Alice Ann King (nee Arvin)

Only child, teacher, real estate broker, rancher, and mother.

Alice King in her house in the living room- San Antonio, Texas.

San Antonio, Texas

September 15, 2010

Cristal Celeste Gutierrez

Palo Alto College

History 1302 - Fall 2010

 

INTRODUCTION
TRANSCRIPTION
ANALYSIS
TIMELINE
BIBLIOGRAPHY
DOCUMENTS

 

INTRODUCTION

Alice Ann Arvin King born in February 22, 1941 in San Antonio, Texas at the nix hospital. Her parents were Alice Olivia Shawn Arvin and John Carlisle Arvin. Ann's mother was born in 1907 in
Somerset, Texas and her dad was born in 1892, Texas. Ann's parents married in April 27, 1940 in Luling, Texas. They got married when Ann's was mother was in her 30's years and her dad in his 40's years. John Arvin worked for a petroleum company called humble oil. He worked for the family king, at that time the king's ranch was the most prominent family.

Alice Olivia Shawn Arvin, her mother John Carlisle Arvin, her father

Mrs. Alice Ann King was raised in Kingsville Texas until eleven years. Then they moved to Harlingen Ville TX. All her life she has being living in Texas. Ann's mother died from cancer of colon and her dad died at the age of 66 years old from a heart attack, a year after he retired from work.

Mrs. King graduated from college in 1962-1964. She got her bachelor's of science in Austin, TX. She married after graduating from college; in 1966 in Houston TX. She married to Stephen Charles King Jr. Ann's husband got a Ph.D. of Physical Chemistry Mathematical at the University of Houston. Mrs. Ann work for about five years in Houston, however she stop teaching to the lack of children. After that she work in a bank, she said that she had to count thousands of credit cards and put each one in their files. After that she became a rancher and that's what she still doing right now. Ann and Stephen had two children Diana and Stephen. Ann's political affiliation is Democrat and religion is Episcopalian. And her hobby is genealogy.

The genealogical chart of Alice King

It is amazing how she had been looking for her ancestors, she had found that her ancestors were very intelligent and have a good status economic even though she is not at that high economic level.

Mrs. King told me about the cold war, how everybody got panic. She told me that when Russians were getting close to the Texas' coasts she was in Houston working in a humble in a building up stairs and what she heard was that ships were getting close to Texas' coast Russians brought ships with missiles from Cuba to attack the U.S. she said she was afraid too. Also Ann prepared herself with 5 gallons of gas and water, packed some clothes, and jewelry. In case she has to go to Mexico she will go. Most of Ann's past will be about the life in Texas, besides the cold war. And the reason why I know this person is because she is my mom's employer.

 

 

TRANSCRIPTION

How older were you when the cold war was going on?
16 to 25 years.

Do you remember the reason why they were fighting?
Russia delivered? Missiles to Cuba. Our government blockaded Cuba.

Were you afraid about the situation?
Yes, I prepare myself with gallons of gas and water, packed some clothes, and jewelry in case I have to go to Mexico I will go.

Do you remember what were you doing?
Cuban crisis 1962, (President Kennedy's speech on the crisis) I was working in Exxon, Houston in the 38th floor.

What else do you heard about what was going on?
A lot of people built shelters.

Do you know somebody who was fighting in the cold war?
No

How was life during the cold war?
We watched the news a lot everybody was worried about the situation.

Does the cold war change your life in some way?
Everybody was afraid we were going to be bombed by the Russians.

Before the cold war. Do you remember how your life was?
I was a child. 1-11 years in Kingsville, TX then high school in Harlingen TX.

Would you like to tell me about you childhood?
I was an only child; my mother had 200 rose bushes. I went to Flato elementary school. We lived in a "humbled oil camp" which was on kings' ranch.

Does your parent had a difficult time at the same time?
Daddy worked for humbled oil, and mother was a school teacher. Not difficult for us.

Were the king family were relative to you since you have the same last name too?
Not related to king ranch. King is my husband last name they were from Louisiana and Hungary before that (KIRALY).

Described a typical day.
Most of the time working and from the 90's to now I eat, read, pay bills, bills, bills, taxes, and bills!

How you will summarize your life in six-words?
Only child, teacher, real estate broker, rancher, and mother.

Is there anything else you want to add to this interview?
About my family since, my hobby is genealogy I have found so many things about my family Stephen King Jr. my uncle worked 2 years at NASA in the moon shots. 1966-68. Also, my uncle Don Shaw was 19th 21 years old. He graduated from a&m petroleum engineer. Working in a generals office, helped rework the oil pipeline to Africa. His general told him that a lot of oil & gas went in and part of it got to the troops in Africa. Uncle Don found soldier men who used to work in the oil field, put each in charge of a crew to check and repair the leaks. He worked for humble oil (Exxon) was married and had 3 boy; he died at 46 years old of colon cancer. Also, my first cousin Edmond "Rod Jr. was a pilot. He flew the planes that bombed (nuclear) Japan. He said the flights were 14 hours long and no heat in plane. He had frostbite that bothered his Lego his whole life. "Rod" was 6'5" and had red hair. He was a teacher in McAllen, TX, and Kerrville, TX, retired in Kerrville.

 

 

Alice King with Cristal Gutierrez and her mother Virginia Gutierrez in Somerset, Texas (2010)

ANALYSIS

At the end of the interview I learned how life in Texas, around the 1940's-1960's was. Now I know how people felt about the war too. In this case was the cold war. Definitively, this project changes my point of view about life in Texas and about the cold war. For example, if I begin to hear about the history especially about the cold war it will remind me about Alice King the person that I interview; even though she was not involved in the cold war like fighting, she was part of that history, because the war affected many people in the past. Also, what I learn about Alice King was that in the 60's life was hard especially with no electricity. Also they have trouble in restoring food, because no refrigerator. Fortunately, Alice did not experience something really bad like, getting injury, just fear like many other people. By doing this project now I can imagine the panic that people felt when cold war was going on also it was very effective, because when interviewing I can see the reactions and emotions of Alice King my interviewee. Definitely, if doing this project again I would like to asked more questions about other historical experiences that she might like to share, because most of the time we do not show interest about how was life in the past, and what were the things that they have to do to succeed in life.

 

TIMELINE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

 

 

 

DOCUMENTS

Dates of births about her family. Dates of births about her family. Dates and names about property that was bought by her family. In this document shows the about how many acres is about her property. Names of members about her geneology.

 

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