Juan Garcia:  

Life born in east L.A. went to brooklyn ave and mcdonnell elementry schools. was in mariana mara gang while going to griffith junior high. mother died when I was eleven and we moved to montebello, pico rivera, then back to east L.A. and resided on merida in the old maravilla projects. before my mother died I was almost a grade A student. after my mothers death I found it hard to be a good student and ended up with ulcers. eventually I had a girlfriend gloria montes and when we broke up I went to huntington park high where I didn't last long. I joined the marines as soon as I was able. I was out at age 21. my brothers were joe, who married margie gallegos, tony and danny. I am hoping someone remembers me as I would like to find out how other people from my old neighborhood made out in life. for some reason I did not beleive I would live to be this old but here I am alive and kicking. I used to hang around with guys by the name of dominique, robert and jimmy. and my adopted sister kathy davis. I used to deliver the L. A. times from age ten to marine enlistment and cruised whittier blvd. I also have a sister 5 years older than I named connie or chelo. after getting out of the marines I married sheila williamson who I met in La puente while working for her dad. we had three children johnny, gina and robert. we divorced after 7 years of marriage. at the time we lived in baldwin park california. then I met debbie madalone. We were married for 7 years and lived in west covina ca. several years later I hooked up with another east coast woman. debbie being from new jersey and darylann coolidge from boston. Darylann had two children the same ages as my three kids and we had two daughters arielle and dominique. I was a single parent with my first three children a year after I split up with sheila. I had problems with child abuse from debbie and also from darylann which led to the breakup of both relationships. sheila died from cervical cancer at age 38. darylann and I split up in 2004 and I eventually ended up in crestline california where I live now. today is june 10, 2007 and I am 58 years old. my love lives with me here in the mountains with her dog cato and my wild mountain chiwawa's pookie and gizmo. jennifer and I have our problems just like anyone else but we keep trying. feb 26, 2010 jennifer and i are no longer together. for two years i went thru her addictions to alchohol and meds. i am now with sandy an xray tech andwe still live in crestline. School I guess I was destined not to have a normal childhood both in school and at home. my first school was brooklyn ave school in east los angeles. I spoke only spanish when I entered school so I had a hard time catching on. by the 5th grade I started getting better grades. by this time they sent me to Mcdonnel ave school and after I was sent to griffith jr. high inthe 7th grade my mother passed away after being sick for two years. needless to say we moved to montebello and I went to montebello jr high for awhile. I was the oldest of 4 boys and I did my best to help care for them ending up with three ulcers frome worry for my siblings. I was one of the youngest in a street gang called mariana led by my cousins the ortize's before my mother died. I also earned 5 A's and one B in 7th grade. that ceased after my mother died and I would ditch school and I was a lousy student until I joined the marines. We moved back to East LA in the maravilla projects and I returned to griffith Jr high. then to garfield for awhile. while at garfield I dated gloria montes and she and I were ditching school together until we were caught and I went to huntington park high for awhile. at garfield mr gist was a great influence in my life as well as al silver my boss from the LA times which I delivered starting at age ten until my entry in the marines. delivering the times did not help with school at all. but I was able to earn my own money and had a 55 ford pick up and 65 yamaha big bear scrambler at age sixteen. I used to take as many maravilla project kids to the huntington state beach as possible. soon after I broke up with gloria I wrecked my bike and that was the last straw. I joined the marines because of being a john wayne fan and loving his role as sgt striker in the sands of iwo jima. College In 1975 I was working for LA county as a tree trimmer when I started jr. college at MT. san antonio college. by this time I had three children and was married to sheila my first wife. I was also in the navy reserve up at PT. mugu. so you can imaginehow hard it was going to college at night four times a week. I was pretty much in limbo but I did it to improve the lifestyle of my family. At first I was a photo journalist major because I loved photography. then I tried data processing until I got hit on the head from a runaway log that hit me on the head. this blow ruined my memory for awhile and I figured I was destined for another career. So then I tried for and succeeded in getiing an as in fire science. but when I tried out for the fire department out of a possible 110 I scored a 108 but was disqualified because I found out I had a bundle branch block in my heart. something I was born with. acceptable by the military I must add. I could have fought this and won but a divorce and being single with three children influenced me to start my tree and landscape service which I still work to this day. ater Mt sac I went to cal poly pomona and was accepted as a senior in horticulture. soon after I had a murdercycle accident on winding fullerton road going into la habra and I dropped out of cal poly. Around 80 I went to citris college in glendora and took all sorts of class...Expand for more