Fernando Antonio Amorim, my Father's father, was born on 18 May 1895, in a town called São Sebastião do Rio Bonito-RJ, up in the mountains of the state of Rio de Janeiro, near Rio Prêto (Black River) on the border with the state of Minas Gerais. He married Albina Rosa de Jesus on 2nd February 1918. Both of them and most of their extended families migrated to Ourinhos-SP in the state of São Paulo, on the border of the state of Paraná. They lived in Ourinhos in the 1920s where they had most of their children (Antonia 1921, João 1923, Mário 1925, Dulce 1929 and Cláudio 1931) and due to the advent of the so-called 1932 Revolution, they moved to Marília-SP, where they had 2 more children, namely Luiz, in 1934, and Maria Rosa, in 1938.
My father João Amorim married Yolanda Darin, on 18 May 1945, the day Fernando Antonio turned 50 years old and. Four years later I was born on 18 May 1949, the day my grandfather turned 54.
My earliest memories of being alive is when Mother, Father & older brother Fernando Neto lived at a little wooden house on Rua Nelson Spielmann, circa 1952. Around this time, Fernando Senior, who used to sell lottery tickets, hit the big time and won quite a large amount of money with which he finally had the chance to buy a house for his family. He bought a house on Rua Rio Claro, where he moved in with wife and children. As João was already married and living on Rua Nelson Spielmann, Fernando had a brand new wooden house built at the backyard, so João could move in with Yolanda, my brother & myself. Mother's favourite sister Nina, lived near by on Rua Rio Grande do Sul, with her husband Mingo Macera and kids Ariene (1938) & Aristeu (1942).
The main memory I have of this house was the newness of the wooden planks which looked clean and bright. Timber usually get darker with the passing of time. Our house in the back lot of our grandfather's house was cozy and dear. I remember the morning of 5 January 1953, when my younger brother was born. I woke up and couldn't find my Mother anywhere so I wondered around, got myself a pair of scissors, looked at the mirror and started cutting my hair. When adults saw my new hairdo they immediately took me to a barber shop and had my head shaved. Later on I was taken to Maternity Gota de Leite where I visited my Mother at her maternity bed and met the new baby. Oh, what a feeling!
Sooner than later Fernando got imbroiled in a fracas with the owner of a coffee toaster site nearby which spewed pollution on the air. Grandpa was unhappy with the mess it caused in our backyard. I can imagine Vovô, being a Taurean, would be writhing madly. On top of that Luiz, who was 18, bred pigeons and someone out there was deliberately shooting them birds dead. As a true Taurean, Vovô was really unhappy and he managed to sell our houses on Rio Claro and buy another on Rua Rodrigues Alves on the other side of town, a neighbourhood that had been the town's bordello area in the 30s & 40s. Most business and dwellers had already moved to a place near the Cemetery called Vila Miranda. Not all people went away though.
Grandpa did the wrong thing for he ended up losing all properties and went back to pay rent forever.
In the meantime, Antonia, who had been working in Baurú where she met and became engaged to a German-Brazilian called Günther, who she married and was setting up shop in Baurú, where they lived in a fairly large house. Antonia must have had the time of her life for she always had social aspirations and now she had seen and conquered. After Antonia left for Baurú, we didn't stay too long in the place. Vovô rented a house for him, Albina, Luiz, Maria Rosa and Nadir on Rua Mato Grosso. My father found another house on the same rua Mato Grosso and we moved in too.
Now, we finally settled down, even if both households had to pay rent... but that period turned out to be one of the best the Family enjoyed ever, for it was the last time we lived to together, not in the same house but as neighbours. Everything happened to us there.
At first we lived on a wooden house owned by a lady called Dona Cida and her husband 'seu' Aurélio Pasquarelli, who were originally from Barra-Bonita-SP. She doubled down as a part-time hairdresser and he worked at Companhia Paulista de Estrada de Ferro. They had an only son called Walter, in his early 20s. Walter was pretty good looking and the pride and joy of his mother. He worked as a clerk in a bank in downtown Marília. Walter was a man-about-town dressing well and going to the best dances. He subscribed to both 'O Cruzeiro' and 'Manchete', the top weekly illustrated magazines which brought all about beauty contests and popular music trends. Walter fancied popular singer Angela Maria so much so he'd found his bride-to-be in Santusa, a young lady who resembled the dark singer of his predilection. Some time in August 1956, Walter had his dream come true when Angela toured Marília and sang at the Hotel Líder gala ball. Walter managed to be on the list of those young men chosen to dance with the great star. Not long after Walter danced with Angela Maria, he announced his wedding date, so our Family had to vacate the premises; that is, we had to move out of the wooden house owned by his parents for they would built a brand new brick house for their only son.
By 1955, Mario was already living and attending college in São Paulo. He wanted to become a social worker so he took a 2-year course at the Catholic University. After finishing Uni got himself a job at sprawling Hospital das Clínicas, the largest hospital in South America. Mario had hit the big time coming from such humble beginnings. He bought himself a motorcycle and rode 500 km from São Paulo to Marília where he was received as a sort of a hero. He had plans to get married which he did in .
While I was growing up in the mid-1950s, my Grandfather's work load had decreased but he was still traveling around to peddle European fashion magazines around São Paulo State and Paraná, which was supposed to be booming financially. He would take sons João, Luiz, Cláudio, nephew José Martins, and sometimes my cousin Nézinho aka Detefon or Jurandyr... to sell what they called 'figurinos', in Paraná. I think José Coelho had gone in one of these trips and decided to move to Paranavaí-PR and work as a taxi driver. He was an impulsive type of person...so he moved there with wife & kids but it didn't take long for him to realize he had done the wrong thing and so he returned to Marília and asked his father-in-law to live with Fernando & Albina. All their children had either married or moved out.
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