TRANSCRIPTION
Did your mother or father ever share the story of you birth? Did anything extraordinary happened?
No, the only thing they said was that I was too fat. Yeah, that I was too fat for being a baby.
Where were you born at?
Mesquite, New Mexico.
Were you born in a hospital or a home?
I think it was a home. But I was not born in a hospital.
Is there anything else you remember from your childbirth?
No, me and my youngest brother used to play with little goats that we had.
So, did your family raise goats to eat?
No, we just had them there.
About your name (Jovita), were you named after somebody?
No
What were your parents name?
Pablo Vasquez and Margarita Martinez.
Do you remember where they were from?
My father was born in Garfield, New Mexico, and my mom was born in Dairy, New Mexico.
Can you give us a brief summary of their lives? Like what they worked in, etc.
My mom was a housewife, and my dad was a mason. Like he would build houses.
How were your parents? And their characteristics?
They were always serious with us. Nothing funny about them.
How did you parents treat you?
They were strict.
Did they say certain things a lot?
Not really, the only thing they used to say was "well your going to do this, and that's your job from now on" because they were real strict with me and my siblings.
Do you have some childhood memories that make you happy?
I remember when I learned how to jump rope, and I would have my dad jump with me and they were always laughing at me because we would always fall to the ground. I would always step on his feet. I remember a year I wanted a doll, and I knew my dad couldn't get it because we didn't have enough money, but I don't know how he did it, but he got me that doll, and I was so happy to have that doll for Christmas.
Memories with your mom?
Yeah, we used to play with her, in the kitchen like if I was the mom, and she was the daughter, and I would try to make the tortillas, and then she would show me how.
How did you learn to be a girl, who taught you things girls are suppose to know?
My mom. And my sisters would sometimes tell me things, but not really.
How many siblings do you have?
4 sisters, and 4 brothers. Martina, Rosendo, Paul, Concha, Josefa, Tomas, Myself, and younger brother.
Did you have any boyfriends before you met your husband?
Yes. I had about three boyfriends. One of him I met at school, and the other I met him in my neighborhood. The one I met at school, well we would go to school, and he would always call my name, and I would make myself pretend he wasn't calling me, because I was shy, but now I'm not shy, but he was a nice boy. But I don't remember his name. I was in the sixth grade. My second boyfriend, I met him around the corner, but he wasn't really my boyfriend, but I used to say he was my boyfriend and he was nice too, but we used to go to the store and we tell my parents that we were going to the store, and so we got connected to each other. My third boyfriend was out of state, we had some neighbors that had family from out of state, and that boy would always come by with his friends, and so I got to meet him. We knew all our neighbors, and every knew each other, and they would visit each other. They were from another Pueblo, Hopps, New Mexico. He was a bolillo.
Did you have your first kiss before you met your husband?
Yes, from the one from Hopps.
Do you have any advice to the young people now a days? How do you see how young people treat each other compared to your days?
Well now it's a lot different, because now a days, if the parents don't let them go they still go and back then our parents were real strict. You would have to ask permission and if they said no, you didn't have to ask no more because they would punish you.
Is there another thing you think teenagers should be aware of?
Well, not to talk to strangers. But I mean its something all kids should know by now on, this generation, they shouldn't just be like oh I met him and that's that, oh no, that's wrong.
Tell us about your husband, how did you meet him?
Me, my dad, and my younger brother had gone to live with my oldest brother in Venice California, and I must have been 15, but I can't really remember too well, and my brother used to take us to Long Beach, and there all them Navy guys came around, and that's where I met him. I was at the beach with my older sister and older brother, and he asked my brother if he could talk to me. And my brother said "yeah, but you have to sit right here."
How was he when you met him?
He never was funny, he was just a nice person, he was not real talkative, just a real quiet guy and that's why I liked him, because I didn't like guys that were too "yack, yack" you know?
Did he change through the years?
Yes, he used to smile a little bit. Play around , joke around.
Was there something else about him that made you want to marry him?
Yeah, people used to talk about this place Texas, and I knew I had to marry him because I wanted to come and live here in Texas, and I didn't know nothing about Texas just New Mexico, then I went to California, so then California was not what I wanted, but that's what my dad said, and he said were going over there and not nowhere else, and so I wanted to marry somebody from Texas, and to which I did.
How did your marriage came to be?
He asked my brother since I was living over there, and so my brother told him he didn't have a say so, and that he would have to call my parents, I was just there with my brother and my sister, and that he had to call my parents to see if it was okay with them. My brother gave him the phone number and I don't know what my dad or my mom told him and he never told me anything. My dad didn't say yes that same day, because my mom said I was too young to marry. And I had to wait, and she even got mad at my brother asking him what is she doing over there, and he would say we take them to the beach so they can have fun and eat and that's where she met this guy, and he's nice my brother would tell my mom. And so I had to wait until I was about 17/18 until I could get married.
