Roni Lee Castillo passed away on Oct. 9, 2025 at Good Shepard Medical Center in Hermiston surrounded by a mass of beloved friends and family at 31 years of age.
She was born on May 18, 1994 in Baker City to my mother, Rebecca and my father, Steven.
Roni was a talented athlete. While she was an exceptional softball player, basketball player, track star and cheerleader, it was soccer where she really shined and excelled, going to state multiple times and even being offered to compete overseas. She had a deep-rooted love and affection for animals and had many pets, like King, Jazzy, and Chloe, for whom she would give everything.
She was smart and determined, leveraging those abilities to hold a position in electrical at Marlette for two years with plans and dreams of furthering her education in that field. She was very outgoing and adventurous. She somehow could find a way to assimilate into any group or activity and people loved her for it, because she genuinely was interested in others and found a way to connect with them.
I wish I could dedicate an entire page for her, but even then it would not be enough to match the void that has been left in a world where we no longer get to hear her laugh or see her smile or feel the warmth of her hugs. In what sometimes feels like a materialistic world, she was the real deal.
She is survived by her brothers, Steven, Jose, Robert, James and Dustin; her sisters, Anna, Cassandra, Stephanie, Jessica, and Stacey; many aunts and uncles and an army of friends; her father and stepmother, Elizabeth and Steven Castillo; and her mother and stepfather, Rebecca and Bernard Hecker.
Roni was preceded in death by her best friend, Lacey Ostrom; her aunts, Roxanne Burgess and Anna Castillo; her brother, Patrick Maahs; her grandfathers, Ron Burgess and Rudy Castillo; and her grandmother, Shirley Burgess.
No service information is available at this time.
Please share memories of Roni with her family at burnsmortuaryhermiston.com.
