Postcards: Virgil Getto, Part 1

My friend Pat Getto brought me an article about her late husband, Virgil Getto (1924-2014). It was written by Chris Hansen and published by the “Fallon Star Press” on July 6, 2007. As Hansen summed up Virgil’s career, he grew “from Fallon farmer to statesman.”  

In addition to reading Hansen’s fine article, I read the Oral History of Virgil Getto, which you can access online at the Churchill County Museum website. Our country, including our Valley, was built by hard-working immigrants from all over the world, and Virgil’s memories of his parents’ roles as Italian immigrants in a new world are both familiar (in the sense that the struggles of early twentieth-century immigrants were somewhat similar) and particular in their personal and regional detail.

Getto was born and raised on the family’s farm, 1200 Lovelock Highway. His parents, Andrew Getto and Desolina Getto, were immigrants from Ivrea, Italy. Andrew came to America in 1907 and joined his brother John, who was working in Tonopah.

Getto: “They didn't speak any English. In fact, there's a story about--wish I could remember the name of the fellow, but when Dad and he went out to Tonopah and they were trying to get a job and this fellow--he was married, Dad was single, and so they told him, they said, ‘Well, the way to get a job is you go to the boss and you invite him to your house for dinner. Have your wife cook a nice dinner.’ So, he did that. He went up to the boss, and he says, ‘You come to my house and we'll kill you for the chicken, and my wife will cook it.’ (laughing) He got things garbled up.

… So Dad worked with my uncle in Tonopah, but he didn't like the mining, and so he was looking for something, and then, at that time, when they were advertising in the paper for the Newlands Project--they were advertising: ‘Farmers, come buy some land, and we'll sell you the water, and you can have your own farm.’ So Dad, Uncle John, and Ed Frazzini — Ed Frazzini was in Tonopah. He was a real entrepreneur. He was in the furniture business, and he was doing everything. So they all three came to Fallon, and Ed Frazzini and my uncle, John, and my dad, the three of them bought all this land together. Well, Ed Frazzini was no farmer. He (laughing) hated it. So, eventually, in 1912, Ed Frazzini sold his [share]. We have all these deeds, and my cousin and I were looking at them this morning. In 1912, he sold his undivided one-third interest to my dad and my uncle, and that would have been this land on both sides of the River.”

Getto’s mother, Desolina, did not enter the scene until 1923, sixteen years after Andrew came to America.

Getto: “And then in 1923, my dad married. He asked my mother…. The ironical part about this was there was no dating and no romance. Dad went back to Italy in 1920, and they were trying to pair him up with somebody back there, and he did not particularly care for her. I guess he had just met my mom, and he said, ‘Well, if you ever get to the United States, look me up.’ So Mom really disliked her home life and things over in Italy because one other sister had come to the United States, and so she made a pledge that she would save every penny until she could buy a ticket to come to this country. She had a sister living in Indiana, and that's the point that she would go to. So, in 1922, I think it was, she came to the United States and was staying with her sister, and then she wrote my dad a letter, and said, ‘I'm here! I'm in this country. What are you going to do about it?’ And so, Dad wrote back. I guess they corresponded back and forth, and finally--that was their romance, I guess, with letters 'cause they didn't travel that much in those days, and so finally, he said, ‘I'll come and get you,’ and he did.

…They always spoke broken English, but Mom was a very intelligent woman. My dad was like a Rock of Gibraltar, steady, worked. He loved these animals He liked to work. And Mom had a good financial brain. So when they borrowed money from some Italian family [to build a house], and when they paid it off, they had to pay this interest, and so she immediately said, ‘well, that’s a good way to earn some money together, we’ll lend it.’ ….And, that’s what she did. They never became wealthy, but they did quite well…They were just the most fair people you could imagine.”

I will bring you more of Virgil’s story next week. Please send your stories and ideas for stories to [email protected].