Lifelong Hollister resident
Lifelong Hollister resident Eugene J. “Gene” Corotto died Tuesday, March 4, 2003 at Hazel Hawkins Hospital. He was 80.
Mr. Corotto was born in Hollister and attended San Benito Junior College before entering the service during World War II, in which he served with the U.S. Army Air Corps in the Pacific Theater. He and his wife were married at Immaculate Conception Church in Tres Pinos in 1948 and they later raised apricots and walnuts on his ranch on Southside Road.
He was a member of Immaculate Conception Church, the San Benito County Farm Bureau, the Hollister Elks Lodge, the Knights of Columbus and the Air Apaches, a group that met annually for a reunion after World War II.
He is survived by his wife, Lillian Corotto of Hollister; his children and their spouses, Jeanie and John Matthews, Joyce and Tim Johnson, Jim and Lisa Corotto and Joanne and Kevin Neubauer, all of Hollister; his sister, Lorraine Freitas of Hollister; 11 grandchildren and many other relatives in the area.
Friends may pay their respects Friday from noon until 8 p.m. at Black Cooper Sander Funeral Home. Funeral services will begin at 12:30 p.m. Saturday at the funeral home, proceeding to Immaculate Conception Church for a Mass of Christian burial at 1:30 p.m. Interment and graveside services will follow at Calvary Cemetery.
A reception will follow at the home of Joyce and Tim Johnson, 4250 Southside Road in Hollister.
Memorials are preferred to the Hazel Hawkins Hospital Foundation, in care of Black Cooper Sander Funeral Home, 363 Seventh St., Hollister, CA 95023.
