Gene Benedetti, interviewed by Jim Bergin

kind of thing. I want to hear it like this room in here now this room is the same room that that you have and you have your evaporator over here, your separators are down here, you're cream bat along here and then the more I think there's

more, probably I haven't been up there in quite a while, but this is where the elevator is, right here, right here. Now the elevator wasn't in. Let's see, This is before my time, the were just taken out and the old uh just when I got there,

these were just put in 1945 and 46 when you started yeah, I started 46 and they were just just brand new. Uh but this here just before that and these were taken out. These were taken out now you may still have some of these, you know,

I think I got one. I think you still probably there was one when I left. That's exactly right, your separators are down here, but this room is identically the same. I don't unless you put a ceiling in here. Now it hasn't they were they were up

there when I'm remember. Yeah, that room hasn't changed a lot as far as the structure structure of the room hasn't changed a bit as far as I know when I left and I know that we had we've had a lot of questions about us sealing that

room. Oh yeah, from the inspection service of that and I'm sure that you're still getting, remember they made it painted one time when I was because I was out there. These turns were much faster and I remember they put out about £2000 of oh no, no,

no, we turned out uh I think they're either £2,250 of butter would come out of there and they come out in about an hour. It took us about an hour and 15 minutes for turning so you can get plenty of butter in each one of them.

Who was I was talking to and I think carol Wyatt to somebody was telling me anyway that these terms, they're the guys that had to actually crawl in there. Well, you know, you didn't really crawl in, but you, when you unloaded the churn, you would just

turn forward. So this door would be down here, you have paddled, you go in physically and big chunks and put it in your 80 £60. Uh uh but they had, they had regular £68 cubes. I don't know if you have pictures of those who know that

we are here, they are, this is it, You have, you have this table and this is here and you have the phones in here and each one of these would be, you pack them good tight because you have to, in order to get £16, you then

you take them off the scale and you finish them off the scale To be sure that you have 16 lbs. So this isn't just one thing, no, no, there's there's there just like you were informed so that you can see it on the outside. No no

no, no they're all in there. The only the only time that you have to sometimes build over the door is one at the very end because you pull away when you unloaded about half, but then you always make one more turn and get the butter back

over to the door again. But then at the very end you might have to go in and get a little bit that was left. Yeah. Yeah. So this these are these are very modern insurance at that time. What do you know what happened? I don't know

what happened to those turns. Uh I thought that one turn was still there, but I guess I guess it is not. I haven't seen it and I've been around just about every place, There might be nothing huge. Yeah, that's big and vibrate like hell if you

notice the anchorages tough Anchorage and when those turns spin around with a load of butter and the butter was starting that you get that pounding and I was really, you know, I just I don't know if you'd be interested in doing it, but we're having a

butter churning contest and it's going to be the uh I think the mayor and council Councilwoman councilman are gonna be on one team. Like a relay team, the other team is gonna be that'd be great, You might want to think about that and they might already

have decided who's gonna do it. We have some it's okay now this is your butter cutting. Where is that now? I mean now that's where you where you have the data process this end of the data processing. Oh is that right? What's his name? Has his

office? Oh that's that's just true. Yeah this is that's Buchanan. No that's web that's Buchanan. This is gosh I can't think of her name. Yeah it might come back. But this this was the first printer we had that was mechanical before that we did it by

hand and cut it with. I've heard about that. Tell me about the process that we don't have any pictures of that that I know I don't have any pictures of the wires. We have pictures of the there must be a box of pictures when you think

printer, is that what it means? Is that over here as this printer comes out here you put the butter in. You take the butter out of these £60 cubes and you had a hopper and you dump it into the hopper. And the hopper would force it

to these screws with screws. And force it to this uh there was a double there was a double line so that it's called a printer that prints the shape of the Yeah I remember what it was but it was we got captain Underwood. We bought it.

