Chris M. Jasso
Chris M. Jasso — Hoffmann-Hayman Superintendent, Packing Department as profiled in the 26 August 1923 San Antonio Light employee series (page 62), the same page as the “Unusual Ways of Making Coffee” recipes spread. The middle initial M. is confirmed by the April 1959 Express-News La Villita-contest credit (HH-CLIP-1959-0007) and by the August 1971 Gus P. Menger pallbearer roster (HH-CLIP-1971-0002) — the 1923 Light and family-letter references that use the shorter “Chris Jasso” form are the same individual.
The article reads: “‘Chris’ renders an unparalleled service in the packing and preparing of H and H products for shipment to local and territorial grocers.”
The “local and territorial grocers” phrasing confirms H&H’s distribution reached beyond San Antonio to a broader South Texas territory, with the packing department serving both city and out-of-town accounts by 1923.
Extended tenure (family papers)
Nancy Draves (2015) adds from Gustav P. Menger’s papers:
- Country Shipping Clerk by 1936
- Association with the Menger family from H&H’s earliest coffee days — Jasso drew a comic-book-style portrait of Nancy Draves’s grandmother dated 1926
- Artist — family caricatures; second-place entry in a 1950s San Antonio downtown-redevelopment design contest. *(Draves Rec13, 12 June 2026: Nancy holds Jasso’s caricatures of her father hunting and her grandmother — R. W. Menger’s wife — fishing at “Camp Buck” on the Steubing Ranch; and identifies Jasso in the 6th row of the 1933 H&H NRA group photo, “country shipping clerk.”)
- Storyteller — wrote tales from his Canary-Islander mother-in-law’s oral history
- Residence: 201 Hill Street, San Antonio 78212 (2015 directory still listed a Chris Jasso at that address — likely descendants)
- Stayed in touch with G. P. Menger after the 1962 Continental sale, visiting “the plant” and “the old gang”
Post-Continental letters (1970–1971)
Paraphrased by Nancy Draves from letters Jasso wrote to G. P. Menger:
| Date | Content |
|---|---|
| 29 Jun 1970 | Still visiting 601 Delaware; saw new Continental-era H&H coffee cans in grocery stores — gold, tall, white plastic lid; stock label “not very pretty” (white oval, red printing); priced 10¢ above national brands; two Spanish words misspelled on bilingual contents panel |
| 8 Jul 1971 | Visiting plant to see “Mother, Sonny and the boys”; reported Ernesto Gonzales (Monterrey) bought four Jabez Burns Jubilee roasters from Continental; Gonzales flew Jasso and retired roaster Lupe Valdez to Monterrey to commission them — 500 lb test roast; TEMPO-VANE thermostat trouble on one machine; uniform roast cutoff at 420°F |
Jasso’s 1971 letter included a drawing of the four Jubilee roasters — Nancy Draves compared the layout to a Burns-equipped factory photo in Roast Magazine (Burlington, Iowa).
May 2026 session: Nancy Draves confirmed she holds Jasso’s letters to R. W. Menger, including roaster drawings and correspondence continuing after retirement — not yet scanned (2026-05-28-nancy-tim-draves-listening-session).
June 2026 session (oral testimony): Per Nancy and Tim Draves (12 June 2026 session, recording Rec11 ≈14:53–15:53), H&H sold its roasters to a firm in Mexico, and Chris Jasso traveled to Mexico to train the purchasers on how to use them; a run of letters from Mexico survives in the family papers. Nancy: “Chris Jasso drew those roasters.” Tim: “H&H sold the roasters to a firm in Mexico, and Chris went down there to show them how to use them… And then there were letters… from Mexico.” This connects to the 1971 Burns Jubilee roasters → Monterrey sale (2026-06-12-nancy-tim-draves-session).
June 2026 (Peché tour, 13 June). On the 601 Delaware walkthrough, Brett relayed Jasso’s own account of the roaster sale: “[Mr. Valdez] ran the roasters to the point that when they sold the roasters and shipped them to Monterey, they couldn’t get them to work. So they had to bring Mr. Valdez down there… Chris Jasso wrote about it… to Gustaf, so we have a record of that even happening” (Rec18 ≈15:46). Separately, David Peché recalled that Jasso lived at 613 Delaware — “that little tiny house — and that’s how he ended up work[ing] at the coffee factory” — independent oral corroboration of the 613 Delaware residence already attested by the 1974 Francisca Jasso obituary (and a data point in the Hill-Street-vs-613-Delaware address question below). (digest)
Open questions
- Full vitals, San Antonio directory citations beyond 1936
- Exact retirement date
- Scan Jasso letters and roaster drawings from Nancy Draves’s holdings
- Son/grandson Chris Jasso line at 201 Hill Street
- Unresolved — Jasso vs. a “Mr. Valdez” on the Mexico trip(s). In the 12 June 2026 session Brett separately recalled a “Mr. Valdez” who “had to go to Mexico to set those up because no one knew how to do it” (Rec12). It is unresolved whether Jasso and this “Valdez” describe the same trip/person or two different ones — and how this relates to the already-documented 1971 letter (above), in which both Jasso and retired roaster Lupe Valdez were flown to Monterrey to commission the Burns Jubilee roasters. Update (13 June 2026): on the Peché tour Brett again sourced “Mr. Valdez” explicitly to Jasso’s letter (the roaster operator sent to Monterrey because “no one could get them to work”), which points to Brett’s “Valdez” = Lupe Valdez of the 1971 letter rather than a separate person — though still one remembered story, not independent confirmation (
2026-06-13-peche-family-tour-session). - Unresolved — Jasso residence / address ambiguity. Per Nancy and Tim Draves (12 June 2026 session), Jasso lived on Hill Street near Five Points (Blanco / Fredericksburg Rd area); Nancy: “108 Hill Street or something.” Record Hill Street (~108) as a further/alternative address alongside the other candidate addresses on file (201 Hill Street, above; the 613 Delaware corner-cottage references). Which address is correct, and whether they reflect different periods or different family members, is unresolved.
See also
People
- Ernesto Gonzales
- Lupe Valdez — roaster colleague on Monterrey commissioning trip
- Nancy Draves
Places
- 331 Burnett Street — the 1923-era plant
- 601 Delaware Street Plant
Events
- 1971 — Burns Jubilee roasters sold to Monterrey
Companies
- Continental Coffee Company
- Hoffmann-Hayman Coffee Company
- Jabez Burns & Sons