Mark Nunes Roberto Interview
Item
Title
Mark Nunes Roberto Interview
Interviewee, Interviewer
Roberto, Mark Nunes
Campbell, Jarred
Relation
Portuguese Beyond Borders Institute
Date
11/18/2019
Identifier
SCUAD_pbbi_00022
extracted text
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Speaker 1: All right. How's it going?
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Speaker 2: Good man, yourself?
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Speaker 1: Oh, pretty good. What's your full name?
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Speaker 2: My name is Mark Nunes Roberto.
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Speaker 1: Mark Nunes Roberto, nice to meet you.
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Speaker 2: Nice to meet you as well.
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Speaker 1: Were you named after anyone? Is there a story behind your
name?
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Speaker 2: I wasn't named behind anybody. My middle name. So in our
family, my grandpa, my grandfather on my dad's side was a Roberto. And my
grandmother's name was Nunes. So that's why I took her
maiden name as my middle name. And then my father's last name.
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Speaker 1: Oh, make sense make sense? Um, when were you born?
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Speaker 2: I was born in 1983. All right.
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Speaker 1: Where were you born?
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Speaker 2: I was born in Fresno, California.
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Speaker 1: Okay. What early memories Do you have as a child in the
Portuguese American community or in Portugal?
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Speaker 2: And then I was in. I've carried every about every saint been
everything here. So I've been doing stuff at the hall since I was four
years old, they got me into parades.
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Speaker 1: Do you guys have bullfights in Fresno?
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Speaker 2: We do a bloodless bullfight to Jakarta. Just the ball on the
rope and we do them here for the Holy Spirit Festa. Oh, that's the only
thing we have.
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Speaker 1: Okay. I'd come from Paterson. So.
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Speaker 2: Okay.
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Speaker 1: Gustine and.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, we've been out there.
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Speaker 1: Oh, yeah. Let's see, when did your family immigrate to the
United States?
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Speaker 2: So my mom came in early 70s. So her and my grandfather came
first. My dad was still in the military in Tresada.
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Speaker 1: Oh wow.
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Speaker 2: Both my parents from Peak, but my dad was in the military
there. Okay, station there. And then when he came back off leave, my mom
went back. They got engaged when she was 18. My dad was
22. And then they came back over.
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Speaker 1: Were they in the Portuguese military or the?
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Speaker 2: My dad. My dad was in the Portuguese military.
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Speaker 1: Okay, yeah. Okay. That's cool. Why did your family leave the
Azores?
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Speaker 2: When they had the biggest volcano and stuff. And then because
of, of, you know, poverty and they didn't have, you know, a lot of stuff,
everybody's coming to America, right. So my
grandfather, his brother in law had came here and started a dairy.
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Speaker 1: Oh wow.
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Speaker 2: They had their dairy in Selma for quite a few years.
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Speaker 1: Oh wow.
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Speaker 2: So my grandfather was working there, and he was making more
money in a couple days, then he was in a couple months.
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Speaker 1: Oh, wow.
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Speaker 2: So you know, it was a big deal.
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Speaker 1: Yeah.
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Speaker 2: So he brought my mom, my mom learned the language. She was 16,
self taught, watching TV and stuff like that. And then, you know, cousins
would talk to her. And then once we got that, she
got that figured out. She was paying the bills and doing all stuff for my
grandfather. And then when my grandfather had enough money to pay for
their citizenship, they went back and then got my
grandmother and my dad and my uncle Mario, which is my mom's brother,
okay. And then they all went through the system, got their immigration
papers, got their US citizenship, you know, followed all
the guidelines. They didn't want to just come like on a visa or
something. They wanted to be citizens.
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Speaker 1: Okay
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Speaker 2: so they did that.
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Speaker 1: Oh, that's awesome. Where did your family settle? Why there?
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Speaker 2: My family came to Central Valley. My dad's always been really
good in farming. And it's funny like my relatives either settled in San
Jose, Fresno or San Diego or in Massachusetts. We only
have one other section of family and they're in Canada. Oh, my uncle
manual got the Canada I have no idea. But yes,
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Speaker 1: He missed the exit
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Speaker 2: but so notes, so most of my aunts and uncles everybody worked
agricultural jobs, either dairies or stuff, my dad's got our own family
business.
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Speaker 1: Oh okay.
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Speaker 2: He's been farming for the last 30 years.
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Speaker 1: Wow, what do you guys farm?
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Speaker 2: We do torrut the Portuguese.
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Speaker 1: Okay
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Speaker 2: and then my dad also does a hay and corn for silesh for dairy
farmers. They're friends of his.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, makes sense. That's awesome. I didn't know that they
could grow turrot.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, it costs us a little bit of money in the summertime
because all the water they need.
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Speaker 1: Oh wow.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, they do get
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Speaker 1: Is it like greenhouse or?
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Speaker 2: no it is.
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Speaker 1: coz isn't it tropical?
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Speaker 2: It is so that's why we plan them. We planned them beginning of
March. Then we get April, May, June, July all the hot months. And then
once the cold comes in, we take the risk of losing them
during the frost season.
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Speaker 1: Oh yeah.
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Speaker 2: But if you keep enough water on them, it'll never freeze.
It'll get cold but doesn't damage them. And then we ship them, you know,
Canada, Boston and stuff like that.
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Speaker 1: Wow. That's pretty awesome. Let's see, did your parents or
grandparents ever tell you what it was like to just live in a new
country? What stories are passed down to you regarding their
early experiences?
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Speaker 2: My grandpa loved it here. He really did. He was so proud of
being American. He I mean, he still liked our traditions, right?
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Speaker 1: Yeah.
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Speaker 2: But he was really proud to come here. He really liked the
country. My grandmother as well. my grandpa's favorite thing was Bonanza
he loved. He loved all the old westerns.
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Speaker 1: Oh yeah.
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Speaker 2: when channel 26 used to do the big cinema stuff. And if it was
Star Wars or something else, you'd get completely disappointed.
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Speaker 1: Oh yeah.
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Speaker 2: But no, he really liked it here. He wanted to come in. He
remembers having to store food and hide stuff and you know, going hungry
and he never wanted that for his kids or grandkids. So, I
mean, my grandpa worked up until he was 68. And then once he was done, he
actually asked his boss, he said, Hey, can I just be the gardener?
Because he loves gardening?