That was a big change. I'll tell you because before that it was real Time consuming. Uh he told me so. I never saw that. He said that they took the big over £600. Yeah. Now this these things come off these side, her side and the ends

and then they take that block and they cut it with wires and cross cut it a little bit. But those days of course it was just pounds o quarter pounds. They were just the overlap. Who did you remember? Or it was no it was at that

time. Uh And there wasn't very much of it because we didn't have any distribution when I first went there. All we were distributing was in Yeah. And uh we had the Russian River in the summertime. We go to the Russian River. But that was all and

the distribution of butter was although we would sell some butter like it. We sell butter too. I take that back we did sell butter too. Places like customers are willing customers are was it cut butter or yourself cut butter. You know what still still what it

is today. It's not it's just a £30 case. But instead of being package like a quarter pound is just in the paper. You've seen that. I remember now when I was a kid getting used to the stores, the stores, the stores restaurants. But that was all

that was made. In fact if I remember correctly, I think there was even a remember yeah, but these were the things that were brought down into this room as you can see in the table there. This is the down ah pardon? These tables were used for

the water cutting. They cut the in the that's right. This table was brought down just in a mound of butter and paddle. It wasn't formed or anything because it didn't have to be So all they did was going with a paddle and take it off that.

Well, that stainless steel wagon. Yeah. All right. And this one, I'm sure you this is what they're now. So yeah, this is your present when you were you had that the put this in when we put the dryer and that's when you move the letter from

upstairs to downstairs. So we're still kind of, that would have been right next to this about 1960. Well, when Colin came into being, it was before about 19 being in 1969 And we stopped making cut of cheese in 1967 I would say 66 or 67 reason

we stopped making kind of shoes for us. That in those days before pulling we have to try to get all the past one sales that we could and Christopher derry was buying not on us at that time. And they left us and went to challenge. And

that was a large amount of milk, remember what it was, but it was about uh, gallons. 30,000 gallons of today. And uh, that note of course within the manufacturing and the producers in those days, it wasn't any pooling plans. So the producers just got that much

less. So in order for us to get class one sales, I just started an ice cream business and we just started that we were doing first making powdered cheese. So I went to foremost and I, we gave up the ice cream business making ice cream and

I can't remember, I think it started. So I took it away from peninsula here with the foremost Cheese. And for that we got 30 or 40,000. That's what you have to do these days in order to get people don't understand what done for the salvation of

producer. And that's, that was the student. But this was put in when the wire was put in, the dryer was put in. I know it's before 1974 because that's when I started, it was there, it was before 74. It was just about the time that we

took the lucky's the reason we took this on, the reason we put the dryer in there is we took the lucky contract on uh, and the lucky milk contract causes to have to take on more milk. But more than that is the reason we have to

have the dryer and the bigger butter churn, the faster mother church. And was that we take on more milk? The critical thing was lucky. He didn't buy any milk guns saturday and sunday required a saturday two days a week. And we have to enjoy that note

to the plant if you understand, we didn't have the facilities to that the skin. So that's when the must have gone in. Yeah. In the late 60s I would think probably just before putting. Yeah. Yeah. That's still states that come up as far as having that

leeway that we have to, we have to ship on all of the different places that uh weekends uh like and we didn't have uh the place that you have to ship it out of the cheese factory. The ship's milk to san Jose cheese. We used to

ship milk too. Who else? Pleasant. They prior you couldn't get the top down. That's right. And so that's why I always wondered why. I mean I I've known since I started working at that when schools closed is surplus milk is why do people drink less milk

or do people drink less milk or what, you know, why is that? Well uh the reason is that when schools are in and of course there's a lot of money goes to schools, first of all. Okay, that's a controlled cell. Okay. They drink it, their Children

are at home from school and they're drinking it at home. So the more sales at home. Ah what schools are out then people dispersed. There's no more school sales now. You say the school sales aren't that great. Not a lot of milk down in Los Angeles.

I think it makes a difference of about 30 - 40 trains a day. Los Angeles, Los Angeles so that automatically just dumps on you right now and people, so people actually do drink, well they may not drink breast milk. I shouldn't, I shouldn't say that. But

I think they do really realistically they do, uh, because they're moving and they're on vacation. I say moving their vacation traveling and the kids certainly don't have the control factor of school. Okay. And uh, and at home it's hotter weather and consequently the kids on vacation

and the kids will drink. So your book sales go down to the other thing is of course that your biggest sales of military always in september october after the first week in september when the school school goes back and october is always your largest for the

same reason it's the kids are back into the environment is going to set a set routine. This one, I don't know if you're gonna do any good. Nobody at the creamery knows except that one of the guys that works at the uh, young man and brought

that in and he said that he thought it was from Helen buttons, one of Helen's buttons classrooms. I think it is, nobody will be able to recognize the kids. I don't recognize the kids either. But I remember the picture and I think it was the teachers

