George Downing Wolf January 13, 1934 - June 2, 2023 Turlock, California – George Downing Wolf, 89, passed away on June 2, 2023. He was born on January 13, 1934 in San Francisco, CA, to Dorothy Lauer (Downing) and Willis Carlyle Wolf. He married Nan Harriett (Colburn) on July 10th 1955 in Sutter Creek, CA. He was a resident of Turlock, CA for 46 years.
As a young boy, George lived in Yakima, WA, Glencoe, IL, Saginaw, MI, South Bend, IN, and later in Oakland and Berkeley, CA, and graduated from high school in Danville, CA. He attended Stanford University and graduated from UC Davis with a B.S. in Agronomy. George served active duty in the Marine Corps from 1953 to 1955. Prior to moving to Turlock, he was a resident of Davis, Lompoc, Dixon, Winters, Wheatland, Tracy, Winton, Planada, and Ballico, CA, as he was promoted and transferred to different locations. He spent 38 years with California Packing Corporation, which became Del Monte Corporation, working in ranch management and as a fieldman / fruit buyer.
George and Nan avidly researched their genealogy all over the country, visited their great-grandchildren in Paraguay and throughout the U.S. When not spending time with his family, he was often found in the garage building furniture, working on one of the kids’ cars or building a 29’ ketch sailboat in the backyard. George found time for all of this while raising six children and assisting in the care of 13 grandchildren.
He was preceded in death by Nan, his wife of 66 wonderful years, his parents, and his brother Richard Wolf of New York, NY. He is survived by his brother Thomas (Libby) Wolf of Washington, DC, his sister in-law Eva Wolf of New York, NY, his brother in-law Jon Colburn of Plymouth, CA, his children, Michael (Michele) Wolf of Modesto, CA; Katherine Wolf of Turlock, CA; Kimberly Kajioka of Turlock; Dorothy (Martin) Burt of Asuncion, Paraguay; James (Regina) Wolf of Merced and Elizabeth (Geoffrey) King of Turlock. Grandchildren include Jacqueline Wolf of Ann Arbor, MI; Matthew Wolf of Monterey, CA; Christopher (Jolie) Kajioka of Fuquay-Varina, NC; Andrew (Kimberly) Kajioka of Fort Wayne, IN; Megan (Jared) Hartsfield of Turlock; Alexander (Devika) Kajioka of Marina, CA; Daniel (Vanessa) Burt of Asuncion, Paraguay; Thomas Burt of Asuncion; Marie-Claire (Juan Carlos) Burt of Asuncion; Willis Wolf of Merced; Spencer Wolf of Merced; Samuel King of San Jose and Joshua King of Turlock. George is also survived by twelve great-grandchildren.
“Papa Joe” was much loved and will be sorely missed. He was a devoted son, husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather. He was an ideal model of hard work, honor, integrity, patience and love to all who came in contact with him.
A visitation will be held from 5 to 8 P.M., on Friday, June 9, 2023, at Turlock Funeral Home, 425 N. Soderquist Rd., Turlock.
A graveside service will be held at 11:00 A.M., on Saturday, June 10, 2023, at Turlock Memorial Park.
We wish to thank Community Hospice for their loving care. Donations in George’s memory may be made to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
