Beatrice Resendez

Education+Hard Work= Escape Poverty

Beatrice Resendez at 16 years old.

San Antonio, Texas

March 23, 2010

Lawrence Resendez

Palo Alto College

History 1302 - Spring 2010

 

INTRODUCTION
TRANSCRIPTION
ANALYSIS
TIMELINE
BIBLIOGRAPHY

 

INTRODUCTION

My grandmother, Beatrice Resendez, was born at home on May 18, 1938, in San Antonio, Texas, to Francisco and Juana Zepeda. They were immigrants from Mexico and did not have any education at all. When she was one year old, the family moved to a small farm near La Coste, Texas. She had six brothers and three sisters. They lived in a small, two bedroom house, dirt floors, with no electricity or plumbing. Four children would sleep on the same bed; her brothers usually slept outside on the porch. At their farm they grew vegetables such as corn, okra, potatoes, spinach, onions, carrots and beans. By age 5, they were expected to work in the fields hoeing and harvesting the vegetables. The winters were especially hard; they worked during the cold weather picking the vegetables and tying them into bunches. Then they would go to the river to wash them in the extremely cold water. Summers were more tolerable, but sometimes they would get headaches from the hot sun. Their parents were very formal and strict. They expected the children to get up before sunrise to go work in the fields. Anyone who got up late was considered lazy; being lazy was worse than a mortal sin. After lunch, they were free for two hours. They played outside and improvised on their games. For a baseball, they used empty tomato sauce cans, and the bats were sticks from mesquite trees. Oh yes, they also climbed trees. They also made sling- shots from wood and clothespins, and used chinaberries for bullets. Footballs were made from stuffed socks. Electricity was installed when grandma was eight years old, and then they had one TV and one radio. If they got sick, their mother would cure them with herbs. They used cobwebs to stop any bleeding from cuts and bruises. Food was very simple. They ate meat only on Sundays, usually chicken caldo. They took the old chickens that no longer laid eggs, chopped off their necks with an axe (watching their headless bodies flutter), soaked them in hot water to remove the feathers, gutted them, and cooked them. Daily, they ate fresh, homemade flour tortillas, eggs, mountains of fried papas, and refried beans for breakfast and lunch. Supper usually consisted of Spanish rice or fideo (spaghetti), and vegetables that were plentiful since they grew them. Grandma loved school. It was an escape from working in the fields. When she first began school in LaCoste, she was put in pre-primer for a year instead of first grade because she did not know any English. Mexican-Americans were segregated for the first four years in a one-room wooden building with an outhouse. The White students had a red brick building, complete with in-door plumbing. When grandma graduated from Southwest High School in l956, she received scholarships for her tuition and books. However, her father would not allow her to attend college because girls were supposed to stay at home; college would be a waste. She cried her heart out, because she loved school. When asked why she didn't rebel, she explains that kids at that time obeyed their parents. To disobey were grounds for expulsion from the family. On the Monday after high-school graduation, she began working as a clerk-typist at Kelly air Force Base. There, she met Tony Resendez and they were married on January 30, 1959. Being good, obedient Catholics, they had 5 children-3 boys and 2 girls. Times were tough, and money was scarce. But they succeeded! The three sons acquired very good government jobs and both daughters received their graduate degrees with honors. While working at Kelly AFB, grandma took courses on sewing, baking, and flower arrangements. She owned a flower shop, baked birthday and wedding cakes, and also sewed suits and wedding dresses. She also learned to knit and crochet. She retired from Kelly AFB on December l990, after achieving a high position. She reads approximately two books per week, usually history and mysteries. She believes that education and hard work are the only ways to escape poverty.

 

 

TRANSCRIPTION

What are your earliest childhood memories?
When I was 4 years old, we were crowded in the front of a pickup truck. Suddenly another truck hit us from behind. My brother hit an object in the truck and punctured his eyeball. All the liquid came streaming from his eye. He was 5 years old. He never cried. He lost the eye. I also remember the house we lived in when I was 3. It had dirt floors. We would always sprinkle water on it to keep the dust from rising.

Who, What, Where, When

What were the struggles in your life?
Struggles in my life: Not knowing English when I started school. Having to work in the fields after school and on weekends. Living in a 2-bedroom house with parents and 7 siblings.

