Cista H Hernandez

Hernandez Family, Cista Hernandez Upper left corner, standing (circa 1930)

San Antonio, Texas

DATE OF INTERVIEW

Leonila "Lila" Espinoza [nee Alfaro]

Palo Alto College

History 1302 - Fall 2010

 

INTRODUCTION
TRANSCRIPTION
ANALYSIS
TIMELINE
BIBLIOGRAPHY

 

INTRODUCTION

My grandmother Cista Hernandez Hernandez was born on Aug, 6th in 1924 in New Orleans, Louisiana to Manuel Hernandez and Matiana Hernandez who were both from Mexico She was baptized at St. Louis Cathedral Aug 23rd, 1924. My grandmother doesn’t remember much of her parents but that after her two siblings Issac and Theresa were born, her father abandoned her family sometime around 1930. Around this time, her grandmother had sold her mother to a man who was supposed to take her to Mexico to her other grandmother’s but instead took my great-grandmother, my grandmother and her siblings to McAllen, Tx.

There in McAllen her mother met and married a man named Jose Ramos. They had two boys, Mathias who was born April 25th 1932 and her other brother Santiago Ramos, whom she has little information about. After her brother’s were born, my grandmother and her siblings moved to San Antonio to escape her abusive step-father. When she was in McAllen, she helped her mother work and provide for her siblings by doing migrate work. She also worked at Reagan Company Warehouse where she separated good and bad cans of tomatoes and green beans. Because of her old age, she can’t seem to remember how old she was during this time. When her family moved to San Antonio, she held many jobs including cleaning houses, worked at St. Anthony’s Hotel as a maid, the Mexican Manhattan Restaurant, Brooks Air Force Base where she ironed the uniforms, Ritz Drive-In, Ray’s Drive-In, SSC San Antonio West Operating Company Nursing Facility and at the San Antonio Express News. She only went to school for 2 days. She can’t remember exactly when she got married but she married a man named Jose Garcia in what she thinks was 1944, but it was short lived. She had her first two daughters with him, Guadalupe Hernandez (now Alamaraz) who was born Oct 12th 1945 in McAllen, Tx. Then, after moving to San Antonio in 1950 they had Elisa Garcia (now Herrera) who was born June 14th, 1952. Not long after her second daughter was born, her husband left them. While my grandmother worked to provide for her daughters, she was being followed by a man whom she ended up with and had 3 more daughters with. Maria Guadalupe Hernandez (now Flores) was born Feb 22nd 1956, then my mother Cista Hernandez born Sept. 8th 1957 followed by her last daughter Mary Anne Salazar Thomas Jan 19th 1959. He left her after their last daughter was born.

Throughout her life, my grandmother has been a devote catholic woman, was a member of the Gudalupanas with the San Fernando Cathedral and St. Leo’s Church, a member of Lambs for Jesus for St. Leo’s, and volunteer’s at St. Vincent De Paul every week. She enjoys coloring, playing bingo, banco( a dice game),cooking and knitting for her family, and has been volunteering in San Antonio since she was 68, for the past 18 yrs. She has received awards for her services to the Alamo Senior Citizen’s Community by Former Mayor’s Edward D. Garza, William E. Thorton, and an award in 1993 from the city of San Antonio, 3 from Phil Hardberger and one from former governor Ann Richards. She volunteered 4yrs in a row at the annual Raul Jimenez Thanksgiving Dinner. On Jan 5th of 1999 she was involved in a horrible car accident in downtown San Antonio where she was launched from the backseat of the cab onto the sidewalk. She sued the “Checker Cab Company” and won, although she has had to suffer with the ramifications of that accident on a daily basis.

 

 

TRANSCRIPTION

What was it like growing up as a Mexican woman in your time?
I had lots of problems and lots of hardships because of it.

Did religion play a big part in your life to help you keep going?
Oh yes!I would pray to god to give me strenght and keep going.

How do you feel about the fact that you had to raise your siblings on your own?
I felt good with them, I didn't feel alone. I cared for them.

Who, What, Where, When

How did you find work?
With the help of American women.

Was it hard to find work as an uneducated Mexican woman?
No, it wasn't hard becaue the American women would help me. They would help me out a lot. They even told me where I could go work at.

What did you think about your marriage?
Jose bought love. I ddin't think nothing of it. Ijust wanted to help my family.

Have you ever been in love?
No because it was false. When they were going to take my kids away my aunts had called the police and reported me. They lied to them and the police came to take my kids away. I looked for a man to help.

