From Ecuador to Michigan: Jose Alvarado's Journey

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Jose Alvarado's remarkable life journey spans continents, cultures, and challenges that have forged him into a man with powerful wisdom to share. Born in Ecuador in 1957, Jose's childhood transformed when his mother moved the family to New York City seeking better opportunities. The stark transition from playing in South American jungles to navigating the concrete streets of the Bronx marked the beginning of a journey filled with pivotal moments.

During his turbulent teenage years in New York, Jose found himself drawn into gang life until a letter from his grandfather, an ex-military man in Ecuador, sparked a profound change. At just seventeen, he made the decision to enlist in the United States Army, seeing it as an escape from street life where "either I get killed here or I get killed there." This choice became the foundation for everything that followed.

Jose's military career took him to Panama where he served as an "aggressor," training soldiers in jungle survival techniques—work perfectly suited to his South American upbringing. His identity as one of the "Red Devils" came with pride and purpose, though it ended earlier than planned due to a career-altering injury during his final helicopter repelling exercise. This physical challenge has remained with him for decades, a reminder of his service and sacrifice.

After the military, Jose discovered his talent for automotive repair almost by accident when his Toyota broke down. Teaching himself through manuals and determination, he built a successful career as a mechanic that eventually led him to establish Doc's Automotive in Michigan. His business philosophy mirrors the values learned through military service: integrity, knowledge-sharing, and building something that outlasts you.

Today, Jose finds his greatest joy in teaching his grandchildren practical lessons about the world—from using magnifying glasses to identifying north by looking at trees. Each lesson carries the echo of what his grandfather taught him, creating a beautiful continuity across generations. Through pain, challenges, and triumphs, Jose has maintained a profoundly human message: "We all should take care of each other, no matter what, because this world is only one, this life is only one."

What will you learn from the stones Jose has placed along his path?

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Today is Friday, june 27th.
We're here with Jose Alvarado,who served in the United States
Army.
So good morning Jose, goodmorning Dave.
Thanks for being here thismorning.
My honor again.
All right, so we'll start outsimple.
When and where were you born?

Speaker 2 (00:13):
I was born on May 5th 1957 in South America, ecuador.
Okay, now did you grow up inEcuador?
I grew up until I was 12 and ahalf years old, my ecuador.
I grew up until I was 12 and ahalf years old.
Okay, my mother did move in1968, 69, here to new york city
or there to new york city, and acouple of years later she uh
got us back into, uh, back tonew york city okay, now what was

(00:36):
it?
like being a kid in southamerica I loved it at then, at
that time, remembering that Iwas able to play soccer at one
point in the middle of the day,but nowadays you can't because
it's too hot.
That's the only thing that Ican remember from playing in
them days.
Do you have brothers andsisters One brother and two

(00:56):
sisters.

Speaker 1 (00:56):
Okay, all born in Ecuador, then yes, Okay.
And so what prompted your momto move to New York City?
She?

Speaker 2 (01:05):
became a well lady.
She used to deliver babies andshe was doing what she did and I
guess she went into.
She wanted to come to theUnited States because it was a
better place to make somethingout of ourselves.
I guess I didn't know nothingabout it.
Besides, you know stuff.
I guess I didn't know nothingabout it.

(01:27):
Besides, you know.
Follow what she did and, uh,when she did that, we all came
to this country and it wasbeautiful.
I remember the first time thatwe seen the bathtub, really, I
thought, yeah, the bathtub.
We thought it was a swimmingpool, so it was.
It was a beautiful, uh thing.
When we came to this country itwas September of 1970, I think

(01:47):
it was Okay, if I remembercorrectly, okay.

Speaker 1 (01:50):
And then I'm just going to ask, because we didn't
really talk about this at thetime what about your father?

Speaker 2 (01:54):
My dad.
He wasn't around, but I didmeet him in the years later on.
I'm going to say 2013.
Passed away about uh four yearsago okay it was 91 years old,
okay, so you did sort ofreconnect with him then later on
I just wanted to make sure thatmy uh, my conscience was clear,

(02:18):
knowing that I did met the manthat brought me to this life
okay all right, so let's talkabout growing up in New York
City.

Speaker 1 (02:26):
I'm assuming you lived there right up through the
time you joined the service.
Yes, sir.

Speaker 2 (02:31):
From Brooklyn.
I went to school a couple ofschools did okay learned the
language.
We moved back up to the Bronx,joined gangs.
After that I was not a good kidand of course I was a follower
at that point and I got introuble with this gang and

(02:53):
finally decided that it wasn'tgood for me.
My grandpa got in my casebecause my grandpa was an
ex-military back in my countryand he sent me a letter stating
that I wasn't good and I was notright.
Blah, blah, blah.
I still have that letter, as amatter of fact.
It makes me choke up.

Speaker 1 (03:17):
He cared enough to say something to you.

Speaker 2 (03:19):
Yes, sir, yeah, sorry You're fine, you're fine.
But he changed my whole life.
Yeah, sorry, you're fine,you're fine, but he changed my
whole life.
Yeah, I decided to change.
And again I said that, like Isaid, I went to the station and
this gentleman that says takethe test, pass the test line
colors, I guess Guy says youknow, just be in Ludlow Street

(03:41):
and Broadway at 4.30 in themorning, the bus will pick you
up.
You know, just be in LudlowStreet and Broadway at 4 30 in
the morning, the bus would pickyou up.
I remember going into that bus,you know, not knowing what was
on the other side of that wallnow you?
You fibbed about your age rightwhen you first talked to him
yes, I said it was, I was 18 andthe reality I was only 17 and a
half.
I think it was okay.
I remember correctly but thatcannot go back to that how old I

(04:05):
was, to be honest with you, butI think I was less than 18, if
I remember correctly but youtake the test, you pass with
flying colors and test it withno issues and that was that so
you hop on a bus at 4.30 in themorning 4.30 in the morning, the
bus was so quiet.

(04:26):
I remember that.
It's like you know, you say hito each other and then the seats
, and it's like, uh, once youget out, once, once you get to
the base, you know the firstthing.
You see a couple of drillsergeants outside and you think
like it's gonna be all cool andthe first thing get the f out of
my bus.
You, you know, oh yeah.
And that was the beginning of ohmy God, what did I get myself

(04:49):
into?
But I was glad that I did itbecause my mom didn't want me to
go in, because she says, well,why are you doing this?
You know what about if theVietnam War keeps going?
You know, blah, blah, blah.
And I says, mom, it doesn'tmatter, either I get killed here
or I get killed there.
So I'd rather learn somethingbetter than learning something

(05:10):
stupid here in this in new yorkcity right.

Speaker 1 (05:13):
Well, and when you're in the gangs, I mean really,
there's only two.
You're either going to end upin prison or end up dead right.
One of the two, yeah I thinkeveryone I know that was
involved in some criminalactivity.
There was only two ways to go.

Speaker 2 (05:25):
Two ways yep.
And my only way was that one.
Yeah, I'm glad.

Speaker 1 (05:30):
Yeah, here you are today talking with me.
So you went to Fort Dix, NewJersey.
Is that where you took yourbasic?

Speaker 2 (05:36):
Fort Dix, new Jersey, basic training and then Fort
Benning, georgia, for the AITadvanced training.

Speaker 1 (05:42):
So you were infantry.

Speaker 2 (05:43):
Yes, okay, I was infantry Once I did that, 1978,
uh, uh, reenlisted for anotherfour years, uh-huh, and that's
when I, uh, they sent me toPanama, which I loved it.

Speaker 1 (05:56):
Yeah, it's almost home right, as a matter of fact
yes, it is, because it's jungle.

