<Begin Segment 4>

TI: Okay, and you, you mentioned earlier lettuce farming. Was that the kind of farming that your parents did?

RT: Yes. It was mostly lettuce and sometimes onions and there was a Spreckles sugar factory, so they also at one time raised sugar beets, I think, but it was mostly lettuce.

TI: How large was the farm?

RT: Hundred acres.

TI: Now, was that a pretty common size in Salinas?

RT: I think it was probably a little larger than most.

TI: And in terms of workers, you mentioned, earlier you mentioned Big Boy. You said he was a Filipino worker? Tell me about Big Boy. How did he come to work with the family?

RT: I don't know. I think he was, I think he was already there when I was born. He just helped my dad. Because in those days, instead of Mexicans it was, the laborers were mostly Filipinos, I think.

SF: So did your dad hire labor crews, or did he go through a Japanese labor contractor?

RT: No, I don't think he went through a contractor. I think maybe Big Boy built all that. I don't know. All I know is that he was one of the earlier ones to get a Caterpillar and he was very, very proud of that, because when I was little I remember my grandfather plowing the fields with a horse drawn plow, and one day the horse kicked him and he had this big gouge in his cheek, and I think after that he, he didn't plow anymore with a horse. [Laughs] And then my father was able to get a Caterpillar and he was one of the first ones around that area to get a Caterpillar. But my dad, since he went to mechanic school, he was able to fix his, fix the car and do a lot with the Caterpillar, the farm equipment.

TI: So I'm curious, describe the relationship with the family and this Filipino worker, Big Boy. What was like in terms of, did he eat with the family?

RT: Oh, yes. All, all three meals. Yeah, so for breakfast sometimes, if we had miso shiru, or if we had miso shiru for dinner, that's what he ate. And he ate sashimi, I think, too. [Laughs]

TI: So it sounds like he was almost treated like a family member?

RT: Oh yes, he was family. I think I played, he played with me more than my dad.

TI: So it sounds like you have the, a fond relationship or fond memories of him.

RT: Oh, yes.

TI: Now, what was, I think you mentioned his last name, what was his last name?

RT: Decerna.

TI: Decerna. Okay.

RT: I think it's D-E-C-E-R-N-A or something. I'm not sure. I don't know his first name because we all called him Big Boy.

TI: Do you ever remember him going off and maybe having other friends?

RT: I remember a couple of times I went with him to a gathering of Filipinos and, I think it was a picnic or something, and I had a lot of fun.

TI: Oh, so he brought the whole family or just you?

RT: Just, I think it was just me and maybe my brother went along. I don't know. I remember going to his big gatherings. He wasn't, he wasn't married as far as I know.

TI: Now, how would that picnic compare with the picnics in the Japanese community? Were they about the same or was there differences?

RT: The food was quite different, and there was one food, some kind of rice, coconut rice or something, I never have encountered that later on in my life. I always look for that, but I never have, but it was really oishikatta. [Laughs]

TI: And who would be at the Filipino picnic? Who, like how many people?

RT: I think there were some little children, but mostly laborers, I think farm workers. And I only went two or three times at the most.

TI: And so when you say farm workers, was it mostly men then, at these picnics?

RT: Yeah. Yes.

TI: So who would prepare the food? I mean...

RT: I think the men did prepare too in those days, the Filipino men.

TI: Now, I've heard at, like Japanese picnics, at least for the kids they'd have games and even adults did games. Did they have those kind of activities at the Filipino picnic? Do you remember what they did?

RT: No, I don't. I don't remember. I do remember the Japanese picnics.

<End Segment 4> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.