Joe Plaza

No summary at this time, please refer to the detailed index below.

0-6:38

Joe’s grandfather was Juan Pedro Plaza who owned a farm in the Cairo, Oregon area. Juan was originally from Ea, Bizkaia and first moved to Paradise Valley, Nevada. That is where he met Joe’s grandmother, Sarah Echeverria. His grandparents moved to Nyssa then Ontario, Oregon while working for a sheep company. They had three children, Joseph, Paul, and Gloria. Joe is the son of Joseph. On the farm that Juan Pedro and Sarah owned, they mostly farmed hay; they spoke some Basque to their children but the children could only understand it, not speak. Joe’s father went to Ontario High School, where Joe also graduated. When Juan Pedro first came to the U.S. in 1921, he worked in hay fields in Paradise Valley, and then worked for sheep companies, not as a sheepherder, and Sarah worked as a cook for the sheep companies and that is how they met. Juan Pedro originally went to Paradise Valley because his brother, Genaro Plaza, was working there, Genaro would also later move to Ontario. Genaro’s children were Daniel, Alice, and Raymond who were close in age to Joseph and his siblings.

6:38-11:30

Some of Joe’s early memories of the Basque community in Ontario was every Memorial Day his father and uncle would take his grandmother Sarah to the cemetery. They would go to a place in the cemetery where many Basque graves were and would say a rosary with a priest that would also come. Other families would also come, such as the Echanis’, the Yraguens, and the Ybarzabals. Joe grew up near the Echanis boardinghouse. He grew up with the Echanis kids. The boardinghouse was a social center and they would often hang out there during the summer. In the spring when the sheepherders came to board, they would often attend the school sports games and cheer on the Basque kids. At the boardinghouse, Josephine [Echanis] Keim would make the kids cookies and other things to eat. In high school, the other Basque kids Joe’s age were girls, and so Joe was often the only boy member of the Basque dancers and would get to lead them. Joe’s grandmother Sarah and his mother Kay Cornwell Plaza were both members in the Ontario Basque Club.

11:30-18:45

There was a notable Basque presence in Ontario while Joe was growing up; he remembers businesses run by Basques such as Harbor of Lost Souls run by John Mendiguren, and Joe Marquina owned Quisenberry’s. Joe’s family was also neighbors with Helen [Marquina] Smith, Joe Marquina’s sister, and he would hang out with her son. Joe began to dance with the Basque dance group around 1964 when he was about seven and did it until he was a senior in high school, they would practice in the basement of a church and the dance instructor was Becky Aldape Platt. They mostly practiced in the winter because they would perform at the Ontario Dance in the spring [generally held in February] and would mostly dance to music by Jimmy Jausoro, The mothers would make the costumes. Joe grew up with five siblings: two brothers Pat and Mark, and three sisters Lisa, Laurie, and Vickie. The Basque Club originally operated from the basement of a church, but moved to the Ontario Train Depot. The club was traditionally a women’s club, but in the last fifteen years Joe (and other men) began to be involved in the club and its events. He has been president of the club for two years. [At the time of the interview] The main event that the club hosts is an annual dinner/dance, it has evolved to the present day dinner, dance, and auction to raise money for the club. The lamb auction is the main event and people buy the lamb, and then donate it back to be sold numerous times throughout the night.

18:45-24:22

Recently, Joe’s cousin Ben Plaza initiated America’s Global Village in Ontario. All of the ethnic groups in the Ontario area come together for a festival and sell foods, play games, and have entertainment. The Basque club has a scholarship for tuition to Treasure Valley Community College; they also use the fundraisers to support other clubs, organizations, and events throughout Ontario. The year 2017 marked the 70^th dinner/dance held by the Basque Club. Another place Joe frequented growing up was Plaza’s Tavern, established by his great uncle Genaro Plaza, then run by his father’s cousin Raymond plaza. The Echanis family also ran the tavern, and then sold it and it went out of business in the early 2000’s.

