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A memorial Mass will be held at 10 a.m. today at St. Augustine Catholic Church for Joe Wolfenberger, a well-known long-time resident of Pleasanton who died last Friday. He was 86.

Mr. Wolfenberger graduated from Amador Valley High School in June 1942 and enlisted in the U.S. Navy that October and served for the duration of World War II. He was in the invasion of Eniwetok in the Marshall Islands and then was based there, attached to the Navy Air Force.

After the war, he returned to Pleasanton, where he was employed as a crane operator with Pacific Coast Aggregates, later Lone Star Industries, a job he held for 38 years before retiring in 1984.

Mr. Wolfenberger was born in Calexico, Calif. to Joseph and Ida Wolfenberger, with the family moving to Pleasanton in 1934. He married his wife Barbara in 1942 after they graduated from Amador and they stayed in Pleasanton after the war to raise their four children: Joe, Steven, Alan and Joanie.

Always proud of his service in the Navy, Mr. Wolfenberger had a front row seat last October at dedication ceremonies for the restored Veterans Memorial Building on Main Street.

In addition to his widow and four children, Mr. Wolfenberger is survived by nine grandchildren, six great-grandchildren and many nephews and nieces. His twin sister Ida and brother Martin preceded him in death.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that those wishing to make contributions direct them to Hope Hospice, 6500 Dublin Blvd., Suite 100, Dublin.

- Jeb Bing

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