Speaker 2 (06:02):
I was born in the jungle, you know, and to me the
jungles was like the backyardsof my house, my cousins, we used
to play.
As a matter of fact, I tell mygrandkids now, in them days, our
weapons, because that's what mygrand says, you know, because I
don't call it gun, I call itweapon.
Right, I says my weapon was astick.
You know, they laughed likecrazy because I take the stick

(06:25):
and I start going and theylaughed like crazy.
I said but that was my weapon.
Now you guys have all thebeautiful make-believe weapons.
It's not like we didn't havenone of that, right.
You had imagination, we had agreat imagination.
We didn't have iPads, we didn'thave none of that stuff.
Right, the world was outsideplaying all the time, climbing

(06:47):
trees, you know, jumping to thelakes or the rivers, blah, blah,
blah.

Speaker 1 (06:51):
But we have fun yeah, so, yeah, make your own fun.
Right, that's right?
Yeah, absolutely so.
You, um, you came in, went tobasic training, went to ait, so
you were kind of on the.
Was that the downside ofVietnam then?

Speaker 2 (07:07):
Vietnam.
I ended in 75.
I can't remember exactly when,but to me it wasn't facing me
anything like.
I mean, I wasn't facing nothingthat scared me.
To me, what scared me more wasgetting hurt somewhere back in
new york city, which it was aworse jungle, I think yeah yeah,

(07:29):
the 70s were tough in new york.

Speaker 1 (07:31):
It was, it was, I don't think people remember that
yeah you couldn't go down totimes square.
Yep, it was not the touristtrap that it is today.

Speaker 2 (07:39):
No, no, it was really bad.

Speaker 1 (07:40):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
So you end up going to panama,then you end up not going to
vietnam, but going to panama.

Speaker 2 (07:47):
I stayed in panama yet, uh, and became a more of a
uh, uh, uh.
How would you call that?
Uh, an aggressor?
Uh-huh, that's what I was.
So all that, all we did, wasjust, you know, make sure that
these guys learn how to survivethat jungle.
You know Right, and I never gotlost in the jungle.

Speaker 1 (08:06):
That's the greatest thing ever.
I can't tell you how many timesI've been lost.

Speaker 2 (08:11):
It's just like you know, teaching, like my
grandkids, one of the thingsthat I thought.
The other day my littlegrandkid comes over, he takes a
magnifying glass, you know, outof the drawer.
He's playing with it.
It is very hot outside so hegoes outside with it, he's
playing with, looking at likethis, and I said what are you
doing?
He's not playing.

(08:32):
I says, papa, you can't playwith that, that's very dangerous
for your eyes.
Number one he's looking at thesun.
Number two you can start a fire.
He said no, you can't.
How you start a fire, papa.
And I showed them took a pieceof paper, took the sun and the
fire started and their face litup like wow, wow.
I said that's how, camilo, playwith that, because it's kind of
dangerous.
I said you can start a fire andthat's no good.

(08:54):
And they are, they learn in aheartbeat.
I mean one time and they knowit all already.

Speaker 1 (09:03):
Yeah, they're like little sponges, right, they just
soak up all that information.
I'm telling you.

Speaker 2 (09:08):
And that's what keeps me going.
Yeah, otherwise I don't knowwhere the hell I'd be with my
crazy mind.
Let's put it that way yeah.
Because right now I'm goingthrough a lot of pain and don't
know what it is.

Speaker 1 (09:20):
They can't figure me out and I got to live with it,
yeah, so I think that's relatedto your time in Panama.

Speaker 2 (09:27):
It is because, again, we talked about this stuff, the
guys, and it's like you know,why are we going through what
we're going through?
It doesn't make no sense Allthese years since I got out, the
day that I got out, it was morebecause it was the last jump of
a, of a, uh, repelling of ahelicopter, uh, right into the

(09:48):
jungle and, uh, I hurt prettybad on the side, came back out,
uh, I waited about six years.
Of course, I stayed on theresearch for six years to make
sure that I can go back, cause Iwanted to make it a career
Right, and my grandpa did it andI'm like I wanted the same
thing.
My grandpa was my dad inreality.

(10:11):
He was there for me all thattime.
Yeah, but the day that thathappened, I remember I couldn't
go back into the jungle.
It killed me.
Yeah.
It just I didn't know what wasgoing on and all these other
things with sinuses issues andthings coming out of your body

(10:34):
popping out, and we didn'tunderstand what it was, and come
to find out, even pictures fromwhere, in the barracks where we
used to live, my wife, myex-wife and my first kid yeah,
pictures.

Speaker 1 (10:50):
So how long were you in Panama then?

Speaker 2 (10:52):
So 1978, so almost four and a half years.

Speaker 1 (10:56):
Okay, and this is where you met your first wife.

Speaker 2 (10:58):
No, here in Kansas City.

Speaker 1 (11:00):
Oh, in Kansas City.

Speaker 2 (11:03):
That's my first son that was born there.

Speaker 1 (11:07):
That's really cool.
Oh my gosh.

Speaker 2 (11:10):
That goes back to when I got out.

Speaker 1 (11:13):
You look so young.

Speaker 2 (11:15):
Right.

Speaker 1 (11:16):
Wow, new York City, that's great.

Speaker 2 (11:19):
Don't forget where we come from, right.
Yeah, that's one thing.

Speaker 1 (11:22):
Yeah, so walk me through this.
I want to make sure I got thetiming correct.
So you uh, go to ait down atbenning.
And then where did you go frombenning?
Did you go right to panama, ordid you go to okay?
And so how did you?
How did you meet your firstwife?
In fort raleigh kansas so thisis after you got back from

(11:42):
Panama.

Speaker 2 (11:43):
No, no, no, no.
That's before we went to Panama.

Speaker 1 (11:45):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (11:47):
Go to a bar, blah blah blah.
They got dancing, all thatstuff.
I was a good dancer, you know,yeah, Probably still are, yeah.
And of course there's thischick, you know, blah blah blah.
She wants to dance with them.
That's how we met and theydidn't know that she was only 17
, and I was already what?
18 and a half, I think, 19.
So she was very younger than meand they didn't know that, and

(12:11):
their parents signed to marryher, Okay, and then she went
down to Panama with us.

Speaker 1 (12:18):
Okay, all right, I understand now, so yeah.
So how long were you datingbefore you got married?

Speaker 2 (12:25):
I'm going to say about six months.
That was stupid.

Speaker 1 (12:29):
You know how stupid it is when you're young you do
things, Yep.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (12:33):
Yeah, I remember in that bar we were so like
invisible, you know taking shotsof 151 rum.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (12:41):
Bacardi, I used to go to parties where they would put
some in the ashtray and thenset it on fire and it would like
burn all night.

Speaker 2 (12:47):
yep, yeah you should drink that up.
Yeah, it was fun, but who knowswhat the heck is happening now.
So right.

Speaker 1 (12:54):
So you, you actually it's an accompanied tour down to
panama, then, so your wife goeswith you and you have your
first son.
He's's born.

Speaker 2 (13:02):
Right there in Panama .

Speaker 1 (13:03):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (13:03):
Fort Davis, Panama.

Speaker 1 (13:04):
Yeah, and then.
So how old was he when you leftPanama?

Speaker 2 (13:09):
He was two years old, okay.

Speaker 1 (13:11):
Yeah, all right, and so you were really down there.
Kind of training people Is thatsort of what your job was.

Speaker 2 (13:19):
Yeah, yeah, aggressor .
Yeah, exactly what he was anaggressor.
Okay.
You know, and just making surethat these guys didn't go the
wrong way, uh-huh the map likeagain.
You know the things that youlearn and you still don't stop
learning.
You know, right, as old as youget and I'm still learning.

Speaker 1 (13:43):
I mean up to now.
Yeah, if you stop learningthere's a problem, because then
you think you know everythingright.

Speaker 2 (13:47):
There's times now that even my brain is not
working correctly.
I says you know, people look atme, you know, and they are like
we get together, we look ateach other, take our hats off.
First thing that says why areyou painting your hair?
And I'm like I don't do that.
This is my original hair.

Speaker 1 (14:02):
They don't want to believe that because their hair
doesn't look that nice.

Speaker 2 (14:04):
Right the old white hair.

Speaker 1 (14:08):
Happens to some of us .

