World War II Army Enlistment Records
ARMY
NAME: CASTAGNETTO, HARLEN E.
STATE of RESIDENCE: California
COUNTY of RESIDENCE: Butte
PLACE OF ENLISTMENT: Sacramento
DATE OF ENLISTMENT: 1942
SOURCE: Civil Life
BIRTH YEAR: 1923
SERIAL NUMBER: 19142398

OBITUARY: Harlen E. Castagnetto
Heart Attack Fatal for Tiny Castagnetto
Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Tuesday at the Case-Timmons Van Hook Funeral Chapel for Harlen E. Castagnetto, 36, of 1727 Sherman Avenue, who was stricken with a fatal heart attack at a picnic last night.
Castagnetto was attending a stag wiener roast of the banks of the Sacramento River sponsored by the Fraternal Order of Eagles Aerie 218 last night when he was stricken. He was pronounced dead on arrival at Enloe Hospital at 11:20 p.m. Castagnetto had suffered another heart attack last December.
An enthusiastic bowler, Castagnetto was the top bowler in the Commercial League in the 1959-60 season, and a member of the winning Patty Typewriter team of the Industrial League in 1959-60.
He was born near Redding on Oct. 9, 1923, the son of the late James and Miriam Castagnetto. His father died when Harlen was 13 months old and his mother moved the family to Chico, where he attended school until his mother remarried and the family moved to Nelson. Castagnetto graduated from Biggs High School as a top athlete and Future Farmer student in his class of 1942.
He farmed with his stepfather, Thomas Brice, until November 1942, when he enlisted in the Army and served with the armored division in the North Africa and Italians campaigns during World War II. He received his discharge at Camp Beale on Dec. 16, 1945.
He and the former Arline Vance were married on Dec. 24, 1945, and made their home in Nelson for a while, then moved to Chico where he worked for the Chico Wood Products until last April, having continued through the merger with Diamond National Corporation, when he quit to go to work for the Sacramento Valley Moulding Company, as a sawyer.
Active in civic affairs, Castagnetto was a member of the Millmen’s Local 1495, was serving as inside guard for the Eagles Lodge, and as chairman of the Butte County Muscular Dystrophy Association for 1960-61, was a past auditor of the Hooker Oak PTA and a member of the Bidwell Junior High PTA, and was an active supporter of the Camp Fire Girls.
A former softball pitcher, Castagnetto had played ball with the Chico, Orland and Durham teams, and was manager last year of the Beavers for the VFW’s Minor League.
Friends who desire may make contributions to the Max Baer Heart Fund through Fred Robbers, or to the Butte County Muscular Dystrophy Association.
Castagnetto is survived by his wife, a son, Thomas James, two daughters, Candace, 13, and Cheryl, 12; his stepfather T.R. Brice; and a sister Mrs. Loraine Hauso, all of Chico. A small daughter, Sharon Areline, preceded him in death.85

Cause of death: Heart Attack