My Story
Introduction
I want to especify to any One who may read this Document that the fact that you will notice there is little puncuation. and where there is some it may be in the wrong places , and I could have had it corrected ,But then it would not have been written soly by me , though I had very little schooling ,I did the best I could, So Iask for your Indulgences A citizen of his country ,goes of to War though little he may able to do. My daughter Margaret has done some fixing and editing to make it easier to read. My granddaughter Rene created the web site for me.
Let's begin
Freedom of speech liberty and pursuit of happiness is the basis for all the amendments of the constitution of our nation covered by the red, white, and blue and faith in the almighty God. In the wide mountain in the state of New Mexico, a young boy was born in a hut made of adobe. The adobe bricks were made with mud and straw mixed with water. This hut was built in the face of canyon and that was the place where I, Nicasio Marcelino Baca, was born on April 26, 1917. This canyon was very deep in some areas. This canyon was from 5 to 7 miles wide in some places and how long, the lord only knows. My ancestors were of Indian and Spanish descent. My mother's name was Rita Chacon and my father's name was Alfredo Baca. My mother's father's name was Florencio Chacon. Her mother's name was Vidal Tenorio. My father's father was Prutalco Baca and he was Apache Indian. My father's mother's name was Basilisa Lucero and she was Spanish. They settled in New Mexico in the 1800's - at that time New Mexico was a territory and became a state in 1914.
We had bbcows, goats, mules, and horses. We planted beans, corn and other vegetables. This we planted in the bottom of the canyon, which at that area was about a half a mile wide. We depended on rainfall to grow our crops. At times, when it did not rain, the people would gather at the church, for the first thing people did after they settled was to build a church. At the gathering, we would bring our instruments, drums and ornaments. We would take the statues of the favorite saint, Jesus and his blessed mother Mary. We would go up the path to the mountain until we reached the plateau where we had a large and wide area. We paraded up and down praying for rain so our crops would grow. We stayed all day and night - some times we would stay two or three days, then we returned home to wait for the results. Some times it would rain real nice, some times we would be flooded with heavy rain, and some times it would not rain at all. There were other areas to the north, south, east and west from us where people were able to use water to irrigate their crops and orchards. This water was from the Colorado River, which flows all the way to Mexico from where I was born. There's a village located 12 miles toward the river named Anton Chico, where I was born. People from all the area several miles around came to shop and also to trade.
When they did not have enough money, they would trade corn and beans and other crops to buy the other things they needed. The store was a mercantile store that sold everything needed to make a living; it was the only store there for miles around owned by a family named Abercombre. I have no knowledge as to when they settled in the area. But I do know they were some of the settlers in the area and the store remains in the same place to this day - April 1, 1998.
Going back to my place of birth at The Canyon Blanco, we had two churches - one at the upper part of the canyon by the name of San Juan, and a mile on up from the church was where my grandparents lived. Also living there were two of their soninlaws my uncles' families - the Montoya's and the Rivera's - married to my mother's sister). From San Juan on down the canyon, is the other church named Santo Nino. This historical Capia or old church is there to this day - May 3, 1998.
All I have written is from what I remember when I was 6 years old in the year 1923. There was a one room schoolhouse and my mother's cousin, Maria Rivera, taught there. As I remember about the middle of the year, our family moved to Las Vegas New Mexico. It was a very historical town as it was in the land settled by the Spaniards after they invaded along the coast from Old Mexico. We moved and brought with us a wagon a team of mules and a cow. I never knew what kind of a deal my father made with a lady who owned the lots of land where later my dad built a house. Everything was ready when we moved from The Canyon Blanco.
The Wrath of the Apache
My Grandpa Baca who had become widowed by then moved with us and lived with us the rest of his life. Grandpa was an Apache Indian. When he was very young he was taken captive by the Spanish people and became a sheepherder for a very rich landowner until he was set free. When he grew up he was a very hard man to get along with which was a cross I was destined to shoulder for many years to come. He lived to be 98 years old and I have to be honest in saying he was a hard man to really get close to. Being an Indian he was a very strict man to live with. He became the head and law of the family for which I will remember him for the rest of my life. He was rough and tough and if he liked you you could get away with anything if not he could make your life miserable and he never liked me. As a result of that I had a long very hard childhood.
Meanwhile, my Dad found a job with a railroad at Las Vegas at the round house where they turn the engine around so the train can go another direction. But not long after he was working at the job there was a strike and Dad lost the job. This happened in late 1926. Then it became very hard to make a living. Dad had to find odd jobs.
By now I was in school. After school I got me a job. I gathered the neighbor's cows, goats, horses and also our mules. I would take them to pasture them in the meadows outside of town clear to the foot of the mountains two miles away. I would bring them back in the evening. For this job I would be paid five cents per head per day. I gave my Mom most of the money to buy food. Many times I went to the store and my mother would order me to buy fifteen cents of hamburger ten cents of potatoes the same amount of lard and coffee. This was enough to make a complete dinner or supper for our family with a few leftovers that mom made sure were put in the coolest place we had. For our people by that I mean our nationality and especially those of us who were poor our diet was and is to this day, cannot be so bad for here I am almost 83 years old still eating tortillas beans chili potatoes coffee and real milk. I wonder as of today how many of my young friends who used to make fun of me and my food are still eating their superior food today. Though it did not take much money to exist it was hard to find a way to make money but somehow we survived.
Denver, Colorado
At that time, my Mom's only brother Florencio who was named after my Grandpa came to visit. He had been living in Denver Colorado. He was in the company of a lady who later became his wife. During those days kids were not allowed where the elders were talking. But I would listen when Dad and Mom thought I was asleep and that's how I found out my Uncle had talked my Father into going to Denver and try our luck at finding a job. My Father sold all we had and off we go to Denver Colorado. This was in 1927 and we stayed in the city for a couple of months then moved to Littleto, a suburb of Denver. I never thought or imagined that I would live long enough to witness on TV what happened in the school in that little town. We worked on a beautiful farm there the rest of the year.
