Funeral assistance for loving Father, caretaker and Navy Vet

My name is Joan Alegado. I started this GoFundMe page to help pay for my father’s funeral services. My father, Josefino Villegas, was a father of three and died at the age of 75 years old. He was also a grandfather to six children. Two of his grandchildren are on the severe side of the autism spectrum. He loved his family so much that he sacrificed a lot to make sure that his children and grandchildren were taken care of.

He served over 20 years in the US Navy. He loved the ocean so much that after he retired from the military, he joined the merchant marine and worked on a science vessel for UCSD Oceanography. His ship days were cut short due to his wife’s medical emergency. My mother suffered severe brain damage due to an anaphylactic reaction. My mother was in a coma for a couple of months, and when she woke from her coma, she was bedridden and needed help breathing by use of a trachea tube and help eating by use of a gastric tube. During that time, my siblings and I were in elementary and middle school. My father didn’t want his kids to be without a mother, so he made the decision to take care of his wife at home. He left his job to become a full-time caretaker. He learned how to give her round-the-clock medications, clean her stomas, and even change and position her so that she would not develop bed sores.

Not only did he dedicate himself to care for our mother, but he also became a single father by raising his three children on his own. He showed us what love, devotion, and sacrifice meant. He took such good care of my mother that despite her declining health, he was able to take excellent care of her at home for almost 10 years before she passed. His caretaking didn’t stop after that. When he moved on from my mom, he fell in love with another widow. She had two young children whom he treated like they were his own. His partner also suffered from an illness, and he became a caretaker for her as well. When I was medically retired from the Navy, he took me in when I was a single mother dealing with a severe autoimmune disease. When he found out that his only grandson was diagnosed with severe autism, he wanted to take him in and raise him so that I could heal from my disease. He would visit me every time I was admitted to the hospital, and he would take care of my son when I was too sick to care for him. For over 20 years, he wanted to take care of everyone he loved. Now that he’s passed, it’s time for his children to take care of him.

On Easter Day, April 20, 2025, my dad was rushed to the emergency department due to a fall. While in the emergency room, they found out that he had severe jaundice. Upon the doctor’s assessments, my father suffered a stroke. He went in for an emergency craniotomy. He was stable that evening, but the following morning, he had to go in for another emergency craniotomy because of continued bleeding and another discovery of a second brain bleed. He had suffered massive brain damage similar to what my mother had. Knowing that our dad did not want his kids to go through and sacrifice our lives to care for him, the same way he cared for our mom, we initiated his request to put him in comfort care. He passed away the following day. All three of his children were by his side when he took his last breaths.

My father was a selfless man. He cared about everyone that was a part of his life. He did not have a preplanned funeral service contract, and so his children are trying to pay his funeral service fees out of pocket. Because of what our father went through, he deserves a good burial to honor him. That is why we are asking for help to fund his services. We are not asking to fund the entire amount, since the cost of the services is really expensive. But the money earned will be used solely towards his funeral expenses. Please help us honor our father so that he can be laid to rest with our mother.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.