When we began theme development for "Stories from the Past" 2018, one of our goals was to uncover stories about the people and events that shaped San Martin, a picturesque rural town in South Santa Clara Valley. 
 
We were fortunate to interview Donna Brodsky, whose book "San Martin: Then and Now" chronicled much of the town's early days as a bountiful farming community populated by immigrant families from far and wide. 
 
Yutaka and Tomie Fujita spoke of their Japanese roots, the internment camps, sharecropping for Driscoll Farms and building the Buddhist Temple. Carol Nakashima shared similar memories.
 
Giulia Gallego recalled her Italian heritage and described how her mother Rose Mammini invited neighbors to help with her five-acre tomato farm and her father Luis opened the San Martin Market in the 1940s. Don Bonino shared memories of...