TRANSCRIPTION
What are your earliest childhood memories?
Well I don't know if it was the time my big sister wanted to beat the tar outta me for cutting her pictures up or the day that I stepped on the bird. Oh gosh which one would be the best? Let's see, what would be my earliest memory. But I don't know how I old I would have been, at either time. Yeah, but I can remember we were sitting outside, mom and dad were working on something, and Tiny and Jimmy had this bird and Tiny had it tame enough to where when she would put it on the ground, she'd have the bird feed out on the ground, well evidently I must have got jealous, and I can remember having, uh, I was barefooted and I was outside and I was walkin and I guess, like I said I guess I got jealous and I stepped on that bird and I was heavy enough and I killed it. Isn't that said? I, uh, meanness!
But then I also remember, um, evidently it must have been the time during when I was sick or something, I had the measles, and um mom had kept me in the dark, cause, I don't know if it's true or not but the measles if there was too much sunlight, they always said if you got too much sunlight they would go inside. So, um, I can remember sleeping and having, waking up with this dream, I dreamed it was this cat that jumped up on the screen window, and as I woke up this cat was hanging on the, which was probably true, uh but the cat was up there and I think that's where my fear of cats came from. So cats and birds. But that's terrible memories, so… isn't that spooky.
Then mom, it was at the same house that I stepped on the bird, and mom was in the kitchen, she was making biscuits of course, cause daddy always had to have his biscuits, and um evidently when, me learning how to talk and I guess I was hungry and she couldn't understand me cause I wanted a big stick, so it took her forever until I went to the refrigerator and pulled out the old biscuits, that she knew what I was talking about. That's a little more pleasant memory. And mom used to wear aprons, I can remember that and she always had to wear a dress, daddy always felt like women should have their dresses on, so she always had these aprons, it seemed like it had, like it was like a kitchen design, you know like it had the pears and the apples and all that stuff, cause I remember she'd make these biscuits and of course shed pick up that apron and she'd wipe her hands on it. She would have her hair, she'd get up prolly every other morning, wash her hair and she'd set it in these pin rollers, I can remember she had, there's a picture in the photo album, and she had her pin, and then she had these like little pin wheels, and then pin them with the bobby pin. So that's a little bit better memory. I remember the kitchen was small, everything had its little order with the refrigerator and the stove together, close by. That was just a couple roads over from here, um on 5710, but of course it doesn't look like it did then.
That's and early childhood memory! Mom took me to Dr. Woods, I needed a shot! Well that ol' man! I got the shot, I don't know what it was for, but I got it in the butt! He evidently hit a bone or a muscle or something, and I mean! It's prolly still sore from where that ol' bastard stuck me! And there used to be an ice cream shop in Natalia, of all things, and ice cream drugstore! And after I got that shot, for some reason, I don't know if I needed medicine or Daddy needed insulin or something, but Mom went to the drugstore, and I can remember his name was Cheesy Forbes, he used to drive a school bus and he ran and operated the drugstore. He gave me a scoop of ice cream, first ice cream I ever ate! It had to be vanilla. I remember mom sitting me on the stool, I was still whining cause my butt hurt from that shot. I remember hobbling around the house for a couple days from that shot. Of course that was back in the day when we had to ride the bud to Hondo to get vaccinated for smallpox. I remember the school loading up on the bus, and that was quiet and adventure cause other than riding the damn school bus to school…. I can remember riding over there and I can remember us all lining up. It was on this side of the jailhouse, there was just a small room and we'd have to file in there and I don't really remember how that shot was given but it would make this huge, ugly, ol' nasty scab. It always left a scar.
How did you get your nickname?
That came from one of the neighbors that lived next door to us. She uh would come over and um, of course there was a separation between me and Tiny and Jimmy, so there I was the cutesy little baby, and she, the woman, from what I remember, she was kinda tongue tied, had a lisp, and instead of being able to say cutie pie, she, it came out tootie pie, so uh of course everybody uh spells it tootie but we called it T-u-d-y, so, for Tudy, so that was, they just left off the pie, so they always called me that.
When she would come over, I remember she'd come over later on, and she had on, she was all dressed up so she must have been going to church, and I was fascinated by her shoes because they were a clear plastic, I always thought they were the prettiest shoes. A little touch of Cinderella type shoes. But yeah when she would cuddle me up, she said "You just a lil bitty tootie pie." But that's where that came from and it just stuck. It was always sad cause Mary never got a nickname, I guess with Leona and Devona, and not many people could remember Devona, so, but that's it.
Though what was really interesting is my middle name Blanch, that was Daddy's ex-girlfriend.
What chores did you, and your siblings, have when you were young?
