Veronica Hernandez interviewed by Dioscoro "Roy" Respino Recio Jr. and Amanda Gamban

In this interview, originally recorded on video over Zoom, Veronica Hernandez speaks with Dioscoro “Roy” Respino Recio, Jr. and Amanda Gamban who are members of the Watsonville is in the Heart project team. Hernandez gives a broad overview of her family’s immigration history and experience living in the Pajaro Valley as agricultural workers. She discusses her father, Paul “Skippy” Tabalan DeOcampo’s immigration from the Philippines to the United States in 1928 and her mother, Gloria Molina DeOcampo’s experience moving from Texas to California. Hernandez details memories of working in agricultural fields with her parents. She also discusses her experience growing up as mixed-race and her encounters with racism. Lastly, she discusses how working in the fields inspired her to pursue a career as an ESL teacher and her employment after leaving the fields in her 20s.

Veronica Hernandez, Dioscoro "Roy" Respino Recio Jr. and Amanda Gamban

May 5, 2021

Veronica Hernandez

Watsonville is in the Heart (WIITH) is a community-driven public history initiative to preserve and uplift stories of Filipino migration and labor in the city of Watsonville and greater Pajaro Valley. All oral history interviews are donated to WIITH by the narrators. Copyright is held by WIITH. Oral history interview recordings and transcripts are available for unrestricted use and reproduction by educators and researchers. Please note that the recordings on this website are provided via Soundcloud. For access to oral history audio files, please contact the project director at wiith@ucsc.edu. If you are an oral history narrator and would like to remove your interview from the archive website, please contact the project director.

English

Oral history

DEO.2021.84

Dioscoro “Roy” Respino Recio, Jr. and Amanda Gamban

Veronica Hernandez

Zoom

[1:41] Early childhood memories

[4:43] Mother, Gloria Molina DeOcampo’s and father, Paul “Skippy” Tabalan DeOcampo’s backgrounds and how they met

[6:32] Working in the fields and cooking with Skippy

[11:02] Family’s agricultural labor and properties on San Miguel Canyon Road and in Aromas

[17:33] Challenges Skippy faced as an immigrant and an English-language learner

[20:37] Skippy’s farming equipment and its significance

[25:21] Memories of siblings, Antoinette Yvonne DeOcampo Lechtenberg and Paul Philip DeOcampo Jr., and working in the fields with their father

[29:15] Childhood leisure activities

[34:08] Veronica’s life and career trajectory—working in the fields, getting married, and going to college

[41:21] Family participation in community organizations including the Filipino Catholic Association, events, and barbeques

[47:11] Mixed-race identity and belonging

[51:30] Memories of driving and loading farm trucks

[53:52] Experiences of difference, racism, and resilience

[58:58] The Watsonville is in the Heart project and importance of historical documentation

mp4

1:05:41