Speaker 2 (14:11):
Yeah, it's something that comes up every time we got
together.
It's like you know.
No, I don't paint my hair.
I hate chemicals.
I try to eat right.
Better stay away from sugar now, especially with all this stuff
.
Get my own vitamins, becauseI'm just looking out for myself.
Nowadays, you can't depend onthe doctors.

(14:32):
Nowadays, you got to look afteryourself.

Speaker 1 (14:36):
You get one body.
You got to take care of it,exactly.
So you leave Panama with yourwife and your son.
Where did you go from there?
Back to New York, oh, back toNew York.
Okay, new York.
And you're still in the Army atthis time.

Speaker 2 (14:51):
I was in the reserves .
Okay, I signed up.
After that, after I got out, Iwent to South Carolina, north
Carolina, and I signed upanother six years to be in the
reserves, just in case because Iwant to recoup, yeah, but it
didn't happen.
I tried so hard it didn'thappen.
Something was not right.
And my back, just in all theseyears I never used the

(15:13):
government, the VA, because atthat time I was thinking there
was a lot of veterans that cameout from Vietnam that need that
more than me, and I never usedit, even though the guys telling
me that's kind of stupid not todo that because you earned that
, and I'm like, hmm, neverthought of it.
And it's kind of funny becauseI never said that I served the

(15:34):
country, even when I was workingat the township back in 98.
Never talked about it.
I never did want to talk aboutit.
Uh, until about seven years agosomething stupid happened and
and I says to myself, I says,before I do something stupid
that I'm gonna regret, I'drather wear the hat, yeah,

(15:59):
stating that that's what I,that's where I've been.
I like that hat, I don't.
I don't think I want to dostupidity or hurt somebody.
Right, that's, that was themain thing, and ever since then
it's like I have worn the hatvery proudly, which I didn't
want to do because, again,excuse me, bill, oh, you're fine

(16:21):
, I'm gonna go get some tissuepaper, I'll be right back.

Speaker 1 (16:24):
anyway, excuse me, bill.
Oh, you're fine, I'm going togo get some tissue paper.

Speaker 2 (16:27):
I'll be right back, anyway, especially when all
these great brothers went thereand did what they had to do to
come back out and be calledchild killers.
People didn't have no idea whatthey all went through Not at

(16:47):
all.
Not one bit, I think, and itkind of hurt.
That's one of the things that Inever want to say, because the
first thing that they wanted todo is look at you, especially if
you wore a hat.
They look at you like a babykiller or something like that
kind of stuff.
You know, and and it wasdisgusting and that's how I

(17:11):
never said anything until aboutseven, six, six, seven years ago
.
As a matter of fact, it was 2019when my commanding in chief,
which was mr trump, and all thishate, came around.
I went for pain management andafter that I came back.
My whole right side wascompletely worse than what it

(17:33):
was.
It didn't make no sense, but upto today, I'm still thinking
that this country and the racismis so, so sad, because we all
have the same values.
You know, right, no matter whatkind of person, animal, you are
, especially animals you know,if we don't take care of them,

(17:55):
who's going to take care of them?
Right, same thing with us, butmy mind goes in so many places
nowadays that I can't thinkstraight anymore.
Yeah, you know.
Yeah, you know, because intrying to cover all the hurt,
right, right, it's just like allthese years, you know, I said

(18:23):
to myself I want to give my kidsthe stuff that I never had,
which I did.

Speaker 1 (18:30):
Yeah, I think that's a thing that parents really,
really strive to do is to givetheir.

Speaker 2 (18:36):
you know we all want our kids to have a better life
than we had and you know I knowyour son, so I know that he's
there, yeah, and the worst thingabout this is what kills me is
having my two oldest sons one ofthem have to live next to the
VA hospital in Ann Arbor becausehe's got to get infusions every

(18:58):
month.
And that's the only thing thatI regret about no-transcript and
him looking up to me, knowingthat I would try to be a great

(19:20):
soldier, and he tried to do thesame thing, but instead he
rebelled, he changed, he wastelling me how they brainwash
you in there.
And I says to him son, they'renot trying to brainwash you,
they're just trying to teach youthe worst thing scenario.

(19:42):
You know, because that's what Iwill do for you.
It says I don't want you to gethurt, Just like they will not
want you to get hurt.
They're just training you.
You know Right.
But and I think finally heunderstood that, yeah.

Speaker 1 (19:54):
Yeah.
So let's back up a little bitto you and a little bit to you.
End up back in New York City.
You're in the reserves for sixyears.
What are you doing for a livingwhile you're in New York?

Speaker 2 (20:05):
Thank God for my stepdad, my stepdad.
He was a they call it asuperintendent this big building
which they have a rock can'tremember the name of the players
, but they have big people thatlived in this building, so we
had to go and buff the floors.
Blah, blah, blah, mop thefloors.
That's how I started.

(20:25):
I went back and I had a joblike that and kept me busy.
My mind was not right, though.
It was really bad, and Idivorced my wife, and my wife
took off and went to Canada.
My ex-wife right and, as amatter of fact, she just left
with my kids.
So you had two, two boys at myfirst wife too okay, yeah, so

(20:51):
she took off to canada because Iwas going bananas, right, and I
can't blame her.
Uh, uh, I try to straightenmyself up and and all he was is
the whole time was just the painthat I was going through.
And I'm still going through it.
It's just that a certain timeyou start as a man.

(21:12):
You start thinking, hey, put itaway, think about keeping
yourself up there, right?

Speaker 1 (21:18):
yeah, push it down.
Don't talk about all the thingsyou're not supposed to do,
because it hurts you it hurtsmore yeah mentally it really
does.
So how, how long?
How long did you stay in newyork then?
So?

Speaker 2 (21:29):
1992 may.
As a matter of fact, before mayof 1992 we came here.
My younger sister moved herewith her husband and he found a
job here.
That a gentleman from New Yorkcame here and opened up a
business Inco Graphics, theyused to call it, or they still

(21:50):
call it so he moved out here andwe came out here in May of the
year before that, and this wasmy wife now.
Okay, so did you meet yourcurrent wife in new york, then
well, I knew her okay, I knewher because, uh, she used to
live in the same building whereI used to live.
Oh, so I kind of knew her.
We met each other.

(22:11):
As a matter of fact, uh, I mether again in the blackout of
1977.
I think it is okay.

Speaker 1 (22:19):
Yeah, when all the.

Speaker 2 (22:20):
The New York blackout .
Yeah, that's where I met herand I went back into the
military and she got married andI got married and then when I
came back out, we met againafter my wife left, and that's
the story about that.
And I had my first kid and thesecond kid I moved out here and

(22:43):
it's beautiful out here comparedto new york city.
Uh, it was too fast.
It was too fast.
Uh, I was the type of personthat I hated to see, uh, bad
things happening compared towhat I used to do at one point.
Right, uh and I used to look atthat and I'm like I can't
believe that was myself at onepoint.
And I used to look at that andI'm like I can't believe that
was myself at one point and Iwas a type of person that had

(23:04):
changed.
I didn't want to see that.
I had kids right next to methat I didn't want them to see
that Right, and even the cornersof Broadway you know McLean
Avenue there'd be drug dealersin the corners and I'd be that
guy that pushes them away.
And it came to a point thatpeople are telling me you're

(23:25):
going to get killed.
I didn't care.
That's how bad it was.
I did not care.
I was a loose gun, let's put itthat way.
But the day that I came overhere, everything changed, came
back over here, went back to NewYork uh, champion Cadillac, I

(23:45):
was working for this dealer uh,cadillac dealer which in reality
the government sent me toschool for about a year and a
half before that, and then, fromthe school, went to write to a
Cadillac dealer Okay, workedthere for about nine years.
And then 1991 came here, 1992,we moved there and then two
years later, I bought my firsthouse.

Speaker 1 (24:07):
Yeah, so what did you do?
What did you do for work herein Michigan then?

