A Tale of Two Grandfathers'

Recently, my fiance, Mary, and I had conversations with my two grandfathers'. My Papa Fred aka Otis's Grandpa, known by this name because of the dog he had, and my Grandpa Maurie aka Sammy's Grandpa, once again named after the dog he once owned, sat down with us to recount their lives. It was amazing how these two men, separated by nearly twenty years in age, different cultural backgrounds- My grandpa Maurie is a 2nd generation American from Germany who grew up in Iowa during the Great Depression, while my Papa Fred is 1st Generation American from Mexico who grew up poor right here in the Silicon Valley in the late 30's- can have such strikingly similar personalities and beliefs.

The defining portrait of these two men comes from their poor upbringings. It was in not having anything growing up that motivated and spurred these men to become successful. They were limited in money, but made up for it with determination and a resilient attitude that harkens back to their ancestors that paved the way for them to be successful in this country. As my Papa Fred said, "The goal of each new generation is to be more successful than the previous one." My grandfather's no doubt did that and in the process were able to successfully share their prosperity and their story with their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.

And without further adieu here is the story of two grandfather's, in their own words, who embarked upon a journey that led them from famine to feast. Enjoy.

                                                   Life In The Great Depression

                                                                                        By

                                                             Mark Cuen

           My Grandfather was 13 years old when the Great Depression hit his small town of Pomeroy, Iowa.  My Great-Grandfather at the time was lucky enough to have a job as both the County Supervisor and have work on his farm.  Unfortunately, Great-Grandfather’s position and generosity caused his downfall as he co-signed on many of the townspeople’s homes and other ventures and lost all of the families money.  In October 1929 my grandfather was ordered to go to the bank only to find out that the bank was closed and that the president of the bank, a family friend, had taken whatever money he could grab and fled to Canada.

      My father, being county supervisor, headed up the WPA or the Work Progress Association that would pick up the men and travel around digging ditches.  Many of the men would plead and beg to get on for work with the WPA, many of whom were very close friends with my father.  However, he would have to turn them away because they simply had to many people for the job.  Dad could not stand the sight of men in this condition and would pay money out of his own pocket to help out some of these struggling friends of his.  Some of the men would simply work for drinks if no money would be exchanged. Anything to numb the pain.

 Also, on a trip to the dentist my brothers and I took eggs from the farm as payment for their dentist trip. Trading goods was the practiced method during this time when most people had not a cent to their name. 

            Luckily, for me, I had a few things that worked in my favor during this time. Though my dad had a steady job the money he made would be handed over to the bank for all of the notes he co-signed. Going in the family’s favor was that my sister, Veronica, had a good job in Fort Dodge at a company called Gates Dry Goods as the bookkeeper.  The money that Veronica made she sent to us to help pay off the debt and keep the family somewhat above water.   Furthermore, the farmland of my family that produced oat, corn, and barley along with my mother's garden helped produce enough food for the family to eat.  During those days I would wake up early in the morning, when it was still pitch black outside and help get the day ready to farm. I would then go to school for half the day leaving school early to get back and help with the crops on the farm of his brother’s land. I even helped butcher a pig and put the excess in lard; We did not have a freezer, and that pig would last all winter long. 

           My sister Veronica changed my life. There was a time when I was in high school and I did not know if I would go to college. I always wanted to go, but with the times I wasn't sure I would ever leave Pomeroy. I was resigned to the fact that I would have to stay in town forever, working menial jobs at a furniture store or a factory. I wanted to leave- badly. I knew there was more for me than Pomeroy. It was the generosity of my sister Veronica who paved the way for me to go to college at St. Ambrose. It cost her $1500 dollars for the entirety of my schooling at St. Ambrose. That was a lot of money back then. Without Veronica to help I never would have had any opportunity. I certainly wouldn't be here right now. Veronica sending me to college was the moment that changed my life forever.          

            It is hard for me to recount these days when I would see my friend’s mothers begging for money out in the street. Or when I would have to cut out the back of my shoe because my feet were getting too big.  During the rainy days I would wear bags over my shoes so not get my feet wet.  Though the times were rough I feel fortunate for everything I had because even though it was difficult I had much more than many of the other children in town.  I'll tell you this- Even though times were bad and as funny as it sounds I still kinda long for those days.