I don't remember having to do any chores. Well after I got into teenage years, and if I wanted to go anywhere, Daddy'd have me cook something. Usually he liked my cakes. So I'd have to bake a cake. I remember this, I can't remember what kind it was, but this one cake, I felt so bad cause it looked like you know what. It fell apart and he always said it was the best cake I'd ever made. But yeah they never did, uh, have us do chores. They should have, I was ornery enough, they should have made me do something. Being the third one down, ya know, cause then you got the baby, well you're jealous of the baby and then you got the bigger, older brother and sister. Well the brother got to do everything! And the older sister was too smart, and there I was. I was the troublemaker. Isn't that something?
Was there a difference in the expectations your parents had for you and your sisters compared to those they had for your brother? Was there a difference in the way you were taught or what you were taught?
Mom and dad didn't have much of an education, so when I came along, and Jimmy and Tiny always seemed to be able to do their homework and I always struggled. I don't remember ever asking them for help either. But Jimmy was already headed to the service. He's eleven years older than me. Tiny, I think is seven years.
Daddy expected Jimmy to be out in the hayfield with him. That's why he ran off and joined the Air Force cause he wasn't gonna do that. But I can remember Jimmy, and he loved football, which he never played, but he loved watchin it on T.V., so after we got a T.V., I can remember mom tellin a story about Jimmy was wanting to watch this football game, and Daddy was outside workin, and he wanted Jimmy out there to help him, and here ya know how in a football game you'll have a, it seems like it takes forever to finish the quarter. Then, cause Jimmy'd keep tellin him, "I'll be there in a minute, the games almost over." Well, with those pauses in there Daddy didn't have enough patience to wait on him so, and mom said she could remember Jimmy having to give up the football game just to get Daddy to quit gripping at him, cause he couldn't enjoy the game for dad yelling at him.
Then Tiny, Tiny always did her homework, she was good at everything, and back then they would make them take shorthand. I remember her having these real pretty pens, she would win them at the, I guess some kind of contest or something that they had. She was good at it.
Then there I was. And then there's me! I was more, ya know, as I got older I was more into cutting my own hair, fixin my makeup, then things like that. That behave… Oh that embarrassing. I see that now and go, oh brother! Cause I can remember sitting in front of that mirror and cutting my own hair. I had to be 13 or 14, cutting my own hair.
Did your mom teach you how to sew?
No, no, she could barely sew. But I remember this traveling salesman came to the door, and he talked her into buyin this sewing machine. Tiny was taking Home Economics, so she needed a sewing machine. Tiny sewing her own clothes, and I learned some watchin, so I more watched Tiny, teachin me how to sew more than anybody else.
What about baking the cakes? Where did you learn that?
Mom, watching mom. Yeah, she was a cooker. She'd always have to, since Daddy was a diabetic, she always had to make sugar cookies for him, just plain ol' tea cakes I guess they call them. That was about the only thing Daddy could eat cause it didn't have a whole lot of sugar in it. I remember him, when he'd go off to bail hay, he always had this jar of candy in the back of the truck, that he kept for his low sugar, which I was too little to know that and when we always had to go him to bail hay and I remember Mom sitting in the truck with me and Mary, and there I was rootin into everything in Daddy's truck and I found that jar. It was an old mustard jar and he'd keep this hard candy, well of course I found it, guess who ate it all! Then Daddy didn't have any candy for when he had a sugar low. That was always pitiful!
Then we would go, when Daddy would have to go to the feed store, well we'd have to sit in the truck, ya know, while he went in to get the feed. Of course it was there at Lytle Feed and Seed, and we'd sit there and sit there and wait and wait on him. Mom would always warn us, don't say anything when he comes back, you'll just piss him off. So, it always bothered me and Mary that when she would go to the grocery store , he would sit in the truck and wait on mom and if he let us go in, sometimes he wouldn't let us go, and he'd sit there and bitch about her taking too long buying groceries. Isn't that sad? Dad only liked to go to Medina Lake, I can remember going there, and then to see his mother cause she just lived in San Antonio. But we'd get to ride to Medina Lake every once in a while, that was a highlight. His sister and her husband lived up there, and I remember her, Aunt Willie, makin… I don't know we were coming home and I was crying cause I was hungry and she had made I guess some coleslaw or something, she had some cabbage, and she made me a cabbage sandwich! That's what I ate on the way home. It was just a piece of cabbage leaf, rolled up with a little mayonnaise, she had some mayonnaise on there, and a piece of bread. It's that rough?
And, um, bless Mom's heart, she would make those teacakes for him and then here me and Mary were and she'd make us something. I can remember us coming home from the school and wanting popcorn. She would make these popcorn balls, well sometimes the sugar that they heated up to hold it all together, it wouldn't quite congeal right, so it wound up being a big pile of mush, but it was always the best. I prolly screwed up more than I ever cooked.
