Maria Petra Torres (nee Silva)
Did you have a washer?
We had a washer but the washer that we had when I was little was a washer that had rolls on it and you had to put the clothes on it and squeeze the water out so that you could hang it outside. It wasn't until now that you have all the modern washers and dryers, you know, but mom had one of the old washers and of course we didn't have a dryer.
Did grandma ever get to have one of the washers like we have now?
Oh yeah, mom got one later when we came to San Antonio from Laredo when I was little that is when daddy got mom her dryer and her real nice washer, and that is when we got spoiled.
OK, who cooked the meals?
Mom was always the one who did all the cooking; I mean mom was always at home. She didn't work at all when we were little. So she did all the cooking but we helped her with the dishes and
setting the table, and drying the dishes and putting the dishes away and all these kind of things.
So I guess that goes with the ironing?
Yeah, but we also helped her with that but mom did everything. She had to starch the boys shirts and daddy's uniforms, so she did everything the old fashioned way.
The iron that you had, was it like the one that we have?
No, I remember that mom had an iron that you couldn't connect. You couldn't connect it like you could now in the electrical plugs. The iron she has was a very heavy iron but I think that she put them in coals or something like that for it to get hot.
When did you learn to cook?
When we were little she would let us help her with little stuff, something simple. We learned early to do little things like oatmeal, or anything that was not very hard. Mom showed us when we were little how to survive, you know, how to look after my brothers.
You told me before that grandma used to sew all of the clothes...
Yeah, mom did all of our dresses and she did the boys shirts. The only thing that she bought were the pants but she did the shirts and for us she made real pretty dresses for us
What were the different fashions while you were growing up?
Oh God, the clothes from when I was little was clothes that I guess you could say you have a hard time finding now days because, for example, we were raised to where we did not wear pants much less shorts. You didn't were those little t-shirts with straps like you wear or anything like that. It just was not allowed. Dad didn't let us wear shorts or pants because we were girls. We wore dresses and the dresses that we wore had to have sleeves and a collar on top. Period.
Did you ever get in trouble for something that you wore?
No! Because we listen, we were raised to where you are going to do this the way you are told. Even after I was over 21 years old, that is how I was raised and I would feel very uncomfortable if I were to wear something that would show my back or something
short like the short skirts that you girls wear now. I never wore anything like that.
How did the family spend its evenings?
We always spent them together. Our main meal was dinner but daddy wasn't there because daddy's job was to where he would get
up at five o'clock in the morning to go to work and he'd come home just to take a nap just around one o'clock or two o'clock,
and then he would go back to work and he wouldn't get home until one or two o'clock in the morning. He was a waiter at the hotel
so his hours were very long, so our evenings were with mom. whenever she cooked the meals we would all sit at the table. All seven of us. And at that time is when we would talk about all kinds of things. School and other things like that. And then she would sit and play the piano which was something that we all loved. She always played the piano at night before we went to bed.
Did grandma ever work outside of the house?
Yeah, when we moved to San Antonio I was nine years old and mom wanted so bad to help dad because they wanted to buy a house because dad didn't want to be paying rent anymore. So sure enough he bought a house and at that time mom wanted to help him so much that he finally gave in. So he finally let her go work but she only lasted about a year and a half.
Where did she work?
She worked at a pecan sheller in a pecan factory that belonged to my Uncle and since he knew mom he gave mom a chance. But like I said she only worked for about a year and a half.
When did your family get its first car?
I was just about to enter high school, so that was in the 60's that daddy got his first car. He got his first car because of your Tio Danny because everything that we did we did by bus. So that's why he got his first car.
Do you remember what king of car it was?
It was a 1956 Plymouth
A very pretty baby blue and white. And he also had to learn how to drive. He didn't know how to drive but yeah that was his first car.
Do you remember any blizzard, tornados or floods when you were little?
Yeah, when we were little that we were living in Laredo there was a very big flood. The Rio Grande overflowed and ran into Laredo where we lived. We lived in a two-story house for
for low-income families and I remember dad and my brothers putting as much furniture and all that kind of things upstairs. They took up as much as they could. But mama had her piano downstairs and we were all scared that it was going to be damaged so daddy got a lot of big pieces of wood and they put the piano on the wood. And it didn't get wet the way we thought it would.
What did you want to be when you grew up?
Well usually when you're little you don't think about that very much but I know that I use to like to watch the way the belly dancer
use to dance and they were covered with real pretty jewelry and silks and scarfs. But that was when I was little.
Whom did you admire?
Again that would be mom and dad because they didn't have any education and yet they made something of themselves. Daddy went to school until about the third grade and at the same time he was an
orphan and he learned to survive and learned to do what he had to do. He also played the violin so beautiful that he was part of the Laredo symphony and that is how he met mom. And mom the same thing she only went to school until a little before high school and she played the piano beautifully and she also belonged to the Laredo symphony and that is where she met daddy. They both made a good family out of us.
What was school like?
I liked school in Laredo because I liked being able to go home during lunch. We did not eat at school because we did not have cafeterias so we walked home for lunch. And I remember liking most of my teachers.
I know that you were real little but do you remember a lot of segregation?
