Interviewee: Oscar De Haro

Interviewers: Jimena Reynaga-Castro, Camila Tolteca-Clavel

April 2, 2025

Jimena Reynaga-Castro: This is Jimena Reynaga-Castro, and I'm pleased to welcome Oscar De Haro, who I'm interviewing on behalf of the Saint Helena Historical Society Oral History

Program. We are conducting this interview at 04:01 o'clock on April 2nd 2025 at 1401 Grayson Avenue, Saint Helena, California.

Welcome, Oscar. Can you begin by telling us, where and when you were born?

Oscar De Haro: Yes. Thank you very much, first of all. I was born in Mexico. I was born, in a city- town, small town named Jerez, J E R E Z, in the state of Zacatecas.

And, I was born there, in 1954. I was brought to St. Helena by my father, who was a Bracero, at the time who was assigned to work with the Mondavi family, at the Charles Krug Winery. And so, but I was born there. I was born into a family of 11 siblings.

There were 11 of us. There was two sets of twins back to back.

I'm a twin, I'm a twin to a female, so I'm a fraternal twin. And, there were identical twins that were born three years prior to us. So I came from a large family. Now I think what makes it very interesting at least for me. in terms of having the opportunity to actually be here, because I probably would not be here if it were not for the fact that, at the age of one, I was adopted.

So he pretty much convinced his daughter, my biological mother, Emilia Saldivar, to give me to her brother, Feliciano.

I was baptized by my uncle and aunt, Feliciano De Haro and Juana De Haro. Now my uncle was actually my biological mother's brother. So there was a relationship there, there was association there. And I was adopted because, apparently, I was very friendly to them as a child prior to being baptized and afterwards. And, it came to the point where my grandfather knew that, or found out, or was aware that Feliciano and Juana couldn't have any children.

And, that's the beginning of my history. Had it not been for that adoption, chances are I may be here, but not in the capacity nor have served in the professional roles and leadership roles that I have been privileged to enjoy right now.

JRC: Okay. Thank you. And so you've shared a little bit about it, but can you tell us more on your cultural background and kind of family lineage?

ODH: Yes my family, well, lineage, there's in Los Haro, there are several families that are prominent. Now Los Haro is a village. We call it a rancho– that's what they're called there in Mexico. Approximately 4,500 people. And, the families there are the De Haro’s, the Saldivar’s, the Deloera’s, Hurtado’s, the Murillos, and De Haro’s is one of the largest clans there. And so that's where my roots are. The actual village of Los Haro was discovered, well actually, it was settled,founded and settled, in about 1727 by Spaniards. And, it was Spaniard by a gentleman by the name of Aro. Except they spelled it A R O, no H. And so after that, things developed and things developed. And over the years, it became, just this growth of these family members from Los Haro, that still live there. And, we still go back and visit.

JRC: Okay. And that's where the last name came from?

ODH: That's where the last name came from.

JRC: The village?

ODH: Mhmm. Yes.

JRC: Okay, perfect. And so coming into Saint Helena, can you tell us what your childhood was like?

ODH: Well, when I arrived in St. Helena, again, I was at the age of two. And the reason why I was brought here, at that time, is because the Mondavi family, the patriarch and the matriarch, Cesare Mondavi and la “mama”, I used to call her. They were the owners of Charles Krug. And so my father worked for them, as did my uncles.

And they enjoyed, they liked my father's work so much that they volunteered, they asked, they proposed to get my father legalized. So rather than coming as a Bracero to work seasonal, you know, three months at a time or less than a month at a time, they wanted for him to become a permanent resident. So what they did is that they wrote him and gave him letters of support that then allowed my father to become a legal resident.

And then at that point is when he sent over for my mother and me. And, he was here, but he sent us via bus all the way from Mexico, here, which in itself was, from what I gathered from my mother, was a real challenging feat because, you know, you're traveling with no knowledge of English, at least when you get into United States part, you're traveling not exactly knowing where you're going other than you're told get a ticket to go to this destination. And then, apparently, as a child, I was very sickly. So, like, I had, apparently, I had diarrhea most of the trip. So was something that my mother always shared with me, that the trip was very exciting, but it was very challenging for her as well.

JRC: Right. Okay. And then, so in Saint Helena, were you able to kind of conceptualize the significance of your background, knowing that your [grand] father was fighting in the forces of Pancho Villa, and that your guardians were Braceros?

ODH: Mhmm. Yeah. I think part of that is that, first of all, I never spoke English in the household. I was raised to speak Spanish because my father spoke some English because of his work. But my mother spoke no English. In fact, my mother, Juana De Haro, my adopted mother, well my mother, she was a stay at home mom. So which is great for me because I knew she was always there when I would get home, make my breakfast every morning. So that was great. But, as I grew up, I also learned that there were other relatives that had come from Mexico, from Los Haro that we began to associate with. So we became an extended family of sorts.

I mean, we already knew them because they were cousins or relatives. But with reference to the Revolution, that background, that I'm very proud of, is that it was my grandfather, the same grandfather that cut the deal, or that made the deal, for me to be adopted.