Where did you get married at?
Long Beach, California. It was simple, it was in my brothers house, we didn't have the money to do anything elaborate. We just got married through the state, not through the church.
What are some things you and Ernest used to do to have fun?
We used to go to the movies, and go have a beer once in a while with friends. Every year that the carnival would come San Antonio (Fiesta week) we would go and get in all the rides, and finally it came to that time where "ya estubo" (that was enough) when we had our second son.
How was it being a first-time mother?
I didn't even know anything about having a baby because when we came back from California and I stayed in New Mexico and my husband came to San Antonio, Texas, I did not know the baby was to be fed something different besides just milk, I didn't know anything about that, nobody told me, and when we got to New Mexico my sister said that baby needs to eat, and I said he's going to choke and she said no he's not, and so I started feeding him baby food. My sister was telling me that I had to feed him baby food, because he was too skinny because I was just giving him formula. I didn't know, I was that naïve, and so she showed me how to feed the baby. We had baby cans instead of those baby jars they have now, and my sister showed me how to grab some food with a spoon and give my baby some, and whatever drops from the mouth I would grab some with the spoon and place it back to his mouth, and so that's the way she showed me.
Can you tell us about your working experience?
I think my first job was working downtown in a little restaurant working for T&L (Torres & Lopez) Mexican Restaurant. I started as a waitress and they showed me how to do it. If someone asks for a cup of coffee you take them a cup of coffee, you need to be careful not to tip the spoon on the saucer or shake your hand because you'll get burned. I was never late to my job. I also worked over there by Laredo Highway at El Rancho a the tortilla factory, making a little bit of everything, like if I would go in today I would have to make the menudo, and tomorrow I would have to make the tostadas, and the next day I would have to make the fat tortillas in the machine. My last job was working at The Hyatt in downtown, and I worked there for 14 years. It was nice, it was good, but at the beginning working as a housekeeper it was kind of hard. They start you with four rooms, the next week they start you with eight rooms, and that's difficult because you have to go fast and finish it, and then they give you sixteen rooms and that's it. The rooms that were occupied were easier than the ones they used to leave after the people left because you have to change sheets all over and everything, and you throw away everything that was left there because another person that would register in that room they weren't going to want to see anything there from the last person, so we had to throw everything. I worked as a housekeeper but then I also worked in the backroom where I would prepare all the materials for the other housekeepers, with little things like soap, candies, shampoo, or whatever. I also then worked in the lobby and I would park cars.
During the workplace and your early childhood experiences in New Mexico and California, did you make friends and do you still keep in touch with them?
In New Mexico yes, but not in California. In New Mexico I still keep in touch with them, up to this day I still call them.
Back to how you spend your free time, where would you take your children to have fun?
I would take them to the park, to the swings so they can play, and I would just sit there and watch them. Then we would go out to this little place, like this little house, there they would sell the raspas, like the ice cream, and I would buy them some, and back then they were nothing, like 10 cents. But we never really went out of town to visit places.
As a Catholic, How has God and La Virgen de Guadalupe help you throughout your life? Where there sometimes when your prayers were answered?
Yeah, I remember because I had this thing in me at one time where I thought I was dying, and I asked the Virgen de Guadalupe don't take me yet, but I knew it was not her decision to make because God comes first and then she does, I don't know what I had because I was so sick, but here I am, I'm still here.
Can you share with us a story when you were at the bottom of life and when you were on top of the world?
The happiest was when I was with my parents still, they used to take us everywhere, to the beach, and places during Easter Sunday, Christmas, Valentines Day, and specially my birthday, my dad would do a lot of things for me, those were the times I used to be the happiest. When my youngest brother died was one time I was the saddest. My mom had made some food, and she told him to come and eat, and he said no, because he was going to go drink at a bar, and he told her to save him some potatoes, and she had to put them in the refrigerator because that's how he liked them, kind of cold. Mom said, eat right now, and he said no ill be back mom, ill be back. And he never came back. He went to go drink at that bar with his friends and the owner of the bar knew him, who he was, who the parents were, and then he got too drunk, and when he ordered another drink, he said no, that if he sold him more beer he would get his license taken away. He insisted, but he said no, he took out all the money he had in his pocket, and he put it right there on the bar and he said look I have enough money to buy more than one beer. And he said I'm not going to give one or more beers, what you have to do is put your money in your pocket and leave. And then he said so you're throwing me out, and he said no I just need you to leave because your not here in good spirit or whatever. So he said ok, put his money in his pocket, got on his car, and went home with intentions to get his rifle and kill the guy. That's what we think was going to happen. He never got home, on his way home, one of his hands was broken and he had a cast on, and he missed a curve. The curve was very narrow, and he lost control of the car, and the car flew into a cotton field, and he came out of the car through the windshield. And his heart and everything from inside busted. And they found him there dead. And that was a moment I was the most depressed because we had lost our youngest brother. Now I'm the youngest. He was 31 when he died.
