My father went to his Air Force basic training when he was seventeen and was still there when my mother arrived East Los Angeles. Her uncle set her up in the house of his girlfriend, my dad’s mother. As I noted in a previous post, the plan was that my parents would be meet and the hope was they would become a couple. The meeting almost never happened as my mother wanted to return to Mexico City almost immediately. She did not like East Los Angeles and being away from her home. Each week she would ask to be sent home and each week her uncle asked her to wait one more week. Out of respect she agreed and soon took a part time job and began to learn English.
Basic training ended and my father came home, my mother’s first impression was, “Who is this skinning boy with big ears?”. She learned he was the son of her host. My father’s first impression was that he had to improve his Spanish immediately. He saw a pretty, confident young women and wanted to impress and talk to her. As he improved his Spanish he made sure to tag along whenever my mother went out. My mother said the usual pattern was her going out with my father’s two sisters and my father walking nearby. If any other young man approached her my father would warn them to stay away from his cousin. Of course, she was not his cousin. He would wear his dress uniform and had money unlike most other young men. Often he would step in an pay for food when the threesome went out.
Eventually they did begin to date. My mother’s comment to us was always, “He grew on me…”. I think she finally found what she was looking for even though she was not looking. My father was equally smart, confident and a good person and that become apparent to her. They were engaged and married on January 1st, 1950. My father was still in the Air Force stationed at March Air Force base in Riverside, California. The Korean War began June of the same year. Luckily my father spent the War stationed at March. He reached the highest non-commissioned level, Master Sargent, working in the fire department and put out many runway fires as pilots crashed during training runs. My oldest sister was born during this time, in 1952. My parents remember eating a lot of sandwiches to make his salary be enough for their growing family.
After his service ended they returned to East Los Angeles and by 1958 they were a family of six when I was born on January 4th of that year. Our family was meant to be. The Spanish language nick name for Edward is Lalo and for Dolores, Lola. Lalo and Lola had their family.