And so he fought in the state of Zacatecas. There's a very famous battle hill there called La Bufa, B U F A. Then, it was very important because during the time of revolution, there were the forces of Pancho Villa who he fought with on– they were called the northern forces, versus the government. And so to take over the City Of Zacatecas would be a great advantage to either side.

And so my grandfather fought on that battle hill called La Bufa. I have a photo of him, when I was probably fourteen years old, he and I, on the battle hill there, on the Bufa. He also, my grandfather, his name was, Jesus Maria De Haro, had an eardrum shot out during that time because of the cannons that he was firing off. But all those things sort of made me proud of who I was as a child. And then knowing- speaking Spanish made it even better, you know, for me.

JRC: Okay. And so in Saint Helena, can you tell us what school was like?

ODH: Well, I went to school all the way from–you start from kindergarten, all the way through high school.

I graduated from high school here in St. Helena, at St. Helena High School 1972, or fifty years ago. But for me, it was very neat because I didn't know any other thing to compare it with. What I do remember very vividly is that, I may have mentioned, that when we moved here, when my father brought us, he was able to rent a house at the very end.

It'd be the west end of Madrona Avenue. And Madrona is a very long street avenue. At the very end, circled by vineyards, by hillsides. Very nice. I mean, I loved it. But it was about close to three miles to walk to school every day. Because my father would leave early to work, he couldn't give me a ride and my mother didn't drive. So, I would show up at school I loved school.

Kindergarten was very fun for me because they gave you these snacks. They gave you your, you know, your little milk and your cookies. That was great. And then you would take a little blanket, you had your naps, those sort of things. So school, overall, for me, was something that I enjoyed. And as and as I progressed, you know, from kindergarten to first grade to second to third to fourth, I liked it more.

I had great teachers. Ms. Christiansen, I remember this day, she was my kindergarten teacher. Beautiful woman. Lovely person. And then along the way, I had others like Ms. Coltrin, Ms. Toews in second grade. Great experiences. And then from there, went to RLS, to the middle school. And when I was there they had some great teachers. Mrs. Phillips was a math teacher. Beautiful individual. Wonderful person.

Mr. Silvera was a principal at the time. Great person as well. And so, there, after that, I went to high school. And in high school, I think that's where I began to sort of, open up a bit more, in terms of, doing more things as leader of things, because a friend of mine, Rafael Tierrafria , and I started the first soccer club here for the high school back in 1971 or thereabouts. And so we actually played soccer against other teams, other towns, other cities. I was part of the group that organized the first Cinco de Mayo here at the school, which they continued years after that but I'm very proud of having- you know, been a part of that. And I also was in the student government. I was the athletic commissioner at one time. Another time, I was, I think it was the treasurer or something like that. Sometimes, you know, it's not a big deal, you know, but for me, it was gonna give me the opportunity to say that I was in student government. But, so my experiences here in school were very good.

Now, you know, there are those things that are very great, and very good. But I think it's also appropriate to mention those things that weren't as good and I hope that people, you know, who listen to this don't, I mean, don't get offended. But in middle school, when we went to the RLS, back then, there was what they call a tracking system where they tracked certain students to go to certain courses.

And, basically, what it boiled down to, students are tracked into who they thought might be college bound, who might be college material, who might be college ready, and those of us who were tracked because chances are we weren't gonna go that direction.

How they decided? I have no idea. I don't recall having taken any test in fifth grade or fourth grade to show the intelligence or the motivation to go to college, but that's the way that it was, unfortunately. So in middle school, we experienced that for the first two years. And the third year, one of my classmates, Karen Johnson, she was in the lower classes because they had it in each year, divided into four levels. For example, like sixth grade, it was six-one, six-two, which was those non college bound kids. Six-three, Six-four were the classes for the college bound kids, that were divided.

And so Karen Johnson was in my section seven-one or seven-two. And she finally stood up. We had a meeting. We had an assembly. She said, what are we doing to ourselves? We're dividing ourselves, for the negative of ourselves. Because what would happen is that if you were in the lower levels of six-one, six-two, you had your own clique. I mean, those were your friends. You rarely ever mixed with the other ones because they had their own, their identity, their own friends, their own classes, their own math. So that was something that, that sort of set me back a bit because I believe here at here at the high school, geometry is taken at what year?

JRC: Um that is…

ODH: Freshman or sophomore year?

JRC: We start on algebra.

Camila Tolteca: Sophomore year

ODH: Okay. So geometry, I took when I was a senior. And, usually, that's a course that's taken as a freshman or a sophomore. But because I was so behind in my mathematics from middle school because I wasn't supposed to be taking those sort of difficult, you know, classes, I had to take it here. Then I was sort of a bit behind. But I graduated, thank God, did well, and went to college.

JRC: Perfect. And so, additionally, in your youth, you had the opportunity to march along Cesar Chavez. And so can you tell us how that came to be and your experience in that?

ODH: Yes. That's probably one of my most prideful moments in the sense that, when I was involved, here at the high school, we had a teacher, Shelly Carter, And another teacher, an exceptional person, Mr. Walter Hampe. And, Shelly Carter was the history teacher.

And in her classroom, she had these photographs of all Mexican American Latino leaders at the time.

