Graciella Quintero (nee Salazar)
What is your earliest childhood memory?
Ooh let me see…I guess when we came over here to the United States.
What do you remember?
I remember flying on a plane. The bridge was broken. We had a flood the other year, the bridge was broken and they brought us over on a plane.
Were you and all your siblings born in Mexico?
No I got two sisters born over here, Dora and Susie.
How was your relationship with your parents?
Oh, well good mija. We got along, they never spanked me, so I guess I got along with them.
How was your childhood?
It was a very happy one. My mom loved me, my dad loved me. I was the baby for ten years so you can imagine…then Dora came along. They used to call me Kiki. Kiki is like a rooster, my uncle used to call me Kiki ‘cause he said I was his sunshine. He was not married and he was living with my mom. And he spoiled me too. My grandfather was a baker and he would deliver the bread every morning in a basket, and I would run to meet him and he would carry me and gave me a whole peso. My sisters he would give them like fifty cents, but I’d get a whole dollar.
What was your favorite food to eat when you were younger?
Pineapple. But it hurts my stomach now, it has too much acid. Pineapple is my favorite.
What was the hardest thing to endure when you were younger?
There was really nothing. I guess when my dad died and I was about 24.
What was your family’s economic status?
We were rich in Mexico and then also in Del Rio. When we came to Del Rio my dad bought a house right away. We had the first water cooler, TV, we had our own record player, and telephone. We came here straight to a house. My dad came from rich people.
What did your dad do for work?
Well when he came from over there, Mexico, he had two gasoline stations. And he bought a big truck and he had contract labor.
What did you want to be when you grew up?
Um, let me see. I always thought it would be fun to be a secretary. I thought it was sexy or fancy or whatever.
Did you know how to type?
(laughs) No. I thought it looked cool or whatever (laughs).
What did you tell me that one time about the homeless guy?
(laughs) Oh yeah, that was when I was a kid in Mexico. He had a little fire going on. He was homeless you know, there was no house really where he was staying. He would light up a fire and then he would go to the bathroom, or he didn’t have any bathroom, so he would just go to the other side of his house and poop or whatever and we would run and destroy his fire and then we would run home. Pobresito, his name was little Pedrito. My mom didn’t know that; she wouldn’t let us be mean to nobody. It was me and Rosie my sister and my other cousins. All of us used to live near each other. My uncles bought property near one another so we were always running around us cousins.
You said you only went up to sixth grade?
Yeah mija. I didn’t even finish sixth grade.
Because you got married?
Yeah I got married.
Did you regret not finishing school?
Yeah mija I did.
Where did you and grandpa meet?
At my cousin’s house one Easter morning. I went to pick up my cousin and he was there talking to one of my other cousins. I went to pick her up to take her to a picnic in Mexico and he just kept staring at me and that’s how we met.
Did your parents approve of you getting married so young?
No mija.
Is that why grandpa said Grandma Victoria didn’t like him?
Yeah, she didn’t like him and he didn’t like her.
Did your dad mind too?
No he was real nice. No he just told my husband he didn’t wanna know that he was hitting me or talking dirty. I wasn’t supposed to cuss. He told my husband I don’t want her talking dirty, cussing. And I don’t want you hitting her; if you don’t like her or want her anymore just give her back to me. So that’s what my father said.
When did you have your first baby?
I was fifteen mija. Yeah when Norma was born.
Man, you were little grandma.
I know mija. Crazy, it was crazy. That’s why I was after your mom and everybody not to marry young. I wanted them to study. Take your time getting married too.
When you had your kids were you able to have an epidural for them?
Just for Jerry (the last one), Jerry was a cesarean, he was born when I was seven months pregnant.
So you didn’t have any drugs with the other kids?
No. Anna was born in the house. Richard was born in the hallway of the hospital. Your mom was born where they had all the…she was born in Fort Worth, and they had all these ladies that were in labor, and I told her I’m real fast but she didn’t believe me and your mom was born there. My mom used to say I was an Indian.
An Indian why?
Because I’d heal real fast. I had the baby and I was feeling fine the next day.
Could you describe a typical day when you had all eight of your kids?
Oh it was fine. I managed to get by. I had like a routine. Six in the morning get them ready for breakfast, send them to school, go to work, and when they came from school they’d help me out. They’d do the dishes, take out the trash. They did laundry helped iron. When I came home from work I’d cook dinner.
Was it the boys and the girls or just the girls?
The boys and the girls. Betito (my uncle Albert) would iron the clothes, and the girls had their own routine, they’d take turns doing the dishes and washing. They didn’t cook until later. I didn’t want them burning themselves; I did the cooking and everything. Grandpa on his day off would cook for everybody. And the kids when they got up in the morning would do their own bed so the house would be clean when they got home from work and school.
When grandpa wasn’t there was it hard to discipline the kids?
No mija, they were ok. I always talked to them, would you help me please, and thank them. That’s the way I was brought up. My dad would say can you do that please, and we did it. I mean there was no arguing or anything. That’s the way the girls and boys were. They never talked back to me.
Was there any kind of help with the kids, like daycare?
I had a maid from Mexico that I would hire. When I was working she’d come and take care of them till Friday. She took care of them. When they were small I had a maid. They didn’t cost too much over there in Del Rio, ten dollars or fifteen dollars a week. Your mom was small when I had a maid that took care of her. They needed help; they’d cross over and knock on your door. But when I got home from work, I’d cook. I just wanted them to take care of them while I was at work.
