February 16, 1983 – Longtime Mendocino resident Joe Recardo died at the Ukiah Street home of his great-niece Joyce Corvin following a long illness.
Joe was born in Santa Cruz, Island of Flores, Azore Islands on October 30, 1899, the son of Joao Jose Coelho and Conceicao Leonor Ramos. He immigrated in 1920, landing in Providence, Rhode Island and traveling by train to California. He worked for a short time in Watsonville, then headed to Mendocino to be near relatives. When he first arrived in Mendocino, he lived with his cousin Joe Silveria and worked in the Mendocino lumber yard for 35 cents an hour.
Following Joe Silveria’s death in 1923, Joe Recardo moved in with another cousin John Maria Silveria and wife Annie Marie on Kelly Street. Joe lived in their home for six decades and was a big help to Annie following John’s death in 1963.
Joe Ricardo with one of his cows, c. 1972.
Joe returned to the Azores in 1930 to visit his mother and five brothers. From Mendocino, he traveled to San Francisco where he took the train on the Santa Fe line across the continent to Providence, Rhode Island, and a steamer from there to the Azores. He returned by the same route five months later.
Joe became a United States citizen in December 1940. During World War II, he enlisted in the U. S. Army. He was accepted for service and served in the Military Police, but discharged a few months later due to his age. At the time of his death, he was a member of the American Legion Post of Mendocino and the I. D. E. S. Lodge in Hayward.
Joe worked for the Caspar Lumber Mill for several years and also served on the Pentecost committee which held annual celebrations at Crown Hall. From 1938 until the 1970s, he cared for cattle and sheep in the pasture on the south side of Main Street along with tending his vegetable garden there.
Father William Gibson presided over the recitation of the Holy Rosary at Our Lady of Good Counsel Catholic Church in Fort Bragg, followed by a Mass the next day. Interment followed at Rose Memorial Park, where military honors were accorded graveside by members of the American Legion. Those participating in the service and acting as casket bearers were Al Altvater, Don Carpenter, John Milo, Howard Reep, Noel Gabbert, and Embree Reynolds. David Middleton was bugler. Cain Grove and Haverfield Funeral Home was in charge of arrangements.
Celebrate the 50th anniversary of Mendocino Historical Research Inc., now known as the Kelley House Museum. Meet founders Dorothy Bear and Beth Stebbins, who moved to Mendocino, fell in love with local history, then galvanized a community to establish a research center to preserve the town’s many stories and artifacts. On display are some of the earliest donations made to MHRI: census records from the 1860s, clothing from the Kelley family, the Ford family’s Bible, materials from Bear & Stebbins’ first exhibit “Mendocino Homes,” Anne Kendall Foote’s bespoke wallpaper reproductions, and photographs of the activists whose labor restored the house and whose contributions have supported the Kelley House over the years. 45007 Albion Street, Mendocino. Friday-Sunday, 11am – 3pm. Now until February 25.