Senators and governors, among them was Cesar Chavez. And Cesar Chavez, I knew of him since I was younger because of the history that I heard about him, about his challenges, to [fight] the growers, to [challenge] the wealthy growers, to provide for the farm workers who are making them rich, and still are.

And so his cause was not just here [Napa Valley], but in Salinas, in the strawberry fields, in the Imperial Valley, in the lettuce fields, throughout wherever there were farm workers, his goal was to make sure that they're provided the benefits and the wages and the rights that were fair. So I marched with him at least on three occasions because he came to St. Helena at least on three occasions.

And at that time, I was also at the college, Napa College. And so I would help organize students to join us in the march. But Cesar’s job is to, see the pictures there1,with someone that I met in person on several occasions. To me, he's an idol. And to me, since his passing, since his death, we haven't had any other leader in the Mexican American or the Mexican community or the Latino community ever since Cesar Chavez.

JRC: Yeah. That's amazing. And so after this, you went to college. And can you tell us about that experience?

ODH: Yes. Actually, my first, well, my college experience started in Mexico.

And it started in Mexico, it's called La Universidad de Las Americas, the University of the Americas. It's located in the state of Puebla, in the city of Cholula, very famous city, very famous. And at that university, back then, is about 80% US Students from all the United States, and about 20% were students from Mexico. And so, we went there because a friend of mine, Rafael Tierrafria and I, saw on the bulletin boards this announcement for the school with a tear off card that said, if you're interested, tear this card off. Send it in. We'll send you the application, and we'll see if you can get, you know, get in.

Because Rafael and I were very Mexicanos. We were Mexicanos to the bone. You know? We weren’t Mexican American. We weren’t Chicano, eramos mexicanos [we were mexican]. And so we were like–let's go to Mexico. Right? I mean, that's where we're from. Right? He was from Guanajuato, and I was from Zacatecas. So we did it, and we got the response back with the application. So we filled it out, and we submitted it. And lo and behold, we were accepted, and with a scholarship.

So I was there for two years. Rafael was there for four years. He actually received his BA degree there from University of Americas. And I was there for two years. And it was like in college here, you take your requirements. The same requirements that universities require here in the United States were the same ones that we had to do there. So I did about, of the sixty plus units that I needed to transfer, I did about fifty-four. So I was short. I was short about six, eight units [for a BA degree]. And so at that time, after two years, I came back to Napa, back by Santa Elena- St. Helena, and I attended Napa Valley College. I attended for one quarter, back then there were quarter system. And I did the classes I needed to complete, and then from there, I transferred on to San Jose State University where I graduated in 1976 with a bachelor's degree in political science and public administration with a minor in Mexican American studies. And so, and that was the extent of my early years of college. When I was in Mexico, I liked that option because I'd be able to visit my family, the one that I had left when I was a child.

So it gave me a chance to visit them at least every month, to go back on a ten hour bus drive from Puebla to Zacatecas, to visit my mother, my biological parents, my brothers, my siblings, my tio [uncle], mis abuelos [my grandparents].

So for me, it was a great decision because it reunited me- it reconnected me with my family who I had who I had not lost, but I had not been close to. Although [as a child] we went back to Mexico every other year, it wasn't the same. So it was great for me. It redefined me as a De Haro and a Mexicano.

JRC: Right, And were there any pivotal moments that you can recall that directed you in the path of education and what you chose to do afterwards?

ODH: Well, see what's interesting, see, the thing is that's the irony of things is that although, again, back to the negative stuff of being tracked for non-college thoughts, and basically– to be quite frank with you, and I hope people don't get, you know, too offended, the idea was for those of us, most Mexicanos that were in the lower class levels, non-college bound classes, the idea I think was to replace our parents in the fields or in the wineries because eventually, they would age out.

So the industry here needed the replacements. Who else, but the sons and daughters of other Mexicanos? That's my rationale. Maybe true or not, but that's what I believe very strongly. But, pivotal for me was, I guess, just the opportunity to have had the opportunity to attend college and being able to experience classes like Mexican American studies, like history of Mexico, learning about the history that you don't learn here in classes.

And so for me, that was very pivotal, especially at San Jose State because it was a very progressive college university. In fact, Cesar Chavez was there on two occasions. But, that was probably what I really enjoyed the most is just the opportunity to have tasted college. Because a lot of my friends that were with me back in grade school, middle school, and high school. They went to the service. They went to work, you know, at restaurants. Nothing wrong with that. But I can honestly say, of the high school seniors in my class, of the approximately twenty-eight to thirty Latinos, Only three of us went to college.

So what did the rest of them do? They went to their service. They worked in other jobs. Right? So for me, just the fact that I made my mind up that I wanted to go to college. I wanted to be a dentist. That was my first goal I ever had. But what happened is that I took a chemistry class here at the high school and I didn't do very well. Right? I think in part because I wasn't prepared since middle school to take that sort of class. Right? Because I'm not supposed to take it. So I didn't do very well. So I said, well, no more chemistry. No more dentistry for me. So when I was in Mexico, though, I wanted to become a teacher. So there were classes, I mean that emphasized teaching, you know, sort of thing that is part of the option class that you can take. So I took a few of those. But then later, I said, well, I don't know. Maybe not. When I transferred to San Jose State, I wanted to be the first person to teach monkeys how to talk Spanish- or to speak Spanish. Because back then, they were already training them how to, sign language and how to, vocalize certain words, you know, the chimpanzees, or the [changos] as they call them. And so I said, heck. I want to be the first one to teach a monkey how to speak Spanish.

