June 4, 1999
By Daniel Muñoz
Funeral services for Manuel Chavez, a noted United Farm Workers activist, are set for Friday in Bonita, a community south of San Diego.
For two weeks, friends and family kept a candlelight vigil outside Chavez' hospital room. He died Sunday (May 30, 1999) from pancreatic cancer. He was 73.
A rosary is slated for Friday, 8 pm, at St. Jude's Church in San Diego and a Saturday morning procession will begin at 9 am from Cesar Chavez Elementary School to St. Jude's for a 9:30 am mass. Burial is set for in Glen Abbey Memorial Park in Bonita.
Chavez was a farm worker who went on to become a key organizer for UFW, a union that successfully sought to represent tens of thousands of farm workers across America during the 1960s and '70s. Chavez is credited as the founder of the theme "Si Se Puede" and as designer of the "UFW Flag".
He was also the cousin and confidant of legendary Mexican-American leader Cesar Chavez, who died in 1993.
News of Chavez' illness attracted the attention of federal, state and local elected officials, many of whom visited or sent cards to his hospital room. College students, labor activists and community leaders held nightly prayer sessions outside the hospital.
Chavez is survived by his wife, Lucina, and their children, Ricardo, Valeriano and Melinda.
(Associated Press contributed to this story)
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