11/25/2024
Rest in peace, Uncle Pete!
The Filipino American National Historical Society (FANHS) is saddened to learn of the passing of Peter Jamero (1930-2024). “Uncle Pete” (as he was known lovingly to so many of us) was a trailblazer in the Filipino American community and beyond. He was a community leader, an educator, an author, a health advocate, a historian, a writer, and a true public servant.
Peter was a FANHS founding member, the first FANHS National Vice President in 1982; and a FANHS National Trustee at several points throughout the past four decades. He was committed to sharing the history of the “Bridge Generation” - the children born before the end of 1945 to at least one Filipino parent who had immigrated to the United States earlier in the century. In his book Growing Up Brown: Memoirs of a Filipino American (2006), he shared his experiences of growing up as a child in a Filipino American farmworker camp in Livingston, CA. In his second book Vanishing Filipino Americans: The Bridge Generation (2011), he described many of the stories of his peers — many who were the children of the Manongs and Manangs — who formed a unique subculture and became leaders of a growing Filipino American community.
In addition to his commitment to the Filipino American community, he dedicated his life to civil service in the states of California and Washington. Some of his leadership positions included: assistant secretary of the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services; director of the Washington State Division of Vocational Rehabilitation; director of the King County (WA) Department of Human Resources; vice president of the United Way of King County; executive director of the San Francisco Human Rights Commission; assistant professor of Rehabilitation Medicine of the University of Washington; branch chief in the U.S. Department of Health; Education and Welfare in Washington, D.C.; executive director of the Asian American Recovery Services in San Francisco; executive director of Mental Health Association and Boys and Girls Club in Merced; and Division Chief, Sacramento County Department of Social Welfare.
As a young man, Peter served in the U.S. Navy for four years and was stationed in the Korean War. He earned his Bachelors degree from San Jose State; attained a Masters degree from UCLA in 1957; and was a Public Affairs Fellow at Stanford University from 1969-1970.
In 1953, he married his wife Terri. They were married for 56 years, before she passed away in 2009. They had six children - Karen, Cheryl, Peter Jr., Julie, Jacqueline, and Jeanine. Peter was truly a family man - so committed to his wife and children, but also so loving to his many siblings, nephews, nieces, and extended family. He made sure that the younger generation of his family knew all about their Jamero family history and about Filipino American history in general.
In his later years, Peter continued to live a rich and active life. He enjoyed spending time with his 15 grandchildren, while also maintaining his monthly online newsletter Peter’s Pinoy Patter. He continued to attend FANHS conferences and events and speak on many panels. In fact, during Filipino American History Month in October 2024, he spoke on a virtual panel for the U.S. Department of Labor and was honored in San Francisco as part of Positively Filipino’s “A Tribute to our Manongs and Manangs.”
In 2006, FANHS Founder and Executive Director Dr. Dorothy Cordova wrote the foreword for his book "Growing Up Brown", reflecting: “On a personal note, Pete and Terri were among the first to respond to my call for help in 1982. I hoped to form an historical society that would continue to collect Filipino American history and share materials already accumulated through a two-year National Endowment for the Humanities project titled "Forgotten Asian Americans: Filipinos and Koreans." After two years of meetings, we were ready to incorporate the society but needed a name that would proclaim the group's intent and at the same time be catchy enough so that people would remember us. Pete won the contest with Filipino American National Historical Society (FANHS). Thanks, Pete, for giving us a name that continues to grow in national recognition. Thanks also for many years of pleasant memories.”
FANHS National President Emerita Emily Lawsin shares: “Uncle Pete and Auntie Terri mentored me as a young teen in the Filipino Youth Activities Drill Team and then when I was elected to the FANHS National Board of Trustees in 1992. He wrote and spoke often about what he called the “Young Turks”, Pinoy activists of the early 1970s of my hometown of Seattle, who served as inspiring mentors to many of us student activists. He visited me when I was a graduate student at UCLA, and showed me where he and his family lived when he was a graduate student there, joking, ʻWe had so many kids, they called us fraternity row.’ He introduced track themes to the FANHS national conferences and asked me to serve as ‘Youth Track Chair’ for the FANHS 1994 conference in San Francisco. Many years later, he told me that he was proud that so many of those youth who attended are now community leaders today. When I was elected National Vice President in 2016, Uncle Pete sent me a congratulatory note, saying, ‘Please feel free to call on this old timer FANHS founding vice president for any assistance.’ I did, and he was so helpful.. Thank you, Uncle Pete, for everything. Deepest condolences to the Jamero family, especially to his children who also mentored me on the FYA.”
FANHS National President Dr. Kevin Nadal adds: “Uncle Pete was such an inspiration to so many of us. He was also so humble, so kind, and so supportive of the younger generations. He always made me feel so seen and loved. Thank you Uncle Pete for all you have done for us and our community. Your extraordinary legacy will live on forever.”
