TRANSCRIPTION
What are your earliest childhood memories?
I don't really remember much. There is one memory that i remember. I would walk down this dirt road everyday to get home from school. This little down syndrome kid would always chase me down that road. He never got me though, cause my cousins would get him and fill his mouth with dirt.
What did you do for fun when you were little? As a teenager?
Well when i was little i would play outside a lot. I had a table and chairs outside by a tree. My mother would make me oysters to eat at the table with my baby doll. I would always play with my doll and dishes at that table. A fun thing i did when i was a teen was taking my moms car for a drive. She would ask me to get her something from the store, so i would take advantage and drive to Dairy Queen.
What was a typical day like?
Well there wasn't much to do in Kennedy, Texas. It was a very small town. I guess on a usual day, i would help my mom wash and hang up clothes. Then after that i would go play in the pasture.
What was your neighborhood like?
Refugio was a very small town. We lived very far from our neighbors. The land we lived on though had oil wells, cattle, pigs, chickens, goats, and all that.
What kind of pets did you have?
Well i had lots of animals on my land but they weren't pets. I did have a pet goat though. As soon as you opened the door, it would jump on your bed. That was the only pet i ever really had.
How many siblings did you have?
I have two brothers, Johnny and Larry. I was the middle child. I used to watch the wrestling matches, and i would always get my little brother Larry and put him in a headlock. My mom would yell at me to let him go but when she left, i did it to him again.
Did your parents live past your 10th birthday?
No, my father died from a heart attack in Refugio,Texas when i was five years old. That was the reason why we moved back to my mom's hometown in Kennedy, Texas.
What kinds of clothes did you wear when you were little?
I never wore pants or shorts. My godmother always got me dresses, so thats what i wore all the time.
What kind of jobs did you have?
I got my first job when i was 19 years old at Jims Frontier Drive Inn. I was a car hop. I once ran into the door and dropped all the trays of food when i saw my boyfriend. My second job was at Dairy Queen when i was about 20. I was an assistant manager there.
How was High School?
We moved to San Antonio, Texas so i could go to school. I went to Blessed Sacrament Academy. At first it wasn't boring, but then i got bored being there. We did have fun times when we messed with the nuns though. We used to put itching powder in the nun's beds, or turn the lights off when they were taking a shower. I did graduate. During that time, school only went to the 11th grade.
Did you ever have any boyfriends?
Well there was a guy that liked me named Howard, but he wasn't really my boyfriend. He gave me a ruby ring once. He was supposed to get married to a big lady the same night he gave me that ring.
How did you meet your husband?
I met Carl at Brakenridge Park here in San Antonio in 1964. I was riding horses and he was cruising around the park with his friend in his pink plymouth. He got out of the car to come talk to me, then he hit my horses butt with a stick and it ran off all crazy. I was screaming the whole way. That horse only stopped cause he wanted water.
When did you marry him?
We were engaged for a little over 2 years and then got married on July 17, 1967. Then on the 19th of July Carl went into the Navy. So we had to move to California for about 2 years. We lived in San Diego for a bit then to San Francisco where my first son Robert was born. A guy rented out a barracks to us there. It had one room and was 60 dollars a month. When Carl came back from Vietnam, we had to move to Florida. We lived in Key West. My daughter Sherri was born there at the Navy Hospital.
What was it like living out of Texas?
It was alright in California, but I didn't like it in Key West. Carl worked at a sonar school in Key West and then left to the Navy. I was scared living there cause of the hurricanes. There was only one road in and out of that city. Whenever the kids got diper rashes i would sit them in the water at the beach and there would be baracudas swimming by.
How was it when Carl was in Vietnam?
Well when we had to move to California, i was scared living by myself so Carl got me and Robert an apartment here in San Antonio while he was at war. While i lived here, I worked at Robin's Dress Shop, and my mom would take care of Robert in Jefferson Village. When Carl came back, we went back up to San Francisco. Sometime after is when we moved to Key West. We only moved out of Key West and back here to San Antonio because Carl got out of the service.
