Manuel Jimenez interview
Item
Title
Manuel Jimenez interview
Description
Microsoft Word document, 12 pages
Creator
Jimenez, Manuel
Jimenez, Olga
Relation
StoryCorps Interviews
Coverage
California State University, Fresno
Date
4/16/2016
Identifier
SCMS_stcp_00010
extracted text
>> Olga Jiminez: Hello. My name is Olga Castillo [assumed spelling] Jiminez. Today is April 17th, 2016. I
am 66 years of age. The location we are at is Fresno State University. The person I'm going to interview
is Manuel Jimenez and he is my husband.
>> Manuel Jiminez: My name is Manuel Jiminez. I am 65 years old. My wife is the [Foreign word].
Anyways, today's date is April 17th, 2016. We are at the Henry Madden Library at California State
University, Fresno, and the person I'm interviewing is my wife Olga Jiminez.
>> Olga Jiminez: Olga Castillo Jiminez.
>> Manuel Jiminez: Okay. Got you.
>> Olga Jiminez: The first question I want to ask my husband is, what was the happiest moment of your
life?
>> Manuel Jiminez: No, in reality the happiest moment was when I said hello to my girlfriend, Olga. And,
of course, there were many other happier moments but that was probably the most happy moment.
>> Olga Jiminez: And the saddest moment of your life?
>> Manuel Jiminez: Of course, I've had -- We come from large families and that's probably -- The saddest
probably was my mother passing, but of course the period of four or five years when we lost seven
family members.
>> Olga Jiminez: Who would you say, Manuel, who was the most important person in your life?
>> Manuel Jiminez: Clearly that would be my grandfather. And when I say my grandfather, maternally
and paternally he was not my grandfather. He was actually my step grandfather. My grandfather was
Victor Quintero [assumed spelling]. My grandmother and grandfather divorced. When she remarried,
she married Guadalupe Guerrero [assumed spelling], who was my grandfather, the one that I knew. And
throughout my life beginning from my very early memory, he's the person that most formed my
character. He was my protector and I'm assuming that I was one of his favorites because he was very
good at gifting words. He was a philanthropist of words not just to myself, but all the people around
him. He was very good at saying kind things. And so growing up, I learned that you can receive, you
know, a kind word goes so, so far. You remember it forever. And when someone's not nice, you also
remember those things, but they don't have the same impact. And my grandfather, every opportunity
he had to myself he always had positive and good things to say, things that were close to the heart and
things that always made sense. And so over the years until the time that he passed at an early age, he
formed the person that I am.
>> Olga Jiminez: And I got the best end of the deal because you do reflect your grandfather.
>> Manuel Jiminez: Thank you, Olga. Should I ask you a question now?
>> Olga Jiminez: He also liked to have company.
>> Manuel Jiminez: Oh, yes. Yeah, my grandfather, he was known as the godfather of Woodlake. He
baptized probably 60 kids and six children because people from the community respected him. They
would ask him to baptize their children and so often we got to go to the celebrations where they were
baptizing children of people we knew and then many people who were strangers to us but who felt that
my grandfather would make a good sponsor. And so over the years, many, many people in Woodlake
remember my grandfather as the person who would have the parties and the person who would be
baptizing their relatives and so that's what he's remembered for. He also organized the first funeral
benefit group called [inaudible] in Woodlake. And so it was a system where they helped pay for funerals
and he was always concerned about people not being able to bury their relatives. And so he gathered a
large population of the community and they would pay fees to collect for the cost of the burial of
whomever passed away. So that's the one thing that he did. He was also an organizer before Caesar
Chavez and he was responsible for starting some of the strikes in Woodlake in the late '40s and early
1950s.
>> Olga Jiminez: And I think I remember you saying that he took in foster kids?
>> Manuel Jiminez: Yes. My grandfather loved kids and he always liked being around people and as he
got the opportunity to take care of some foster young people, they did that several times and I
remember because I always felt competition because the foster kids loved my grandfather. Yeah, and
they would come years pass, they would coming looking for him. And I thought that was unusual
because often, you know, people who have foster kids it's a different relationship and my grandfather
always seemed to have an impact on the lives of people. And so he was special.
>> Olga Jiminez: He sounds very special to all of your family.
>> Manuel Jiminez: Yes.
>> Olga Jiminez: Was he a good husband to your grandmother?
>> Manuel Jiminez: Yes, he was. You know, when my grandfather passed away, I recall that it was
probably the saddest funeral, aside from my mother's, that we ever attended because of the
devastation to the community and to our relatives and compadres and comadres and it was a loss that it
wouldn't be able to be replaced. And one of the things that happened, of course, the [foreign language]
stopped functioning and so other things that my grandfather did also stopped functioning when he
passed. So he was a very special person that -- He was a people person and so he got along with many
people and was able to pass on good deeds and especially the kindness that he would give to people
around him.
>> Olga Jiminez: Did you say that one time he wrote to the state legislature people?
>> Manuel Jiminez: Yes. When he had concerns, my grandfather would write to the governor. I have his
letters.
>> Olga Jiminez: Sounds like a man before his time.
>> Manuel Jiminez: Yeah, he was willing to do those things that other people were not. I remember my
father, he was upset because my grandfather, he got us fired for asking for higher wages and he was
very upset about that. But my grandfather often did that and was very capable of being a leader when it
came to those issues.
>> Olga Jiminez: Now were his letters written in Spanish or English?
>> Manuel Jiminez: They are written in Spanish but he could speak English.
>> Olga Jiminez: What are the most important lessons you've learned in life?
>> Manuel Jiminez: Well, my life, you know, it's been very fortunate and long so far but the things that
were actually really engrained in my mind is my youth from the time that I can remember, we followed
the crops in California picking cherries, apricots, pears, string beans, peaches, prunes, grapes, olives, and
citrus and we did that every year. Some of the places that were special, when you think about how your
memory develops, you know, the smells, the sounds. I remember working in Santa Clara and there was a
Japanese farmer who had blackberries and he had a rickety bridge. It was a canal that passed prior to
getting to his facility and you could smell the mugwort, which is a sort of a water weed. It was like a mint
smell when you crossed the bridge. And the bridge was rickety, so the boards would make a sound and I
was always afraid of falling in the river, into the big canal. And then as soon as you crossed the bridge,
there was these blackberries and you could smell the berries and we were picking pears next to it and
my dad would say, "Do not steel any berries." And it's very sad because we never did. We probably
could've but just every time, you know, you have that want, you cross the bridge, you smell the berries,
you want the berries and you don't. But anyways, that and then of course all the smells, you know, the
people around you in the peach orchard smelling the ripe peaches on the ground because the peaches
when on the tree don't smell but once they fall, they release an aroma and you smell the peaches. You
smell the other fruit. And then the combination of those smells and the people around you, you know,
the family at the fires at the encampment, it was always really nice. In the evenings people would cook.
They would put on music. They would have the entire family there and just being with your brothers and
sisters, your uncles, aunt, it was really special.
>> Olga Jiminez: Sounds like a special time.
>> Manuel Jiminez: Yeah.
>> Olga Jiminez: What are you proudest of in your life?
>> Manuel Jiminez: Olga, I think we should start with you because time is flying.
>> Olga Jiminez: Oh, I'm sorry. I was all into your story.
>> Manuel Jiminez: Okay, Olga, Olga tell us about your youth, when you were a little girl.
>> Olga Jiminez: Well, let me start off that I was born in Pharr, Texas, p-h-a-r-r. And it was far. You look
at the map, I didn't realize that until it was about, oh, maybe fourth or fifth grade when we started
studying the map and where the states were and you had to name the states and I'd look at the map
and I'd go, I've really come far away from where I was born. I remember—I remember being hungry
when I was a little kid. I remember the floor was a dirt floor. I remember seeing— because I was
sweeping and you had to wet the floor, wet the ground because the floor was the ground, the dirt, and
you wet it so the dust wouldn't come up, the dirt. And I remember seeing little triangle, it was white,
stood out and I picked it up. I dusted it and I took a bite of it and it was a flour-made tortilla, made from
flour. I had been raised in the border town of Reynosa in Mexico and we only had corn tortillas, so flour
tortillas were awesome. Oh, I bit into that and it was just a new taste, a little dirt but it was a new taste.
And I remember the [inaudible] man passing by and he carried his basket, huge basket, over on his head
and he balanced it and had a cloth covering the bread. Of course, I didn't know he had bread in the
basket because he didn't stop at our place. But I saw that he would stop at the other houses and they
would get bread. I didn't know what it tasted like. And so my memories of being a little kid I would say
hungry, I would say cold, and when my dad crossed us over to Texas, I remember living in a field of hay.
And they were called pacas, bales of hay, and my dad had made four walls with a door and we were
there. I remember my mom telling us to be very quiet. She'd say “shhhh, no hablan, [foreign language
spoken].
>> Manuel Jiminez: The border patrol.
>> Olga Jiminez: The border patrol was around, so we had to be very quiet. I didn’t know what the
[inaudible] was but if my mom said to be very quiet, we listened. We were like little chicks. Under the
big chicken—under her wings. Whatever mom said, we did. And my language—my first language was
Spanish. So dad would disappear and he'd come back and then he would say the [inaudible] had taken
him and they had taken him to Reynosa in Mexico and my dad said, "I crossed three days ago and I've
been hungry and tired but I had to come back to the family and find you guys." So we were rescued by
my dad. And my dad used to have a slingshot and he used to go kill blackbirds. I say they were
blackbirds. They could've been crows.
>> Manuel Jiminez: Crows, uh-huh.
>> Olga Jiminez: My dad called them [foreign language], so my mom would fix up the blackbird or the
crow and cook it and give us all a taco of crow meat, bird meat. I don't know, my sister thought it was
chicken. Later on my dad said, "I didn't have the heart to tell her it wasn't chicken. It was just a black
crow." But it was delicious. So we grew up on what dad could hunt and then we grew up -- He had a
little place where he could plant vegetables, carrots, cabbage and things like that. So I grew up around
vegetables and my dad would work for the German farmer. His name was Bruno [assumed spelling] and
my dad would churn up the ground on the tractor and come home. Those are the memories that I have
but it's mostly of hunger. Going to bed hungry.
>> Manuel Jiminez: So when did you come to California? I know that many people, especially the farm
workers came to California, because the money was hanging on the trees and all you had to do was
harvest it. So when did your father decide to bring you to California?
>> Olga Jiminez: Well actually we used to migrate. We used to always go back to Texas. And one year my
dad said, "We're not going back to Texas. There's nothing there. There's no life." So we came to
California and my dad had a letter that a friend, which is a compadre of his, had wrote to him and said,
"Come to California. You can make a life over here. And the kids can work and help you." So we came in
this car. I couldn't tell you what kind but there was ten of us, plus my parents. So we came to
Westminster, California. And I think California had child labor laws and we could not work. Only my two
older brothers and that wasn't going to cut it for us. We were too many. So we migrated to Woodlake
because my father had another compadre. So we came with this envelope that had an address and I
went up to the postman and I said, "Mister," and in Spanish, where is this?" And he said, "Just go
eastward and you'll see it." So we found it and it was his compadre Jesus and it was a family with one
daughter. And I thought who has a family with just one kid. We were ten. And I noticed something about
her. She was a teenager. She had on nylons and I noticed that she had hairy legs. And on the table was
this basket full of plums, purple, beautiful plums, and the lady said, "Do you want some?" But we were
taught to say no, no thank you, we just ate or thank you, we're full. And if you said yes, you were
pinched.
>> Manuel Jiminez: That's right. And they were probably Santa Rosa plums because they smell so good
and they're black.
>> Olga Jiminez: And she passed the basket around and we all looked at mom but is it okay, and she
nodded. She said “yes”. So we all grabbed a plum, you know, and ate it. And the lady looked at us like
these kids are starving. She says would you like some more. We said, "Oh, no. No, thank you." We were
not going to get pinched. Mom would've pinched us. So one was enough. We were being polite.
>> Manuel Jiminez: All right, so then after you settled in, did you live in a big house, Olga?
