"I remember that when we came to school, they used to send me on a burro because they used to give food. Because of the war, the first war, [it was actually the Depression] they used to give food. They helped us with food. They give us large pieces of ham. They filled both boxes on the burro with the food they gave us to help because of the large family we had. There were nine of us in the family.

I went to school to, I think, third grade for maybe three weeks and the doctor took me out because my mama was bleeding from her mouth and nose. My grandmother told him she was losing a lot of blood. He went to see her and since there was no one to take care of her, to be with her, he went to school to take me out. It was so that I would stay with my mother for only two or three weeks. My father was at the ranch all the time at that time. I stayed out for almost two months with my mother because she could not be alone because of her heart. My father wanted me to go school because he said, “look, I do not know how to sign my name.” His signature was the stamp of his thumb because he never went to school either. I told him I did not want to go, that I would rather go to work. That is when I started working for the houses, as a very young girl. I would help them but still I stayed with my mother for about a year and a half. I felt bad about leaving her.

I did not want to go to school any more. My children taught me to write my name. For three years I was in third grade. She did not pass me. It was Miss Merino. She would take me to her house. She sent a note to my mother telling her that she was taking me to her house to teach more so that I could learn better and she could pass me. My mother let me. She [the teacher] would take me to her house. Can you believe what she had me do? Mop her kitchen, wash her dishes, iron. She never taught me anything in her house. Nearly all that time that I was in that class, she never passed me. The last year, I went for only three weeks because the doctor took me out. I did not want to go back. Now we see each other, those of us who were in school, and we start to talk. I tell them seriously, I was very dumb, I did not learn anything. "