"My father wasn't affected by the copper slump in 1921. I think he continued working. They didn't send him back to Mexico. My parents felt sorry for them (the ones sent back). They came here to work and there was no more work and they sent them back. They used to talk about being sorry for them. I don't know why they kept him there. Maybe because he was lighter-skinned.

In the Great Depression, my mom was a widow. That's when she started working. She was born in Morenci. I knew one family in particular who went to Mexico, but I don't remember their names. I guess it was down below the PD Store and the train came in there and people were loaded. I remember the train. It was just like those boxes, those trains that carry . . . boxcars, that's what they were like. They carried their bundles, their mochilas. They didn't even have suitcases. They just had maybe a big sábana (sheet) or something to hold their belongings. They had to leave their houses, everything.

There were plenty of empty houses. They just left them there. They didn't have time to sell them. We lived in the same house after my father died until we bought your grandmother's (Josefa Limón) house. I don't know when, it was so many years ago.

My mother did housework for Americanos. Those were the only ones who could afford it. In our time, there was no welfare then. Once in awhile, I remember they used to give us some food and shoes to go to school and a set of clothing to go to school. That was about it. She felt bad because she could hardly make it to feed us and dress us up. No help from the family because they were in the same place. Everybody had their own kids to take care of.

The next door neighbor would come and ask her, "Do you have a little bit of beans that I can borrow?" and my mother would share it with her. It was an awful time, you better believe it. My mother worked for the WPA. She used to go to houses and take care of the people. In fact she took care of your Aunt Carlota. She was paid by the WPA. When Roosevelt formed the project, the WPA, she would go to houses like when your aunt was sick. She would take care of her, cook, and clean the house. The government paid her. She would get $44 a month.

Then after that, at school the ladies used to go and make blankets and clothing to give to the poor, needy people. They would do it at school, at that white building (Fairplay School). Downstairs they had a room where they would sew. They would make blankets to give to the people, dresses for the kids for school. They provided jobs for the women and clothing for the ones that needed.

They were very, very happy about FDR. He was one of the best presidents we ever had. When he passed away, I got a picture of him. Two presidents I really cried for, Kennedy and him when they died. The men went to the CCC camps where they used to build fences. Not for the girls. We had to go to school so we had no job. But the ladies, the grown-up women like my mother, they had jobs. My husband went to the CCC camps.

My mother didn't buy from the PD Store. The only ones that could buy from the PD were, well, if you had money you could, but mostly it was the ones that worked for PD Company. I used to buy after I got married. My husband was working for the PD, then I could buy from the PD. I got married in 1947, they had coupon books."

"I used to be neighbors with my husband. We used to play together. He was younger. I was four years older than he. In fact, we were neighbors, they live above where your grandma's house was. Remember the Duartes? Ermana Duarte, Doña Martina Duarte. The mother and the dad bought that house and they lived above me. And we used to play there when we were little. Then we grew up. I went to California. He went to the service. After the service we met again. I met him in 1946. Then I went back to California then I came back to Morenci in 1947. I met him again and we got married. We just went around for six months and we got married.

He was nice looking. He had blue eyes. I told all the people, "You know why I married him? Because he had blue eyes." (laughter) I liked him. Then I knew him good, I knew who he was. In 1939 I went to Sonora. I went to California a year after that in 1940, Los Angeles. I used to work in factories. I used to visit Morenci every summer. I went to visit my mother. But to stay I went in 1947. I was living with my sister and my aunt in California. At first I liked California better than Morenci because there were jobs. Now I don't. There were a lot of places to go to. My mother was kind of sick and I went back to Morenci to stay with her. I was only going to stay awhile then I got married so I never went back.

I just had a plain wedding. First I got married by the law; the justice of the peace. Then four years later I got married by the church. It was just a simple wedding because I had already been married four years so early in the morning, six o'clock we went to church. Ramona was my madrina (matron of honor), her and her husband, Beto Lira. I wanted to get married by the church. I went to the priest and he said, "Come six o'clock in the morning , I'll marry you." We got married and he went to work. (laughter) My mother knew I was going to get married and she was there. My sisters were living in California. They were not there, just my mother.