>> Olga Jiminez: Oh, I didn't know what it was like to live in a big house. We rented. Every year we
rented. Every year we would rent a home and then we'd go pick -- The first thing we picked was figs and
then we picked grapes and then we went back to Woodlake and had to find another place to rent and
we were at least 12 by then and it was hard to find housing. They only wanted to rent to a family with
maybe three kids. So we would stay in the station wagon and at night we crept into the home that was
rented. It was not a good feeling because you knew you were hiding. You were being untruthful. When
you're raised in a Mexican family, let me tell you, you don't lie. But to get a house, we lied.
>> Manuel Jiminez: Oh yes. We had the same experience, you know, when we would go to, of course,
you know, you were truant because you left school because school was over and you always hid from
the busses and you always hid from the police and you were hiding from the border patrol for no reason
whatsoever, just because everybody else would run from them. And then places like Yuba City, at least
in the coastal areas, you know, it was, we lived in tents or houses made out of boxes but in Marysville
and Yuba City, they wouldn't let you set up a tent in that county and they wouldn't let you make a house
out of boxes. So we had to rent houses and there were signs, you know, when the farm workers came in
July, late July, there were signs that said no dogs, no pets, and no kids because they didn't want the big
Mexican families renting their homes from them. And they would make them pay a deposit, the first
month and a deposit. And so we would have to hide, you know. My parents would leave us at the city
park for days until they found a house so they wouldn't take the family to show them their kids. And
then the entire time we were working there, we would be hiding from the renter in the house and then
we'd get up at 4 o'clock in the morning and then leave at dark to go pick fruit and the same thing, hiding
from, you know, you're hiding from all these other people and you're hiding from the renter because
your parents, you couldn't make noise. You don't speak loud and you can't laugh. So and then your bed
was a box because here's a big old house, absolutely no furniture. You have a cold box. There's no
refrigerator and so you're, you know, the life is miserable. I'd rather be in the field working than being at
that house because you couldn't be loud, you couldn't laugh, you couldn't do those things. And so it was
so good when my parents would finally say, "Let's go home," you know, and we would leave that
community because it was not a good situation. So I understand how it is to be lying.
>> Olga Jiminez: You know, the only reason that we ended up with a home is because of this program
called Self-Help and my parents were eligible. And there must've been about 12 families that were
eligible to make their home. And it's called Self-Help because you do go and make your own home and
set up the walls and all that. It was 1969 before I knew what it was like to have a home, a real home. But
then I got married in June of '70, so it was back to the mice, back to the roaches, back to the cold air
coming in, back to homes with no heating.
>> Manuel Jiminez: I'm sorry, Olga.
>> Olga Jiminez: Eh, economics.
>> Manuel Jiminez: Well, you know, when I finally decided to ask you to marry me, you know, it was, I
mean, of course, when you do it for the first time it's really unusual but, you know, we rented the house
from Don Panchito [assumed spelling] for $25 a month and he was a kind old man. But if you recall, his
wife was really upset because --
>> Olga Jiminez: Uh-huh, she was very religious lady.
>> Manuel Jiminez: She asked us if we were married and you said that we were not and she says, "Well,
you can't rent our house." And so you told her we were going to get married, then she said, "Okay, you
can --
>> Olga Jiminez: She said, "Absolutely not. I do not rent to people that are not married." I said, "We plan
to get married but we want to rent a little home, you know, so we can have a home."
>> Manuel Jiminez: Yes, that's true. So then life went fast. Olga, tell me the bit about your children.
>> Olga Jiminez: Oh, my children. My boy was born in 1971 and I had tried to come to Fresno State and
when I was pregnant, I said, "I know nobody here. No one's going to be able to take care of my child." So
I told Manuel, "I’m not gonna go to school, Manuel. I have to—I have to raise my son." And I think
because I had been a caretaker all my life, I had one child on my hip throughout my life and it was a very
easy role for me to take on. I was determined that I was going to be a good mother and was determined
my son, my baby was not going to get diaper rash. I was determined about a lot of things and he had
cloth diapers. So back in that day, I had to hand wash the cloth diapers. But I wasn't fortunate to have a
calm child. I ended up with a very colicky baby, very colicky. My son cried till he was six months old and I
was, why can't I have a calm child and the doctor says, "Oh, he's senses that you're nervous." I go,
"Doctor, what do I have to be nervous about? If he would just be quiet a little bit, I could calm down
too." But the whole time he was—had underdeveloped intestines and he was a big eater, so he was very
colicky.
>> Manuel Jiminez: So you had three girls that followed.
>> Olga Jiminez: I wanted my son to have a brother. So I tried three more times but they were sisters, so
then I just gave up. I said, "Four children is enough." And I told Manuel, I said, "Everybody thinks I'm
going to have 14 kids like my mom. I'm not going to have that many kids. I might have more than my
brothers and sisters do but not no 14."
>> Manuel Jiminez: Yes. Now when you had Manuel, when you quit school, you know, I also quit school.
But then when I finally decided to come back to school, you had to work. You were working in the
packing house.
>> Olga Jiminez: Yes, by that time we had bought a little home and we had some rough times financially
and Manuel was going to come and finish school and I worked at this packing house sorting oranges. So I
would get my son and my daughter and get them ready to take them to what they called childcare
service and it was free. And I would take -- I would get them ready and Manuel would be off in school by
that time. When the kids woke up, Manuel was gone. When the kids went to bed, Manuel was gone. So
they'd say, "Where's daddy?" And I'd say, "Well daddy's at Fresno." And so my son grew up, his first five
years he grew up thinking he was going to kindergarten and then he was going to go to Fresno State.
>> Manuel Jiminez: That's right.
>> Olga Jiminez: I said, "No mijo, there's 12 years in between there.
>> Manuel Jiminez: Yes. Yeah and it was hard not seeing the children, of course, and then, you know,
working as much as we could, you and I, we were not able to get financial aid because we worked and so
going to the financial office and they said our farm labor was greater. It was interesting because we
couldn't get financial aid. So it made things more difficult but school stretched out and then plus made
things more complicated is that in 1969-70 is when the student revolution was on and so we had to help
with that and so being involved in school politics and other issues like the farm labor strikes and stuff
like that made things even more difficult to sort of advance. It was a slower process. But finally when I
finished school, I got my first job and it was really interesting and I was so happy to get a job in
agriculture. And the first day at work they were not very kind to me. They had never had a Hispanic
work there. So I wasn't -- They told me I would be doing an orientation and so they gave me orientation
and then some fellows came into the office and said, "We should take this fellow out to the field." And I
said, "Oh, I'll go." So they walked me, they took me to walk some muddy canals with my nice shoes and
my slacks, the only pair of slacks I had. And the cockleburs were taking out the threads out of my pants
as I was walking through to find these noxious weeds and they weren't very kind to me. And it was a
very bad experience my very first day what I thought was going to be something awesome. But then
things worked out after that. When I left there, I started working for North American as a senior
agronomist, which is very fortunate. Sometimes things work out well. And then three years after
working there I worked with the University of California, where I worked for 35, actually 33 years.
>> Olga Jiminez: And you made a lot of friends through the growers and going to their fields and giving
advice. You made a lot of friends.
>> Manuel Jiminez: Yes.
>> Olga Jiminez: You just realized that they didn't have much life left in them.
>> Manuel Jiminez: Yes and I would say that probably, you know, Olga may not say this but Olga's
greatest gift was to raise her children as good people. Our kids are all conscientious, hardworking, and
very giving. And so Olga gave up her -- Olga actually was much smarter than I. Olga, you were much
smarter than I. You're a better student than I ever was but you gave that up for your family.
>> Olga Jiminez: Thank you, Manuel. Thank you.
>> Manuel Jiminez: And I know that your children appreciate it immensely. And you've made some good
people, which is very difficult in these times.
>> Olga Jiminez: Yeah, I remember one time my kids, my girl said to me, because I said, "You, get ready
for your job. And you, go take a shower. And you --" I said to the third one, I said, "You, turn off that TV."
She turns around and looks at me and she says, "I'll turn off the TV but how do I turn you off?" I was like
taking a real good picture of myself and I said, "You know what? I am the manager and I am the director
of this home, and you do as you're told.” And that's the end of it.
>> Manuel Jiminez: Yes.
>> Olga Jiminez: But my youngest one, I think I took it easy on her because she was our baby and
everybody said, “Oh, you have her spoiled.” Maybe that's the case in all families but she kept us young
and all my four children came to this campus, to Fresno State, and they all got their degrees and that's
the proudest thing that I can say and I tell people I don't care if you don't get financial aid, I used my
credit cards at a [inaudible] for my children. Back in those days, I'd just send a note that says, my child
has permission to use my credit card. This is my California license number and this is my phone number.
Feel free to call me if you have any questions. No questions. My kids got to register, get their classes, get
their parking fees, get their house fees done, and then I had another couple of months to pay that off
and then it was time to use the credit card again. And I'd tell people there is no excuse for you not to
support your child. Be it boy, be it girl, do your part as a parent.
>> Manuel Jiminez: Okay, Olga, what was your most fondest moment?
>> Olga Jiminez: Oh, I think when my children graduated from school, Manuel. That's my proudest
moments. I've been real pushy for them to get their schooling and the best surprise for Manuel and I
was that the children had that drive too. You know that saying, you can lead the horse to the water but
you can't make them drink? You can get all the financial aid, you can get all the tutors you want, if the
child is not determined and doesn't want it, you're just—you’re just knocking your head up against the
wall. And we were very fortunate that our children were able to see what the future would hold for
them if they just continued on the right course. So that's my proudest.
>> Manuel Jiminez: Yeah and I can think of two moments. One was when we were kids and it would be
in late November picking olives with my family and they would be very, very cold and wet because back
then, they didn't use herbicides very much and the grass was tall. And my father would make a fire and
then my mother would warm up the burritos and tacos on the embers and you could smell the aroma of
the flour tortillas coming to you while you were picking the olives. And also, she would heat up the
canela, which is a cinnamon tea, and then you could smell the cinnamon. And we would -- They would
finally call us and say come and eat and we'd all sit around the fire, put our—sit on the boxes and put
our feet up against the fire and get our tacos and eat them one small morsel at a time. And then we
would start talking, you know, and just having family there all together and having a good time even
though we were working, it was really, really nice. And then to follow that up with our families when our
kids were growing up and we were picking fruit, you know, we were picking grapes and our kids were all
with us, working with us, and we would stop and have a break and we'd get our food and sit around in a
circle and talk and, you know, it was very nice to have our entire family together.
>> Olga Jiminez: Oh yes.
>> Manuel Jiminez: And I think that most families need time like that, where you sit around and you
have comradery amongst your own family, your kids and your relatives. And that's a nice moment in life.
>> Olga Jiminez: Those are the things you remember as you get older.
>> Manuel Jiminez: Yes, uh-huh.
>> Olga Jiminez: When your brothers and sisters were little and you were little and you all shared the
cold, you shared the food, you shared the hot sun.
>> Manuel Jiminez: You shared the big bed.
>> Olga Jiminez: Uh-huh, five in a bed.
>> Manuel Jiminez: Five in the bed.
>> Olga Jiminez: I think that's why we stayed skinny.
>> Manuel Jiminez: Yeah.
>> Olga Jiminez: It's -- To me, it's kind of a little sad to see the young youth getting a little on the chunky
side, you know. And I'm just like, hey, that's adult—adult weight. If you let it, you know, but you're in
high school. This is the prime. This is the best of your, the best—the best time that of your life, you
know.
>> Manuel Jiminez: Yes.
>> Olga Jiminez: Don't let it get out of hand. Don't get—get so overweight, you know. Don't do that to
yourself. Your health is important. Your looks are important. And if you're missing teeth or they have
rotten teeth, I said, "Hey, go to the dentist. You don't even have to pay anything. Your smile is
important."
>> Manuel Jiminez: That's true. I think those are some of the things that you tell or one that you and I
have done is created a project where we grow young people and over the last 25 years we've worked
with hundreds and hundreds of young people teaching them to learn to work. You know, most young
people don't know how to work like we did and our children learned and so we tried to give them that
experience. We try to teach them respect for others. We try to teach them, you know, things about just
life and it's been really rewarding for us to have created, you know, this--this—this project where we try
to grow these young people and at the same time what's evolved from this is this very beautiful facility
called Bravo Lake Botanical Gardens. And what people don't realize they see the plants but don't realize
that the thing that we're growing here are good human beings and the evolution has been really
awesome to see.
