Patterson Cemetery District, Stanislaus County, CA 

Submitted by Gale Stroud and Burta Herger 26 Aug 2007

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Delphia John B 741003 p1
Accident Claims Life of Community Leader; Funeral services were held here Monday for Patterson community leader
and business man John B. Delphia, who was killed last week when the grader he was driving overturned on a levee near
Marshall Road and Highway 33. Delphia, 64, was operating the heavy machinery on a levee bordering a sump pond on
the Crows Landing Naval Auxiliary Landing Field property being rented to Patterson Frozen Foods when the accident
occurred Thursday. His body was discovered about 4 p.m. pinned beneath the overturned grader.  The grader was not
visible from the Highway 33 and was some distance from Marshall Road. The accident bore a striking resemblance to an
earlier tragedy which claimed the life of his younger brother, Elwyn, who was killed four years ago by a runaway
bulldozer during a brush fire in the Del Puerto Canyon.  Delphia was elected mayor of the city of Patterson in 1948,
holding the position until 1953, when he succeeded the retiring Frank Raines as the District 5 representative on the
Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors.  He retired from the county governing board in June 1856. A native of Vernalis,
Delphia moved to Patterson in 1942 and began business here.  He purchased the historic "Del Puerto Hotel in 1954; he
and about 150 friends and well-wishers celebrated his 20 years as owner-operator of the hotel only two weekends ago.
Delphia was active in both community and professional organizations and served as president of the Patterson Rotary and
20-30 Clubs, the Patterson-Westley Chamber of Commerce and the Patterson Cemetery District.  He was a longtime
member of the Patterson Volunteer Fire Department, and served as its first assistant chief. He was serving on both the
cemetery district and the Patterson Hospital District boards of directors.  He was also a member of the Masonic Lodge,
Aahmes Shrine Temple, Eastern Star and Scottish Rite. Entombment at Parkview Cemetery in Stockton followed the
Monday service. He leaves his widow Virginia, two sons, Claude of Patterson and John B. Delphia Jr. of Detroit; three
sisters, Ellen Apel of Stockton, Dorris Ott and Norma Chesnut of Bakersfield; and a brother George Delphia of Portland,
Ore.