How old were you at the time?
I was one year old and it was my mom and dad and two older sisters and myself. That was the family at that time.

What did you do for fun?
Well since communications was not like today, we didn't have any radio, no telephone or television and no movies. What we did for fun was play with the neighbors like baseball, little games like that. At night we would go outside on the front porch and look at the stars. Our parents knew the names of stars like the big dipper and they would tell us stories they knew about them. They also tell us the stories that they knew that were passed down orally because they had no means of recording them. And that is what we did for fun.

What did you like to eat that was available for you at that time?
Well, at the time we were limited on what we has to eat, you know my dad always had some cattle and every now and then we would slaughter a calf. We also had hogs and we would slaughter them which we always shared with the neighbors because we have no way in perserving the meat. We didn't have any freezers. We didn't have any electricity back then, you know. so we ate some meat and my mother had some chickens sometimes and we always raised corn and beans mainly. And sometimes we had a little garden which we would grow turnips, potatoes or whatever. And of course we would go to the store and buy some things but which also limited you know because of the meager income.

Why did your family decide to move?
In 1926, one of my dad's brothers, my uncle, bought a section of land in Frio County down below Devine, Texas and he was not a farmer so he bought it and got my father since he was a farmer and he worked it for him. And that is why we moved from Alice to down to below Devine.

What kind of feelings did you experience at that time? For example did you feel scared that sometimes you weren't going to make it?
I guess it was just a way of life back then, you know. We were just glad we were able to leak out and concentrated on finding enough food to live on and we worked on the farm and sometimes if we had time we worked for the neighbors for extra income so we can buy some of the things that we needed like shoes, clothes and things like that.

How did the Depression affect people around you like friends and neighbors or extended family?
How did it affect us? Well back then there was so much love back then, you love your neighbors because in time of need if you needed something they would share and if we had something we would share it with them, you know. It would work both ways. If we slaughtered a calf, we would invite the neighbors and they would all help in slaughtering and everyone would take home a piece of meat to supplement their living.

Did both parents have to work, if so what did each do?
Ok, my dad, since they were six of us in the family eventually and my dad and the younger kids would take care of the farm and my mother and older sister and myself would work on the outside when there was something to do on the outside, we had a very good neighbor who had a very big farm and was pretty successful and we used to work for him and back at that time they would pay like a dollar a day or dollar and a quarter and my mother would take that money and buy the groceries and she would have a Montgomery Wards Cataloge and order shoes and clothes for us. A that's what used with the extra income.

What changes did your family, friends or neighbors have to endure to adapt to econnomic changes?
Back in 1932 whenPresident Roosevelt came into the presidency he started some programs to get the country out of recession. He estabished the WPA and the CCC and lot of people went to work. The goverment used to pay a whole lot better than what we were earning out in the country. And lot of men went to work like with the Works Progress Administation(WPA), they would make roads and bridges and all kinds of improvements to the roads, bridges and to the entrances you know, like where they built entrances with pillars; that will help supplement people's income a whole lot. Lot of young men were recruited to work for the Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC). They went to plant trees where trees were cut down for lumber and they would go and replace the trees by planting new ones and that help the economy a whole lot.

Due to the economic downfall, did you think your earnings were fair?
well at the time we got used to that kind of income and we never gave it a thought that it could get better. It all started improving in 1932 or 1933 when the government started to hiring these people and enhanced our earnings and be able to buy a old car and improve our way of life.

Did this affect your school attendance or education?
I for one, my sisters and I never quit going to school. Back in that time lot of the neighbors doing cotton picking time were taking out of school and taking to West Texas or whereever to pick cotton to supplement their income. And my mom and dad because the lack of education can see the fallacy of not having an education, they never let us stay out of school or taken us out of school for anything so we went to school all the time. The present way of life I guess being so poor and them not having the education they should of had they can see they wanted something better for their family so therefore we got a better education than the majority of the neighborhood.

At this time did you ever think things could get worse or were you optimistic and thought it would get better soon?
We were always optimistic because we always strived to do something to better ourself to get ahead and tried to get the education that we needed to come out of that recession out of that lack of education that lot of people didn't have and would not qualify for anything better than just working out in the fields so it did you know.

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