>> Olga Jiminez: Yes, oh yes. We've met so many families and made friends and seeing the kids grow up,
you know, and the young ladies grow up, young men to young ladies. That's the progress that we've
gotten to see.
>> Manuel Jiminez: And now we work with some of the children of the children that we started with.
>> Olga Jiminez: Oh my, time has gone by.
>> Manuel Jiminez: Yes.
am 66 years of age. The location we are at is Fresno State University. The person I'm going to interview
is Manuel Jimenez and he is my husband.
>> Manuel Jiminez: My name is Manuel Jiminez. I am 65 years old. My wife is the [Foreign word].
Anyways, today's date is April 17th, 2016. We are at the Henry Madden Library at California State
University, Fresno, and the person I'm interviewing is my wife Olga Jiminez.
>> Olga Jiminez: Olga Castillo Jiminez.
>> Manuel Jiminez: Okay. Got you.
>> Olga Jiminez: The first question I want to ask my husband is, what was the happiest moment of your
life?
>> Manuel Jiminez: No, in reality the happiest moment was when I said hello to my girlfriend, Olga. And,
of course, there were many other happier moments but that was probably the most happy moment.
>> Olga Jiminez: And the saddest moment of your life?
>> Manuel Jiminez: Of course, I've had -- We come from large families and that's probably -- The saddest
probably was my mother passing, but of course the period of four or five years when we lost seven
family members.
>> Olga Jiminez: Who would you say, Manuel, who was the most important person in your life?
>> Manuel Jiminez: Clearly that would be my grandfather. And when I say my grandfather, maternally
and paternally he was not my grandfather. He was actually my step grandfather. My grandfather was
Victor Quintero [assumed spelling]. My grandmother and grandfather divorced. When she remarried,
she married Guadalupe Guerrero [assumed spelling], who was my grandfather, the one that I knew. And
throughout my life beginning from my very early memory, he's the person that most formed my
character. He was my protector and I'm assuming that I was one of his favorites because he was very
good at gifting words. He was a philanthropist of words not just to myself, but all the people around
him. He was very good at saying kind things. And so growing up, I learned that you can receive, you
know, a kind word goes so, so far. You remember it forever. And when someone's not nice, you also
remember those things, but they don't have the same impact. And my grandfather, every opportunity
he had to myself he always had positive and good things to say, things that were close to the heart and
things that always made sense. And so over the years until the time that he passed at an early age, he
formed the person that I am.
>> Olga Jiminez: And I got the best end of the deal because you do reflect your grandfather.
>> Manuel Jiminez: Thank you, Olga. Should I ask you a question now?
>> Olga Jiminez: He also liked to have company.
>> Manuel Jiminez: Oh, yes. Yeah, my grandfather, he was known as the godfather of Woodlake. He
baptized probably 60 kids and six children because people from the community respected him. They
would ask him to baptize their children and so often we got to go to the celebrations where they were
baptizing children of people we knew and then many people who were strangers to us but who felt that
my grandfather would make a good sponsor. And so over the years, many, many people in Woodlake
remember my grandfather as the person who would have the parties and the person who would be
baptizing their relatives and so that's what he's remembered for. He also organized the first funeral
benefit group called [inaudible] in Woodlake. And so it was a system where they helped pay for funerals
and he was always concerned about people not being able to bury their relatives. And so he gathered a
large population of the community and they would pay fees to collect for the cost of the burial of
whomever passed away. So that's the one thing that he did. He was also an organizer before Caesar
Chavez and he was responsible for starting some of the strikes in Woodlake in the late '40s and early
1950s.
>> Olga Jiminez: And I think I remember you saying that he took in foster kids?
>> Manuel Jiminez: Yes. My grandfather loved kids and he always liked being around people and as he
got the opportunity to take care of some foster young people, they did that several times and I
remember because I always felt competition because the foster kids loved my grandfather. Yeah, and
they would come years pass, they would coming looking for him. And I thought that was unusual
because often, you know, people who have foster kids it's a different relationship and my grandfather
always seemed to have an impact on the lives of people. And so he was special.
>> Olga Jiminez: He sounds very special to all of your family.
>> Manuel Jiminez: Yes.
>> Olga Jiminez: Was he a good husband to your grandmother?
>> Manuel Jiminez: Yes, he was. You know, when my grandfather passed away, I recall that it was
probably the saddest funeral, aside from my mother's, that we ever attended because of the
devastation to the community and to our relatives and compadres and comadres and it was a loss that it
wouldn't be able to be replaced. And one of the things that happened, of course, the [foreign language]
stopped functioning and so other things that my grandfather did also stopped functioning when he
passed. So he was a very special person that -- He was a people person and so he got along with many
people and was able to pass on good deeds and especially the kindness that he would give to people
around him.
>> Olga Jiminez: Did you say that one time he wrote to the state legislature people?
>> Manuel Jiminez: Yes. When he had concerns, my grandfather would write to the governor. I have his
letters.
>> Olga Jiminez: Sounds like a man before his time.
>> Manuel Jiminez: Yeah, he was willing to do those things that other people were not. I remember my
father, he was upset because my grandfather, he got us fired for asking for higher wages and he was
very upset about that. But my grandfather often did that and was very capable of being a leader when it
came to those issues.
>> Olga Jiminez: Now were his letters written in Spanish or English?
>> Manuel Jiminez: They are written in Spanish but he could speak English.
>> Olga Jiminez: What are the most important lessons you've learned in life?
>> Manuel Jiminez: Well, my life, you know, it's been very fortunate and long so far but the things that
were actually really engrained in my mind is my youth from the time that I can remember, we followed
the crops in California picking cherries, apricots, pears, string beans, peaches, prunes, grapes, olives, and
citrus and we did that every year. Some of the places that were special, when you think about how your
memory develops, you know, the smells, the sounds. I remember working in Santa Clara and there was a
Japanese farmer who had blackberries and he had a rickety bridge. It was a canal that passed prior to
getting to his facility and you could smell the mugwort, which is a sort of a water weed. It was like a mint
smell when you crossed the bridge. And the bridge was rickety, so the boards would make a sound and I
was always afraid of falling in the river, into the big canal. And then as soon as you crossed the bridge,
there was these blackberries and you could smell the berries and we were picking pears next to it and
my dad would say, "Do not steel any berries." And it's very sad because we never did. We probably
could've but just every time, you know, you have that want, you cross the bridge, you smell the berries,
you want the berries and you don't. But anyways, that and then of course all the smells, you know, the
people around you in the peach orchard smelling the ripe peaches on the ground because the peaches
when on the tree don't smell but once they fall, they release an aroma and you smell the peaches. You
smell the other fruit. And then the combination of those smells and the people around you, you know,
the family at the fires at the encampment, it was always really nice. In the evenings people would cook.
They would put on music. They would have the entire family there and just being with your brothers and
sisters, your uncles, aunt, it was really special.
>> Olga Jiminez: Sounds like a special time.
>> Manuel Jiminez: Yeah.
>> Olga Jiminez: What are you proudest of in your life?
>> Manuel Jiminez: Olga, I think we should start with you because time is flying.
>> Olga Jiminez: Oh, I'm sorry. I was all into your story.
>> Manuel Jiminez: Okay, Olga, Olga tell us about your youth, when you were a little girl.
>> Olga Jiminez: Well, let me start off that I was born in Pharr, Texas, p-h-a-r-r. And it was far. You look
at the map, I didn't realize that until it was about, oh, maybe fourth or fifth grade when we started
studying the map and where the states were and you had to name the states and I'd look at the map
and I'd go, I've really come far away from where I was born. I remember—I remember being hungry
when I was a little kid. I remember the floor was a dirt floor. I remember seeing— because I was
sweeping and you had to wet the floor, wet the ground because the floor was the ground, the dirt, and
you wet it so the dust wouldn't come up, the dirt. And I remember seeing little triangle, it was white,
stood out and I picked it up. I dusted it and I took a bite of it and it was a flour-made tortilla, made from
flour. I had been raised in the border town of Reynosa in Mexico and we only had corn tortillas, so flour
tortillas were awesome. Oh, I bit into that and it was just a new taste, a little dirt but it was a new taste.
And I remember the [inaudible] man passing by and he carried his basket, huge basket, over on his head
and he balanced it and had a cloth covering the bread. Of course, I didn't know he had bread in the
basket because he didn't stop at our place. But I saw that he would stop at the other houses and they
would get bread. I didn't know what it tasted like. And so my memories of being a little kid I would say
hungry, I would say cold, and when my dad crossed us over to Texas, I remember living in a field of hay.
And they were called pacas, bales of hay, and my dad had made four walls with a door and we were
there. I remember my mom telling us to be very quiet. She'd say “shhhh, no hablan, [foreign language
spoken].
>> Manuel Jiminez: The border patrol.
>> Olga Jiminez: The border patrol was around, so we had to be very quiet. I didn’t know what the
[inaudible] was but if my mom said to be very quiet, we listened. We were like little chicks. Under the
big chicken—under her wings. Whatever mom said, we did. And my language—my first language was
Spanish. So dad would disappear and he'd come back and then he would say the [inaudible] had taken
him and they had taken him to Reynosa in Mexico and my dad said, "I crossed three days ago and I've
been hungry and tired but I had to come back to the family and find you guys." So we were rescued by
my dad. And my dad used to have a slingshot and he used to go kill blackbirds. I say they were
blackbirds. They could've been crows.
>> Manuel Jiminez: Crows, uh-huh.
>> Olga Jiminez: My dad called them [foreign language], so my mom would fix up the blackbird or the
crow and cook it and give us all a taco of crow meat, bird meat. I don't know, my sister thought it was
chicken. Later on my dad said, "I didn't have the heart to tell her it wasn't chicken. It was just a black
crow." But it was delicious. So we grew up on what dad could hunt and then we grew up -- He had a
little place where he could plant vegetables, carrots, cabbage and things like that. So I grew up around
vegetables and my dad would work for the German farmer. His name was Bruno [assumed spelling] and
my dad would churn up the ground on the tractor and come home. Those are the memories that I have
but it's mostly of hunger. Going to bed hungry.
>> Manuel Jiminez: So when did you come to California? I know that many people, especially the farm
workers came to California, because the money was hanging on the trees and all you had to do was
harvest it. So when did your father decide to bring you to California?
>> Olga Jiminez: Well actually we used to migrate. We used to always go back to Texas. And one year my
dad said, "We're not going back to Texas. There's nothing there. There's no life." So we came to
California and my dad had a letter that a friend, which is a compadre of his, had wrote to him and said,
"Come to California. You can make a life over here. And the kids can work and help you." So we came in
this car. I couldn't tell you what kind but there was ten of us, plus my parents. So we came to
Westminster, California. And I think California had child labor laws and we could not work. Only my two
older brothers and that wasn't going to cut it for us. We were too many. So we migrated to Woodlake
because my father had another compadre. So we came with this envelope that had an address and I
went up to the postman and I said, "Mister," and in Spanish, where is this?" And he said, "Just go
eastward and you'll see it." So we found it and it was his compadre Jesus and it was a family with one
daughter. And I thought who has a family with just one kid. We were ten. And I noticed something about
her. She was a teenager. She had on nylons and I noticed that she had hairy legs. And on the table was
this basket full of plums, purple, beautiful plums, and the lady said, "Do you want some?" But we were
taught to say no, no thank you, we just ate or thank you, we're full. And if you said yes, you were
pinched.
>> Manuel Jiminez: That's right. And they were probably Santa Rosa plums because they smell so good
and they're black.
>> Olga Jiminez: And she passed the basket around and we all looked at mom but is it okay, and she
nodded. She said “yes”. So we all grabbed a plum, you know, and ate it. And the lady looked at us like
these kids are starving. She says would you like some more. We said, "Oh, no. No, thank you." We were
not going to get pinched. Mom would've pinched us. So one was enough. We were being polite.
>> Manuel Jiminez: All right, so then after you settled in, did you live in a big house, Olga?
>> Olga Jiminez: Oh, I didn't know what it was like to live in a big house. We rented. Every year we
rented. Every year we would rent a home and then we'd go pick -- The first thing we picked was figs and
then we picked grapes and then we went back to Woodlake and had to find another place to rent and
we were at least 12 by then and it was hard to find housing. They only wanted to rent to a family with
maybe three kids. So we would stay in the station wagon and at night we crept into the home that was
rented. It was not a good feeling because you knew you were hiding. You were being untruthful. When
you're raised in a Mexican family, let me tell you, you don't lie. But to get a house, we lied.