When did you retire? And how did that affect you?
I retired in 1997, and it didn't really affect me much but it wasn't the same. Because I was used to getting the bus at 5:30 am and then transfer to another bus to get there like a quarter to 7am, punch in and get ready to work. After that I got to do my house chores here at home, wash, iron, make dinner, lunch, breakfast, but anyways all my time was occupied, if I wasn't outside helping my husband I was inside cooking or cleaning the house.
Did you ever drive, or own a vehicle?
Yes.
What did you and your husband do with your free time after you retired?
We used to go to the mall (South Park Mall) every Saturday, and maybe at 12 o'clock we would go over there and eat at the food court, and we would go shopping at the stores, and sometimes he wouldn't want to go so he would tell me if you want to go you can go. And we had the bus schedule, because we had to, because we no longer had the car. And sometimes had to be there and we would have to run to get the bus, and he was slow, and me too because I had that asthma and I couldn't run because it would get to me, and I would had to stop.
Talking about your husband, how was your husband's death? And what were some of the last things he said?
I think it was nice because I think me myself because I was by myself, and I think he died in his sleep very calm, he didn't say nothing. Before he died he did said take care of your self, and I want to thank you because you saw me until my last breath. And that was it, he never opened his eyes no more. I tried to talk to him, put his oxygen, because I really thought he wasn't dead, and when I called the hospice and they came real quick, and they put a bracelet that tells you if a person is alive or not, and we waited for about 10 minutes, and she hugged me, and she said Ms. Zapata he's gone, and I said well there's nothing we can do.
What are some of the things you do now to keep yourself busy nowadays?
Now that all your children have left home, and now that you're a widow? Making my breakfast, lunch, and dinner, watching TV sometimes, the news, listening to the radio, KXTN Tejano 107.5! Hahaha. I don't really do much outside of the home, because I don't have the plants that I used to have anymore. I'm very upset because they died during winter because I didn't have the strength to cover them up. I was tired, and I was sick at the time. I don't go to church no more, we used to go with Ernest to the Cathedral downtown, but since his death I don't go anymore. Who's going to take me, I don't have a car. And I can walk to St. Leonard's, but with all their doing to it right now, I might get hurt. But if somebody invites me, ill go.
How did you meet me?
Well there was one day where my neighbor told me were having Indios (Indians) drumming, and I said what?, and their outside uhgah?! Come outside he said. And as soon as I looked out the door, there ya'll were, and I was like oh my God, he's right. And he said sit there in your chair so you can see them, and so I did, but then I went closer over there and I stood by that tree. And that's when Rey came over and said to join ya'll. I would say no, but next time I did, and that's when I joined you all and I met you. I think it has been a year, right? Yes it has. The reason I was attracted to you guys was because I used to dance with the matachines in my hometown back when I was young and I liked that, and it brought memories back, back when I used to be a malinche, and my brothers and sisters used to dance. The malinche, was the ones that used to go in the middle when the matachines were on the sides, and were dressed in white, and we would dance to pray to the Virgen de Guadalupe.
What do you look forward to doing in the future?
Maybe, I would like to go to Albuquerque in June. And maybe I would want to visit my brother in California, but it's hard, on the airport to come back, and nobody can go in there with you, and I'm scared. But from over here to El Paso I'm not scared. I'm not sure about getting a car, I've been thinking about it for about a year already, and nothing has been done, because I cannot do it on my own mijo, the guy says this is how much money you got in the bank, and this is how much money the car cost, you got enough to buy it. And I don't know nothing about buying a car, and I'm going to use all my money to buy a car?, I don't know, so I'm undecided. Maybe ill get one just to go to the doctor or to H-E-B. I would also like to maybe be able to go volunteer at the Santa Rosa Hospital, and help in whatever they need people to do, or go help at a school and help kids do something, like do coloring, or whatever.
To conclude this interview, would you want to tell any final stories?
