Oralia Diaz (nee Hernandez)

San Antonio, Texas

April 23, 2007

Arturo Diaz

Palo Alto College

History 1302 - Spring 2007

INTRODUCTION

Oralia Diaz is a sixty-six year old housewife. She was born July 21, 1940 in the City of Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico. She was the eighth child born to Eduardo Hernandez and Maria Avila. She has five older brothers and three sisters (2 older, 1 younger). She grew up in a working class neighborhood in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico. She attended school until the 7th grade. She was then forced to withdraw from school and help with the housework, after her mother passed away. She met and married Fidencio Diaz on May 26, 1957 when she was sixteen years old. She gave birth to seven children (six girls and one boy). In 1964 her husband answered an ad in the Monterrey newspaper about an American company owner looking for an experienced glass worker willing to immigrate and relocate to San Antonio, Texas, USA. Mr. Manlio D. Cavallini, owner of the Cavallini Co, Inc., helped the Fidencio and his family received legal residence in the United States and move to San Antonio, Texas. She has lived in San Antonio, Texas since 1965. She has no interest in politics because she feels that all politicians are the same. Oralia Hernandez is a born again Christian and attends church regularly. To this day she continues to be married to her husband of forty-nine years.

TRANSCRIPTION

What is your favorite memory about your childhood?
About how nice my Dad was to us. He was a good, loving and responsible father. I remember when he would work the evening shift; I would sit and wait at the front door until he got home. Even though I was eight years old, he would carry me, wrap me in a blanket and put me to sleep in his arms.

What did you do for fun as a young girl?
I played baseball with the neighborhood boys and girls. We would also hang out at the neighborhood store and eat snow cones. A couple of times I went on excursion camping trips to the “Cerro de la Silla” mountain. It was fun but very tiring hiking up such a steep mountain.

What was your last grade completed in school?
I was only in school only up until the eight-grade.

Why?
Because after my mother died, I had to help out around the house with chores.

What chores did you have to do?
I would have to babysit, mop, sweep, iron cloths, and go get the daily groceries for lunch and dinner. I hated to iron, I had to use three metal irons we had. They would have to be heated on the stove burner and rotate them as they cooled down while ironing. It took very long.

Do you wish you could have stayed in school longer?
Yes, but many of the girls were pulled out of school at that age to help with chores.

How old were you when you got married?
I was 15 years old.

How did you end up coming to San Antonio, Texas?
My husband was hired by a man named Manlio Cavallini. He helped us immigrate to San Antonio once my husband agreed to work for him at his glass company.

Fidencio Diaz at work at Multicolor Glass Co

How did you feel about moving to San Antonio, Texas?
I didn’t want to move because I was happy in Monterrey, Mexico. I would miss it so much that I would cry because I missed my sisters.

What were the differences between living in the United States and living in Mexico?
In Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico people were are always out walking in the neighborhood streets and running errands. I could walk to the store because they were in the neighborhood. We would go once or twice a day to buy what was needed to make lunch and dinner. In San Antonio we would go to the bank and groceries only once a week on Fridays. The rest of the week we were stuck at home while my husband went to work. It was very hard to get around without a car, especially when we lived on the outskirts of town. Also, in Monterrey I had to wash by hand on a washboard in a sink outside. The clothes would have to be wrung by and hung to dry outside. Here in San Antonio we would go to the washateria to use the washers and dryers to wash clothes. Later my husband bought me a washer and dryer and I was able to wash at home. These are some of the things that made life different.

Was it hard to adjust to living in the United States?
Yes, it was very hard because I was away from my family and had no-one to talk to.

Do you ever get homesick now or wish you could go back to Monterrey, N.L. Mexico?
Yes I do. But I would only go back to live over there for periods of time and then come back for a period of time. I would build a house there and here so that way I could travel back and forth. Of course I could only do this if I won the lottery or something.

Do you think you made the right decision by immigrating to the United States and leaving Monterrey, N.L. Mexico? Would you do it again?
Yes, I think we made the right decision because one very important thing that happened was that my husband, who was a heavy drinker in Monterrey, met a friend who led him to Christ and it changed his and our family’s life for the better. Also, in Monterrey it would have been hard to put all our children through school. In the United States there were able to finish school, learn a second language and get a better education. I would do it again.

ANALYSIS

As I did this interview I learned some things about my Mother that I never knew before. I did not know about her going on excursions or her liking to play baseball so much. In my opinion the most important points were made when my mother stated that she did the washing by hand in Monterrey and when she said that she would do it all over again. I learned how hard it was for her to arrive in a new country and basically not know anyone, have to basically start from scratch and overcome the adversities. The emotion with which she remembered that made me appreciate my parents even more than what I already did. It taught me how that I am very privileged to have the parents I have. That immigrating to another country is always hard and that a person can succeed through perseverance and hard work. The stories my Mother told were not verified with anyone, I believe in her word. The benefits are that you hear the stories first hand from people who actually lived through that time. The drawback is that it’s not always verifiable because people die or sometimes it’s just their personal experience with no way of verifying. However: I do believe it’s a very interesting and effective way to learn about the past because we are getting the information from peoples personal experiences’ and not someone who believes it happened that way or this way.

TIMELINE

Ø July 21, 1940. Born in Monterrey, N.L. Mexico

Ø Withdrawn from school at 8^th grade.

Ø May 26, 1957 - Married at age 16 on.

Ø October 20, 1957 - First child born on.

Ø March 25, 1959 - Second child born.

Ø October 22, 1960 - Third child born.

Ø November 25, 1962 - Fourth child born.

Ø 1964 – Husband agreed with Glass Company owner to relocate to San Antonio, Texas to work.

Ø January1965 - Immigrated to the United States of America

Ø March 1, 1965 - Fifth child born.

Ø April 25, 1969 - Sixth child born.

Ø January 25, 1971 - Seventh child born.

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Monterrey N.L. Mexico http://www.agimmobilier.com/resource-center/Monterrey.htm This site shows modern Monterrey N.L. Mexico. Starbucks, Walmart, HEB and other american stores are now diong business in Monterrey.

Cerro de la Silla (Horse Saddle Mountain) http://azteca.free.fr/monterrey.htm This site shows a picture of the Cerro de la Silla Mountain (Horse Saddle Mountain) for which Monterrey is famous for.

Cavallini Co http://www.cavallinistudios.com/ This site belongs to Mr. Manlio Cavallini. This is his glass company now.

Hand Washboard http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WashboardThis site shows the type of wash board my Mother would use to wash all the dirty clothes when she lived in Monterrey.

Metal Iron http://cgi.ebay.com/PRIMITIVE-HEAVY-ALL-METAL-CLOTHES-IRON_W0QQitemZ230119553752QQihZ013QQcategoryZ13919QQcmdZViewItemThis site shows a picture of the type of iron my mother was using when living in Monterrey.

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Created on September 11, 2002, Revised January 29, 2007