Joseph, aged 76, unfortunately lost his battle with cancer. He was surrounded by his family when his soul left to be with the Lord. He was preceded in death by his mother Amalia Flores Castanon Araiza and father Jose Rivas Araiza. Joseph was married to his lovely wife Maria Araiza for 37 wonderful years. Joseph worked for General Motors for 20 years and worked 17 years at NUMMI before retiring from the Auto Industry in 2002. Joseph enjoyed working on his custom-made model T ‘23 bucket roadster, which he built from the ground up. Joseph was a street racer and enjoyed racing at Fremont Speedway and won several trophies during his youth. Because of his love for street racing he gained loyal friends from the racing community. Joseph enjoyed visiting Oahu, Hawaii to see his godsons Eric Omick and Jason Omick and was extremely proud of them both. Joseph had many god children, Mary Ferrier of Antioch and Joseph Rodriguez of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Nicole Omick of Atlanta, Georgia. Joseph is survived by his wife Maria and daughter Elaine Araiza. He is also survived by his brother from another mother Dennis Omick of Anderson, South Carolina. He is also survived by his cousin Eunice Merlin of Oregon. He is also survived by his compadres Tony and Maria Contreras of Hayward. He is also survived by his nephews and niece: Antonio Contreras, Karina Contreras-Hunt (Troy Hunt), and David Contreras. He is also survived by his nephew Rafael Alvarez Jr and Erica Buenrostro of Lathrop; Gabriel Alvarez, Dominic Alvarez, Marissa Alvarez, Damian Buenrostro, Diego Buenrostro, and Arianna Alvarez. He is also survived by his sister-in-law Angela Alvarez of Hayward, brother-in-law Rafael Alvarez and Argelia Alvarez of Manteca. He is also survived by his nieces and nephews: Carol and Dean Stavert of Manteca: Alejandra Figueroa, James Figueroa III, Francisco lntriago, Ryan Stavert, Eric Stavert, Sean Stavert. Cynthia and Paul Hilburn of Lathrop: Julian Hilburn and Abigail Hilburn. Cecilia Alvarez of Manteca, Christopher and Shanna Fullbright of Albany, Oregon: Christian Fullbright, Megan Fullbright, Marcus Fullbright, and Mia Fullbright. Melina Merlin of London, England: Jaime Paesler and Adam Paesler. Alex and Vivian Fullbright of San Jose: Christopher and Austin Fullbright.
The Oakdale (Calif.) Leader

Dec. 4, 2019