TRANSCRIPTION
Where were you born?
We didn't have a hospital to go to during this time. I was born in my house on Harrison Street. We had a mid-wife who delivered all five of my mom's kids. So of course she had her bed room where there they would set up similar to a hospital and the mid-wife would deliver us. Only if there was difficulties would a doctor come around.
Where did you grow up?
Harrison street was the name on the east side of San Antonio now they removed all the houses cause they built a school near there and it got bigger, so now the street's name is Murtal; it's not Harrison like it used to be. The last time I drove by it was a while ago but I didn't recognize anything. When we lived there it was a colonial housing with the big pillars. And in the back was the servants' house. My aunt actually owned it and my mom and dad rented the servants' house from her since she didn't have servants.
Did you ever have servants?
No we didn't have servants we had six kids and we were hard working people. We did everything on our own.
How did you get clothes?
Well we were going through the Great Depression during this time so we could not go and buy clothes. No the welfare would bring you boxes of clothes and we had girls so they would bring dresses big or little or whatever then my mother would sew them down to fit us. And we only had one brother so all he need was pants and t-shirt real simple. We always wore dress like little ladies back then we never wore shorts or shirts like now days.
During this time "Great Depression time" how would you get food?
They would give us can goods, rice, beans, and some of our produce. Then with the money my dad earned we got all the extras like seasonings. During this time the government would give them ration stamps which compare to today's food stamps. Then my dad was the only one in the neighborhood with a car so he would help bring the ladies back from the store with their groceries and then in exchange they would give him fruits and can goods stuff that you could store and would last a long time. We would store them under our bed.
What did your parents do at this time?
My daddy worked under the Government with the WPA a lot of that time they would do the streets helping with the pavements he was like a handyman he could do everything. They called him the capitan meaning cactus in English. Because he was always the leader and the boss." "My mother just stayed home, never did work she was a German lady she was the house keeper shed keep the house clean.
Do you recall how much your dad made?
Back then it wasn't much if it was fifty dollars then that would be a lot.
What did you kids do?
Well we all worked after we finished school my brother however had to drop out before he went to middle school he worked under the government for a paint shop. Then went to work for Kelly Air Force Base because during this time you didn't need a diploma to work anywhere as long as you had experience and knew what you were doing they would hire you.
Did you have your own car and if yes, how and when did you get it?
I paid $199 for my car and I would pay 50 cents for gas to fill it up. I bought it with my first taxes refund when I worked for Kelly. We would always take my car to Corpus and we would have to always stop and put oil in it giggle. I was the only girl out of my family to drive. And I would even service my own car. I knew how to do it because I would always be outside helping my daddy service his car.
As a Kid coming home from school what would you do on your free time?
Well we didn't have TV at this time so we had the radio and me and my sister liked listening to KONO which played western music. And then at night we would hear mystery stories and my older sister was mean with us because we were little so she would turn off all the laps and scare us. Keep in mind at this time we had no electricity so we all would have our own little laps. And with the radio we had to use or imagination for all the stories we had to imagine what they had on or what they looked like." Besides that we would make puzzles and play house a lot with our dolls. We would actually go to a mill that was down the street and get wood to make our furniture. My dad also worked for a wealthy family so for Christmas they would always hand us down there old dolls. And we would be so excited. Then we would go outside and play on the swings they were homemade of course and we would play ball with all the girls.
When you were sick what would you do?
Well we didn't have a doctor to just go to we would be taken care of by home remedies passed down by moms or the neighbors who were by the way very friendly. I think that's why I lost my hearing cause there was never a good doctor like we have now a days to diagnose and cure my hearing. Robert D. Green was the hospital we would go to if we must and this hospital is located downtown and still stands however it's no longer named Robert D. Green
Describe a typical Sunday. Did it involve going to church?
Yes we would go to church my mom was Lutheran and my dad was a non-practicing catholic and all the children were baptized. We would all walk to church every Sunday. The church was called St. Patrick's at this time we lived on North Cherry Street. We were constantly moving I believe we moved about ten times because we always rented at the time. Then Sunday for dinner it was always the same mom would always cook one of three meals roast, stuffed hen, or ham. Then after dinner we were allowed to do our own thing.
How was a typical school day?
Our morning would start at 7:30am and we would walk to school every day there was no buses during this and it would be about four to five blocks they were long blocks. School was 8:00am till 3:00pm Monday through Friday.
Were there sports at school?
Yes there was but they would split us up the guys would play together in the back and the girls would play together in the front or vice versa. I played softball in middle school and in high school I was in the pep-squad for three years. Then I would also do a lot of Mexican dancing with a recreation at La Villita down town and at the Arneson River Theater.
After Your Senior Year what did you go off to do?
I Graduated May of 1951 and that same year in July I was hired to work at Kelly Air Force Base there I worked five years and I worked in the typing pool. The typing pool was a big ware house where every ones typing and doing paperwork for the planes. Then from the typing pool it branched out into different higher end jobs which were in need of secretaries. This is what I was promoted to after the typing pool. Here I was with the manufacture repair section I was his clerk his secretaries I would do all the paper work that had to come in and out and I did the postings for the XC-99 books Postings were to schedule supply that was needed for the planes whether it be bolts or screws or any type of plan supplies. And every month we would receive new books to overview and see the requirement and if anything had changed. The XC-99 was the biggest plan they had at the time so the book was very thick and in it consisted of everything that would come from the manufacture. I stayed with this job till I was married and was stationed overseas, which was in 1955.
So when was it you meet your husband? And how?