So I studied psychology. Of course, obviously, I didn't get that to that point. I didn't finish that route. So when I ended up in public administration, which means to work in a public environment, in public institutions, that's what really that's what really got me focused. And thanks to my adviser, Hector Saldaña at San Jose State, he's the one that set me on the right path. So that was a deep level moment. Because from there, I did administrative work for over thirty-seven years in colleges.

JRC: And so your personal life is very important throughout this. So can you tell us how you met your wife?

ODH: My wife. Well, I mean, my wife is, well, first of all, I've been married twice. So okay. So my first wife was Kathy Zepeda, and she's from Napa. And so back then, there was sort of clubs from St Helena that would meet with student clubs there at Napa High School. There was this club called MAYO, the Mexican American Youth Organization. It was like a Mexican American group. You know, students identify themselves or search for their identity as Mexicanos or Mexican American. And so we would have events, gatherings, dances, and so that's where I met her. And so we dated. We got married.

And then, actually, I had- we had our first child while I was at San Jose State. Well I take it back three months after I graduated. But she was, she was pregnant while I was at San Jose State my last year. And my professors, they would allow her to be in class. She would be knitting or something like that. But they would allow her to be in class there with me. They were great people. So that was my first wife. And with her, I had two children, Flor de Consuelo, who is now forty-eight, and Catalina, who is now forty-six.

Flor de Consuelo lives in Santa Rosa, married, with three children. She works for the county. Catalina received her nursing degree from Napa College and works as a nurse. And so then, during that time, I moved on to a job in Ukiah, which is north of us here, about an hour and half north of us. Mendocino College is a community college. And during that time, we got divorced. We were separated. So I was single for a couple years, three years.

So, and then, I met my wife currently, Zita. Zita De Haro. She was from Los Haro. I knew of her because the families were, again, they're all related [or knew each other]. My uncles who worked with my dad at Charles Krug and lived next door to us, they all knew each other. But I never knew of her [during my stay in Puebla] because she was younger than I was, six years younger than I was. But anyway, [as I became older and subsequently divorced, and I saw her a couple of times in Los Haro and liked her]one thing led to another.

You know, I started writing letters, because I remembered I knew her, letter to her, that kind of stuff. Her mom had died when she was three. So she was orphaned and father remarried. So she was raised by her grandmother. And so we started writing letters, this and that, or I did. And eventually, we ended up getting married. So we've been married for twenty-six years now. We have another daughter, Ana Carolina De Haro. She went to school here. She graduated from here. She graduated from Napa Valley College. She graduated from Sacramento State University. And so that's when I met both my wives.

JRC: Yeah. And where did you live with your young family?

ODH: My young family, we lived in Ukiah for, see, I was up there for sixteen years working, but when I got remarried, so we lived up there probably for a good ten years as a family. Because I got remarried when I was up there as well. And so we live there in Ukiah, but I would come down to St Helena every weekend, sometimes during the week, because my mother– Juan De Haro, again, no English, no driving, and she was a bit, not ill, but she was getting of age. And so I had to come down, and take her to the store, for doctor's appointments, you know, things of that nature.

And so, it's an hour and a half drive, a beautiful drive. So, I would come down every weekend to care for her.

And so with the [second] family, we lived in Ukiah. I lived in Ukiah for about ten years. And then when I got the job at Napa College as vice president, then we came back home. I never lost touch with Santa Elena [Saint Helena] because this is where I was raised. Family's here. Tios [Uncles], friends are here. So I never lost touch. Now I didn't read the paper as much or those sort of things, but I just never lost touch with this beautiful town because it is very beautiful. I'm very fortunate to have been brought here. Very fortunate.

JRC: Okay. And you talked a little bit about this, but what was your first professional position that you attained?

ODH: My first professional role, as I graduated from San Jose State in December of seventy-six, what I did is I did two summer sessions at San Jose State because I wanted to get it done with. And everything for me has fallen in line. For me, it's been a timely thing. Things have fallen for me timely. And I say this because had I not taken those two summer sessions to have done those requirements that I needed, I would have not graduated in December of 76’, and I would not have been available to apply for a position at Napa Valley College in March of 1977, 3 months after I graduated.

It was a job opening that was brought to my attention. And it was a full time director of a program called EOPS, which is at all hundred and seven or how many there are right now, Community College in California. EOPS stands for, Extended Opportunity Programs and Services created in 1969 to provide opportunities for all students of low income levels. Those students who weren't, you know, supposed to go to college, we’d help them with tutoring, with money, all sorts of things.

The idea was to create a successful pattern for them to graduate from college.

