A Century and Counting: Santa Clara Man Turns 102

The year Miguel Ibarra was born, the United States was in its third year of Prohibition. The government had yet to acknowledge Native-American citizenship. Henry Ford’s Model T was still puttering around the streets.

On Sept. 29, Ibarra turned 102.

Moving from Guadalajara, Mexico in 1953, Ibarra spent most of his life in Santa Clara. During that time, he has seen a lot of change, but the one constant has been his family. He has raised five kids — Michael, 70, Rafael 69, Gabriel, 68, Elvira, 65 and Monica, 58. He has four grandkids — Caesar, 35, Alejandra, 33, Alejandro 28, and Gabriela 26.

Ibarra has been around through the Great Depression, multiple wars — World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War — the country’s two biggest stock market crashes, one in 1929 and Black Monday in 1987, and the assassination of a U.S. president.

Despite all that strife and change, Ibarra is far from a complainer.

“I have what I need. That is enough,” he said. “I’m all right … the main thing is I am not sick.”

Over his century-plus life, Ibarra has worn a lot of hats. As a young man in Mexico, he taught fourth grade. He was a shoe salesman. He worked in an apricot orchard. He worked as a cook’s helper. He greased machines at Schuckle’s Cannery in Sunnyvale. He worked as a carpenter. He was a frame-maker.

Through his parish, Ibarra got wind of a Red Cross fundraiser in Mexico. Returning to his ancestral home, Ibarra volunteered with a group that included his future-wife, Teresa. They soon married, settling in Santa Clara not long after.

They remained together until her death in 2016.

His son Gabriel lives with Ibarra at his Santa Clara home, near Lawrence Expressway and Monroe Street. His father’s stoic attitude is infectious, Gabriel said, teaching him and his siblings to take everything in stride.

“I have just learned not to take things for granted because things can change so quickly,” he said. “I think that is why he is doing so well.”

Through it all, Gabriel said, his father has taught him and his siblings the value of hard work, education and community.

All those values converged in 1959. That year, Ibarra and his wife became one of the first few members of the St. Lawrence the Martyr Parish on Lawrence Dr.

Ibarra helped lay the roof for the church. When the Catholic Church decided it needed to build a new one, Iberra was there with carpentry skills, ready to help with the construction.

Whether it was carpooling with fellow parishioners, serving as an usher or doing minor repairs around the church, Ibarra has lived by the values he instilled in his children.

Through it all, Ibarra’s passion for learning and teaching transferred to his children. Gabriel taught tennis for more than 20 years, and his sister Elvira also became a teacher.

Now in his Golden Years, Ibarra stays active, Gabriel said, shooting pool, bowling, going to photography exhibits and even winning a local cornhole tournament at the Santa Clara Senior Center.

The family regularly gathers for barbecues with a couple neighbors that have lived in the area nearly as long as Ibarra.

Recently, the family took a trip to Monterey to celebrate Ibarra’s 102nd birthday. The climate is one of the main reasons Ibarra chose California, he said with a chuckle. For him, California’s nickname, The Golden State, is more than a moniker.

“It is a nice place to live,” Ibarra said.