Speaker 2 (24:11):
A mechanic.
Okay, so became a mechanic and,oh my God, well, going back a
little bit, so I had a littleToyota.
When I got out, you know, and Iwas going through all kinds of
stuff.
My wife left, blah, blah, blah,and I had this little Toyota.
I can't remember what year itwas, but I used to go from the
Anchors all the way to Tarrytown, which is about 15 miles, every

(24:35):
day, right In the snow.
This little car would take mefrom here to there without
issues.
The car broke down right in theparking lot of where I lived,
218 McLean Avenue.
I can never forget that.
Down the dirt I didn't knowwhat I was doing.
I knew how to check my oils,and this because I had to drive
my own Jeep back in the when Iwas in reconnaissance.

(24:56):
Yeah, but I was inreconnaissance, yeah, and so I
decided to go across the street,pick a book up and read on it
and look to see what was wrongwith the car.
It wouldn't go nowhere becauseit was a clutch.
Okay, anyway, opened up thebook, put it on jack stands, put
some blocks underneath there,take the transmission out, take
the part.

(25:16):
Right across the street to theparts store and the guy says
yeah, it'll be a couple of daysbefore I can get you that part.
I put it back together and Ifelt so freaking good after I
put it back together.
I didn't know what I was doing,but I was reading and then of
course the government calls meup again because when I got out
they wanted to recruit me to bea DEA agent because of the lingo
Okay, either there, florida, uh, or anywhere else in the

(25:42):
country, I guess, or out of thecountry because of my lingo.
But I couldn't do it because ithurt.
Otherwise I would have done ittoo, you know.
But I'm glad I didn't becausejust looking back at a lot of my
friends, how they have to lookbehind every time, I didn't want
to do that.
But once I fixed that car andthey says and I asked the

(26:03):
government is there any placethat I can go and learn how to
fix cars?
And the lady says, of course,and it was 10 miles from Yonkers
down to Manhattan.
Every day In one month I hadthree speeding tickets because I
had to get down to school,right, and after that I got one
of them, old radar detectors.

(26:24):
I remember that.
Oh, yeah, and.
I put it on and it never gotcaught again after that.
Up to today I never had anaccident car accident.
Two people have hit me, onerear-end me and the other one
T-boned me and I don't knowthat's part of my neck issue
anyway, oh my God.

Speaker 1 (26:47):
So working with your hands and fixing that car really
kind of.

Speaker 2 (26:53):
It put me on that path.
Yeah.
It put me on that path.
And again, once that ladycalled me up and she said send
me to that Cadillac dealer.
It's funny because the day 1991, when I told 1992, march or
February or March, I think itwas I went to, it was a union

(27:14):
shop, so they couldn't give youraises right away.
So I went back and I says hey,mr Chick, I got to tell you I'm
leaving, I'm not quitting, Ijust got to leave because I'm
moving from this country, fromthe state, and they didn't want
me to leave.
Jose, why are you leaving?

(27:36):
You know we can give you araise, we give you a raise.
I says it's not about that.
I says I want to get out ofthis crazy town.
I says I don't want to be here.
I says I'm going to dosomething stupid.
And.
I'm glad that I did.
I moved out of there, came overhere and it was beautiful.
There was no traffic, even whenI was, when I got.

(27:58):
Of course, after I got out, andI forgot to tell you I did
drive a taxi cab to New YorkCity.

Speaker 1 (28:03):
Oh no.

Speaker 2 (28:05):
And it was about seven months, I think it is and
I says to myself, nah, I can'tdo this Again.
My mind was just crazy,especially when stupidity was in
front of me, right, right, andI had to stay away from all that
.

Speaker 1 (28:21):
So you make it to Michigan then, and where did you
go to work?

Speaker 2 (28:24):
then I went to Sundance.

Speaker 1 (28:26):
Chevrolet.
Oh goodness, I'm very familiarwith them.
Mr Hank Okay, jerry Hanks Wentto school with my mom, actually.

Speaker 2 (28:34):
Really yeah.

Speaker 1 (28:34):
My mom knew him in high school.
Wow, that is unbelievable,ain't it?
It's a small, small world, itreally is.
Um, so you have two kids.
How old are your children thenat this point?
Uh, the oldest one or the onesnow?
Well, the ones that so, theones that you brought with you
to here in michigan?

Speaker 2 (28:52):
how old were they when you moved?
He was, uh, not even two yearsold, okay, uh, alex was about
four years old and danny wasabout seven.
Danny's my uh step kid, okayall right, and of course I'm um,
yeah, um, that's all there wasokay, um, so you're still pretty
young yeah, yeah, yeah went touh, sundance, uh-huh from

(29:16):
sundance, being like the stuffthat was going on there.

Speaker 1 (29:22):
Sometimes it's just not a fit right.

Speaker 2 (29:25):
That's what we'll say .
Well, and then of course end upat Dave Spaniak and Charlotte
and I used to drive all the wayfrom Okemos, 2213 Iroquois Road
and here in Okemos all the wayto Grand Ledge Every day.
I don't know how long it was,but there was a gentleman there

(29:46):
that he says he left DavisPontiac to go work for Capital
Cadillac.
And I knew him already.
Jesus, I can't remember hisname, but anyway, because he
knew I worked in Cadillac,because a couple of Cadillacs
went to Davis Pontiac, I wasable to fix them and they're
like, oh my God, are you kiddingme?
I don't have to send them allthe way to Capital blah, blah,

(30:06):
blah.
And of course he moved toCapital Cadillac First thing I
did.
He does 1990, oh my God, 1993.
Yeah, 1993.
He calls me up, he, jose, I gota job for you.

(30:26):
And I says what, davis pontiac?
Well, you go back to davispontiac and says no, capital
cadillac.
And I'm like, are you kiddingme?
Yeah, sure, I'll take it.
And uh, I'm 1993 to 1998.
So about five years I workedthere.
I just had some gentlemen thatcame in from corporate America
trying to change capitalCadillac, and I don't like

(30:47):
politics.
You know, I just put my keysdown and took my toolbox and
left and, as a matter of fact, Iwent, started a job here at the
township a Marine township, uh,became one of their mechanics
for the EMS, fire trucks and thepolice.
I loved the job too and I didnot like the politics.
Again, 2001, we decided to sellthe house that we bought here

(31:13):
in the Okemos just to move toFlorida, build a house in
Florida, come back after twoyears because it was too, too
hot and I'm from South America.
I figured that one out.

Speaker 1 (31:26):
Well, you got soft living up in New York, didn't
you?

Speaker 2 (31:30):
Very soft, I tell you , but yeah, that was it.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (31:36):
So where did you end up moving back to Okemos then?

Speaker 2 (31:39):
Yep, as a matter of fact, my back gave up so bad.
Uh, 2001, uh the, what do youcall it?
Yeah, when that planes hit the,uh, the building oh, yes to
relevant I was working.
As a matter of fact, uh, Iremember that day because I was
kind of frustrated for whathappened, and the the other one

(31:59):
is I remember me doing aserpentine belt on a semi truck
which I fell off the wheelbackwards.
And I had done martial arts,Even my kids, you know I teach
them and we went to class forthat.
Anyway, I come back in withanother vehicle and all I was

(32:22):
doing there Florida airconditioning.
That's all you did there that'sall.
I did bring this car in, pop thehood.
As soon as I pop the hood, Ifelt something else pop in my
back.
I heard it.
It was in my back and that'swhen, after that, the lady
screams and uh, of course youknow that the planes are hitting

(32:44):
the building.
I'm like, oh my god.
And that's when I decided itwas too hard for me.
Number one, number two, uh, Igot hurt and I couldn't do it
anymore.
We sold the house, came backhere because my, my son, we had
a house here already in Lansing.
I sold the one here but we hadone in Lansing.
Came back and my back was amess.

(33:07):
I couldn't walk.
They had me on rehab, they hadme on all kinds of things going
back and forth.
Finally came back here, went toDr Farrell and Dr oh my God, the
guy that did my surgery on mylower back, but anyways,
beautiful, great doctor.
So they both took care of me.