And so that was the first role that I landed. I was very fortunate. I had worked a year or so at San Jose State in the EOP office there and so I learned some of the skills, you know, that I saw, you know, how you manage programs, how you do certain things. And so I guess that was enough for me to convince the interview committee, fresh out of college, some experience, but with a lot of strong work ethic. That's what I've always had. And so that was good enough, you know, to convince them. I was hired. My daughter, Flor de Consuelo, was born, about a month after I started to work there. And so, I was there for five years, first– as a director, as an administrator. I had about 12 people that I supervised, big projects, you know, handling thousands of dollar budgets, those sort of things that I learned along the way how to work those things. And then I decided, well, maybe I want to try something else. Maybe I want to try law school.

So, about five years after I was at Napa Valley College, 

I get this bug of wanting to apply to law school, and I did, and I got accepted. The law school is McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento. It's a private school. I had a friend there, Antonio Perez, who was in the higher level classes at, like, at middle school. One of the only two Latinos that were in those classes. And so, he encouraged me. He also talked to some people there, so I got accepted. I was there for about a year and a half. And then, my father, my biological father, Feliciano, who was a Bracero, he developed something that's called Lou Gehrig's disease. It's, ALS, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. It's where your muscles get very debilitated to the point where you can't even lift your arms up.

And so his was a fast one, just (indiscernible) lasting almost a year. So, we ended up taking him to Mexico, for some other treatments because here they said there is no treatment and there isn't. And in fact, I remember when I took him to a doctor in San Francisco. The doctor said, “Mr. De Haro,” he says, “you have one year to live, so enjoy it.” So that's what we did. We had to do what we had to do. But, you know, we want to try other things. Maybe there's some other, you know, other doctors, other opinions. But, no, I mean, he passed. And so when he passed, then I took a leave of absence from law school. So I didn't finish it. And then because I was an only child, again, I was adopted. So the rest of my siblings, they were back in Mexico for the most part, and I was the only one here with my family.

And so I had my mother, I had my [first] wife, and I had a child. By the end, it was two children that I had to take care of. So I left law school with the understanding that if I wanted to go back, the doors were open for me. So after that, my dad, he was buried in Mexico. And so then I came back. People knew that I'd come back, what happened to me, and they invited me to apply for jobs at the college. But it wasn't administration. It wasn't a manager. It was like a technician, like a specialist, you know. And so I said, hey. I need money to feed my family. So, yeah, I'll take it. So did about three years of that.

Then I got invited to work for farm workers here at St. Helena. The farm workers had an office here, under California Human Development Corporation. And I managed the office, here that was outside of town where we provided farm workers job opportunities, job training. We would offer them cold weather blankets, heaters, with a food bank. So I was in charge of that for about a year and a half. And then I got the bug to get back into administration. I wanted to go back and be a director.

I wanted to be an administrator. And that's when I got the job at Mendocino College as director [of student services].

And then I was there for sixteen years, and ended up being the dean of students there. And then, when the same person that hired me in 1977 at Napa College, he was the vice president at Napa College, and he called me and said, “Oscar. I'm gonna retire in a year or two. If you're interested in my position or the vice president, get your work ready, you know, get your experience set up more, you know, blah blah blah, but apply for it and let's see what happens.” So I did, and I got the job there, as vice president of student services.

JRC: Can you tell us what this title of vice president meant to you?

ODH: Yeah. To me, it was like my god almighty. It was wow. You know? I mean, vice president. I think what it meant more than anything else, and it's not so much the title for me, it was the ability to work well with others. See, if you can't work well with others, you can be a president, and people will not hold you in high regard. You have to know how to work with people. Treat them the way you want to be treated. And that's the, I don't know, maybe it's a gift that I've had over the years.

And so I was really fortunate that for me it was more the opportunity to give back and work with people. So there as a vice president, I had over 115 people under me and about, back then, about 16 programs– financial aid, the admissions of records, the counseling department, the DSPS department. All those services here for students to succeed were all under student services, me.

And so I was able to develop some new things, create some new things. And so for me, the vice president title– I'm very proud of it. Because then, about six years after, they revised the title to assistant superintendent, which was something that I too was very proud of. That's the last title that I held. But when I left two and a half years ago, you know, people were saying, you know, “we're gonna miss you. It's not gonna be the same.” And I think that they're sincere because, again, I treated my staff with all respect, and that's the way it works. And they treated me the same way.

JRC: Yeah. Are there any connections that you made throughout your career, either with colleagues or students, that have been significantly impactful?

ODH: Yeah. I think the connection that I've had, well, one was that one individual that hired me when I became director there [at Napa Valley College], and then that assisted me with getting the vice president role. There's been other people that have been very key in my life. And one was a professor from Sonoma State, because I have a master's from Sonoma State, Dr. Vasquez, Francisco Vasquez. He was my advisor, but he was also my professor for my master's degree there.

And he was the one, it's kinda funny because when I was at Mendocino College I had these events that I organized for Latino youth. They were student youth conferences. We’d get speakers from all professions to speak to Latino students and those sorts of things. And he asked me, “Oscar,” because I invited him to be speaker. He said, “Oscar, have you done your master's?”

I said, “well, I started over here, but didn't quite finish. I went to-”

“No, you have to finish it. You have to do it because otherwise, you're not gonna be more than just a dean.”

So, “oh, okay Doctor.”