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Speaker 1: Oh, really?
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Speaker 2: So that he said, yeah, that he was more than willing to do
that. So once he got that together, then he actually garden for everybody
on the dairy where he was stationed at Riverdale.
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Speaker 1: Oh, wow. Yeah. Well, that's, that's pretty cool.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, he loved being here. My grandmother, you know, they just
said it. This was as much as they missed home, you know, because that's
their home. Yeah, they love being here because it gave
them an opportunity to have their kids and grandkids you know, have
something.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, definitely. That's the same with migraine
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Speaker 2: Because they didn't understand. I mean, I went to the
Ziegler's last year, and it was beautiful, and they have everything we
have here now, still a little different. But they didn't know
that it was gonna be like that they you know, they were the the mindset,
this is how it's always going to be it's always been that way, you know,
and they came to America. It was huge.
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Speaker 1: Yeah. They just saw all the you know, yeah, new stuff that's
here and all that kind of stuff. Let's see, you're a member of the first,
second, or third generation of your family to be born
in the United States. How important was it to your parents that you were
raised a strong Portuguese identity?
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Speaker 2: I was first generation here.
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Speaker 1: Okay.
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Speaker 2: And when we grew up, my mom wanted us to learn English. But
most importantly, she wanted us to make sure that we didn't forget our
culture. So we learned bilingual language since we were
little kids. I mean, me and my brother is only I only have one of those
siblings. We both speak fluent Portuguese and fluent English. Ah, we both
know how to read in Portuguese. I don't know how to
write in Portuguese, which if that makes any sense. That makes sense. I
can read it but can't write.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, that makes sense. Let's see here. How is identity
see, how was this identity expressed through language food traditions, or
fest or festas?.
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Speaker 2: We always stated traditional foods and stuff. I mean, we got
treated a pizza and hamburgers and all that kind of stuff. But my mom
always wanted make very sure and my dad that we didn't
lose who we were right.
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Speaker 1: Yeah.
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Speaker 2: And for me, it was very important from a young age. Not so
much for my brother. I mean, he still cares, but he's not as involved.
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Speaker 1: Yeah.
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Speaker 2: So for me, I really like our traditions. And I think it's
important because growing up with some of my friends, they lost their
traditional stuff from their families. They're like, Oh, man,
I wish I knew this, or I wish I knew who my grandma was, or you know
where they came from. So for me, with my parents being involved, I liked
going to the coasts, my dad learning the way they fished
and the way they did things.
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Speaker 1: Oh.
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Speaker 2: You know, my mom. She got me a cookbook at a young age. So we
didn't have any girls and I love to cook. So I have the traditional
Portuguese cookbooks. I buy all the traditional stuff to
have at my house.
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Speaker 1: Yeah.
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Speaker 2: And then I became part of the St. Peter committee when I came
of age. And so my parents in some of the, you know, always volunteered,
but you had to be a certain age and they wanted to make
sure that you were serious.
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Speaker 1: Yeah.
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Speaker 2: So when I got voted in to be on the committee, I started
helping out and helping out to the clubs here at CPS. And then two years
ago, they asked me to be a board member of the hall.
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Speaker 1: Oh wow.
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Speaker 2: I'm actually on the board now here at the hall, one of the
officers here.
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Speaker 1: Oh, that's awesome. So it sounds like you're keeping in touch
with that.
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Speaker 2: Oh, yeah. And we go we go to all the other celebrations we
help out. We, we, uh, my wife's Russian, and her grandfather had an
aluminum boat, and we actually painted it, built a mask for
it. And we decorated like the old traditional fishing boats.
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Speaker 1: Uh huh.
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Speaker 2: And then we've been going to all the blights. All the parades,
all the processions and we just try to keep the tradition going.
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Speaker 1: Yeah
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Speaker 2: get the young people involved. get them excited.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, that's awesome. That's really cool. Do you guys ever go
towards Patterson?
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Speaker 2: Oh, yeah.
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Speaker 1: Oh, really?
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Speaker 2: This year? We did. We did. Hilmar, Turlock, Gustine. We did
two easten festas. We did Tulare. And I'm missing one. There was another
one we did.
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Speaker 1: Stevenson?
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Speaker 2: Stephenson.
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Speaker 1: Okay. Yeah. Okay. Wow. And Cruzada usually has a pretty good
one too.
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Speaker 2: I've never been to cruise landing
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Speaker 1: Really? It's a small town. It's literally a stop sign. But you
know, usually their festa is pretty big. You know? This, year Patterson
We didn't even have a bull fight because they didn't
make enough money to, you know, actually have the bull fight. But usually
every year we do, but it's the festa and all that kind of good stuff. So
still fun. Let's see what cultural traditions have
you maintained? Why has it been important to you to maintain them?
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Speaker 2: So like I said, with the fish he helped out. We also try to
help out anytime we have the traditional fundraisers, like when they have
done six or five or stuff like that.
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Speaker 1: Yeah.
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Speaker 2: It's important to me, because I don't, whenever I do decide to
have children or if I'm blessed with children, I don't want them to lose
our heritage.
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Speaker 1: Yeah.
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Speaker 2: I am very proud to be American. And that's what I am.
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Speaker 1: Yeah.
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Speaker 2: Portuguese come second. Because I was born here. I mean, this
is my country, but I don't ever want to lose all the stuff that my
parents did. My grandparents did great grandparents, because
it's very important. All the stuff that they've worked for, and the
things they've achieved. I mean, you had people who came from nothing.
They came here and have made million dollar businesses.
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Speaker 1: Yeah
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Speaker 2: And haven't forgot who they are.
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Speaker 1: Yeah.
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Speaker 2: You know, they're not arrogant, they're not, you know,
boisterous. They really want to keep that help out. And if it wasn't for
those guys, in men and women that came to do these things,
you couldn't have some of these festas. I mean, the dairy farmers and the
farmers here, there's some of the most be giving donation people there is
for our community.
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Speaker 1: Oh, yeah.
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Speaker 2: And I always laugh because it doesn't matter whose house you
go to, they could be the poorest or the richest. When you're asking for
something for our community, especially in our area,
they are gonna give you the most they can give you. And it doesn't
matter. If you don't like john or you don't like manuel. If something bad
happens in the community, they all come together and they
help you get to that rough time. And it's very important to me to keep
that going to I don't ever want to lose sight of where we came from and
forgotten our roots and taking what we have now for
granted.
