1931-The Galleron Family can smile even in the midst of the Depression
and Prohibition
The Depression following on the heels of Prohibition
added insult to injury and most ranchers survived by feeding their
families off the farm. They raised produce, nuts, fruit and livestock.
Young Paul Galleron, known as a "picky eater", loved to stuff
his pockets full of green beans from the Bommarito garden and scamper
home to eat them in secret. Mrs. Bommarito knew what he was up to,
but never said a word knowing it was probably the only thing Paul would
eat all day. The children on Galleron Road played barefoot in the Rutherford
dust, and Paul Galleron, to the chagrin of his mother, preferred not
to wear any clothes at all.
The Galleron's opened their home to family and neighbors
and fed a steady stream of friends, relatives and farm hands with hearty
French country cooking and homemade wine. The Depression was a time
when jobless men traveled from town to town on foot or by rail in search
of employment. Most would work odd jobs in exchange for food and one
such "hobo" appeared at the Galleron door once a year like clockwork.
He was always treated to a hot meal, a glass of wine and sent on his
way with a clean, white, starched shirt.