This is my interview with "Papa" Jack. It’s a Monday evening in a little restaurant named “Millie’s” across the street on Interstate 35 in Dilley, Texas. Its 6:00 p.m. and there are only three people in the restaurant: my husband, me and the waitress. She’s a young girl who’s worked for Millie’s her whole adult life. She knows every customer and all of the townspeople very well. I ask her where I could find “Papa” Jack, she told me he had been in about two hours ago and I had missed him. I was very nervous that “Papa” had forgotten me. I ran to my cell phone, called him up and asked him if he was on his way. He was already pulling in when I called him; his tall always wearing a cowboy hat and wearing a smile that was “Papa’s” third trip to Millie’s that day.The interview began over coffee and cigarettes. We began talking about….

Monica: CV
Papa: SM
CV: where were you born?
SM: right outside Dilley in Fro County in Yancy.
CV: How many brother and sister do you have?
SM: six sisters and one brother. My daddy had 17 brothers and sisters. They were a total of 18 children, 12 from my grandfather’s first marriage and six from the second marriage. The Du Bose family originally came from France and landed in Louisiana. My grandfather moved to Devine and settled down. He married a Carroll and they raised all their children in Devine. My daddy later moved to Dilley, Texas.
CV: What was your daddy’s name?
SM: J.C. Du Bose.
CV: What was your highest educational level?
SM: graduated high school and when I was 17, my friends and I went to the Civilian Conservation Camp (CCC) in Yuma, Arizona and I was paid $30 per month. That was pretty good money back then. I got there on a steam engine. I took me three nights and two days to get there, the longest ride of my life, but it was comfortable.
CV: What was your occupation?
SM: I did a little bit of everything, which I had to do to survive. I was a Deputy, worked as a border patrol officer, County Commissioner, Ran a Texaco Gas Station, Brick Layer, Rancher/Farmer and owned several businesses in Dilley.
CV: Are you married?
SM: Yes, I was married to Mildred Smith when I was 20. She was my sister’s best friend. She would spend the night at our house and I would tease her. She was from a big family in Dilley. Her family donated land to the State of Texas to built freeways and businesses. After I returned from CC camp in 1942, we got married. She passed away.
CV: Do you know how many churches there are in Dilley?
SM:there are about seven.
CV: What about when you were growing up?
SM: Four – Protestant, Catholic, Baptist and Lutheran.
CV: Are you a religious man?
SM: Somewhat, my friends and I would make the wine for the church and some of my friends are pastors of some of the churches.
CV: What about politics?
SM: I like President Bush. I’d rather the war be fought over there than over here. I think President Bush is trying and everyone makes mistakes. My favorite presidents were Ronald Regan and George Bush, Jr.
CV: What was your first car?
SM: A Model T, I traded a calf for a car. I was eight years old. I drove 10 miles to school every day. I picked up several friends on the way to school.
CV: What about prohibition?
SM: You could get all the whisky you wanted. Even my mother used to make her own beer. She would make it in big crocks and bottle it. She didn’t sell it. Whisky, you could buy from a bootlegger for $3-$4. Everyone made their own beer.
CV: What did Dilley look like in the 20’s?
SM: There wasn’t much here, in the late 20’s there was a Bank (Avant); drug store and a hardware store.
CV: Are there two big families here?
SM: Yes, the Avants and the Mofetts.
CV: What would you do for fun?
SM: Hunting, fishing, horseback riding. I would catch big catfish. I also caught cockatiels in the Nueces River. It was illegal back then.
CV: Did you ever play sports?
SM: I ran the 50-100 yard dash. We called it the country meets.
CV: How was it in Dilley back then with the railroads?
SM: There was always farm and ranches. The railroad has sectioned houses where the crew lived. But my dad would take the cows to the stockyards in San Antonio. Some of the people only worked on the farm and raised cattle.
CV: Were you ever drafted?
SM: I was in the first Greyhound Bus to leave to San Antonio to go to the military but I was turned down. I got hurt and I had a hernia because of that. I had a touch of the CC camp which is run by the military. I would have loved to have been in the Air Corp. I have three air planes and I flew a lot.