I loved my house, my home, I wanted to have it clean and have nice things. I used to like to cook, clean the yard, make it pretty. We had trees and little plants. We could afford them to buy because he was working after the war. We could afford to buy things. I didn't work outside the home after I was married. My son was born in 1948. He was the only child I had. That was the only one I could have. After my son was born, it was better because I had interest in him. To keep him safe at home, not being hurt, sending him to school. To have his food ready when he came home from school so he could eat. Take him to the mountains, going camping.

We had a TV, a stereo. We were rich! (laughter) The TV came in the 50's. The first TV I bought, I bought it from PD. My husband and I went dancing and we went camping at Cherry Lodge. We went with his family. We had plenty of disagreements. He used to like to drink. He used to stop at the bar and take some drinks and I didn't like that. I wanted him to come straight home. But he woudn't. (laughter). He would get "happy" then come home. When I used to get real mad, he would stop drinking.

My best friend was Nena Ponce de Leon. We were de Leon too, but his father took off the de Leon. It was a big name, a long name. We're just Ponces. My husband used to call her husband, cousin because we had the same name. "Oh, my primo." But they weren't. Just because they carried the same last name. Ramona Lira was my husband's tía (aunt).

I loved being pregnant. I was happy we were going to have a little kid in the house. My husband had three shifts: days, and p.m. and graveyard. The baby would keep me company. I would go to Morenci Hospital to have a check-up with the doctor before the baby was born. They charged to have the baby at the hospital. It wasn't too much then. They used to take it out from the paycheck. Every two weeks they took out the rent, the food, and the hospital from their checks.

I lived en el seis (AC Hill). Where the Imperio was I used to live up that hill. In those little adobe houses by where Petra Velasquez used to live. Above that, we lived. Where that swimming pool used to be, we lived there. We had one bedroom, and the living room, and the kitchen and the bathroom. What happened is I had one of those couches that had a bed and my son would sleep there and we had our bedroom. We lived there seven years. Then in 1958 we moved to California. They started to cut down to four days at the PD and then I said, "We can go to California and I can work too." So we went because he could work and I could work. We both made the decision. My mother was living in California. So that's why I wanted to go there. His family was in Morenci.

I wanted my son to have a happy life. Be with him, do things with him, take him camping and taking him to the movies. We went to the movies. I wanted him to finish high school which he did. He finished high school and he went to college in California."

"My job in California, I got it through a friend. It was a plastic factory. They did the shower curtains, table covers, patio things like cushions, table cloths. We used to sew them, stuff them with foam and sew it. I stayed in that job for 31 years. It was after the war, when we were married we went back to California, I got that job and I stayed there 31 years. I started pay of 75 cents and hour and when I finished $7 an hour. Probably now they get more. (laughter) I was happy there because I knew what to do. No one would be after me, bossing me. The people were nice. I got promotions. I was a lead girl. I was in charge of a sewing department. That was my best job, because I stayed there 31 years.

I was in the labor's union. I liked unions because you used to get your benefits. You could go and fight if they were picking on you or they lay you off and put somebody with less seniority.

During the war when I was in California, I used to do housework. Going to different people, clean their houses. Not too much pay, about a $1 an hour. It was during the war so there were a lot of jobs. It was good pay. I saved some, then I had to make a living, my clothes, help where I was living. I used to give them money for my keep, buy clothes and go out and have a good time too. Once in a while I used to send my mother some money. I worked by myself. No boss, the lady of the house. I got jobs by the newspapers. It came out in the newspapers and I would go to the place and get the job.

In PD my husband got paid the same as Americanos. The only thing was they didn't give them the opportunity to get the best jobs like shovel operators, those high jobs. They were paid according to what they did but they never got those jobs until later on. They would just give them to the Americanos; so they got paid more. My husband belonged to a union. I don't remember the name. The Mine Mill? He worked in the track, your father was his boss. Then he worked in the smelter and after that he went to the open pit and worked in the track. He was very active in the union. He was a trustee or something like that in the union."