A funeral Mass for Jose Castillo "Papa Joe" Rivera, 75, a Carson City resident for the past seven years, will be at 10 a.m. Saturday at St. Teresa of Avila Catholic Church.
A rosary will be at 5:30 p.m. today at FitzHenry's Chapel of Faith, and visitation will be from 5:30-8 p.m. today at FitzHenry's.
Mr. Rivera died June 8, 2003. He was born Feb. 15, 1928, in Fierro, N.M., to Jose and Evangelista Castillo Rivera.
He attended school in Silver City, N.M. He joined the U.S. Air Force, where he attended school to become a meteorologist.
Mr. Rivera worked as a miner in New Mexico for five years. He retired from the U.S. Air Force in 1966 with the rank of TSGT/E6. He also retired from Kaiser Steel in Fontana, Calif., in 1983. He was a meteorologist in civil service at White Sands Missile Range outside of Las Cruces, N.M. In Carson City, he worked at GMG Automotive and Valley Auto Supply.
He was a Roman Catholic and member of St. Teresa. He loved airplanes, poker and card tricks. He worked on the railroad and loved locomotives. He was a great story teller.
He served two years in the U.S. Army and 20 years in the U.S. Air Force.
He was preceded in death by a great-grandchild.
Among his survivors are his wife, Marie Sarah; sons Johnny Joe, Freddie and Larry; daughters Sharon Kay Rivera, Jan Marie Brown, Rita Ruth Kennedy, Pat T. Wiles, Yolanda Gonzalez, Julia Pond, Sara Mace, Josephine M. Rivera and Maria Magdelena Rivera-Loyd; 29 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.
Burial will be at 10 a.m. Tuesday at the Riverside National Cemetery in Riverside, Calif.
FitzHenry's Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.
