Pete Paredes:  

Life i am married to Vera Vargas. a Viking Girl from Kingsburg,the Swedish Village. I Learned to speak Swedish right quickly. Hej! Valkommen!Huu shtaw de til?Talar ni engelska? Halsa er familj. Var bor du? tack sa mychet! Found out later that they speak English and Spanish in Kingsburg and just to be safe i also learned Japanese,German,Italian,French,Portuguese,Russian,Punjabi,Chinese,Vietnamese,Hmong and Arabic. Took me two years to get enough nerve to talk to her! We both worked at the same packing house in Kingsburg. It was love at first site,at least on my part. The first time i seen her,i said to myself,she is the one! No need to look any more,i didn't even think about whether she was single or married. Right then,she was now my girl,my wife to be! I Never talk to her the first year. The second year i did say a few words to her,all job related. The third year she didn't go back to the packing house and i missed my chance to ask her out. But she was still my girl,of course she didn't know she was my girl yet. So i went looking for her in Kingsburg.There are somethings a person doesn't need to know right away.Other times you need to know somethings ASAP! For example On OUR kinda first date i didn't show up for the date. Well i didn't know that when a girl asks you "Are you going to the Fresno Fair?" that was THE clue that i was suppose to meet her there. She walked all around the fair grounds trying to find me and she was carrying a large pink dog to boot! See, she missed me already. Well the OFFICIAL first date was set up by her two sisters who also worked at the packing house.They would asking me questions. Are you married? Do you have any kids? Are you going with some one etc.etc. After i answered all their questions.They both said "I have a sister that you should meet,you will like her." I did not know that they were talking about the same sister and they did not know that both of them were trying to set me up .Their church was having a dinner and they said "why don't you go to the dinner and you can meet her there."Well, i finely got up enough nerve to say yes i will buy a ticket and went to the church dinner and there she was,my girl who had come to the house looking for her mothers friend,my girl from the house packing house,my girl from the tv station,my girl from the Wedding. She made that blue dress look great,it was a great night ! Did i ask her to go out with me? Of course not,Stupid me! I was afraid,as i was in high school,that she would say no.Some how we started going out or i should say we would meet at different places.Then came the day when i asked my Mother if she would release me from my promise that i had made to her. I had told her that i would never get married,that i didn't need any girl,that i would never leave her and dad,partly because the one time i asked a girl for a date i was turned down. My Mother smiled and said "Son, i never expected you to keep that promise,i knew that some day you would find someone." Just because you have not had a girl to go out with is not a reason to stay single "Is that why you have been going to church in Kingsburg? "Yes,her name is Vera Vargas."My Mother said" She is a good person,we know her family."Things were great,until Uncle Sam said he had a job for me."Say goodbye to her,you'll see her in two years." I Had just been with her only three months,and now i had to leave her.Would she wait ? Would i get that dear john letter? Would i make it back ? etc.etc. You know it's a small world after all. Both of our families knew each other,my Father worked with Vera's brother and brother-in-Laws,our brothers hung out together. Our families had the same circle of friends.The only ones that did not know about each other were Vera and I. Once or twice she had come to the house asking if her mothers friend was there,another time my band was played for a wedding where i knew the bride,groom and guest and there was Vera in the wedding party. Another time she and some of her girl friends went to see the band play on live tv. I seen her as she came up to the front of the crowd,she couldn't tell i was look at her,because of my eye problems i always had to wear sun glasses. All of this happen before i seen her at the packing house.Now we have been married 46 years this april 08 2013.We are still on our honeymoon.MY WIFE SAYS,WE ARE NOT! Well for me,it sure feel like we are. She also says i act like a 12 year old.SHE'S WRONG i'm more like a 16 year old. A