(33:29):
They looked at it blah blahblah had a herniated disc.
They fixed it.
Dr Flood, that was his name.
Dr Flood did the surgery on myback and not even three months
after that, I remember goingback and forth from Capital back
to Okemos and this littlebuilding where I have the shop
now there's only two garagebuilt, two car garage.

(33:53):
Kept going by there and I'msaying to myself, well, I can't
do this anymore, so what am Igoing to do?
Right?
Well, I decided to think, well,I've got a nephew that wants to
learn this, I can teach him.
And I says, well, okay, cool,I've got another, somebody else
that came in.
You know a parent.
Hey, you know, my son islooking for a job.
Blah, blah, blah, send him in,I'll teach him.

(34:15):
And that was my motto until thedate that 2019, as a matter of
fact, june 3rd of 2019, when Igot injected in my hole,
everything changed for me.

(34:35):
I came back to the shop and Isays to my guys I said sorry,
guys, but I'm done.
You know, I can't keep, I can'tdo it.
So the guy that worked for mefor about 10 years, says, well,
I don't have a job, you know, Irun it for you.
And I'm like, okay, well, andagain, all this whole time, what
I did was just teach a coupleof the guys that the trade,

(34:55):
because I passed on somethingthat was passed on to me and
that's just the way I work.
And ever since then, all thistime, I've been that type of
person that I just want to makesure everything is right.
I mean kind of like the way youfeel, I don't want to do the

(35:16):
wrong thing, period, everythinghas got to be right.
I don't want to do the rightthe wrong thing.
Period, everything has got tobe right.
And even in the shop, when Iused to get customers, you know,
ladies used to come in.
You know, oh, this shop istaking advantage of blah, blah,
blah, and I hated that becauseI'm like, how can people do that
?
And that was my motto.
My motto is you know, hey, thisis not right.
You just got to keep making theright, you know.
And and just, everything justfell in place, you know.

(35:40):
And again, uh, about two yearsago Anthony was working at the
shop.
I said, son, you can, you can,you don't know that the business
number one.
The only way that this is goingto happen is that we're going
to have to invite professionalswith licenses that know what
they're doing, not trainees, notsomebody that you want to teach

(36:00):
like I have done.
That's how I never becamewealthy, because you know, I did
the right thing and I'm so gladabout it.

Speaker 1 (36:08):
Right.

Speaker 2 (36:08):
Well, you laid the foundation, I laid the
foundation.
Yeah, Exactly yeah.
And once that happened againyou know, not even two years ago
now he decided to go on with it, marketing and doing all this,
and he's doing real good he is.

Speaker 1 (36:26):
You know he's doing real good.

Speaker 2 (36:28):
And I'm so proud of him, you know.

Speaker 1 (36:31):
Well, and you've hired the right people.
There too, I've done businesswith you.
You've got the right people inthere.
Yeah.
Which is important.

Speaker 2 (36:37):
It's very important and it's kind of that's another
one that I used to tell anthonybecause we got cameras in the
shop and, uh, there's times thatI will look at the cameras and
I may you know like somethingmight happen.
Blah, blah, blah.
We look at the cameras and Iwill see a, an employee.
When I look at an employee, Iknow that he wants to work, he,

(36:59):
he wants to survive, he wantshe's hungry, right, that's the
type of person that we want, notthe one that's going to put his
hands in his pocket and, youknow, kind of slow, going into
the shop or coming in one minutebefore eight o'clock.
No, you don't want that Guy,there be 15 minutes before your
job.
You know, right, 15 minutes foryour job.
You know, right, you never gowrong.

(37:23):
Do one deed every day.
You can never go wrong.
And they learned that.
And you know, as a matter offact, again, that Chad, which is
my main mechanic there, thatkid man, I'm telling you, his
dad just recently passed away,last year from cancer and I kind
of stepped in for him because,you know, even his dad praised

(37:46):
me for doing the things for him,making him what he is, and I
says I didn't do nothing.
All I did was guide him right,says I was taught that way
guidance Guidance.
If I can do it with everybodyelse, I'm doing great and I'm
glad.
I'm glad.

Speaker 1 (38:06):
So how long has Doc's Automotive been in business?

Speaker 2 (38:10):
So March 29th that's when I first got my license from
the state.
Again, March 4th is when I gotmy surgery.
March 29th I went right aroundthe corner from uh, from uh,
from the shop uh, and got mylicense.
And uh, let's see.
So May started doing workingcars they didn't have much, got

(38:34):
a couple of people and, ofcourse, the people that I used
to know from uh Capital Cadillac.
I didn't want to pull peopleaway from that.
No, that wasn't me, but theyfound out where I was.
And the funny thing about thisis that every time I used to do
roadside service for Cadillactoo, I used to get into this big
truck with tools and parts andI would go from here to Grand

(38:57):
Rapids and pick somebody'sCadillac.
Wow, parts of that.
I will go from here to grandrapids and pick somebody's
cadillac, you know, and uh Icompletely blacked out again.

Speaker 1 (39:10):
Oh so we were talking about uh docs automotive.
We were talking about uh.
You didn't want to bring peoplein from uh capital cadillac,
but they found out you wereworking they found.

Speaker 2 (39:16):
They found me somehow .
They found out I was and that'show I started.
What a mouth.
And never advertised, never didit, and I'm like, as long as I
do right, everything just fallsin place, which is true.
It's just like I always tellguys.
You know that, hey, you want tobe a president in this country.
First of all, you got to earnyour spot, you got to become,

(39:43):
you got to serve your countryand learn what is right from
wrong.
And which is true, you know, ifwe don't do the right thing,
nothing is going to fall inplace.
Right become, it all comes backaround.

Speaker 1 (39:55):
It all comes back around.
Absolutely so you're, you're um, are you kind of in the process
of kind of transitioning out ofthe business.
Then, at this point, I'malready.

Speaker 2 (40:05):
As a matter of fact, yesterday I went to the lawyers
and did my trust, Uh-huh so, andeverything is falling in place
now.
So now I'm kind of likeeverything is getting easier for
me, Like you know, like I'mletting go, which I didn't want.
To be honest, it hurts, it'shard, isn't it?
It's so hard to try to.
I mean, you, look at yourbusiness.

(40:26):
This is what I did.
Wow, how did I do that?
You know?
Uh, it took some you know, realnerds to make that happen make
that happen.

Speaker 1 (40:37):
Gohones, right, gohones, I think that's how you
say it.
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (40:42):
And it's funny because, again, you know when I
started working for the township, if I didn't do that I would
never have a spot in Oakham.
I don't think Right.
Everything you did, I did itfor a purpose.

Speaker 1 (40:55):
Yeah, brought you there, and sometimes you don't
even know what the purpose is.
Right, we're like, oh we shouldjust be doing this.
I don't know why Exactly.

Speaker 2 (41:02):
Yeah, it's not like that.
You know you got to earn thatspot.
Like I said in Okemos, I didearn that spot.
I worked for the township, Idid what's right.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (41:13):
So you're finally, though, able to kind of start a
matter of fact yesterday was oneof those days.

Speaker 2 (41:20):
I walked around my whole perimeter in my house and
walked back and forth.
What am I going to do?
What am I going to say?
What am I going to do?
And I'm still going throughthat right now.
Anthony, he doesn't know muchabout what's going on either,
because I don't want to tell him.
I just want to surprise him.

Speaker 1 (41:40):
Well, and you hire quite a few veterans too, don't
you?
You have some veterans.

Speaker 2 (41:45):
I got one now.
Yeah.
I had another one before, buthe moved on Uh-huh.
I got another one now and thiskid is awesome.
I mean, he's that type of personthat all the other guys around
him he's like John.
Oh my God, john, this is theguy.
This is the type of person thatall the other guys around him
is like John.
Oh my God, john, this is theguy.
This is the type of person.
He's always very serious.
I says, and I make joke of himsometimes hey, john, stop being

(42:07):
too serious, will you?
And he's a.
I think he's a hundred percentdisabled too because of the
PFAPs.
Yeah, but he can work though.