He said, “no. You have to do it, and you're gonna do it starting next semester because I'm starting a brand new program.”

And so I said, “okay”. So I entered this program, he had started a brand new [graduate] program.

So I'm one of the first students of this program that still exists there in Sonoma State. And so I did it. For weekends, I think classes during the week. From Ukiah was only about an hour away, so not too bad. So he, Dr. Vasquez, was very important to me because if it hadn't been for him, I probably wouldn't have done my masters as quickly, pero [but] he's the one that really encouraged me. So, yeah.

JRC: And which of your extensive accomplishments are you most proud of?

ODH: Well, let me see. I've always, I don't know, for some reason, I always wanted to do things that had not been done before. So for example, when I was at Napa Valley College, in the early years, in the late seventies or early eighties when I was there, it was called the Hispanic Student Retreat. And what it was, back then it was two days worth, but we invited all the Latino students from all schools in Napa County, and their parents.

And we would spend a day and a half having workshops and presentations by Latino professionals– doctors, nurses, engineers, auto mechanics, all the professionals you could think of. And then we would always invite several well-known speakers, authors, I mean, world-known authors, world-known judges, to be the key presenters. And so that activity at Napa College lasted for about thirty three years.

Thats when I left [to Mendocino College] The colleagues there, one in particular named Hector Brambila, who were also in the school here [St. Helena High School], he continued it. And then when I went to Mendocino College, that had not been done. So I said, we need stuff like that here. Because up there up there in Northern California, it's different, there's more poverty. It's more difficult for students, for people in general.

So I started the Hispanic Student Retreat up there. We invited schools from Mendocino, from Lake Counties. We'd have up to about 500, 600, students and the same thing, encouraging students to pursue their dreams, because yeah, we have to. So I have that.

See what else. Well, there have been other things that I have done. For example, the most recent thing that I've done that's never been done, in fact, I’ve brought some flyers2. Four years ago, back in 2019, about three years before I retired, I had this dream of organizing a mariachi festival, because I like mariachi.

I don't play instruments, have never played instruments, have tried, but my thumbs are too thick to play anything. And so we started with inviting three mariachis from different levels of public education. The very first one that I organized at the college, we had a group from Cal Berkeley. We had a group from Wenatchee, Washington. Washington State up north, high school group.

And we had a group, a mariachi group from Southwestern College, which is a community college near San Diego. And we had a gymnasium. Se lleno [it filled up], full, more than a thousand people attended. Successful. And so now we've done it every year. And I've always have wanted to make sure that Santa Elena [Saint Helena] got some of that activity because the college for many years didn't give this area too much attention. I did because I was from here. So I made sure that Napa College did things here as well in Saint Helena. So we've had this Mariachi Festival for the last three years here. The last two have been here at the High School Auditorium. And the one that's coming up, it's April 11, I brought a couple of flyers, is gonna be at Lyman Park, the park here. So we're bringing three Mariachi groups.

One is a high school group from Tucson, Mariachi Aztlan, 22 students. Beautiful. Beautiful playing. The other one is an all-female mariachi. I always want to do something different. So this year, I said, I gotta find something different. I would need to find a mariachi that's composed of pura Mujeres [just women]. So from East LA, from Garfield High School. So they're coming, Las Mariposas.

And then I contacted Cal Berkeley again because the students, I mean, graduate, so they're gonna be here. But I’ve brought groups from Washington State, from Las Vegas. We've had two groups from Las Vegas. My god almighty. They came back. One group came back twice for middle school [mariachi level]. They were so good. So I like to do things that have never been done before. So those are things, the soccer team here that I created, first time. The Cinco de Mayo was created, it was the first time. So that's always been a part of me. Do something that no one has done, but something that's needed. So yeah.

JRC:. That's amazing. And so what do you think made you from such an early age determined and hardworking to create these changes in the community?

ODH: Work ethic. Work ethic. Work ethic. I remember as a kid, I always worked.

And my Saturdays, because we lived up in the hills and we're surrounded by vines, as I mentioned, but we had a little, like, trees around our house and stuff, so on Saturdays, before I could watch cartoons, I had to rake leaves, and there were fig trees. And those fig trees drop a lot of leaves. I mean, I had big montones (mounts) about this big, but that's what I always did every morning. On Saturdays, I do that. And then also, when I received my work permit, I think you can get it at 14 1/2. I started to pick grapes here. Well, also, I don't know if you know, but there were a lot of prunes here in this area. So big prunes. There were walnuts off of Zinfandel Lane, it's big walnuts. And I was with a familia named La Luna familia [family]. Same family that owned that store, La Luna Store. And they used to pick apples in Sebastopol, which is west of us here. So my parents would send me with them because they were relatives. So I picked apples there as well. But my most memorable one was when I was 14 years old, when I just got my permit brand new, and my parents sent me to relatives that were picking strawberries in Salinas. I don't know if you know where that's at, but that's south of us here, past San Jose. Lots of fresas [strawberries]. All strawberries for the most part. So I lived at a trailer camp trailer park with my relatives there, and would get up at like, 03:30 in the morning to catch the ride that takes you to the fields at about four in the morning. Because we had to pick early and because you can't pick up after twelve because the sun gets too hot and the berries get too soft.

