Harriet Van Onacker Peraldo Oral History
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Churchill County Oral History Project
an interview with
HARRIET VAN ONACKER PERALDO
Fallon, Nevada
conducted by
MARIAN LA VOY
March 10, 1998
This interview was transcribed by Glenda Price; edited by Norma Morgan; final by Pat Boden; index by Gracie Viera; supervised by Myrl Nygren, Director of the Oral History Project, Churchill County Museum.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this interview are those of the interviewer and interviewee and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of Churchill County Museum or any of its employees.
PREFACE
Harriet Peraldo revels in her picturesque country home . . . contentment is mirrored in her lovely gentle face.
Having lived through the ravages of the German occupation of her hometown in Belgium her only moment of agitation showed when she talked of the German invasion and ensuing atrocities.
An American military unit arrived and her parents still showed concern for their daughter's safety. Harriet's father was late picking her up one evening but a young military man volunteered to walk her home from the hospital where she was working. This young man was Silvio Peraldo from Fallon, Nevada, USA. Their friendly dates did not suggest matrimony and he moved on with his unit to another area.
The war eventually ended and Silvio returned to America. He must have been thinking about that lovely Belgian girl as he wrote to her asking her to marry him. She said she couldn't remember exactly what he looked like and decided not to answer. Her mother prevailed, reminding her that life in Europe for anyone, especially a young single woman was difficult.
Harriet gave her mother's words a great deal of thought and decided to accept Silvio's proposal. Her arrival in America via Sabena Airlines and amusing mishaps in New York City are a delight to read and speaking only French she showed ingenuity in solving her lodging and travel problems.
Silvio met her in Reno, brought her to Fallon to meet his family, love blossomed and a short time later they were happily married . . . a marriage that lasted for over thirty years until his untimely death.
Her acceptance by the residents of Fallon was heartwarming, only one minor incident was recorded. Harriet has returned to Belgium a number of times, but the love of her nephew and great nieces makes Fallon her permanent home.
Interview with Harriet Van Onacker Peraldo
LaVOY: This is Marian Hennen LaVoy of the Churchill County Museum Oral History Project interviewing Harriet Van Onacker Peraldo at her home 4335 Peraldo Lane, Fallon, Nevada. The date is March 10, 1998.Good morning, Harriet.
PERALDO: Good morning.
LaVOY: What a pleasure it is to be out here at your lovely home. Harriet, what we're interested in is your coming here as a war bride, but before we start that, I'd like to ask you to give me your full name.
PERALDO: Harriet Van Onacker Peraldo.
LaVOY: And where were you born, Harriet?
PERALDO: I was born in Andenne, Belgium.
LaVOY: What year?
PERALDO: In [May 28] 1921.
LaVOY: As a little girl, tell me something about your home. Did you have any brothers and sisters?
PERALDO: Yes. I have four brothers and one sister.
LaVOY: As a little girl, what did you do at home? What things did you have to do around your home?
PERALDO: I need to help my mother, really. We lived in town. We had a big garden, too.
LaVOY: And so what did you do to help your mother?
PERALDO: Sometimes, you see, we still ironed with a flat iron, and then I folded handkerchiefs and sheets. I helped with the dishes, but that was just about it Do my own work.
LaVOY: The Belgians are so noted for their beautiful embroidery and lace work and things like that, did you learn to do that?
PERALDO: Yes. I was going to school with the nuns, and they taught us that, showed us how to cook, and how to clean besides go to school. That's a convent I went to.
LaVOY: What order of nuns were they?
PERALDO: Notre Dame.
LaVOY: You do such beautiful embroidery. About what age were you when you started that?
PERALDO: I was just about five or six years old.
LaVOY: That young?
PERALDO: Yeah. I learned how to knit. I love to knit. I was just about six years old.
LaVOY: When you learned to knit?
PERALDO: Yes.
LaVOY: And embroider?
PERALDO: Yeah.
LaVOY: What was the very first thing that you remember knitting?
PERALDO: Over there we need to have a sweater constantly because of the dampness. I lived close to the Meuse River, and you learn to wear a sweater when you born and you have a sweater when you die.
LaVOY: Oh!
PERALDO: Yeah. It was so damp, and the TB [tuberculosis] is the most sickness in Belgium.
LaVOY: Did you wear sweaters in the summertime, too?
PERALDO: Oh, yes. Constantly. Sweaters all the time. When we have the fog, sometimes the fog stays about a week and never lifts. That's a valley. The Meuse is in our area and the mountain is there. On the side that's a big mountain, and that mountain it don't have no fog. It just stay in the valley.
LaVOY: Oh, I see.
PERALDO: My brother when he got married, my older brother, he was up in the mountain, and they never see the fog, but they can see it on the valley.
LaVOY: The layer of fog in the valley, and the Meuse River is what causes that.
PERALDO: Oh, yes. The Meuse River is what the boats go to with coal or cement or anything you can imagine they…
LaVOY: Oh, the canal boats.
PERALDO: Yeah. That's Italy's. Not a canal.
LaVOY: It's a large river.
PERALDO: Oh, yes.
LaVOY: I think what I'm thinking of are the tug boats that pull.
PERALDO: Yes, that's right. It's something like that.
LaVOY: With all that dampness you must have had beautiful trees and flowers.
PERALDO: Oh, yes.
LaVOY: What was the tree that was most prevalent?
PERALDO: Magnolia.
LaVOY: How about your horse chestnuts?
