"I don’t remember [how much I was paid during the Depression] but no more than twenty-five dollars, I don’t think. [When I went to college] we just helped there on campus at Menau. We helped with the younger girls. The university group that was living at Menau, would always help the Dean of Girls with the girls, see that they were in bed and Saturdays when they cleaned the dormitories, see that everything was done. That’s the way we paid our boarding fee. I didn’t work until my children went to school themselves. I had three babies so I didn’t go to work until [the twins] were in first grade.

[I taught in Santa Fe in] elementary school, [the] bilingual department. [It was] a pullout program. I translated things into Spanish and I worked with another [teacher]. We taught together, two teachers and we just divided our time. I started substituting [at first] because I didn’t want a full-time job. I would say that I started substituting in the fifties because as I say, I didn’t work until my children were in school. Then in about 1960, I went full-time.

[I enjoyed teaching] very much. I liked very very much, not so much the teaching of the Spanish, but the culture and to be proud of being of Spanish heritage. I liked the children to know that none was second to no one. They were proud of their names. They didn’t have to anglicize their names to be accepted. I taught that, very much the culture and to believe in themselves that they were just as good as everybody else. One of the reasons that I feel sorry that bilingual [education] has not gone further. That’s one of the things that I really liked. They didn’t have to be Herreras or Hernandezes (pronounced with an English accent); they could say it the correct way.
In Santa Fe, I guess there was some [discrimination]. In Santa Fe, discrimination was not as obvious. I never felt it and the children didn’t either.

[My earnings] went to the bank. (Laughs) [I] saved them! Of course my husband had a very good job, thank goodness. I had about four principals during that time and they’re still my friends. Many of the teachers that I taught with, they’re still my friends. I go back there and they’re still my friends. [Those were] very happy times, very pleasant times. [The worst thing about teaching was] doing all those duties outside in the snow! (Laughs) But everybody had to do it. I taught in two schools. [The best job I ever had was] teaching. [I belonged to] the NEA (National Education Association)."