Your discussion of the mixed marriage of Virgil Westdale's parents reminds me of my family history. My maternal grandfather was a Mexican American, born in Arizona: his parents were Hispanos whose ancestors had lived in New Mexico for generations. His wife, my maternal grandmother, was born in Oklahoma and of predominantly Scots-Irish descent. They married in the early 1930s in Arizona. My mother told me once that my grandparents met because my grandmother's brother was a co-worker of my grandfather. I wonder just how common Anglo-Latino marriages were in the 1930s Southwest. Although Latino phenotypes differ vastly, my grandfather had a mestizo appearance and my grandmother had light brown hair and blue eyes. Also, I wonder exactly how my grandparents managed the religious difference, although my mother was raised Methodist and not Catholic. My grandparents stayed together till my grandfather died in 1971, although the death of their only son in 1948 was a blow to them.
My mother has mentioned that she did not face discrimination as a girl (I suspect at least partly because she has a pale complexion, with a tendency to freckle), although she changed her name when she came to Southern California in her early twenties. Also, I wonder whether she chose to marry my father not only because he had a slight resemblance to her favorite actor, Jeff Chandler (my father and Jeff Chandler both had prematurely grey curly hair), but also because he had a resonant French (well, Prince Edward Island Acadian) surname.
After I finish my current WIP (an alternate history novel set in the world of British politics from 1912 to 1948: the point of divergence from our historical timeline is in May 1915 and the repercussions from the point of divergence include an early end to the Great War and no World War II), I would like to write a novel inspired by my mother's youth, growing up with four sisters, a Latino father, and an Anglo mother, in a small town in 1950s northern Arizona while dealing with the aftermath of her brother's death. I have a provisional title for the novel: *The Vargas Girls*. (No, my characters are not depicted in scanty negligees: it is a play on words. My mother's actual maiden name was Garcia.)
Anyway, please excuse my lengthy digression! I enjoyed your post very much and I intend to read *Blue Skies and Thunder* soon. Thank you very much!
Hi Katheryn, thanks for sharing your grandparents' story!!! No worries about length at all. It's wonderful when we get to learn about history through personal experiences. Your grandparents, like Virgil's parents, are great reminders that although academic and journalistic narratives are great resources to help us get a comprehensive overview of history so we can process the past, they're not enough for us to really understand the human side of how people lived. So much of "how things were" (and even "how things are" now) become blurred once people interact with each other in real life. Also, while I'm not an authority on history by any means, from what I've read as someone with more than a passing interest in history, we don't give people in the past their due credit for already knowing, seeing, and thinking things we know to be right today. I'm quite fascinated by American history during the colonial and revolutionary period, and I feel like today we forget that abolitionists existed even back then, and were very vocal.
Speaking of your grandparents, I don't know if you had read my Rose of Anzio series. In the first book, there's a subplot of an interracial romance between the character Jack, who is of Irish descent, and Carmina, who is Mexican-American. I remember mulling over with my editor whether such an interracial romance in 1940 would be considered believable!! We decided to run with it, but I was knocking on wood and praying it would go over ok with readers because it was my debut novel and I wasn't as confident a writer back then. Your grandparents were living examples that love knows no barrier. I'm glad that they found each other, and had a great life together.
Your mother's experience sounds like Virgil's too. He said that from appearance, people could not tell he was half Japanese. The only reason he was assigned to the 442nd Regiment was because the Army and the government were looking at his paper records. And when he was transferred and given the same segregated army experience as the Nisei, his co-workers and colleagues were all surprised, as were the Nisei soldiers who were perplexed why a "white" guy who was a a head taller than them was joining their troops. After the war, he didn't experience the same level of discrimination again, although he became much more aware of what his fellow Nisei faced. And he changed his last name to Westdale, which if I recall correctly, he explained in his memoir was a sort of translation of his father's Japanese surname.
On another note, good luck with writing your book. It sounds like a great story and I'd want to get a copy when it comes out. Alternate history is always fun to imagine and it'd be interesting to see your take on what might have been. Keep me posted how it goes!! Same if you decide to write your next story "The Vargas Girls" too!