PERALDO: Yes. We didn't have that too much. It was more up in the mountains.
LaVOY: A little higher.
PERALDO: Yes.
LaVOY: What did your father do for a living?
PERALDO: My father make some big chimneys in Italy.
LaVOY: He went to Italy?
PERALDO: To Italy and make bricks. He was a bricklayer.
LaVOY: And then what did he do? Go part of the year and then come back?
PERALDO: Yes.
LaVOY: So then your mother was pretty well left to do all of the work.
PERALDO: Yes. (laughing) We live in the city so we don't have too much to do anyway.
LaVOY: But your garden.
PERALDO: Oh, yeah, the big one.
LaVOY: How large was the garden plot?
PERALDO: It was quite a little big.
LaVOY: What were some of the things that you raised?
PERALDO: Strawberry. (laughing) We have some lilacs and then we have some roses and we have potatoes and little bit of everything. We can quite a bit.
LaVOY: Did your mother can the vegetables in the summer?
PERALDO: No, we don't. We go and buy some. We use what we have in the garden.
LaVOY: Tell me about your markets there.
PERALDO: Well, we have an open market every Friday.
LaVOY: In Andenne?
PERALDO: Yes.
LaVOY: What were some of the things that you could buy in the market?
PERALDO: Little bit of everything. Meat, clothing, shoes, vegetables. We buy our vegetables there, too.
LaVOY: Something I'm curious about. I've seen open markets in Europe, and they had rabbits.
PERALDO: Yes, chicken.
LaVOY: Rabbits, chicken, snails. Things like that.
PERALDO: But now they don't do that anymore because they have to [inaudible]. . . and now they're more conscious about that. Nobody was sick anyway.
LaVOY: Very healthy.
PERALDO: Yeah, but, now we're more sicker than before. (laughing)
LaVOY: I just want to ask you out of curiosity, the rabbits that I saw on the open market had been completely skinned. The head was skinned and everything, and there was just this naked rabbit with the feet showing. Is that how they were in Belgium?
PERALDO: Yes, that's right. We have quite a few rabbits, too, at home, and that was our meat, too.
LaVOY: How did you celebrate holidays at your home?
PERALDO: Christmas. I never have a birthday party really until I come over here.
LaVOY: It was not a custom.
PERALDO: No, it was not a custom.
LaVOY: Oh. How long did you live with your family before you went to England for school?
PERALDO: I didn't go to England for school.
LaVOY: Oh, I misunderstood you.
PERALDO: Yes.
LaVOY: You went to school . .
PERALDO: In Andenne in the convent with the Sisters. I stayed there until I got married until I come over here.
LaVOY: It's interesting because how old were you when Belgium was overrun?
LaVOY: Let’s see… The Germans came in 1941 so I was twenty years old.
PERALDO: What were your feelings when these Germans came marching into your town?
LaVOY: The first time we all ran away. Everybody went to France because we remembered in 1914 what the Germans did. I'm sorry, but I don't like Germans.
PERALDO: Where did you run to France?
LaVOY: [pause] Where the Germans didn't go. They didn't go there. They take Paris and all that. Nice and Telle, and that's where we went. We walked, we carry what we can, and all that.
PERALDO: You walked from your home.
PERALDO: Yes.
LaVOY: Did you close up your home?
PERALDO: Oh, yes, we did close, but it was no use. They can take anything they want.
LaVOY: And they came in?
PERALDO: Yeah. My grandfather and my grandmother was still alive at that time, and they went with my two brothers. We were separated. And then when we came back, we came back a month or two later.
LaVOY: And was your home . .
PERALDO: It was okay.
LaVOY: Was all right.
PERALDO: It was all right, but nobody was there except the mayor. The mayor stayed. He say, "They're not going to take me." (laughing)
LaVOY: Not gonna take my town! When you went to France, how did you travel?
PERALDO: On foot.
LaVOY: You walked! How many miles was that?
PERALDO: Oh, that's quite a few miles. I don't remember.
LaVOY: And you carried your belongings.
PERALDO: Yeah. What we can.
LaVOY: Who did you stay with in France?
PERALDO: We stayed with some family, and then they put us in the school, but we didn't stay there too long. We came back.
LaVOY: How was life under the Germans?
PERALDO: The first time we have curfew. By eight o'clock we need to be home, but then we all know that's the best way.
LaVOY: Were they cruel to the women in the village?
PERALDO: No.
LaVOY: Did they have their headquarters set up in the village?
PERALDO: Oh, yes, they did, but they go to Paris. That's where they wanted to be, in Paris. They wanted to take that. We can fight for eighteen days. That's what their army can do. It was not a soldiers' war. It was the airplane and the tank and the bombs.
LaVOY: When did the Americans first come to your section of Belgium?
PERALDO: It was 1944, and I was working in--they have a school there close, but nobody go to school anymore. They have a hospital. I was working in the hospital. I was a dietician there, and the German was there, take the school over. I don't really know. Do you know Namur [Belgium]? It was just about like Hazen to Fallon. Just the same amount of mileage. The Americans was in Namur, and the Germans was there, so the Germans left all the way.
LaVOY: When the Americans came in?
PERALDO: Yeah. And then the Americans came to my hometown, and they took over the school.
LaVOY: Now, the school was the school that you had gone to?
PERALDO: No, no. It was a government school. Like we go to school now.
LaVOY: Public school?
PERALDO: A public school. That’s what I wanted to say.
LaVOY: And the Germans had taken that over?
