Jan. 29, 1931-Feb. 26, 2003

MILTON-FREEWATER – The funeral Mass for Francisco Fregoso of Milton-Freewater will begin at 10 a.m. Monday at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in Milton-Freewater. Concluding services and interment will be in the Milton-Freewater Cemetery.

Recitation of the Holy Rosary will be at 4 p.m. Sunday at the Munselle-Rhodes Funeral Home in Milton-Freewater.

Mr. Fregoso died Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2003, at the St. Mary Medical Center in Walla Walla at the age of 72. He was born Jan. 29, 1931, in Ahuacatlan, Nayarit, Mexico, the son of Manuel and Maria Isabel Ibarra Fregoso.

He grew up and attended school in Ahuacatlan. After his schooling he began helping his father on the family farm. Mr. Fregoso later became partners with his father and then the owner after his father died. He served in the Ejercito Nacional Mexicano.

He began working in the United States on and off in the 1950s. On April 29, 1955, he married Petra Chavez in Ahuacatlan, Nayarit, Mexico. He worked in California, Utah, Washington and Oregon. He lived in the Milton-Freewater area the past 28 years.

He had worked for Trumbull Orchards, Green Giant, American Fine Foods, Roloff Brothers, Stadelman Fruit, Earl Brown and Sons and Barry Weis Orchards.

He enjoyed collecting coins, and writing poetry and music.

Mr. Fregoso is survived by his wife, of Ahuacatlan, Nayarit, Mexico; two sons, Gilberto of Rigby, Idaho, and Cesar of Idaho Falls, Idaho; three daughters, Magdalena Reyes of Pendleton, Evangelina Fregoso of Mexico and Irma Angel of Milton-Freewater; 12 grandchildren and one great grandchild.