Then after Dad and I got married I learned a lot from Rosie, his sister. We spent a lot of time over there cause Mom, Dad had already passed away, and Mom and Mary had already moved off. So, Rosie taught me a lot. That's where I learned to make a dove pie. His uncles were the one who showed me, when we would make homemade sausage, to brown it in a skillet and make that gravy and pour it over mashed potatoes. Very unhealthy, but excellent!
What was school like?
Not much different than it is now. There was always the cream of the crop kids and the so-so kids and the low man on the totem pole kids. Cream of the crop was the kids that got to live in town and got to do all the sports. Then here we were, the had to ride the bus and lived in the country, and then of course you had the lower ones that lived on the low side of town and always needed an extra bath or an extra set of clothes or better shoes….. But there was always the jealousy, ya know, so and so had new clothes or so and so had the better doll that you didn't have.
What did they teach? Was that the same?
Well it was just startin to be, like the new math and stuff. Basically it was still twelve plus twelve. They made us memorize out multiplication tables, now a days they don't do that. In elementary we did the rhyming, in first, second, third, ya know… they don't teach that anymore, they just kinda hit on it, but now they're teaching more for the test.
Were there classes that you had to take because of your gender? Like did you have to take Home Economic? Could boys take it?
Oh, no! It wouldn't have even been thought of for a boy to be in home ec! But, I had to take it! That's really where I put more effort into learnin how to sew and cookin. They would teach you how to cook, how to be the lil Betty Crocker homemaker crap. Not like now. Oh I would love to be able to do that technology stuff, with the robots. That would have held my interest more, but opening a book, makin me learn something out of a book just never appealed to me.
Now, I know you moved around a lot, did you change schools because of that?
No, we always right in the same school district. Tiny and Jimmy got to go to Divine, that's how Dad remembers Tiny, I think they were in the sixth grade…. Cause he had just got outta catholic school, no seventh grade. But, no, we were always in the same area, they'd fix up these houses and they'd sell em, and away we would go again! Over there by Calame Store, there we three different houses we lived at.
Did you ever get in trouble as a child? How did your parents handle it?
I was just a mean lil snake, is what I was. I was just jealous.
Just name it, I did it. All Daddy ever had to do was look at me. He never spanked me. The one time he spanked me, we were sitting at the dinner table, they were trying to make me eat something and I stuck my tongue out at him and I remember he popped me on the knee, made me cry, hurt my feelings something awful. Mom she'd just get pissed off at me, but Daddy would look at you. If he looked at you, you knew you were fixin to get what for. But he never laid a hand on us.
But I was the one who was spoiled. I wanted to watch Popeye and all I had to do was go crying to Daddy and he would let me watch Popeye. Dad always control of the T.V.
You wanted me to ask you about the tarantulas?
Yeah. We were headed down to where Daddy was gonna work on the highway, in Encinal, and I remember seeing these black spots in the road. Well when we would hit them, you could feel the bump and it was tarantulas. They were migrating. Huge tarantulas! I mean they were HUGE! Not like the little bitty things you see now. Now they're obsolete. Brown tarantulas.
When did you learn how to drive? Who taught you? How old were you when you got your license? What was your first car and when did you get it?
I never did drive before George and I met. Finally, I guess after Rosie, his sister, would give him such a hard time cause I wasn't driving yet. They helped me find a car. We lived here when I finally went and got my driver's license. So 1976. We were married 6 years when we bought this place, $100 a month….. So I was 24 before I got my license. I had this old blue green car.
But I always thought the best story on me was when, after Kyle was born, cause I was feeling guilty cause I had quit school, of course I was traveling with Dad, I was happy, we went fishin, we went traveling on the John Deere. So, when Kyle came along, I didn't want him to be embarrassed by his mother not having graduated school, so he was in kinder and it was huntin season, I would go down to Pearsall where they had the GED classes. After that, that's when I decided to get a job. So that way we had the extra money, so when we wanted to go to Wolf Creek, we had the extra money. Dad was self-employed by that time, so at least one week outta the year we got to go on a trip.
What did you do for fun when you were a child? Teenager? Young adult?