St. Louis Cathedral New Orleans, Louisiana

Were you ever afraid of being a Mexican woman raising 5 girls on her own?
No, I wasn't afraid. I just wanted to excel.

Do you see yourself as a pioneer for woman now?
I feel that I saved a lot of women by helping them not go through what I have gone through. But no, I am not a pioneer. There are still a lot of injustice now with women and their husbands.

Did you have any dreams as a child? What were they?
I never really had any dreams, I only knew I had to keep moving forward. That's all.

If you could tell the world one thing about the life lessons you've learned, what would they be?
Nothing, I don't want to remember.

My grandmother working at the San Antonio Express News in Sept 1984, Photo taken by Johnny Garza grandmother working at San Antonio Express News, Sept 1984 Photo taken by Johnny Garza

What are some of your fondest memories?
Being with my siblings. They always made me happy. I didn't look at teh world, just my siblings.

How has your life and other American's women's lives changed since your time?
It is different, I don't know but it's different. I suffered and I did everything that came to mind. I wasn't able to ask for help. I did everything on my own.

What do you think about your family?
Nothing, the only thing I want is the family to love the way I loved my brothers.

From left to right Her brother Santiago, y grandmother, her brother Mathis Feb 2009

Why did you start working at the San Antonio Express News?
I just got fired from my job and a lady I had helped told me that the Express News was hiring and to hurry over there. I spent the last money I had to take the bus downtown and to the Express News.

Did you like working at the Express News?
Yes, I did. It paid my bills and I was able to get my girls things they needed for school because of it. I know they were embarrassed but it was a job that helped me take care of them.

How long did you work there?
Oh, for so many years! But I loved it. (she worked there for about 25 years).

when did you start volunteering? Why?
I don't remember...I don't remember when I started. No, I do. At the church. Because they asked me and at the Raul Jimenez Thanksgiving Dinner and where else? In more church's like San Juan.

San Antonio Express News in San Antonio, Tx

Do you still volunteer? Where? Why?
Oh yes! At St. Leo's, St. Vincent DePaul, and at the Cope Land Group, and the Harlandale Civic Center where we play Banco (a dice game). I help the people that need help.

What do you like about volunteering?
I feel happy, I feel happy helping people and they ask me favors and I help. I have a lot of "daughters" (chuckle)but, they are not my daughters. They're from schools and colleges, they ask me to be their grandmother and ask me for advice.There were two girls a few years ago that would always come by and check up on me, take me out to eat and buy me clothes. Your mother hated them. They made her jealous. (laugh)

What do you do for fun now?
I color, play video games, play scratch off games, go to the Harlandale Civic Center to play Bingo and Banco.

Anything else you enjoy?
Oh! My grandbabies! I love playing and having my grandbabie around. I love them so much!

 

one of her certificates for helping senior citizens

a certificate signed by former Mayor Phil Hardberger

another certificate she recieved in 1994/1995

Is there anything else you would like to add to this interview?
No, but I hope I can see what this is gonna look like at the end.

 

1982, a family photo of my grandmother and all her daughters, middle, bottom row

1985 me and my grandmother at the the kitchen table in my house

ANALYSIS

In paragraph form, answer these questions after completing your interview. Do not include these questions in your analysis. (MINIMUM 200 WORDS)

 

I thought I knew the lady who lived next door who happened to be my grandmother, but as this project began to develop on it's own I learned that I never truly knew the lady who lived next door. The life she has lead is much different than what I ever could've imagined. I have seen a different world that existed, a world not many people enjoy talking about. I heard the stories of her hardships, her trials, and heartache. I have always seen my grandmother has a strong, independent woman who impacted me to be the same but, she has ALWAYS been like this My heart goes out to her because she never had a childhood but she makes up for it now by laughing, smiling, dancing, and being silly like a kid. It pained me see and hear my grandmother weep as she retold her stories but that's her strenght. She has held on for all these years and I found out that there is a reason for it. Her love and devotion for others has driven her to do the things she's done and be the woman she is now. I have always respected mygrandmother and have always seen her as my hero, this interview solidified annd made those feelings for her stronger. I can only hope to have an ounce of her happiness and strenght. Her unselfisness is what has kept her strong and alive, or so she says. My grandmother always tells me that "the good lord gives me the strenght to help others, that's why I am still alive".

From this interview I have learned that sometimes, a life has no meaning if you don't care for others or live to help others. That's what my grandmother has always, and still does.

My six word memoir would be " Never stop dreaming, live to laugh.

 

TIMELINE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

 

 

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