Los Gatos Canyon Air Disaster Victims Finally Honored & Remembered by Name

Last updated on: March 12, 2015 at 4:49 pm by Lisa M. Hendey

Los Gatos Canyon Air Disaster Victims Finally Honored & Remembered by Name 2015-03-12T16:49:27-07:00 Lisa M. Hendey

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Perhaps you remember hearing the Woody Guthrie song “Plane Wreck at Los Gatos“. In fitting style, it recounts the stories of twenty eight migrant workers who perished in a plane crash and were anonymously buried.

Bishop Armando Ochoa of the Diocese of Fresno

All too late — but finally — these lost souls will be remembered by name with a historic re-dedication and memorial Mass, presided over by Bishop Armando Ochoa of the Diocese of Fresno. Fresno’s own KNXT television has compiled a great resource that shares much of the information about these men and women. KNXT has shared the following:

In 1948, a plane crash in a valley near Coalinga claimed the lives of 32 souls. Among the dead, 28 migrant workers who were laid to rest in Fresno’s Holy Cross Cemetery. A simple marker denotes the grave, the names of the migrants seemly lost to history. But then, the words of a popular song changed everything. “The airplane caught fire over Los Gatos Canyon, A fireball of lightning, and shook all our hills,” Now those who perished will finally be honored by name, thanks to generous contributions from the valley and across the country. The community is invited to be a part of this historic re-dedication and memorial mass. Bishop Armando Ochoa will preside on Monday, September second at Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery, 2105 West Belmont Avenue in Fresno. For information about the re-dedication mass, call Catholic Cemeteries at (559) 488-7449.

This Mass and re-dedication by Bishop Ochoa on the morning of September 2, Labor Day, seems a fitting tribute to those who labored and will finally be known by name:

Miguel Negrete Alvarez
Francisco Llamas Durán
Santiago Garcia Elizondo
Rosalio Padilla Estrada
Tomás Aviña de Gracia
Bernabé López Garcia
Salvador Sandoval Hernández
Severo Medina Lara
Elias Trujillo Macias
José Rodriguez Macias
Tomás Padilla Márquez
Luis López Medina
Manuel Calderón Merino
Luis Cuevas Miranda
Martin Razo Navarro
Ignacio Pérez Navarro
Román Ochoa Ochoa
Ramón Ramirez Paredes
Apolonio Ramirez Placencia
Guadalupe Lara Ramirez
Alberto Carlos Raygoza
Guadalupe Hernández Rodriguez
Maria Santana Rodriguez
Juan Valenzuela Ruiz
Wenceslao Flores Ruiz
José Valdivia Sánchez
Jesús Meza Santos
Baldomero Marcas Torres

Members of the crew:
Francis “Frank” Atkinson, Long Beach, Pilot
Marion Harlow Ewing, Balboa, Co-Pilot
Lillian “Bobbie” Atkinson, Long Beach, Stewardess
Frank E. Chaffin, Berkeley, Immigration Guard

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