TRANSCRIPTION
What was it like when you were born in Harper?
I was born at my grandmother's house out on a ranch. At the time that was the thing to do because all my cousins were born there too. The doctor, they would go into the town to get the doctor, because there were no telephones. They would get the doctor and he would come out and deliver the baby. All the babies there born in houses at that time, you just didn't go to the hospital.
What was live like in the small town of Harper?
Harper was very small town; it had about three churches, a doctor's office, and a post office. You couldn't blink when you drove through it because you would miss it. (laughs) We lived on a ranch about seven miles outside of Harper and I lived there until I was seven years old. I when to Harper School in the first grade for about a month. I remember we didn't have in electricity, no indoor plumbing, and we had to carry our water to the house from a faucet outside.
What was it like when you moved to Kerrville?
Well when I moved to Kerrvile we had two bedrooms, a kitchen and a bathroom. I thought it was heaven because we had electricity, we had indoor plumbing, and we had a kitchen with water and everything in it, like an electric stove, and we had linoleum on the floors. Even thought we were never rich, probably considering it now we were on the poverty level, but I never felt that way because we were always happy. We always had nice food to eat and all my friends that I had at school, most of them, were in the same boat. So we never felt like we were poor, we always had my grandparent and cousins.
What are some of your childhood memories?
One of my memories is doing my homework from the first grade by light of the oil lamp. The reason that happened was because I was supposed to do my homework while it was daylight but I didn't so ended up doing it by oil lamp light. (laughs) Once a year we always did butchering, we had our hog, or during deer season we would all get together and make deer sausage and stuff and different sausages. I remember my chore would be that after they drained the blood from the pig that it was my job to stir the blood so it wouldn't congeal until they mixed it and made blood sausage. Those were my biggest memories from living on the ranch in Harper but we always had animals that my father bought home and we would bottle feed and raise. No matter where we lived we would always go to my grandmother's on Sundays and all my cousins would be there and we would all get together and play.
What did you do for fun as a child?
As children we always had a playhouse and we had it fixed up with rocks and curtains. It was always outside the back porch and init we had a kitchen, bedrooms marked off, and we would dress up like adults with whatever we could find. That was one of our main play things; our entertainment was playing in that playhouse. Also even at that age I like to read. Every book I could get my hands on I would read. As far as play games, we played outside, we played some games like kick the can and hide-n-go-seek.
What were some of the chores you had to do around the house?
Being the eldest child, I had a lot of chores to do growing up. One thing I had to have supper on the table every night at six o'clock and I helped take care of my little sisters when my mother was working after my first sibling was born. I also had to do general homework, my mother would wash clothes and I had to get them off the line and have them folded in the evenings.
What was grade school like for you?
I attended Notre Dame Catholic School in Kerrville. I started in the first grade about two months after the school year started. The nuns were very strict but during those days you had a lot of respect for everybody. You really didn't act up. We had a lot of activities in the catholic school, we had the choir and did plays twice a year. We didn't have a cafeteria, everybody brought their lunch. At lunch time we all sat outside with their lunch and ate. After that we always, the big game there was baseball, we played baseball. Then that pretty much when on though the eighth grade with our studies. Then when I was in the eighth grade I had to get my emergency drivers license. That's one of the things I always remember because we used to always have picnics at the end of the year and being that I was the only one with a car, all the nuns would ride with me to the picnic. I always felt that was an honor.
What was high school like?
Well after being in the catholic school we were kind of protected. Going to Tivy High School in the ninth grade was a little bit scary at first but all the friends from the catholic school also when to that high school. So we were all close and ran around together. After our there for awhile things kind of ease up and everybody was friendly. It was quite a change; we had a different teacher for each course or class. After a couple of week everything was okay and I felt comfortable. In high school I really wasn't into many activities, but when I got to be a junior I took DE which was distributive education so worked half a day. Other than that and some trips, like senior trip, school was kind of uneventful.
What was your first job like?
My actually first job was when I was thirteen years old, we living by a nursery, flower shop, and a green house outside of Kerrville, so when to work potting plants. It was fun; it was like plying in the dirt. Then after I got in to high school in worked at a little ice cream place that was called the Twin Kissed. We did the usual things like hamburgers, malts, shakes, and ice cream. It had the custard ice cream. After that when I to DE I when to Five Points drug store in Kerrville, I was a soda jerk. (laughs) I enjoyed it and had a lot of fun because a lot of kids came in there and my friends. So we had a good time.
What was it like to live in the city after growing up in a small town?
Coming to the big city (San Antonio) from a small town was a little scary. Everybody had warned you to be careful because there's a lot of crime going on and someone might grab you and be careful who you associate with and all that kind of stuff. After a while I realized it wasn't that bad. I lived in a boarding house so there were fifteen other girls that lived there too, plus the land lady. We all got to be friends and so whenever we went anywhere we always together. The reason I left Kerrville after I graduated high school was to work for an orthodontist and while I was working for him I went to San Antonio College to become a dental assistant. I worked for him for about three years. After my husband and I were married, I worked at the San Antonio Courthouse for about a year. At that time they were hiring temporary work during the automobile license registration season. At that time you had to go to the courthouse to get your license plate once a year. While I was there they selected about six people to go out to the base to set up a branch and I was one of them. It was quite exciting because they came and picked us up in their military car and we had an armed guard by our side all day long because sometimes at the end of the day we had like six or seven thousand dollars in our cash box. When we got back, it took a long time make out all of our license tickets match the money in the cash box. It always took awhile so they would take us back a couple of hours early to make our report. When we had our first child I worked for another dentist for about two years.
How did you meet Grandpa?
He was going to Schriener College in Kerrville and I met him through some friends. Although we didn't start dating until I moved to San Antonio.
What kind of dates did he take you on and what did you do for fun?
For fun sometimes during the week and we would to Tunney's Drive In and have a beer, it was the hang out. We couldn't stay out to late because he was going to school and we were both working. The rest of the time we had a group of friends that we ran around with and we when dancing almost every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday night. We also when to some movies and during football season we went to all the Harlandale games because his sisters were in the pep squad. Sometimes on weekends we would go to Kerrville and visit my parents and on most Sundays we would go to church then to his house and have dinner with his parents.
Where did you get married and how old were you?
We were married at Notre Dame Church in Kerrville and I was twenty one years old.
What was it like raising your children in San Antonio?
We lived on the south side of San Antonio and we lived in a small community called Bellaire. It was a very close knit community, everybody kind of knew everybody on your block. At one time we had twenty two children on our block and they were all friend and all went to school together. Being that I stayed at home for sixteen years, I was always there with them. We never really had too many problems; I felt that they grow up in a good home. Which is what my husband always wanted, he was a football coach and teacher so he had long hours. I stayed home and took care of everything.
Do you have anything else to add to the interview?
I must say that I've had a good life and a happy marriage. My children are all very caring; they have grown up and have their own families now. I feel that I've been blessed.