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Speaker 1: Definitely. I totally agree with you. Let's see. Have you ever
been to the Azores? What was the experience like for you?
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Speaker 2: So I went last year, first time I ever been, I had a couple
opportunities to go in between but work school stuff didn't work out. So
last year, I got to go. I went to peak. We went to sun
shores, faial in Terseda. Peak, of course, was my favorite island where
my family's from, but it was a very surreal experience to get there and
go see where my dad grew up. I mean, you know, five
brothers and two sisters and two parents lived in a house that is smaller
than most apartments. You know, they worked all the time. I mean, the
little from kids and short pants to, you know, to the
bigger kids. Yeah. And for me, it was neat to see that even with all the
new technology and cell phones and all the stuff they got the kids there
haven't really lost sight of the way things were. I
remember being at a festa at two o'clock in the morning, there's four
year olds running through the streets with no parents, and nobody touched
them. Nobody, you know, made it. Everybody's just a big
community. And if someone got out there like hey, come back here. You
know, everybody sits there. They take the time for the processions they
take the time for mass, you know, the family atmosphere
still there.
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Speaker 1: Oh wow.
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Speaker 2: Out of three meals a day. I never ate front of the TV there.
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Speaker 1: Oh, wow.
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Speaker 2: So we always ate together. They take the time. They haven't
lost their old traditions. I would say I think they do a really good job
of that. You know, they had probably 15,000 people, at
the festa or something, but even the winner, and during that procession,
nobody spoke.
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Speaker 1: Wow.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, it was it was a thing of honoring tradition. And
it was really neat. And now I'm actually going back again this year.
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Speaker 1: Really?
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Speaker 2: Yeah, I'll be going back for another three years or three
years. Sorry, three weeks.
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Speaker 1: That's awesome. I've really, really want to go myself too.
Let's see. Trace, if you will, some of your experiences growing up in the
Portuguese American community in the valley throughout
your life.
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Speaker 2: Most of the stuff has been you know, with the traditions, the
festas of course being some of the big ones. You know, we we have four
here a year and always been involved in those had a
couple friends that were in folklore so we would go with them to go watch
them perform. Of course we love going to the bullfights everybody loves
that. But big two in the community was when we did
outreach stuff. You know, when people were donating to help out a family,
or donating for a cause. At our house, my mom would always do like our
summer themed Festa. She invite all our family and
friends, everybody would come down. Easter was a big thing for us, you
know? So we always tried my mom always and Dad always tried to
incorporate all the stuff that they did there, here, and we've
kept it going.
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Speaker 1: Oh, that's awesome. That's pretty great. Of all that you have
accomplished what are you most proud of? What proud moments Do you
remember in Portuguese American community?
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Speaker 2: For me, it was really neat. One year I asked my parents to
take over their summer themes festa, like the harvest festival. And I
actually got my dad a couple of my buddies, we went made our
own wine, bought our own presses got our stuff. We did that. It was also
a big honor to be voted on the hall. that was probably one of the biggest
things ever since I was a little kid. I mean, there's
a thing of honor. Do the elders you know, they they promote you that they
bring you up, they ask and then also to be President my own festa. So our
committee at St. Peter is great. A lot of hard
working people. We're not one of the biggest committees, the smaller ones
actually. But we got a good group of people that have been dialed in,
been friends for years all grew up kind of in the same
area, about two miles down the road. So having that experience and being
able to do that at such a young age, I thought was big for me.
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Speaker 1: Yeah.
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Speaker 2: And I really liked it. And now because I've done that, I've
been with other clubs and met the other presidents and stuff and now with
my mom and help of other people here, we've kind of
coordinated with the other clubs. So when we're having our event, they
bring all their people.
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Speaker 1: Oh thats awesome.
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Speaker 2: When they have their event so they can have fun will go cook
and go do stuff. So like Hanford, St. John's really good friends of ours.
We cook all the tractic for them.
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Speaker 1: Oh that's awesome.
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Speaker 2: When we're having our festival, they bring all their cards for
Paul Blige. They come help us cook.
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Speaker 1: Okay
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Speaker 2: So it really it really helps.
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Speaker 1: Everyone can have their own you know good time there.
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Speaker 2: We're trying. We're trying to make everybody celebration big
and nice.
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Speaker 1: Yeah.
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Speaker 2: You know, I never liked the competitive aspect of it. I mean,
I played sports Of course you want to win And of course you want people
to like your festa when it comes to our community. If
one of us loses, you know, we kind of all do. Nobody's winning. So I try
to go to as many Festas as I can and help out in any way I can.
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Speaker 1: Yeah
146
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Speaker 2: to keep and preserve it. Right.
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Speaker 1: That makes sense. That's awesome. Yeah. Let's see. To what
extent do you believe being Portuguese American has shaped the way you
have moved through life both professionaly and personally?
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Speaker 2: Professionally, it taught me a lot of hard work. Honesty. You
know, my dad always told me said, Mark, you know, you can go through life
and never gain somebody's trust. It takes a second to
lose it. He goes, so always be honest, in your word, work hard. And then
once I went back to the Azores, and saw the way the people that are
there, I mean, you could probably be the worst guy on the
island. But that guy's probably the most honest guy still, you know, I
mean, everybody's got their things I bought mine as well. But yeah, hard
work and honesty was always what we were taught at home.
You know, if you can give the shirt off your back to help somebody please
do because you'll never know when you need it. And you know, God forbid
that time may come you have been lucky enough not to
have that problem, but that's what we was always instilled. And when I
went there, I saw it that people have a pride about. They want to have
their things nice. They want to work good. their crops
have to be perfect and pristine. So it's really important for me in my
day to day to remember those things because sometimes it's easy for us to
get complacent. Forget things, right?
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Speaker 1: Yeah.
150
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Speaker 2: Oh, I've got this. I got that elegant. Wait.
151
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Speaker 1: yeah.
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Speaker 2: Well, take a step back. Let's not do that. Um, and personally,
I wouldn't want to have grown up any other way. I mean, between the way
that people are, the culture that we have the things
that we do, I always have my friends looking in and my friends are always
like, Man, that's neat. your guys's family does that man. That's neat.
And I'm like, What does your family do on it? We really
don't do it. Really? Well, you know, your dad was from Germany, like you
guys know. Culture kind of died when great grandpa died. Oh, I don't ever
want that for my kids.
