Joe Apodaca

OBITUARY
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Joe Apodaca, 76, of China Spring, passed away Friday, May 20, 2005 at a Waco hospital.

Mass of Christian Burial will be at 10 a.m. Wednesday at St. Louis Catholic Church with Monsignor Mark Deering as celebrant. The rosary will be recited at 6 p.m. Tuesday at OakCrest Funeral Home, 4520 Bosque, by Father David Liebham. Visitation with the family will follow. Burial with military honors will be at Sam Houston National Cemetery in San Antonio.

Joe was born March 24, 1929 in Socorro, Texas, the son of Juan and Alejandra (Carrasco) Apodaca.

He enlisted in the Navy and attended U.S. Naval School Radiomen. During this time he met and married Margaret Eloise Sitters on June 7, 1953. He retired on the U.S.S. Iwo Jima as a Senior Chief Radioman with over 20 years of honorable service.

His decorations include Vietnam Service Medal, National Defense Service Medal with Bronze Star, Good Conduct medal with Silver Star, United Nations Service Medal, and Korean Service Medal. Joe entered Civil Service with the Veterans Administration as a Contact Representative.

His assignments lead him to Albuquerque, San Juan, Puerto Rico and Chicago. He retired from the Waco Regional Office on May 29, 1987 and his combined federal service was over 40 years. Joe then went to work for Raytheon on Johnston Atoll. This job was in support of the mission to destroy United States stockpile of chemical weapons. Joe fully retired to enjoy his family and gardening in 1994.

He was a longtime member of St. Louis Catholic Church. Joe's optimism towards life and consideration for his fellow man was apparent to everyone he touched. He was a loving, devoted husband for 52 years and was a caring and nurturing father to his children. Joe also dearly loved his grandchildren who kept him young. Joe will be missed by all who knew and loved him.

Survivors include his wife, Margaret Sitters Apodaca; three daughters, Yolanda Marie Finneran and husband, Tom, and their daughter, Claire of Boulder, Colorado; Yvonne Marie Larson and husband, Paul, and children, Kelsey and Hayley, of San Diego; Deborah Marie Berger and husband, Steven, and daughter, Alicia, of San Antonio; two sons, David Gerald Apodaca, and wife, Jamie, and daughter, Breanna, of Oxford, Alabama; and John Michael Apodaca, and wife, Michelle, and children, Joshua, McKenna, and Jacob, of Denison, Texas; sister, Cecilia A. Brewster of Socorro; brothers-in-law, Jacob D. Sitters, Joseph R. Sitters, and Walter R. Sitters; and special first cousin, Esperanza Carrasco Villanueva of El Paso.