Sharing a Birthday - How Special?!

I should have posted this a week and a half ago. My Great Great Aunt Mamie (Mary Alvernaz Cordiero) and I share a birthday. We're both born on January 11th. She in 1895 and me in 1971 - 76 years apart. I had the fortunate opportunity to have been able to meet her, if only for a short amount of time. She passed away (d. Sept 28, 1974) when I was three years old.

I DO remember her though. I remember how special she made me feel just by the simple fact of sharing a birthday. I don't remember words or events, but I remember her warmth and love and general sweetness.

So, every birthday I remember Aunt Mamie. This being a significant year for me - the big 4-0, I still remembered Aunt Mamie, who would have celebrated the 116th year since her birth. So, Happy Birthday Aunt Mamie! Happy Birthday to us!

(Bottom right photo is me sitting on Aunt Mamie's lap with my Nana's friend Mrs. T in the lounger)

Manuel Leal Silva - My Great Grandfather the Master Cheese Maker



Manuel and his second wife, Mary Norma


 I never had the chance to meet my Great Grandfather - a Portuguese man named Manuel Silva (That's like John Smith in Portuguese). He was my Nana's first husband - my biological great grandfather. I know very little of him:

• He came from the Azore island of Pico (b. Aug 15, 1891)
• He was a master cheese maker
• He married my Nana in a somewhat arranged marriage. Her heart belonged to another (that's another story)
• His second wife was Mary (May) Norma
• He passed away after the great flood of 1964 in Garberville, CA (d. Sept 4, 1965)




Manuel and his first wife, Alice - my great-grandparents

 As a cheese master he could easily get a job at any cheese factory on the west coast. As a Portuguese man he had a fiery temper and would quit work easily. I was told he would travel up and down the west coast from California to Oregon to Washington and back again. From what I understand this is what led to the dissolution of his marriage to my Nana - the being away from home so much. One story I heard is that he was working in Newman, CA and someone came running to tell him that his house burned down. He asked if his wife and children were safe. Once he found out they were, he continued working. I don't think this set well with my equally fierce tempered Nana. They soon divorced later. A frowned upon act given the time (the 1930s) and the fact they were Catholic and Portuguese. My grandmother does not remember any arguing...no fights...it just happened.