PERALDO: Yeah, and then they go.
LaVOY: About how many German troops were in your town?
PERALDO: Oh, it depends. They moved back and forth. When they need to go to Russia to fight. They have a few left, but they have a few left over there, too.
LaVOY: Were there a hundred, two hundred?
PERALDO: Yes, something like that.
LaVOY: A small contingency.
PERALDO: Yes.
LaVOY: And then how far was the hospital where you were the dietician?
PERALDO: It was close.
LaVOY: Right next to the school?
PERALDO: Yes.
LaVOY: Then, when the American soldiers came…
PERALDO: They take over the school, and that's where I met Silvio.
LaVOY: Your husband, Silvio, was there with the American Army.
PERALDO: Um-hum.
LaVOY: Was he a private, a sergeant?
PERALDO: A sergeant.
LaVOY: Sergeant Silvio Peraldo. I imagine he thought he would never get to Europe.
PERALDO: (laughing) No, I guess not.
LaVOY: What did you think when you first met him?
PERALDO: We was afraid of them both, [Americans and Germans] Germans, too, because they wanted to have a girl. That's what they do first, they want girl. So my dad always come and pick me up. I think it very close to the hospital where I lived, but he didn't want me to be alone. (laughing)
LaVOY: So, he came and picked you up.
PERALDO: Yeah, every night. And then one night he didn't come and Silvio come and I bring him home with me.
LaVOY: You mean Silvio happened to be on the street?
PERALDO: Yeah. He was a-looking. He was with a bunch of soldiers.
LaVOY: And you trusted him to walk you home?
PERALDO: Um-hum, and I make him come inside with me to my house.
LaVOY: And meet your family?
PERALDO: Uh-huh.
LaVOY: Well, it was almost like love at first sight.
PERALDO: (laughing) Yeah, I think so.
LaVOY: Did he remain in Andenne?
PERALDO: No. The Germans come back to Bastogne. You remember Bastogne.
LaVOY: Yes. The bridge of Bastogne.
PERALDO: The bulge.
LaVOY: And so the Germans were coming back .
PERALDO: And the Americans packed every thing up and moved back from Andenne to, maybe, Namur, Brussels, and all that, so he went back. Silvio was in the truck, and they sent him back to Cherbourg. What you pick up in Cherbourg, you can imagine what he picked up.
LaVOY: No, what did he?
PERALDO: Coffee, candy, and cigarettes for the troop. That's what he picked up, and he bring it back to Bastogne to the Americans, who was there. Quite a few soldiers died there.
LaVOY: That was the Battle of the Bulge?
PERALDO: Yeah. That's right.
LaVOY: He fought in that?
PERALDO: No, he was back to Cherbourg [France]. He picked up his candy and cigarettes to take back to the troops at Bastogne after the Germans left. And you can feel the ground is trembling there when the German come back with the tank and all that, and you can feel from my own town.
LaVOY: The feel of the tanks and the bombs and everything. Were you terribly frightened?
PERALDO: Yeah, because we didn't know if they gonna come back and what they gonna do to us.
LaVOY: Finally, when the Germans surrendered, how did your village react to that?
PERALDO: Oh, celebrate. (laughing) Yeah, we celebrate, that's for sure.
LaVOY: Was Silvio there to celebrate with you?
PERALDO: Yeah, he was there with us.
LaVOY: Oh, my. Well, your family must have liked him right from the start.
PERALDO: Oh, yeah, my mother loved him. (laughing) That's why I'm here because I didn't want to come.
LaVOY: Oh, you didn't?
PERALDO: No, you see, I didn't know how to speak English. I still don't know, but, anyway, I can get by.
LaVOY: You spoke strictly French.
PERALDO: Yeah, and Flemish with my dad.
LaVOY: Your mother spoke French, and your father spoke Flemish.
PERALDO: Yeah, that's right.
LaVOY: And so you were bilingual, but didn't know English.
PERALDO: No.
LaVOY: How did you and Silvio communicate?
PERALDO: He pick up a little bit of French with the Italians in Italy.
LaVOY: Italian and French are somewhat alike. The Romance languages. So, he could communicate with you just so-so.
PERALDO: Yeah, that's right. And we have him for dinner, and then after that he left for home, and I never even know he have a brother and sister. Never know anything. He didn't never tell me.
LaVOY: Never mentioned anything about his family.
PERALDO: I suppose it was too hard for him to speak, explain to me.
LaVOY: Did he ask you to marry him before he left?
PERALDO: No. It was early in 1947 when he sent a letter and asking me . . . well, you see, he ended up in the hospital.
LaVOY: What was wrong with him?
PERALDO: Fatigue.
LaVOY: Where was he in the hospital?
PERALDO: In Denver. He stayed there quite a long time.
LaVOY: Before he returned to Fallon?
PERALDO: To home, because my husband was born in here in that house over there
LaVOY: Your husband was born in the house that is front of this one?
PERALDO: Yes. Mario Gene lives there now.
LaVOY: The one that Mario, Junior lives in.
PERALDO: Yeah.
LaVOY: Oh.
PERALDO: That's quite a story, huh?
LaVOY: Yes, it is. So, he wrote and asked you to marry him from the hospital in Denver?
PERALDO: Yes.
LaVOY: How did you react when you got the letter?
PERALDO: Well, I already forget him what he looked like. (laughing) He go back in 1944, and I never hear about him, so I say, "That's it."
LaVOY: He left France in 1944. This was 1946 that he was in Denver suffering from fatigue.