So I've been working since as I remember. And then I used to prune vineyards. I did this and then picked grapes.

This is what, in the front cover, of the Sunset Magazine, California Wine has me3. Me and my uncle are picking grapes here, here at Charles Krug Winery. So work ethic has always been very strong in me. I worked for Taylor as well– now it's Gott's, but Taylors. It was called Taylors [Refresher]. I worked there my sophomore, junior, and senior years in high school. And I started working. All I did at first was just dump the trash and wash like, the asphalt. That's what I did. Nothing else. You know, a couple days a week. About three, four days a week. And then they like my work, I guess. So they were asking, “you want to try something different?”

“Yeah. Heck yeah.”

“So how about, you want to peel potatoes? You want to make potatoes?”

“Oh, heck yeah.”

So they would send you back to a room. At the back of the house of the family. They have a big machine. You put potatoes in there, and it spins around on this rock sort of inside. And it peeled potatoes, and then I would cut them. So I did that for a while. And then they said, “Oscar, how about you? You want to go inside the restaurant, because this also is outside, and you want to try making drinks, shakes?”

“Oh, heck yeah.”

So I learned how to make shakes and the drinks. And finally, they said, “Oscar, you want to learn how to run the grill, how to cook?”

I said, “heck yeah. Heck. Yeah.”

And so ended up where, I think it was my last year there, I was made the manager of the night shift. So I was in charge of the night shift. I didn't hire the people. The Toogoods, the family that ran it, hired the people. But I was in charge of managing them and managing all the things that had to be bought and all the things that had to be made. I had to deal with all the complaints. But that was great because I went

from, you know, I mean, emptying trash to the manager. And I think, again, it's because of my work ethic. I've always been responsible. Always, doing work. You know?

JRC: Amazing. And having worked in education for over four decades now, how do you see the model of opportunity changing?

ODH: Well, I would say, it's always been a very good model. I think the opportunities have always been there. I think what I saw a lot of is that students didn't take advantage of the opportunities because especially now, for example, like community colleges, all of them, a hundred, what it is I forgot what they are now, a hundred and six or 10 or whatever [116]. You get two years for free. That way, you don't pay tuition. You save about 600 plus dollars there, plus the fees, and health fees as well. So you're, you're saving about plus a thousand dollars per term, per semester free. You go buy your books perhaps, but that's the extent of it. And then you apply for financial aid. Financial aid has been very good, very good. Even if you're not low income, there's financial aid even for those who are high income.

But what happens is that sometimes us, and I'm thinking of us as Latinos (speaking directly to interviewers), we as Mexicans, I think sometimes we don't ask questions. Right? We don't ask. We don't inquire. We don't look, look up because there's a lot of opportunities.

And the most important thing is to find someone at your high school that will, that will help you get that next step.

And when you're at that next step, whether it be Napa College, whether it be San Jose State, Berkeley, Stanford, wherever you go, connect with someone there. Either one of the programs or a professor because they'll come in handy with your recommendation.

But if you don't take that extra step, sometimes tenemos mucha verguenza [we are too shameful]. You know, we're shameful. We're, you know, “well I don't know how to do it.” No. You have to know how to do it. You. you gotta do it. Because if you don't do it, you lose on a lot of opportunities. But the opportunities are there.

They are still there regardless of what's going on with our current administration and president, but they have been there. In fact, they have been there in enormous amounts, in different directions. If you want to major in sciences, there's a Mesa program. You want to major in this, there's this, there's a Puente program. There's just a number of opportunities, but you gotta make that first step. You know, take that first step.

JRC: And so working in the education system and just creating all this change around you, what does your life's work mean to you?

ODH: Well, my life's work, I think, it means that more than else, I've left a legacy where I've been.

When I worked up at Mendocino College in Ukiah, I left a legacy there. Folks were very kind to me. They were very thoughtful in their thoughts about me leaving. Same thing here [Napa Valley College]. But I think, when you have, staff tell you how much they appreciate you for how you treat them, and then you have students, who thank you for what you did for them. That's it. I mean, that's what it's all about. So, but, yeah, for me, it's been a great deal. It's made my life's journey fun.

JRC: That's amazing. And what is the message that you would like to share and leave for the future generations?

ODH: Work. You have to have a work ethic. Don't expect things to be given to you. Ask questions. Ask the whys. Ask the why-nots. And I think, be true to yourself, to who you are. And when you get to that point of being a vice president, and actually, I was invited on several occasions to apply for presidencies. But I did on one occasion. I applied for one job as a president.

But then, frankly, I could have been a president, but I wanted to be more where I could have more influence on staff, more influence on students, more influence of having money that I could have to do things for students and for staff. As a president, you don't have that. You're more at the very top, and, you know, we don't have any money to work with. You're limited. It pays better, but I wanted the flexibility to be able to continue doing things to make the college grow, which is what I did. So, I think that's, you know, that's the key.

JRC:Yeah.

ODH: That's the key.

JRC: And how do you think that working in the education system and seeing all of this has changed you?

