Rogelio Castañeda Sr., known to friends as “Roy” & to family as “Ragie”, passed away at home surrounded by loved ones after a short valiant battle with cholangiocarcinoma on September 16th in Cedar City, Utah. He was 72 years old. Our Dad was born on April 13, 1952 in Fabens, Texas to Alberto Castañeda Sr. and Lorenza Estella Holguin.
Ragie was raised in Fabens, Texas; Gonzales, California; & Chualar, California. Our Dad, the 2nd oldest of 9 children, grew up in the Salinas Valley with his 8 siblings after their move from Fabens. His siblings are: Irma Cardona, Alberto Castañeda Jr., Elizabeth Pulido, Alejandro Castañeda Sr. (Beatrice), Ernestina Garcia, Hilda Castañeda (Julian), Alicia Heard (Kenny), and Delma Martinez (Gabriel Sr.). It was in Chualar, that Ragie met the love of his life, Josephine (Josie) Estigoy. Ragie & Josie married in 1971 in Castroville, California & they celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary with renewing their vows in June of 2021 in Cedar City. They raised their 4 children in Salinas, California; South El Monte & El Monte, California; & in Cedar City, Utah. Ragie worked in the plastic injection molding industry for 29 years with X-Plor Plastics in Cedar City. He worked as a foreman & relocated with the company when it moved to Cedar City in 1992 from Santa Fe Springs, California. Ragie was a parishioner of Christ the King Catholic Church. Ragie enjoyed his retirement years. Our dad loved to go fishing, watch old western tv shows and movies, spend time with family, working in his yard, traveling with our mom out of state to visit family, playing poker, trips to Mesquite to play the slots, playing horseshoes, & was known to be a good bowler on the Nintendo Wii. Our mom is going to miss how they would go to the state line casinos in Primm, Nevada for concerts and dancing. Our father did this because he knew how much our mom loved music & dancing, so he went along with it for his wife that he loved tremendously. She will also miss spontaneous trips to Mesquite whenever there was a full moon because he would say, “ Vieja, we are going to win. Let’s go!” And more times than not, he would win. She was happy that her & our dad were able to go one last time to Mesquite with 2 of their sons & daughter-in-law (Rogelio, Rudy, & Candice) as well as running into their grandson & his girlfriend (Andre & Brook). We thank God for the time we had to make more memories with our father these past 4 months.
Ragie was preceded in death by his parents. He is survived by his wife of 53 years, Josie Castañeda, his daughter Sonia Lisa (Rick); his sons, Rogelio Jr. (Shaneil); Robert (JoDee); and Rudy (Candice); 21 grandchildren and 16 great grandchildren.
A Viewing, Rosary, and Vigil Service will be held from 6pm-8pm at Christ the King Catholic Church in Cedar City on Thursday, September 26th.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated in memory of Ragie on Friday, September 27th, at 11:00 a.m., at Christ the King Catholic Church, with Fr. Anil Kamar Kakumanu presiding. A viewing will be held at 10 a.m. prior to the start of the Mass. Interment will be at the Enoch City Cemetery under the direction of Cedar Valley Funerals. We would like to thank Dr. Bryce Perkins & the medical & nursing staff at Intermountain Cancer Center in Cedar City, the staff at Intermountain Homecare & Hospice in Cedar City, & Dr. Ivan Zendejas & staff at St. Mark’s Hospital in Millcreek, Utah.