>> Manuel Jiminez: Oh yes. We had the same experience, you know, when we would go to, of course,
you know, you were truant because you left school because school was over and you always hid from
the busses and you always hid from the police and you were hiding from the border patrol for no reason
whatsoever, just because everybody else would run from them. And then places like Yuba City, at least
in the coastal areas, you know, it was, we lived in tents or houses made out of boxes but in Marysville
and Yuba City, they wouldn't let you set up a tent in that county and they wouldn't let you make a house
out of boxes. So we had to rent houses and there were signs, you know, when the farm workers came in
July, late July, there were signs that said no dogs, no pets, and no kids because they didn't want the big
Mexican families renting their homes from them. And they would make them pay a deposit, the first
month and a deposit. And so we would have to hide, you know. My parents would leave us at the city
park for days until they found a house so they wouldn't take the family to show them their kids. And
then the entire time we were working there, we would be hiding from the renter in the house and then
we'd get up at 4 o'clock in the morning and then leave at dark to go pick fruit and the same thing, hiding
from, you know, you're hiding from all these other people and you're hiding from the renter because
your parents, you couldn't make noise. You don't speak loud and you can't laugh. So and then your bed
was a box because here's a big old house, absolutely no furniture. You have a cold box. There's no
refrigerator and so you're, you know, the life is miserable. I'd rather be in the field working than being at
that house because you couldn't be loud, you couldn't laugh, you couldn't do those things. And so it was
so good when my parents would finally say, "Let's go home," you know, and we would leave that
community because it was not a good situation. So I understand how it is to be lying.
>> Olga Jiminez: You know, the only reason that we ended up with a home is because of this program
called Self-Help and my parents were eligible. And there must've been about 12 families that were
eligible to make their home. And it's called Self-Help because you do go and make your own home and
set up the walls and all that. It was 1969 before I knew what it was like to have a home, a real home. But
then I got married in June of '70, so it was back to the mice, back to the roaches, back to the cold air
coming in, back to homes with no heating.
>> Manuel Jiminez: I'm sorry, Olga.
>> Olga Jiminez: Eh, economics.
>> Manuel Jiminez: Well, you know, when I finally decided to ask you to marry me, you know, it was, I
mean, of course, when you do it for the first time it's really unusual but, you know, we rented the house
from Don Panchito [assumed spelling] for $25 a month and he was a kind old man. But if you recall, his
wife was really upset because --
>> Olga Jiminez: Uh-huh, she was very religious lady.
>> Manuel Jiminez: She asked us if we were married and you said that we were not and she says, "Well,
you can't rent our house." And so you told her we were going to get married, then she said, "Okay, you
can --
>> Olga Jiminez: She said, "Absolutely not. I do not rent to people that are not married." I said, "We plan
to get married but we want to rent a little home, you know, so we can have a home."
>> Manuel Jiminez: Yes, that's true. So then life went fast. Olga, tell me the bit about your children.
>> Olga Jiminez: Oh, my children. My boy was born in 1971 and I had tried to come to Fresno State and
when I was pregnant, I said, "I know nobody here. No one's going to be able to take care of my child." So
I told Manuel, "I’m not gonna go to school, Manuel. I have to—I have to raise my son." And I think
because I had been a caretaker all my life, I had one child on my hip throughout my life and it was a very
easy role for me to take on. I was determined that I was going to be a good mother and was determined
my son, my baby was not going to get diaper rash. I was determined about a lot of things and he had
cloth diapers. So back in that day, I had to hand wash the cloth diapers. But I wasn't fortunate to have a
calm child. I ended up with a very colicky baby, very colicky. My son cried till he was six months old and I
was, why can't I have a calm child and the doctor says, "Oh, he's senses that you're nervous." I go,
"Doctor, what do I have to be nervous about? If he would just be quiet a little bit, I could calm down
too." But the whole time he was—had underdeveloped intestines and he was a big eater, so he was very
colicky.
>> Manuel Jiminez: So you had three girls that followed.
>> Olga Jiminez: I wanted my son to have a brother. So I tried three more times but they were sisters, so
then I just gave up. I said, "Four children is enough." And I told Manuel, I said, "Everybody thinks I'm
going to have 14 kids like my mom. I'm not going to have that many kids. I might have more than my
brothers and sisters do but not no 14."
>> Manuel Jiminez: Yes. Now when you had Manuel, when you quit school, you know, I also quit school.
But then when I finally decided to come back to school, you had to work. You were working in the
packing house.
>> Olga Jiminez: Yes, by that time we had bought a little home and we had some rough times financially
and Manuel was going to come and finish school and I worked at this packing house sorting oranges. So I
would get my son and my daughter and get them ready to take them to what they called childcare
service and it was free. And I would take -- I would get them ready and Manuel would be off in school by
that time. When the kids woke up, Manuel was gone. When the kids went to bed, Manuel was gone. So
they'd say, "Where's daddy?" And I'd say, "Well daddy's at Fresno." And so my son grew up, his first five
years he grew up thinking he was going to kindergarten and then he was going to go to Fresno State.
>> Manuel Jiminez: That's right.
>> Olga Jiminez: I said, "No mijo, there's 12 years in between there.
>> Manuel Jiminez: Yes. Yeah and it was hard not seeing the children, of course, and then, you know,
working as much as we could, you and I, we were not able to get financial aid because we worked and so
going to the financial office and they said our farm labor was greater. It was interesting because we
couldn't get financial aid. So it made things more difficult but school stretched out and then plus made
things more complicated is that in 1969-70 is when the student revolution was on and so we had to help
with that and so being involved in school politics and other issues like the farm labor strikes and stuff
like that made things even more difficult to sort of advance. It was a slower process. But finally when I
finished school, I got my first job and it was really interesting and I was so happy to get a job in
agriculture. And the first day at work they were not very kind to me. They had never had a Hispanic
work there. So I wasn't -- They told me I would be doing an orientation and so they gave me orientation
and then some fellows came into the office and said, "We should take this fellow out to the field." And I
said, "Oh, I'll go." So they walked me, they took me to walk some muddy canals with my nice shoes and
my slacks, the only pair of slacks I had. And the cockleburs were taking out the threads out of my pants
as I was walking through to find these noxious weeds and they weren't very kind to me. And it was a
very bad experience my very first day what I thought was going to be something awesome. But then
things worked out after that. When I left there, I started working for North American as a senior
agronomist, which is very fortunate. Sometimes things work out well. And then three years after
working there I worked with the University of California, where I worked for 35, actually 33 years.
>> Olga Jiminez: And you made a lot of friends through the growers and going to their fields and giving
advice. You made a lot of friends.
>> Manuel Jiminez: Yes.
>> Olga Jiminez: You just realized that they didn't have much life left in them.
>> Manuel Jiminez: Yes and I would say that probably, you know, Olga may not say this but Olga's
greatest gift was to raise her children as good people. Our kids are all conscientious, hardworking, and
very giving. And so Olga gave up her -- Olga actually was much smarter than I. Olga, you were much
smarter than I. You're a better student than I ever was but you gave that up for your family.
>> Olga Jiminez: Thank you, Manuel. Thank you.
>> Manuel Jiminez: And I know that your children appreciate it immensely. And you've made some good
people, which is very difficult in these times.
>> Olga Jiminez: Yeah, I remember one time my kids, my girl said to me, because I said, "You, get ready
for your job. And you, go take a shower. And you --" I said to the third one, I said, "You, turn off that TV."
She turns around and looks at me and she says, "I'll turn off the TV but how do I turn you off?" I was like
taking a real good picture of myself and I said, "You know what? I am the manager and I am the director
of this home, and you do as you're told.” And that's the end of it.
>> Manuel Jiminez: Yes.
>> Olga Jiminez: But my youngest one, I think I took it easy on her because she was our baby and
everybody said, “Oh, you have her spoiled.” Maybe that's the case in all families but she kept us young
and all my four children came to this campus, to Fresno State, and they all got their degrees and that's
the proudest thing that I can say and I tell people I don't care if you don't get financial aid, I used my
credit cards at a [inaudible] for my children. Back in those days, I'd just send a note that says, my child
has permission to use my credit card. This is my California license number and this is my phone number.
Feel free to call me if you have any questions. No questions. My kids got to register, get their classes, get
their parking fees, get their house fees done, and then I had another couple of months to pay that off
and then it was time to use the credit card again. And I'd tell people there is no excuse for you not to
support your child. Be it boy, be it girl, do your part as a parent.
>> Manuel Jiminez: Okay, Olga, what was your most fondest moment?
>> Olga Jiminez: Oh, I think when my children graduated from school, Manuel. That's my proudest
moments. I've been real pushy for them to get their schooling and the best surprise for Manuel and I
was that the children had that drive too. You know that saying, you can lead the horse to the water but
you can't make them drink? You can get all the financial aid, you can get all the tutors you want, if the
child is not determined and doesn't want it, you're just—you’re just knocking your head up against the
wall. And we were very fortunate that our children were able to see what the future would hold for
them if they just continued on the right course. So that's my proudest.
>> Manuel Jiminez: Yeah and I can think of two moments. One was when we were kids and it would be
in late November picking olives with my family and they would be very, very cold and wet because back
then, they didn't use herbicides very much and the grass was tall. And my father would make a fire and
then my mother would warm up the burritos and tacos on the embers and you could smell the aroma of
the flour tortillas coming to you while you were picking the olives. And also, she would heat up the
canela, which is a cinnamon tea, and then you could smell the cinnamon. And we would -- They would
finally call us and say come and eat and we'd all sit around the fire, put our—sit on the boxes and put
our feet up against the fire and get our tacos and eat them one small morsel at a time. And then we
would start talking, you know, and just having family there all together and having a good time even
though we were working, it was really, really nice. And then to follow that up with our families when our
kids were growing up and we were picking fruit, you know, we were picking grapes and our kids were all
with us, working with us, and we would stop and have a break and we'd get our food and sit around in a
circle and talk and, you know, it was very nice to have our entire family together.
>> Olga Jiminez: Oh yes.
>> Manuel Jiminez: And I think that most families need time like that, where you sit around and you
have comradery amongst your own family, your kids and your relatives. And that's a nice moment in life.
>> Olga Jiminez: Those are the things you remember as you get older.
>> Manuel Jiminez: Yes, uh-huh.
>> Olga Jiminez: When your brothers and sisters were little and you were little and you all shared the
cold, you shared the food, you shared the hot sun.
>> Manuel Jiminez: You shared the big bed.
>> Olga Jiminez: Uh-huh, five in a bed.
>> Manuel Jiminez: Five in the bed.
>> Olga Jiminez: I think that's why we stayed skinny.
>> Manuel Jiminez: Yeah.
>> Olga Jiminez: It's -- To me, it's kind of a little sad to see the young youth getting a little on the chunky
side, you know. And I'm just like, hey, that's adult—adult weight. If you let it, you know, but you're in
high school. This is the prime. This is the best of your, the best—the best time that of your life, you
know.
>> Manuel Jiminez: Yes.
>> Olga Jiminez: Don't let it get out of hand. Don't get—get so overweight, you know. Don't do that to
yourself. Your health is important. Your looks are important. And if you're missing teeth or they have
rotten teeth, I said, "Hey, go to the dentist. You don't even have to pay anything. Your smile is
important."
>> Manuel Jiminez: That's true. I think those are some of the things that you tell or one that you and I
have done is created a project where we grow young people and over the last 25 years we've worked
with hundreds and hundreds of young people teaching them to learn to work. You know, most young
people don't know how to work like we did and our children learned and so we tried to give them that
experience. We try to teach them respect for others. We try to teach them, you know, things about just
life and it's been really rewarding for us to have created, you know, this--this—this project where we try
to grow these young people and at the same time what's evolved from this is this very beautiful facility
called Bravo Lake Botanical Gardens. And what people don't realize they see the plants but don't realize
that the thing that we're growing here are good human beings and the evolution has been really
awesome to see.
>> Olga Jiminez: Yes, oh yes. We've met so many families and made friends and seeing the kids grow up,
you know, and the young ladies grow up, young men to young ladies. That's the progress that we've
gotten to see.