PERALDO: Yeah. Well, he stayed in France quite a long time, too, before all the troop is back to the United States, and we didn't correspond.
LaVOY: Did you have any other gentlemen friends while he was gone?
PERALDO: No. I just worked, and that was it.
LaVOY: Then when you got this letter from this man that you had been dating and then he disappeared for two years and you get this letter. You must have been very surprised.
PERALDO: Yeah, I was surprised, and I have somebody to what is it called--it was in English, so I didn't know how to read that. So I have somebody to read for me.
LaVOY: Somebody to translate the letter. Well, they must have been very surprised, too. Do you have the letter yet?
PERALDO: I think I did have it.
LaVOY: Who was it that translated it. A friend?
PERALDO: Yes, we have some friend who know how to speak English. A little bit, anyway.
LaVOY: So, they read the letter to you, and he said, "Will you marry me?" and you said, "No, I won't." (laughing)
PERALDO: (laughing) And my mother say, "You can't stay here. You don't have, you know, this different."
LaVOY: Typical European mother. She wanted you to have a better life in America.
PERALDO: Yeah, and I stayed a long time before I answered him, and I need to go through the guy too, because I can't write in English.
LaVOY: So, you went to the man to have him write you a letter.
PERALDO: Yeah.
LaVOY: About how long was it before you answered him?
PERALDO: Oh, maybe two months.
LaVOY: You just let him cool his heels.
PERALDO: Yeah, that's right. What's good for me is good for him.
LaVOY: I should say so. Did he send for you?
PERALDO: Yes, he send me the ticket because if he didn't I won't come.
LaVOY: Well, your family had gone through the War.
PERALDO: That's right. My dad didn't work for ten years. Very difficult.
LaVOY: Those of us that who have never had war on our soil do not realize it.
PERALDO: Yeah, that’s the truth.
LaVOY: Did you get your wardrobe all ready to get married?
PERALDO: Oh, yeah. Yes, I did. I left Belgium on the twentieth of June of 1947.
LaVOY: Had you ever flown before?
PERALDO: No. At that time there's just very few airplanes, you know. Transports.
LaVOY: Did you come with Sabena Airlines?
PERALDO: Yes.
LaVOY: What was your reaction when you first got on the airplane?
PERALDO: Well, maybe tomorrow I'll be back. I was ready to go back home.
LaVOY: You just weren't sure.
PERALDO: Very unsure. Then I left Paris. They didn't even have a bus I need to go to Paris. I need to go there. So I went by train to Paris. Then I leave Orly, the airport there. From there we go to Ireland. Oh, boy! we have a time. Well, it was not quick, too. In 1947 there was just not passenger plane.
LaVOY: Did you stop in Ireland?
PERALDO: Stopped in Ireland. From there then we went to Newfoundland. We stopped there, too, and then we go to New York, and then I missed the plane to Nevada.
LaVOY: You missed the plane in New York to Nevada. Oh, my! And here you didn't speak English.
PERALDO: No, didn't speak English, and then you can't have no money, either. You can't bring no money from Belgium at that time, so I have just twenty dollars. That's what I have, and I needed to give ten dollars to go through, and they have a girl there who was going to Canada. She was nice and American, too. She didn't have no money neither, so I gave her my other ten dollars. (laughing)
LaVOY: So you give her your money, and then you had nothing.
PERALDO: And I didn't have nothing. I have some French money, but I didn't know how to change. When I think about it, I was really stupid.
LaVOY: (laughing) Well, to give your ten dollars that you had away to perfect strangers.
PERALDO: She say, "Well, my fiancé will come," and I still wait for my ten dollars. She never give it back. (laughing)
LaVOY: Oh, my! That was taking advantage of you.
PERALDO: Yeah.
LaVOY: Where did you stay in New York?
PERALDO: Then the people there in the airport--they was really good. They was real nice, and they put me in a hotel, and they call Silvio, and they say, "She don't have no more money. You better send some." And then he send some money to pay my . . . It was funny, though. I didn't know how to speak, so when I need to eat--I stayed there three days.
LaVOY: Three days!
PERALDO: In New York.
LaVOY: How did you eat?
PERALDO: Well, I say the people was real nice. They know I can't speak, so they bring me some food and a big steak I can eat.
LaVOY: That was in the hotel?
PERALDO: In the hotel. The airport put me in the hotel close by, and then on Monday--I think I was in on Friday and I left on Monday.
LaVOY: And he had gotten money to New York?
PERALDO: Yeah, to the airport.
LaVOY: For your ticket.
PERALDO: Yeah. To send me money to pay to stay there.
LaVOY: Oh, I see. He had already given you the ticket from New York to Nevada, but you had just simply missed the plane. So you spent three days in a hotel . . .
PERALDO: By myself.
LaVOY: With people bringing you food and helping you out.
PERALDO: (laughing) Yeah, that's what, and then I go out, and I count the streets I pass by, and then I go to the other side, and I count them up again. I know then where I need to stay.
LaVOY: Oh, that was good. And how did you get to the airport then?
PERALDO: They come and pick me up.
LaVOY: The airport personnel?
PERALDO: Uh-huh. It was nice. You want me to tell a story?
LaVOY: Um-hum.
