Joseph Silver was the last of nine children born to Antone Silver and Mary Simas. He was born on December 4, 1898 in his parent's farmhouse about two miles south of Sunol, California. As a young boy on a very active farm, Joe was kept busy plowing, repairing farm equipment and performing general harvesting tasks. His special job was to produce the wine used by the family each year, no mean task as this involved about 400 gallons. He knew his mother for only a few years as she died of a lung ailment just after Joe's eighth birthday. Much of the responsibility for raising him fell to May who was his older sister. Although hunting and fishing were his great passions, Joe developed a special interest in the newly emerging technology of gas engines and everything involved with them. At various times he drove trucks, tractors, road graders and cars. This special interest led him and his brother, Jack, to buy and operate a service station and auto repair shop in Sunol. As it happened, one of the duties of Marjorie Blake, a recent immigrant from Scotland employed by the Charles West family, was to take the West cars to Joe's garage for servicing. Joe and Marge met, married in1930, had a son, William in 1932 and for the next 11 years lived in Sunol.
Marjorie was born in Gainsborough, England on November 8, 1908 but spent her early years in Glasgow, Scotland. Two of these years were spent in London, England when she went to live with a cousin, the daughter of her father's sister, Robina. For a while, she worked as a cook in a tea shop in Glasgow. Marge was the third of her family to migrate to the United States and worked as a cook for the West family. Following marriage, Marge did a number of volunteer tasks, such as president of the local school parent-teachers organization and chief of the Sunol Air Warning Service during WW II. Life was certainly more comfortable in Sunol than it had been in Glasgow as they were able to purchase a home and own a car, things not previously possible.
Joe worked as a grader operator for the Alameda County road department during the early years of the marriage. With the beginning of WW II, Joe's work was declared non-critical which meant he got five gallons of gasoline per week plus no new tires. This prompted a move to Salt Lake City, Utah where his brother lived. This eased the rationing problem. During the three year stay there, a second child, Barbara was born. With the end of the war, the family returned to California, specifically Newark, and Joe got his job back with Alameda County, this time with no rationing.
Eventually, Joe retired from the County with thirty years of service but within a year was back at work doing road construction, this time with private contractors. Within five years, he retired a second time. This time it took and he stayed retired until he passed away in 1999 at the age of 100 years and seven months. His wife Marjorie survives him.
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