Willow Glen Resident

Cover Story

Photograph by Vicki Thompson

Family Memories: Pierluigi Oliverio bought the home next to his parents Italo and Matilde on Cherry Avenue. His father came to California because the weather was too harsh in Michigan. Italo Oliverio says when he drove into Willow Glen, it felt like he had come home.

Family Matters

Father and son live side by side on Cherry

By Mayra Flores De Marcotte

A 3-year-old boy with sandy blond hair sits in the back of a classroom, coloring. At the front of the room the boy's father teaches immigrant students, providing them with a critical tool--a new language.

Growing up in the early 1970s in the home of working-class parents, San Jose District 6 Councilman Pierluigi Oliverio would at times have no one to watch him during the summers.

"My dad would bring me to work," Oliverio says. "His classes were always full of people from different countries."

Italo Oliverio's adult education and English as a second language classes reflected the diversity of San Jose.

"I had people from Vietnam, Mexico, South America, Japan--you name it," Italo says. "I would have between 55 to 60 students and thought, the more the better. We had fun."

Pierluigi remembers his father combing his hair when he began going to school.

"I would get excited because when he was done, he would say, 'OK, now you're styled,'" Pierluigi says. "He was just combing my hair down essentially into a bowl."

Italo was an attentive father and was involved in his son's life, often talking to his son's teachers so he knew how Pierluigi was doing. One teacher's comment stands out.

"One teacher once told me, 'Your son's abilities will someday lead him to be the president of the United States,'" Italo says with pride. "He was always a good boy."

These first memories of his father helped shape Oliverio's view of his world and define the characteristics he would later value in others.

"Growing up, I thought my dad was smart because he wore glasses," Oliverio says. "Later, he was my support through the good and the bad. I feel very lucky. You don't get to choose your parents, and I was gifted to have a father who had a good work ethic, humor, wit and intelligence--all things I value."

Italo chose his career as an adult education and ESL teacher because of his own experiences.

"I was there," Italo says.

In 1947, 17-year-old Italo boarded a boat in Italy and arrived in New York a week later.

"When we arrived to New York, customs were going through everyone's trunks," Italo says. "When they got to me, I couldn't speak English but knew how to write a little so I wrote, 'Nothing illegal.' The man working customs told me I'd do all right and let me pass with my trunks."

Italo's father, Vincenzo Oliverio, was already in the states, living in Dearborn, Mich., and working at the Ford plant.

"He was an American citizen," Italo says. "He came here in 1929, three months before I was born. This was the first time I met my father. He said to me, 'How do you do?' and that was it."

Italo's life as an immigrant in the United States didn't follow the hardship route.

"I had a good life as an immigrant," Italo says. "My father already had a job, a house and a few rental properties. He told me, if I wanted to go to work, follow him."

So the teenager followed his father to work the next morning and filled out an application. After he had answered the last question and signed his name, Italo realized this wasn't what he wanted to do with his life.

"They kept my application, but I told my father that I didn't want to work," Italo says. "I told him I wanted to devote my time to my studies."

His father supported his son and helped him find a school where he could catch up. Back in Italy, Italo had already attended high school, but his English wasn't at the level it should have been.

"Adult education during the day was nonexistent," Italo says. "So I was placed in a sixth-grade classroom."

The following year, he moved up to ninth grade and soon after finished his high school education.

Italo continued his education at Wayne State University in Detroit and received his teaching credential there. While still in school, he filled out an application for U.S. citizenship.

"I got a call, and the secretary on the other end told me that my dream to become an American citizen will come true," Italo says. "I had an appointment with a judge and in 1953, one day prior to my birthday, became an American citizen." He was 23 years old.

Unlike today's swearing in, Italo says his was very special.

"I was the only one with the judge," he says. "Afterward, I shook the judge's hand and invited him to go downstairs for lunch. He joined me, and we had French onion soup and crackers."

Pen pal love

Before graduating, Italo had enrolled in a pen pal program designed for students to practice their written English skills.

Italo corresponded with dozens of women from all over the globe.

"There were women in Barcelona, Argentina and Italy," he says. "What I did and what came next could only happen once in a lifetime."

Two of the women he was corresponding with were friends in Naples, Italy; one caught Italo's attention and heart.

"I chose her because her name was different," he says. "The other girl was named Maria. There are too many Marias. Her name was Matilde."