PERALDO: It was a funny thing. During that time the hotel was not like we had in here. We had the bathroom facility. They need to go outside. I mean, on the corridor. It was a community bathroom, I guess. I needed to go to the bathroom and I forgot my key. The door was locked, and I can't go in. I say, "Now, what am I going to do?" I hear some people in the other room talking, so I knock on the door, and I explained what I can't do. I explained to them I didn't have my key, and they was real nice people. I never met such nice people, so they called down, and they come over and open the door for me. (laughing) "I don't know what to do now. I don't know what to do now." [tape cuts]
LaVOY: Well, that is just absolutely wonderful. When you got on the plane coming to Nevada, it landed in Reno.
PERALDO: Yes. Silvio was waiting for me, and I didn't even recognize him. I see he have a big cowboy hat.
LaVOY: My goodness. Did your heart jump with joy, or did you think, "I don't know whether I want to marry him or not?"
PERALDO: I don't know. I really don't remember.
LaVOY: But, he was wearing a big cowboy hat.
PERALDO: (laughing) Yes.
LaVOY: Did he give you a big hug?
PERALDO: Oh, yes. He did.
LaVOY: Was he there by himself?
PERALDO: By himself, and then when we come back, Mario [Peraldo] was irrigating.
LaVOY: Mario, his brother?
PERALDO: Yeah, his brother, they lived together. I meet him on the field there when we come in.
LaVOY: And so you stayed with Mario and Olga.
PERALDO: For two years until the house . . . [End of side A]
LaVOY: I just want to be sure that I have this straight. Mario and Silvio owned this ranch together.
PERALDO: Yes, that's right.
LaVOY: So, Silvio was living in the house with Mario and Olga.
PERALDO: Before he went to the service.
LaVOY: And then when he came back, he moved in with them.
PERALDO: Yes.
LaVOY: And by that time they had Mario Gene who was four years old.
PERALDO: Yes, that's right.
LaVOY: Now I have that straight. You moved in with his family, and how long did it take you, did you say, to decide to get married?
PERALDO: I come that Monday, and by Saturday we was married.
LaVOY: Where were you married?
PERALDO: In Fallon by the justice of the peace.
LaVOY: This was Harold Bellinger.
PERALDO: Yes, that's right. And he was real nice because I didn't understand what he was saying, so he say, "That's okay. I know you," he said to Silvio. "I marry you anyway." (laughing)
LaVOY: Oh my! Do you remember what type of a dress you wore?
PERALDO: Yes, I have a white dress, but I bring a bottle of cognac for him in my suitcase, and you know in the transportation that bottle broke.
LaVOY: The cognac broke?
PERALDO: Yeah, and it was all on my white dress, so I have another suit, so I wear the grey one.
LaVOY: Oh, my. Were there many people at your wedding?
PERALDO: All the family. He had the two sisters, Olga make a dinner for us. Then we went on a honeymoon. We wait because it was the Fourth of July. I didn't even know why he was waiting because I didn't know the Fourth of July was a holiday in here.
LaVOY: Where did you go on your honeymoon?
PERALDO: On the Coast. California coast
LaVOY: How long were you gone?
PERALDO: Oh, just about a good week
LaVOY: And what were some of the places you saw in California?
PERALDO: Oh, I see the redwoods and all that.
LaVOY: Were you impressed with America?
PERALDO: Yeah, I liked the redwoods, yes. And the hotel and the motel, it was just hard to have the motel when I come over. It was five dollars a night. Now you need to pay seventy, eighty dollars a night.
LaVOY: Were you by the ocean, too?
PERALDO: Yes. Oh, yes. We went to the coast.
LaVOY: And did the ocean remind you of the Meuse River?
PERALDO: No. (laughing) The ocean was big.
LaVOY: What did you think of American people?
PERALDO: They was nice, I guess, because then he needed to go milk cows, and when he come back, and I worked on the farm. I was there with Mario Gene.
LaVOY: What were some of your duties as a new bride living with your brother-in-law and sister-in-law on the farm?
PERALDO: Well, I didn't do too much because Olga was there, and I'd not been one to put my nose there.
LaVOY: Olga was the chief boss.
PERALDO: Yes, that's right. I sewed socks, and I help her with the dishes, and I help her with the dinner and all that. Peel potatoes and all that.
LaVOY: But, your chief job, really, was caring for Mario.
PERALDO: Yeah, Mario Gene. We always go. We always have to rest after noon time because they get up pretty early. After lunch they rest for an hour, and he was there. You see the tank house over there, that's where I slept for two years. We sleep there.
LaVOY: Oh, in the water tower?
PERALDO: Um-hum. That way we would have privacy, and they have, too.
LaVOY: What did you do with little Mario?
PERALDO: Oh, we would go for a walk, and he was waiting for me at noon time there. He was ready to go. (laughing)
LaVOY: Tell me about your teaching him French.
PERALDO: Well, I speak to him all the time, and I say, "Quesque vous voir?" [what do you want to see] He say, "It is fog. Fog." He wanted to see the fog. And they would have the ditch there. They have quite a few fog there.
LaVOY: The tule fog?
PERALDO: Uh-huh.
LaVOY: So you would take this little fellow walking and speak French to him. That's very interesting. So, to you, he's almost a son.
PERALDO: Oh, yes. Oh, yes. Oh, yes. To tell the truth he give me some blood when I have my hip operated on. I have a difficulty with the doctor in Reno, and I give two pints of blood, then they postpone me all the time, so the blood wasn't good anymore. I said, "I'm not going to give blood again. I hate that." So, he gave me a pint of blood.
LaVOY: He thanked you.
PERALDO: Yeah, he was nice.
