Monday, August 26, 2024

Mayumi's Hispanic-Mexican-Texas Family

For the archives.

*********************
May's Family History

Relevancy and Personal Interest

1. My wife's paternal grandfather was an undocumented immigrant from Mexico who crossed into Texas, and married a citizen of the United States. They had at least one child. My wife's paternal grandfather was returned to Mexico "under duress" and never returned to the states. Although married to a US citizen, he had no legal status in the US at that time and was returned to Mexico -- some eighty to ninety (?) years ago.

2. My wife's father, raised by an aunt in Texas, was a 30+ year US Army veteran, having been one of the children of the marriage described above. His Texas mother was a US citizen and that made him a US citizen; his father, married to m wife's mother, as noted above, was an undocumented visitor to Texas and returned to Mexico, "under duress."

a. Why was my wife's father raised by an aunt and not his mother? His mother died after having four children by the same father -- the undocumented immigrant described in paragraph 1 above.

b. My wife's grandfather lived a quiet life with his Texas wife (before she died) and their four children, including my wife's father. Her undocumented grandfather was dating another Texas woman who ultimately -- for whatever reason --  alerted the authorities to his undocumented status which ultimately resulted in his deportation. 

c. [I am unclear to the timing of those particular events, but one can probably connect the plausible dots. When his mother died, my wife's father, age five, when to live with an aunt who already had twelve children of her own.] 
d. My father-in-law was named Flavio. He had three siblings. As an aside, I met my father-in-law's baby sister, Laura, Beeville, TX, decades later. I never met his other sister (Matilda died before I knew the family; she died when May was in high Schoo)) or his brother Pedro, with whom the family lost contact when he moved away from the Texas homestead. There is some suggestion that Pedro when on to become a minister or preacher, perhaps in Tennessee.

3. My wife's mother was an 18-to-19-year-old Japanese citizen living in Yokohama, Japan, when she married my wife's father, a US citizen by birth, serving in the US Army, fighting in the Korean War when he went to Japan on "R&R" -- rest and relaxation. Prior to being allowed to marry that US serviceman, my wife's future father, the Japanese teenager was "investigated" for a full year before the marriage request was approved. When they returned to the states, my wife's mother when through a naturalization process to include taking a citizenship test, which she passed and became a naturalized citizen. 

4. My wife's birth certificate was issued by the US State Department; she having been born in Japan. Her mother was about twelve years old when the US dropped two atomic bombs on Japan.  

In a long note like this, there will be content and typographical errors but the general gist of the narrative is accurate as best I know. 

Not knowing all the facts of the "Biden" program, I have sympathy with the president's intention, but that intention needs to be codified through an act of Congress and signed by the President, and not simply by "executive order." My hunch is that between 1619 and 1865 there were a lot of undocumented immigrants whose descendants and they themselves became US citizens. 

Interestingly enough, the road to citizenship for enslaved men and women in the United States also began with a presidential executive order, but it also required three constitutional amendments to complete the process (the 13th, 14th and 15th). 

That executive order? Abraham Lincoln's "Emancipation Proclamation."

Regardless of all the particulars, it's somewhat of a miracle that I am the father of two incredibly wonderful daughters and the grandfather of five equally incredible grandchildren -- all of whom are citizens of the United States whose ethnicity includes but not limited to:

Norwegian, German, Hispanic-Mexico, English, Scottish, Japanese, and Russian.

Sunday, August 18, 2024

Berlin Trip, Eighth Grade -- Paul, Carl, Bruce -- 1965

In 1965, my dad, age 43, took his dad, Paul, age 79, and me, an eighth grader, age 14 later that summer, on a trip to Norway, as part of a Rotary trip.

Paul had emigrated to America in 1907 and this would be first and only trip back to Norway. Interestingly, my grandfather's physical and mental health was almost exactly on par to that of President Joe Biden's in 2024, though my hunch is that my grandfather would have done better than Biden in "that" debate. LOL.

But I digress.

