Milton was born 12/04/1927 in Norfolk, Virginia. His family settled in San Diego when he was five years old.
He graduated from Grossmont High School, served in the US Army and went on to study Civil Engineering at SDSU, graduating in 1951.
He met the love of his life, Elba Carolina Velazquez, while vacationing in Mexico. They married two years later in 1955 and went on to have five children, raising them in San Diego.
Milton worked over 40 years for California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) as Senior Resident Engineer and District Construction Engineer on various highway and bridge projects throughout San Diego, including the Lilac bridge.
He took pride in his work and would often take his family on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon to visit the construction project he was currently involved with.
Milton loved traveling throughout Mexico and was fluent in Spanish. He kept a promise made to his soon-to-be wife and her parents that he would bring Elba to Mexico each summer to be with her mother and large family. Most summers, he drove the packed station wagon, kids and luggage in tow, and in later years, the van, from San Diego to Mazatlan, Guadalajara, and Guanajuato. Driving through the desert at night, he would pull over, under a star filled night and sleep for a few hours lulling his family to sleep with his steady snore. He made those long, hot car trips fun, exciting and memorable.
Milton would drive back to San Diego after several weeks. At the end of summer, the family would take ‘El Tren’ to Mexicali where Milton would pick them up and drive them back to San Diego.
Milton was adventurous, loved nature and taking road trips.
After his retirement, he began taking short camping or fishing trips to Baja, Mexico with friends.
While in his 70s, he took his eldest grandson on a camping trip to Baja with fellow Caltrans retiree friends, Boyd and Gene. That began the annual Grandpa Camping Trips to Baja with the group getting larger each year.
Those yearly trips took a lot of planning, some of it done during their Friday morning breakfast meet-ups at Margarita’s in Ocean Beach.
Milton was civic-minded, altruistic and a man of service. He lived his life helping others because “it was the right thing to do.”
He was involved with several non-profit organizations and volunteered at many places including
AARP, instructing senior citizens in driving safety classes and income tax assistance. He presented seminars on highway safety design standards in Chile for International Executive Service Corps in Chile. He volunteered on many election days as a poll worker setting up and closing polling stations. He volunteered for Project Mercy Baja constructing housing and a daycare center, Corazon Alegre, for low income families in Tijuana, Mexico.
He supported the Damas Latinas de San Diego over 50 years, from assisting Elba with delivering the flower arrangements, attending the yearly fundraising gala event or having an event in their beautiful backyard.
Milton is preceded in death by his mother, Elisabeth Beaupre, father, Milton M. Costello, brothers, Walter and Joseph.
He is survived by his wife of 64 years, Elba Carolina, five children, Elizabeth, Rosanna, Kathleen, Michael, Paul, six grandchildren and three great grandchildren.
Milton brought much happiness to each of us and was an inspiration to many. He was a devoted and loving husband, father, grandfather and great grandfather, uncle and friend. We miss him dearly but are so grateful to have loved him and have been loved by him.
We want to celebrate his life in a memorial service on 10/14/22 at El Cajon Mortuary and Cremation at 2:00 PM.
In lieu of flowers, contributions in Milton's memory may be made to Project Mercy Baja, 12648 Cherry Wood St., Poway, California projectmercybaja.org
Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.elcajonmortuary.com for the COSTELLO family.
