00:00:00.839 - 00:00:23.090

Well, also he, he was not wealthy himself. So, so he probably felt well, I mean, if, if anybody is going to get money, he wanted it, you know. Well, he was, but he was, uh, I, I'm not talking about against him because right now I understand

00:00:23.100 - 00:00:43.150

him. I understand, I understand my father. I understand his feelings. I understand what he went through because I'm old and I know what happened. I understand what happened. I, I, uh, it's not, it's not easy for a man, you know, just to be a man. I

00:00:43.159 - 00:01:06.290

mean, uh, I wish that, that, uh, you a man when he's 14 who knew the responsibility that he's gonna have when he's 4050. But life when you're young, I mean, it's not easy. I remember when, when I used to help Lydia with my mandolin, she didn't

00:01:06.300 - 00:01:35.059

pay me nothing. Nobody's paying me nothing. I just gave her. And then Mrs, um, you mean when you on the, on the, remember that what was happening there? Yeah, I know it at the time at that time, Lydia was rich at that time re, but you

00:01:35.069 - 00:01:55.209

could buy things with 5, 10 cents 15 cents, 20 cents, five cents a dollar. I mean, a dollar was out of the question because if, if my mother would say that if they would go to the plaza all night and make 90 cents, they would call

00:01:55.220 - 00:02:15.179

it a day. You can understand what the price could do. I mean, you, you more or less can have an idea what money could do at that time. Now, Lydia was making, at the time she was making 20 $30 a day at the time. Greece, that's

00:02:15.190 - 00:02:33.470

what they were. Pay her and, and we weren't, we weren't getting nothing out of that. Yeah. I guess money has a way of making problems between people. I'm sure that that's not, not, not, not, not, not even if you understand those things. Well, but I can

00:02:33.479 - 00:02:56.300

also understand that she can't, you know, she had her own family, let go, everything. Mm. She let go. Everything. When did that happen? I mean, you said, you said 1936 I can't remember. You mean Lydia was buying these houses? But, and, and her husband's business, the,

00:02:56.309 - 00:03:24.770

the shoemaking business. And, and why did you mean she didn't keep up the pain go? She just let everything go because he was flying around with another woman with her money or with her money. But by the time that she let it go they want the

00:03:24.779 - 00:03:59.580

money. Mm, 1919 36 in 1936 Leah was supposed to have $10,000 in the bank in 1936 $10,000. How much is it if you break it into the monetary? Well, you mean three calls and then a business, you know the US menu menu. I'm not lying, us

00:03:59.589 - 00:04:20.260

menu, man. You used to work for my brother in law in the, in the shop. You know how much he paid menu for a week's J sh sh you know how much he was, man, you were getting paid at the time to, just to have an

00:04:20.269 - 00:04:46.239

understanding. How much do you think was getting paid a dollar and 50 cents a week a week? I'm not lying. Chris, you men. Mayo used to get my mother used to wake menu up menu, man. He's, he went through hell, he suffered a lot, he suffered

00:04:46.250 - 00:05:04.109

a hell of a lot more than I have and he remembers and knows a hell of a lot more than I do because, you know, he's like he tells me, you know, my pride, my pride, Andres, you know how, how was it known? I was? I

00:05:04.119 - 00:05:22.109

knew I was gonna have to go work in chang ju all day until they tell me to leave. Sometimes they, they let me go at 808 o'clock at night. Sometimes they let me go at nine at 10. I give it them. But you know what I,

00:05:22.119 - 00:05:39.570

I used to think about. We used to sing all night at LA Plaza. And then my mom woke me up to me, go, go, go, you gotta go to work with my brother. So I would go and my mom would give me a nickel. I would

00:05:39.579 - 00:06:00.769

stop at the China and I used to eat hot cakes, two biscuits and a, and a, and a, and a little chocolate. And that, that, that, that can be good. I mean, I was, I was, I was, I was good. It was good. And then, uh,

00:06:00.980 - 00:06:15.899

about five or six Olivia would come and she would ask me, have you eaten something? And, and I said, no, I haven't eaten. Well, stop. Come on, let me get, let me get, let me take you to eat and she would take me a rest of

00:06:16.049 - 00:06:36.709

it and she would buy me a fri, he'll tell you that and that, that, that made his day. He was a child. He was just a kid that, that would make his day and he would leave for those two things. And then when we got home,

00:06:36.799 - 00:06:53.790

when he got home, he knew that mama would have him some and he would leave for that. He, he was not thinking about money matters, not thinking about what he was thinking about eating hot cakes, biscuits in the morning and then they come and take him