CV: where have you gone?
SM: All over this country.
CV: What’s the furthest place you’ve been?
SM: Pennsylvania, all over Mexico in a motor home. I got to see people with oxen
CV: Did you have oxen?
SM: No, we had international tractors with steel wheels. My first tractor had steel wheels.
CV:How was it during the Depression?
SM: We were used to it.
CV: Did it start with farmers?
SM: We could barely sell the cattle, but they would butcher them or sell them for $15 a head.
CV: Was there a drive in movie place?
SM: There was a drive in theater in Dilley but it didn’t last long.
CV: Do you remember the first picture show you ever saw?
SM: No, I couldn’t read the bottom part of the movies because I was young and couldn’t read at that time. We had to go to Empire State Theater to the movies. Back then it would cost a quarter to see a movie. A nickel for a bag of popcorn.
CV:What were the restaurants back then?
SM: There was only one in town. This was all farmland. This land across the street belonged to my wife’s grandfather.
CV: what was his name?
SM: Smith, he gave the land for the cemetery in the 1890’s.
CV: Who bought the land?
SM: Different people.
CV: Do you remember when the freeways came?
SM: Oh, yes, I was County Commissioner then.
CV: Who built the freeways?
SM: H.B. Zachary was the contractor back then.
CV:Who was your favorite president?
SM:Ronald Reagan and George Bush Jr. Hoover got us into the Depression. I was grown but I still remember.
CV: you know the county commissioner now?
SM:Yes, Mr. Flores.
CV: When the prison was built in 1990, what did you have to do to get the prison here?
SM: I went to Austin two or three different trips trying to get the prison. We had to donate the land to build the prison.
CV:Why did you want the prison in Dilley?
SM: Jobs.
CV: Is there a lot of crime because you are so close to the prison?
SM: No there is no crime here
CV:What’s your stand on political affairs at this time?
SM:There’s so much going on, I really don’t know what to think.
CV: What should we do as the youth?
SM: I don’t know, we need to make sure you make things happen.
CV: Why did your daddy move over here?
SM: Daddy moved from Devine to Dilley. He got killed in a car wreck when he was close to 70.
CV: Did they catch the people?
SM: Yes, there were five school boys who ran the light.
CV: What are your hobbies now?
SM: Fishing at Choke Cannon.
CV: How many grandchildren do you have?
SM: I have four grandchildren and six great grandchildren.
CV: Do they come over a lot?
SM: Oh, yes,
CV: Do you know George Straight?
SM: George, he’s real likeable. He doesn’t come around so much but he is a good friend of mine and everyone in Dilley. He really likes Mexican food.
CV: Have you known him since he was a kid?
SM: Yes.
CV:Do you know his parents?
SM:Yes, George's parents I remember that George's parents didn't like him having long hair when he was a kid. I remember George's dad was upset when he did an ad for a beer company. His dad is a sweet man all of the Straight's are good men and down to earth. His dad still goes to the prison to give service on Sunday's.
CV: Do you still raise cattle on your land?
SM: No, I quit, it’s too expensive.
CV: Tell me about the crime in Dilley?
SM: Once we had a bank robber back then – John Dillinger. They called his ranch the Hide Out Ranch. They finally shot and killed him.
CV: How old were you when this happen?
SM:I was just a kid back then.
CV: Would he still from this area?
SM:No.
CV: What would he do with the money?
SM: There’s no telling.
CV: Did you ever see him?
SM: No, I would see the people who worked for him but they left the ranch from one day to the next.
CV: During that time, the 30’s and 40’s, was there discrimation?
SM: No, everyone accepted each other, there was only two races Mexicans and Whites .
CV: Was there segregation or discrimination?
SM: No, there were no colored people in Dilley.
CV: When you were going to school, did you see segregation?
SM: No.
CV: Do you remember when the hospital was built?
SM: No, but my father helped built it, I forgot when, but I think the 40’s and the 50’s. My father was a brick layer.


The total time spend interviewing “Papa” was over three hours long. The price of the meal was $12, but the time spent was priceless. I learn so much in three hours then at any other time in my life.