ODH: Well, it's changed me again because, for the most part, I wasn't supposed to get to where I was, where I've been. Right? Because I wasn't supposed to go to college. But I think it changed me in that, again, I've tried to share what I've learned, I should say, lead by example. Yeah. I've had that notion that lead by example.

Work ethic, doing things that are creative, respecting others, playing well with others, arguing or fighting to benefit others, when there's injustice. So I think all those things are sort of, the entire, I guess, the entire world or circle of my experience and what I see and what I've done, and what

I've contributed. You know, because aside from that, I've also been interacting with the community. I've been on several boards of directors. I was a board of directors here for the UpValley Family Centers here in Saint Helena. I've been board director of the Rotary Club in Ukiah. I've been on the board directors of, it's called the Napa [County] Hispanic Network.

I was a secretary for about twelve years, and we fundraised to give scholarships to students, a thousand dollars each student. And so, I've been on board directors of legal aid back in the seventies and eighties, at Napa. Legal Aid is the agency that provides legal advice to those who couldn't afford it. So I've been, I've been on several boards like that. The other two that I'm proud of is that there's this activity. It's called Leadership Napa Valley.

And Leadership Napa Valley started back in 1988, the first one, and I was a member of that first class. And that too brings me great pride because, again, I did something first. I was part of about 17 of us. So, being a leader is something that has really been in my heart. That's why I marched with Chavez. That's why I do the mariachi events. That's why I've done things, again, for the youth. And, I think that has been my biggest joy, to be able to do those things and wanting to do them. You know?

JRC: Yeah.

ODH: Yeah. And I played soccer in Mexico. When I went to Mexico, I was the captain of the soccer team and the goalie. And also was a leader of that team.

But where have I been? I've always been a leader, or at least I've been asked to be a leader. I don't talk too much. For example, here, if I talk more, then I’ve talked a long time. I'm more of an observer, and I observe, and then I volunteer to do things.

And then that way, I know what path I can do, how much I can do, not overdo it because you don't want to say, oh, I'll do this, and then you fall short because it's a reflection of you as an individual. And, I've never been that way. Whenever I make a commitment it is because I know I can do it, and I know I will do it because it's important for me, my image, my reputation, my integrity. For me, my integrity is utmost, utmost, and that's what everybody has known me as. And I have my relatives here, hundreds of relatives, youth, tambien mi sobrinos, sobrinas, primos [my nephews, nieces, cousins], everybody.

So whenever they need some advice, should they call me or they ask me for advice, which makes me feel good. So also if any of you (speaking directly to interviewers) ever need any advice or any help about college or what Napa Valley College in particular, I'm gonna give my card so I can connect you with people that you want to talk to. And so yeah, that's been who I am.

JRC: Yeah

ODH: But work ethic, number one.

JRC: That's amazing. Thank you.

ODH: Number one.

JRC: So to conclude now, now that you're retired, what is something that you look forward to?

ODH: Well, I said, I've been asked to do a lot of things. I've been asked to be on this committee, be on that committee. I've been asked to run for mayor of Saint Helena on several occasions. I've been asked to run for city council of Saint Helena on several occasions. But, those politics like that, for me, I know they'd be great. I know I would be the representation of Latinos here. Pero [but], when it's just one of you, and six others. You know, sometimes your ideas don't mesh with the other ideas. And I guess I'm to the point at my age, I don't want to overly argue about my ideas. So I have declined. I said, “thank you very much. I appreciate it. I thank you.”

But, what I have done is thatI was named by Governor Newsom to the board of directors for the fair. For the fair in Napa, you know, they have Bottle Rock and, now they have La Onda. So I've been on that board for two years now, and I like it. It's meetings once a month. You deal with this, deal with that. And so it's not very extensive, because you can get into committees or into boards that you're running everything. You're doing all the work. No. You know, I've done all that work before. Not that I'm afraid of it, by all means. I'm not afraid of the work. It just that, no. I think it's time to retire. Yeah, my daughter that I see on regular basis.

My middle daughter, the nurse, has a son. He's two and a half years old now. His name’s Anthony, that I named Cachito. We babysit him, me and my wife. My wife and I babysit him, three days a week, in fact he was there today. So he keeps me busy. In the last, what, two and a half years I've retired, I've been to Zacatecas at least five, six times, to visit, to go see my brothers who are still back there and my sisters. Very few tias [aunts] left.

No more grandparents left, but we have a house back there. And so we go back to Los Haro. I've been back and to Jerez, which is the town that's next to Los Haro. And so, basically, I’ve been doing that. Back to Mariachi, every group they invite, I always go see them in person. So I was in Tucson about three months ago. When I went to Las Vegas to visit the group of Las Vegas, I was there in LA to visit Las Mariposa's, less than a month ago. I was at Cal Berkeley, two weeks ago, because I like to make that personal connection. I emailed them. We talked, pero no es igual [but it is not the same], you gotta make that connection with people, to make them

feel more comfortable and vice versa. So I travel doing those things, but just short travel. But other than that, trying to keep healthy, you know, and enjoy life and just, share what I have in terms of knowledge with others that may think that's useful to them. But, yeah, that's about it.

JRC: So I think that concludes the interview.

ODH: Okay, great. Thank you.

JRC: Thank you.