00:06:53.799 - 00:07:11.130

to eat fresh chicken. And then mama had done that. No, no money matter. No, that's a shame that, that she let all this stuff go. Did, did, did, I mean, who, who took the money? Did, did, did she just let the, the bills go? His family

00:07:11.140 - 00:07:30.709

was there. Uh he did, he knew that there was money coming in in the bank. So he was spending, he had a good time. He was young. I'm not, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not uh criticizing, I'm not uh trying to bring him down and things

00:07:30.720 - 00:07:50.769

like that. But I'm just trying to know how to manage it to, to, to understand, you know, two differences between the husband she has now and the husband. He, I mean, we love Juan, we love Juan. We do with the bottom of our heart because, because

00:07:50.779 - 00:08:11.899

he was family to us. We knew him when, when he got married with via, we knew him when he died. We, as far as I know, I mean, I respect him but things were, I'm, I'm talking reality. Yeah, he could have been a millionaire now. He

00:08:11.910 - 00:08:28.519

could have been a millionaire. But, but, but, but isn't that so often the case? You know, when people suddenly make money and they don't know how to, or, or if they knew how they still may not any of you. But some people ask was your family

00:08:28.529 - 00:08:47.159

very religious or not, you know. Well, you know, my mother, she was very, but not my father, not your father. My father don't believe in the church. Didn't believe in no no, those, uh, that you put some candles or no GJ, you just have a big,

00:08:47.169 - 00:09:06.270

uh, crystal in, in his, in the song. You don't believe in nothing, not in the church and he don't believe in, baptized and not, not communion. And my mother. Yeah. How about yourself? Well, I, I'm, I'm a, well, I'm not gonna, I'm not too religious to

00:09:06.280 - 00:09:22.739

go every day to the church. But I, I burned my candles and, uh, and prayer and for he, for everybody and for my kids, you know that I go to church and prayer and go and, and my, all my kids and make them communion and the

00:09:22.750 - 00:09:45.630

confirmation and baptize it over here in the church. Did, did you ever feel the healers like jaramillo or so on? Were just as good as, you know, what's his name? Jaramillo? The healer, you know what that name? Who is it? Ah, Pedrito. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He

00:09:45.640 - 00:10:04.210

was. Yeah, that's true because I believe him, I be, I believe him too much. I had the prayer and I have the picture. Yeah. He, he used to be a man. They, they help you for, when you was sick. I, I believe in him. Yeah. Territo

00:10:04.309 - 00:10:40.299

Jaramillo. And I believe in uh Nino Fidencio. He's, he's still over there in, in, in Espacios, Espacios. Uh N Coahuila is, they have the, the, the little church over there and the, and the, the uh Virgin Guadalupe and Juan and I, um, and all my kids

00:10:40.309 - 00:10:54.950

went to, went to the church, but not anymore because, you know, they grow and like to be around young when they was a little kid. They go with me. My husband don't believe in nothing in the church. You don't wanna go with me. No. Well, to

00:10:54.969 - 00:11:13.309

the church but I go with my kids. Just leave the churches over here one block. How, how, how, how many Children do you have? You have five, you have five Children and one passed away. The, the, the youngers, the older, just the second of the olders.

00:11:14.530 - 00:11:44.309

And then I have, I have, uh, three boys and two girls. And I have a granddaughter. That's what it is. And she like my granddaughter because she's me and my girl, she's 17. My mother in religion. My mother was, uh a person that, that I had

00:11:44.320 - 00:12:09.580

to follow in her fruit stamp because we have to understand the footsteps of a person. She was a Rosa Cruz and as a Rosa Crus, she was a realistic. So the basis that she left and, uh, those bases haven't been lost to this person that is

00:12:09.590 - 00:12:42.619

standing right here right now was that we have to understand we separate two things. What is, what it belongs to God and what is to, is belongs to the earth. She teach me in those bases. And, uh, she was very, very sincerely and very specific when

00:12:42.630 - 00:13:07.119

she talked about anything of the Bible and uh all the teachings that she gave me of the Bible, all the understandings of the Bible that you gave me and that I go by are not what religion talks about. So, all I can say is that I

00:13:07.130 - 00:13:44.940

remember many times, many times that I used to wake up sometimes at night and used to go to the bedroom and I was here sitting down at 2345 o'clock in the morning. You sitting, kneeling down or sitting down, sitting down, head down. And uh sometimes I

00:13:44.950 - 00:14:11.409

would find her outside the y I wouldn't talk to her, but I would see her and I would ask a question in my mind. What, what is she doing? Now? I know what she was doing. See, we, the only way we could, she could support us

00:14:12.650 - 00:14:44.080

by, by going out and work, head to work, go out and play in different towns and what she was doing, she was asking God the divine force, two famous word. So when you ask about religion in our person, I don't think that she has any religion.