What did I do for fun…. We walked a barrel. I'd get to go outside. You'd lay this barrel on the side. Mom did have time to watch us, so we were lil sneaks and we'd get outside and, um, but I can remember… well I saw Tiny, I guess, walkin that barrel , and then I would get out there. Then I remember, either I heard Tiny talkin about it cause she, since she was in high school she got to go places and do things with the school, and I guess they got to go to a circus and she came home and she was walkin that barrel. Then she was showing me how they would walk a tightrope. Well here I am, bright eyed and bushy tailed, and I had a brand new pair of tennis shoes! So I decided I was gonna get out and walk this board that was, Dad always had lumber outside. Well I had the bright idea that my brand new tennis shoes could walk through anything, and there was this nail sticking up, and I remember trying to balance on that nail and my foot going through and that nail comin straight up through the top of my foot. I can remember lookin down and seein that nail stickin outta my foot. Of course, what do I do? I'm standing there and I'm screaming the whole time! I don't move and Mom had to come out and pull me off of that nail and then…. What did she pour on my foot? Cause I never went to the doctors, other than that one time for that shot, I don't think Daddy ever let her take me back. Prolly iodine or camfophanique, that was prolly all she had. I remember squallin. But yeah I thought I could do anything in those brand new tennis shoes!
As a teenager….. skipped school. I only skipped school twice, got caught both times! I always rode the bus to school and then we'd hope in somebodies car, they'd get us back before the buses run, so then I'd come up behind the back of the bus and get on it and ride home. Course at that time, I don't think mom and dad ever put their phone number down on the papers, me and Mary would pick up the mail in the afternoons, and I thought I had it made, no one called mom and dad to let em know I skipped school. Mary and I got off the bus and we got the mail, well sure enough there was a letter from school, and the school had written mom and dad a letter that I had gotten caught skippin school. Mary Lou Frick was my best friend. We got the bright idea when the ditches were dry, dad was growing vegetables at the time, so we'd order water and water would be going through the ditches. Well when the ditches were dry, me and Mary Lou would get out there and we'd roll down the ditch. You would just lay down, relax, and tumble into it. Mom was always scared of the water, Daddy was too, so we never got to swim in the ditches.
You had to order water?
Yup, BMA, that were those taxes come from. We still do when we have water, we still pay the taxes though we don't have water cause our acreage is too small, it only costs us $35 a year, but still. You can't order water anymore but we still have to pay the taxes. Daddy always had this big ol' plow to pull behind his tractor to clean his ditches, so that when he would water. Sometimes he would raise hay and sometimes he would raise some vegetables.
What about as a young adult?
Well by that time I was married. I quit school when I was seventeen, and me and dad got married. Then it was an adventure cause he worked for John Deere, they'd send him out on service jobs and he'd come by and pick me up, so I would get to go work with him on the tractors. Then they made him the truck driver, so our real adventures started when he'd get to drive and we'd get to travel. That's the first time I really been outta the little bitty south Texas. What I mean by south Texas is, when I was little we got to go to Mathis to see Mom's parents and then I got to go to San Antonio to see Dad's mom, so when we got to go to El Paso and then we went to Waco, and I got to go through Paris, Texas. We never would stop though, if we did get to stop we would just spend the night, get to eat. Then we really just spent time with his family. When Mom moved up to New Waverly, we got to make those trips. Life for me really started after we got married.
Was marriage scary? Did you have anyone to tell you what to expect?
Daddy died in August, George and I got married that next February. Mom had a hard time with it, usually there was a bereavement period back in those days, when you should have waited a year, but Mom was already tired of listening to me, she was ready to get rid of me anyway.
For my Mom, you just didn't… I never heard the word pregnant until I was prolly 15 and the only reason I knew that was because Maxine and Frank got married and she was expecting her first baby. That was the first time I had ever seen a pregnant woman. We didn't talk about it and most anything else I learned, I learned from other girls at school. It was just unspoken words, you didn't talk about a women's cycle, you didn't talk about any of that stuff, ya know? If you did it, you better learn how to not get pregnant! All that stuff was very private.
How did you finally learn about all that?
Just with Dad… and dirty movies.
Has your role as a woman/wife/mother changed throughout the years?
Well with my life revolving around Dad…….. Until I learned to argue back with him he pretty much ruled the roost…. Which was prolly around the time Kyle was born. Your defenses come up when the babies are around and you learn, George would want things done his way and I would see it as a, pretty much an insult, and I would argue back with him. A lot of times I would just give in for arguments sake, I would just get tired of the arguing. So that was prolly a step up as the wife, learning that I really did have a mind of my own. A lot of it, like the not pumping gas thing, that just didn't really bother me, that he would go. But that was after I went to work, so when I'd come home and cook and clean and chase after Kyle, I just figured if Dad wanted to go get the gas I would let him…. I shouldn't have let that go on as long, I should've gotten out more.
Is there anything else you would like to add to this interview?
When you get to thinking back, there are so many things that come to light… but that's more in your childhood and all. I would just suggest anybody to be a little more adventuresome, to learn a little bit of everything, cause you don't want to get to be 62 and be scared to venture out. You're never too old to learn.
