The Christmas Eve story of their Joseph was far different from that of Joseph in the manger for Aptos school children in 1918.

Joseph R. Pasha was born in Santa Cruz County on February 14, 1898. His mother's name was Louisa. The 1910 Census reveals that Louisa Pasha, an immigrant from Italy, was the head of a household that included Joseph, his younger brother John and one of Louisa's younger brothers. Joseph was at that time attending a local Aptos grammar school.

In 1913, when his mother died, Pasha found employment at the St. George Hotel in Santa Cruz. During his leisure time, he participated in the local Aquinas Dramatic Club and began developing his acting skills. Prior to World War I, Pasha moved to Long Beach and worked with a southern California motion picture company.

The absence of draft records suggests that Joseph Pasha may have enlisted in the US Army rather than being inducted. The units to which he was assigned or the camp in which he trained have not been identified, but it is believed that he served with a unit engaged in the Meuse-Argonne offensive in the fall of 1918.

After his arrival in France, Pasha began corresponding with teachers and students at the Aptos School. Newspaper articles of the day noted how much the children looked forward to receiving his frequent letters from Europe. On October 12, 1918, word was received that he had been wounded in action. On Christmas Eve 1918, the students of Aptos School received the sad word that their pen pal Joseph Pasha had died from wounds received in France. His remains were returned following the war and reinterred in the Mt. Carmel Cemetery in Aptos.

(CAG; SCSf December 24, 1918; Cemetery Records of Santa Cruz, Cnty Calif.; 1910US Census, CA, Santa Cruz)