Oswaldo Mosquera

Oswaldo Mosquera, 79, Topeka, died Sunday, April 18, 2004, at Manor Care. Mr. Mosquera was born Feb. 7, 1925, the son of Reinaldo Mosquera and Maria Antonieta Molina Mosquera in Machachi, Ecuador. He was raised in Quito, the capital of Ecuador. He graduated in 1944 from Ecuador's Military Academy with a degree in engineering. He also served at Ecuador's Naval Academy as professor of mathematics. He left the Army after 15 years to pursue a career as a civil engineer. In 1956, he obtained a resident visa to the United States and located to Los Angeles. He was employed for two years as a field engineer for the Santa Fe Railway and two years in the Los Angeles general office of Santa Fe. His major engineering work was for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California from which he retired in 1989 after 27 years of service. He had lived in Topeka with his wife since 1994. He married Mary C. Vargas in 1966. She survives. Also surviving are a son, Herman Mosquera, Orland o, Fla.; two daughters, Hipatia Goss, Seymour, Conn., and Carla Maria Daniels, Henderson, Nev.; 12 grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren. Other survivors include a brother, Alberto Jara Mosquera; and three sisters, Laura Cadena, Olga Chacon, all of Ecuador, and Angela Rodriguez-Batlle, Montevideo, Uruguay. He was preceded in death by a daughter, Margaria Arellano, on March 25, 2004. He was a member of Christ the King Church. Mr. Mosquera will lie in state after 2 p.m. Wednesday at Brennan-Mathena Funeral Home, where a parish rosary will be recited at 6 p.m. The funeral mass will be celebrated by the Rev. Pete O'Sullivan at 11 a.m. Thursday at Christ the King Church. Interment will follow in Mount Calvary Cemetery. Memorial contributions may be made to Project Growth at Christ the King Church, 5972 S.W. 25th, Topeka, 66614; Heartland Hospice, 1033 S.W. Gage Blvd., Topeka, 66604; or to Project Pride at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, 134 N.E. Lake, Topeka, 66616.