>> Manuel Jiminez: And now we work with some of the children of the children that we started with.
>> Olga Jiminez: Oh my, time has gone by.
>> Manuel Jiminez: Yes.
>> Olga Jiminez: Hello. My name is Olga Castillo [assumed spelling] Jiminez. Today is April 17th, 2016. I
am 66 years of age. The location we are at is Fresno State University. The person I'm going to interview
is Manuel Jimenez and he is my husband.
>> Manuel Jiminez: My name is Manuel Jiminez. I am 65 years old. My wife is the [Foreign word].
Anyways, today's date is April 17th, 2016. We are at the Henry Madden Library at California State
University, Fresno, and the person I'm interviewing is my wife Olga Jiminez.
>> Olga Jiminez: Olga Castillo Jiminez.
>> Manuel Jiminez: Okay. Got you.
>> Olga Jiminez: The first question I want to ask my husband is, what was the happiest moment of your
life?
>> Manuel Jiminez: No, in reality the happiest moment was when I said hello to my girlfriend, Olga. And,
of course, there were many other happier moments but that was probably the most happy moment.
>> Olga Jiminez: And the saddest moment of your life?
>> Manuel Jiminez: Of course, I've had -- We come from large families and that's probably -- The saddest
probably was my mother passing, but of course the period of four or five years when we lost seven
family members.
>> Olga Jiminez: Who would you say, Manuel, who was the most important person in your life?
>> Manuel Jiminez: Clearly that would be my grandfather. And when I say my grandfather, maternally
and paternally he was not my grandfather. He was actually my step grandfather. My grandfather was
Victor Quintero [assumed spelling]. My grandmother and grandfather divorced. When she remarried,
she married Guadalupe Guerrero [assumed spelling], who was my grandfather, the one that I knew. And
throughout my life beginning from my very early memory, he's the person that most formed my
character. He was my protector and I'm assuming that I was one of his favorites because he was very
good at gifting words. He was a philanthropist of words not just to myself, but all the people around
him. He was very good at saying kind things. And so growing up, I learned that you can receive, you
know, a kind word goes so, so far. You remember it forever. And when someone's not nice, you also
remember those things, but they don't have the same impact. And my grandfather, every opportunity
he had to myself he always had positive and good things to say, things that were close to the heart and
things that always made sense. And so over the years until the time that he passed at an early age, he
formed the person that I am.
>> Olga Jiminez: And I got the best end of the deal because you do reflect your grandfather.
>> Manuel Jiminez: Thank you, Olga. Should I ask you a question now?
>> Olga Jiminez: He also liked to have company.
>> Manuel Jiminez: Oh, yes. Yeah, my grandfather, he was known as the godfather of Woodlake. He
baptized probably 60 kids and six children because people from the community respected him. They
would ask him to baptize their children and so often we got to go to the celebrations where they were
baptizing children of people we knew and then many people who were strangers to us but who felt that
my grandfather would make a good sponsor. And so over the years, many, many people in Woodlake
remember my grandfather as the person who would have the parties and the person who would be
baptizing their relatives and so that's what he's remembered for. He also organized the first funeral
benefit group called [inaudible] in Woodlake. And so it was a system where they helped pay for funerals
and he was always concerned about people not being able to bury their relatives. And so he gathered a
large population of the community and they would pay fees to collect for the cost of the burial of
whomever passed away. So that's the one thing that he did. He was also an organizer before Caesar
Chavez and he was responsible for starting some of the strikes in Woodlake in the late '40s and early
1950s.
>> Olga Jiminez: And I think I remember you saying that he took in foster kids?
>> Manuel Jiminez: Yes. My grandfather loved kids and he always liked being around people and as he
got the opportunity to take care of some foster young people, they did that several times and I
remember because I always felt competition because the foster kids loved my grandfather. Yeah, and
they would come years pass, they would coming looking for him. And I thought that was unusual
because often, you know, people who have foster kids it's a different relationship and my grandfather
always seemed to have an impact on the lives of people. And so he was special.
>> Olga Jiminez: He sounds very special to all of your family.
>> Manuel Jiminez: Yes.
>> Olga Jiminez: Was he a good husband to your grandmother?
>> Manuel Jiminez: Yes, he was. You know, when my grandfather passed away, I recall that it was
probably the saddest funeral, aside from my mother's, that we ever attended because of the
devastation to the community and to our relatives and compadres and comadres and it was a loss that it
wouldn't be able to be replaced. And one of the things that happened, of course, the [foreign language]
stopped functioning and so other things that my grandfather did also stopped functioning when he
passed. So he was a very special person that -- He was a people person and so he got along with many
people and was able to pass on good deeds and especially the kindness that he would give to people
around him.
>> Olga Jiminez: Did you say that one time he wrote to the state legislature people?
>> Manuel Jiminez: Yes. When he had concerns, my grandfather would write to the governor. I have his
letters.
>> Olga Jiminez: Sounds like a man before his time.
>> Manuel Jiminez: Yeah, he was willing to do those things that other people were not. I remember my
father, he was upset because my grandfather, he got us fired for asking for higher wages and he was
very upset about that. But my grandfather often did that and was very capable of being a leader when it
came to those issues.
>> Olga Jiminez: Now were his letters written in Spanish or English?
>> Manuel Jiminez: They are written in Spanish but he could speak English.
>> Olga Jiminez: What are the most important lessons you've learned in life?
>> Manuel Jiminez: Well, my life, you know, it's been very fortunate and long so far but the things that
were actually really engrained in my mind is my youth from the time that I can remember, we followed
the crops in California picking cherries, apricots, pears, string beans, peaches, prunes, grapes, olives, and
citrus and we did that every year. Some of the places that were special, when you think about how your
memory develops, you know, the smells, the sounds. I remember working in Santa Clara and there was a
Japanese farmer who had blackberries and he had a rickety bridge. It was a canal that passed prior to
getting to his facility and you could smell the mugwort, which is a sort of a water weed. It was like a mint
smell when you crossed the bridge. And the bridge was rickety, so the boards would make a sound and I
was always afraid of falling in the river, into the big canal. And then as soon as you crossed the bridge,
there was these blackberries and you could smell the berries and we were picking pears next to it and
my dad would say, "Do not steel any berries." And it's very sad because we never did. We probably
could've but just every time, you know, you have that want, you cross the bridge, you smell the berries,
you want the berries and you don't. But anyways, that and then of course all the smells, you know, the
people around you in the peach orchard smelling the ripe peaches on the ground because the peaches
when on the tree don't smell but once they fall, they release an aroma and you smell the peaches. You
smell the other fruit. And then the combination of those smells and the people around you, you know,
the family at the fires at the encampment, it was always really nice. In the evenings people would cook.
They would put on music. They would have the entire family there and just being with your brothers and
sisters, your uncles, aunt, it was really special.
>> Olga Jiminez: Sounds like a special time.
>> Manuel Jiminez: Yeah.
>> Olga Jiminez: What are you proudest of in your life?
>> Manuel Jiminez: Olga, I think we should start with you because time is flying.
>> Olga Jiminez: Oh, I'm sorry. I was all into your story.
>> Manuel Jiminez: Okay, Olga, Olga tell us about your youth, when you were a little girl.
>> Olga Jiminez: Well, let me start off that I was born in Pharr, Texas, p-h-a-r-r. And it was far. You look
at the map, I didn't realize that until it was about, oh, maybe fourth or fifth grade when we started
studying the map and where the states were and you had to name the states and I'd look at the map
and I'd go, I've really come far away from where I was born. I remember—I remember being hungry
when I was a little kid. I remember the floor was a dirt floor. I remember seeing— because I was
sweeping and you had to wet the floor, wet the ground because the floor was the ground, the dirt, and
you wet it so the dust wouldn't come up, the dirt. And I remember seeing little triangle, it was white,
stood out and I picked it up. I dusted it and I took a bite of it and it was a flour-made tortilla, made from
flour. I had been raised in the border town of Reynosa in Mexico and we only had corn tortillas, so flour
tortillas were awesome. Oh, I bit into that and it was just a new taste, a little dirt but it was a new taste.
And I remember the [inaudible] man passing by and he carried his basket, huge basket, over on his head
and he balanced it and had a cloth covering the bread. Of course, I didn't know he had bread in the
basket because he didn't stop at our place. But I saw that he would stop at the other houses and they
would get bread. I didn't know what it tasted like. And so my memories of being a little kid I would say
hungry, I would say cold, and when my dad crossed us over to Texas, I remember living in a field of hay.
And they were called pacas, bales of hay, and my dad had made four walls with a door and we were
there. I remember my mom telling us to be very quiet. She'd say “shhhh, no hablan, [foreign language
spoken].
>> Manuel Jiminez: The border patrol.
>> Olga Jiminez: The border patrol was around, so we had to be very quiet. I didn’t know what the
[inaudible] was but if my mom said to be very quiet, we listened. We were like little chicks. Under the
big chicken—under her wings. Whatever mom said, we did. And my language—my first language was
Spanish. So dad would disappear and he'd come back and then he would say the [inaudible] had taken
him and they had taken him to Reynosa in Mexico and my dad said, "I crossed three days ago and I've
been hungry and tired but I had to come back to the family and find you guys." So we were rescued by
my dad. And my dad used to have a slingshot and he used to go kill blackbirds. I say they were
blackbirds. They could've been crows.
>> Manuel Jiminez: Crows, uh-huh.
>> Olga Jiminez: My dad called them [foreign language], so my mom would fix up the blackbird or the
crow and cook it and give us all a taco of crow meat, bird meat. I don't know, my sister thought it was
chicken. Later on my dad said, "I didn't have the heart to tell her it wasn't chicken. It was just a black
crow." But it was delicious. So we grew up on what dad could hunt and then we grew up -- He had a
little place where he could plant vegetables, carrots, cabbage and things like that. So I grew up around
vegetables and my dad would work for the German farmer. His name was Bruno [assumed spelling] and
my dad would churn up the ground on the tractor and come home. Those are the memories that I have
but it's mostly of hunger. Going to bed hungry.
>> Manuel Jiminez: So when did you come to California? I know that many people, especially the farm
workers came to California, because the money was hanging on the trees and all you had to do was
harvest it. So when did your father decide to bring you to California?
>> Olga Jiminez: Well actually we used to migrate. We used to always go back to Texas. And one year my
dad said, "We're not going back to Texas. There's nothing there. There's no life." So we came to
California and my dad had a letter that a friend, which is a compadre of his, had wrote to him and said,
"Come to California. You can make a life over here. And the kids can work and help you." So we came in
this car. I couldn't tell you what kind but there was ten of us, plus my parents. So we came to
Westminster, California. And I think California had child labor laws and we could not work. Only my two
older brothers and that wasn't going to cut it for us. We were too many. So we migrated to Woodlake
because my father had another compadre. So we came with this envelope that had an address and I
went up to the postman and I said, "Mister," and in Spanish, where is this?" And he said, "Just go
eastward and you'll see it." So we found it and it was his compadre Jesus and it was a family with one
daughter. And I thought who has a family with just one kid. We were ten. And I noticed something about
her. She was a teenager. She had on nylons and I noticed that she had hairy legs. And on the table was
this basket full of plums, purple, beautiful plums, and the lady said, "Do you want some?" But we were
taught to say no, no thank you, we just ate or thank you, we're full. And if you said yes, you were
pinched.
>> Manuel Jiminez: That's right. And they were probably Santa Rosa plums because they smell so good
and they're black.
>> Olga Jiminez: And she passed the basket around and we all looked at mom but is it okay, and she
nodded. She said “yes”. So we all grabbed a plum, you know, and ate it. And the lady looked at us like
these kids are starving. She says would you like some more. We said, "Oh, no. No, thank you." We were
not going to get pinched. Mom would've pinched us. So one was enough. We were being polite.
>> Manuel Jiminez: All right, so then after you settled in, did you live in a big house, Olga?
>> Olga Jiminez: Oh, I didn't know what it was like to live in a big house. We rented. Every year we
rented. Every year we would rent a home and then we'd go pick -- The first thing we picked was figs and
then we picked grapes and then we went back to Woodlake and had to find another place to rent and
we were at least 12 by then and it was hard to find housing. They only wanted to rent to a family with
maybe three kids. So we would stay in the station wagon and at night we crept into the home that was
rented. It was not a good feeling because you knew you were hiding. You were being untruthful. When
you're raised in a Mexican family, let me tell you, you don't lie. But to get a house, we lied.