would The teachers would always have this going on in the third or fourth grade. This looks like about 34th grade I think second grade they would get cream from us so they can churn your own butter and they would go through the whole picture so the

kids could have the experience. But I don't know if they do that anymore. I haven't had any requests. Sorry to read that now. It's a good idea. We did that lifestyle 85 we brought we have a couple of those were starting to make and we turn

better. I don't remember. Alright and then this is the last, what was this now? Is that cottage cheese? What is it? This is now, this is where the turn, this is the lower end of the went all the way up to the office is a big

room. That yeah that lower office is all kind of where the data processing is even up to. We go upstairs. Yeah that was all kinds of stairs down, you know how there's a different elevation there. If you look at that elevation, it's the same same as

your, this was all cottage cheese. We had one too. There was between each of these posts and if you'll notice these posts is still in there. I haven't well I don't know if there's any in the data processing that's in between the two that post is

still there out in the other room. And then if you go further there's another one This one This 1 holds upstairs. Yeah there was 1234 I think we had six cheese and then we had a packaging machine over here where we with the cheese they went

into, you know the cans that that you take to a barbecue that you put the chicken into kind of cheese cans? Uh We empty the cottage cheese, put empty the bats into those kind of cheese cans. And then this this mixture would raise it up by

by elevator to the top machine sour cream. Is that the same kind of thing? We had that same same concept. A different machine. Machine. Okay. This one you might expression as a few of these cases. That is That's uh so so that the

who is that? I think that no I think this is Hanson said like me. Who the hell is this? Oh um I'm trying to place when the film was Oh look at that. Wait a minute. That's at the main table. Your another Henderson? Crazy. So that's

what he did. All this was this was before your time. You might like to see it. That's good. Yeah this is probably lining. Is he was he the first is WP Hopkins or maybe haven't been. Yeah It's like 1913 officers. His father. Yeah

way. Yeah he can give you a lot of background, very person because I'm sure it was a spot and it was the, that was the general first general manager. This is uh, ken Cole's brother release Coghlan's brother. This is a Yeah, Yeah, three of them. These

are just I want to see you can see the Oh yeah, you know. Yeah. Well when, when did you start, when you started, what what was your job? How did you, I started as a in 1946, came back from and I came to a sports bank

and tell them I went to high please in college and I went to and when I came back to the service September 45 I came back colleges came down to a sports banquet fuel american region called, which is there, which is on what's up just like

they asked me to come down to speak sure american regions. American legion was putting it on and it was a kind of an all sports banquet from various baseball teams in the town, not in the schools. Yeah, not so much pro I think they were just

telling me, you know. And so I came down and I was sitting at that table next to mr down Nero was at that time and Became manager I think in 1919 and 1918, yeah. Excuse me. Hopkins down there myself. Uh he came he was there because

he was quite a sports enthusiast and I didn't know him. I knew school with his daughter Barbara, but I take he was when I was in high school down, down to the, she got to school will furnish the busses. We go down to busses

and uh, they bought tickets and it was quite a yellow then spectacular. Of course, all these kids in the United States that we hear about. Yeah, but we have to redo listen to that. But anyway, to make a long story short George was there and he

was sitting next to me and uh, and of course he knew of me, my reputation, I guess watching mike. And so we got talking and while we're eating, by the way, what do you, are you enjoying your work? And I said, yes, I'm tremendously something I

said, I can't make it to me. What do you mean? You can't have a hard time. Just got married. I was getting paid $2,800 a year teaching school. And that was, that was a I was teaching when I was teaching classes and he said, trust, God

damn it. He says, come down and see me. I got a job for you. I don't give a I want to come to work for me. And that money would right? I said, all right. But said in my office, okay, I figured just

left retired that. And in those days they were still short enough, but they're still buying by farmers in those days, the athletes, uh, the grades go up out of how many competitors we have performance safely at that time foremost. So everybody was competing with their performance.

Yeah. So anyway, way he, uh, he wanted me to go out and buy milk and he figured, I guess. Okay. I can speak of, oh yeah. So he made an opportunity, car expenses. Well, I should, you know, coaching decision. It's all right. I feel this.