LaVOY: Very touching. When you finally got this house built, how many years was that? Two years?
PERALDO: Just about two years. Well, we started a little bit. You know, they milked the cows, and then Silvio come over and put a few bricks because he can find no wood. You can't find no wood in 1947. He can't find any, that's for sure, and that's why my house is out of brick.
LaVOY: Because he could buy bricks .
PERALDO: Oh, yeah. We can buy the brick, but you can't buy the wood.
LaVOY: He built this house himself?
PERALDO: Uh-huh, with his brother and with me, too. I cleaned everything up.
LaVOY: It's amazing. It's a beautiful home, and he built it himself. Did he put all of the interior work in?
PERALDO: Oh, yes, we did. After milking cows and all that at night.
LaVOY: What time would you get up in the morning?
PERALDO: Oh, he'd get up three-thirty to go milk.
LaVOY: Did you have a dairy here?
PERALDO: Oh, yes, we milked cows.
LaVOY: How many cows?
PERALDO: Oh, it depend. There'd be sixty, sixty-five.
LaVOY: Did they sell the milk?
PERALDO: Oh, yes. We sold the dairy just before he died.
LaVOY: Tell me some of the things you and Silvio did together while you were married?
PERALDO: Besides building houses. (laughing)
LaVOY: Besides milking cows, building houses, keeping the farm going, and irrigating.
PERALDO: Yes. That's it.
LaVOY: You didn't go on any trips or anything?
PERALDO: Oh, yes, we did. I went home two, three times.
LaVOY: Did he go home with you?
PERALDO: Yes, some. I went home in 1958 when my dad passed away, but I went alone.
LaVOY: And then when again did you go?
PERALDO: We went in 1950. He went to Italy. His grandparents had some business there, and he went there. Then we went 1955 because my young brother [Pierre Van Onacker] got married. I go home quite often.
LaVOY: Are you still going home?
PERALDO: I went just about ten years now, the last time I went.
LaVOY: Something that I'm very curious about, when you came here, you were accepted very readily by your in-laws. How did the rest of the town accept you?
PERALDO: Good. Good. Real good.
LaVOY: They invited you to functions?
PERALDO: Oh, no. We didn't do too much with that except after while Doe Durbin--you know her?
LaVOY: Yes.
PERALDO: She passed away, too. She invited me to go to that Beta Sigma Phi, and I went with her, and I joined there.
LaVOY: How did the women in Beta Sigma Phi accept you?
PERALDO: Good. Good. They make fun of me because I have an accent. (laughing)
LaVOY: They couldn't understand you. (laughing)
PERALDO: (laughing) More or less, no, but they was real nice, and I still belong to them, I still belong. Forty years.
LaVOY: Oh, my goodness. When did you become active with your church?
PERALDO: When Mario Gene came back. They go to church, so I go with them. I worked in the hospital for twelve years.
LaVOY: What did you do in the hospital?
PERALDO: I work in the thrift shop. I was a volunteer in there.
LaVOY: Oh, in the thrift shop for the community hospital.
PERALDO: Yes, sure, and I go to the hospital twice a week and work in the hospital.
LaVOY: You are still a mauve lady or a pink lady, whatever they are.
PERALDO: (laughing) A pink lady. No, I'm not anymore because I quit two years ago.
LaVOY: When you had your hip surgery?
PERALDO: Yeah.
LaVOY: Well, you certainly gave a lot of service.
PERALDO: Oh, yeah. Twelve years
LaVOY: When you found out that you couldn't have children, were you disappointed?
PERALDO: Yes, I was. I have a hysterectomy all the way.
LaVOY: Well, that is very, very difficult for you coming over from Belgium, and you're really here by yourself except for Silvio.
PERALDO: That's right.
LaVOY: That's a hard thing to do.
PERALDO: Yes. And then he went to a meeting, and he never come back. He never come back. He died.
LaVOY: What?
PERALDO: He had the aorta bust. They sent him to Reno in the air care [Care Flight], and he never come back.
LaVOY: When was this?
PERALDO: It was 1983 when he passed away.
LaVOY: He had gone into town for . .
PERALDO: For a meeting with his brother early in the morning, and he even put the car out for me because that was our shopping day on Friday. Not a shopping day that time, and then he never come back.
LaVOY: Mario was with him when he died?
PERALDO: Yes. Well, I was over there, too.
LaVOY: Well, I mean…
PERALDO: Well, he was in the meeting when one of the men say, "You better go see your brother because he didn't feel too good." He was outside, and he say, "You better bring me to the hospital," and Mario pick me up.
LaVOY: And so they took him to the hospital by Care Flight.
PERALDO: Yeah, to Reno.
LaVOY: And then you immediately went over.
PERALDO: Uh-huh. At the same night, our pastor and I knew he would never come back. He never came to.
LaVOY: That was very tragic.
PERALDO: Yeah.
LaVOY: How long had you been married then?
PERALDO: Thirty-six years. Not quite thirty-six.
LaVOY: That was very traumatic.
PERALDO: Yeah, it was something.
LaVOY: And you have continued staying here on the property.
PERALDO: Oh, yes. I help the old Mario now to farm until Mario Gene came. I help him. Like irrigating, I help with. I have more than nonsense to help, you know. (laughing)
LaVOY: You helped with the irrigating, and by that time you had sold the dairy.
PERALDO: Oh, yes, yes, we did.
LaVOY: So, basically, after Silvio died, you took over his duties.
PERALDO: Uh-huh, more or less.
