Happy papa’s day!

I’ve posted this photo of my dad on Father’s day before, but only because its my favorite photo of him.

My memories of papa are of him being frail, old, and sickly. And lots of coughing. I also remember him smelling like a mix of Efficascent Oil, Vicks Vaporub, and green onions. Green onions that were “grilled” directly on top of electric stove coils by mama, who then rubbed this concoction on his throat. Thanks in part to a Hilot/Albularyo (Filipino healer/witch doctor) down the street.

The photo above is of someone else though. Its Albert Balbutin, a 19 year-old from the Philippine islands now in America, “fresh off the boat” and now in a new Mclntosh suit. I wonder if he was just as excited of his future back then, as I am about his past today.

As to what that past was remains unclear to me. He died when I was seven while his only brother in America, Delphin “Dick” Balbutin, died more than a decade later. His brother had a child in the US as well, but after he too past away, his grandchildren were just as disconnected as I was to their histories.

Luckily, despite the fact that Facebook wasn’t invented back then, I was able to keep some of his old photos after mama and I moved to Stockton in 2004.

According to this photo, papa was either a cowboy who used giant toothpicks or an asparagus farmer. Turns out those long sticks are indeed asparagus knives, used to harvest asparagus one spear at a time. Papa is third from the right wearing a sombrero he didn’t get from the nearby Chili’s restaurant :).

Here papa is standing on the far left with a group of guys roasting lechon (spit-roasted suckling pig). Apparently Filipino-Americans roasted lechon like this in style, wearing aviator jackets, sportcoats, and ties. Makes me wanna fry lechon kawali in a tux. His brother, my Uncle Dick, is in front pointing at the lechon.

I also found this postcard in the album. It reads “just a souvenir to broth & sis and the kid”, referring to said uncle and his family in Concord, California. It is postmarked May 23, 1936. I do recall my uncle mentioning that papa worked on an oil ship that traveled from Alaska to Mexico, but that’s all I know about that for now.

Here’s a photo of my papa on the left and Uncle Dick standing on the right. I don’t know who the man is in the middle, but evidently he won the seat for the photo lol. Written on the back of this photo are their names “Albert, Ernie, Dick”. Apparently Ernie was the chair winner/Godfather/man who called the shots.

This is a photo of the three of us together. Uncle Dick is on the left, myself in the middle, and papa on the right. Gaining from my pig cheeks and stubby fingers, I was probably around 3 or 4 then, around 1985-86.

I was able to do some research last year and found the exact date my father arrived in the United States. After a few emails with an employee at the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) I got an email back about a passenger manifest that showed he arrived at the Port of San Francisco, CA on May 1, 1929 aboard the SS President Lincoln.

It turns out it was required to state your town of birth as passengers on these ships, so NARA sent me two names of passengers from the same boat who happened to be born on the same island as my father. Chances are, they all knew each other im sure.:

• Luis CONSEPCION, age 17 (born October 22, 1911)
• Clemente DIOLANTE, age 18 (born November 23, 1910)

Due to their popular hispanicized surnames in the US, its been difficult to find info online, let alone info on their descendants on Facebook (stalker alert!). So i’ll have to hit up the National Archives in person, hit up the ManilaTown Heritage Foundation, and then take a closer look at the Singgalot Filipino-American History exhibit.

Ongoing research of papa’s life, thanks to resources like these, will be that much easier. In the meantime, I hope to partake in full on my own Filipino-American history. If im ever blessed with kids and for some reason they get curious about things I did in my past, I can shoot them a link to Filipeanut.com lol.

Happy father’s day papa! I am who I am, and where I am, because of you. (And mama of course).

For more photos hit up my flickr set here.

Purchase a 2011 calendar of photos just like this. “Remember & Reclaim: A Stockton California Filipino American History Calendar.” Now only $5!