Speaker 1 (42:15):
Yeah, I think people misunderstand that.
Yeah, they do Big time.
Yeah, yeah, because I have.
I have PTSD, severe PTSD, whichsometimes limits me, but I can
still work, right, right.
But I have these other problemsand that's where the disability
comes in.

Speaker 2 (42:34):
I try to overcome them.
Right, that's exactly what wehave to do.
Honestly, it's just like keepsaying every time you know the
crap that we're going through,dude, just think this way.
We put that Hancock right onthat piece of paper.
Okay, we did it to ourselves,we felt invisible.
Think about it, yeah.
You know I remember them days.

(42:55):
You know we used to do stupidthings.
I can't believe that.
You know Going out diving andcatching lobsters in the middle
of the freaking night.

Speaker 1 (43:03):
You know who the hell would do that I know, sometimes
I think you probably have somegreat stories, but I think that
there's times where I'm like I'mlucky to be sitting in this
seat right now because I didsome stupid stuff.

Speaker 2 (43:17):
I can tell you one story about a friend that his
wife was pregnant.
It was at night, we weresleeping and he decided to go in
back into the ocean to pick uplobsters.
So we already know, becausewhen we go spear fishing, when
we park, we leave a note, right,we always did that.

(43:38):
We always back each other up.
Well, his wife was having thebaby that evening.
So of course, you know, hesends the one of the kids right
next door and my wife answersthe door Sharon, sharon is
having a baby, sharon is havinga baby.
And of course, you know, larryis all the way, somewhere about
15 miles away from where I wasand I'm like, okay, and it

(44:03):
started pouring and I had a 1971volkswagen completely fire
engine red, I mean fire engine,it was beautiful little
volkswagen.
Bam got into the volkswagen.
Okay, no problem, I'll go.
I know where he's at, so I'llgo all the way out there.
I'll leave it.
No, because I didn't want to goback into the water.
Anyway, it was night and so Isaid, god damn it, larry, come

(44:26):
back out.
And I'm over here shining thelight on the ocean, you know,
trying to see where he.
So I'm shining a light, hedon't come up.
I leave the note.
I left back.
I went back and it's muddy.
This is not a what do you callit?
A beautiful road, right?

Speaker 1 (44:47):
That nicely paved, yep.

Speaker 2 (44:50):
So I take off and it started pouring and my freaking
little wipers are going back andforth.
I'm over here trying to look,Going up the little hill, come
back and down the hill.
There's trying to look, goingup the little hill, come back
and down the hill.
There's a freaking bull.
I'm coming down the hill andall of a sudden there's a big
freaking thing in front of me.
I mean what the hell and thisfreaking bull charges and get
right on top of that front ofthat little volkswagen, the

(45:13):
whole little hood.
You know there's nothing in theoh, yeah, the whole hood just
caved in the white, thewindshield, I mean the
windshield just completelyshattered Because his horn hit
right there and I'm like, oh,and the wiper was kicked.
I put it in reverse, tried togo back up and I put it back and
forth and tried to hit him andhe took off and I drove about

(45:35):
I'm going to say about 13 milesmaybe, no windshield, wiper, no
windshield.
Got home, I tell, tell you, Iremember that freaking evening
and then the next day, whenlarry comes up, he looks at my
car.
What happened?
I had to come out and bail youout.
This is your fault.
It's your fault.
You owe me a card.
I didn't know I didn't have it,but anyway, it was one of them

(45:58):
things that you will never.
Yeah, you know little thingslike that.
It's like yeah.

Speaker 1 (46:03):
Well, okay, so I'm going to ask you.
You don't have to do this ifyou don't want to.
This is, this is kind of new.
I've never asked anyone thisbefore.
But, um, can you share, likeone of the stupidest things you
ever did, that you're lucky tobe here?
I mean, I know here.
I mean I know what my story ison that, because me and my

(46:24):
friends share it all the timebut what's like, what's
something stupid that you didthat you're just lucky to even
be here right now there's toomany of them.

Speaker 2 (46:28):
Yeah, I can't even describe them.
Yeah, they called us the reddevils.
I don't know if you've everheard of that before.
I have not.
This is exciting.
There's a tag now that they saythat we have.

(46:52):
Oh, okay.

Speaker 1 (47:00):
Yep, I see it Red Devils.

Speaker 2 (47:04):
Yeah, they called us and yeah, just looking at that
thing and that's the patch on myarm uh-huh, and you guys did
all the stuff no one else wantedto do.

Speaker 1 (47:16):
Right, right, yeah yeah, gotcha.

Speaker 2 (47:19):
Uh, great experience, that's all I gotta say.
It was a great experience if itwasn't because of that one last
freaking repel.
I just go back to that freakingrepel.
It just never goes away.
It stays in your mind.
You know how freaking invisibleyou feel.

(47:39):
You're going down.

Speaker 1 (47:41):
Oh shit Right.

Speaker 2 (47:45):
Straight down the fucking rope goes up helicopter
leaves.
I was in so much pain that dayI'm like, okay, well, I gotta
call back.
Um, oh, I never said anythingabout, uh, 1978.
Uh, they pulled me out of thejungle, uh, because my grandpa
passed away february.

(48:06):
Uh, february 28th of 1978.
Yeah, 1978.
Yeah, they pulled me out of thejungle.
They didn't know what was goingon.
I thought I got in big trouble.
Right, so I go back at the base.
The captain says sits me down.
He's, you know, just like meand you here right now.
Sits me down, alvarado, I gotbad news for you.

(48:27):
He says bad news.
Oh, my God, I'm glad I didn'tdo nothing bad in my mind, right
, yeah.
And he says well, your grandpapassed away and I just buckled
up.

Speaker 1 (48:41):
Yeah, your grandpa was very important to you, yeah.

Speaker 2 (48:46):
So was my grandma.
Yeah, because the reality mymom being what she did.
In our country it's not likeyou have beautiful roads, right,
it's dirt roads.
You either get into a bull road, a donkey and travel.
So my mom was never around.
So my mom was my grandma, eventhough my mom's still around

(49:09):
she's 91 now as a matter of factbut I praise her for that well,
she was trying to take care ofyou the best she could and
thankfully you had grandparentsthat were there to support.
It's just like the way I'm doingnow with my grandkids.

Speaker 1 (49:25):
Now I'm here, son you learned some important lessons
from that.
It sounds like yeah.

Speaker 2 (49:32):
Yeah, big lesson.

Speaker 1 (49:33):
Now you're passing them on.

Speaker 2 (49:35):
Yeah, and it hurts, you know, just thinking about it
.
You know, as a man, you knowyou freaking tear up it's
because you got feelings Right,you know.
If I didn't have freakingfeelings, I don't know.

Speaker 1 (49:56):
I don't think I'd be here talking to you.
Sometimes you just gotta cry.
Yeah right, it brings out thebest for you.
If you feel better afterwards,oh hell, yeah, it's like
something, some poison, leavesyour body when you cry.

Speaker 2 (50:01):
That's exactly what it is.
Yeah, it's exactly what it is.

Speaker 1 (50:03):
This is the poison that comes out of you right,
right, all the stuff that youdon't want to remember, all the
stuff that's happened, right,all of those things you got to,
you got to deal with them andthen let them go.
Yeah.
They don't ever go awaycompletely, though we both know
that.

Speaker 2 (50:20):
Stay right there, yep , stay right there.
We learn to live with it,overcome, maneuver it.
Yeah, it's just like again it'sjust like again, you know the
things that I'm teaching thislittle, this little kids.
Uh, I already told you aboutthe, uh, the magnifier class,
but the other one is, you know,like teaching the kids like,
okay, guys, you know where northis north, south, east, west?

(50:44):
My granddaughter is like yes,we know, okay, so where's north?
And she says, like well, papais it that way, no.
So I says listen from now on.
When you want to know wherenorth is, look at the trees.
If you look at a tree, most ofthe trees that tell you that

(51:05):
you're south is going to befacing this way.
The one that says north isalmost straight up, Look at the
trees.
And she's looking at the trees.
Oh, you're right, Papa, Look atthat.
Oh, you're right.
Papa, think about it.
That's how I'm going to do withthe jungle.

