By Thea Jarvis

John Ralph Silva's modest office at the Catholic Center on West Peachtree Street belies the rich history and heritage he brings to his work at Catholic Social Services' immigration clinic.

Silva, a legalization volunteer with the Refugee and Migration Unit of CSS, was among 13 volunteers honored at the tenth annual Golden Rule Awards sponsored by J.C. Penney and The United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta in May.

The transplanted New Yorker, with a hint of Europe on his tongue and a gentleman's bow in his greeting, is without secrets when asked about life before Atlanta.

"I'm a refugee from Germany," said Silva, 69, who fled his homeland at the age of 17 on the day after his father was arrested by the Nazis. Traveling through Italy, France, Spin, Venezuela, Panama and Peru on his way to Bolivia, he became the "only survivor" of his family to escape the consuming fire of Hitler's persecution.

With just a tourist visa to identify him, Silva was told to colonize the Bolivian jungle if he wanted to remain in that country.

"I laid roads with the Indians, cleaned railroad cars, played piano in the bar" from 1939-41, he said, remembering bouts of yellow fever that kept him company during his jungle stay.

Silva eventually made his way to Argentina, and then to Uruguay, there marrying and learning the wool trade as a technician and buyer.

Following the war, he attempted to obtain identification papers that would certify his place and date of birth, but was thwarted at every turn. An American stamp collector he had begun correspondence with during the war offered assistance, putting Silva in touch with another American who became his sponsor for entry into the U.S.

Silva came to the States in 1947 under the Truman administration's policy of admitting children who had lost parents during the war.

"I got my visa within two weeks" after his unknown sponsor sent him the proper affidavit, he said. Through "this strange fellow I didn't even know," his admission was expedited and he and his young wife left Uruguay behind.

Though only in his early twenties, Silva's experience and worldwide contacts in the wool trade allowed him easy access to the business once he settled in America.

Beginning in 1950, he traveled the world "with very peculiar documents," he laughed, explaining that his original identification papers were never available.

"I would buy wool before it was shorn from the sheep," he said, importing the fiber from New Zealand, Argentina, Australia, Uruguay -- "from almost every accessible country."

For his exemplary business sense, he was made president of the New York Wool Traders Association for three terms, a total of 12 years. He also served as director and arbitrator for the American Arbitration Association of New York, a pro-bono affiliation he continues today.

Silva's work with Refuge and Migration Services reflects his enduring spirit and a fellow-feeling for those striving to begin life in unfamiliar surroundings.

"I know what some of these people suffer and I feel for them," he said of the clients he sees during clinic hours Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Such empathy motivated him to approach Catholic Social Services as an unpaid volunteer.

In 1987, a "small ad in the Atlanta Journal" placed by Sister Barbara Harrington, GNSH, caught Silva's eye after he and his wife had retired and moved to Atlanta, where his daughter attended Emory University.

He answered the ad and began work at a time when amnesty was being offered to illegal immigrants who could prove they had come to the U.S. before January 1, 1982. The need for documentation and direction was high and Silva's contribution was significant.

Today, he sees some 50 clients each week, a front-line task Susan Colussy, head of CSS' migration unit, says is "so critical to the functioning of the (immigration) clinic."

"John has traveled so much and done business internationally. He is attuned to cultural differences," she said. "He is aware of documents, so he can very quickly determine the validity of documents" presented in the course of an interview by clients eager to be integrated into American society.

"Ninety percent of the cases are different from one another," Silva explained. "We have to be very careful that papers are authentic, genuine. There is a lot of false documentation floating around."

Fluent in English, Spanish, French and Portuguese as well as his native German, Silva easily skirts traditional barriers of language. He even has a working knowledge of Hebrew and Latino, a seventeenth century offshoot of Spanish.

Latino, he explained, was "an old form of Spanish" he finds interesting because his Jewish ancestors left Spain in 1492 when Queen Isabella ruled. They fled first to Holland and then to Germany, sites of persecution in his own time.

"I have learned to look at things from both sides," Silva said. He has no bitterness "because it eats you up," he explained.

Being a Jewish volunteer in a Catholic environment has never bothered him, he said. As a child, he had a Catholic nursemaid and attended a Catholic school.

"I probably know as much about the Catholic religion as most Catholics," he laughed. "When you want to do some good, it has nothing to do with religion."

Silva, along with other recipients of the Golden Rule Awards, was acknowledged at a luncheon May 1 at the Georgia World Congress Center.

"I was very honored," he said of the recognition.

Susan Colussy, who oversees the work of Silva and five other volunteers in legal services, cited the "thousands of hours and remarkable volunteers," including retired attorneys and law students, who assist at the clinic.

"We couldn't manage without him," she said of Silva's contribution. "He has a remarkable history. We're delighted that he received the award."