SWEET SIXTEEN YEAR OLD. We have 3 sons and 4 daughters. Now that i have made/earned my millions i am now in retirement mode. Unless Vera gets tired of having me around her all the time. I do not get tired of her,i do let her have her space of course. Meeting and marrying her is the best thing that ever happen to me! I never knew that just holding her hand would be so great I just enjoying life with my Wife,Family,Music and Friends! I am still playing the drums. I have been playing the drums and percussion since since 1954. I am playing with Old Country,Ranchos Cowboys and Gil and the Reflections. We play country,blues, rock and roll and latin music.....search pete paredes for the music School GARFIELD: Remember blacking out one day while standing in line to go into class and remember always sitting in front of the class so i could be near the blackboard. Got my first pair of glasses from the Lyons Club.Thank you Mrs Evans and Mr Evans. I Could now see the blackboard better. Little did i know how much problems i was going to have with my eyes.Teachers: Mrs. Roland,Mr. Doyle,Mrs Tanke.....ROOSEVELT JR. HIGH: Lot of fun,good food,started to gain weight. At Garfield my belt went around me twice and still hung over,now it was beginning to fill out.Teachers: Mrs Wright,Mr.Snelgrove,Mr.Cagle,Mr,Cropsey,Mr. Christensen and Mrs.Sargent. I wanted to try out for a musical instrument,but Mr. Christensen said i was tone deaf and would not be able to play any instrument that require hearing notes . Why not try the drums,so i tried the drums,and join the band as a drummer.The day of graduation was an eventful one. The band went to the football field to practice for that nights graduation,but the gates were closed,so Mr. Christensen said," everyone needs to climb over the fence." Don't know what happen, but i broke my ankle when i landed on the other side. I was one of the last ones to go over and i heard some thing pop and no one noticed i didn't get up. After a while they noticed that i was not at the drums so they started to look around and finally they seen me still on the ground. Any way i got to sit in the front row with all the Brains that night new cast and crutches. HIGH SCHOOL.....IF ONLY! Green,very green,didn't have the mind set yet. Very shy and self-conscious. Having a lot of health and physical problems didn't help either. If asked a question,mainly answered with a yes or no..... just like Gary Cooper and the Indians did. Since i was deaf i could not pronounce words correctly...kids had made fun of me about that.Talk to girls! Forget it! It was hard enough to talk to guys.( Mr. Cropsey ) I Failed P.E. because i would not shower with the rest of the classmates. ( Mrs.Boucher ) I Failed English becausc i couldn't give a speech in front of the English class.( Mr. Ferguson ) Band was a class i really liked.The parades,halftime shows,football games,( i had never seen a football game) the trips to Long Beach and San Francisco were great since i had never been any further then Fresno. Hamburgers from the Sno-White drive-in,fries from the Tip-Top,Wilkin's root beer. Never did have a date or go to dances or Proms. I was too afraid to ask a girl and i would not have known what to say or do. On senior ditch day i couldn't pay the cost of the trip,so i didn't get to go with the class. Mr.FERGUSON said to get on the bus,no one will know you didn't pay. I had to tell him " Thank you, Mr. Ferguson,but i will know that i did not pay." Had the run of the school that day.(I never knew that Mr. Ferguson was an all state drum major twirling Champion, he still goes back to Indiana to march with the band.) I did not have enough nerve to talk to girls let along ask one for a date, and when i did findly have enough nerve to ask ( One month after graduating from high school ) She said.....NO! (She shall remain name-less but she will never be forgotten.) It was MY fault! Because i thought,since she was a friend who i had helped in some of the classes we had together she would not say no. I Never asked anyone again.....SO!.....How did i manage to get married? My wife's sisters asked me to go out,on a sort of, blind date with her.Then she did the asking! But that's another story. BACK to school..Had some great TEACHERS: Mr. Cropsey,Mr Ferguson,Mr Carr,Mr Walling,Mr Chamberlain,Mrs. Waters,Mr.Stone,Mr Johnson,Mr. Brown. My senior year i started to come out of my shell,But it was too late,they said i had to leave after gradu...Expand for more