One day, my son Lorenzo was coming from a house from down the street, maybe three or four blocks away and I told him to come early and he said, ok ma ill be there, and coming back he had a lot of those 45's discos, and when he hit the corner at night, he saw a cat and he stood up, and he was fixing his bowtie , and he started shaking and he was like oh man, and the cat said "where are you going? Where are you coming from?" And no hombre he ran, and he threw todo ahi en Zarzamora, and he came screaming "mom! Mom!" I got scared, jumped out of bed, and I asked what's wrong mijo, and his face white white and I asked are you okay and he was trying to say yes, and I got him some water with some sugar and I asked what happened? And he told us what happened when I said that was enough, so we all went to bed, and he couldn't go to bed and I told him to come sleep in my room, he laid in the floor with some blankets and we were talking when like 5 minutes later their was a cat on the window meowing and scratching, and I got up and I got scared, boiled some water, and I said ok dam it, and I opened the door, and I threw it on him, and I guess he got at least some of it, because he meowed and ran to the park, but it wasn't a park back then, it was mucho monte, a lot of Johnson grass.
When you pass away where would you like to be buried at?
I would want to be buried with my husband at the San Fernando #3 Cemetery.
So far, have you enjoyed life?
Yes Do you have any regrets? Well I regret not buying a car because everybody would say buy a car, and my sons would say buy a car mom.
Follow Up Questions (after making class presentation):
Does Lorenzo hate cats?
Yes
How did you like being interviewed?
I liked it, it was fine.
What brought you to dancing?
Because I liked the music, and I used to do that in my hometown, where I used to live.
What's your favorite food?
New Mexico enchiladas. You get a plate of onion and cheese, you dip the tortilla in oil, dip in red chile, and put it on top of each other like a pancake.
What is your favorite place you lived?
In my whole life, I have like San Antonio the most.
Can you compare life in New Mexico and Texas?
In Mesquite, New Mexico, where I used to live, you can pass and nobody would know you went through the town, and of course San Antonio is a big city. In the beginning, when we moved to San Antonio, I was kind of confused and didn't know how to get to places, but now I do.
Would you go back to school?
Yes. I wanted to learn, I was left behind in things I guess but yes I really wanted to learn, and I was upset when I dropped out. I would have liked to go to college so I could be smarter and tell my grandchildren not to be a dropout like I was. I had an idea that I wanted to be a court reporter, you know? one of those those ladies that type in court.
How have the roles of women changed in your life?
Yes, they have advanced, but now women are more violent and back then they're less of that or maybe the domestic violence was not visible.
Do you enjoy being involved with the Aztec dancing?
Very much, I love it, but like I said they don't come to practice here anymore and I'm left out.
What are your best memories?
When my parents would take us out, play with us, and eat at a park or something like that. That was my priority, eating. But in general, being with my family when I was young are the best memories I have.
Did you believe the story of the cat?
Yes I did. When I was inside the house and he came running to the door, I believed him, he never lied to me because when the cat came to the window, there was no doubt that cat was evil.
Are you scared of cats now?
Not really, but I don't like cats. I throw water at cats that come by my house so they can leave.
ANALYSIS
The benefits from interviewing Jovita Zapata was enjoying how her life evolved from the time she was born to this present day. The Oral History Project was a good tool to learn more about Jovita and how she had to face this world as a woman in her time. As she is ready to celebrate her 75th birthday, she has enjoyed life with her husband and her children here in San Antonio, Texas for about 50 years. Her life shows the migration that many people take in order to make a living, as she moved to California with her family. The occupations she has worked in also tells us about coomon labor that woman partake in to supplement the families incomes, and also her ability to at least reach the 12th grade has also been a big step in United States history. Her story tells us about the diverse backgrounds of San Antonio's population, as well as the population of the United States. I chose Jovita Vasquez Zapata for this OHP because she is an elderly person who has seen a lot, and has many stories, and laughter to share. I had a great time interviewing Jovita because I learned about her and U.S. history.
TIMELINE
- Jovita Vasquez Zapata was born in April 23, 1935 to Pablo Vazquez and Margarita Martinez Vasquez
- Jovita was born and raised in Mesquite, in southwest New Mexico up until the age of 15
- Dropped out of 12th grade from Gadsden High School, in Anthony, New Mexico
- Moved to Venice, California, and relocated to Santa Monica
- In Long Beach she met her husband Ernest on the beach
- Moved to San Antonio and got married in the spring of 1961
- Worked at the Hyatt Regency for 14 years doing several duties like cleaning rooms, working in the lobby, and parking cars
- Had 6 children with Ernest
- Ernest passed away on June, 2007
- Presently her hobbies include cleaning the house, listening to the radio (loves KXTN Tejano 107.5), walks the track in Arnold Park, talks to people, goes out to community dances, drinks a couple beers on Saturday night by herself, and does Danza Azteca (Aztec Dancing) whenever the dancers come to Arnold Park
- Joined Danza Azteca De Yanaguana in May of 2009