First Generation American,

Sheet Metal Worker Father, Grandfather, and Great-grandfather

By

Mary Anderson

            I don’t have nothing to hide. My parents came to Fremont, which was at that time Russel City. They migrated north for money and work. My father, Froylan Duarte Cuen, was born July 20, 1905 in Nacozari, Sonora, Mexico. My mother, Anita Carillo Mata was born July 31, 1916 in Zacapu, Michoacan, Mexico. My grandfather on my mother’s side worked for the railroad in Mexico. My father was older when he moved here. My Uncle came to California with his wife and they wrote to my dad and the rest of the family and told them to come out to California because there was work here. And they ended up in Corcoran, down past Fresno in southern California. My father and mother met at a church here in San Jose. My mother was from Hayward.

            I was born in San Jose in 1937. During the second World War, we actually moved to Point Richmond. My father ran a brickyard out there where they make bricks. My Uncles all lived with us and commuted to Richmond because they worked there in the shipyard. So, in 1942 the war ended and we came back to San Jose. We used to live here on the east side of town and when we came back in 1946 we bought a house on 13th street, which was strictly Italian people. So we lived there and I went to Grant School and then from there went to Peter Burnett High School and from there I decided to go to a technical school and I took Aeronautics. When I was 16 or 17 years old I used to fly out of Hillview Airport with just a stick and a couple of pedals; no steering wheel. I always enjoyed flying even when I was little. So I went to the technical school and I learned aircraft, craft, and engine. We didn’t have jets and then just when I was getting into my senior year, the jets came and so everything else beyond that was changing and here I was coming out with an engine and a craft license.

             I worked nights and I went to school days. I worked from 12 midnight until 7 o’clock in the morning and then I went to school from 9 o’clock to three o’clock. Then I went home and went to bed. I was working because the family had no money. We always had money to eat though, and we had a lot of people that my dad took care of.  

            After I graduated, I went to work. I worked in electronics for a while and from there I went into metal working. I worked with iron and steel and tanks. To be exact, I worked on the tanks that they use for the nuclear centers. I worked there for about 13 years up there is south San Francisco. There was no freeways when I went from here to there every day. There was the El Camino and then they had what they called the Bay Shore Highway. Stoplights all the way out.  It was bumper to bumper back then also. It took us over an hour to make it there and I did it every day for 13 years. I used to buy a car for about 100 dollars and then run it until it died of natural causes and then I’d buy another one and do the same thing.

             I came back to San Jose and was hired on at this one company and had to join a sheet metal union, which cost us at that time 500 bucks. That was 40 years ago. I started paying dues from then on. I never really wanted to be in management but somehow or another it ended up that I was in management. I worked for Langedorf Bakereies, building equipment for them. I worked at Magnusson building machinery for them and I worked at Master Metals. A lot of your electronic companies, I was there. And a lot of your engineering companies, I was also there. I worked at Moffit Field and Lockheed.  At Lockheed they had guards. We worked where they were building bricks for the shuttle and they didn’t want you to see so they had this gigantic curtain all around the area where these people were working. Thirty feet high. But we were working 40 or 50 feet in the air, so we were way above the curtain and we could see what was going on. The original NASA shuttle had the bricks out there so that when it hit the atmosphere, it wouldn’t burn up. My last job was the sharks arena. I was a superintendent and I ran a shop for all the duct work that was made to be out into the arena. So that was my last job and I retired when I was 56. And I’ve been retired ever since.

            I met my wife in high school. She was going to Notre Dame and I was going to San Jose Technical High. She was with me for all those different jobs. Somebody had to spend all that money because I didn’t have time. She knows I tell the truth. We married in 1956. My son Fred Jesse was born in 1957, he was named after his two grandfathers, he wasn’t named after me. Jesse for Jesus, you know, Jesus? For me, the kids have always been number one. I’ve always, you know..if it had been up to me there would have been a lot of them running around. But my wife, she was from a small family. But her sister had like 7 or 8 kids and her brother had 6 or 7 kids and we ended up with 2. But that meant that we didn’t have to share cupcakes (when the kids had birthdays). My daughter, Teresa was born 4 years after Fred, in 1961. This city was a very safe city, nothing happened here. I think that this was the best place to raise children. I still think it’s the best. Because you have everything here. You can go to the ocean, you can go the mountains, you can go to the snow. I mean, you have everything and the temperature normally stays the same here all the time. I mean you get a few hot days of a hundred, but you can count them on one hand. The weather has a lot to do with your ability to work and it’s nicer to work in a nice temperature. You can work outside. I work outside, like I said. I worked all over the area. And then you watch this place grow from all these different orchards to hardtop now. Progress has been here and that is the reason why we are so fortunate.