00:14:44.750 - 00:15:14.940

I think that our religion was the divine force because she never specified to us. God in a name like that like uh Jehovah or like uh no, no, he, he, she wouldn't, she would say all the time and I will never, I will never forget to

00:15:14.950 - 00:15:48.609

her, to her was to her was uh God was the divine force. I see my mother go over to church because she would say uh divine force is everything. And if you don't understand that you will never understand nothing. Well, everybody that fake but she, but

00:15:48.619 - 00:16:05.890

she did go to church and, and well, once in a while and as soon as I get, well, I had to go to visit the seven church. Nobody believe in that. But I believe he would say the church is the body of the person, not a

00:16:06.049 - 00:16:22.640

temple. Yeah, I know that the temple is not nothing but my faith is to get to say uh the virgin, thank you for, I have, I, I because the this surgery that I had, the doctor told me maybe I'm gonna be crippled to get him in

00:16:22.650 - 00:16:41.659

a wheelchair. They don't, they never know. I, I, we can, we can, we can, we can uh we can get that from you. You know what she did when she was 21. She had never made her first communion and it was in Corpus. This is Maria.

00:16:41.849 - 00:17:01.789

Maria right there in Corpus. She never made her first communion. You know, you know what she did. I'm gonna tell you in front of her in Corpo, you know, uh we were gonna play there. So uh so my mother said to this lady, well, it's got

00:17:01.799 - 00:17:18.390

to be done, you know, and the lady said no, well, she's got to make the first commotion. So anyhow, So anyhow. Oh no, wait a minute, let me say, let me say my way that you say yours. OK. So anyhow, don't write, don't write mine, you

00:17:18.400 - 00:17:45.619

write her. So anyhow and AAA as it happened, uh the lady sent a girl with her and everything was done according to the laws, Maria confessed herself and all that and she was ready to take the less increments. The next day was Sunday and then he

00:17:45.630 - 00:18:06.430

went back and the girl and the girl had a boyfriend. So she, she let Maria alone and Maria stayed there sitting down and everybody went and got the last sacraments and Maria was sitting down, she didn't know when to get the less settlement. So anyhow, the

00:18:06.439 - 00:18:23.099

people left, there was nobody in the church and Maria was sitting down, I'm not lying. She's gonna tell you about it. No, she's gonna tell you the truth how it, how it happened anyhow. So anyhow, when all that happened, you know, no one, there was nobody

00:18:23.109 - 00:18:41.150

there. The, the the priest came out and start putting out the candles. So Maria saw him and woke and got up and went over to, to the close to the second man said, and the priest looked at her and said, what can I do for you?

00:18:41.160 - 00:19:01.869

And she said, well, I come, I come from, I come for God. What do you mean? Well, I want the oyster. What? Yeah, when I come for God, they said, they will give me God today will give me the. So the God told the priest when

00:19:01.880 - 00:19:19.300

they in there got pressed and gave and he, and he gave me the first communion. Oh, yeah. Uh It's not the communion. The not made it when I was a little girl. They're not the commune. I was to when you go to prison and, and tell

00:19:19.310 - 00:19:35.319

all your, all your um Yeah, that's what I'm gonna go there to confess myself. Not for the communion. Uh uh You're wrong. No, but I, I do, I didn't never know. Uh because, because I tell Lupe and then I go and, and, and, and get my

00:19:35.329 - 00:19:51.770

confess with the father and she told me you have to wait to everybody's gone. Yes, because you know that the father, they confess you with all the people. They, they call you to go and, and ask you all the, all your friends, you know, I know

00:19:52.839 - 00:20:19.689

and he was, you know, the father, she said, oh OK, you, you're a uh he, he, he trying to say, tell me, oh, you, you, you remember last? Did people actually sometimes call you gypsies for traveling around this way when we went over there to, to

00:20:19.699 - 00:20:39.530

Denver. Uh you know, we have a lot of, a lot of customer scholars and a lot of credit and, and a lot of things in a lot of, and my, I have a big rings too. She look like a, uh, a ghi to my mama. But

00:20:39.560 - 00:20:58.790

it was not, it was not, uh, when we talk about that, we have to talk reality. Uh, you see, uh, what we have to understand is the difference that it was at the time for the Anglos with the Mexican American. So we have, we have to