Well I meet him my sophomore year threw my sister. It all started when she want to go to a dance with some guy she claimed to be her friend however we were not allowed to date at this time neither of us were so she wanted me to go so she kept telling me "Go with me," "Go with me," well I didn't have a boyfriend so the guy that took her said "We got Tony and we got Joe," so then we decided to take our friend who was our neighbor and we all three had our own guys our and so father gave us permission to go to the dance which was at Burbank High School So this is how I met him then we keep in touch and talked as time went on. Like I said we couldn't date so if I wanted to see him we would make stories up and tell our parents we needed notebook paper so we were going to walk to the corner store and buy some. But of course we would meet up with the guys and there they had a fountain so we would have a soda pop or an ice cream. Then as more time when he decided to join the service to get away from problems at home. This was his senior year which meant he didn't finish school he dropped out to join. We still kept in touch while he was gone and I just worked.
What was your reaction to him joining the service?
Well I couldn't say much cause he was having so much problems with his parents him and his older sister would do everything around the house and they would rely on them which would frustrate him he would do most of the parenting jobs. So I just stood by his side because I knew he was doing something good for his life.
If he was away in the military how you all end up getting married?
Well, he actually proposed to my daddy… ha-ha know but he did write my father a letter asking for my hand in marriage and he was 18 at this time. Then in March of 1955 I moved with him and then later that year in November we came back home and got married. Because then he took a test to get a higher ranking and scored so high he had a choice to move to one of three countries he chose London, England, so in March of '66 we moved to England.
How did you travel to England?
Well, my dad took me on the bus to the train station here in San Antonio and the train took me to New York, New Jersey and from there I went by bus to the airport and traveled 15 hours to cross the ocean we made a stop in Greenland for gas and then continued to Prestwick, Scotland I was suppose to get a plain from there to England but when I arrived there was a big poster saying "Edna wait there I'm coming for you" so I waited there I purchased a book to read while I waited and finally Joe arrived and we got on a small train it took us 10 hours to get to Edgware, Middlesex where there only a few blocks was the location of our Flat. (Flat is like a small condo with one building with about four homes within it.)
When did you decide to start having kids?
In 195,7 our first son was born it was unplanned just as the other five kids were ha-ha back in those days there wasn't much of contraceptive so we had our first son in England and then in '58 we moved back to the states. We came on a ship called Randle. This is when we lived in Corpus Christi here we had two more boys in 1959 Joseph was born and in 1960 Anthony was born. In 1961 we moved back to San Antonio and soon after we had our first girl Elizabeth. One year passed 1962 and we had another boy Michael. And finally in 1964 we had our last son John. During this whole time, I was just a stay at home military mom.
What did your husband do during this time?
Well it was a coincidence that he worked on ordering supplies for planes that flew in and out of the ships. He was in charge of looking for locating the supplies or parts and ordering it from different ships and having it sent to his location to fix the plains and have it up and running within two days. And before we moved back to San Antonio he got out and joined the navel reserves. And in the naval reserves he had to do duty every weekend he would travel around the state to work at a different base and once a year for two weeks he was responsible to travel to a location somewhere around the world. Wither it be in the U.S. or Spain where ever they sent him. So most of this time I did spend alone with the kids and pets we always had pets cats, dogs, birds, turtles, you name it we had it.
While your husband was at work was he ever in any war zones were his life was at threat?
No, the closes thing was he was involved in what he knew to be secret missions they didn't tell him what he was doing or where he was going I'm sure it's because they didn't want worry the wives. This secret mission turned out to be what was called the Pueblo Crisis. In the Pueblo Crisis, the ship called Pueblo was stolen and their duty was to fly over ammunition to the ship. This would be the only time his life was in any kind of danger.
So when did you decide it was time to go back to work? And what did you do?
About the time Joe went to the secret mission, I started to working cause they had told us he was suppose to be gone for two years however they were able to come back cause the guys who were involved in the Crisis were captured. So I started off selling Avon for awhile and then I went to go work for South San Independent School District at Dwight Middle school. My youngest, John was in the first grade and so all the kids were attending school so I decided to put myself to work.
Now at the school I worked with the special ed. kids in the woodshop. There we showed the kids how to use saws and drills and other tools. Then we would have different projects for example, we did the construction to the portable that we soon after had our class in. Then we would set up projects outside of the school as well. One of the projects was the construction of a greenhouse for a park. We would also use wood and create different items whether it was an animal cut out or a name. This is where I picked up my hobby of wood crafting. Then in 1999 I retired from the school with 25 years of working.
How would you consider wood crafting a hobby?
Well, I would always cut out and create holiday decorations for my front yard. I believe it was about two years ago when the news cast came to my house to shoot a film of my decorations and broadcast it because they were showing one house every night that was all decorated so I was very proud of myself. I had a Christmas tree, gingerbread men, Santa Claus, and even the whole Jesus sceneries. And I did this for all holidays including Halloween.
What other hobbies did you have?
I love crafting I would always make some type of gift with crafts for all my grandkids teachers for the holidays and like I said I would always have decorations in the front yard most of them from what I created. And to this day if I'm not doing an art project then I'm collecting pieces or works of art little crafty things. I would also enjoy bowling with a league I was in for awhile.
Is there anything else you would like to add to this interview?
Nope thats about it however life is a rollercoaster for you young'ens so enjoy it and never give up if you fall down at any time just get up and let it be a strong push, stronger then the first. Because God only does whats good for us to make us stronger so Never GIVE UP!!! He doesn't give up on us so we should never give up on him know matter what.
