Serves: 5

As a native of Salt Lake City, Gary graduated from the University of Utah with a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree. At age 20 he traveled to Brazil as a missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. To this point in his life, he had never traveled further east than the state of Wyoming, and his missionary call to Southern Brazil could not have been a greater surprise.

Shortly after Gary arrived in Brazil, he was transferred to the extreme south of the country, the city of Ponta Grossa, in the state of Parana. Gary recalls his early struggles with the language and culture in his newly adopted country. He flew from the metropolis of São Paulo to Ponta Grossa in a DC3 and landed there on a dirt runway. He recalls there was only one ice cream parlor in the entire city. On the weekends, people would line up for blocks for an ice cream cone. In 1954, practically no one in the city of Ponta Grossa spoke English and telephones were a rarity.

After four months in Ponta Grossa where he learned to understand and speak Portuguese, he was transferred even further south to a small German/Brazilian village of Ipomeia, in the southern state of Santa Catarina on the banks of the Rio do Peixe in the heart of the state.

On the other side of the Rio do Peixe was the village of Videira, almost all first generation Italian immigrants. For a boy from the Rocky Mountains with very little experience in foreign travel, his first exposure to these new cultural factions buried deep in the heart of Southern Brazil, made deep and lasting impressions.

After five months, he moved to the city of São Paulo, which in those years totaled about five million people (today Sao Paulo has approximately 23 million people). Gary recalls his threeand- a-half-day train trip from Ipomeia to São Paulo on the narrow gage “Maria Fumaça.” The tiny wood-burning train was not unlike those used on the western plains of the United States prior to the turn of the century.

The next two years he spent in São Paulo adapting to the emerging Brazilian culture, where practically everyone he met, with few exceptions, traced their origins to one European country or another. Huge numbers of Japanese post war immigrants were just beginning to arrive on Brazilian soil.

Gary returned to the United States in May of 1957 and married Rose Maurine Lewis just thirteen days after his return. They had been high school sweethearts and she had impatiently waited for him to return from his mission. Rose recalls, almost his first words when he stepped off the plane in Los Angeles, after almost three years away were, “Will you return to Brazil with me?”

Within 16 months Gary had married Rose, finished his studies at the University of Utah, accepted a job with United Press International, and his first son, John Raymond was born. In October of 1958, Gary, Rose and young John returned to Brazil where Gary worked as a Foreign Correspondent and ultimately the Bureau Manager for United Press International. The couple lived in São Paulo and Gary’s responsibilities took him to the four corners of this vast country. As one of the few American journalists, living in Brazil during those years, who spoke fluent Portuguese, he covered some of the most significant years in Brazil’s modern political history.

He reported on the regimes of three Brazilian presidents, traveled with international dignitaries such as President Dwight D. Eisenhower, General Charles De Gaulle, revolutionaries Fidel Castro and Che Guevara and many other Latin American leaders. He covered the 1964 Brazilian revolution and was awarded the Metal of Merit by Professional Journalists Association for his “accurate and professional coverage” of the event.

By 1965, Gary and Rose decided it was time to take their young family of four children back to the United States where they could learn English and get to know their relatives and discover their roots. It was a difficult choice for Gary and Rose as both had become extremely comfortable in the Brazilian environment. Rose had learned to speak fluent Portuguese and most of the couple’s friends were Brazilian natives. They made a concerted effort to select their friends, not by the color of their passport, but by their areas of interests and compatibility.

Although the family returned home officially in early 1965, this was only the beginning of the family’s love affair with Brazil, which has now spanned over forty-five years. Gary became a prominent lecturer and panelist on Brazilian affairs and spoken to groups all over the country. Still employed by United Press International, he was asked to return to Brazil on various occasions to work on special projects. And eventually became the Executive Vice President of UPI for Latin America and the Caribbean. In fact, from 1965 to the present, Gary and in most cases, Rose and other members of the family have returned to Brazil at least once every year.

In 1984, Gary co-authored Farewell my South (Bantam Books).

Both Gary and Rose have authored countless articles and given innumerable interviews about their experiences in Brazil and their relationship with the Brazilian people. In a period of over twenty years, they received seventy-six Brazilian exchange students in their home, most of whom have remained dear friends with not only Gary and Rose, but also their seven children. All of these children have returned to Brazil on many occasions and three of them have American/Brazilian citizenship. Nineteen of the couple’s thirty two grandchildren also carry dual citizenship, as under Brazilian law, the children of Brazilian born parents must also claim Brazilian nationality. A number of the grandchildren have visited Brazil.

Gary’s involvement with Brazil over the last forty-five years ranges from his professional and journalistic endeavors there to voluntary services provided to the Brazilian middle and poor classes through the Partners of the Americas program. Gary served as US National Chairman of the Partners of the Americas for four years, and served on the Board of this private volunteer organization for sixteen years.

He represented the Confederation of Brazilian Basketball and the Brazilian Olympic Committee in the United States as a volunteer for over fifteen years and promoted countless sports exchanges between the United States and Brazil, and other Latin American countries.

In 1985, Gary joined the Los Angeles Times Syndicate International and later became the Executive Vice President of the Syndicate and this responsibility continued to provide him with the opportunity to visit Brazil frequently. And to not only maintain his network of Brazilian friends and associates, but also to witness first hand the vast changes taking place in his beloved Brazil from that first October day when he set foot on Brazilian soil until the present.

Gary and Rose still reside in Salt Lake City; Gary currently serves in the voluntary position of Honorary Brazilian Consul for the state of Utah. Gary and Rose’s interests in Brazil and her people and culture have continued to grow.

More Recipes from the A Taste of Brazil Cookbook:
Acknowledgments
An Adventure In Brazilian Cooking
Brazilian Ingredients
The Authors: Rose Maurine Neeleman
The Authors: Gary John Neeleman