"Even now," Petro said, "hot-rod and street-rod enthusiasts all have either a Rat Fink sticker on their car or a Rat Fink T-shirt in their drawer."

But Petro did lament that many he teaches in his high school fine arts classes don't know who Rat Fink is.

"They think I'm into some kind of satanic thing because of the art they see on my walls," he says.

So is Rat Fink considered fine art?

"It's more of a custom-culture art," he said.

But despite reveling in a California-based culture, Ed ended up in Manti some time after joining The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1974. In "All Walks of Life," a Brigham Young University production taped in 2000, Ed said he read the Book of Mormon hoping to prove it wrong so he wouldn't have to give up his lifestyle. Ilene says it was an interest in family history work that brought Ed to Manti, where he could be near an LDS temple, in 1989.

Of course, relative anonymity was also a draw.

"Ed was Big Daddy Roth when he traveled all over the world," Ilene said, "but here in Manti he was Ed Roth, the neighbor guy who helped you do little things."

And that was how Ilene knew him until after the two were practically engaged. She says one day he showed her a book of some of his work, and it was only then that she got a clue of who she was really marrying.

And with Ed gone, Ilene is left to represent him in a culture she once had little clue about.

"This is a tribute to Ed — sharing his legacy with others," she said, gesturing to a room filled with Rat Fink and hot-rod memorabilia. "I enjoy going to car shows and meeting people, having their time with him shared with me. There are people who believe their whole life direction was influenced by him. I just have a feeling this is what I'm supposed to be doing."

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E-mail: dhinckley@desnews.com