Los Algodones Dentist Emmanuel Cordova - Passes

Yuma native and Algodones dentist had many passions in life

June 04, 2012 10:48 PM

Arriving in Hawaii on vacation in April, Emmanuel Cordova was so captivated by the island state that he began looking for reasons to stay there, wife Diane recalls.
“He was talking about what kind of business we could open in Hawaii,” she said.
Dentistry was her husband's first love, she said, but it wasn't his only passion in a life that kept him busy with a number of pursuits, among them the businesses he owned on the side, an interest in mixed martial arts and counseling he provided for people with substance abuse problems.
Father of three children and the owner of a dental practice in Los Algodones, Baja Calif., the Yuma resident died April 27 in a Phoenix hospital from injuries he suffered in an accident that occurred when he lost control of the motorcycle he was riding in the Yuma area.
While still relatively young at the time of his death — he was 39 — he led a life full of experiences to equal that of someone many years his senior, said Diane.
“He loved life, he lived his life to the fullest.”
Cordova was born and raised in Yuma. A graduate of Yuma High, he earned his dental degree from the Autonomous University of Baja California in Mexicali, but also earned a master's in educational counseling from Northern Arizona University's branch campus in Yuma.
As a counselor for several organizations in the Yuma area — among them Catholic Community Services and Yuma Proving Ground — he counseled people for both drug and alcohol addiction, his wife said.
He put aside enough money earned from counseling to be able to open the Algodones dental practice about 10 years ago.
Cordova had sought his master's in counseling to be able to fall back on that field as a career in the event the Algodones practice ended up not working out, she said.
Nonetheless, the practice flourished and expanded to include four other dentists who remain there today.
Cordova's patients included year-round residents of the Yuma area, plus winter visitors and patients from other areas of Arizona and California. Depending on their economic situations, some Algodones residents got free or reduced-cost dental care from Cordova, said Adirane Chavez, Diane Cordova's sister.
“He had a lot of love for his heritage,” Chavez said of her brother-in-law. “He knew that there was a lot of need for dental care in Algodones.”
At some point, Cordova became interested in mixed martial arts and would watch televised fights when he and his family would go to Burgers & Beer in Yuma for lunch, Chavez said.
That new-found interest, she added, prompted him to open two shops, one in Yuma and one in Tempe, catering to martial artists seeking apparel and other gear to practice the sport.
Although he eventually closed both stores, the fact that he opened them in the first place reflected the variety of his interests and passions, said Chavez.
But it was his passion for medicine that he seems to have passed on to his children. Today his 16-year-old son, Emmanuel Jr., wants to be a heart surgeon, while son Erick, 12, plans to follow in his father's footsteps as a dentist, and daughter Brianna, 9, wants to be a veterinarian.
Diane said she feels thankful for the family having been able to have a vacation in Hawaii prior to the motorcycle accident on April 21.
Diane said she found it hard at times to face questions from the couple's daughter about why her father rode a motorcycle. She explained to Brianna that while the motorcycle might have posed risks, it was nonetheless one of his passions.
“He loved to ride his Harley,” Diane said. “That's the way he went out, but he loved his motorcycle.”