Remigio Brozo Aragon

Remigio "Ray" Brozo Aragon was born in Manila, Philippines to Valeriano and Concepcion Aragon and grew up in the town of Palauig, Zambales. He joined the U.S. Navy in 1954 and in1964 after marrying his wife Wennie in Pasadena, CA Ray was transferred to San Diego. In 1967, Ray purchased the family home in the Mission Hills neighborhood of San Diego. He became a parishioner of St. Vincent’s Church and sent his daughters to St. Vincent’s School.

Ray was fiercely proud of his Filipino heritage and culture. Working alongside elder pioneers in San Diego’s Filipino community, Jose Cachuela, Delfin Labao and AB Santos, Ray was an active leader in numerous San Diego organizations. The 1st Filipino historical building in San Diego erected by the Filipino American Veterans Association (FAVA) in 1949 and known to the Filipino community as FAVA Hall still stands today due to the generosity of the Aragon Family. Ray was the elected President of the Filipino American Veterans Association having served for many years at his passing.

In the 70's, Ray served as President of the Filipino-American Community Association of San Diego for numerous terms. Together with the Council of Pilipino American Organizations (COPAO) members, he organized and planned the annual Miss and Mrs. Philippines pageants. College scholarships were awarded to the Miss Philippines winners to promote higher education but these pageants through fund-raising also served to raise awareness for the need of activism and political involvement by the Filipino community. Another passion of Ray’s was being involved with the House of Pacific Relations in Balboa Park. Every other Sunday for years, you could find one of the Aragon family members hosting at the House of the Philippines; offering coffee and cookies to tourists as they took in a small amount of Filipino culture presented by artwork and educational pieces on display. Philippine Independence Day was celebrated there annually with performances of Filipino folk dancing by the PASACAT and Samahan Dance Companies.

In 1974, Ray alongside founding director Beverly Yip and other leaders from the Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Korean, Samoan, and Guamanian communities helped to establish the United Pan-Asian Coalition (UPAC). At that time, no single Asian group was large enough or vocal enough to pursue the basic services desperately needed by its impoverished, ill, elderly and limited English-speaking members. As refugees from Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia began arriving in San Diego with multiple health, behavioral health, educational and housing needs, UPAC developed culturally and linguistically appropriate programs to address their special needs and emerged as the only bilingual, bi-cultural, multi-service agency for San Diego’s Asian populations.

In the 80’s, Ray ever interested in inspiring the Filipino community into becoming more politically involved helped form the Filipino Democrats of San Diego. This organization was instrumental in the campaign to elect former San Diego Councilman and Chairman of the San Diego County board of supervisors Jim Bates to the U.S. House of Representatives, representing California's newly created 44th Congressional District. The district was created after the 1980 census round of redistricting as the most Democratic district in the San Diego area. Bates was easily re-elected in 1984, 1986, and 1988. Ray was also a founding member of LEAD San Diego which after 33 years is the only organization in the San Diego/Northern Baja California region solely dedicated to developing civically engaged leaders by educating, engaging and mobilizing an ever-growing network of informed, capable individuals who take action to effect positive, lasting change in the region.

Ray was able to retire in 1990 at the age of 55. He and Wennie purchased a home in Baguio, Philippines and they spent six months out of the year living there and travelling to different parts of Asia. When Wennie was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease in 2008, they sold their home in Baguio and decided to stay-put in San Diego. Ray succumbed to complications arising from diabetes and congestive heart failure at Scripps Hospital Encinitas on Thursday, June 25, 2015. He is preceded in death by his parents and siblings Josefina Apostol, Eduardo Aragon, Pedro Aragon and Amelia Tobias. He is survived by his sister Theodora Altares, brother Erico Aragon, his loving wife Wenifreda Rubio Aragon, his two daughters Wendy Aragon-Mills and Rena Holloway, his sons-in-law Tony Mills and Aaron Lewis Holloway and his four grandchildren Nino Mills, Justin Holloway, Racquel Holloway and Anthony Mills. Ray’s memorials/visitations will be held at Glenn Abbey Mortuary on Tues 7/7 and Wed 7/8 from 5pm-9pm and the Funeral Mass will be at St. Joseph’s Cathedral on Thurs7/9 at 10am. For more details go to rayaragon.weebly.com. Ray's altruistic nature drew the respect, admiration and love of everyone who knew him well. He will be sorely missed.