>> Manuel Jiminez: Oh yes. We had the same experience, you know, when we would go to, of course,
you know, you were truant because you left school because school was over and you always hid from
the busses and you always hid from the police and you were hiding from the border patrol for no reason
whatsoever, just because everybody else would run from them. And then places like Yuba City, at least
in the coastal areas, you know, it was, we lived in tents or houses made out of boxes but in Marysville
and Yuba City, they wouldn't let you set up a tent in that county and they wouldn't let you make a house
out of boxes. So we had to rent houses and there were signs, you know, when the farm workers came in
July, late July, there were signs that said no dogs, no pets, and no kids because they didn't want the big
Mexican families renting their homes from them. And they would make them pay a deposit, the first
month and a deposit. And so we would have to hide, you know. My parents would leave us at the city
park for days until they found a house so they wouldn't take the family to show them their kids. And
then the entire time we were working there, we would be hiding from the renter in the house and then
we'd get up at 4 o'clock in the morning and then leave at dark to go pick fruit and the same thing, hiding
from, you know, you're hiding from all these other people and you're hiding from the renter because
your parents, you couldn't make noise. You don't speak loud and you can't laugh. So and then your bed
was a box because here's a big old house, absolutely no furniture. You have a cold box. There's no
refrigerator and so you're, you know, the life is miserable. I'd rather be in the field working than being at
that house because you couldn't be loud, you couldn't laugh, you couldn't do those things. And so it was
so good when my parents would finally say, "Let's go home," you know, and we would leave that
community because it was not a good situation. So I understand how it is to be lying.
>> Olga Jiminez: You know, the only reason that we ended up with a home is because of this program
called Self-Help and my parents were eligible. And there must've been about 12 families that were
eligible to make their home. And it's called Self-Help because you do go and make your own home and
set up the walls and all that. It was 1969 before I knew what it was like to have a home, a real home. But
then I got married in June of '70, so it was back to the mice, back to the roaches, back to the cold air
coming in, back to homes with no heating.
>> Manuel Jiminez: I'm sorry, Olga.
>> Olga Jiminez: Eh, economics.
>> Manuel Jiminez: Well, you know, when I finally decided to ask you to marry me, you know, it was, I
mean, of course, when you do it for the first time it's really unusual but, you know, we rented the house
from Don Panchito [assumed spelling] for $25 a month and he was a kind old man. But if you recall, his
wife was really upset because --
>> Olga Jiminez: Uh-huh, she was very religious lady.
>> Manuel Jiminez: She asked us if we were married and you said that we were not and she says, "Well,
you can't rent our house." And so you told her we were going to get married, then she said, "Okay, you
can --
>> Olga Jiminez: She said, "Absolutely not. I do not rent to people that are not married." I said, "We plan
to get married but we want to rent a little home, you know, so we can have a home."
>> Manuel Jiminez: Yes, that's true. So then life went fast. Olga, tell me the bit about your children.
>> Olga Jiminez: Oh, my children. My boy was born in 1971 and I had tried to come to Fresno State and
when I was pregnant, I said, "I know nobody here. No one's going to be able to take care of my child." So
I told Manuel, "I’m not gonna go to school, Manuel. I have to—I have to raise my son." And I think
because I had been a caretaker all my life, I had one child on my hip throughout my life and it was a very
easy role for me to take on. I was determined that I was going to be a good mother and was determined
my son, my baby was not going to get diaper rash. I was determined about a lot of things and he had
cloth diapers. So back in that day, I had to hand wash the cloth diapers. But I wasn't fortunate to have a
calm child. I ended up with a very colicky baby, very colicky. My son cried till he was six months old and I
was, why can't I have a calm child and the doctor says, "Oh, he's senses that you're nervous." I go,
"Doctor, what do I have to be nervous about? If he would just be quiet a little bit, I could calm down
too." But the whole time he was—had underdeveloped intestines and he was a big eater, so he was very
colicky.
>> Manuel Jiminez: So you had three girls that followed.
>> Olga Jiminez: I wanted my son to have a brother. So I tried three more times but they were sisters, so
then I just gave up. I said, "Four children is enough." And I told Manuel, I said, "Everybody thinks I'm
going to have 14 kids like my mom. I'm not going to have that many kids. I might have more than my
brothers and sisters do but not no 14."
>> Manuel Jiminez: Yes. Now when you had Manuel, when you quit school, you know, I also quit school.
But then when I finally decided to come back to school, you had to work. You were working in the
packing house.
>> Olga Jiminez: Yes, by that time we had bought a little home and we had some rough times financially
and Manuel was going to come and finish school and I worked at this packing house sorting oranges. So I
would get my son and my daughter and get them ready to take them to what they called childcare
service and it was free. And I would take -- I would get them ready and Manuel would be off in school by
that time. When the kids woke up, Manuel was gone. When the kids went to bed, Manuel was gone. So
they'd say, "Where's daddy?" And I'd say, "Well daddy's at Fresno." And so my son grew up, his first five
years he grew up thinking he was going to kindergarten and then he was going to go to Fresno State.
>> Manuel Jiminez: That's right.
>> Olga Jiminez: I said, "No mijo, there's 12 years in between there.
>> Manuel Jiminez: Yes. Yeah and it was hard not seeing the children, of course, and then, you know,
working as much as we could, you and I, we were not able to get financial aid because we worked and so
going to the financial office and they said our farm labor was greater. It was interesting because we
couldn't get financial aid. So it made things more difficult but school stretched out and then plus made
things more complicated is that in 1969-70 is when the student revolution was on and so we had to help
with that and so being involved in school politics and other issues like the farm labor strikes and stuff
like that made things even more difficult to sort of advance. It was a slower process. But finally when I
finished school, I got my first job and it was really interesting and I was so happy to get a job in
agriculture. And the first day at work they were not very kind to me. They had never had a Hispanic
work there. So I wasn't -- They told me I would be doing an orientation and so they gave me orientation
and then some fellows came into the office and said, "We should take this fellow out to the field." And I
said, "Oh, I'll go." So they walked me, they took me to walk some muddy canals with my nice shoes and
my slacks, the only pair of slacks I had. And the cockleburs were taking out the threads out of my pants
as I was walking through to find these noxious weeds and they weren't very kind to me. And it was a
very bad experience my very first day what I thought was going to be something awesome. But then
things worked out after that. When I left there, I started working for North American as a senior
agronomist, which is very fortunate. Sometimes things work out well. And then three years after
working there I worked with the University of California, where I worked for 35, actually 33 years.
>> Olga Jiminez: And you made a lot of friends through the growers and going to their fields and giving
advice. You made a lot of friends.
>> Manuel Jiminez: Yes.
>> Olga Jiminez: You just realized that they didn't have much life left in them.
>> Manuel Jiminez: Yes and I would say that probably, you know, Olga may not say this but Olga's
greatest gift was to raise her children as good people. Our kids are all conscientious, hardworking, and
very giving. And so Olga gave up her -- Olga actually was much smarter than I. Olga, you were much
smarter than I. You're a better student than I ever was but you gave that up for your family.
>> Olga Jiminez: Thank you, Manuel. Thank you.
>> Manuel Jiminez: And I know that your children appreciate it immensely. And you've made some good
people, which is very difficult in these times.
>> Olga Jiminez: Yeah, I remember one time my kids, my girl said to me, because I said, "You, get ready
for your job. And you, go take a shower. And you --" I said to the third one, I said, "You, turn off that TV."
She turns around and looks at me and she says, "I'll turn off the TV but how do I turn you off?" I was like
taking a real good picture of myself and I said, "You know what? I am the manager and I am the director
of this home, and you do as you're told.” And that's the end of it.
>> Manuel Jiminez: Yes.
>> Olga Jiminez: But my youngest one, I think I took it easy on her because she was our baby and
everybody said, “Oh, you have her spoiled.” Maybe that's the case in all families but she kept us young
and all my four children came to this campus, to Fresno State, and they all got their degrees and that's
the proudest thing that I can say and I tell people I don't care if you don't get financial aid, I used my
credit cards at a [inaudible] for my children. Back in those days, I'd just send a note that says, my child
has permission to use my credit card. This is my California license number and this is my phone number.
Feel free to call me if you have any questions. No questions. My kids got to register, get their classes, get
their parking fees, get their house fees done, and then I had another couple of months to pay that off
and then it was time to use the credit card again. And I'd tell people there is no excuse for you not to
support your child. Be it boy, be it girl, do your part as a parent.
>> Manuel Jiminez: Okay, Olga, what was your most fondest moment?
>> Olga Jiminez: Oh, I think when my children graduated from school, Manuel. That's my proudest
moments. I've been real pushy for them to get their schooling and the best surprise for Manuel and I
was that the children had that drive too. You know that saying, you can lead the horse to the water but
you can't make them drink? You can get all the financial aid, you can get all the tutors you want, if the
child is not determined and doesn't want it, you're just—you’re just knocking your head up against the
wall. And we were very fortunate that our children were able to see what the future would hold for
them if they just continued on the right course. So that's my proudest.
>> Manuel Jiminez: Yeah and I can think of two moments. One was when we were kids and it would be
in late November picking olives with my family and they would be very, very cold and wet because back
then, they didn't use herbicides very much and the grass was tall. And my father would make a fire and
then my mother would warm up the burritos and tacos on the embers and you could smell the aroma of
the flour tortillas coming to you while you were picking the olives. And also, she would heat up the
canela, which is a cinnamon tea, and then you could smell the cinnamon. And we would -- They would
finally call us and say come and eat and we'd all sit around the fire, put our—sit on the boxes and put
our feet up against the fire and get our tacos and eat them one small morsel at a time. And then we
would start talking, you know, and just having family there all together and having a good time even
though we were working, it was really, really nice. And then to follow that up with our families when our
kids were growing up and we were picking fruit, you know, we were picking grapes and our kids were all
with us, working with us, and we would stop and have a break and we'd get our food and sit around in a
circle and talk and, you know, it was very nice to have our entire family together.
>> Olga Jiminez: Oh yes.
>> Manuel Jiminez: And I think that most families need time like that, where you sit around and you
have comradery amongst your own family, your kids and your relatives. And that's a nice moment in life.
>> Olga Jiminez: Those are the things you remember as you get older.
>> Manuel Jiminez: Yes, uh-huh.
>> Olga Jiminez: When your brothers and sisters were little and you were little and you all shared the
cold, you shared the food, you shared the hot sun.
>> Manuel Jiminez: You shared the big bed.
>> Olga Jiminez: Uh-huh, five in a bed.
>> Manuel Jiminez: Five in the bed.
>> Olga Jiminez: I think that's why we stayed skinny.
>> Manuel Jiminez: Yeah.
>> Olga Jiminez: It's -- To me, it's kind of a little sad to see the young youth getting a little on the chunky
side, you know. And I'm just like, hey, that's adult—adult weight. If you let it, you know, but you're in
high school. This is the prime. This is the best of your, the best—the best time that of your life, you
know.
>> Manuel Jiminez: Yes.
>> Olga Jiminez: Don't let it get out of hand. Don't get—get so overweight, you know. Don't do that to
yourself. Your health is important. Your looks are important. And if you're missing teeth or they have
rotten teeth, I said, "Hey, go to the dentist. You don't even have to pay anything. Your smile is
important."
>> Manuel Jiminez: That's true. I think those are some of the things that you tell or one that you and I
have done is created a project where we grow young people and over the last 25 years we've worked
with hundreds and hundreds of young people teaching them to learn to work. You know, most young
people don't know how to work like we did and our children learned and so we tried to give them that
experience. We try to teach them respect for others. We try to teach them, you know, things about just
life and it's been really rewarding for us to have created, you know, this--this—this project where we try
to grow these young people and at the same time what's evolved from this is this very beautiful facility
called Bravo Lake Botanical Gardens. And what people don't realize they see the plants but don't realize
that the thing that we're growing here are good human beings and the evolution has been really
awesome to see.
>> Olga Jiminez: Yes, oh yes. We've met so many families and made friends and seeing the kids grow up,
you know, and the young ladies grow up, young men to young ladies. That's the progress that we've
gotten to see.