It was a two-week trip:

  • Williston, rail to Minneapolis, after picking up Paul in Newell, SD 
    • that leg of the trip alone would have been quite a journey for me; overnight in Minneapolis --
    • wow, the hotel was incredible! And it was probably a 2-star hotel in downtown Minneapolis but it was the first time I had stayed overnight in a big city;
  • Minneapolis to Oslo, Norway, on KLM
  • several days in Oslo with our Rotarian host family; wonderful, wonderful stay;
    • met the first love of my life; I believe she was a sixth grader;
  • then, by train to Trondheim, and the Trondheim area where Paul was born and raised; 
  • rental car in the Trondheim area
  • Trondheim to Bergen by ferry;
  • then to Copenhagen, on that same ferry, if I recall correctly;
    • to Copenhagen, because the return trip to the US by air departed out of Paris
  • then to Braunschweig, Germany, some hours south of Copenhagen; 
  • our first spur-of-the-moment decision: continue direct to Paris, or a side trip to Berlin,
    • I was so excited to see Berlin; my father agreed, and so we went;
  • through the Iron Curtain to enter East Germany, and then through another piece of the Iron Curtain to get into West Berlin
  • a tourist excursion into East Berlin
  • back to the rental car, and back through East Germany
  • with no map we headed west; the only thing Dad knew was that Paris was west,
    • seriously, he only followed the setting sun each day; I think we saw two setting suns;
  • we arrived on the outskirts of Paris on a balmy afternoon;
  • he had hotel reservations at the Ronceray Hotel in Paris
  • at the outskirts of Paris, he stopped the car and hailed a taxi
    • he put me in the taxi and then had the taxi driver lead my grandfather and my dad to the Ronceray Hotel
    • Dad called the car rental agency (Hertz) and told them the car would be at the Ronceray.
    • the Hertz folks told him he had to bring the car to a Hertz rental site;
    • Dad said the car would be at the Ronceray; it was Hertz's choice if they wanted their car back. LOL.
  • from Paris back to Minneapolis

Our route

Copenhagen, Denmark to Braunschweig, we took the ferry from Bergen, Norway, to Copenhagen, Denmark, and then began our journey to Paris where we returned the car:

Berlin to Paris: a grueling leg; we arrived late evening, Cologne, Germany, but did not recognize it as Cologne -- we only saw signs for Köln and weren't smart enough to know it was Cologne, the very famous WWII-bombed site; stayed overnight in Cologne. Next day, lunch in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg and then to Paris, late afternoon -- all with no maps, just literally following the sun. I kid you not. We ended up on some small side roads. Seriously.

*****************
Best Birthday Gift Ever 

For my 73rd birthday. From my middle granddaughter.

Sunday, August 11, 2024

Bob's 1929 Ford Model A -- August 11, 2024

Bob’s teaching Caleb how to drive the 1929 Ford model A.

Almost 100 years old and runs like a top!  Rob’s in the back seat taking the video.  The gas has to be turned on as well as the battery. It’s a stick shift.  I remember when Bob brought that thing home on a trailer (before Robbie was born).  It was just bits and pieces of metal and I thought he was out of his mind. 

It has an A-uga horn that makes old men smile ! 

If you want air conditioning you just tilt the front windshield open.

Bob always opens the door for me when he gives me a ride (only because he doesn’t want me to touch the car)!!



Tennessee Waltz -- Carl Oksol -- August 11, 2024

Someday I may write something about how much this song means to me, a memory of my dad.

Link here.

Letter To Arianna And Olivia -- August 11, 2024

To Arianna and Olivia:

I'm sitting here watching the "sneak preview" for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

The 2028 LA Olympics are going to be incredible.

It got me thinking about how lucky the two of you are -- in the very best years of your life, college, not only are you attending the best universities in the world, you are attending these universities in the most beautiful venues in the world -- Nashville, TN, and the Bay Area, California.

"Everybody" would love to have these opportunities. 

You may or may not realize this now, but twenty years from now you will realize how fortunate you were. 

Arianna perhaps had the biggest challenge -- being the first of the three to take such a giant step. And, wow, what a great role model. There is no question that Sophia is taking this all in -- watching you two.

I cannot believe how fast Arianna's Vanderbilt years went by -- already nearing an end. 

One of the hardest decisions we ever had to make was May's decision (along with her brother) to sell the family house in San Pedro, California -- 913 Millmark Grove Street, San Pedro, CA, 90733. The house was sold in 2020 or thereabouts.

 

Sunday, July 28, 2024

Mementos From Ekke Flessner -- WWI

Karla found these in Ruth's collections. To Bruce in July, 2024, and then to Olivia Nevin for her antique museum.