I'll give you two weeks next monday. Anyway. Like that johN was like a second statewide agriculturalists. It was real. So anybody build, take it, you can always go back to. So I, I gave my notice. The thing to find it made up my

mind was that I went into, the president said that I had this off as far as wages are concerned. So they raised my wages to $3,000. It looks, you know, money. It wasn't. So that's really what finalized started. I was on the road try

to get them up to quit and I did very well. A lot of milk up from the was over the hill there, cole valley road and all of that was all very down the coast. And anyway, we did pretty well. John Walton john David's father was

the other field Zoe. Finally, he called me in after 20 years, you know, that look and start getting plentiful. So you gotta start back and also called me and he asked me to, if I was innocent going through the plant, each department of the plan. So

to join the union. So he gave me another raise. The fact that I think I had two reasons for that. This is the second grade. Yeah. So I went into the plant. I figured I'd like nothing to lose educational process. So I went to, I started

receiving, this was about a year later, just wondering because this was in april, I started out, that was all the cows those days. Spring flush was really great and something seasonal because they, they took advantage of the grass. They spring, they the uh, so it was

just the opposite of what the needs were. That's what they did. So anyway, uh, you see have trucks coming in, we can all contract. So I spent about two months out there. You, you dumped the note and then you take the campsite down because you

can't wash it. So anyway, I stayed up there. Then I went down to then I wanted to upstairs and make butter a couple of us there. Uh, uh, right. That's not the issue at the time. Was, there was a name Johnson, johnson was in a separate

room. Hell of a guy just left this fellow that I'm trying to think of. The man that he was on the hospital board. He was very active. Came from Minnesota. He's just been hired about. Anyway. That means The two of them again towards the end of

the flush. And I went down into, it's been, you know, opportunities. I went down grade a uh, present packaging cheese and process chief. That was a great table. Remember that? We received all the milk cans there too in the Oh sure manufacturing. Yeah. So I stayed

there and went to pasteurized down to operation someone through every department upstairs here. We, we had a line of, from the video to the manufacturing. So that sort of the skin over there, cream cans carried back with it one. Then after that he called me and

this one took about a year one, right? All about see changes. What do you want to be a writer? So I will give out retail, retail, retail. Remember that? I haven't seen any anyway why I did that for about, that was okay for five months

and they then decided that they want to sell milk in santa rosa in order to the cities would have their own ordinance could not be Chip from one town to another time. Uh, so you have to, so he knew that I do a lot of people.

So I went up to, uh, uh, just about a year before that there pasteurized out there. That's right already. So that we didn't want get by the ordinance. So in those days it was about 10, 15 class. The first one that came out with paper up

there. So that wasn't very long. I decided at that time he decided he wanted me in the office. So system to reality It was about 15. All right. So I came in at the office where uh About 2, 3 years and very

good. So, so a distribution because then we brought out the a by that. So when you bought the for a while you would actually remember john battery was telling me he was set up to to do that

good shot appreciate the time. So that's pretty much that's a lot. We had a lot of, we had a lot of heartache and a lot of problems during I wouldn't change it, you know, And of course, you know, I was still very, very much into football.

So when I came down here came down here 25 and 46 26. So I was still gonna, so the guys will Come back to the service or want to play. So we have one game in 46, we played the University of San Francisco and we're talking,

we're just guys were saying myself because they all wanted to play because they've been disrupted from the school, school's going to school because of the service and they were coming back from the service and they still think they shot knocking somebody down my story. I started

this year, uniforms insurance all the signatures of mine and a teacher at school and became our business manager And so the next year we have scheduled 40 47. Yeah you know I coached anyway was when, when I became assistant manager make the system now. Hello,

he called in then and said no and he was a to all the games and everything you know I was at that time selling milk and everything else and we were going down the bay area and everything else and so he called me and he said

you've got to make your decision when you want to stay here with, I've never asked you this question. You know I work practice somebody must have and I said Georgia there's no question my decision. Yeah remember

remember that. Do you remember this one other thing I want to ask you this might have been before your time but I was talking to, I can't remember one of the old timers that lives by the family just walking by and um he said that he

worked in the office for a short time and he remembered walking through the plant breaking off a piece of cheddar cheese. He thought for a short time during the war that was during the war. Before I got there they made cheddar cheese because of, yeah made

him do it and they brought into where the chief that's our, where you're building a new building, there used to be a house right there in the corner character and he later paid workforce from Utah just yeah they right right well thank you very much for

your time if you.