TRANSCRIPTION
Were you born in a hospital, if not where were you born?
No, I wasn't born in a hospital; I was born at my parent's house, a 21 acre, about five miles out of Lytle.
Why were you born in the house?
My parents had a lady that delivered a natural birth and they weren't financially capable of having someone born in a hospital.
What was it like growing up with such a large family?
It was totally different, everybody picked on you [Laughs], and ugh, you got, you always, well I was the youngest in the family so I had fifty-fifty attention
What did you do in order to help out with the farm?
We always did chores as far as feeding the hogs, cattle, planting some crops, helping in the house cleaning, and planted grass for the lawn
How did you get to and from school every day?
Sometimes our dad would take us to school, but most of the time we walked three miles to school and three miles back to the house
Even if it was raining or really cold?
When it came to the rain, one of our brother in laws would pick us up and bring us home
How many students were in your graduating class?
When I graduated from high school there was about thirty two or thirty five in the class
Describe your education. Did you have to drop out and work for your family?
No, I got to graduate from high school. Once I graduated from high school I took a technical college air-conditioning and refrigerating school in San Antonio
When did you get your first vehicle?
My first vehicle was when we were a Junior in high school, my dad bought the car for us
What kind of vehicle was it?
It was a Chevy 1958 Bel Air
Where did you buy your clothes, shoes, and groceries, and all the necessities, since Lytle was such a small town?
Our groceries were bought in a Mexican store named La Saldana, that's where my parents, it was off of old high way 81. As far as clothes when were kids my mom bough them all. As teenagers we bought them, in Sears.
You got drafted after high school when you were eighteen, when you came back to Lytle what was the biggest change you had seen in Lytle, if any?
[pause] Ummm, just, ummm....There was a western store named George Harris, it moved from one side of the railroad tracks closer to IH 35 South, which is a big western store; George Harris. Some developments off that same area, subdivisions, and, and...the Pyrant's Store used to be on the main street and that changed to the Super S, and that was basically it
Considering you traveled to so many places being in the military, why did you choose to live in Lytle?
Ughh, just growing into Lytle. Being in a small town, I got used to small places, so I loved the small towns and my thinking for better for my kids to go to school than bigger schools or bigger cities
Would you say there was any racism or discrimination growing up?
Maybe I was a person that was naive but I was never into the racial, didn't notice anything, even in my twenty years in the military as for me, I mean in the military of course you've seen it but I was never the person to be involved in racial
What was your first job and how much did you earn?
My first job before I got drafted was working in a refinery five miles from Lytle, the town named La Coste, I was working in the oil refinery making almost $8.50 or $9 dollars an hour which was not bad in those years which in the mid 1970s
Do you remember the name of the refinery?
No.
Where did you meet your wife?
I met my wife at Key West Florida through her sister
How did you know her sister?
I knew her sister from a military friend of mine and found out that's how I got to know her; my friend's wife's sister
And ya'll got married in Florida and moved back to Lytle?
No, we got married in Key west, Florida, and then from there I got stationed to El Paso
How did ya'll end up back in Lytle?
I wanted to come back to Lytle to start a new life with the family here in Lytle, like I said before, because it was a better place in my opinion for growing up kids in a small town
What changes have occurred for the better or worst in Lytle, in your opinion?
New developments, which brought HEB, Sonic, Mcdonalds, Bill Millers, which that brought jobs to people here in Lytle, and it is still growing a little bit, but hopefully it doesn't grow like a big city
What do you see as Lytle's future? Do you think it will get bigger?
No, I don't think the town will get bigger but I believe the people from the city will be coming and living out in the country in subdivisions
Do you remember Lytle's population when you were younger compared to now?
Lytle's population during the time I was in high school was 650
And now?
Now it's 2000, 2200 something
Did you cause a lot of trouble, or were you more conservative and innocent?
I was never much of a trouble maker. I enjoyed living on the farm and I always adventured out in the pastures; never was much for going out. My enjoyment was on the farm
Is there anything else you would like to add to this interview?
Just that I'm going on another twenty years as a retirement and I guess life has got me good so far, nothing, no regrets. that's it. that's it...I think. [Laughs]
