JOHN AND AGNES NARYAUCKAS: COMING TO AMERICA

My father and mother were born in Kovno, Lithuania. They knew each other there, got together and decided to try for a life in America. They inquired how to do it, and got passage on a boat to Baltimore, Maryland. They had no "till" and my mother, Agnes, got married to a Mr. Macis (to secure her citizenship in the U.S.A.). She didn't know English, so she went to a night school for quite awhile and got to speak it well enough to get by. My dad somehow joined the Navy. He could speak 4 languages: Lithuanian, Polish, Russian , and English. His full name was John Naryauckas. While in the Navy he learned to be a machinist.

Then my mother's husband [Mr. Macis] died and mom and dad [John Naryauckas] got together in Baltimore and were married there. I forgot to tell you they got together on the boat to America. It was in the bottom quarters with many others all on the way to America. Their conditions weren't too special, but they were grateful to get passage.

After a few years in Baltimore my dad retired from the Navy. He heard of people getting work at Mare Island Navy Yard, so Mom and Dad travelled cross country to Vallejo which was across the bay from San Francisco and one mile from Mare Island Navy Yard. Yes. He was lucky and got a job as a machinist the first time he applied. He worked there for about 10 years.

In Vallejo they had lotteries. He bought a $1.00 ticket and won $9,000. He bought a new Cadillac and purchased a ranch of 54 acres in Calaveras County which was about 50 miles from Sacramento. It had a fish stream running by the house, and a big forest of pine trees.

Within a year or two, we all moved to Southern California. My dad got work at the S.C. Gas Co. as a machinist. We lived in Monterey Park. I went to Alhambra Hi (one mile from there). I was on their Golf Team all 4 years, and in their Hall of Fame in Sports.

My Dad passed away a few years after that. We bought a home in Los Angeles about one mile from the Coliseum. My mother lived there for about 10 years.

In the Monterey Park home, my mother had varicose veins real bad. But would walk one mile to a convent to work scrubbing floors for $5 a day just to buy food for us. That included my brother Robert. My sister Ann worked at Goodyear Tire co. So my life wasn't too pleasant in my early years.

My sister Ann sold the Ranch for $57,000 to help our mother in her last years.