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Speaker 1: Definitely. Yeah. Oh, yeah. I totally agree. That's, you
know, you don't want to let it you know, all the great traditions just go
away.
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Speaker 2: And our cuisines one of the best
155
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Speaker 1: Oh yeah. Especially the big goods. Let me tell you, that's
what most of me is. And what you're saying about honestly, my grandma is
just a better thief in the house than a liar. Yeah,
because Lisa thieves, you'll know what they're gonna do. Yeah, you never
know what's gonna happen. You know? Let's see. What does being Portuguese
American mean to you?
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Speaker 2: For me, it's a thing of pride. I'm very proud of where my
family came from very proud of what they achieved. And my dad always told
us, you know, I don't want you kids to do anything you
don't want to do. I just want you guys to be better than me. And at
first, I kept thinking it used to bother me as a young age. I'm like,
Dad, you're pretty great. Like, why would you want me to be
better than you? I mean, you're. But his way of thinking about it was his
dad had more and did more than my grandfather did. And he just wanted to
see us grow. So you know, for me, it's very proud
that my dad came from a place with no running water, electricity, and now
he has his own ranch. He became his own businessman. My dad doesn't have
a high school education.
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Speaker 1: Oh wow.
158
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Speaker 2: My dad's education is what he learned here. I mean, my mom
taught me English.
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Speaker 1: Wow.
160
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Speaker 2: You know, my mom came here put herself through school to that
kind of stuff. But my dad didn't. But my dad is sharp as whip.
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Speaker 1: Yeah.
162
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Speaker 2: And I'm not saying that just because my dad, but it's neat to
see people that came from nothing. I mean, really, they did. And using
outhouses behind the place to come here, build big
businesses to build halls like this and be able to come to a new country
and keep the traditions going, and they're proud of it. So I'm very proud
to be from where my parents came from, you know, and
I don't ever want to forget that. It's a big thing to me.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, that's great. Let's see, how do you see Portuguese
American community today?
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Speaker 2: I think it's good. I think it could be great. Especially
certain sections, you know, you go to San Jose's, you go to the Turlocks,
the Hilmars, the Tulares. They have a very strong
community. They've got a lot of young people. They're keeping their young
people in tact. I think it's some of the outlying communities that have
don't have such a big population of younger kids. It's
hard to keep that together and keep the kids involved. Yeah. So I would
say it's good. I you know in our area, I would hope that we could make it
better. But that's just with time. It with time
interaction stuff like we're doing today.
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Speaker 1: Yeah.
166
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Speaker 2: that's gonna be huge to keep people involved and engaged and
excited about these things.
167
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Speaker 1: So yeah, definitely. Yeah, definitely. Um, is there anything
we didn't cover that you'd like to share?
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Speaker 2: No, I think all the questions are pretty straightforward.
169
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Speaker 1: Right?
170
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Speaker 2: I'm actually very, very happy you guys are doing this? Oh,
yeah. I think I think it's a great thing.
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Speaker 1: I love being able to hear people's stories. I mean, being able
to hear you know, about your parents and how they came here and, you
know, all kinds of stuff because, I mean, that's
something you know, you don't read it in a book somewhere, you know, just
somebody's story because, you know, maybe they didn't sail across the
ocean and you know, discover new something, but you
know, they still have a very interesting story.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, I will tell you one thing, the one of the coolest things
that are I have seen was my mom's aunt down in San Diego. She outlived
three sons, which that's not the cool thing. But all
her all her kids, everybody. She has a picture of one of the first groups
of Portuguese Americans that ever came from the old country at Boston.
173
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Speaker 1: Oh, wow.
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Speaker 2: They're all lined up when they got off the boat. That is
really one of the coolest pictures they've got.
175
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Speaker 1: Wow. Is it original picture?
176
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Speaker 2: Original picture. Yeah.
177
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Speaker 1: When was that?
178
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Speaker 2: My cousin Mike Madrid still has it.
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Speaker 1: Wow.
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Speaker 2: It was early 1940s. It was a group that came over or 1940s
1950s might have been 50s. But they've got it. It's all black and white
frame.
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Speaker 1: Wow, that is really cool. One of the last things do you think
you could spell your name out like write out your full name out.
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Speaker 2: Your pigs in the back of my truck. We're going we're going
right now.
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Speaker 3: Oh great, you're getting a signature right?
184
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Speaker 1: Oh, yeah.
185
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Speaker 3: I just have to ask you what dairy in Riverdale. Did you dad
work at?
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Speaker 2: Oh my dad work for Fred Machado here. And for Pete degroot. My
grandpa worked for my Doucet holes in my DoucetJose It was Rosa Rosa
dairy.
187
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Speaker 3: Oh, uh huh. Yeah, very good. Yeah. Very good.
188
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Speaker 1: All righty, sir. Yeah. Well, I really appreciate you talking.
189
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Speaker 2: You know, no problem, thank you.
190
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Speaker 1: You have a good day.
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Speaker 2: You do the same.
00:00:01,260 --> 00:00:02,160
Speaker 1: All right. How's it going?
2
00:00:02,220 --> 00:00:03,120
Speaker 2: Good man, yourself?
3
00:00:03,180 --> 00:00:05,040
Speaker 1: Oh, pretty good. What's your full name?
4
00:00:05,310 --> 00:00:06,870
Speaker 2: My name is Mark Nunes Roberto.
5
00:00:07,050 --> 00:00:08,430
Speaker 1: Mark Nunes Roberto, nice to meet you.
6
00:00:08,460 --> 00:00:09,180
Speaker 2: Nice to meet you as well.
7
00:00:11,040 --> 00:00:14,340
Speaker 1: Were you named after anyone? Is there a story behind your
name?
8
00:00:14,540 --> 00:00:28,760
Speaker 2: I wasn't named behind anybody. My middle name. So in our
family, my grandpa, my grandfather on my dad's side was a Roberto. And my
grandmother's name was Nunes. So that's why I took her
maiden name as my middle name. And then my father's last name.
9
00:00:28,960 --> 00:00:32,650
Speaker 1: Oh, make sense make sense? Um, when were you born?
10
00:00:32,830 --> 00:00:35,110
Speaker 2: I was born in 1983. All right.
11
00:00:36,340 --> 00:00:37,120
Speaker 1: Where were you born?