Back to New Mexico
On the Road Again - Back to New Mexico
Texas Cotton Harvest
My folks decided to return to New Mexico in our old truck. It had no carburetor it had a vacuum little tank so going up the steep mountains we had to prime the tank to bring the gas up. My brother and I would walk in front of the truck moving the big rocks out of the way. My Dad tied a big pine tree to the rear of the truck and drug the tree to save the brake bands from burning up. It took all day until almost dark to go over the mountain so we camped outside the town of Raton New Mexico that night. The next day we started across the flat lands to Wagon Mound. This area has two high mounds one on each side of the road and also where the historical Santa Fe Trail comes down from the Rocky Mountains. At that time you could still see deep ruts of the wagons. Our Grandpa told us a story that it took six months to make the trip from Missouri to Las Vegas and back. You could see a few bison at a distance slowly eating across acres and acres of grassland as far as the eye could see. It was a beautiful sight and whoever named the sate of New Mexico the Land of Enchantment knew what they were doing. For truly when your traveling across any direction you can see for miles and miles of beautiful grasslands. Also there are beautiful high and low mountains that have different colors of rocks. Close to Las Vegas there are some mountains that have red stones which are from one to two inches thick and about three to four feet in diameter. These plates can be lifted to use in building houses. We put in a sidewalk on our new home of these stones called flagstones. They were used all over the city for different projects including high wall fencing around properties. There are many colors of soil and dirt. People mixed the different colors of dirt in water and decorated the walls of their rooms with all kinds of designs. In my young days I saw some beautiful walls for you just could not rush over to a shopping center to buy paint. All these mountains remain pure and air clean today. All this time, my young life had been an adventure for though I had worked hard being so young I enjoyed the experience and traveling and I thank God for the memory granted me at the age of 82.
Texas Cotton Harvest
On the Road Again - Back to New Mexico
Texas Cotton Harvest
I had no idea that my life was soon to change into a hard lonely working life. After staying in Las Vegas New Mexico the rest of the year we stayed with relatives. In the spring my Dad Uncle and a friend of theirs decided to go to Texas to work in the cotton harvest. Our truck had done a good job so far so we loaded our belongings and took to the road once more. Uncle's family joined us later. We arrived at a place named Muleshoe Texas and we were about to find out for the first time in our lives that the Texans truly believed that Almighty God had made them the most superior race on the face of the earth for they did not let us in the stores and any other shops. We had our special store it had everything for our needs and at this place for the first time in our lives we met Black people in big numbers. They too were banned from stores and shops. We all worked together picking cotton and believe you me this was one of the hardest jobs I ever had to work at. All winter we stayed in this place. In the spring at the big farm or the headquarters of the farm another family my Uncle's family and our family were there. The three men made a deal with the owners to sharecrop the big farm for big it was. It had cattle horses mules big huge barns water wells, uptodate machines plows binders planters and everything else needed to farm cotton maize corn wheat oats and other crops. We had never seen a farm so big and so many kinds of animals in one farm together. We worked all summer and winter.
On the Road Again - Back to New Mexico
On the Road Again - Back to New Mexico
On the Road Again - Back to New Mexico
Unfortunately, the future is not ours to see as later we were to find out the following spring our lives were to change again and we would hit the road once more. My Mother became very sick and we almost lost her. She almost had a nervous breakdown. She was a very devout person and something happened in her brother's family that triggered her illness. Bad luck went with us. We had one flat tire after another flat tire. We patched and pumped with blisters on our hands all the way to within five miles of Santa Rosa, New Mexico. It had started raining heavy earlier in the day. The roads were flooded and an uncle of my Dad's worked for the county and he was out on the road and ran into us. He towed us to his home in town and we spent the night at their home. The next day my Dad bought tires and we took off for Anton Chico. We made it there late that day. My Mom had an aunt living there and we stayed at her place until after Mother got well. As close as I can remember we arrived there sometime late May and left again for Las Vegas in June in that month my oldest sister was with us. Dad did whatever job he could find. Grandpa would take us to the mountains. My brother and I would gather the wood help chop it to size load the wagon take it to town and sell part of it to help make a living.
Learning "The Trade"
Julesburg, Colorado and Sugar Beets
On the Road Again - Back to New Mexico
Dad had a cousin who still lived in Anton Chico. He and Dad made white lightning (illegal whiskey). Dad went to his cousin's - it being such a desolate place they were safe from the law. Later they moved operations to town in Vegas. There I learned the trade for I had to babysit the still. This was a long five gallon copper container which was filled with corn mash from a fifty gallon barrel where it had fermented. Then you put a lid on it - it had a long coiled copper pipe where steam would flow drop by drop into another container. The lid was clamped on with special clamps for it had to support an awful lot of heat. We also used a thermometer to test the alcohol content. How do I know all this? I babysat the still and others many days and nights during my young lonesome life. We somehow survived. My poor Mother gave birth to my brother Jake and my brothers George and Raymond. We stayed in New Mexico from our arrival from Texas in 1920 to late 1927.
Julesburg, Colorado and Sugar Beets
Julesburg, Colorado and Sugar Beets
Julesburg, Colorado and Sugar Beets
It was time again to go and Dad and a cousin of ours who was a little younger than my Mom her nephew contracted to go with us to the Great Western Sugar Company paid for the transportation and the food. We booked the train to Julesburg Colorado. This place is located in the northeastern corner of the state on the Nebraska border. It is sometimes called the Gateway to Colorado. It is a historical town - the story was that the Indians burned the town two times. It is also very very cold with Nebraska on one side and Wyoming on the other. When any winter storm hit on either two states Julesburg was sure to receive the brunt of it. Working in snow in winter and the cold wind you try your best to get used to it though you never do. We arrived at the railroad depot. This branch of railroad ran from Nebraska to Denver.