Did you enjoy the farming life style?
No, I did not enjoy the farm lifestyle. I had to work in the field during extreme weather conditions-very hot and very cold. When we worked with certain vegetables-onions, for example, our hands would stink and I was very embarrassed. Even bleach would not get rid of the smell. I hated having to work on Sundays; we never had a day off.

How were you able to learn/ understand English?
I learned English when I went to school at the age of 6. The teacher did not know any Spanish. She held up cards for each word with a picture of the word. If we wanted to go to the bathroom (it was an out door toilets) we would raise one finger. Later, when we were smarter, we would raise our hand and ask, "may I please go to the "Bees ques" (translated means "may I please be excused")

Was it tough going to school and them working on a farm?
Yes, it was tough working in the farm and attending school because we had to work after school and then do our homework. It was very tiring.

Where would you give the crops to?
In the morning at 2:00 A.M., my father would take the crops to the crops to the farmer's market downtown. There the vendors from the stores would go buy the vegetables.

Who, What, Where, When

When you were sick where did you go to?
When we were young, we never went to doctors. If we cut ourselves and were bleeding, we would put spider webs to stop the bleeding. If we had stomachaches, headaches, or fever, mother would boil herbs for us to drink. When we were sick, we stayed home.

How was it like to work on a Farm?
Working on a farm was very hard. We had to get up before sunrise and work during all types of weather. We started working at the age of 5. There were no days off or holidays. The only time we didn't work was on rainy days or when we were sick.

What School did you attend?
I attended La Coste Elementary, Our Lady of Grace Catholic School, and Southwest High School.

Did you attend school every day?
Yes, I went to school every day. I loved school and did not want to be at home.

Beatrice, her senior year of high school, at 17 years old.

What did you do at Kelly AFB?
When I first started, I was a clerk Typist, then I went to night school to learn "shorthand" and I became a "stenographer." Slowly I "climbed the ladder." Later I became an "inventory Management Specialist" which involved calculating the number of parts to order for the aircraft engines (f-15 Fighter jets, C-5 and C-7 Cargo aircraft). I loved my Job!

What did you do for fun?
For fun, we would play baseball and football. We always played together. We also watched TV and went swimming in the canal. In high school, I was in the pep squad and went to all the football games.

Was church part of your life?
We went to church every Sunday. After church, we would work in the field.

Beatrice Resendez,Southwest Graduation at 18 years old

Have you ever wanted to or wish you had a different lifestyle?
I always wished that I could live in the city and go on picnics like the other kids. I always wished that I wasn't poor and I wanted to attend college.

Where did you meet Tony Resendez?
I met Tony when I worked at Kelly Air Force Base.

What was your dream?
My dream was to become a teacher.

Beatrice Resendez and Tony Resendez, Brother in Laws House for marrage. Nov. 30,1959

What was your accomplishment in life?
My accomplishment was having a good job for 30 years, raising five good children, and helping them with my grandchildren.

What was your favorite memory?
My favorite memory was that of everyone sitting on the porch eating homemade empanadas that my mother made.

Alfonso and Frank Jr., What, at their farm house, around 1944 and 1945

Is there anything else you would like to add to this interview?
During the 30's and 40's, life was hard. Everyone around us was poor, not just us. We were all very close because we played together all the time, no expensive toys for us. We were always singing, even though none of us is a good singer. Our Parents expected us to work or read all the time; they couldn't stand lazy kids. The Catholic Church would make Mexican-Americans sit in the back. We could not be in the choir.

 

 

Beatrice and Tony Resendez

ANALYSIS

This oral history project has shown me a lot of things that I really did not know about my grandmother. There were so many interesting stories that I did not know about my grandmother. I learned about how she grew up in her life, how she was able to speak in English while the community around her knew Spanish. I also know now that working hard can get you to places where you never thought you could end up. What I did not know until after this interview was how my grandmother had to say no to college because of her father. This made me really sad when she had told me this. This interview also not only tells us about the big things you find out, it also tells you about the small things too. For example, my grandmother always wanted to become a teacher; once she told me this it was a shocker. I had no clue from all her goals she would want to teach. While doing this interview I would have thought maybe these questions are kind of hard to ask. One thing about Beatrice Resendez is that she is a very strong person. Through this interview she told me everything by sitting there and giving me answers I needed straight forward. All theses stories taught me a lot, they showed me if you truly work hard you can succeed in life

 

 

TIMELINE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

 

 

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