Thanks to the magic of ai I can de-age people, put them in poses, draw different scenes and generally recreate things based on actual photographs. Some may call it “slop” but as a technologist, I love this stuff. I love giving imagery to events that we can’t possibly have imagery for.
Like Carol, Jerome had spent his life up until that point in service to his family. Jerome worked in the orchards, helping his father bring in the fruit, while Dominic Cortese, Vince, and John attended school. John would later return to the life of maintaining the orchards.
Jerome knew every facet of the business. From fertalizers, to grafting, to pruning, and selling to the canneries. From the time he was 10 his father had him driving the big flatbed full of fruit bins to the canneries. Jerome’s strength was legendary. One day the Aissa’s bet him he couldn’t lift a fruit bin full of prunes, and put it on the truck, and to their amazement and shock he did.
All was not cherries on the orchards though. Vincenzo was a strict taskmaster. “If there was so much as a twig on the floor of the orchard he would get upset!” my grandmother would tell me. Vincenzo expected perfection. Every branch pruned properly, soil the perfect amount of moisture, and every leaf and twig picked up. The punishment for failing to meet his standards? Violence.
“The men later told me that your great grandfather broke a tree prop over your grandfathers back, but your grandfather never said it to me, I had to dig it out of him after” she’d explain. Vincenzo didn’t care if it was in front of everyone, this was part of the fear he instilled in his own family, and those around him.
So after meeting Carol for the first time Jerome was smitten. While Raymond pursued Betty, Jerome would pursue Carol. Now this part of the story, is taken from verbal sources, my grandmother recounting their courtship.
So it started innocently enough. Jerome would stop by the Deisenroth house on the way to the canneries. Despite the violent side, Vincenzo’s upbringing of Jerome taught him to be respectful. Jerome was also deep into the Catholic faith. He understood the Deisenroth’s while not wealthy, deserved to be treated with the respect. He would routinely drop off crates of fresh fruits and vegetables for the struggling Elva, which she was always happy to receive.
Jerome would start dating Carol shortly after. They really enjoyed their time together going though the orchards of mid 1940’s San Jose. They just appreciated things that other people didn’t seem to appreciate, faith, nature, and just talking.
What would they talk about? Mostly the future, and how they wanted to build a life. Jerome was a hard worker, and Carol was an expert at being frugal. Together they had their entire life planned out, how many children they wanted, where they wanted and how they wanted to live. They would picnic, go fishing, drive through the orchards, go to the movies, go to a soda fountain, and spend a lot of time in Santa Cruz. Back then people didn’t date looking to go to a “Michelin Star Restaurant” Life was simple, and just connecting was enough.
Weekly Jerome would continue bringing Elva her gifts, talking to her, helping her around the house, just being an all around perfect gentleman with her.
Carol would give Jerome something beyond what his family had ever given him. Confidence. Jerome got a side job from Bob Gianotti to graft some new branches on his fruit trees. This was a task his father had never trusted him to do. Carol told Jerome, “You can do it!” Jerome did over 100 grafts in the orchard. Not a single one failed.
Eventually Vincenzo would find out.
Vincenzo had higher aspirations for Jerome. As the oldest son, he would someday lead the family, and part of that started now, with who he married. She should be Sicilian, or Italian at worse, Catholic, from one of the other ranching families.
Carol was Irish, German, and from a poor family.
Jerome didn’t care. He was in love with Carol. He had spent a lot of time with her, and knew she was the one. He fought with his father, and angered by his sons defiance, he told him to get out of his house.
That night Jerome slept on a park bench. The next day he would show up at the orchard, his father acting like nothing happened.
Jerome and Carol would continue dating, spending time together until one fateful day Jerome showed up unexpectedly to Elva’s house in a very formal, serious tone.
“Elva, I would like to marry Carol!” He proudly told her. Carol had no idea Jerome was going to do this. She was frantically shocked between Jerome asking, and not knowing what her mother would say.
“Jerome you are a good man, as long as you promise to take care of her, you have my blessing” were the last words Carol expected out of Elva’s mouth, but there they were. A few days later Carol and Jerome, with Carol’s sister and brother in law Babe Carbone drove to Reno to make it official.
When they returned to San Jose, Jerome expected his father to be happy. In his mind, he asked Elva, she gave her blessings, and Carol agreed too.
Instead Vincenzo threw him out of the house a second time, saying he would have to make it on his own, he would receive no help from the family. He was “Out of the family” Reluctantly, Jerome went back outside to Carol and the Carbone’s. With no income, no place to stay, they were heading into an uncertain future.