No, not really because there were only Mexicans in school. I don't remember ever seeing any white or black people.
What about school?
School here was very hard for me. I was only going to go into the fourth grade but I found communicating with the teacher very difficult.
Did you already speak English?
Oh yeah, because we had to speak English in Laredo when we were in school. We only spoke English at school but we already knew it. We were used to speaking Spanish though.
What about the segregation here in San Antonio?
I really don't remember very much because I was still little and I didn't pay attention very much to things like that yet. I was still not ready to see things like races coming together and so on... but overall I really didn't pay attention.
What forms of discipline were teachers allowed to use on students?
Well, no one ever disciplined me, but since I had a little brother, your Tio Danny, in a grade below me I knew that he would sometimes get in trouble for talking back, saying something he was not supposed to say or clowning around, which he did a lot. But I remember that they use to hit them with a paddle. But they had to let the parents know about but dad is the one that you can say is the one who gave the permission for them to be able to do it. But there was never a time when the teacher got out of hand or something like that that daddy had to go in for anything. But
you know they were just being boys and boys will be boys.
Did you take a home economics class during high school?
Yeah during my freshman year of high school. And since I already knew how to cook and sew the class was very easy for me. And of course I loved it because I got to make real pretty dresses and skirts. And we would cook and bake and it was fun.
Do you feel that taking home economics prepared you for your role as a wife, mother, woman?
It helped but then again mom was the one who taught me all of that when I was little so it was things that I already knew. It was a little different at school but it was still very easy.
You said you were working at a hospital?
Yeah, I was working in the ward where they had all these people that were burned. The burn unit...
Yeah, they were training us to help whoever we could help. We were getting paid also, so it helped me too, but whatever I needed and also helped me to be able to help mom and dad.
Did you here from him often?
Yeah, he wrote us all the time and sent us pictures.
What do you remember most about when he came home?
We felt a sense of relief but what I will never forget is that he sat everyone at the table. He told us that at night we were never under any circumstance were we to go into the room. That there were going to be a lot of nights that he would be yelling and crying because he was dreaming but that no matter what nobody was to wake him up. He told us that he would be sleeping with the door locked and he told your Tio Danny
and Tio Gilbert that they were not to try to wake him up. That when they heard him they were to stay in bed and not talk to him to not even move because he was scared that he would hurt us. And yeah, there were a lot of times that we heard him crying and yelling but there was nothing that we could do for him. He never wanted to talk about it but with time things calmed down.
Where women and men equal?
NO! It was when I was in high school in the '60s that all these women started forming groups and they would protest about equal rights and all types of things like that.
Do you think that women and men are equal now?
No, because it is still hard for a woman to get a job that they think men should have. And women still get paid less than men do. Things are better but we are not there yet.
Was there a lot of discrimination against women when you were growing up?
Yes, you would hear about different situations in different cities about things going against women.
When you were growing up did you feel that you were treated a certain way because you were a woman?
No, there was nothing that was directed at me but it was something that was heard of everywhere around us.
Okay, what about at Silver Creek?
It was completely different because I went from a hotel business to health care. When I went to Silver Creek the nursing home had just opened so I was the very first supervisor. Again I was in charge of hiring and firing, inspections, training, budgeting, and ordering any supplies that the facility needed. It was different but I loved working with the elderly. It was very hard when you lost one of them, even though you knew it was bound to happen. It was hard seeing that there were so many that nobody ever came to see him or her but when he or she died there was all their family. So it was something that you have to get used to but it is a difficult job because of so many things that you see.
Do you have a philosophy of life that you would like to share with your descendants?
I would say that life is not easy. There are going to be times when you are going to be down but you need to be able to go on. We learn by our mistakes and if you try a little bit harder then you will get there. And you need to remember that there is always someone to help you. You just have to open your eyes and look. But don't ever forget to return the favor. Just like you were helped then you need to help someone else. Even if it is someone who just needs someone who will listen to them.
What has given you the most pleasure and satisfaction in your life?
My daughter! I am so grateful that you were given to me. Just the idea to be able to say that I have a daughter.
What do you consider to be your most important achievements?
Succeeding in being a single mother and taking care of mom and dad for as long as I could. I did the best that I could and I feel like I did a great job. The most beautiful memories that I have are of you and my parents. What more can anyone ask for.
Any thing else you would like to add?
!!!DON"T EVER GIVE UP!!!
Laredo, Texas: this website tells the viewer about Laredo
San Antonio: this website gives the viewer information about San Antonio.
San Antonio College for Dental Assistance: this website gives viewers information about the San Antonio College for Dental Assistance.
La Mansion Del Rio: this website gives information about La Mansion Del Rio located in San Antonio
Fashions: this website gives information about women's fashion in the 1960's
1956 Plymouth: this website shows the picture of a 1956 Plymouth.
Belly Dancer: this website gives the viewer information about belly dancers. You can find information on how they got started and instructions on how to become a belly dancer
Assassination of Kennedy: this website gives information about the assassination of John F. Kennedy
Vietnam War: this website http://www.pbs.org/battlefieldvietnam/ gives information of the Vietnam War. There are links on this website that let viewers go into other sites that gives more information on the Vietnam War