"In Metcalf, the closest friends that I can remember were some twins Eva and Elysia Guerrero. Later on they moved to El Paso. They were some of my closest friends and [also] Natcha Romero. She still lives in Clifton. I think she’s the only classmate left from Metcalf. She was also a good friend of mine. We used to play jacks. [It was] one of my favorites. I have long fingers so I used to play a lot of jacks. [I was] twelve, thirteen, fourteen [years old when I played]. We were very proud of having our own jacks and the little ball. [It was] a little rubber ball.

[Boys and girls didn’t play together] too much. I don’t think the parents had anything to do with it at that particular time. I don’t remember playing with the boys. I don’t know the reason; I guess it was just part of life, the times, not so much the life. They [the boys] were shy. They liked to be away from the girls, at certain times, of course. (Laughs) Hide and seek [was another game we played]. Hide and seek was las escondidas or la patada del bote (kick the can). I remember that. Boys and girls [played it]. That was later on, we were all teenagers.

My brother and I.

[The most significant thing that happened to me as a child was] the death of my mother.

What the boys were required to do at that time, many homes did not have water in the house so they would bring water from the public faucet. [It was] not far. The [mining] company always kept faucets around close by the neighborhoods.

In my home both my parents [disciplined the children]. They did not believe in the strap, I don’t recall that at all. Just talking to you or punishing you in another way. I remember one disagreement I had with my father; I went to bed with wet hair. He didn’t think it was good. Nowadays, everybody goes to bed with wet hair but in those days they didn’t like it for some reason. “You dry your hair before you go to bed.”

My father was very strict but very kind, a very nice kind man with very good manners but he was strict. He expected us to do what he wanted us to do. The last words my father had at his death, he turned around to me and he said, “Cuida tus hermanitos. (Take care of your brothers and sister.)” Because I was the oldest. [He was] fifty-five [when he died]. “Cuidate tus hermanitos.” What a thing to tell a young person, no? I was the oldest but he expected the rest to do as I said, to obey me and give me respect. And they did until they were old and married and they still listened to what I had to say. My sister, for instance, always if I reprimanded her, she listened to me. She was a toddler [when my mother died]. I was the only mom she knew."