Joseph Agloro

Joseph Agloro passed on to his heavenly home in the Peace Health NW hospital on Oct. 9, 2023. Joe was born in Angeles, Philippines on April 30, 1935, to Fabian Agloro Sr. & Teodora Castañeada Agloro. His father was a Filipino scout stationed at the nearby Fort Stotsenburg. They were a family of nine & poor, but Joe tried hard to help as a child by catching fish & working for a neighbor for rice. His father was taken captive by the Japanese & was in The Bataan Death March but he was able to escape. He found his family hiding in the hills & sent them to Victoria-Tarlac so they would be safer. After uniting with his family, his father joined the US Army. He was stationed at Balayan, his family joined him there & they lived near Manila Bay until around 1949 when they moved to Sampaloc (a district of Manila) & bought a house there. His dad became a US citizen when discharged in 1950 & was given the chance to move to the US which he did after one more transfer. A year later he brought Joe to the US. Joe enlisted in the Air Force in 1955 & his military career took him to many places...Cheyenne WY, Thule Greenland, Schilling AFB, KS, & back to Schilling where he met his wife, Mary Cochrun, & they were married in 1962. After marriage, he continued to travel with the Air Force to March AFB, Johnson Island, Okinawa, Lakenheath Air Base, England, Germany, and Japan. During the Vietnam war, he flew in a bombing mission. He was discharged from the active Air Force in 1967. He & his wife & daughter moved to Seattle in 1968 where he worked for Boeing until there was a big layoff, then moved to Gresham, OR & worked for a propane gas company, then they transferred him to Port Angeles to help after a gas explosion. After that, they moved back to Gresham & bought a home there. They were there until 1977 when. with two more children & another on the way, they moved to Vancouver, WA. He signed up with the Air National Guard & later switched to the Air Force Reserves from which he retired in 1993 as a Chief Master Sargeant. Altogether, he served a total of 33 years. Also at the Portland AF Base, he worked as a civil engineer for Civil Service, working up to being a supervisor, & retired from Civil Service in 1995. He also worked part-time at Lloyds Center doing HVAC for a few years. After retirement, he had his own HVAC company called Western Heating Service until he decided he wanted to finally take it easy and travel more. Joe attended Crossroads Community Church, after he retired, he enjoyed fishing the Columbia River & was a Judo Instructor for Marshall Community Center in his spare time for several years. He & Mary traveled frequently, going south during the winter as well as making other trips across the US. He always missed being away from his home country, the Philippines & visited whenever he could but he loved the US. Joe was preceded in death by his first son, David. He is survived by his wife, Mary of 61 years, four children, Jocelyn & fiancé Hunter Payne, Michael & wife Whitney, Daniel & wife Samantha & Carolyn & her husband Tye Dawson; & brothers Fabian Jr. & his wife, Juliette, Frederick & his wife, Amy. Joe & Mary also have 15 grandchildren & one great-grandchild.

Joseph Agloro

April 30, 1935 - October 9, 2023