>> Manuel Jiminez: And now we work with some of the children of the children that we started with.
>> Olga Jiminez: Oh my, time has gone by.
>> Manuel Jiminez: Yes.
am 66 years of age. The location we are at is Fresno State University. The person I'm going to interview
is Manuel Jimenez and he is my husband.
>> Manuel Jiminez: My name is Manuel Jiminez. I am 65 years old. My wife is the [Foreign word].
Anyways, today's date is April 17th, 2016. We are at the Henry Madden Library at California State
University, Fresno, and the person I'm interviewing is my wife Olga Jiminez.
>> Olga Jiminez: Olga Castillo Jiminez.
>> Manuel Jiminez: Okay. Got you.
>> Olga Jiminez: The first question I want to ask my husband is, what was the happiest moment of your
life?
>> Manuel Jiminez: No, in reality the happiest moment was when I said hello to my girlfriend, Olga. And,
of course, there were many other happier moments but that was probably the most happy moment.
>> Olga Jiminez: And the saddest moment of your life?
>> Manuel Jiminez: Of course, I've had -- We come from large families and that's probably -- The saddest
probably was my mother passing, but of course the period of four or five years when we lost seven
family members.
>> Olga Jiminez: Who would you say, Manuel, who was the most important person in your life?
>> Manuel Jiminez: Clearly that would be my grandfather. And when I say my grandfather, maternally
and paternally he was not my grandfather. He was actually my step grandfather. My grandfather was
Victor Quintero [assumed spelling]. My grandmother and grandfather divorced. When she remarried,
she married Guadalupe Guerrero [assumed spelling], who was my grandfather, the one that I knew. And
throughout my life beginning from my very early memory, he's the person that most formed my
character. He was my protector and I'm assuming that I was one of his favorites because he was very
good at gifting words. He was a philanthropist of words not just to myself, but all the people around
him. He was very good at saying kind things. And so growing up, I learned that you can receive, you
know, a kind word goes so, so far. You remember it forever. And when someone's not nice, you also
remember those things, but they don't have the same impact. And my grandfather, every opportunity
he had to myself he always had positive and good things to say, things that were close to the heart and
things that always made sense. And so over the years until the time that he passed at an early age, he
formed the person that I am.
>> Olga Jiminez: And I got the best end of the deal because you do reflect your grandfather.
>> Manuel Jiminez: Thank you, Olga. Should I ask you a question now?
>> Olga Jiminez: He also liked to have company.
>> Manuel Jiminez: Oh, yes. Yeah, my grandfather, he was known as the godfather of Woodlake. He
baptized probably 60 kids and six children because people from the community respected him. They
would ask him to baptize their children and so often we got to go to the celebrations where they were
baptizing children of people we knew and then many people who were strangers to us but who felt that
my grandfather would make a good sponsor. And so over the years, many, many people in Woodlake
remember my grandfather as the person who would have the parties and the person who would be
baptizing their relatives and so that's what he's remembered for. He also organized the first funeral
benefit group called [inaudible] in Woodlake. And so it was a system where they helped pay for funerals
and he was always concerned about people not being able to bury their relatives. And so he gathered a
large population of the community and they would pay fees to collect for the cost of the burial of
whomever passed away. So that's the one thing that he did. He was also an organizer before Caesar
Chavez and he was responsible for starting some of the strikes in Woodlake in the late '40s and early
1950s.
>> Olga Jiminez: And I think I remember you saying that he took in foster kids?
>> Manuel Jiminez: Yes. My grandfather loved kids and he always liked being around people and as he
got the opportunity to take care of some foster young people, they did that several times and I
remember because I always felt competition because the foster kids loved my grandfather. Yeah, and
they would come years pass, they would coming looking for him. And I thought that was unusual
because often, you know, people who have foster kids it's a different relationship and my grandfather
always seemed to have an impact on the lives of people. And so he was special.
>> Olga Jiminez: He sounds very special to all of your family.
>> Manuel Jiminez: Yes.
>> Olga Jiminez: Was he a good husband to your grandmother?
>> Manuel Jiminez: Yes, he was. You know, when my grandfather passed away, I recall that it was
probably the saddest funeral, aside from my mother's, that we ever attended because of the
devastation to the community and to our relatives and compadres and comadres and it was a loss that it
wouldn't be able to be replaced. And one of the things that happened, of course, the [foreign language]
stopped functioning and so other things that my grandfather did also stopped functioning when he
passed. So he was a very special person that -- He was a people person and so he got along with many
people and was able to pass on good deeds and especially the kindness that he would give to people
around him.
>> Olga Jiminez: Did you say that one time he wrote to the state legislature people?
>> Manuel Jiminez: Yes. When he had concerns, my grandfather would write to the governor. I have his
letters.
>> Olga Jiminez: Sounds like a man before his time.
>> Manuel Jiminez: Yeah, he was willing to do those things that other people were not. I remember my
father, he was upset because my grandfather, he got us fired for asking for higher wages and he was
very upset about that. But my grandfather often did that and was very capable of being a leader when it
came to those issues.
>> Olga Jiminez: Now were his letters written in Spanish or English?
>> Manuel Jiminez: They are written in Spanish but he could speak English.
>> Olga Jiminez: What are the most important lessons you've learned in life?
>> Manuel Jiminez: Well, my life, you know, it's been very fortunate and long so far but the things that
were actually really engrained in my mind is my youth from the time that I can remember, we followed
the crops in California picking cherries, apricots, pears, string beans, peaches, prunes, grapes, olives, and
citrus and we did that every year. Some of the places that were special, when you think about how your
memory develops, you know, the smells, the sounds. I remember working in Santa Clara and there was a
Japanese farmer who had blackberries and he had a rickety bridge. It was a canal that passed prior to
getting to his facility and you could smell the mugwort, which is a sort of a water weed. It was like a mint
smell when you crossed the bridge. And the bridge was rickety, so the boards would make a sound and I
was always afraid of falling in the river, into the big canal. And then as soon as you crossed the bridge,
there was these blackberries and you could smell the berries and we were picking pears next to it and
my dad would say, "Do not steel any berries." And it's very sad because we never did. We probably
could've but just every time, you know, you have that want, you cross the bridge, you smell the berries,
you want the berries and you don't. But anyways, that and then of course all the smells, you know, the
people around you in the peach orchard smelling the ripe peaches on the ground because the peaches
when on the tree don't smell but once they fall, they release an aroma and you smell the peaches. You
smell the other fruit. And then the combination of those smells and the people around you, you know,
the family at the fires at the encampment, it was always really nice. In the evenings people would cook.
They would put on music. They would have the entire family there and just being with your brothers and
sisters, your uncles, aunt, it was really special.
>> Olga Jiminez: Sounds like a special time.
>> Manuel Jiminez: Yeah.
>> Olga Jiminez: What are you proudest of in your life?
>> Manuel Jiminez: Olga, I think we should start with you because time is flying.
>> Olga Jiminez: Oh, I'm sorry. I was all into your story.
>> Manuel Jiminez: Okay, Olga, Olga tell us about your youth, when you were a little girl.
>> Olga Jiminez: Well, let me start off that I was born in Pharr, Texas, p-h-a-r-r. And it was far. You look
at the map, I didn't realize that until it was about, oh, maybe fourth or fifth grade when we started
studying the map and where the states were and you had to name the states and I'd look at the map
and I'd go, I've really come far away from where I was born. I remember—I remember being hungry
when I was a little kid. I remember the floor was a dirt floor. I remember seeing— because I was
sweeping and you had to wet the floor, wet the ground because the floor was the ground, the dirt, and
you wet it so the dust wouldn't come up, the dirt. And I remember seeing little triangle, it was white,
stood out and I picked it up. I dusted it and I took a bite of it and it was a flour-made tortilla, made from
flour. I had been raised in the border town of Reynosa in Mexico and we only had corn tortillas, so flour
tortillas were awesome. Oh, I bit into that and it was just a new taste, a little dirt but it was a new taste.
And I remember the [inaudible] man passing by and he carried his basket, huge basket, over on his head
and he balanced it and had a cloth covering the bread. Of course, I didn't know he had bread in the
basket because he didn't stop at our place. But I saw that he would stop at the other houses and they
would get bread. I didn't know what it tasted like. And so my memories of being a little kid I would say
hungry, I would say cold, and when my dad crossed us over to Texas, I remember living in a field of hay.
And they were called pacas, bales of hay, and my dad had made four walls with a door and we were
there. I remember my mom telling us to be very quiet. She'd say “shhhh, no hablan, [foreign language
spoken].
>> Manuel Jiminez: The border patrol.
>> Olga Jiminez: The border patrol was around, so we had to be very quiet. I didn’t know what the
[inaudible] was but if my mom said to be very quiet, we listened. We were like little chicks. Under the
big chicken—under her wings. Whatever mom said, we did. And my language—my first language was
Spanish. So dad would disappear and he'd come back and then he would say the [inaudible] had taken
him and they had taken him to Reynosa in Mexico and my dad said, "I crossed three days ago and I've
been hungry and tired but I had to come back to the family and find you guys." So we were rescued by
my dad. And my dad used to have a slingshot and he used to go kill blackbirds. I say they were
blackbirds. They could've been crows.
>> Manuel Jiminez: Crows, uh-huh.
>> Olga Jiminez: My dad called them [foreign language], so my mom would fix up the blackbird or the
crow and cook it and give us all a taco of crow meat, bird meat. I don't know, my sister thought it was
chicken. Later on my dad said, "I didn't have the heart to tell her it wasn't chicken. It was just a black
crow." But it was delicious. So we grew up on what dad could hunt and then we grew up -- He had a
little place where he could plant vegetables, carrots, cabbage and things like that. So I grew up around
vegetables and my dad would work for the German farmer. His name was Bruno [assumed spelling] and
my dad would churn up the ground on the tractor and come home. Those are the memories that I have
but it's mostly of hunger. Going to bed hungry.
>> Manuel Jiminez: So when did you come to California? I know that many people, especially the farm
workers came to California, because the money was hanging on the trees and all you had to do was
harvest it. So when did your father decide to bring you to California?
>> Olga Jiminez: Well actually we used to migrate. We used to always go back to Texas. And one year my
dad said, "We're not going back to Texas. There's nothing there. There's no life." So we came to
California and my dad had a letter that a friend, which is a compadre of his, had wrote to him and said,
"Come to California. You can make a life over here. And the kids can work and help you." So we came in
this car. I couldn't tell you what kind but there was ten of us, plus my parents. So we came to
Westminster, California. And I think California had child labor laws and we could not work. Only my two
older brothers and that wasn't going to cut it for us. We were too many. So we migrated to Woodlake
because my father had another compadre. So we came with this envelope that had an address and I
went up to the postman and I said, "Mister," and in Spanish, where is this?" And he said, "Just go
eastward and you'll see it." So we found it and it was his compadre Jesus and it was a family with one
daughter. And I thought who has a family with just one kid. We were ten. And I noticed something about
her. She was a teenager. She had on nylons and I noticed that she had hairy legs. And on the table was
this basket full of plums, purple, beautiful plums, and the lady said, "Do you want some?" But we were
taught to say no, no thank you, we just ate or thank you, we're full. And if you said yes, you were
pinched.
>> Manuel Jiminez: That's right. And they were probably Santa Rosa plums because they smell so good
and they're black.
>> Olga Jiminez: And she passed the basket around and we all looked at mom but is it okay, and she
nodded. She said “yes”. So we all grabbed a plum, you know, and ate it. And the lady looked at us like
these kids are starving. She says would you like some more. We said, "Oh, no. No, thank you." We were
not going to get pinched. Mom would've pinched us. So one was enough. We were being polite.
>> Manuel Jiminez: All right, so then after you settled in, did you live in a big house, Olga?
>> Olga Jiminez: Oh, I didn't know what it was like to live in a big house. We rented. Every year we
rented. Every year we would rent a home and then we'd go pick -- The first thing we picked was figs and
then we picked grapes and then we went back to Woodlake and had to find another place to rent and
we were at least 12 by then and it was hard to find housing. They only wanted to rent to a family with
maybe three kids. So we would stay in the station wagon and at night we crept into the home that was
rented. It was not a good feeling because you knew you were hiding. You were being untruthful. When
you're raised in a Mexican family, let me tell you, you don't lie. But to get a house, we lied.