Wow, what a story! Thanks for sharing!
Your discussion of the mixed marriage of Virgil Westdale's parents reminds me of my family history. My maternal grandfather was a Mexican American, born in Arizona: his parents were Hispanos whose ancestors had lived in New Mexico for generations. His wife, my maternal grandmother, was born in Oklahoma and of predominantly Scots-Irish descent. They married in the early 1930s in Arizona. My mother told me once that my grandparents met because my grandmother's brother was a co-worker of my grandfather. I wonder just how common Anglo-Latino marriages were in the 1930s Southwest. Although Latino phenotypes differ vastly, my grandfather had a mestizo appearance and my grandmother had light brown hair and blue eyes. Also, I wonder exactly how my grandparents managed the religious difference, although my mother was raised Methodist and not Catholic. My grandparents stayed together till my grandfather died in 1971, although the death of their only son in 1948 was a blow to them.
My mother has mentioned that she did not face discrimination as a girl (I suspect at least partly because she has a pale complexion, with a tendency to freckle), although she changed her name when she came to Southern California in her early twenties. Also, I wonder whether she chose to marry my father not only because he had a slight resemblance to her favorite actor, Jeff Chandler (my father and Jeff Chandler both had prematurely grey curly hair), but also because he had a resonant French (well, Prince Edward Island Acadian) surname.
After I finish my current WIP (an alternate history novel set in the world of British politics from 1912 to 1948: the point of divergence from our historical timeline is in May 1915 and the repercussions from the point of divergence include an early end to the Great War and no World War II), I would like to write a novel inspired by my mother's youth, growing up with four sisters, a Latino father, and an Anglo mother, in a small town in 1950s northern Arizona while dealing with the aftermath of her brother's death. I have a provisional title for the novel: *The Vargas Girls*. (No, my characters are not depicted in scanty negligees: it is a play on words. My mother's actual maiden name was Garcia.)
Anyway, please excuse my lengthy digression! I enjoyed your post very much and I intend to read *Blue Skies and Thunder* soon. Thank you very much!
Hi Katheryn, thanks for sharing your grandparents' story!!! No worries about length at all. It's wonderful when we get to learn about history through personal experiences. Your grandparents, like Virgil's parents, are great reminders that although academic and journalistic narratives are great resources to help us get a comprehensive overview of history so we can process the past, they're not enough for us to really understand the human side of how people lived. So much of "how things were" (and even "how things are" now) become blurred once people interact with each other in real life. Also, while I'm not an authority on history by any means, from what I've read as someone with more than a passing interest in history, we don't give people in the past their due credit for already knowing, seeing, and thinking things we know to be right today. I'm quite fascinated by American history during the colonial and revolutionary period, and I feel like today we forget that abolitionists existed even back then, and were very vocal.
Speaking of your grandparents, I don't know if you had read my Rose of Anzio series. In the first book, there's a subplot of an interracial romance between the character Jack, who is of Irish descent, and Carmina, who is Mexican-American. I remember mulling over with my editor whether such an interracial romance in 1940 would be considered believable!! We decided to run with it, but I was knocking on wood and praying it would go over ok with readers because it was my debut novel and I wasn't as confident a writer back then. Your grandparents were living examples that love knows no barrier. I'm glad that they found each other, and had a great life together.
Your mother's experience sounds like Virgil's too. He said that from appearance, people could not tell he was half Japanese. The only reason he was assigned to the 442nd Regiment was because the Army and the government were looking at his paper records. And when he was transferred and given the same segregated army experience as the Nisei, his co-workers and colleagues were all surprised, as were the Nisei soldiers who were perplexed why a "white" guy who was a a head taller than them was joining their troops. After the war, he didn't experience the same level of discrimination again, although he became much more aware of what his fellow Nisei faced. And he changed his last name to Westdale, which if I recall correctly, he explained in his memoir was a sort of translation of his father's Japanese surname.
On another note, good luck with writing your book. It sounds like a great story and I'd want to get a copy when it comes out. Alternate history is always fun to imagine and it'd be interesting to see your take on what might have been. Keep me posted how it goes!! Same if you decide to write your next story "The Vargas Girls" too!