PROFILE OF A
MUSEUM VOLUNTEER Louis Azevedo
Sr. was born on a warm spring evening April 26, 1934 in the South San Joaquin
Valley city of Bakersfield, California. His mother, Esther Delgado Azevedo gave birth to him in a one room house with a
midwife present. His father was Caterino Azevedo. Louis is a descendant of the Tejon
Indian Tribe whose home is located near Fort Tejon,
CA on the Grapevine Highway along the Interstate 5 corridor that leads to the
Los Angeles basin. He is not quite sure why he has a Portuguese last name and
jokes about it. He has one younger brother named John who still resides in
Bakersfield. He was told by family members he had ten other half brothers and
sisters who lived in the Fresno area. Louis and John went to an all-black
student school located on the south side of Bakersfield.
Louis enlisted in the U.S. Army
in Bakersfield in 1953 and was sent to Fort Ord for
his basic training. Upon completion he was shipped to Korea and placed on the
front lines with the 2nd Division under
Company E-3 Platoon. He was a machine gun squad member using the light .30
caliber air cooled weapon. Later on, his company was put on standby in the
rear area of the battle fields to fend off North Koreans who were raiding
military installations up and down the Korean Peninsula. It got so bad that
the rest of Lou’s regiment had to go to the south peninsula to beef up their
operation. Months later, after everything in the area was under control, his
unit was reassigned to the front lines. A 39th Parallel
cease fire was finally signed, but his unit was still on full alert as some
occasional flare-ups occurred during their night and day patrols; and it
remained that way until he was sent back to the states. After his tour, he
was sent to Fort Lewis, Washington to finish his enlistment. He re-upped for
three more years and was sent to various training schools that helped him
during his years serving with the Army.
Louis met his first wife, Adele
Caballero at the birthday party of a friend. They were married in Bakersfield
in the fall of 1959, and were blessed with two sons. Six years later, she
contacted Valley Fever and passed away from the debilitating disease. Several
years later, he remarried for a second time, to Virginia Reyes in the city of
San Jose. After all their children were grown they unfortunately divorced.
After discharge from the military
Louis went to work for Pepsi Cola Distributing in San Jose, where he remained
for 20 years. He also has been employed by Frito-Lay, San Jose City Parks
Department, and the Sheriff’s Department in Bakersfield. He was employed by
the Santa Rosa School District when he retired in 2001.
Having lived in Bakersfield, Los Banos, San Jose, Turlock, Petaluma, and San Rafael,
California Louis decided he would like to make Fresno his home. He always
made it a point to visit museums wherever he traveled or lived, and Fresno
was no exception. After visiting Fresno’s Veterans Memorial Museum “Home of
the Legion of Valor” Louis liked it so much he decided to become a volunteer.
Being a docent has given him the opportunity to meet people who have military
backgrounds like himself. Louis enjoys talking to veterans and meeting the
many school children and array of museum visitors he meets during his shift. |