Rodney Camacho

Rodney Camacho, also known as Rod, is a main character in Red Star, being the father of Gary and Scott Camacho and the father figure of Richard Greenhill. He is the son of Rosa Camacho and the husband of Kelly Camacho. He is a revered pediatrician working in the Tulsa and later Dallas area, and was Richard's primary doctor until his retirement in 2001.

Biography
Rodney was born in 1934 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, to an eighteen-year-old Rosa Camacho, who was at the time working as a waitress as her only way of supporting herself. His father was Rosa's former boyfriend, Miguel del Bosque, who had abandoned her and his son after learning of Rosa's pregnancy. Rosa was very caring and loving toward her son, though at the same time she maintained her deep love for the supernatural and did extensive studies in her free time, often conflicting with her job. Rosa attempted to educate Rodney on the subject, and while he seemed interested at first, he was later bullied by other children after telling them about his mother's weird stories. He expressed this to his mother, who was insistent that what she spoke of was real and that one day he would understand. This made a young Rodney grow increasingly bitter towards his mother, who continued her supernatural studies, and he began to think of her as crazy and demented for believing in the supernatural. Rosa awaited the day that Rodney's powers would awaken and open his eyes to the truth, but it never happened.

In the meantime, Rodney, who was disliked for his notorious, infamously weird mother, befriended a young classmate named Kelly Velazquez, who was an orphan at a local foster care. Kelly thought that Rodney didn't deserve to be shunned for his mother's doings. The two quickly bonded and became inseparable. They began dating in middle school. After Kelly accidentally became pregnant shortly before graduating high school, Rosa offered to help the two take care of the child. However, Rodney angrily denied her, and following their graduation, the two ran off, and Rodney told his mother not to follow them. Rodney began attending college that fall and took up two jobs to take care of Kelly. Their first son Gary was born in January of 1953. Both parents alternated in taking their newborn son with them to classes. After graduating college, Rodney and Kelly were finally able to marry in 1956. Rodney then began attending medical school while Kelly took up student teaching.