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INTRODUCTION
My name is George Boubel. I was born November 1, 1950 to George and Florence Boubel in San Antonio, Texas. I am the oldest of two other brothers, Mike and Mark, and one sister, Margo. We grew up on the southeast side of San Antonio. We attended Highland Hills Elementary, Rodgers Middle School, and Highlands High School. Margo my sister is the only member of our family to leave the San Antonio area. She lives in Las Vegas, NV.
Before my senior year of High School I started a part time job at Burt's Shoe store at what was then McCreless Mall selling women's shoes. This was for extra spending money during summer vacation. After graduating in May 1969, I was able to start a job as an electrician with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 60. Here I was able to work during the day and attend class one night a week to obtain my Journeyman Electrical license.
In 1971 I was married to Patti Fredrick and we had our daughter Tami in August 6, 1971.
By 1973 I completed the training for my Journeyman Electrical license and began work as a Journeyman Inside Wireman.
In 1987 I began a new aspect of my carrier as an Electrical Inspector for the City of San Antonio Building Inspections Department. I worked here for ten years and branched out into the communications field. At that time San Antonio was the ninth largest city in the United States.
Tami my daughter graduated from Madison High School in 1989. She was married in 1993 to Forest Pickens and had three children, Dillon, Austin, and Paityn. They have made their home in La Vernia, Texas, a bedroom city of San Antonio.
By 1997 I went into another field of work as a Project Manager for a Communications company installing Fiber Optic and Category 5 equipment and data cables. The infra structure for the communication systems were expanding so quickly, the job market was booming.
In 2003 I accepted my final position in my career, a Construction Inspector for the University of Texas System. The campus I was assigned to work at was UTSA and University of Texas Health Science Center. I worked there until 2011 and have returned to do part time work each year since.
TRANSCRIPTION
1. As a young boy, what were your dreams? What did you want to become when you grew up?
Answer: Early years were a time for learning, playing, and instruction from parents, teachers, and church pastors. Occupations and dreams usually were centered around work your parents and friends of our parents were under taking. I truly did not know exactly what I wanted to become or try to master, career wise, until I graduated from high school.
2. What was your home life like with your siblings? What were your chores and responsibilities?
Answer: Home life was much simpliar in those days. It seems as if we all got along for the most part. I was the oldest of two brothers and one sister so there were always the actional conflicts. Just like nowadays there were things that made you laugh, things that made you sad, times that were demanding, and more than enough time for physical activities.
Chores for the boys were making your bed, keeping your bedroom somewhat straight, taking out the thrash on thrash days, and mowing the lawn.
Chores for the girls were setting the table for meals, helping mom with dinner, and washing and drying dishes after dinner.
3. How were boys and girls treated in school? How were they treated in similar ways? Differently?
Answer: Schools in those days were very different. Academically boys and girls seem to have the same subjects and education requirements. For Physical Education classes boys and girls were separated and had different activities. Boys competed with boys and girls with girls. When we reached junior high and high school of course the elective subjects differed, boys went for shop courses such as wood shop, metal shop, and auto shop, while the girls were into homemaking and sewing skills.
4. Were you tracked in school based on your sex? In what ways?
Answer: Not to my knowledge other than the difference already stated above.
5. What sort of unspoken social taboos do you remember?
Answer: None.
6. What man was an influential role model for you? Why was he a person to be admired?
Answer: My father was an influential role model for me. He had to work two jobs and miss out on being at some of the activities we were doing in order to support our family.
7. What jobs did men have in your family?
Answer: My dad worked for the Southern Pacific Railroad as a Carman and was an Officer for the International Railroad when he retired. He also worked for the City of San Antonio as a Supervisor in the Traffic Department.
8. What jobs were available when you were old enough to get a job?
Answer: I started out with a paper route at the age of fourteen and then went into womens shoe sales at about the age of seventeen.
9. What are some of the biggest changes that you have witnessed for men?
Answer: Careers are no longer garanteed for life. They take twist and turns. You may have to do as I did. I started my career as an electrician, then an Electrical Inspector for the City of San Antonio, and finally a Construction Inspector for the University of Texas.
10. What advice would you give a man of today?
Answer: Get a good education and remember education doesn't end with a college degree, these are fast changing times, work in a field that you are interested in, do the best you are able to do, and the rewards will follow.
11. Is there anything else you would like to add to this interview?
Answer: Enjoy whatever it is you chose to do and the people that are there to work with you to achieve the objectives in front of your team. Lessons learned through each step of the process will add up to a life time of experience and a look back at accomplishments that will be useful to those who come after you.
12. What type of work did you have to do and what were the conditions like?
Answer: I was in the electrical industry. I worked as an Inside Wireman for International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. I was placed with an Electrical contractor and assigned a project, where we were taught the mechanical skills needed to install power, lighting, HVAC, Fire Alarm, and controls for other integrated systems in commercial buildings. One night a week, I would attend class to learn the academic part of the trade which was code requirements, design, and calculations required to complete the course and pass the test at the end of four years and 8000 hours of on the job training. Working conditions varied. Start of projects were out in the weather conditions i.e. rain, cold, heat, but as the project progressed the building was enclosed by windows and doors allowing me to work in a controlled environment. This was the part of the project that was most interesting and comfortable.