>> Manuel Jiminez: Oh yes. We had the same experience, you know, when we would go to, of course,
you know, you were truant because you left school because school was over and you always hid from
the busses and you always hid from the police and you were hiding from the border patrol for no reason
whatsoever, just because everybody else would run from them. And then places like Yuba City, at least
in the coastal areas, you know, it was, we lived in tents or houses made out of boxes but in Marysville
and Yuba City, they wouldn't let you set up a tent in that county and they wouldn't let you make a house
out of boxes. So we had to rent houses and there were signs, you know, when the farm workers came in
July, late July, there were signs that said no dogs, no pets, and no kids because they didn't want the big
Mexican families renting their homes from them. And they would make them pay a deposit, the first
month and a deposit. And so we would have to hide, you know. My parents would leave us at the city
park for days until they found a house so they wouldn't take the family to show them their kids. And
then the entire time we were working there, we would be hiding from the renter in the house and then
we'd get up at 4 o'clock in the morning and then leave at dark to go pick fruit and the same thing, hiding
from, you know, you're hiding from all these other people and you're hiding from the renter because
your parents, you couldn't make noise. You don't speak loud and you can't laugh. So and then your bed
was a box because here's a big old house, absolutely no furniture. You have a cold box. There's no
refrigerator and so you're, you know, the life is miserable. I'd rather be in the field working than being at
that house because you couldn't be loud, you couldn't laugh, you couldn't do those things. And so it was
so good when my parents would finally say, "Let's go home," you know, and we would leave that
community because it was not a good situation. So I understand how it is to be lying.
>> Olga Jiminez: You know, the only reason that we ended up with a home is because of this program
called Self-Help and my parents were eligible. And there must've been about 12 families that were
eligible to make their home. And it's called Self-Help because you do go and make your own home and
set up the walls and all that. It was 1969 before I knew what it was like to have a home, a real home. But
then I got married in June of '70, so it was back to the mice, back to the roaches, back to the cold air
coming in, back to homes with no heating.
>> Manuel Jiminez: I'm sorry, Olga.
>> Olga Jiminez: Eh, economics.
>> Manuel Jiminez: Well, you know, when I finally decided to ask you to marry me, you know, it was, I
mean, of course, when you do it for the first time it's really unusual but, you know, we rented the house
from Don Panchito [assumed spelling] for $25 a month and he was a kind old man. But if you recall, his
wife was really upset because --
>> Olga Jiminez: Uh-huh, she was very religious lady.
>> Manuel Jiminez: She asked us if we were married and you said that we were not and she says, "Well,
you can't rent our house." And so you told her we were going to get married, then she said, "Okay, you
can --
>> Olga Jiminez: She said, "Absolutely not. I do not rent to people that are not married." I said, "We plan
to get married but we want to rent a little home, you know, so we can have a home."
>> Manuel Jiminez: Yes, that's true. So then life went fast. Olga, tell me the bit about your children.
>> Olga Jiminez: Oh, my children. My boy was born in 1971 and I had tried to come to Fresno State and
when I was pregnant, I said, "I know nobody here. No one's going to be able to take care of my child." So
I told Manuel, "I’m not gonna go to school, Manuel. I have to—I have to raise my son." And I think
because I had been a caretaker all my life, I had one child on my hip throughout my life and it was a very
easy role for me to take on. I was determined that I was going to be a good mother and was determined
my son, my baby was not going to get diaper rash. I was determined about a lot of things and he had
cloth diapers. So back in that day, I had to hand wash the cloth diapers. But I wasn't fortunate to have a
calm child. I ended up with a very colicky baby, very colicky. My son cried till he was six months old and I
was, why can't I have a calm child and the doctor says, "Oh, he's senses that you're nervous." I go,
"Doctor, what do I have to be nervous about? If he would just be quiet a little bit, I could calm down
too." But the whole time he was—had underdeveloped intestines and he was a big eater, so he was very
colicky.
>> Manuel Jiminez: So you had three girls that followed.
>> Olga Jiminez: I wanted my son to have a brother. So I tried three more times but they were sisters, so
then I just gave up. I said, "Four children is enough." And I told Manuel, I said, "Everybody thinks I'm
going to have 14 kids like my mom. I'm not going to have that many kids. I might have more than my
brothers and sisters do but not no 14."
>> Manuel Jiminez: Yes. Now when you had Manuel, when you quit school, you know, I also quit school.
But then when I finally decided to come back to school, you had to work. You were working in the
packing house.
>> Olga Jiminez: Yes, by that time we had bought a little home and we had some rough times financially
and Manuel was going to come and finish school and I worked at this packing house sorting oranges. So I
would get my son and my daughter and get them ready to take them to what they called childcare
service and it was free. And I would take -- I would get them ready and Manuel would be off in school by
that time. When the kids woke up, Manuel was gone. When the kids went to bed, Manuel was gone. So
they'd say, "Where's daddy?" And I'd say, "Well daddy's at Fresno." And so my son grew up, his first five
years he grew up thinking he was going to kindergarten and then he was going to go to Fresno State.
>> Manuel Jiminez: That's right.
>> Olga Jiminez: I said, "No mijo, there's 12 years in between there.
>> Manuel Jiminez: Yes. Yeah and it was hard not seeing the children, of course, and then, you know,
working as much as we could, you and I, we were not able to get financial aid because we worked and so
going to the financial office and they said our farm labor was greater. It was interesting because we
couldn't get financial aid. So it made things more difficult but school stretched out and then plus made
things more complicated is that in 1969-70 is when the student revolution was on and so we had to help
with that and so being involved in school politics and other issues like the farm labor strikes and stuff
like that made things even more difficult to sort of advance. It was a slower process. But finally when I
finished school, I got my first job and it was really interesting and I was so happy to get a job in
agriculture. And the first day at work they were not very kind to me. They had never had a Hispanic
work there. So I wasn't -- They told me I would be doing an orientation and so they gave me orientation
and then some fellows came into the office and said, "We should take this fellow out to the field." And I
said, "Oh, I'll go." So they walked me, they took me to walk some muddy canals with my nice shoes and
my slacks, the only pair of slacks I had. And the cockleburs were taking out the threads out of my pants
as I was walking through to find these noxious weeds and they weren't very kind to me. And it was a
very bad experience my very first day what I thought was going to be something awesome. But then
things worked out after that. When I left there, I started working for North American as a senior
agronomist, which is very fortunate. Sometimes things work out well. And then three years after
working there I worked with the University of California, where I worked for 35, actually 33 years.
>> Olga Jiminez: And you made a lot of friends through the growers and going to their fields and giving
advice. You made a lot of friends.
>> Manuel Jiminez: Yes.
>> Olga Jiminez: You just realized that they didn't have much life left in them.
>> Manuel Jiminez: Yes and I would say that probably, you know, Olga may not say this but Olga's
greatest gift was to raise her children as good people. Our kids are all conscientious, hardworking, and
very giving. And so Olga gave up her -- Olga actually was much smarter than I. Olga, you were much
smarter than I. You're a better student than I ever was but you gave that up for your family.
>> Olga Jiminez: Thank you, Manuel. Thank you.
>> Manuel Jiminez: And I know that your children appreciate it immensely. And you've made some good
people, which is very difficult in these times.
>> Olga Jiminez: Yeah, I remember one time my kids, my girl said to me, because I said, "You, get ready
for your job. And you, go take a shower. And you --" I said to the third one, I said, "You, turn off that TV."
She turns around and looks at me and she says, "I'll turn off the TV but how do I turn you off?" I was like
taking a real good picture of myself and I said, "You know what? I am the manager and I am the director
of this home, and you do as you're told.” And that's the end of it.
>> Manuel Jiminez: Yes.
>> Olga Jiminez: But my youngest one, I think I took it easy on her because she was our baby and
everybody said, “Oh, you have her spoiled.” Maybe that's the case in all families but she kept us young
and all my four children came to this campus, to Fresno State, and they all got their degrees and that's
the proudest thing that I can say and I tell people I don't care if you don't get financial aid, I used my
credit cards at a [inaudible] for my children. Back in those days, I'd just send a note that says, my child
has permission to use my credit card. This is my California license number and this is my phone number.
Feel free to call me if you have any questions. No questions. My kids got to register, get their classes, get
their parking fees, get their house fees done, and then I had another couple of months to pay that off
and then it was time to use the credit card again. And I'd tell people there is no excuse for you not to
support your child. Be it boy, be it girl, do your part as a parent.
>> Manuel Jiminez: Okay, Olga, what was your most fondest moment?
>> Olga Jiminez: Oh, I think when my children graduated from school, Manuel. That's my proudest
moments. I've been real pushy for them to get their schooling and the best surprise for Manuel and I
was that the children had that drive too. You know that saying, you can lead the horse to the water but
you can't make them drink? You can get all the financial aid, you can get all the tutors you want, if the
child is not determined and doesn't want it, you're just—you’re just knocking your head up against the
wall. And we were very fortunate that our children were able to see what the future would hold for
them if they just continued on the right course. So that's my proudest.
>> Manuel Jiminez: Yeah and I can think of two moments. One was when we were kids and it would be
in late November picking olives with my family and they would be very, very cold and wet because back
then, they didn't use herbicides very much and the grass was tall. And my father would make a fire and
then my mother would warm up the burritos and tacos on the embers and you could smell the aroma of
the flour tortillas coming to you while you were picking the olives. And also, she would heat up the
canela, which is a cinnamon tea, and then you could smell the cinnamon. And we would -- They would
finally call us and say come and eat and we'd all sit around the fire, put our—sit on the boxes and put
our feet up against the fire and get our tacos and eat them one small morsel at a time. And then we
would start talking, you know, and just having family there all together and having a good time even
though we were working, it was really, really nice. And then to follow that up with our families when our
kids were growing up and we were picking fruit, you know, we were picking grapes and our kids were all
with us, working with us, and we would stop and have a break and we'd get our food and sit around in a
circle and talk and, you know, it was very nice to have our entire family together.
>> Olga Jiminez: Oh yes.
>> Manuel Jiminez: And I think that most families need time like that, where you sit around and you
have comradery amongst your own family, your kids and your relatives. And that's a nice moment in life.
>> Olga Jiminez: Those are the things you remember as you get older.
>> Manuel Jiminez: Yes, uh-huh.
>> Olga Jiminez: When your brothers and sisters were little and you were little and you all shared the
cold, you shared the food, you shared the hot sun.
>> Manuel Jiminez: You shared the big bed.
>> Olga Jiminez: Uh-huh, five in a bed.
>> Manuel Jiminez: Five in the bed.
>> Olga Jiminez: I think that's why we stayed skinny.
>> Manuel Jiminez: Yeah.
>> Olga Jiminez: It's -- To me, it's kind of a little sad to see the young youth getting a little on the chunky
side, you know. And I'm just like, hey, that's adult—adult weight. If you let it, you know, but you're in
high school. This is the prime. This is the best of your, the best—the best time that of your life, you
know.
>> Manuel Jiminez: Yes.
>> Olga Jiminez: Don't let it get out of hand. Don't get—get so overweight, you know. Don't do that to
yourself. Your health is important. Your looks are important. And if you're missing teeth or they have
rotten teeth, I said, "Hey, go to the dentist. You don't even have to pay anything. Your smile is
important."
>> Manuel Jiminez: That's true. I think those are some of the things that you tell or one that you and I
have done is created a project where we grow young people and over the last 25 years we've worked
with hundreds and hundreds of young people teaching them to learn to work. You know, most young
people don't know how to work like we did and our children learned and so we tried to give them that
experience. We try to teach them respect for others. We try to teach them, you know, things about just
life and it's been really rewarding for us to have created, you know, this--this—this project where we try
to grow these young people and at the same time what's evolved from this is this very beautiful facility
called Bravo Lake Botanical Gardens. And what people don't realize they see the plants but don't realize
that the thing that we're growing here are good human beings and the evolution has been really
awesome to see.
>> Olga Jiminez: Yes, oh yes. We've met so many families and made friends and seeing the kids grow up,
you know, and the young ladies grow up, young men to young ladies. That's the progress that we've
gotten to see.
>> Manuel Jiminez: And now we work with some of the children of the children that we started with.
>> Olga Jiminez: Oh my, time has gone by.
>> Manuel Jiminez: Yes.