The kind of work we had to do was brutal in the summer as well as in the winter especially in the sugar beet fields. The machine would plant the seeds thick as it could in rows twenty inches apart in rows a quarter to a half mile long acres and acres of sugar beets. On our knees we straddled two rows in eighty and ninety degrees heat. With a short handle hoe blocking out the plants leaving only one single plant every eight to twelve inches apart so the plant had room to grow (called "thinning"). It was strict measures of inches apart. We did this from sun up to after sun down all summer long until we completed our acres. The job was checked by a surveyor who was a company man. At the termination of the job in the summer he also was responsible for measuring the acreage for payment which was by the acre. We were allowed credit at a large store it had for food clothing cars gas tools and everything needed. In the winter it was payup time. Should we be unable to pay the full amount the owners would carry the balance over to next summer which happened most of the time. This store was owned by two brothers - their name was Jankovsky. This store was located in a very small town call Ovid Colorado. It was eight miles west of the town of Julesburg. The farm we had moved to was between the two towns.
Julesburg & Rocky Ford, Colorado
Julesburg, Colorado and Sugar Beets
Julesburg, Colorado and Sugar Beets
This was when as a young man my life was lonely and tearful for although I had to work at a very young age my family was not always close by. I would sometimes be thirty or forty miles away working living with strange people forced to eat food I never ate before sleeping on a straw mattress on the cold floor. We had to sleep fully dressed to keep warm. I know that this is hard to believe in this day and age but that was to become my way of life. Attending school most of the time two to three months out of the school year I lived this kind of life until we moved to the town of Julesburg that we had moved from. We were working for a farmer by the name of Charley French. This family migrated from Withers Kentucky - his wife Angie, oldest daughter Lula, two sons - Bussy, Otis and youngest daughter Agnes. The boss's kids went to the same school. When I was unable to attend because of work, Bussy brought home the assignment and helped me and took it in for the next day that is the way I was able to keep up my grades. This was also the case when we worked at the farm at Ovid with the boss Jim Anderson his wife and two daughters - the oldest Dorothy and Violet. She was in the same grade as I. She helped me so much I shall never forget her or working with her father for he always made me feel good and told me you with me not for me although I pay your father for your work. I need someone I can trust with my animals and my equipment. He owned three teams of the finest mules in the area. His harnesses were the best most decorated I had ever seen and used. I can proudly say I learned more and enjoyed more working for this man for he treated me like a son. He gave me respect and dignity and also taught me all I would ever have to learn in the farming business. At the same time I was attending sixth grade at Ovid. That was to be the last schooling for the rest of my life. At this time my poor mother was giving birth to my sisters - Rosalia the middle one and Rita the youngest. We lived around this are until 1935 when my Mom became very ill again. She was under a doctor's care and he recommended a move to warmer climate as she was developing TB.
Rocky Ford, Colorado
Again we were on the move. Dad had somehow kept in touch with my Mom's brother who had moved to a place named Rocky Ford, Colorado. This town is a little south and east of Denver along Highway 71. Dad hired a big truck and we moved kit and caboodle. My uncle had found us a farm to work in. I worked in several farms in small towns about 60 miles around this area, always backbreaking jobs.
My Wife Trinidad, Lost Love
My Wife Trinidad, Lost Love
My Wife Trinidad, Lost Love
It was while I was working here that I rebelled against doing the bulk of the work and support for the family. I had fallen in love with a lovely young lady. She had lost her mother and lived with her cousins and aunt who had no use for me. The family was from Delahart, Texas. I had already left home with only blessings of my Mother and resentment of my Dad and Grandpa. After two months of hard miserable struggle, Trinidad Vera from Texas became my wife only to leave me though the will of God six months later for she was sick most of the time. Once more I'm left alone to find comfort in my work with my best man who was also my best friend. We lived in Avondale Colorado which is located about fifty miles south of Rocky Ford. After the harvest I went back to visit my Mom the only one who really cared what happened with and to me. Again she was not feeling very well so I stayed working close by. Thank God I never in my entire life lacked for a job not for big money. During the big depression I was paid one dozen eggs one quart of milk and twentyfive cents for a full day's work but I was working when many many people had no means to make a living. Getting back to my life at Rocky Ford I stayed there trying to put my life together for some days out in the fields. The loss of my wife was almost unbearable had it not been for my faith I could not have kept my sanity. I worked cried and prayed for I knew not that my Father and Mother were going on a trip that would change my life forever.
A New Beginning
My Wife Trinidad, Lost Love
My Wife Trinidad, Lost Love
They went to New Mexico and on the way back they brought back a family from Dahlia New Mexico. This people were related to my Father and they were in charge of the post office in the area of Canyon Blanco. The Martinez was a large family who were owners of a large Cattel spread in the 18 hunderds. They were later to become my inlaws and my sisterinlaws and brotherinlaws for the fourth oldest daughter (Alcantara or Connie) was to become my second wife and mother of my children (Margaret, Andrea, Teresa and Jude). All except Teresa were born in Colorado. Teresa was born at the Martinez ranch in Dahlia. My brother Jake married the youngest Martinez daughter Margie. They had two boys and two nice young women. We were very close the children grew up together for several years. All this time I was forever looking for a way to better myself workwise not getting rich but at least getting off my knees keeping my back straight for I already had problems with it from lifting heavy adobe bricks. When I was twelve years old my Father took a job of building a warehouse and that is where I hurt my back the first time.
My second best man and his wife lived in Avondale where I had taken a job. My new bride and I moved in with them for a few days. The place was a huge ranch that was called El Rancho Grande. They planted acres and acres of candalope, onions sugar beets alfalfa and other grains. They also had a large packing plant where we packed and shipped the cantalopes and a huge warehouse for storing sorting and packaging onions. I soon became a foreman in this big ranch little did I know my life was about to take a drastic change.
