Jose Pilar Valdes

• Name: Jose Pilar Valdes

• Age: 58

• Family: Wife, Robertina S. Valdes; five children

• City of residence: Yuba City

• Occupation: Head custodian at Kynoch Elementary School in Marysville

• Hobbies, interests: I like doing jobs for others, especially creative things such as landscaping, water fountains. I also like watching special events on television such as the elections, the World Series, Olympics.

• What brought you to the Yuba-Sutter area? My wife grew up in Sutter. I've been here from Mexico since 1973.

• What are your favorite places to go in the Yuba-Sutter area? I like it when it rains and everything is green in the Sutter Buttes.

• What is the closest you've been to a famous person? (Mexican singer and songwriter) Joan Sebastian. He was on tour in the area and came to see some horses where I worked in Sutter County.

• Favorite television show: "Desde la Mirandilla," about charrería, on satellite. I worked with horses for 18 years.

• Favorite sports team: San Francisco Giants

• Who do you most admire and why? Cesar Chavez, because he fought for the rights of farmworkers

• Tell us about a life-changing experience: My marriage. I had thought of returning to Mexico but instead moved to the United States.

• What was your first job? In the U.S. my first job was moving sprinklers on a farm in Soledad.

• How would you describe yourself? Very motivated, very positive

• What was the last good book you read? "Lluvia de Oro" ("Rain of Gold") by Victor Villaseñor

• Favorite movie: Movies by Cantinflas; also movies that make you think

• Favorite actors/actress: Clint Eastwood, Libertad Lamarque, Sara Garcia