This is the part of the story that Pierluigi says never grows old no matter how many times he's heard it.

"I love watching as my mom and dad argue over the details," he says.

His mother, Matilde argues that her story is more accurate.

She was in college, and she and her girlfriend, Maria, decided to practice their English by corresponding with a pen pal.

"We hoped we would get two girls in London," Matilde says. "We both wanted to visit London and thought if we already had friends there, we would have a place to visit."

The two women waited almost two years and never heard from such women. Matilde however did receive mail, just not from any women.

"In 1959, I received the first letter from Italo," she says. "I wrote to him to practice my English but little by little, he would ask me questions, and I would tell him of things familiar to me. Then he asked if I had a boyfriend. My intentions were never to get married. He said he was supposed to come to Italy to teach. That was a lie."

Through the ongoing correspond Matilde began to discover a lot of her father in Italo's letters.

"Italo sounded like he was very religious, like my family. I assumed he was as pious as my father and knew he would be a good father to my kids. He asked me to wait for him, that that he would come and marry me, and I said OK. I thought it would be a few months."

Those months became years after the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1961 caused extensive delays in overseas travel and Italo was unable to leave the United States.

Meanwhile, the weather was beginning to take a toll on Italo's health.

"Michigan was a beautiful state, but the climate and humidity were awful," he says. "I would get really bad sinus infections and I almost came down with pneumonia, so I decided to come to California on my doctor's suggestion."

He drove on his own, only stopping to eat and sleep. It took one week. He drove through the Central Valley, then up to Sacramento, but he found the weather too hot. While in the California capital, Italo met a man visiting from San Jose.

"He said it had perfect weather so I drove down to see for myself," he says.

Italo drove through downtown and the rest of the city. Then he drove into in Willow Glen and he knew he had found his home.

"I found an apartment for rent on Willow Street, and there was an Italian family that lived across the street with the same last name," Italo says. "What more could I ask for?"

Italo also began looking for work and found himself at school once more.

"I applied to get my California teaching credential," he says.

As he worked on his credential, Italo worked at Bellarmine College Preparatory as a Spanish and Latin teacher for a year.

In the meantime, Matilde's father suffered a heart attack and died.

"I was heartbroken," she says. "When he heard of my father's death, Italo cried. He had learned to love my father through my letters. Four years later we met, and it felt like we had known each other for a long time.

"We got married on Nov. 30, 1963 and so far, it's OK."

Pierluigi was born six years later, and the fledgling family purchased their first home in 1972 on Cherry Avenue.

Son carries on

Like his father, Pierluigi found his calling in education.

"Teaching became a natural fit," he says. "I love people and working with them."

Pierluigi began as a nutrition major but soon after changed to something that was more familiar to him: politics.

"Dinner table conversations always led up to my social studies homework growing up," he says.

Politics were part of their every day life.

"We come from that background," Matilde says. "Conversations about equality, about my disappointments with American insurance, health care and the fear of getting old were common and their effects were evident on Pierluigi."

Pierluigi graduated from San Jose State University in 1992 with his teaching credential along with a bachelor's degree in social sciences.

Like most recent graduates during the dot-com boom, however, he fell into the high-tech field instead.

"He's independent, self-sufficient," Matilde says. "He wants to solve things, come to a conclusion, and he found he could do this in the high-tech field."

The high-tech arena was just part of his world. Pierluigi couldn't ignore what had been ingrained his is upbringing--politics.

He helped successfully campaign for Library Measure E that provided the necessary funding to purchase books, magazines, computers and programs for children and seniors at all San Jose city libraries.

Along the way, Pierluigi also became involved in the Willow Glen Neighborhood Association and San Jose Anti-Litter Program.

His work in the community has lead to his biggest job yet. In a March 2007 runoff election he won a seat on the San Jose City Council, representing District 6 which serves Willow Glen and the Rose Garden neighborhoods.

"He just wants to see things get done," Matilde says. "We set goals and aren't satisfied until we reach them. This is reflected in Pierluigi. He sets his goals at different levels, and if they are not accomplished, he becomes frustrated until they do."

Whether in politics or making improvements to his Cherry Avenue home next door to his parents', Pierluigi has remained close to his parents.

"He always comes back and asks his dad for advice," Matilde says. "We still count."