The family of Joe Fagundes will tell you he was no “average Joe.” A devoted family man, a staunch community supporter and a mischievous jokester are all apt descriptors for him, but definitely not average.

Now, there’s one more to add to the list — grand marshal.

Fagundes was selected as the Turlock Downtown Independence Day parade grand marshal. His two daughters and three granddaughters will be riding in the parade in his memory, as Fagundes passed on Dec. 9, 2023.

Travis Regalo, the director for the Turlock Downtown Property Owner’s Association, said Fagundes was told in 2023 that he had been selected as the grand marshal for the parade and that he was very excited about it.

“Joe was a shining example of what it means to go above and beyond for your community,” Regalo said. He had a real desire to help people and created these events to bring people together.”

Fagundes and his family moved to Turlock when he was 10 years old and he graduated from Turlock High in 1963, having already made a name for himself on the track and football field and the frequent visits to Principal John H. Pitman’s office. Throughout his life, Fagundes remained a loyal Bulldog, regularly attending Friday night football games, by serving on the selection committee to induct former athletes to the Turlock High School Hall of Fame, and by being a member of the Turlock Quarterback Club.

It also was during high school that Fagundes became a member of the Ports Auto Club, which held fundraisers to help sick children. Old cars and charitable giving would become hallmarks of Fagundes’ life.

Fagundes attended barber school and became a licensed barber in 1964. His clients would sit down in his chair for a shave and cut and plenty of laughs. He joined the Turlock Junior Chamber of Commerce and continued in this profession until being drafted into the U.S. Army in 1966.

Fagundes served in Vietnam in 1967-68 in the First Infantry Division and received a National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Campaign Medal, Good Conduct Medal, Vietnam Service Medal, an Army Commendation Medal and a Bronze Star.

Upon his honorable discharge from the army, Fagundes returned to Turlock in 1968 and resumed his occupation as a barber until 1971 when he decided to make a career change and launched a dairy business.

Fagundes loved the Turlock community and took every opportunity to serve the people of it. He was a director and coach for Turlock Youth Football for 24 years and was awarded the Turlock Chamber of Commerce “Best of Turlock” Youth Involvement Award. He also was a director and a member of the Turlock Historical Society.

Many in Turlock knew Fagundes through Fava Bean Day, an annual celebration that was spun out of a lie Fagundes created.

“It was a joke that grew into something bigger,” Fagundes was fond of saying about his creation.

Back in 1993, Fagundes was sautéing up a batch of beans at his ranch shop and on a whim told his workers and a friend that May 9 was Fava Bean Day in Portugal.  The Fava Bean Day cook-out that first year was so well-enjoyed by those few attendees that the following year, as May 9 approached, a friend asked Fagundes if he would be cooking up another pot to celebrate the day.

“Now, when you tell a lie, you don’t remember it, so I asked him what he was talking about,” Fagundes previously told the Journal. “It was then that he knew he had fallen for another joke.”

It may have started as a joke, but for many people May 9 was irrevocably known as Fava Bean Day. Not only was it a day for them to get together and enjoy heaping bowls of fava beans and linguica, it was a day to help children in the community.

From the early days of when a hundred or so people would come to Fagundes’ Turlock ranch for a fava bean dinner, Fagundes saw the potential to turn his joke into a charitable force. Every year the celebration collected donations that were then given to two or three children in the community that were diagnosed with cancer. Over the years the grassroots effort collected well over $300,000 for local families. Fava Bean Day ran from 1994 to 2019.  In 2018, the Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge recognized his contributions to Fava Day Kids by awarding him the George Washington Honor Medal.

“He never expected nor wanted recognition for the things he did,” said Fagundes’ wife, Regina Fagundes. “He believed that you helped people because that is what your heart called you to do.”

Parades and old vehicles were another one of Fagundes’ passions. Where one person would see a heap of junk, Fagundes saw potential. Four of his favorites made appearances under his business name, J.M. Fagundes and Associates, in local parades. They were the “Horse Car,” a 1922 Dodge, which has been a part of Turlock history and parades since the 1950s; a 1953 canned milk truck that was originally driven locally to pick up milk at dairies and deliver to creameries; a 1947 Dodge cab over engine; and a 1953 Dodge flatbed truck.

“He was a very patriotic man and felt strongly about what it meant to be an American,” said Yvette Fagundes-Hall, his daughter.

Fagundes’ daughters, Fagundes-Hall and Theresa Fagundes-Diener along with his three granddaughters, Susannah Hall, Lillian Hall, and Rose Diener will be riding in the grand marshal car in his honor.

Turlock’s annual Fourth of July parade — which will be at night for the first time ever — will start at 6:30 p.m. Friday.  Following the parade, at 9 p.m., will be a drone show.

The annual car show will be held from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday in downtown Turlock.