Speaker 1 (51:20):
Yeah, and years from now they'll be using that.

Speaker 2 (51:23):
Exactly.

Speaker 1 (51:24):
You know, Exactly Because you've probably done
this, Like because you'veprobably done this, like you're
trying to get something done, oryou're trying to.
You know, and you're like youcan't figure it out.
You can't figure it out.
Then all of a sudden youremember something that your
grandfather told you, or the,and then it's yeah, it's that
lesson that gets stuck in there.

Speaker 2 (51:41):
And again, it's only one time that them little kids
learn.
One time, repeat it again, todo it again.
Right, one time.
Right, it's like, uh, recently.
Uh, my wife takes her glassesoff.
We're outside playing balloonsfor taking balloon waters
throwing at each other, and uh,my wife takes her glasses and

(52:02):
leaves them in the sun in thesteps.
So we over there playing.
All of a sudden, oh my god,where's my's, my glasses?
She's looking for her glassesand of course Olivia knows where
her glasses are, so she goes tome.
Papa, I don't know why Nanadoes that.
This is common sense.
You're not supposed to leaveyour glasses on the sun.

Speaker 1 (52:23):
Common sense.

Speaker 2 (52:25):
Where did you learn this kind of world?
It's just the smart of thatlittle girl, I mean you know,
know, it's just the smart ofthat little girl.
I mean, you know, it's just likemind-boggling.
Ever since these two littlekids came into my life, even
though I got other oldergrandkids, I haven't seen much.
But these two kids have stolenmy heart, especially her.
Oh my god, he stole my, shestole my heart for sure.

(52:47):
I got a friend of mine that, uh, he has not had a grandkid
either and it's the first one.
And I says, dar, you don't haveno idea.
When she comes or he comes,you're going to be a complete
different person.
Yeah, and then he called me upthe other day you're freaking,
right, man I cry.

(53:08):
He says I cry when I seen thatlittle girl.
I'm like told you, told you,your life would change.

Speaker 1 (53:14):
Yeah, believe me, it would change, yeah when I held
my granddaughter the first timeyeah yeah, it was.
It was completely right.
Actually, I have a niece,amelia, that lives in arizona.
Same thing she just I don'tknow what.
It is smart too.
They're both just really supersmart, yeah.

Speaker 2 (53:35):
I don't know how, what it is that they're eating,
but myself and my kids, whenthey're that bright, I can tell
you that right now they're sobright that little girl, not
even three years old, outsideplaying and me rocking her on
the trampoline and learned theABCs in Spanish and English and

(53:59):
the numbers.
And then all of a sudden, herbrother she's doing it.
And her brother started torepeat and now he knows all of
them.
It shocked me because when shecame out of school just recently
now, from kindergarten, uh,majority of the kids in the
states, they're in the 50percent percentile, I think.
Right, she's in the 90 percent.
Yeah, he shocked me.

(54:22):
I'm like are you kidding me?

Speaker 1 (54:26):
and you know it's what you teach a kid right,
that's good parenting and that'sgood example setting, exactly
by other members of the familyStones in places, you know.

Speaker 2 (54:35):
so this way you know where you're going to step on.

Speaker 1 (54:38):
Right, you're sort of a foundation layer, right.
Like you laid the foundation,you knew the business and the
mechanic work, but your sonknows how to promote it.

Speaker 2 (54:50):
Exactly, he knows how to promote that real good, for
sure.

Speaker 1 (54:53):
So you get the right people in there and then he can
promote it.
I mean, and that's just oneexample, Imagine what these
grandkids are going to do.
Forget about it.

Speaker 2 (55:01):
I don't want to imagine.
As a matter of fact, I can'twait until this gentleman from
this place.
If they're willing to sell theproperty, I'm going to buy it
where I'm at because I don'twant to be moved.
Anthony says you know, dad,let's take that building over
here, chef's Garage on SaginawSon demographics.

(55:22):
There's so many, so many, somany things on a business that
you got to look into, not onlyjust going in there and thinking
that you're going to make ithappen.
It's more demographics.
I opened that there because Iknow where I was Right.

Speaker 1 (55:35):
Okay, I grew up a block away from Shep's garage.
Really.
Actually no Shep, Unbelievable,right.
Yeah, that's my oldneighborhood.

Speaker 2 (55:47):
That whole area it's an old world and I says yes, we
can make it.
That whole area it's an oldworld and I says yes, we can
make it.

Speaker 1 (55:54):
I says all right, but it's not the same demographics,
no, no, it's a whole differentball game.

Speaker 2 (55:56):
It's a different ball game, you know it's not like
okimans, you know.
I mean you know what it is inokimans already and I said it'd
be great just to have a spotright where we at you know, just
don't forget where you camefrom.
That's all right, don't?

Speaker 1 (56:09):
get my grandfather came from the south, what he
used to say.
He said don't forget where youcame from, that's all Right.
Don't get my grandfather camefrom the South, what he used to
say.
He used to say don't get toobig for your britches.
That was his thing.
Don't get too big for yourbritches, son, right, right.

Speaker 2 (56:20):
Yeah, no, it is true.
Yeah, don't uh, just beyourself, be humble and that's
it.
Everything should be just greatand dandy after that.
Yeah, you're right, thefoundation and the rock makes
everything a big difference.

Speaker 1 (56:41):
Well, I think that's how we make it better for our
kids, right?
We do the best we can with whatwe've got and we teach them to
do the best they can with whatthey've got and they can just
build on what we've built.

Speaker 2 (56:52):
And it's funny because looking at it, I think
to myself.
And as old as I've gotten rightnow, I think to myself how did
I become a dad?
I didn't know what to teach mykids because I never thought of
anything like that.
All I always thought is youknow, hey, do the right thing.
You know.
And my grandpa, he was a verystraight guy Do the right thing.

(57:13):
Heck, I remember the day that Ilied to my grandpa when I was a
little kid.
I told my grandpa that I gotinto my teacher, let me in the
school because I didn't do class.
Something was cool I didn't do,but it was a lie.
I got into a fight with someother kid and, of course, my

(57:34):
grandpa.
He was a sheriff one time,Besides being a military, he was
a sheriff and he was the guythat used to go to the plaza and
make sure that that fish wasfresh.
Right, it was his job, Not aguy you lie to.
And I lied to him and too, and Ilied to him and of course you
know he goes.
How come?
You're late?
Because we're supposed to be atthe plaza picking up the
canasta to take food back homeand I wasn't there.

(57:57):
And so he comes over and hegoes.
What happened?
Oh the teacher.
And I lied oh, let's go to theschool.
Take me to the school, right tothe teacher.
I remember that vividly up totoday.
And the teacher says no, andthat's when I tell her I'm sorry
, I'm sorry, but you know, inSpanish it's a lie Get to the
house.

(58:18):
I remember that day I ran to thehouse and in them days it was
very strict that if you didsomething wrong and grandpa was
going to take care of it, youget in front of his chair and
your knees and wait for him.
That was the punishment.
And I remember seeing mygrandpa hitting my uncles and in

(58:39):
days there used to be a whiplike this size, like this, but
it was curled up of a cow whip.
I went up, that thing freakingburned.
I remember him hitting myuncles for doing stupidity and I
tell you, that thing freakingburned.
I remember him hitting myuncles with stupidity and I tell
you, we learned fast.

Speaker 1 (58:56):
I can only imagine like you only do that once.
You only do that once.
I'm not going to lie again.
I might do something else, butI'm not going to do that one
again, right?

