28 Oct 1909 – 8 Jan 1969
Great-Grandson of Philip Cardon and Martha Marie Tourn
Grandson of Louis Philip Cardon and Susette Stalé
Son of Louis Paul Cardon and Mary Irena Pratt
MESA – Wilford Pratt “Pat” Cardon, 59, founder of the Cardon Oil Co. here in 1945 and now the largest jobber for the Shell Oil Co. west of the Mississippi, died yesterday in St. Joseph’s Hospital, Phoenix, after suffering a stroke Dec. 27 in Payson.
Mr. Cardon, 266 E. Second Ave., was born in Colonia Dublan, Mexico, and brought to Mesa as a child where he was graduated from Mesa High School. He was graduated from the University of Arizona College of Law in 1938 and was admitted to the State Bar of Arizona a year before he graduated.
He practiced law and ranched in Safford from 1938 to 1945 when he returned to Mesa. His activities in community affairs include support and sponsorship of young athletes and scholars at Mesa Community College. He was a high priest of the Mesa Stake and was serving as the stake’s mission president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at the time of his death.
Services will be at 2 p.m. Saturday in the Mesa LDS Fifth Ward Chapel, Center and First Avenue. Friends may call from 4 to 9 p.m. tomorrow at Gibbons Mortuary, 33 N. Sirrine and at the church an hour before services. Burial will be in Mesa Cemetery.
Survivors include his wife, Vilate; three sons, Wilford and Elijah, all of Mesa, and Craig on a church mission in Florence, Italy; three daughters, Mrs. Don Calder and Mrs. Terry Trendler, both of Mesa, and Mrs. Reid Hiatt of Richland, Wash.; two brothers, Stanley P. of Phoenix and Bartley P. of Tucson; seven sisters, Mrs. Ether Matthews, Mrs. Marion Thatcher, Mrs. Charles Clouse, and Mrs. Harry Jones, all of Mesa, Mrs. Ralph Trejo of Casa Grande, Mrs. Alma Hunt of Pine and Mrs. Ethel Whitnell of Phoenix; three other brothers and six sisters out of state; and 13 grandchildren.
-Published in the Arizona Republic, Phoenix, Arizona, Thursday, January 9, 1969, page 12D (92).
