Yoro Family Collection

Sabino “Sammy” Yoro Sr. was born in the Philippines on December 25, 1912. In 1942, Sammy Sr. and his brother traveled via boat from the Philippines to Hawai‘i and eventually to San Francisco. He worked as a cook in San Francisco until 1949 when he moved to Watsonville to work in the fields. Sammy Sr. worked as a seasonal laborer for the Crosetti, Dobler, and C&V Farms.

In 1949, Sammy Sr. met Gregor “Greg” Otero, a Mexican American and Native American woman, in New Mexico. Greg was born in Los Lunas, New Mexico in 1927. She had two children: Peter (b. unknown) and Eleanor (b. unknown), from her previous marriage. After Sammy Sr. and Greg met, they moved to Watsonville together to start a family. They had three children: Randy (b. 1950), Samuel “Sammy” Jr. (b. 1952), and Susan “Suzie” (b. 1956). In Watsonville, Greg worked in the cannery industry. Greg participated in the Watsonville Filipino American community events and took her children to participate in the Filipino dance troupe. Sammy Sr. and Greg married in 1978 in the Philippines.

Their son, Sammy Jr., began working with his father in the lettuce fields while he was attending Watsonville High School. He was involved with the Independent Farmworkers Union. He eventually sued C&V Farms for breaking their labor contract and retired afterwards. Sammy Sr. never retired from agricultural work until he passed away in 1989. Greg passed away in 1999.

The Yoro Family Collection was donated to Watsonville is in the Heart in 2023. It contains one oral history interview with Samuel "Sammy" Yoro.

Samuel "Sammy" Yoro