24:22-31:08

The Ontario Train Depot, in which the Basque Club is located, had fallen into disrepair when the city decided to do some cosmetic work. In the late 1990’s the Basque Club received a 99-year lease to preserve and care for the building while they use it. The Basque government has given the club many grants for the work and volunteers from the community have also done a lot of work on the restoration. The Basque Club also receives income from renting the building for use by the community. Currently the Berria sisters, Pam Berria Benintendi and Linda Berria Feeley, are the ones who schedule rental times and events such as Mus classes and tournaments. Funerals are also held at the Depot and the Basque Club provides a meal for the family of the deceased member.

31:08-37:40

Joe believes that the club having a physical location has been good in terms of being able to expand events such as the dance, provide a place for other events, and serve as a gathering place for Basque people in the area. The club holds an event for the Festival of Saint Michael, holding a Mass and food, games, and other activities at the clubhouse. The main goal of Joe’s with these events is to enjoy and learn about Basque food. Joe’s children are involved in Basque dancing and he hopes that the community continues to keep the tradition alive. Joe says that the Basque presence in Ontario has had a large impact on business in the area, the main law firm Yturri Rose was started by Tony Yturri who was also the first Basque senator in the U.S. The Basque culture has been a large part of Ontario in general and is a staple of the area. Joe says that he is proud to be Basque and he says his children are also proud to be Basque.

37:40-44:00

Joe has been to the Basque Country a few times. He ran with the bulls and spent time in Oñati. He went with one man who wasn’t Basque but wanted to see some Basque sheepherders he had worked with in Weiser, Idaho. He was Harry Soulen who owned Soulen Sheep Company. Joe traveled to Gernika with Cam Echanis and tells a story about a Basque bartender they met who had lived in Ontario. Joe was able to return when they picked up his daughter in Madrid. They visited their family farm in Ea and stayed in Gernika during the Festival of San Juan. Joe has three daughters and hopes to take them to the Basque Country eventually. Joe’s cousin still owns the family farm in Ea that they visited.

                                                NAMES, PLACES, AND THEMES                                                              

 

NAMES:

Berria Feeley, Linda

Berria Benintendi, Pam

Echanis Family

Echanis, Cam

Echeverria, Sedafia “Sarah” (Paternal Grandmother)

Jausoro, Jimmy

Keim, Josephine Echanis

Marquina, Joe

Mendiguren, John

Platt, Rebecca “Becky” Aldape

Plaza, Alice (Paternal 1^st Cousin Once Removed)

Plaza, Ben (Cousin)

Plaza, Daniel (Paternal 1^st Cousin Once Removed)

Plaza, Genaro (Paternal Great Uncle)

Plaza, Gloria (Paternal Aunt)

Plaza, Joseph “Joe” (Father)

Plaza, Juan Pedro (Paternal Grandfather)

Plaza, Kay Cornwell (Mother)

Plaza, Laurie (Sister)

Plaza, Lisa (Sister)

Plaza, Mark (Brother)

Plaza, Pat (Brother)

Plaza, Paul (Paternal Uncle)

Plaza, Raymond (Paternal 1^st Cousin Once Removed)

Plaza, Vickie (Sister)

Soulen, Harry (friend)

Ybarzabal Family

Yraguen Family

Yturri, Tony

 

PLACES:

Bilbao, Bizkaia

Ea, Bizkaia

Echanis Boarding House, Ontario, Oregon

Four Rivers Cultural Center, Ontario, Oregon

Gernika, Bizkaia

Madrid, Spain

Nyssah, Oregon

Oñati, Guipuzkoa

Ontario Basque Club (Inside the Ontario Train Depot), Ontario, Oregon

Ontario High School, Ontario, Oregon

Ontario, Oregon
Ontario Train Depot

Paradise Valley, Nevada

Plaza’s Tavern, Ontario, Oregon

Treasure Valley Community College, Ontario, Oregon

Weiser, Idaho

 

 

 

THEMES:

Clubs and Organizations

Dances

Education

Family

Farming

Festivals

Sheepherders

Volunteerism