Paul Riedener
(Post No. 12) Johann Paul Georg Riedener was Lydia's father. He was born in Untereggen, Switzerland, on May 7, 1892. He had one brother and seven sisters, and they all survived to advanced ages. They called him "Paul."
As a young man in Switzerland, Paul worked as a merchant before traveling to Palermo, Sicily, where he was employed by a Swiss company that specialized in sweets. It was in Sicily that he met Lydia's mother, Maria Amalia Sacchiero. They married, then returned to Switzerland where Paul took over an alarm clock factory with his brother. After a while, circumstances led them back to Italy where, in the 1920s, he worked as manager of Café Aragno in Rome, a popular establishment that still exists today. Wanting to be his own boss, in 1927 he opened his own cafe and bakery in Messina, Sicily. Due to economic and political upheaval in Italy, he sold his business in order to emigrate with his wife and four children to the United States in 1928. Their children were, in birth order, Amy, Lydia, Teresa, and Sil.
Paul always had a goal to be an "industrialist," but first he had to establish himself in his new country. He arrived with promised employment with the S&W canned foods company in San Francisco. About 10 years later, Paul opened his own factory that made and canned maraschino cherries and later, other foods like instant soup. The company was called Treasure Island Food Products and was highly successful for many years due to Paul's keen business sense and his ability to capitalize on opportunities.
Sadly, Maria Amalia died suddenly of a heart attack in 1946 at the age of 55. They had been married for 27 years. Another 10 years passed when Paul married a woman named Vera, but the marriage ended in divorce just a few years later.
Paul was much loved by his three daughters, son, and eight grandchildren, who called him "Papa." In those early years during the 1950s and 1960s, all 16 of his family members — children and grandchildren plus four in-laws — all lived within an hour or less of each other in the San Francisco Bay Area. Family gatherings around him were fairly frequent and convenient. He lived to age 83 and died peacefully with Lydia by his side. (At the time of his death, he also had seven great-grandchildren.)
A detailed biographical sketch is recounted in the essay titled "In Memory of Paul Riedener" by Franz Moos (pronounced “Moss”), who was a close friend of Paul's since the 1920s. Mr. Moos was a professional writer. His 3-page essay can be read here and was the source of some of the information in this blog entry.
See additional photos on this page.
COMMENTS:
Lindy - April 19, 2021
Was really nice to look back and remember life with Papa. His story is a great example of people
leaving a dangerous country and coming to America to make a new life. And it continues to happen
today. Too bad Treasure Island is no longer in existence. I remember visiting the plant in Hayward.
I do still have "stock" in the company. :-)
Thanks Nancy for continuing to record our family histories.
xo Lindy
Nancy - April 19, 2021
Lucky you, Lindy. I don't recall ever seeing the plant. And I certainly never got any stock!
Thanks for reading this. I'm happy to share what I know!
Susie - April 19, 2021
Wow Nancy! What an awesome article Moos wrote about Papa! So many things I didn't know
about him! I was always a little afraid of him.
Nancy - April 19, 2021
I know what you mean, Susie. I don't think I was afraid of him, exactly, but he wasn't
a warm, fuzzy kind of grandpa. But he was an interesting one! Thanks for reading!
Kendra - April 19, 2021
I so loved this one again, Mom. Makes me want to get a jar of maraschino cherries
for the girls to put on some ice cream sometime soon (as a tribute!), which also reminded
me that Mamam used to always have little jars of fruit cocktail for us when we visited her
and Popee. Thank you for making our family history come to life like this.
It's such a gift. Love you all!
Nancy - April 19, 2021
This seemed to be a good way to share my research and info with everyone, Kendra. And it
seems to be working! I'm glad you like these. Thank you for reading and commenting the way you do.