Speaker 2 (59:04):
Yep, no, we learned real fast, yeah, but there's no
regrets at all.
You know no regrets at all.
You know no regrets.
But the only regret, again, isthat you know of, uh, the
stupidity of people, period.
You know, right, uh, again.
So you know to call uh, to callus baby killers, not knowing

(59:29):
exactly what that person had todo in order to make sure that
I'm looking at your face.
In other words, right, right,they don't have no reality of
that, you know, and for that,for that reason, I didn't want
to, I don't want to say nothingbecause they all, everybody,
thinking oh, he was in vietnamtoo.
No, I was not.
You know, I heard bad stories,stories that you don't want to

(59:50):
hear, right, you know, uh, uhyeah, I think we've learned a
lot since then too.

Speaker 1 (59:57):
Like you can disagree with the war, yeah, but you
don't.
You know the people that go arethe people that go.
You can't attack them becausethey're doing what they're
supposed to be doing, right.
Right, you can disagree with inprotest the world, but don't
don't trust the troops.
Exactly, I think we've learnedat least a lot of people have
learned that that lesson, whichhas helped a lot of veterans to

(01:00:18):
be able to come out and talkabout their time in the in the
military.

Speaker 2 (01:00:20):
Right.
The thing about this that Ithink is that the government
which they should have done isthis made an example, not in
reality, but a make-believeexample.
Listen, this is what happens inthem.
Okay, I'm a parent, I'm asoldier and a parent.
Okay, I got my wife, I got mykids.
Guess what I'm going to do?
I don't want to kill, I want tosend my kid.
I'm going to put a bomb rightnext to you.

(01:00:42):
I'm going to throw it at you.
That's what that kid will do,because the parents told them,
not because they wanted to do it, but a lot of those people,
they don't have no reality ofthat, right.
Yeah, it's sickening.

Speaker 1 (01:00:57):
It is.
It's sickening.
I mean the same as putting upan explosive vest on a child in
in the middle East.
That happens, Yep.
So yeah, Yep.
Well, we have talked about alot of stuff today, We'll.
We have talked about a lot ofstuff today, Jose.
We've talked quite a bit.
I've learned a lot about you.

Speaker 2 (01:01:12):
But as we kind of I got the chills.

Speaker 1 (01:01:14):
It's because I keep my house so cold.

Speaker 2 (01:01:16):
No, no, no, it's the chilling.

Speaker 1 (01:01:18):
No, believe me, it's comfortable A lot of people find
this therapeutic, thisdiscussion, and so, before we go
, really have two questions.
One is there anything that wehaven't talked about that.

Speaker 2 (01:01:33):
you still want to talk about?
No, okay, the real bad things.
They just go down six feetunder.
Can't talk about them.

Speaker 1 (01:01:43):
Well, if you've dealt with them, you've dealt with
them, yep.

Speaker 2 (01:01:50):
They're over with Again.
My whole body is shaking justfrom not want to think about
that yeah, but just changing my,my view.

Speaker 1 (01:01:58):
Like you know, it goes different ways so let's,
let's turn the conversation thenin.
The last question that I'll askyou today is for someone
listening to this 100 years fromnow, when neither one of us are
here, what message would youlike to leave people with?

Speaker 2 (01:02:16):
Be human.
We all in this world for areason, even though we don't
believe in God or do believe inGod, it doesn't make no
difference.
We're all the same.
We all should take care of eachother, no matter what, because

(01:02:36):
this world is only one, thislife is only one.
We can step on two feet, but wecannot stand up on one feet.
It's very hard.
So that's how we've got tosupport each other.
If you don't, that's your life.
Got to support each other.
You don't, that's your life.
You know being miserable insteadof having a better life and

(01:02:57):
looking for each other'sneighbors.
You know, it's not like thatanymore.
There's neighbors that theydon't don't even want to talk to
you.
You know, it's kind of like Idon't know if I want to say this
, but like I went thereyesterday, I decided to go to a
bfw yesterday and I got in there.
It's the first time, first timethat I'm going to a bfw never

(01:03:19):
went in there, because the firsttime that I well, the first
time that I went in, I'm thetype of person that I went in,
you know how you doing blah blahblah.
But when you get that face thatyou're not here, you're not
supposed to be here okay.
Turn around and walk away, kindof had what happened again
yesterday and that's why I neverwanted to go into a place like

(01:03:41):
that because of the racism,because, as parents, instead of
teaching our kids what is rightfrom wrong, we're teaching them
wrong, right, like.
I remember the day that mybrother-in-law spanked my niece
and my niece calls the cops onhim and my brother-in-law ends

(01:04:02):
up in jail.
And that's the day that Ilearned that, holy Jesus, are
you kidding me?
We cannot even strain up ourkids in this country anymore.
I am glad that I was in mycountry and I'm a straight kid.
Yeah.
You know, because I learned alesson one time, only one time,
and I learned a lesson no, yeah,no, everybody should be

(01:04:24):
grateful for what they have.
Be yourself.
Don't try to be somebody thatyou don't want to be.
Don't try to think that moneyis going to make you even better
, because it doesn't.
It's just a piece of paper.
You got to earn it, you got towork hard at it and things will

(01:04:46):
change for yourself.
But if you don't make changesin life, this world will never
survive, and it's even gettingworse nowadays, you know.
But the best thing to do is, youknow, look after each other, be
good to each other, take careof each other, and I learned

(01:05:09):
that again too long, long timeago, and I'm still doing it, you
know, even at the shop.
You know, yeah, because youknow, as a matter of fact, is
customers that will come inthere when they had an issue
with their vehicles.
I had my vehicle here yesterdaywhen I was a mechanic in the
back and I had somebody on thefront.
You know, I had my vehicle herethat I want to talk to the

(01:05:31):
owner blah, blah, blah, and Icome up front and you're the
owner.
Yes, I'm the owner.

Speaker 1 (01:05:39):
And I worked on your car right, Exactly yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:05:44):
And that's the type of situations that I lived my
life in this country, but Inever paid no mind about that.
In reality, as long as I keptmy chin up and I was honest and
I would make sure that I gotyour back, that's all that
mattered.
I don't care whether you was aracist or not, and I'll tell you

(01:06:05):
something a lot of these guysthey changed the way they were
because you know just the way Ifelt.
What do you get about doingthat?
Think about it, really thinkabout it.
What would you get by doingstupidity like that instead?
of hey how about we go to thebeach?
You know, have a couple ofbeers or something?
No, uh.

(01:06:27):
How about we play some football?
How about something different?
Besides, having that mentalityright, it doesn't get you
anywhere.
Besides, you know, hate that'swhat this country is right now,
a lot of hate.
It's unfortunate and it's kindof sad because my chief in

(01:06:47):
command now I respect every oneof them.
I don't care how bad they are.
You got to have that respect.
But at the same time, I livedin New York and I did vote for
Mr Trump the last time, not thistime.
Last time I did vote for MrTrump and it was because, being
from New York, hey, he's abusiness guy, I'm a business guy
, let's try this.

(01:07:08):
And when that race car came outwith all that backboarding, I
punched this and but that waschildish.
That's the day that I learned.
That's like, oh my god this isnot happening.
you know, and that's when I'mthinking to myself and I've been
trying to pass the word uh, ifpeople realize that if you have

(01:07:30):
somebody that wants to be inthat position, you should at
least have three to four yearsof service to your country, you
can tell your flag and touchyour flag and say, yes, I served
.
Not somebody that's going tohave a golden spoon and get fed
by it and then try to do thethings that are happening right

(01:07:54):
now.

Speaker 1 (01:07:55):
It's kind of scary to be honest with you.

Speaker 2 (01:07:57):
Looking at it, it's like back in Germany.
Oh yeah, I did went to Germanyfor that.
Oh well, there you go All aboutthat.
Yeah, all right.

Speaker 1 (01:08:06):
Well, thanks for spending the morning with me and
sharing your story.
I really appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (01:08:12):
No, you have brought out a lot of things in me, you
know.
But no, it's a great experience.
I am glad that I've done it.
I would have never thought Iwould do something like this,
even though my grandkids, mysons and my kids are saying why
don't you make something likethis?
You know, leave it to yourgrandkids, maybe this will work.

(01:08:32):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, listen to myconversation.
20 years from now, when I'mgone there, you go, all right.
Well, thanks again, jose, thankyou Bill.