Fallorina Family Collection
Dublin Core
Title
Fallorina Family Collection
Description
Mariano Doctor Fallorina was born in the barangay of Villanueva which is in the municipality of Bautista, in the Pangasinan province of the Philippines on October 24, 1906. On February 9, 1927, Mariano embarked to the United States aboard the S.S. President Taft. He arrived in San Francisco on March 9, 1927. In his early years, Mariano worked as a migrant farm laborer throughout California and along the Pacific seaboard. During this time, he principally lived and worked in Gonzales and Soledad, California. On August 11, 1942, he enlisted in the U.S. Army and served in the Pacific Theater as a member of the First Filipino Infantry.
While in the Philippines, Mariano met Angelina Nicolas through his sister, Ana Fallorina. Angelina was born on December 6, 1922, in Guimba, Nueva Ecija, Philippines. As a young woman in the Philippines, Angelina was involved in the Methodist Church and worked as a teacher. In February 1946, Mariano was discharged from the military and returned to the United States. He continued to court Angelina until he returned to the Philippines in 1952 after which the couple soon married. They traveled back to California the same year.
The couple first lived in Soledad and had a son, Mariano N. Fallorina, Jr. (b. 1952). After Mariano Jr. was born, the family moved to the Pajaro Valley. Mariano and Angelina first worked as strawberry sharecroppers for Reiter Berries on San Andreas Road. They had another son, Daniel “Dan” K. N. Fallorina (b. 1957), and adopted Elizabeth "Liz" R. N. Fallorina (b. 1950) from the Philippines. In 1962, Elizabeth joined the family in California. The family continued to work as sharecroppers in the Pajaro Valley until 1962. Mariano was a farm laborer for various companies including Jensen Apples, Loveless and Sons, and C&V Farms. Angelina worked in the canneries for Frozen Foods, Watsonville Canning, and Green Giant.
The family was active in the First United Methodist Church in Watsonville and enjoyed celebrations with other Filipino families. Mariano and Angelina’s children attended school and worked in Watsonville before pursuing careers outside of agriculture. Elizabeth worked with a behavioral optometrist; Mariano Jr. became a Ford Senior Master Technician for several Ford dealerships in the Monterey Bay area; and Dan pursued work in the tech industry after receiving his B.S. in Industrial Technology from San Jose State University. As an engineer, he worked for the National Cash Register, Victor Technologies, Plantronics, Tandem, Compaq, and Hewlett-Packard.
Mariano passed away in 1989 at the age of 82 and Angelina passed away in 2022 at the age of 99.
The Fallorina Family Collection was contributed to Watsonville is in the Heart by Mariano and Angelina Fallorina's son, Dan Fallorina, in 2022. The collection contains ninety-two items in total. It includes an oral history interview in which Dan Fallorina reflects on his parents' migration and labor histories as well as his own memories of growing up around the labor camp on San Andreas Road, of the strawberry fields where he, his parents, and siblings worked, and of the neighborhood in Watsonville where he lived as he got older. The collection also contains fifty-six individual photographs; many of which depict the Fallorina family working in strawberry fields and at labor camps. The collection also includes handmade material culture objects that represent Mariano Fallorina's skill and craftsmanship, as well as objects he brought back to California after serving in the First Filipino Infantry.
While in the Philippines, Mariano met Angelina Nicolas through his sister, Ana Fallorina. Angelina was born on December 6, 1922, in Guimba, Nueva Ecija, Philippines. As a young woman in the Philippines, Angelina was involved in the Methodist Church and worked as a teacher. In February 1946, Mariano was discharged from the military and returned to the United States. He continued to court Angelina until he returned to the Philippines in 1952 after which the couple soon married. They traveled back to California the same year.
The couple first lived in Soledad and had a son, Mariano N. Fallorina, Jr. (b. 1952). After Mariano Jr. was born, the family moved to the Pajaro Valley. Mariano and Angelina first worked as strawberry sharecroppers for Reiter Berries on San Andreas Road. They had another son, Daniel “Dan” K. N. Fallorina (b. 1957), and adopted Elizabeth "Liz" R. N. Fallorina (b. 1950) from the Philippines. In 1962, Elizabeth joined the family in California. The family continued to work as sharecroppers in the Pajaro Valley until 1962. Mariano was a farm laborer for various companies including Jensen Apples, Loveless and Sons, and C&V Farms. Angelina worked in the canneries for Frozen Foods, Watsonville Canning, and Green Giant.