LaVOY: As much as you could.
PERALDO: Yes. That's right.
LaVOY: And you irrigated, what else?
PERALDO: When we cut wood, I go help
LaVOY: You stacked the wood.
PERALDO: Yeah, 'cause I don't cut the wood 'cause I don't know what to do, but I help pick them up and put them in the truck and bring it home.
LaVOY: And you've been more or less just accepted as another member of the family.
PERALDO: Oh, yes. I can ask Mario Gene anything, and he do for me.
LaVOY: You mentioned something that I would like to get into this. You and Mario Gene, the young one, were very close. In high school did you go to the functions he was involved in?
PERALDO: Oh, yes. We'd go to basketball and all that.
LaVOY: Then when he went to the University of Nevada, did he join ROTC there?
PERALDO: Ahhh, I don't remember if he did or not. I really don't.
LaVOY: I was just wondering how he happened to be in the Air Force.
PERALDO: I don't know. You need to ask him. I really don't know. I know he work after school. Then he come back and work with us, and he take some flying lessons. I can't remember what he did.
LaVOY: Where did he take flying lessons?
PERALDO: In Reno. And his mother didn't know about it.
LaVOY: But you did.
PERALDO: Yes, we did.
LaVOY: Because he confided in you.
PERALDO: Yeah, we knew about it, but she was afraid, you know.
LaVOY: Oh, of course.
PERALDO: Naturally.
LaVOY: And then when he joined the Air Force, he went to England?
PERALDO: No, he went to Texas, San Antonio. That's where he went.
LaVOY: And then?
PERALDO: And then he went all over, and then they ship him to Viet Nam. He have a two-tour duty. Then after that he went to England. That's where he met Lynne.
LaVOY: And how did he meet his wife in England?
PERALDO: They was on the same base.
LaVOY: And she was an entertainer.
PERALDO: Yeah.
LaVOY: A dancer?
PERALDO: She was working in the bank, I think. Not for sure.
LaVOY: But she was in England because she had gone there with a dance troupe.
PERALDO: Yeah, and she was there with her folks.
LaVOY: And you who loved this little boy.
PERALDO: Yeah. He disappear. Well, that's life.
LaVOY: You couldn't go to the wedding.
PERALDO: No, we didn't go to the wedding.
LaVOY: And tell me why.
PERALDO: Because we need to work.
LaVOY: So the parents could go.
PERALDO: Yeah.
LaVOY: You couldn't go because somebody had to be here on the ranch.
PERALDO: That's right.
LaVOY: How large is this ranch?
PERALDO: It's just about… maybe three hundred acres.
LaVOY: Well, that's a lot of work to do. That is basically in alfalfa now?
PERALDO: Yes. That's right. That's all we feed--alfalfa.
LaVOY: And you've gotten rid of all of your cattle?
PERALDO: Oh, no! We have just about 350 cattle in here.
LaVOY: But, now those are beef cattle.
PERALDO: Beef, yes. Mario Gene didn't want to milk. (laughing) He don't want to get up three-thirty in the morning.
LaVOY: Oh, I don't blame him.
PERALDO: I don't blame him neither.
LaVOY: So, actually you are now in the process of raising alfalfa to feed over three hundred head of cattle.
PERALDO: Yes, that's right.
LaVOY: When they have the roundups and whatnot, do you have to help with the cooking?
PERALDO: No, no, because we do ourself. Everything we do by ourself.
LaVOY: Oh, you round up the cattle yourselves?
PERALDO: Oh, yeah. They all are near. They're all on the field.
LaVOY: Oh, I see. You don't have to go out on the range to get them.
PERALDO: Oh, no, no, no. They all in here.
LaVOY: Did you used to ride horseback?
PERALDO: I did before, but not anymore. I can't do it anymore.
LaVOY: When did you find that you had to have hip surgery?
PERALDO: Because my back is almost killing me. I had a backache so much, and I was working in the hospital, was still working on the thrift shop, and then I went to see Dr. Burch because my back was killing me, and he say, "Lizzie, that's not your back." I say, "Good. What is it?"
LaVOY: There's a story that I think is rather interesting. I don't know whether you care to tell it or not, but when you went for your--I don't know whether it was the first surgery or the second surgery---what happened to you?
PERALDO: My first one they forget the ball. You know, they put a little ball there in the socket. It was too big. They can't make it, so I need to be operated on twice the same day because they need to call Sacramento to send the right ball. One people go from Fallon to Reno, and the other guy come from Sacramento to Fallon that way, and I was operated on twice.
LaVOY: You mean to tell me that they had cut your leg open .
PERALDO: Oh, yeah, and then they didn't--I don't think he check, and when he opened the kit, the ball was too big. Can't put it in, so he sewed me back.
LaVOY: You mean, they sewed you back up?
PERALDO: That's right.
LaVOY: Had they removed the bone?
PERALDO: I don't know what they did. Really I don’t. They do it twice.
LaVOY: They sewed you up, took you back to the room. When the socket arrived, they opened you up again, and put the socket in.
PERALDO: Yeah.
LaVOY: Oh, my! That horrifies me.
PERALDO: And the second one-
LaVOY: You were brave enough to go back to the same doctor for the second one?
PERALDO: Yeah. It was not his fault because it was not the right packet. I need to do it. I can't walk anymore. I was holding on the little wall to go to the bathroom. No, I can't walk anymore. I need to do it.
LaVOY: So, the second time you didn't have any problems?
