The Last of the Great Visalia Saddlemakers
Judging by the broad strokes of Dave Silva’s life and career, one might conclude that he was destined to become one of California’s greatest saddlemakers. After all, he was the son of John Laury Silva Sr., a well-known California rope and cinch maker; the husband of Juanita Dominguez of California’s historic Dominguez Rancho; the star pupil of one of the West Coast’s all-time great leather carvers, Stanley Diaz, and top saddlemaker, Wade Warren; and the last foreman of the Visalia Stock Saddle Company, the most revered of California saddleries, before the 1963 fire ended the company’s nearly 100-year-long run. But what folks may not know is that Dave’s illustrious saddlemaking career almost never happened.
As a child, Dave accompanied his father to all the best Bay Area saddle shops, where the elder Silva sold ropes and cinches. During these trips, Dave dreamed of becoming a saddlemaker for Visalia, the king of California saddleries in an era when California saddlemakers reigned supreme. From his late teens through his early 30s, Dave applied for a job at Visalia, but could not get hired there.
Meanwhile, Dave learned and observed Visalia-trained leather toolers and saddlemakers who struck out on their own. Obligations to family and country threatened to derail his dream. To take care of his family, he took hiatuses from full-time leatherwork to pursue higher paying jobs in the Oakland shipyards and at the Campbell Soup Company. When World War II broke out, he joined the Army to fight in the Philippines. But, his desire to be a Visalia saddlemaker endured.
When Visalia finally hired Dave in 1953, Wade Warren, Visalia’s foreman, told him, “You’re going to be one of the best darned saddlemakers there ever was.” Warren’s prediction was prescient, as Dave replaced him as Visalia’s foreman four years later, and Dave continued to build saddles to Visalia’s exacting standards for over four more decades. The man who almost did not get a job at Visalia ended up becoming one of the company’s finest—and last—of the great Visalia saddlemakers.
David Silva was born on February 6, 1921, in San Jose, California, to Juana (“Jenny”) and John Silva Sr. Originally from Ponce, Puerto Rico, Jenny’s family immigrated to Hawaii, where she met John. John’s family had immigrated to Hawaii from Pico Island in the Portuguese Azores. After John and Jenny got married, they moved to California, eventually settling in San Jose, near other Portuguese immigrants.
Dave had eight siblings – five brothers and three sisters. For spending money during the summer, Dave and his siblings picked prunes in the San Jose area. Later in life, Dave joked that he and his siblings had “prune picker” knees because they had to get down on their knees to pick up the prunes that fell to the ground.
Dave’s mother, Jenny, was a