12
00:00:37,270 --> 00:00:38,680
Speaker 2: I was born in Fresno, California.
13
00:00:38,770 --> 00:00:47,050
Speaker 1: Okay. What early memories Do you have as a child in the
Portuguese American community or in Portugal?
14
00:00:46,520 --> 00:01:03,060
Speaker 2: And then I was in. I've carried every about every saint been
everything here. So I've been doing stuff at the hall since I was four
years old, they got me into parades.
15
00:00:52,190 --> 00:01:09,830
Speaker 1: Do you guys have bullfights in Fresno?
16
00:01:10,250 --> 00:01:17,660
Speaker 2: We do a bloodless bullfight to Jakarta. Just the ball on the
rope and we do them here for the Holy Spirit Festa. Oh, that's the only
thing we have.
17
00:01:17,690 --> 00:01:21,320
Speaker 1: Okay. I'd come from Paterson. So.
18
00:01:21,350 --> 00:01:21,770
Speaker 2: Okay.
19
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Speaker 1: Gustine and.
20
00:01:22,910 --> 00:01:24,620
Speaker 2: Yeah, we've been out there.
21
00:01:24,740 --> 00:01:29,060
Speaker 1: Oh, yeah. Let's see, when did your family immigrate to the
United States?
22
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Speaker 2: So my mom came in early 70s. So her and my grandfather came
first. My dad was still in the military in Tresada.
23
00:01:36,560 --> 00:01:36,860
Speaker 1: Oh wow.
24
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Speaker 2: Both my parents from Peak, but my dad was in the military
there. Okay, station there. And then when he came back off leave, my mom
went back. They got engaged when she was 18. My dad was
22. And then they came back over.
25
00:01:48,080 --> 00:01:50,540
Speaker 1: Were they in the Portuguese military or the?
26
00:01:50,570 --> 00:01:52,040
Speaker 2: My dad. My dad was in the Portuguese military.
27
00:01:52,070 --> 00:01:56,930
Speaker 1: Okay, yeah. Okay. That's cool. Why did your family leave the
Azores?
28
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Speaker 2: When they had the biggest volcano and stuff. And then because
of, of, you know, poverty and they didn't have, you know, a lot of stuff,
everybody's coming to America, right. So my
grandfather, his brother in law had came here and started a dairy.
29
00:02:11,870 --> 00:02:12,020
Speaker 1: Oh wow.
30
00:02:12,020 --> 00:02:14,570
Speaker 2: They had their dairy in Selma for quite a few years.
31
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Speaker 1: Oh wow.
32
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Speaker 2: So my grandfather was working there, and he was making more
money in a couple days, then he was in a couple months.
33
00:02:20,270 --> 00:02:20,660
Speaker 1: Oh, wow.
34
00:02:20,720 --> 00:02:22,190
Speaker 2: So you know, it was a big deal.
35
00:02:22,220 --> 00:02:22,490
Speaker 1: Yeah.
36
00:02:22,520 --> 00:02:55,670
Speaker 2: So he brought my mom, my mom learned the language. She was 16,
self taught, watching TV and stuff like that. And then, you know, cousins
would talk to her. And then once we got that, she
got that figured out. She was paying the bills and doing all stuff for my
grandfather. And then when my grandfather had enough money to pay for
their citizenship, they went back and then got my
grandmother and my dad and my uncle Mario, which is my mom's brother,
okay. And then they all went through the system, got their immigration
papers, got their US citizenship, you know, followed all
the guidelines. They didn't want to just come like on a visa or
something. They wanted to be citizens.
37
00:02:55,790 --> 00:02:56,390
Speaker 1: Okay
38
00:02:56,390 --> 00:02:57,890
Speaker 2: so they did that.
39
00:02:58,220 --> 00:03:03,230
Speaker 1: Oh, that's awesome. Where did your family settle? Why there?
40
00:03:03,770 --> 00:03:21,470
Speaker 2: My family came to Central Valley. My dad's always been really
good in farming. And it's funny like my relatives either settled in San
Jose, Fresno or San Diego or in Massachusetts. We only
have one other section of family and they're in Canada. Oh, my uncle
manual got the Canada I have no idea. But yes,
41
00:03:21,480 --> 00:03:23,340
Speaker 1: He missed the exit
42
00:03:23,960 --> 00:03:32,000
Speaker 2: but so notes, so most of my aunts and uncles everybody worked
agricultural jobs, either dairies or stuff, my dad's got our own family
business.
43
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Speaker 1: Oh okay.
44
00:03:32,240 --> 00:03:34,670
Speaker 2: He's been farming for the last 30 years.
45
00:03:34,700 --> 00:03:35,630
Speaker 1: Wow, what do you guys farm?
46
00:03:35,690 --> 00:03:36,920
Speaker 2: We do torrut the Portuguese.
47
00:03:37,460 --> 00:03:37,940
Speaker 1: Okay
48
00:03:37,940 --> 00:03:43,550
Speaker 2: and then my dad also does a hay and corn for silesh for dairy
farmers. They're friends of his.
49
00:03:43,580 --> 00:03:47,420
Speaker 1: Yeah, makes sense. That's awesome. I didn't know that they
could grow turrot.
50
00:03:48,200 --> 00:03:51,290
Speaker 2: Yeah, it costs us a little bit of money in the summertime
because all the water they need.
51
00:03:51,320 --> 00:03:51,530
Speaker 1: Oh wow.
52
00:03:51,920 --> 00:03:52,580
Speaker 2: Yeah, they do get
53
00:03:52,640 --> 00:03:53,840
Speaker 1: Is it like greenhouse or?
54
00:03:53,930 --> 00:03:54,290
Speaker 2: no it is.
55
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Speaker 1: coz isn't it tropical?
56
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Speaker 2: It is so that's why we plan them. We planned them beginning of
March. Then we get April, May, June, July all the hot months. And then
once the cold comes in, we take the risk of losing them
during the frost season.
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Speaker 1: Oh yeah.
58
00:04:08,600 --> 00:04:16,280
Speaker 2: But if you keep enough water on them, it'll never freeze.
It'll get cold but doesn't damage them. And then we ship them, you know,
Canada, Boston and stuff like that.
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Speaker 1: Wow. That's pretty awesome. Let's see, did your parents or
grandparents ever tell you what it was like to just live in a new
country? What stories are passed down to you regarding their
early experiences?