We were now at war in Germany and one Friday at the end of the day, I walked into the office and asked my boss, David Chirulo for the weekend off to go visit my Mom who was sick again. I had made all the needed arrangements with another man I had trained to replace me whenever I was away on another part of the ranch. But it happened the boss was in a bad mood that day so he insisted that I could not go. They were ranchers that had political power David who was a member of the Draft Board threatened to have me inducted into the Army if I left the job. I told him in no nice words to shove it up his Italian butt and I left. His cousin whom I liked and got along very good with was the boss at the ranch headquarters. He came to apologize and he told me to go home stay as long as I wanted then return to a brand new house which he had built and would furnish for my family. We returned to a very different and satisfying work and envy of some. This man's name was Louie everyone called him Lou. He was a great boss. As a foreman I shuttled people to the job site. I was responsible for the picking of the melons shipping them to the packing sheds where they crated and shipped them. We did the same with the onions. The melons were picked according to how far they were shipped. The process is to complicated to try to explain but in due time you became an expert and picked them by their color. I also oversaw the loading of the trucks distribution of containers crates for both onions and melons.
I was responsible for the welfare of my crews. I took them to the town of Pueblo Colorado to buy whatever they needed every weekend. Some of the crews were Indians brought from the reservation in Taos New Mexico. Also we would hire others that were Spanish people who were looking for work. After the harvest we had to deliver the Indians safe and sound back to the reservation Chief in New Mexico. The laws and regulations were very tight and their whole communities and the people are more united than most outsiders know about. For most white people believe that the only good Indian is a dead one for this is what their forefathers and history has taught them. But living among them and partly related to them and working with them I believe I have a right to let other people know how wrong some people can be. It is meeting all kinds of people, working with them sharing their good times and bad times and stories of the trials and tribulations is how we really know others. Only then are we not judging by hearsay. Working for Louie was a pleasure.
World War II
Back to Julesburg, CO
Back to Julesburg, CO
My joy did not last longfor DavidC had reported me to the Draft Board and two months later I was on my way to Mineral Wells Texas for fourteen weeks to become Private Nick Baca. I had now departed from my parents and brothers and sisters my wife and three daughters. My brother George was in the Air Force in Germany in the ETO. After the first six weeks of training my wife came to visit me. By now my luck of being in charge of people followed me even in the Army. Soon I had a squad of men under my command doing different kinds of jobs the rest of my training. I sent for my wife and she came and found a job in a brick company. A buddy of mine had sent for his wife and she was working at this place too. She was able to have my wife work with her. Our friends had rented a small trailer house and our wives lived there and worked together until we finished our training. Then my wife and I went home to Rocky Ford Colorado to await my call to go overseas. After a brief rest at home with my family I traveled to Camp Campbell in Michigan from there to New Jersey to Boston where we were loaded on the Queen Mary. We headed for England and danger for we were going into the unknown. All this time I had never lost faith in my God and now more than ever we all needed him and his will his power. My good luck was still with me and by the grace of God it would remain with me to this day as yesterday I became 81 years old.
The second day at sea the first Lieutenant heard me talking to some Italian war prisoners. We had a bunch of them being shipped back to Europe. I remained on the top deck directing them to their sleeping quarters and eating quarters. I was able to observe the ship and its every movement. You asked no questions you just waited to hear in case any orders were issued over the intercom. After always being treated and thought of not as good and never equal now as I looked around me and saw thousands of men of different color of skin all preoccupied with their own fears at last I understood that we were all under God created equal. For those who gave their lives for the country their wounds showed no matter what color they were outside the blood that flowed was red their bones that showed were white. The same as any other human they fell to the ground so are or are we not created equal?
After viewing the holocaust and helping the Jewish-freeing them from the concentration camp they were in I was convinced there no worse enemy of man than man himself. Perhaps those of us who witnessed this unforgettable suffering of these humans who were subjected to even cannibalism will have served to make better humans of us. We were no heroes or volunteers.
We were new replacements who were ordered into the 82nd Airborne Division as a Gliderman. I served as such for the rest of the war. Except for the holocaust I will not dwell on my life in the war. After the war was over and serving six months occupation in Berlin Germany I came home to the USA on the Queen Elizabeth and took part in the ticker tape parade down Fifth Avenue in the Big Apple. After thanking my good Lord for sparing my life through the ordeal of the war I thank him also for allowing me to see and visit other countries. Many times for me it was not pleasant nor enjoyable but without the war how else could it have been possible for a poor uneducated Mexican (as most of you white people insist on calling me) and I just continue to ignore you. I have been called a Spanish American a spic a Hispanic a Latino a half-breed amanita. I know who I am and I am as any other man a human being proud to have served his country. I have the deepest respect for those who lost their lives for our flag and country and their loved ones at home. I saw things met and talked to many different people of other nations as in any other place, some good some bad. But as the saying goesthere is no place like home.
I arrived in Rocky Ford a week after my discharge -January 18, 1946 and met my new addition to my family- my son Jude named after my patron saint. Being that I knew farming inside out a G.I. loan was the ideal way to try to farm rented land. I bought a tractor team of horses seed and all other equipment needed. I was offered my old job when I came back in a lumber yard. My bosses were good men. Getting lumber was very hard for personal building but they allowed me enough lumber to build a two room house on my half acre that I bought before going to war. I retained my job at the lumber yard and my brother Jake took the farm which turned out to be a disaster. The following year I lost everything including our property to repay the loan.
Back to Julesburg, CO
Back to Julesburg, CO
Back to Julesburg, CO
Again and alone I returned to Julesburg after securing a job as a contractor. I sent for my wife and kids and the kids enrolled in school and my wife and I both worked jobs. I contracted the shucking in bundles of wheat cane oats and also the hauling to storage of potatoes during harvest. I had the great luck to work for this man and his father they owned a large amount of land around the area. Also they were big cattle feeders and buyers. We lived there and worked from 1946 to April of 1957.
