Portuguese Beyond Borders Institute Collection

John Manuel Rocha-Deniz Interview

Rocha-Deniz, John Manuel

Lara-Sosa, Alejandra

ENG

Portuguese Beyond Borders Institute

11/23/2020

SCUAD_pbbi_00068

Alejandra Lara-Sosa: Hello. I'm Alejandra Lara. I'm here with.
John Deniz: John Deniz.
Alejandra Lara-Sosa: Um, is that is that your entire full name?
John Deniz: Uh, well back in the old country they, they give you long
names. So, it's actually John Manuel Rocha Deniz.
Alejandra Lara-Sosa: Okay. Were you named after anyone?
John Deniz: Uh, one of my dad's brothers was named John so I don't know
if I was named after him. Maybe. Probably, an uncle.
Alejandra Lara-Sosa: Okay. And then when were you born?
John Deniz: Uh 1964.
Alejandra Lara-Sosa: Uh huh, and then where were you born? So like the
location.
John Deniz: Uh, the Azores Islands, Terceira.
Alejandra Lara-Sosa: And then, what early memories do you have as a child
in Portugal?
John Deniz: Uh uh, not a whole lot because we were like six when we came
over here, but I remember a few things you know and, we used to go up to,
my dad used to go up and milk the cows and stuff like that. And we’d make
wine and kill pigs and just little few things, you know, playing in the,
the alleys with the other little kids. And that’s about it.
Alejandra Lara-Sosa: Mm. Do you know why your family left the Azores?
John Deniz: Uh, well my dad came first because we had family here and
then he wanted, then he came back and got us and brought us all over
here. Just want to give us all a better life I guess because over here
was you know; we can work and make more money. But basically, that was
it, you know, just to give us better life.
Alejandra Lara-Sosa: And then. Uh, where did your family settle and why?
John Deniz: We came to Madera, and we haven't left since that’s. We had
family here. So, we came, and we worked, worked for a riot. One of my
dad's uh well, he's like what Cousin Johnny? His cousin owned a arming
and a packing shed so we worked for him most of our lives. Yeah.
Alejandra Lara-Sosa: And then did your parents or grandparents ever tell
you what it was like to like adjust to the life? Like being in this new
country?

John Deniz: Oh, it's a lot, it was a lot different here because back in
the old country in our house we didn't have no water inside, you know, no
bathrooms, everything. You know, I had to go bathroom outside, the
outhouse, you know, and we had very, very little electricity, very, very
weak, not very people had it, you know, there was no cars, we have no
cars or nothing. So, everything was different here to get adjusted to the
new way of life. Everything’s a lot easier here. Over there you had uh,
to you know, walk to, my mom had a walk, you know up because our, our
island it was kind of like on a hill, our house was like on a hill, she
had to walk up to like the center of town where there was water and carry
water home every day to wash you know and do dishes and so it was a lot
more, you know a lot more harder than it is here. You know, you got all
the conveniences of.
Alejandra Lara-Sosa: Mhm.
John Deniz: Of water and all that over there. We didn't have water
inside, no bathrooms, everything was outside, you know. So, it's, it was
easy to adjust but it was a lot, you know, lot better than being without
water and all that over there. Yeah.
Alejandra Lara-Sosa: And then, were you ever told like, any stories
like, passed down like, regarding like, um like, you know, your family
members experience like, oh like, how it was like, like yeah, the
first because they were the first ones that came. So like, did they
feel like, any crazy changes like oh, you know.
John Deniz: Uh, well, there wasn’t really bad changes. But um, I don't
know exactly how to answer to that one. But it it's just um.
Alejandra Lara-Sosa: It’s okay.
John Deniz: Uh, I don't know.
Alejandra Lara-Sosa: Okay. I go to the next question. So
John Deniz: I kind of blanked out.
Alejandra Lara-Sosa: So, you were you are a member of the 1st, 2nd or
third generation of your family to be born in the United States? How
important is it for your parents to be like raised, with a strong
[unclear], Portuguese?
John Deniz: Well, I wasn’t born here. I was born back in the Azores. So
James, James and my sons were the fir- actually the first ones born here.
Yeah, I was born back in the old country. I was like six when we came so,
I wasn't actually born here but sons were born here.