00:20:58.800 - 00:21:21.560

understand if you don't, if you don't, uh, try to understand the way that it was, you know, then, uh things don't understand. Uh it was not, it was not a simple matter for a negro, you know, to go in a, in a restroom with a white

00:21:21.569 - 00:21:34.280

man. The same thing was with the Mexican American. I mean, the Mexican American was a Jeep. They don't know nothing because they, they think that it was a g but we not, we just uh go to Denver to work in a nightclub over there. And then

00:21:34.290 - 00:21:48.380

when we went over there to eat in the, in uh near one town over there, near Denver, getting there in the restaurant, um we hung and, and then we sit down at a table with me and my ma and the man and the, the girl who

00:21:48.390 - 00:22:05.750

was with him and they, nobody came to the table and they say, well, mama, nobody's gonna came, let's go. And then we call to the girl to the, to the waitress and I tell him, well, we're gonna order something to eat home. I'm sorry. But we

00:22:05.760 - 00:22:21.260

can serve you say why? Because you know the, the, the, the, the, the owner of the place they say don't serve nothing to do to, to you because you are gypsies. And the manager was mad. How the hell will you tell the man to come over

00:22:21.270 - 00:22:41.699

here and he came to, they're not a gypsy. Did that, did that happen in other places too? No, no, no. Just the first time over there. But there was, uh, they don't like Mexican. Uh, people, not Negroes, not gyps, just Americans. It's a new, this was,

00:22:41.780 - 00:23:00.209

this was in Colorado recently, you know, recently, you know, not very long ago. I just prove it to my son in law. I went to that place and ive it. What, what, what, what happened? Well, uh, discrimination. That's what it is. It just discriminate, just playing

00:23:00.229 - 00:23:32.880

Disc to Jack. Um, specific time when, when we ran into some of this discrimination. Well, you know, the last time it happened last time about two or three years ago, what happened? Well, uh, I told my son in law, you wanna, you wanna see discrimination? I'm

00:23:32.920 - 00:23:55.930

gonna, I'm gonna show it to you because you don't believe in it. So we stopped in this town now Del Rio. On the way to Del Rio, we stopped and I said, uh, let's check it out. So we stop in a filling station. I don't, what

00:23:57.489 - 00:24:15.359

time to save you. So they came on and said that they want to serve in, in the front of your face. They told you right in front of your face. This is only two years ago here, two years ago. If you talk to him, you can

00:24:15.369 - 00:24:32.420

talk, he can tell you more specific because he worked for the government and he told me I'm gonna close the place up. It's gotta be straight now. And my brother, man, you used him when he came from the army. They, they, they stop over there and

00:24:32.430 - 00:25:04.000

you know him in, in Carville. No, that's true. I just wanna get some examples, you know, I think it, I know, I know it exists. It's just, well, you see, I was, I was almost thinking it would be called the, the, the possible years or very

00:25:04.010 - 00:25:29.900

simple. Oh yeah. And that means, you know, uh when we was a poor family, you know, long time ago when we, when we got him to San Antonio, we have the life more better when we came from Houston because in Houston was the depressing, you know,

00:25:29.910 - 00:25:45.859

and we didn't do nothing. And then, then we came to San Antonio and then my mother stay here. They don't go nowhere because my father uh he, he likes to go to Monterey and go and come and go and come and my mother said I'm gonna

00:25:45.869 - 00:26:05.849

stay here. I'm gonna, I'm not gonna move from here. Why don't you tell him one? You, you, you and b you pay me to a movie. Yeah, wait a minute, wait a minute. And then uh we don't have no furniture. We don't have nothing. We just

00:26:05.859 - 00:26:24.030

renting over, over there in, in Matamoros one, there was a moto over here in San Antonio. And we, we live there and we said that we don't have no furniture. We just have a, a suitcase, big suitcase and little things, you know, and, and then uh

00:26:24.040 - 00:26:49.900

Lydia, she was uh 15 and then you get in a, in a conqueror of the pearl, you know, you know, the pearl, pearl beer. It was 1930 1933 1932. And then we don't have nothing and you just have AAA neighbor of us give a little stove

00:26:49.910 - 00:27:04.180

and uh give him some something to eat, you know, and my father looking for a job and they don't get a job because he's drinking too much. Well, he's my father, I'm gonna talk about his life. He was, he's my, he was my father and I

00:27:04.189 - 00:27:26.579

love him very much. And then when, when Lydia go to, to the registration over here KK ABC, the father of Raul Cortez, you know, Raul Cortez, the, the one they have the KC war, the station, the father of him, Raul Cortez too, the senior. And, and

