It is not everyday that you meet a person who is the epitome of the phrase, “the salt of the earth.” Joe Mannina is one such individual. He embodies the traditional values of Los Gatos. He’s a person who is: inspiring, hard working, driven, trustworthy, loyal, competent, without airs, valuable, humble and does his job well. All traits that we hold dear in Los Gatos. You may ask, What is most important to Mannina? He will readily reply, “My family”—a cherished value.
Mannina is an unassuming gentleman, who has lived a full and rich life. It all began 95 years ago, when this area was unincorporated—sometimes called “Orchard City.”
His son, Joe Mannina Jr., wrote his father’s biography, My Life Story. This, along with several interviews, emails and conversations helped me to pull this piece together.
Mannina began supporting his family at a young age, helping his father and grandfather in the fields. In his biography he states, “My parents were very hard workers; my dad had a 10-acre orchard that he took care of, usually by himself growing prunes, apricots and cherries. As I grew up, I helped him quite a bit. I learned how to drive a tractor when I was about eight years old.” Indeed the “salt of this earth,” driving a tractor around the orchards at a young age, eager to help his family. He went on, “My mom worked in the cannery quite a bit in the summers when the fruit was ripe.”
From Sicily
Mannina continues, “My father Tony came over to San Francisco from Sicily (a little coastal town called Trabia) as a teenager by himself to visit relatives and to work selling fruits and vegetables. His mother Mary came over as a nine-month-old, with her family and six siblings.
Both families were from Trabia, Italy and came through Ellis Island. Once here, they took the train to San Francisco. Note: In the “old country,” they did not know each other, though they lived around four miles apart. They met and married here. Together they brought the old world family values to America, and eventually to Los Gatos.
Mannina’s parents meet at a gas station
“My mother’s dad had a Shell gas station on the corner of Meridian (Way) and Fruitdale Avenue, in San Jose,” Mannina went on. “My dad stopped there to get gas a couple times, and I guess that my mother waited on him. And then he kept going back there and they got acquainted. And they got together.” What is interesting is that the elder Mannina today lives at Merrill Gardens, very close to where that gas station once stood.
Delicious peaches for sale
“On my mother’s side, her father, grandmother and mother, they had a small orchard there (San Jose-Campbell area) with 25 delicious peach trees. And when the peaches were ripe, (my grandfather would) have me come over—and he would set up a tray and some saw horses on the street there—he’d put the peaches in baskets. And guess who was there all day trying to sell peaches? Me. Then he said I want you back next week. At night I would take the money to him.” Toiling away in the orchards trained him for future hard work outdoors.
Early childhood in the orchards
“My dad would wake me up early in the morning, at sunrise. I had to help him out in the orchard, because he was either pruning or picking fruit or whatever. I’d get up and go help him as much as I could, because my mother would get up and she’d help as much as she could. My mother would prepare daily meals: rabbit, chicken stew, raviolis and pastas. My mother was a great cook.” The elder Mannina’s summer work on the ranch gave him enough money to buy school clothes. During this time, America was just coming out of the Great Depression.
Mannina recalls, “I spent a lot of time with my grandmother because she lived right down the street from us. I used to run over there quite a bit because she was all by herself a lot. That is where I learned to speak Italian.”
School days
Mannina went to Campbell grammar and high schools. His friends were Eldon Silva, Don Chapman, Al Magnoli, Rich Geraci, Phil Cosentino and Eldred Nelson. Rich Geraci and Mannina vacationed in Italy together as well.
In school, Mannina’s favorite subject was drafting. His mother wanted a new home, as the original “ranch” house was “falling apart.” Mannina drew up the plans for the new house on Downing Avenue. He and his father built the house together and this is how he got into the brick masonry trade, becoming a union member in April 1951, as an apprentice.
Tradesman
After three years as an apprentice mason with the International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers Local 3, Mannina became a journeyman. He is still in IUBAC to this day—more than 75 years after he joined.
Earlier this month he received a plaque that reads, “In recognition of three quarters of a century of outstanding service and dedication to our Union and the trowel trades, the Executive Board of the International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers gratefully presents this service award.”
During his time with IUBAC, Mannina was known for his ability to build an entire fireplace every day. He built thousands of fireplaces around this area, mostly in residential communities.
A house on Cypress Way
Mannina married Janet Silacci at San Juan Baustista on June 19, 1960. They were married for almost 65 years.Together they built their family home in East Los Gatos. In 1980 the growing family moved in. They raised their family and hosted relatives on Cypress Way. They were parishioners at St. Mary’s Catholic Church and active members of the Italian Catholic Federation.
Sit a spell
To write this story, I met up with Mannina—along with his Monday get-together-group—at Peet’s Coffee. There he meets friends Gary Todd, Tom Grove and Danny Rosso. After a sip or two of coffee and some polite chatter, this idiom came to mind, “This man is the salt of the earth.”
It was indeed an honor to sit with Mannina as he recounted his childhood days in the now long gone orchards. His son sat in on our meetings and would occasionally help out with some dates. He also put together his father’s biography. He mentioned to me that he Facetimes with his Trabia family on Sundays. Many of these relatives stayed in Sicily their entire lives.
Parting thoughts
When this valley was full of orchards, Mannina was a very young man who knew how to work hard, eat well and enjoy life. He believes in living clean, too (Do not take drugs, and pick your spouse carefully.)
Today, saying someone is “worth their weight in salt” is a compliment. The Manninas have many “salt of the earth” traits. Especially in current times of influencers, selfies, getting “hits” online and the push to become the next tech millionaire—it was so refreshing to meet this family.
