Fearless Immigrants: Born in 1929, Joe Bucher (of Bucher Farms) came from a family of dairy farmers and grew up during World War II in Europe. Many of his teachers enlisted in the Swiss Army to protect Switzerland’s border with Germany after Hitler invaded Poland in 1939.
“I was in the fourth grade. Our teachers left immediately and we grew up with substitutes--mostly untrained. Our farm helpers also left. Even our horses were drafted to pull cannons, etc., so we had to train bulls and oxen to do the farm work.”
“Our families were friends in Inwil,” Annemarie adds. “My dad, the town postmaster, also went to guard the border. We only rode bikes in Inwil and went everywhere on them. I recall helping Dad deliver the express mail at night.”
Joe’s older brother took over the family dairy farm after the war. So Joe felt there would be more opportunity to have his own farm in the United States. He immigrated to San Jose in 1951 and worked on a dairy farm in Santa Clara until he was drafted during the Korean War.
Another Brave Immigrant: “After the war, I came to the states alone as the widow of a U.S. citizen...” Gala Norton, Sr. tells me.
“With only $40.00 in my pocket and wearing Army clothes, I stood alone on the deck of the USS Monterey as we passed under the Golden Gate Bridge at 3:00 a.m. one morning in 1945. My heart still always clicks when I see the bridge or hear the fog horn.
“I was told how to find the Red Cross on Bush Street and I bought my first clothes. Because I had organized some tea dances on board the ship, the officers took me to the Palace Hotel on my very first night in San Francisco. I got my hotel room on Turk Street for $4.00 per night by saying I was the wife of one of the officers.”
A Long Friendship: The (Fred) Wasson and (Ruby) Osborn families played a significant role in the history of the Alexander Valley. Fred’s dad, Louis Logan Wasson from Iowa, landed in Guerneville in 1906 when he ran out of money en route to the Alaskan gold mines. He met Helen Nellie Drake, a Guerneville native, and pursued her instead. In 1907 they moved to the Alexander Valley where, in 1920, he built a seven bedroom house at the corner of Geysers Road and Hwy. 128.
Ruby (Osborn) was born at the place where Highway 128 and Chalk Hill Road intersect. Her grandfather, Broder Frellson, came from Napa Valley in 1892 to operate the Red Winery near Pine Flat Road. His wife Anna got paid for boarding the winery workers, thus helping earn enough to buy their own farm...
Growing up, Ruby lived across the creek from Fred. Her parents grew prunes and grapes and the Wassons raised prunes.
“We met when Ruby got a flat tire on her bike at Guilford Grammar School,” Fred laughs. “I offered to pump it up and we’ve been friends ever since.”
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