13. Did your whole family work and If not, who did and where were the others?
Answer: My dad had two jobs, one with the Southern Pacific Railroad on the night shift from 10:00 PM to 6:00 AM, and with the City of San Antonio during the day from 8:00AM to 4:30 PM. This didn't allow much time for sleep. My mother worked at USAA and later at a savings and loan office from 8:00 to 5:00. I had two brothers and one sister who were still attending school.
14. Did you live in the same place? If not where else did you live when your family left to go work?
Answer: Yes, we all lived on the southeast part of San Antonio.
15. How were the living conditions at these places where your family stayed at while you all worked?
Answer: The houses were comfortable, but smaller than the conditions we are used to today. The biggest difference is the houses back in that time only had one bath.
16. What where the conditions like for kids going to college rather than straight to work after high school?
Answer: I wasn't able to attend college, but my friends that were attending colleges seem to have more years of academic study as well as a wide variety of different social events. Most were looking forward to graduating and putting the things they learned to the test in the corporate world. I'm sure some of them felt like they were starting late in the work force, but they felt like the time in class was worth the effort.
17. What where some of the things you did after school on a daily bases?
Answer: In our high school years, we had part time jobs. We had minor chores to attend to at home. If work wasn't on our schedule we'd hang out with neighbors until suppertime, which was around 6:00 PM, eat, help clean up the kitchen, and back outside until dark. On our days off we would visit friends or relatives usually to play basketball, baseball, or listen to records. It seemed as if there were always games such as ping-pong, bowling, pinball machines, and video machines were starting to appear at the recreation centers and bowling alleys. There seem to be a lot more leisure time and the time appeared to move slower in those days. There was a lot more conversation.
18. About how many students were in your graduating class?
Answer: There were about 750 students in our graduating class.
19. What where some of the reasons why you did not go to college?
Answer: The summer after I graduated I was offered a chance to work as an electrical apprentice for the I.B.E.W. and start school that fall to become a Journeyman Inside Wireman. The money and benefits were good and improving yearly, so I started the following week. At that time, I had been in school 12 years and was interested in doing something different.
ANALYSIS
My interview was done with my grandfather, George J. Boubel. He was born in 1950 and most people in his era graduated from high school and picked up some sort of trade to start their career. It was rare that many of them would go to college to start their work life. Most were eager to start work and leave school behind. Some of the most important points that were made in the interview; one of those points was there was much that was different back then. Life was a slower pace and there was more time for recreation. One thing that I learned in conducting this interview is that most parents back then had two jobs in order to feed their kids. And like today, in his family both parents were required to work in order to support the family. I really don't think it changed my view on this topic, I just think that in today's world we may have it better in some ways. In most cases, people can choose a career that that are able to provide for their families with just one job and not be forced to have two. When I was interviewing, I received answers to my questions and many of the details I did not already know and came as a surprise. The stories that he told me gave me an insight about San Antonio and how much it has changed over the years. I tried to ask why he did some of the things he did in order to get more details about his life growing up and so that I would have more to talk about and know more about San Antonio and the history here. Some of the benefits that I learned was that I got to know how he lived and pretty much what he did on a daily basis. Some of the drawbacks would be that their parents did not get to spend a lot of family time together because they were forced to work multiple jobs. The oral history project is a really great way to learn the past. It gives a perspective about my family that I may have never known and an insight about how they did what they did and what they had to do to get where they are now.
TIMELINE - George J. Boubel - TIMELINE
- Born on November 1, 1950 in San Antonio, Texas
- Brother Mike born on July 25, 1952 in San Antonio, Texas
- Sister Margo born on October 2, 1956 in San Antonio, Texas
- Brother Mark born on January 10, 1963 in San Antonio, Texas
- Graduated from Highlands High School in 1969
- Work for International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 60 in 1969
- Married Patti Fredrick in 1970
- Daughter Tami born August 6, 1971 in San Antonio, Texas
- Completed International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Trade School in 1973
- Worked as a Journeyman Inside Wireman 1973-1987. Projects: USAA, Willford Hall Hospital and various other projects.
- Worked as an Electrical Inspector for City of San Antonio Building Dept. 1987-1997
- Worked as a Project Manager for a Communications Company 1997-2003
- Worked as a Construction Inspector for University of Texas System 2003-2011
SOURCES - The Handbook of Texas Online
is a multidisciplinary encyclopedia of Texas history, geography, and culture sponsored by the
Texas State Historical Association and the General Libraries at UT-Austin. It was produced
in partnership with the College of Liberal Arts and the General Libraries at the University of
Texas at Austin. Copyright © The Texas State Historical Association.
- Texas Escapes Online Magazine: Travel and History has an extensive collection of annotated photographs of twentieth century Texas. Included in the collection are historical images of courthouses, churches, schoolhouses, banks, jails, cemeteries, gas stations, and water towers. Website Content Copyright ©1998-2008. Texas Escapes - Blueprints For Travel, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
- Small Town Texas Projects. Palo Alto College student (Dillon Pickens) project on his Grandfather from San Antonio, Texas
- The Handbook of Texas Online
is a multidisciplinary encyclopedia of Texas history, geography, and culture sponsored by the
Texas State Historical Association and the General Libraries at UT-Austin. It was produced
in partnership with the College of Liberal Arts and the General Libraries at the University of
Texas at Austin. Copyright © The Texas State Historical Association.