The family was active in the First United Methodist Church in Watsonville and enjoyed celebrations with other Filipino families. Mariano and Angelina’s children attended school and worked in Watsonville before pursuing careers outside of agriculture. Elizabeth worked with a behavioral optometrist; Mariano Jr. became a Ford Senior Master Technician for several Ford dealerships in the Monterey Bay area; and Dan pursued work in the tech industry after receiving his B.S. in Industrial Technology from San Jose State University. As an engineer, he worked for the National Cash Register, Victor Technologies, Plantronics, Tandem, Compaq, and Hewlett-Packard.
Mariano passed away in 1989 at the age of 82 and Angelina passed away in 2022 at the age of 99.
The Fallorina Family Collection was contributed to Watsonville is in the Heart by Mariano and Angelina Fallorina's son, Dan Fallorina, in 2022. The collection contains ninety-two items in total. It includes an oral history interview in which Dan Fallorina reflects on his parents' migration and labor histories as well as his own memories of growing up around the labor camp on San Andreas Road, of the strawberry fields where he, his parents, and siblings worked, and of the neighborhood in Watsonville where he lived as he got older. The collection also contains fifty-six individual photographs; many of which depict the Fallorina family working in strawberry fields and at labor camps. The collection also includes handmade material culture objects that represent Mariano Fallorina's skill and craftsmanship, as well as objects he brought back to California after serving in the First Filipino Infantry.
Contributor
Daniel "Dan" Fallorina
Collection Items
Angelina Fallorina's Official Transcript from Corregidor College
Angelina was a qualified teacher and had some training as a nurse. When she migrated to the United States, she wanted to become a teacher, but she was denied despite having a diploma and certificate. She was offered a job as a substitute, but she did…
Group Photograph of Pillsbury Workers
A group photo commemorating a fundraiser for employee donations to be matched by Pilsbury - all the people in the photo were cannery workers. Angelina Fallorina can be seen in the second row, fifth from the left.
Agricultural Employer's Social Security Tax Guide
This booklet is a social security tax guide for an agricultural employer for the new year of 1960. It covers a wide range of tax stipulations including taxable wages and deducting employee tax. This booklet was most likely used by the Fallorina…
Fallorina Yearly Expense Log
This has records from the Fallorina family's time sharecropping from 1955 to 1962. Dan thinks Angelina did the record-keeping in part because she had nice handwriting.
Angelina Fallorina's Union Membership Card
This is Angelina Fallorina's International Brotherhood of Teamsters membership card. On the back of the card, it lists Mariano N. Fallorina Jr. as the emergency contact along with the address, city, telephone number, and signature. The card…
Angelina Fallorina's Green Giant Badge
This is Angelina Fallorina's badge from her employer Green Giant. It features her name in print, her badge number, her signature, and the address of where she worked on the back of the card.
Angelina Fallorina's Pillsbury Green Giant Co. Badge
This is an employee identification card from Pillsbury Green Giant Co. This is possibly her last badge because it is Pillsbury Green Giant. This card should have been returned on the final day of work.
Cut Photograph of Mariano Doctor Fallorina
Dan suspects that the photograph was cut by his mom Angelina Fallorina. It may have been a postcard with Mariano's brother and sister's names on the back. Dan says it's the youngest picture of his father he's seen.
Angelina's United Foods Inc. Pin
This pin is most likely from 1963. On the pin is Angelina's number from when she worked at United Foods until 1970.
Angelina Fallorina's Passport
Angelina's Philippine passport, from when she originally came to the United States.
Mariano Doctor Fallorina's Passport
Mariano's passport is from when he went to the Philippines to marry Angelina.
Angelina Fallorina's Plane Ticket to the U.S.
The receipt for Angelina's ticket. Dan says his father paid for her ticket while he went by ship because his mother worried a lot. His father knew he could pay for it, and Dan thinks he didn't want to put her through the same voyage he had made.
Comments
Maria Clara
Hello, I just wanted to mention that "Gonzales" is misspelled.
Meleia Simon-Reynolds
Thank you! We made the edit.