Alejandra Lara-Sosa: Yeah, but do you feel like you want them to be like,
have a strong like, Portuguese identity or you know, how do you feel
about that?
John Deniz: Yeah, yeah, it's, it’s nice to keep your you know your
heritage, your Portuguese. You know my oldest son Jason he; you know he's
right now he's out bullfighting somewhere. He went with his friends, and
they, they go out they he, he likes to go bullfighting, go to the bull
fights. And then the youngest one James, he's he likes it too but he's
not as into it because Jason's older, so he was put more into the
Portuguese stuff earlier. Used to go to bullfights all the time, we were
little kids you know and, hang out with a lot of Portuguese stuff. But,
but um, yeah, it's nice for them to keep their traditions, you know they
go to Portuguese events a lot and stuff and help and so yeah, it's nice
to keep your heritage going.
Alejandra Lara-Sosa: Um so like how do you like, um express like your
identity as like, being Portuguese, like is it through language, through
food like through traditions and festas just like what do you what do you
like doing?
John Deniz: Well, our tradition going you know we, every time we, you
know we get together with our family, we play you know like dominoes or
sueca, which is a Portuguese card game and then we all talk, talk
Portuguese and like to go fishing a lot. We like to do, we go to a lot of
Portuguese festas all the time and bullfights and you know we got
Portuguese clubs and stuff, part of the Portuguese clubs so we got a lot
of members, and we go to a lot of different Portuguese events so, it's
good to keep them, you know, learn about where they came from and this
and that so it's good.
Alejandra Lara-Sosa: Yeah. And then can you trace if you, like can you
trace like, some of your experiences growing up in the Portuguese
American community in the Valley throughout your life like how does
that, how does that make you feel like? Do you have any experiences?
John Deniz: Uh, I feel good, I mean being Portuguese, you know I mean you
got different cultures, but you know we done a lot of, we uh, done a lot
of stuff here in Madera, Portuguese stuff. We built the arena out there.
Used to be out there on 22. Bullfight arena. We had a bunch of bull
fights out there and my brother was, we had a festa here. Used to be the
Holy Spirit Festa here in Madera back, I think my brother was president
one year and then I was president I think it was like in 2005 or
something, I was president of the festa. We used to have a bullfight and
used to have uh, rent the hall over there and fairgrounds and we used to
get food, free food for everybody. It was traditional Portuguese food,
you know we got a linguicas and potatoes and wine and cheese and all that
kind of stuff and now we're part of uh, we're still kind of active in, in
the community here, we’re part of the PFSA which is a big Portuguese
organization. They're out of uh, Modesto and then uh, we are a part of
that. My son is actually the oldest one, Jason is the president of the

youths. The 20 to 30s of the organization and then uh, I was president
of, here in Madera we got a Portuguese club. It's uh, we’re Council 108
with the PFSA, a Portuguese Fraternal Society of America. I was president
of that for about three years, so I’m involved with that too, so still
involved in the community of Portuguese stuff. So. It’s good.
Alejandra Lara-Sosa: Uh huh. And then, of all of your accomplishments,
what are you most proud of, like what proud moments do you remember in,
you know being in a part of the Portuguese American community?
John Deniz: Like I said, when we were president of the festa here, the
Holy Spirit Festival, where I was president of the festa which was nice.
You know, you got to help a lot of people. We served food for over three
or 4000 people you know, and free food everything. And then you know, we
got to meet a lot of people. We’d go around collecting donations from
different dairies and different people. So, you got to meet a lot of
people and then when we're president of our club here too. We do a lot of
fundraisers here in Madera. We raise money. We do a donut sale, we make,
last year, we made uh, or the year before because this year we couldn’t
make any because of the COVID, but we made over 130 dozens of doughnuts
you know, for, for, for profit. And then we gave money to charity. We
gave our money for Valley Children's Hospital and the woman's victims uh,
and then uh, the rescue mission and then some from the church. So, we do
a lot of donations for our community. So, I'm proud to be part of that,
you know? So, it's a good recognition.
Alejandra Lara-Sosa: That's good. Um uh, to what extent do you believe
being Portuguese American has shaped you the way, the way you have moved
through life, both professional and personality?
John Deniz: Repeat that one again. I.
Alejandra Lara-Sosa: To what extent do you believe being Portuguese
American has shaped the way you have moved through life, both
professionally and pers- personal?
John Deniz: Uh. I, I guess it, it I guess it helps you shape yourself.
Um, uh but that, uh it's kind of hard question. Uh, uh I don't know I
guess just; you know, you feel good because of your heritage. And then
uh, just, I don't know. That's, that’s a hard question. I can’t, I can’t,
I can't really.
Alejandra Lara-Sosa: It’s okay. Um and then what does being, what does
the meaning of being Portuguese American mean to you?
John Deniz: Uh, Portuguese American is, it's, it's good because you know
that you, you know you've, you've come from a different country but yet
you're here and you've, you've accomplished a lot here you know even
though you're still Portuguese but you're you know you're, you're still
thinking about your country you know you want to go back because that's
where your roots are. You know you got memories there, but you got most

