULAC Club.

Survivors include his wife, Maria; children: Rene, Gloria and William Gregory, Anita and Manuel Cantu, Catherine and Jay Broadwell, Ruben and Yolanda Cardona, Elena and James Broadwell, Tomas and Michelle Cardona, and Luis and Sandy Cardona; grandchildren: Vicente and Mario Cardona, Juana Raatz, Jose Sierra, Jaime Cantu, Alicia Leal, Steven Beidel Jr., Vanessa and Naomi Lindquist, Ruben Cardona Jr., Angela Rivera, Ricardo and Abigail Cardona, Maria Neece and Dwayne Sundberg, Antonio Cardona, Krista Titus, Nicolas, and Daniel Cardona, Lucis Cardona, and Damian and Miguel Cardona; 30 great-grandchildren; two brothers; and two sisters.

Raul was preceded in death by his sons, Ruben Cardona in infancy and Raul Cardona, Jr.; his parents, Pedro and Catarina; parents-in-law, Aniceto and Hermelinda Sanchez; great-grandson, Xavier Cardona; and sister, Connie Ramirez.

Our dad&8217;s passion in life was music. Together with his sons and grandsons, he formed the group &8220;Los Rebeldes&8221; along with his brother-in-law Chuy Velez and his friend Joe Madrigal. Even though he couldn&8217;t read music and never had music lessons, he taught them to play.

He was also the lead singer of the group. He left us many happy memories of when we all got together.

We will miss him, but he will always be in our hearts and in the music he left us.