00:27:26.589 - 00:27:44.729

this is the, the son he passed away already too. And then when we was playing over there in the plaza, uh uh uh uh the father of Raul Costa go and see Lydia. She was singing and everything and they say, well, I'm gonna pay for, uh,

00:27:44.739 - 00:28:01.880

uh, for, uh, for, go and play on it to my radio station in K ABC, ABC K ABC. That's the name I remember because I went and helped her to, to, with the manly. Yeah, you play the man all the time and then he said you,

00:28:01.930 - 00:28:18.469

well, I'm gonna pay for a week and then you're not gonna go to a class. Did, did, did you ever try to sing duetto with, with, with, with Lydia back then? Uh, how come? No, you, I make a, with her. Let me tell you be, uh

00:28:18.500 - 00:28:38.780

in, in, in, in, uh, in Los Angeles with the, with, in Azteca with but, uh, what weren't duetos popular in the thirties? Did, did you? Because, because your mother recorded with Lydia some, some duetos but they, they, they sing in the same voice. It's not the

00:28:38.790 - 00:28:57.135

first one and the second is a duet and they sing the, they sing it in the same voice, sing the song in the same voice. No, you, you, some, 222 girls or two men sing uh uh uh the same and not, not, not second, just the

00:28:57.145 - 00:29:16.829

first in Rego because me and Janie, my voice is, is more, more um strong than her or is more little, uh, not, not like mine because I can, I can sing by myself if I have guitar. I sing you a song and, and my boss, my

00:29:16.839 - 00:29:35.020

voice is strong. I don't need no microphone. I don't need no. And Jamie, she need it. And Lydia too. And, and, and that's the reason send, and then we, we start to sing with Lydia. It was in the Zaragoza but just singing uh the second and

00:29:35.030 - 00:29:49.530

the first. But we don't make no records. Lydia make records, but not me. I'm not singing with Jamie. I'm gonna start to sing with Jamie. 19 4. I sent my brother go to the, uh, go to Army. Uh, n no man in the Army. Uh huh.

00:29:50.199 - 00:30:03.890

Because I play the guitar and play the piano and, and, and II, I started to work in the Sunshine laundry over here in San Antonio and I can make it because they pay $13 a week. You were working in the sunshine laundry over here. And, uh,

00:30:03.979 - 00:30:22.500

did you continue to work in the, in the laundry when you start singing or, or no, I, I haven't singing and when, and then, and I work and they, they make some, uh, cigarettes, Poodles do things, those big cigarettes, cigars. Poodles, those dark Poodles cigar. Yeah.

00:30:22.920 - 00:30:40.015

Not cigars. Poles. And they, when, when II, I wanna, I wanna try to help my mama because my, my father passed away 1938 and I'm the oldest of the old, my, or, or everybody, and then when I went over there to, to the, uh, the pia,

00:30:40.775 - 00:31:00.099

they make some cigarettes, those they, they have in the little boxes. Yeah. And, and, and, and the, and the cigarette it was the, uh, uh, you know, you have to make them roll it up and, and it's, I have a headache. I don't smoke. I see.

00:31:00.109 - 00:31:12.920

You were the only one that was making money at that time. This was, this was during the war time. Well, I'm, I'm gonna start to, uh, to go to sun sunshine laundry and, and I, and I, I have to, I, you and I have to, when

00:31:12.930 - 00:31:30.439

did you go to work at first when it's 1938? 38? And, and how long, how many years have you work? But, uh, but, uh, six months because they don't pay me enough and, and I was 15 and, and then I go to the, how much did

00:31:30.560 - 00:31:46.760

you pay? 13, a week? $13 a week? And then in the p I make, I can make it because I came and lie down and I didn't eat nothing. My mom was scared because I have a headache. What happened? I said no. And then vomit because

00:31:46.770 - 00:32:03.459

of all the, like a smoke. It's strong. And then she said, well, my mother lost her, her house over there in, near, on Martin. She lost it because they don't have money to. Was that one of the houses that had bought or? No? No, no, there's

00:32:03.469 - 00:32:40.939

my mother bought it because she couldn't keep up the payment without it. No, she can make it because. Yeah. Hm. And then, uh, we have to go and somewhere to make a Vala with Mayo and mayo. No, no, no, no. It was in 1943

00:32:41.699 - 00:33:03.010

when he was, he went to the army. How did you, how did you make it? No, I'm not. Don't break it when they have to go. They, they take a lot of boys. No, no, no, no, no, no.