One long cold night I made up my mind to try my luck in California for people were talking and some had already left and were writing and asking me to come there. Their name is Vallejos and they were my compadres. It happened a very dear and special neighbor who was the scout master had asked me to be his assistant with the cub scouts. His job was post master and later we joined the National Guard together. At that time he was also planning to go to Arizona to apply for a post master's job. He invited me to ride to Phoenix Arizona with him. I accepted and we left Julesburg in April of 1957. I saw a lot of beautiful country on the way. I left the next day in the Greyhound bus and arrived in Sunnyvale California the next day.
California
My friends were waiting for me and they took me to their home. Every day I would pick up my letters of references that people who knew me or I had worked for had given me and went to Libbys cannery where they canned all kinds of fruits. I had operated fork lifts before and had letters to prove it. They said they would call me but they never did. I also applied at a grain elevator and Westinghouse all to no avail. I could have found a job in the farms at any time but for that kind of job I did not have to travel to California to find. I had just left one. April was going fast and still no job. I was out of money so my friend Trinidad Vallejos and his wife Beatrice had talked me into coming to stay with them in Mt. View and still had no job. It was here my Lord smiled on me once more. Bea as we called her found a job for me in the want ads in the newspaper. I took it painting house numbers on the curbs. The boss furnished all the equipment and transportation. He would contract all the house numbers then drive me out to the town or city and give me a list of streets. I soon learned my way around Sunnyvale Palo Alto Los Altos Mt. View and Redwood City which came in handy later. Two weeks later the boss offered me a deal the job was paying me twenty-five cents per number he charged one dollar per. Now under a new deal he would give me the seventy-five he took the twentyfive providing I would terminate all contracts. But what to do for transportation? Again my good luck held out a friend of the Vallejos had a son who had gone to Viet Nam and he had left a Model A Ford 1930 with a rumble seat and all it cost me was thirty dollars, sixty dollars for licenses and I was able to pay my room and board. I was able to send a few dollars home. The last week of work when we finished the contract I called the boss and could not locate him. The next day I went to the motel where he had his office and knocked no one answered. I spoke to the owner and he told me my boss had packed the night before and left without notice. He asked if he owed me any money and I said yes one hundred eighty dollars. So I lost some on that deal and out of a job again.
I had moved to Mt. View permanently. The Vallejos landlord asked me to walk him to the winery on El Camino as he was over 65 years old every time he ran out he would ask me to go with him. His wife was concerned he might get run over by a car so he always waited for me and one day his wife called me to her house. They both asked me to have a glass of red wine with them and when we were finished she asked me to go up the stairs with them and they showed me a beautiful furnished paneled room. They said you shall live in this room until you bring your family. A few days later a cousin of Triny's and a good friend I know back home - John Martinez asked me if I wanted to work on construction. He had recommended me to his old company for he had been laid off due to weather and had secured work as a cement finisher with another company. Now at least I with help of the Lord and luck would be able to stay and work. The next day in my Model A roadster I went to the construction site in Los Altos met the supervisor David Macelahan. He asked a few questions hired me and told me he would have me become a union member. Later he turned out to be a good man and later a real friend. Excel and Son was the company. I started at three bucks per hour and this to me was a fortune. The most I had ever earned was 90 dollars a month. This was the last days of May and I never stopped working although my job was to dig the trenches for the foundations and set up the forms. I helped with other jobs too like trucking the waste to the dump and I also leveled the ground where the houses and garages were built with a DC8 caterpillar and when the weather was bad I cleaned up the debris in the new houses. Thank the Lord for his help. The job had two men who were Japanese and one Latin, as we are called today. These men were foremen and fair to all who worked under them and we worked well together.
I called my wife and told her to sell everything she could including the car. In the meantime I had started to find a place to live. Apartments were a no-no if you had kids. The three-day weekend of the 4th of July was coming up and I wanted my family here for that day so I asked my Japanese foreman for a day off to try and find a place for my family to live. He told me his brother had a house on east Tierra Bella. A lady lived there but he had told her to vacate the house as she was a very dirty unkempt person. He leased it to me for eighty dollars a month. I had a home and had to work real hard in the evenings to clean up the big back yard but Dave the super loaned me the D.C. 8 to clean up the yard. Thank God for my beloved and faithful friends Sadie and Bea Vallejos for helping clean the inside of the house. It was a mess. They also helped me furnish it and my family arrived on the 4th of July and the house was ready.
Now my work was much easier and peaceful and I was learning fast the different stages of the job. They gave me more responsibility and the van needed to carry all the tools and equipment necessary for any kind of job. I drove it and the other big truck.
My oldest daughter Margaret who graduated before coming soon was working at the court house in Mt. View, Andrea worked in a restaurant, Teresa had a job at a bank after school. Jude went to school. We lived at Tierra Bella all of '57 to the summer of '59. My wife and daughters decided they wanted a bigger and better house. They went all over town trying to find one we could afford and found a very nice two bedroom. The garage had been converted into a bedroom just ideal for Jude. It sold for 36 thousand with 700 down, I was able to get an FHA loan and my daughters promised to help with the payments and they kept their word until they married. My wife also was hired at Libby's in Sunnyvale. Our new home was located on the corner of Mariposa Avenue and Latham Street.
Before going any farther along, I have to mention another person and his family who I have to forever be grateful to - his last name was Fernandes and he was a business man who had a pool hall and card games and also sold hamburgers. His place was on Castro Street close to the railroad crossing. When I could not find a job at first, I stopped by for a sandwich and we talked a while. I asked if he knew anyone who needed a worker and told him my story that I had run out of money. I also showed him my letter and he said I do not have a job for you but he gave me one hundred dollars and said any man who is given letters as you have has to be a good honest man and I know you will pay me back and I did just that. We became real friends. I met his wife and two daughters and later whenever they went on vacation I took care of his place and money. A few years later they moved to an orchard farm he bought somewhere in southern California. I shall always remember Phil Fernandes and family. Thanks to him and others like him I have been able to come out like a champ so far.