PERALDO: Oh, no. It was in the new hospital [Churchill Community Hospital]. I went to see him one year later, last month, and he say, "This one is good. That's good." The other one even when he put it back in, he broke the bone, so he put a wire there, and you can see the wire in the x-ray. That's why someday, I think, I'm going to have trouble there, but up to now I'm okay.
LaVOY: When they tried to put in the second ball, they broke the bone.
PERALDO: Yeah, and they put a wire. You can see the wire there.
LaVOY: In the x-ray.
PERALDO: Yeah. He say, "This one is good." "Yeah," I told him. "I know I have got wire there for the rest of my life."
LaVOY: And he laughed?
PERALDO: I like him, though. He's a good doctor.
LaVOY: Well, that's amazing to me that you've had all things in your life, and you still have such a wonderful sense of humor. (laughing)
PERALDO: What else you want to do. You can die.
LaVOY: Have both of your parents passed away?
PERALDO: Oh, yes. My mother was seventy-eight, and my dad was just sixty-four.
LaVOY: And it was ten years ago that you went back to visit?
PERALDO: Uh-huh.
LaVOY: Are your brothers still living?
PERALDO: I lost my brother, Robert, on January 4 this year.
LaVOY: But the other three are still living and your sister?
PERALDO: No, my sister [Jean Van Onacker] passed away. She was a great one to give blood. That one did. They even come and pick her up. She had the O negative blood, and then when they need that in the hospital now and then, they come and pick her up. And then she died of blood clot.
LaVOY: Oh. that doesn't seem fair, does it?
PERALDO: No, it was not fair, and she was fifty-five.
LaVOY: Very young. You mentioned that your mother passed away at seventy-eight. You've had such an interesting life. Extremely so. Getting back to when your husband passed away, was the funeral held in Fallon?
PERALDO: Yes. He had a military service.
LaVOY: And he is buried…
PERALDO: In the Peraldo plot.
LaVOY: In the cemetery here?
PERALDO: Yeah.
LaVOY: Well, this has been very, very interesting. I'm very happy to know that you were so readily accepted by the people of Fallon when you came over here.
PERALDO: Yeah. I have just one little thing I've got to say about Melba Bowman. Maybe you will know her. Her husband was in the bank. It was a little bank there. She married Bill Bowman. She was making fun of me. We was on a party there on my sorority meeting. We had a dinner, and she was making fun of me because I have an accent, and I know I have. That's why I don't want to talk because I know I have an accent.
LaVOY: But's it a delightful one.
PERALDO: Well, I don't know. (laughing) And Roy Durbin was there. Roy Durbin, Doe's husband. It was a husband and wife dinner. He say, "Listen, Lady. You don't even speak good English, and she speaks two languages." After that she was the best friend I ever had.
LaVOY: Oh, for heaven sake.
PERALDO: He take my side.
LaVOY: Well, I think it's very difficult when you come from a foreign country, and come, especially, to a rural area, it's hard for people to . . . well, I won't say to accept you because it's not accept you, but people have a hard time understanding other languages, and Fallon was very good about taking you. You only had one or two incidents.
PERALDO: Just one, I guess. Just Melba, but I don't think she meant nothing bad. She was laughing at me. (laughing)
LaVOY: And the other gentleman straightened out the situation.
PERALDO: Oh, yeah. They was good friends. We was good friends.
LaVOY: Now that your husband has passed away, and you are here on your property, what do you do for hobbies now?
PERALDO: I still have my sorority to go to.
LaVOY: Are you still doing your beautiful embroidery?
PERALDO: Oh, yes.
LaVOY: How many hours a day do you spend on it, or do you?
PERALDO: In the wintertime I do them in the afternoon, and in the morning I clean house. (laughing) But in the summertime I work outside. My hoses and cleanup.
LaVOY: Taking care of your garden.
PERALDO: Yeah, and then I take care of them kids. Them kids always come to see me.
LaVOY: Now you have three of Mario's children?
PERALDO: Yeah. They always come. And Gina tell me, "I love this house. I want to have this house when you are done." (laughing) I said, "Good, Sweetie, you can have it." (laughing)
LaVOY: Now, all three children are dancers?
PERALDO: Yes.
LaVOY: Do you go to all of their programs?
PERALDO: Oh, yes. I need to be 'cause I be in the doghouse if I don't. (laughing)
LaVOY: One of the twins has just received a nice honor. What was that?
PERALDO: She's going to go to New York to dance on the big thing there.
LaVOY: She's going to the Joffrey School?
PERALDO: Yes, in New York for a month.
LaVOY: How did she happen to get accepted there?
PERALDO: She went to Reno. They wanted, she was invited to Reno, and she danced there, and she practiced there, and they take her.
LaVOY: Did she receive the invitation from the Joffrey School, or did she have to apply for it?
PERALDO: No, I think they invited her from there.
LaVOY: Oh, after they saw her dance?
PERALDO: Yes. I think the people from Reno send to . . . I think that's what happened. I don't know for sure.
LaVOY: That's so interesting because maybe she'll be dancing in Europe.
PERALDO: Well, no, she wants to be a school teacher. She's used it as a hobby.
LaVOY: Are there any other stories that you'd like to tell me about your life in Fallon?
PERALDO: No, I don't think so. I think I've talked enough. (laughing)
LaVOY: I think that this has been very, very interesting, and if there's nothing else, I will say thank you very much on behalf of the Churchill County Museum Oral History Project. And this is the end of the interview.
PERALDO: Sure!
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