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March 1943. "Topeka, Kansas. Eladio Tostado, steel car repairer's helper and rivet heater, at car shops of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe." Medium-format negative by Jack Delano for the Office of War Information. View full size.
Remind anyone of "Napoleon Dynamite"?
"Opportunity is missed by most people because it comes dressed in overalls and looks like work."
- Thomas Edison -
Can anyone dig up more details on this young man, doing his part for the American transportation system and war effort? I'd love to hear his story. He may have many grandchildren and even great-grandchildren by now.
[Tony Tostado of Topeka, Eladio's brother, died last year. Their parents were Maracelino and Josephine Tostado. According to the obituary, Eladio is still around. - Dave]
...but every time I would think of his last name, I would have to drop everything and hurry to Taco Bell.
As a rivet heater, he has a last name that's rather fitting. For you Spanish-challenged, Tostado is the past tense of the verb tostar, to toast or to brown. Watch that flame, mate. I'm sure most of us have come across people with names that loosely and sometimes humorously connect with what they do. I recall a doctor named Joe College. Some parents do it on purpose, as did an acquaintance whose dad named him Phillip R. Rupp. His dad owned several gas stations.
Aw, now I've got that song stuck in my head!
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