I continued to work for Excel and Son until 1959. From then to 1960 I worked for Pisano Brothers in underground laying of storm drains and water lines all over the county until we were almost buried during a cavein. I said goodbye to that job. It is no fun to be buried alive. In 61 for a while I was out of a job so I applied for unemployment. Two weeks later I received my first check and the next evening I went to have a beer at the 108 bar on Castro Street next to the railroad tracks. A friend of mine introduced me to a railroad foreman who was to reroute the rail spur coming into Moffett Field. This man wanted to hire me to work in the railroad - the one job I had never done in my life. I refused telling him I knew nothing about railroading. He insisted I try. I had been told he was a strict and hard man to work for. The next day at six-thirty I was at the job site and he said we start work at eight. I came early to look over the job but it is against the rules. I said then goodbye and started to walk off. Wait he said do you know anything about that winch truck over there? I said, some and he told me go over there and try it while I go eat. That is how I started my first railroad work. A week later, when I got to the job the supervisor was there. The foreman said you are now taking charge to finish this job. I am to report back to Utah, the super said if he says you can do it that's good enough for me. I finished it and it is still there to this day.
From Moffett I went to work at the round house at the missile range at Concord, California. One bright morning after working a couple of hours I heard this strange noise and I looked around and saw this large white thing coming out of the ground. When it was standing on its tail fins it was the largest missile I had ever seen closeup. I also helped pull the rails on the bridge. I had to quit because the union would not allow me to continue work.
I came back home and a little later found a job with a landscaping company in Palo Alto. The company was owned by Huttige and Schrome and I enjoyed this kind of work so much I took it up as a profession. Working for this company I had my first bad break- I injured my back doing heavy lifting. I was out a month and had to go to the Hoover hospital at Stanford in Palo Alto. After a couple of months they gave me a maintenance job. The landscape crew planted lawns shrubs tress and flowers. I would maintain all that was planted for a 90-day warranty. It was after one of these jobs we had finished in Watsonville that I was offered a steady job as a maintenance man for the landscaping in the Mayfield Mall- a large shopping center. On my third year I was hurt the second time. After recovery the company gave the job as a security guard. In '6 the company let me go a week later and I started drawing unemployment checks two weeks later.
My middle daughter was now married and had two little daughters and had moved to a large apartment complex in Milpitas, California. They had a renters association and the president was talking with my daughter and he told her he was having a hard time finding a man who could maintain the complex. She told him about me and he asked to meet me. I went to see him, talked about the job and I told him the truth of my back problems that I could not do heavy lifting. In response he said I will hire an extra man to do the lifting. He asked me how much I wanted as wages. That night I went back to meet the board of directions responding to all questions telling the truth as the president was present all the time. They dismissed me and said they would call me at home. The next day I got a call to report for work and everything went fine for two years. One more time my lower back went bad. While driving a small tractor to level sand on the playground, it started to rain hard and we wanted to finish was the tractor was a rental. Somehow it slipped on the mud, went sideways and twisted me on the seat. I went to my old reliable Doctor Brown. He was a specialist and he had somehow kept me on my feet each time it happened without surgery. My boss went to see me and said when you recover you cannot return to the job. As president I would never have hired you. I told him I never lied about my condition ask the members of the board in front of me if I lied. Under the conditions you fired me I am going to file for retirement on permanent disability and hire a lawyer.
So starts the three most miserable years for me in California going to court going to insurance doctors. They would send me to a hard-nosed doctor clear to San Francisco with elevators stairs up and down. Most of the time we had to stop at beer joints and I would have two or three shots of whiskey to kill the pain until I could get home to my bed as no doctor gave me any pain medication. I had to keep looking over my shoulder because my lawyer had warned me the insurance company would have people watching me at all times. I was fighting three companies at the same time. I had people on my back all the time and finally after three years of hell for they harassed me constantly trying to make me give up the fight but I stuck it out to the end of my settlement. When it was over, we had sold our house on Mariposa Street and bought a mobile home in 1972 and moved to Space Parkway in Santiago Villa Mobile Home Park in Mt. View CA.
Now in '77 my retirement on disability became final and I was laid up for three months recovering from the ordeal. Then more than ever I tried to get on with my life so I joined the Volunteer Program through R.S.V.P at Palo Alto and became a member of the advisory board and served six months. I joined the Senior Center at Mt View. I discovered a second home. People were wonderful and I soon was up to my neck involved in different programs. First the game room was in sorry shape so we renovated the pool tables and the shuffle boards. At the same time, I took over the walking and hiking group. We went all over the State - mountains, hills and places of interest - winery and cheese, packing plants, orchards, different kinds of rivers and pinnacles of rock formations and beautiful scenery wherever we went.
In 1981, the Mt. View Chamber of Commerce presented me with an Achievement Award for my volunteer work. I had a conversation with the director Jeri Folly and her program director then Diane George who was and is one of the nicest and sincerest persons I have ever worked with. These two people told me we would like to have some kind of program for outside activity for the seniors like a garden where people could be outside to plant vegetables and herbs in the backyard of the Center. It had been a black walnut tree orchard. I was concerned there might be too much acid in the ground so we had it tested and found out it was okay.
With the help of the Youth Authority who helped to prepare the soil and the Food Bank who furnished the seed and other needs, the trial section was a total success. This section was 20 ft. by 20 ft. When the seniors became interested they asked me to enlarge it to 50 ft. by 20 ft. I piped water and put in faucets to water. The Parks and Recreation furnished all tools, hoses and compost. Other people I had helped replacing their fences gave me the redwood for my garden in exchange for my help. I had decided to box in each persons section to preserve water and to conserve better spacing between sections. As interest became greater, I enlarged the garden to 50 ft. by 100 ft.