What did you used to do for fun?
Go to the drive in, dances, movies.
Before you had the kids or after?
When I had them. We’d go every weekend. Tia Chavella would come every Friday and take all the kids. Took all of them, and I was off on weekends. We would go dancing or driving around. My sister and her husband too.
When you had all the kids you said you had to use cloth diapers right?
When Anna was born that’s when diapers came out. Grandpa really was the one who did the diapers at the Laundromat. He helped me a lot.
When did you get a washing machine?
Before your mom was born I got a washing machine, in oh, 1967. You know the kind that goes…the old ones where you had to put them on rollers to get the water out. And then when Jovanne was born grandpa bought me an electric one, we didn’t have to go to the Laundromat or anything.
How did you afford to get clothes, shoes and all that for the kids?
We would buy for the girls first. The first paycheck was for the girls’ clothes then the second paycheck would be for the boys. That’s how we got them ready for school. I used to work at a factory but I never learned to make clothes. I bought the boys pants from the factory. Levi Strauss, they’d make good jeans, they’d just take the money out of my check. Then grandpa worked at JCPenny and we’d get a discount there. We couldn’t buy them all at once. They would share each other’s clothes.
Did grandpa mind you working?
No mija, ‘cause it was money. And sometimes he wasn’t working, so I’d tell him let’s go see who can get a job first. Somebody needs to work He didn’t like it at first but then he got used to it, it was extra money. He wanted to provide, but if I worked it was more money and we could have little extras here and there.
Did you and grandpa make major decisions together?
Yes, we talked things over and decide together what to do.
What was expected of you as a woman back then?
I don’t know mija. To do everything I guess. Raise the kids, do laundry, go to church, go to the groceries.
Why did you never learn to drive?
I know how to drive but I never try. I used to drive before just when the kids were little, just to my mom’s house, but she only lived one or two blocks away. I don’t know I never liked driving. I’m the kind of person when I get scared or something I don’t move. I just freeze. I’m scared I’ll kill somebody. So I don’t drive.
What has been the most rewarding thing in your life?
The most rewarding thing? Knowing Jesus. Thanks to Jesus everything changed for good. We had better lives. I was saved in 1976. Grandpa about a month later. We changed because we had a lot of problems. Things started changing though, and they’re still changing for the better.
Was there anything you couldn’t do because you were a woman?
I don’t know, I don’t think so. I worked, I went home. I guess I just wanted to be a mother. They never told me I couldn’t do anything. I even got a license to preach, and I’m a woman.
Is there anything you would like to add?
Oh I remember my dad bringing us to…when we were living in Mexico and we would go on a boat. Every weekend we were in Del Rio, visiting my uncle on a ranch. We picnicked a lot. We had a good time there. My dad he liked to travel a lot. In Mexico too, Monterrey. He’d pay someone to take care of us and he’d go see boxing. He’d pay someone to take care of us in the motel, and he’d tell them to bring us whatever we wanted. We kept ordering Cokes (laughs). Every weekend he would take us to Guadalajara. He liked to travel a lot but he always took all of us. A family man like you would call them. We always had a lot of fun. He would tell us he was rich. He didn’t like our mom telling us there was no money or we couldn’t buy something. He would tell her, don’t you tell them that. He always gave us what we asked for.
So do you have anything else to add?
No I don’t think so. Just uh, don’t marry too young, finish your school, and get a degree or something. You got all the time in the world to get married. That’s what I tell all my grandchildren. Look for Jesus make him the number one in your life and everything will go great. I don’t think I have anything more to say.
I thought I had a pretty good idea about who my grandmother was. Doing this interview gave me a whole new perspective on her life when she was younger. I mean she's always been my grandma and I've never thought of her as a young girls, so this interview was quite interesting to hear. Some of the most important things I learned from this interview is that it's not that important to get married too young, or want to grow up too fast. My grandma got married really young and had kids when she was still a child herself. I don't think I'll be doing that anytime soon. Also, I learned it's really important to get an education and better yourself as much as you can, if given the opportunity. I learned alot of things about my grandma that I didn't know before. Like her whole childhood, how her family was well off financially, and how happy she had been as a child. I really enjoyed her reactions and emotions to the different questions; I especially liked when she would laugh at things she'd remember. It was like when she was thinking back on things she realized how funny it was or how much she really enjoyed something that had been forgotten until that moment.Some of the stories she told me made me realize how lucky I am to be a woman in our present time. Before this interview I thought washing dishes was a pain, but she had to go to work, take care of eight kids, be a wife, and keep house without all of the new comforts that technology make simple and trivial now. I really admire my grandmother for her patience and the joy she brings to everyone's life. I think some of the benefits of learning history from someone who lived it is that it's quite interesting to be able to compare their experiences to your own, to be able to learn from their past mistakes, and just to appreciate what they went through. I'm not really sure there are any drawbacks, I think this is a really great way to learn history. I'm really happy I was able to do this interview with my grandma when I did; she's an amazing woman who was the sunshine for others when she was a child and remains so to this day for all her children and grandchildren.
The Handbook of Texas Online. Copyright © The Texas State Historical Association. 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 University of Texas at Austin. http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/ Last Updated: May 16, 2005.
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