60
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Speaker 2: My grandpa loved it here. He really did. He was so proud of
being American. He I mean, he still liked our traditions, right?
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Speaker 1: Yeah.
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Speaker 2: But he was really proud to come here. He really liked the
country. My grandmother as well. my grandpa's favorite thing was Bonanza
he loved. He loved all the old westerns.
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Speaker 1: Oh yeah.
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Speaker 2: when channel 26 used to do the big cinema stuff. And if it was
Star Wars or something else, you'd get completely disappointed.
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Speaker 1: Oh yeah.
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Speaker 2: But no, he really liked it here. He wanted to come in. He
remembers having to store food and hide stuff and you know, going hungry
and he never wanted that for his kids or grandkids. So, I
mean, my grandpa worked up until he was 68. And then once he was done, he
actually asked his boss, he said, Hey, can I just be the gardener?
Because he loves gardening?
67
00:05:15,540 --> 00:05:16,080
Speaker 1: Oh, really?
68
00:05:16,000 --> 00:05:24,460
Speaker 2: So that he said, yeah, that he was more than willing to do
that. So once he got that together, then he actually garden for everybody
on the dairy where he was stationed at Riverdale.
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Speaker 1: Oh, wow. Yeah. Well, that's, that's pretty cool.
70
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Speaker 2: Yeah, he loved being here. My grandmother, you know, they just
said it. This was as much as they missed home, you know, because that's
their home. Yeah, they love being here because it gave
them an opportunity to have their kids and grandkids you know, have
something.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, definitely. That's the same with migraine
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Speaker 2: Because they didn't understand. I mean, I went to the
Ziegler's last year, and it was beautiful, and they have everything we
have here now, still a little different. But they didn't know
that it was gonna be like that they you know, they were the the mindset,
this is how it's always going to be it's always been that way, you know,
and they came to America. It was huge.
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Speaker 1: Yeah. They just saw all the you know, yeah, new stuff that's
here and all that kind of stuff. Let's see, you're a member of the first,
second, or third generation of your family to be born
in the United States. How important was it to your parents that you were
raised a strong Portuguese identity?
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Speaker 2: I was first generation here.
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Speaker 1: Okay.
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Speaker 2: And when we grew up, my mom wanted us to learn English. But
most importantly, she wanted us to make sure that we didn't forget our
culture. So we learned bilingual language since we were
little kids. I mean, me and my brother is only I only have one of those
siblings. We both speak fluent Portuguese and fluent English. Ah, we both
know how to read in Portuguese. I don't know how to
write in Portuguese, which if that makes any sense. That makes sense. I
can read it but can't write.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, that makes sense. Let's see here. How is identity
see, how was this identity expressed through language food traditions, or
fest or festas?.
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Speaker 2: We always stated traditional foods and stuff. I mean, we got
treated a pizza and hamburgers and all that kind of stuff. But my mom
always wanted make very sure and my dad that we didn't
lose who we were right.
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Speaker 1: Yeah.
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Speaker 2: And for me, it was very important from a young age. Not so
much for my brother. I mean, he still cares, but he's not as involved.
81
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Speaker 1: Yeah.
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Speaker 2: So for me, I really like our traditions. And I think it's
important because growing up with some of my friends, they lost their
traditional stuff from their families. They're like, Oh, man,
I wish I knew this, or I wish I knew who my grandma was, or you know
where they came from. So for me, with my parents being involved, I liked
going to the coasts, my dad learning the way they fished
and the way they did things.
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Speaker 1: Oh.
84
00:07:28,630 --> 00:07:38,860
Speaker 2: You know, my mom. She got me a cookbook at a young age. So we
didn't have any girls and I love to cook. So I have the traditional
Portuguese cookbooks. I buy all the traditional stuff to
have at my house.
85
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Speaker 1: Yeah.
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Speaker 2: And then I became part of the St. Peter committee when I came
of age. And so my parents in some of the, you know, always volunteered,
but you had to be a certain age and they wanted to make
sure that you were serious.
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Speaker 1: Yeah.
88
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Speaker 2: So when I got voted in to be on the committee, I started
helping out and helping out to the clubs here at CPS. And then two years
ago, they asked me to be a board member of the hall.
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00:07:59,840 --> 00:08:00,080
Speaker 1: Oh wow.
90
00:08:00,080 --> 00:08:03,050
Speaker 2: I'm actually on the board now here at the hall, one of the
officers here.
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00:08:03,140 --> 00:08:06,350
Speaker 1: Oh, that's awesome. So it sounds like you're keeping in touch
with that.
92
00:08:06,350 --> 00:08:21,020
Speaker 2: Oh, yeah. And we go we go to all the other celebrations we
help out. We, we, uh, my wife's Russian, and her grandfather had an
aluminum boat, and we actually painted it, built a mask for
it. And we decorated like the old traditional fishing boats.
93
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Speaker 1: Uh huh.
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Speaker 2: And then we've been going to all the blights. All the parades,
all the processions and we just try to keep the tradition going.
95
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Speaker 1: Yeah
96
00:08:28,130 --> 00:08:29,810
Speaker 2: get the young people involved. get them excited.
97
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Speaker 1: Yeah, that's awesome. That's really cool. Do you guys ever go
towards Patterson?
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Speaker 2: Oh, yeah.
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Speaker 1: Oh, really?
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Speaker 2: This year? We did. We did. Hilmar, Turlock, Gustine. We did
two easten festas. We did Tulare. And I'm missing one. There was another
one we did.
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Speaker 1: Stevenson?
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Speaker 2: Stephenson.
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Speaker 1: Okay. Yeah. Okay. Wow. And Cruzada usually has a pretty good
one too.
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Speaker 2: I've never been to cruise landing
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Speaker 1: Really? It's a small town. It's literally a stop sign. But you
know, usually their festa is pretty big. You know? This, year Patterson
We didn't even have a bull fight because they didn't
make enough money to, you know, actually have the bull fight. But usually
every year we do, but it's the festa and all that kind of good stuff. So
still fun. Let's see what cultural traditions have
you maintained? Why has it been important to you to maintain them?
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Speaker 2: So like I said, with the fish he helped out. We also try to
help out anytime we have the traditional fundraisers, like when they have
done six or five or stuff like that.
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Speaker 1: Yeah.