of them here because I came over small, but you know it's, it's probably
you know you got proud of what you've accomplished you know, you came
from over there and you're over here now, you know we got a lot of stuff
here you know it's, it's nice being from two different places. Yeah.
Alejandra Lara-Sosa: That’s good. And then, how do you see the Portuguese
American community today?
John Denize: Uh it's actually, uh Portuguese communities actually pretty
big today. There's a lot of Portuguese everywhere you go, you don’t
really know that you don't see it that often, but you go to these festas
you know and, and you see it it's really you know a lot of Portuguese out
there and they're still pretty active. They got a lot of festas, not this
year but pretty soon once this COVID gets over with, the festas will come
back and then there's, they do a lot to help the community. Do a lot of
fundraisers and donate a lot of money and, you know a lot of these
[charities or dairies], most of them are Portuguese owned and they, they
do a lot for the community, and they give you a lot of help and money and
donations and there's a lot of like Chowchilla and Merced and Gustine and
all those. There's a lot of Portuguese there and there's, they have the
Gustine festival. There's like I don't know what, maybe 10, 5-10,000
people that go over there you know, it's a big gathering. So, it's, it's,
it's, it’s strong.
Alejandra Lara-Sosa: Okay, so last question, is there anything we didn't
cover that you'd like to share?
John Deniz: Uh, just say it was, you know, we had a, we had a, had a
struggle getting over here, but it was it was it was it was worth it. I
mean we're back there. We, we, we, we had it good because my dad, you
know, he had his own store. We had a lot of, he had a lot of land. You
had a lot of, we didn't really, you didn't really buy much there because
the only thing you bought was maybe like sugar, flour, everything else,
you know, you raised at home. We had our own pigs. We had our own cows.
We, brother just to get up in the morning because we didn't have, there
was no car and not many cars there. So, they jump on their horse, go up
there, milk the cows, bring the milk down, take it to the [unclear]. They
make cheese and stuff out of it, pay you. And then we had a little store.
So, we were well off there. My dad had a lot of vineyards and stuff. We
used to make our own homemade wine and pigs, two or three make some
linguicas and, but we had some experiences too, you know, some hard
times. One time before we were even born, this lightning struck our house
in the middle of the night in the big storm and the house kind of blew
up.
Alejandra Lara-Sosa: Oh.
John Deniz: And caught on fire and then, but and then killed the pig
outside. It killed the pig. But none of us were hurt, though we’re
inside, thank God. But it, it was one of the main things that happened on
the island, that people were surprised how it happened. And then all the

way over here when we came to America and we went to land, the landing
wheel didn't come down. So, the, we went to land with no wheels.
Alejandra Lara-Sosa: Oh wow.
John Deniz: That the pilot, so it scraped the runway. So, we had to
circle around and then they had to spray uh ice on the field. So, we had
to land with no wheels.
Alejandra Lara-Sosa: Oh, my goodness.
John Deniz: On the runway. So that was kind of a scary start to America
and we're like, oh wow this is America well, it’s kind of rough you know?
But first couple of years, you know, we were small. You know, I had to go
to school, and you know how to, we didn't know how to speak any English,
you know, we were thrown right in kindergarten. We came, we came here in
June. We, we arrived here in 1970 in June, so in September we had to go
back to school, you know, so we were kind of bullied a little bit because
we didn't know how to speak English, you know the other kids would talk,
we don't know what they were saying, you know? So, but it was harder for
us to, to learn because, you know, if you don't understand the language
and these kids got a, got a head start on us, you know, because they're
already kindergarten already, but so, but we, we, we managed pretty good,
we, we learned quick how to speak and everything and then, worked out
good. So, here we are.
Alejandra Lara-Sosa: Mhm. Yeah, okay.
John Deniz: Yeah. So, it’s been fun.