On April 25, five generations of family and friends gathered, or rather, socially-distanced in the front yard at the home of local WWII Veteran and beloved “grandpa,” Mr. Jess M Chavez, who turned 101.
The Saturday afternoon birthday celebration was originally planned as a family gathering at the Rancho Ave house. However, since our community was under official “shelter-at-home” status, the family decided to stage a short “mini” parade using the driveway as a thoroughfare while Jess was staged near the garage, from where he could see the passing clan. However, due to the logistics, and the heat, that plan was changed to a mass “spreading out” of everyone in the front yard. Once in place, everyone enjoyed a brief thank you statement from Jess, a round of mini-cupcakes, and a rousing rendition of “happy birthday, dear grandpa.” Although the birthday celebration was short, all of the 50-60 relatives enjoyed seeing and honoring the Chavez family patriarch. Everyone shared their smiles, cheers and waves, as one of the most beloved “hero’s” in our city was surrounded by people who loved him.
Born in 1919, Pittsburg,CA, Jess came to Colton for the first time after joining the army. During his service time at Camp Roberts, he was invited to visit the hometown (Colton) of a military friend, Robert, whose family was celebrating their Thanksgiving dinner. It was at that gathering, Jess met his future bride, Gloria Lujan, with whom he corresponded via hundreds of letters (snail mail) over the next five years.
Upon his discharge, Jess and Gloria eloped, and returned to the bay area to work and save their money. They bought their first home in San Leandro, where they continued to work until 1961, when they decided to move to Colton, Gloria’s home town.
“Jess and Gloria worked so well together,” says daughter Lorraine, that they decided to put their business acumen to work by opening up Kelly’s Bar, which was on Valley Blvd., at the site where
P & G Burgers now stands. After operating their business from 1962-1969, the City of Colton went though redevelopment, and as a result of that impact, Jess and Gloria moved their business to a new location on Mt Vernon. La Veranda Restaurant and Cocktail Lounge opened in 1969 and operated successfully until 1981, when it was sold. From that time, Jess and Gloria were enjoying full retirement, with grand-kids…and great-grand-kids.
In 2013, Gloria passed away, and it was later that year, the Dr. G came upon Jess working in his year, trimming bushes. From that time, the friendship began, and the story was told in the new book, “Veterans of WWII Living in Colton, 2014” written and published by CITY TALK W/Dr. G.
Dr. G reminisces, “I introduced myself, and was pleasantly surprised to learn that Jess was a WWII veteran,” and as Jess would always say when he saw Dr. G, “you started this thing,” speaking about his veteran story, and all the publicity. Daughter Lorraine, son Jess E. Chavez, Jr, Dr. G, and Jess himself, all shared a moment of laughter at the birthday celebration, as Jess smiled and restated once again, this popular phrase.
In closing, Dr. G explains “We are certainly proud to have Jess M Chavez, as one of our hometown WWII veteran hero’s living among us. His history and legacy will speak to our hearts for many generations.” Jess E Chavez, Jr. adds, “I am so proud of my dad…and my mom. They went into business and were very successful. They taught us a lot about having a good work ethic and making a living.”
Excerpts from book, “Veterans of WWII living in Colton, 2014” by Dr. G (Dr. Luis S Gonzalez)
NOTE: these are memories from his military service, in his own words.
“ I remember…boot camp at Camp Roberts, near Paso Robles, to complete my basic training. We were the first group to start basic training at a new facility. It was out in the middle of nowhere, with nothing around, except snakes. I was part of a field Artillery Replacement Unit. We were the first group to graduate. My completion date was June 21, 1941”
“I remember…going through New Caledonia. It was the HUB center of the Pacific for the U.S. Army. For most soldiers, once you get there, anything goes. You don’t know what you will be doing, you don’t know where you will be going, and when you do find out, and they’ll probably change your orders anyway. That was the life as part of a replacement unit. After a while you just did not care.
“I remember...one of our missions was to attack the Gilbert Islands, which was part of the British Isles. General MacArthur wanted to capture all of these small islands in order to build air strips. The scouts were from New Zealand and Australia. MacArthur believed this strategy would work, because the Japanese wanted the larger islands. It took two years to gain control of those small islands. The idea was to surround the Japanese.
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