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Speaker 2: It's important to me, because I don't, whenever I do decide to
have children or if I'm blessed with children, I don't want them to lose
our heritage.
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Speaker 1: Yeah.
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Speaker 2: I am very proud to be American. And that's what I am.
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Speaker 1: Yeah.
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Speaker 2: Portuguese come second. Because I was born here. I mean, this
is my country, but I don't ever want to lose all the stuff that my
parents did. My grandparents did great grandparents, because
it's very important. All the stuff that they've worked for, and the
things they've achieved. I mean, you had people who came from nothing.
They came here and have made million dollar businesses.
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Speaker 1: Yeah
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Speaker 2: And haven't forgot who they are.
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Speaker 1: Yeah.
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Speaker 2: You know, they're not arrogant, they're not, you know,
boisterous. They really want to keep that help out. And if it wasn't for
those guys, in men and women that came to do these things,
you couldn't have some of these festas. I mean, the dairy farmers and the
farmers here, there's some of the most be giving donation people there is
for our community.
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Speaker 1: Oh, yeah.
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Speaker 2: And I always laugh because it doesn't matter whose house you
go to, they could be the poorest or the richest. When you're asking for
something for our community, especially in our area,
they are gonna give you the most they can give you. And it doesn't
matter. If you don't like john or you don't like manuel. If something bad
happens in the community, they all come together and they
help you get to that rough time. And it's very important to me to keep
that going to I don't ever want to lose sight of where we came from and
forgotten our roots and taking what we have now for
granted.
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Speaker 1: Definitely. I totally agree with you. Let's see. Have you ever
been to the Azores? What was the experience like for you?
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Speaker 2: So I went last year, first time I ever been, I had a couple
opportunities to go in between but work school stuff didn't work out. So
last year, I got to go. I went to peak. We went to sun
shores, faial in Terseda. Peak, of course, was my favorite island where
my family's from, but it was a very surreal experience to get there and
go see where my dad grew up. I mean, you know, five
brothers and two sisters and two parents lived in a house that is smaller
than most apartments. You know, they worked all the time. I mean, the
little from kids and short pants to, you know, to the
bigger kids. Yeah. And for me, it was neat to see that even with all the
new technology and cell phones and all the stuff they got the kids there
haven't really lost sight of the way things were. I
remember being at a festa at two o'clock in the morning, there's four
year olds running through the streets with no parents, and nobody touched
them. Nobody, you know, made it. Everybody's just a big
community. And if someone got out there like hey, come back here. You
know, everybody sits there. They take the time for the processions they
take the time for mass, you know, the family atmosphere
still there.
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Speaker 1: Oh wow.
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Speaker 2: Out of three meals a day. I never ate front of the TV there.
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Speaker 1: Oh, wow.
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Speaker 2: So we always ate together. They take the time. They haven't
lost their old traditions. I would say I think they do a really good job
of that. You know, they had probably 15,000 people, at
the festa or something, but even the winner, and during that procession,
nobody spoke.
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Speaker 1: Wow.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, it was it was a thing of honoring tradition. And
it was really neat. And now I'm actually going back again this year.
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Speaker 1: Really?
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Speaker 2: Yeah, I'll be going back for another three years or three
years. Sorry, three weeks.
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Speaker 1: That's awesome. I've really, really want to go myself too.
Let's see. Trace, if you will, some of your experiences growing up in the
Portuguese American community in the valley throughout
your life.
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Speaker 2: Most of the stuff has been you know, with the traditions, the
festas of course being some of the big ones. You know, we we have four
here a year and always been involved in those had a
couple friends that were in folklore so we would go with them to go watch
them perform. Of course we love going to the bullfights everybody loves
that. But big two in the community was when we did
outreach stuff. You know, when people were donating to help out a family,
or donating for a cause. At our house, my mom would always do like our
summer themed Festa. She invite all our family and
friends, everybody would come down. Easter was a big thing for us, you
know? So we always tried my mom always and Dad always tried to
incorporate all the stuff that they did there, here, and we've
kept it going.
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Speaker 1: Oh, that's awesome. That's pretty great. Of all that you have
accomplished what are you most proud of? What proud moments Do you
remember in Portuguese American community?
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Speaker 2: For me, it was really neat. One year I asked my parents to
take over their summer themes festa, like the harvest festival. And I
actually got my dad a couple of my buddies, we went made our
own wine, bought our own presses got our stuff. We did that. It was also
a big honor to be voted on the hall. that was probably one of the biggest
things ever since I was a little kid. I mean, there's
a thing of honor. Do the elders you know, they they promote you that they
bring you up, they ask and then also to be President my own festa. So our
committee at St. Peter is great. A lot of hard
working people. We're not one of the biggest committees, the smaller ones
actually. But we got a good group of people that have been dialed in,
been friends for years all grew up kind of in the same
area, about two miles down the road. So having that experience and being
able to do that at such a young age, I thought was big for me.
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Speaker 1: Yeah.
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Speaker 2: And I really liked it. And now because I've done that, I've
been with other clubs and met the other presidents and stuff and now with
my mom and help of other people here, we've kind of
coordinated with the other clubs. So when we're having our event, they
bring all their people.
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Speaker 1: Oh thats awesome.
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Speaker 2: When they have their event so they can have fun will go cook
and go do stuff. So like Hanford, St. John's really good friends of ours.
We cook all the tractic for them.
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Speaker 1: Oh that's awesome.
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Speaker 2: When we're having our festival, they bring all their cards for
Paul Blige. They come help us cook.
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Speaker 1: Okay
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Speaker 2: So it really it really helps.
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Speaker 1: Everyone can have their own you know good time there.
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Speaker 2: We're trying. We're trying to make everybody celebration big
and nice.
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Speaker 1: Yeah.
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Speaker 2: You know, I never liked the competitive aspect of it. I mean,
I played sports Of course you want to win And of course you want people
to like your festa when it comes to our community. If
one of us loses, you know, we kind of all do. Nobody's winning. So I try
to go to as many Festas as I can and help out in any way I can.
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Speaker 1: Yeah
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Speaker 2: to keep and preserve it. Right.
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Speaker 1: That makes sense. That's awesome. Yeah. Let's see. To what
extent do you believe being Portuguese American has shaped the way you
have moved through life both professionaly and personally?