The garden received a lot of praise and recognition by the City and neighboring cities. It received publicity from the Mercury News and the Palo Alto Times and some local TV stations.The garden became my special pet working long and hard hours as I still cared for pool and the shuffle board inside. All this time, I had many wonderful people who were involved in helping me - Velma Kelly, Almira C, Arleta J, Bea C. and others whom without their help this project would have failed. From the very beginning, they worked in agreement in all we did. Now the garden was enlarged to 150 ft. by 50 ft. We had started in intergenerational program suggested by the R.S.V.P. in which the school kids from the 3rd grade from Castro School in Mt. View would learn to plant, grow and harvest their own garden. They would be instructed by me and supervised by their teacher Mrs. Westgate and other ladies who were her assistants. The school was provided with 3 sections 8 ft. by 20 ft. where they grew and maintained their own sections.
In the meantime, I was teaching Spanish classes to people who vacationed in South American countries, mostly Mexico and taught English to the Mexican pre-school mothers at Castro School. By now the gardens were so publicized, I asked Don Shafer who was the big wheel of the whole shebang from the Parks and Recreation if we could make the gardens a permanent part of the Senior Center. He responded as all big wheels do, he would check on it. After a good long while, his answer was that it would be okay if we could fence it all around with a 6 ft. fence. I met with the gardeners and received estimates on the cost of the fence. By this time we had a new director, Janis Nunez. She was and is a wonderful lady to work with, as with Grace, our secretary who before had been a longtime friend. She, my wife and I often went square dancing together. She, Jan, Diane (Mrs. Escobar, by now) always were ready to trust me and back me in my work - this time in finding a good reliable fencing company. Their price was 48 hundred dollars. We started to organize ways to make enough money to fence the garden. The ladies baked and sold cookies. We had walk-a-thons, people and friends pledged so much a mile. We walked 10 miles up and back, those that could, others walked 6 or 3 - whatever they were able to walk. I personally met with business people - Lions Club, loan companies and others even the Cusimano Funeral Home. Mr. Cusimano is an old church-going friend of mine. I told him if he did not donate, I would not let him bury me. In one month, we had the 48 hundred dollars and we were ready to fence. I notified Mr. Shafer and now he was not so sure he would be able to keep is end of the deal. I reminded him of all the hard work all of us had done, the amount of time we spent on the project relying on his word of promise. A short time later he have us the go-ahead and I called the fence company. They did the job and the fence is there to this day 5-27-98.
I continued my involvement at the Senior Center until 1995. I retired from my second home. I am very proud to have done my little bit to better the life of others, for I met many wonderful people from many different places and learned much from them and also from the school children. I will never forget the pride in their faces when we marched up Castro Street in the yearly parade and I shall forever be grateful to them for letting me be a part of their pride.
I have never had monetary wealth but I've been a millionaire in experience knowledge for my good Lord has given me life and protection to survive many many hardships trials and tribulations loneliness and happiness. I have been kicked thrown dragged by horses mules and cattle. Every rib in my chest has been broken at one time or another. I have been in car wrecks train wrecks crashed through the town's power lines in a small piper cub airplane. I have been towed behind a big plane in a glider in the Second World War and thank the Lord I came home without a scratch. I have suffered two strokes, one in '82 and one in '92 had two major operations during the strokes. I have had bad circulation in both legs, but can still walk and do my job as my granddaughter and her brother's manager of their property where I now live. It sure has not been a been a bed of roses first in '87 I lost my beloved wife Alcantara to cancer, ten years later lost my youngest daughter Teresa to the same sickness. My middle daughter Andrea is now affected so the Lord giveth, he also taketh away. Also my mother passed on two years ago but the Lord let her live to be 100 years old.
I have no regrets for I learned long ago to give to people what belongs to them and give to the Lord what belongs to Him. Sometimes I have been treated badly by the white majority, and I truly believe that is what discrimination is all about. Majority rule has been since the world began, Moses and the pharaohs even Christ and the Romans. That is how it started and that is how it will end. This of course is my theory. We humans never are satisfied with what we have, we always want more even if we break the law or step over someone weaker or poorer to get more. So the longer we are allowed to live in this world, we should learn what is right and what is wrong. If we ignore it then God help us.
As for my personal life, I am forever grateful to the Lord, for in his own way a poor nobody like me travels to Europe on the Queen Elizabeth and back on the Queen Mary. I have gone from San Francisco to New York, from the Dakotas to Oregon. I have a very close knit family - 7 grandchildren, two great grandchildren and four young whose father and mother have adopted me. They are the Arreola family - Jose (papa), Luz (mama), Jose Ivan (son), Maritza (oldest daughter) and Diana (youngest daughter). Maritza is also my goddaughter and thanks to them I have also been able to visit Mexico. From a poor young part Indian, part Spanish boy to an 81 year old man, I have not done too shabby. I shall always be grateful to those whom I met and gave me a helping hand for there were many. I did my best to serve my country and my communities wherever I lived. As any human I forget some things and I forgot to mention a very wonderful lady and friend who is the director of the community center and park on Rengstorff Avenue, Mt. View. She is Paula Betencourt and she was my escort when I was honored and received a City Proclamation from Mayor Patricia Figueroa at the council chambers on September 26, 1995. This makes my 4th award so to my notion, I have had a long very eventful life. I believe I have two of the best families any parent can have both my adopted and my own. I can say the same for my grandchildren none of them have stained my name or my reputation. I have done my best to do the same for all of them. To me they are the best in the world. I will soon be 82 years young and my health has held up quite well. This last year I visited Margaret and Ray and Cora Shelton in Arizona three times with my grandkids Greg and Lori. I had a wonderful time. I visit my friends at the senior center every now and then. I made it to 1999 and with the Lord's help I will be here in 2000, as I plan to do many more things in the rest of '99 God willing. To all those wonderful people that I have mentioned in my writing, those that I know I missed and there were many just as important, I offer my profound apologies and my everlasting thanks.
