GILBERT SAARLOOS -

LONG BEACH 1943

See : THE LIFE OF GILBERT SAARLOOS - IOWA 1926
FOR THE BEGINNING OF THE STORY.

After my great grandmother remarried My Great Uncle John went to enlist in the military ( See Courage) with my grandfather. At this time the military would take the older of two brothers when they came in to join and tell the younger brother that they were 4F or ineligible for service. Thus, reducing the possibility of killing off a bloodline if both would die in active duty. If you have seen "Saving Private Ryan" that is the movie was about.

My grandfather was dejected, he had no real home to go back to as his mother remarried, his father was gone, and now his older brother and hero was about to leave. My grandfather was 17 at the time. He considered himself a man, as he had been on his own since he was 12 years old.

When my Great Uncle John spoke to my grandfather, he said: “I am probably not coming home… You should go west, to California, find work…” That is just what my grandfather did, he drove from Iowa to California. He told me a story about stopping in Riverside California and drinking a glass of orange juice, (oranges were a bit of a delicacy in Iowa, a very hard to find fruit in winter.) He said I knew if I could drink orange juice every day I would feel like a wealthy man. That was my grandfathers welcome to California. The land of opportunity. He found work building liberty ships in long beach in the early 1940's. This photo was taken of him standing in the shipyard in the prime of his life. Young, Free, Fit and Handsome, he had a job, friends, a car and a life ahead of him. I mean, take a look at those glasses, he wore a similar pair for most of his life. If you want to see when a person felt like their life was at its best, look at their haircut, their sunglasses, their music, their car. They lock in on this and ride it out.

I would have loved to have a beer with my grandfather in this era. I know he would have been the kind of guy I would like to bee around.

This would be about the time he met a beautiful woman named Bertha Witchers at church. A woman that would challenge and complete him.
A woman that he would go dancing with, and build the family that he had always wanted with. This would become the man I knew.
My Hero.

This wine is made from the Fat Man Terrace. The most Iconic location in our vineyard . Vineyard that is on the cover of everything from the phone book to paintings on peoples walls.

The Prime of our vineyard named after the prime of my Grandfathers Life.

Enjoy it as much as he did.