Happy Birthday Mr. Mata

Posted by on January 28, 2006, from Santa Monica, California

Near the end of the day today, we heard a whirring sound outside the booth. It turned out to be Juventiho Garcia Mata driving up in his little red scooter for his 5:30 StoryCorps appointment. Today is Mr. Mata’s 85th birthday. His granddaughter, Sonjia, set up the appointment. She was raised by Mr. Mata, who worked for Santa Monica’s Parks department all his life. When we asked Sonjia why she wanted to bring her grandfather here today, she shrugged and simply said, “He’s my favorite person.”

Bookmark and Share 

One Response to “Happy Birthday Mr. Mata”

  1. Sonjia Mata says:
    March 6th, 2010 at 6:04 pm

    Thank you for existing StoryCorps! We had a fantastic experience and I can’t wait to do it again!!! My grandfather, Juventino Garcia Mata, is still riding around on his lil red scootette in Santa Monica. Next year will be his 90th birthday. He was in WWII and Korean conflict. He has many stories to share!

    Again, THANK YOU STORYCORPS!!!!

Leave a Comment

To preserve the StoryCorps mission and experience for our readers and participants, comments are subject to the StoryCorps Terms of Service. Comments may be held for moderation or removed if deemed offensive or off-topic. Please do not resubmit your comment if you don't see it right away, it will be approved as soon as possible. Thank you.