I was born in San Francisco in 1916. My father was a tough good man. But a quiet man who didn't speak much about anything. But he did a lot of fine hard work. He was a silent American type, who had a family to raise and that was it. He was a common man years ago but you don't see many like him today. They had four children. Three boys and a girl. I was the oldest.

My father was a Railroad conductor. He was a big man, about 6'2" and about 235 pounds and he was a fighter and they used to call him locally the White Hope. He was born in Oakland, he was a tough man and I was afraid of him and I used to box all the time. I boxed in San Francisco, and I had a CYO medal for some prize I won, and I licked the men I came up against. I was afraid of my dad and I never raised my fists to him.
He was also a gentle man, strong but gentle. His name was James Devlin. And I was named after him, but they called him Jim and they called me Joe. He was Big Jim and and I didn't want to be Jimmy Jr.

I admired him greatly. Now that he's dead and gone I admire him more seeing all that he accomplished. He was a good provider and a good father. He was a railroad man, away most of the time. He stayed away a lot in San Luis Obispo when the train was gone. He worked on the Lark. He was the oldest man on the railroad. He took the Lark in on the last day it went to San Francisco and when they took the Lark in and retired it, he quit, 49 years and 11 months on the railroad. The Lark was part of the Southern Pacific. and he was the conductor on it.
I attended St. Ignatius High School in the city. I loved sports. I was big and strong and I remember participating in every sport they offered, from boxing to baseball to football to track. Everything. I loved it.

When I was growing up, my mother often told me, "Joe, you always stick up for the underdog. And that's a good trait." Even today I can hear her telling me that. "You do it all the time," she said. And it was true. Whenever I went to a sporting event, I always cheered for the underdog. When I played in a basketball game, I always hoped that I would be on the team that was weakest or shortest. When I was a track team to coach, I always wanted to be able to get an inexperienced track team and then build it up until it was a contender.

I became acquainted with the Jesuits while I was in school. And about 1934 I became interested in entering the priesthood. I was in high school at the time. Following my graduation joined the Jesuits. After that I went to college in Spokane and studied philosophy at Gonzaga University.

After graduating from high school I was pretty high minded and I decided to join this Jesuit group that had very high marks in those days, that was in 1934. I never wavered in my decision, through the years.
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