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Speaker 2: Professionally, it taught me a lot of hard work. Honesty. You
know, my dad always told me said, Mark, you know, you can go through life
and never gain somebody's trust. It takes a second to
lose it. He goes, so always be honest, in your word, work hard. And then
once I went back to the Azores, and saw the way the people that are
there, I mean, you could probably be the worst guy on the
island. But that guy's probably the most honest guy still, you know, I
mean, everybody's got their things I bought mine as well. But yeah, hard
work and honesty was always what we were taught at home.
You know, if you can give the shirt off your back to help somebody please
do because you'll never know when you need it. And you know, God forbid
that time may come you have been lucky enough not to
have that problem, but that's what we was always instilled. And when I
went there, I saw it that people have a pride about. They want to have
their things nice. They want to work good. their crops
have to be perfect and pristine. So it's really important for me in my
day to day to remember those things because sometimes it's easy for us to
get complacent. Forget things, right?
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Speaker 1: Yeah.
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Speaker 2: Oh, I've got this. I got that elegant. Wait.
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Speaker 1: yeah.
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Speaker 2: Well, take a step back. Let's not do that. Um, and personally,
I wouldn't want to have grown up any other way. I mean, between the way
that people are, the culture that we have the things
that we do, I always have my friends looking in and my friends are always
like, Man, that's neat. your guys's family does that man. That's neat.
And I'm like, What does your family do on it? We really
don't do it. Really? Well, you know, your dad was from Germany, like you
guys know. Culture kind of died when great grandpa died. Oh, I don't ever
want that for my kids.
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Speaker 1: Definitely. Yeah. Oh, yeah. I totally agree. That's, you
know, you don't want to let it you know, all the great traditions just go
away.
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Speaker 2: And our cuisines one of the best
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Speaker 1: Oh yeah. Especially the big goods. Let me tell you, that's
what most of me is. And what you're saying about honestly, my grandma is
just a better thief in the house than a liar. Yeah,
because Lisa thieves, you'll know what they're gonna do. Yeah, you never
know what's gonna happen. You know? Let's see. What does being Portuguese
American mean to you?
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Speaker 2: For me, it's a thing of pride. I'm very proud of where my
family came from very proud of what they achieved. And my dad always told
us, you know, I don't want you kids to do anything you
don't want to do. I just want you guys to be better than me. And at
first, I kept thinking it used to bother me as a young age. I'm like,
Dad, you're pretty great. Like, why would you want me to be
better than you? I mean, you're. But his way of thinking about it was his
dad had more and did more than my grandfather did. And he just wanted to
see us grow. So you know, for me, it's very proud
that my dad came from a place with no running water, electricity, and now
he has his own ranch. He became his own businessman. My dad doesn't have
a high school education.
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Speaker 1: Oh wow.
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Speaker 2: My dad's education is what he learned here. I mean, my mom
taught me English.
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Speaker 1: Wow.
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Speaker 2: You know, my mom came here put herself through school to that
kind of stuff. But my dad didn't. But my dad is sharp as whip.
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Speaker 1: Yeah.
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Speaker 2: And I'm not saying that just because my dad, but it's neat to
see people that came from nothing. I mean, really, they did. And using
outhouses behind the place to come here, build big
businesses to build halls like this and be able to come to a new country
and keep the traditions going, and they're proud of it. So I'm very proud
to be from where my parents came from, you know, and
I don't ever want to forget that. It's a big thing to me.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, that's great. Let's see, how do you see Portuguese
American community today?
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Speaker 2: I think it's good. I think it could be great. Especially
certain sections, you know, you go to San Jose's, you go to the Turlocks,
the Hilmars, the Tulares. They have a very strong
community. They've got a lot of young people. They're keeping their young
people in tact. I think it's some of the outlying communities that have
don't have such a big population of younger kids. It's
hard to keep that together and keep the kids involved. Yeah. So I would
say it's good. I you know in our area, I would hope that we could make it
better. But that's just with time. It with time
interaction stuff like we're doing today.
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Speaker 1: Yeah.
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Speaker 2: that's gonna be huge to keep people involved and engaged and
excited about these things.
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Speaker 1: So yeah, definitely. Yeah, definitely. Um, is there anything
we didn't cover that you'd like to share?
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Speaker 2: No, I think all the questions are pretty straightforward.
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Speaker 1: Right?
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Speaker 2: I'm actually very, very happy you guys are doing this? Oh,
yeah. I think I think it's a great thing.
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Speaker 1: I love being able to hear people's stories. I mean, being able
to hear you know, about your parents and how they came here and, you
know, all kinds of stuff because, I mean, that's
something you know, you don't read it in a book somewhere, you know, just
somebody's story because, you know, maybe they didn't sail across the
ocean and you know, discover new something, but you
know, they still have a very interesting story.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, I will tell you one thing, the one of the coolest things
that are I have seen was my mom's aunt down in San Diego. She outlived
three sons, which that's not the cool thing. But all
her all her kids, everybody. She has a picture of one of the first groups
of Portuguese Americans that ever came from the old country at Boston.
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Speaker 1: Oh, wow.
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Speaker 2: They're all lined up when they got off the boat. That is
really one of the coolest pictures they've got.
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Speaker 1: Wow. Is it original picture?
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Speaker 2: Original picture. Yeah.
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Speaker 1: When was that?
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Speaker 2: My cousin Mike Madrid still has it.
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Speaker 1: Wow.
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Speaker 2: It was early 1940s. It was a group that came over or 1940s
1950s might have been 50s. But they've got it. It's all black and white
frame.
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Speaker 1: Wow, that is really cool. One of the last things do you think
you could spell your name out like write out your full name out.
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Speaker 2: Your pigs in the back of my truck. We're going we're going
right now.
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Speaker 3: Oh great, you're getting a signature right?
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Speaker 1: Oh, yeah.
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Speaker 3: I just have to ask you what dairy in Riverdale. Did you dad
work at?
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Speaker 2: Oh my dad work for Fred Machado here. And for Pete degroot. My
grandpa worked for my Doucet holes in my DoucetJose It was Rosa Rosa
dairy.
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Speaker 3: Oh, uh huh. Yeah, very good. Yeah. Very good.
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Speaker 1: All righty, sir. Yeah. Well, I really appreciate you talking.
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Speaker 2: You know, no problem, thank you.
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Speaker 1: You have a good day.
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Speaker 2: You do the same.