Going over my papers, I ran into a letter written by me in 1958, one year after my family and I arrived and worked in California and decided to include it with the rest of my writing. My hope is that anyone who reads what I have written will not pity me or feel sorry for me. Everything that happened to me made made a better man of me for I have heard, seen and listened to also read everything including the Bible of what makes the world tick though I am not an educated man. I am grateful to my teachers and friends who were patient and understanding, doing their very best to help me get through the 7th grade. It took all of my time working to help my family make a living and spent my boyhood life in this community growing up, working and going to school whenever I could. Why does one leave his/her community? I'm writing this as an open letter. Also it is meant to answer many questions that arise in people's minds when other people or neighbors leave a community. To move away after a lifetime of work and sacrifice, to build and live in one's own state, county or community. At the same time, of course, to many people this will sound as a complaint from a very ignorant and stupid person, but as such, I am writing facts that can be backed by proof to anyone who asks for it. When man, father of children, husband and that the things he saw and happened to people oppressed by dictatorship should never and would never happen to his country or community or any of his loved ones I came home with the idea that no matter what nationality, religion, color, we who faced all this and fought so hard to end it, honestly believed we could and would be able to bridge our differences and gaps with each other by mutual understanding. I was told it would never happen.
I took up the task of proving it to my people for many times I took their scorn and ugly rumors for they thought I had turned against them. I volunteered and was accepted as a special deputy sheriff for the county to bring equal justices to my people also to bring better understanding between law and order for all concerned. I interpreted for those who broke the law that I brought before the judge and knew they had a fair trial finally winning the people's confidences and respect. I felt good as I was finally making headway in what I had started to accomplish in bringing better cooperation and solutions to our problems. I talked to my neighbors and good friend Kenneth Repp. We organized the Webolos of the Boys Scouts. Ken as scout master and I as his assistant and Den leader of the Cub Scouts was the start of my efforts to integrate my people into a peaceful and cooperative community. Also by joining the American Legion I was able to make my people especially the young men who were becoming 18. I soon became a recruiter for Spanish people in our county and also became a recruit trainer for our post. This was not to last long.
Everything I worked so hard for became wtooorthless- before my very eyes, it happened at a banquet for the cub scouts. Those who notice that the skin of others does not shine white like theirs would not let the Mexicans in even if they were able to pay for it. Again my loyal friends stood up for me some even expressed their feelings saying that I was getting too smart to suit them and also forbidding their kids to visit our home. After growing up to manhood I cared less what people called me for I asked myself a question - who is the ignorant one in all this - I or them and I concluded that if I continued worrying about this I would be the ignorant one. There is and always will be people such as this all over the world. This was true even in the service only there they were much more careful for we all had our own weapons for our defense as well as to fight with. For once I was as good as anyone else and even better than some. So at the end, I CAME OUT THE WINER THANK GOD.
I fell and I hit the back of my head but thank God my marbels were ok and no broken bones ,Friday the 24th, I go for my regular check up ,I forgot to mention that RENE, F,my frist granddaughter was with me during first fall and Andrea my daughterwas with me the second time ,I thank the LORDfor my good luck,for he has allowed me to continue to do my thing, I have also made a new friend of the Mt,View police force Mary Asevedo she was of grate help when one of our tenants was missing miss, Asevedo found her within a few hrs,at Stanford Hospial she is avery nice young intelligent person she is respectful and cordial Iam very proud to be her friend.
I have not written any thing for quite some time I made another trip to Arizona this was to be my last trip for a while Now that Winter has set in together with some rainy weather,I hope to be able to spend more time writing some of my observations during my travels,some of the things that i am writing about apply only to my life fore when we reach Older years especialy above the 80/s if you are able to go back your place of birth you soon find out that quite alone as fare as all friends and people whome you grew up and enjoyed your life with,No one knows better than I how blessed i am to have most of my family close to me and those that live far away so have managed to be united with us during the Hollydays and Iam ever so grateful to my Hevenly Father forhe has allowed it to be so,I have often spoken to a few of my friends even younger then I in their 70//s and they have told me what they miss most having those they love around them and friends who they can relate to , We must acepet that every 10 or 20 years appears like a new generation of people with new Ideas and disaiers so changes must be made to Comadate the new Seniors therefore leaving the Older Seniors confused and wondering where do we Belong . And in the year 2000, It will be much more different and mabe harder on us who are 80 or better.
There I am back at the computer again I went to Arizona for a week and I had a wonderful time,Ihad trouble with my Legs I could not walk hardly any distance any more but thank the Lord there in 80 degre Desert weather begian walking every morning Finely made it up to one halve a mile So I came home to continue my waking and I feel greate My perpouse for the trip besides visitng my daughter Margret and son inlaw Ray I was to meet with two very good friends of mine Who were from Julesburg Colorado where we served in the National Guard together after I came back from the Serves in Europe one could make it Keneth Repp but Herb Shelton who now lives in Arvada Colo. We had a good time I hope I will be abel to see Ken in near future .I am sure glad to be back home again we made it before havey rains started for it has been raining for 4 days with out stoping Today is feb, 14 00 Valentine day and it is a nice clear warm day no rain as yet so it look sreal good at least for today so I will reveal some information wich to some of you it will sound crazy ,but I hope it will give you a better understanding why when we Older people always as we are relaxed most of the time siting alone dose of and go to sleep.Most people who are past their seventys or eightys as I am are unable to drive or to my way of thinking they should not.But as the the saying goes the good Lord takes care of his own.So in his wisdom provides us to go any where in the world any time we want to on he highway of DREAM WORLD which we ride this dream and even fly every time we are asleep,and I know many people are ashame to admit this is true for we can even visit our Love ones who departed I for one enjoy this trips As in any other road you travel some times have problems they are called Nigthmeirs.
Nick Baca (1917-2007)
