"[The most significant thing I remember as a child] was when I got myself a steady job and I could take care of my brothers and my sisters. I felt real good that I could do that for them. I worked at the little grocery store. They used to call him Madero. The very next day when I graduated, he called me in and asked me if I wanted to work. I said, "sure." (laughs) You know that way; I was in walking distance to my house. I could work and then run to the house and make the dinner for my brothers and my sister. [That was in nineteen] forty-two.

[Madero] was Cesar Bianco. His nickname was Madero. (laughs) Madero was [a president] from Mexico; there was the revolution. I don't know how he [Bianco] got that name. He was a big fat guy. [María Ponce's mother] she worked there [at the store]. There were rumors that one of her boys was Madero's. [He wasn't married] not to her, no. He had a wife but she died. I was working there when his wife died.

I used to tell him [Madero], "It looks like a Chinese store! Take [them down]. He used to like to hang things up from the ceiling. I would scold him, "No, it's like a Chinese store." (laughs) Little things like fly swatters and a lot of things that he could hook up that would be out of the way. (laughs) He sold food and even underwear and socks. He would buy the bologna and salami and spiced ham and we would slice it when people asked for a pound. We had to slice it our own.

I enjoyed [the work] because I was a real shy girl. Except with my cousins, I would be outspoken. With other people I was kind of shy. Then I started getting to speak to people and everybody talking to me and knowing me and I liked that.

He [Madero] would go out to farms to get vegetables and things. He liked to get fresh produce from the ranches and I would stay in charge of the store up there [on El Espinazo]. [I worked for him for] seven years. Yes, he was [a good boss and] a nice man. [I earned] $100 a month. (laughs).

Madero had boys [that worked for him] because they would deliver groceries. He had a truck. The people would just send him the order that they wanted the groceries. They would load up and go deliver all the groceries. The best thing [about the job at Madero's was] that I felt good being able to provide for myself and my brothers. One hundred dollars a month wasn't much but then the groceries weren't expensive either like it is now. I marked down the things that I would get and later I would pay him. Whatever amount I wanted to pay him and keep some money for other things. Everybody had their account book. He would write down what they would come and buy. I had my own too. They would come and pay the money. They didn't have to pay the whole thing, whatever they could.

I liked working there with him. I had nothing against him. What would it be? [The worst thing about working with Madero.] Maybe when it was almost time to close, a whole bunch of people would come in (laughs) and I was ready to close the store. It seemed like everybody wanted something at that time.

I quit his job when I got married in 1949. I went to live in Clifton so I left my poor brothers.

Not for a long time, [did I work outside the home] afterwards, yes. After my kids were grown, I worked at the hospital. Lina worked at the hospital. [I went back to work] after my kids were older. They could help me out in the house. I quit in 1984 and [I worked in the hospital] in the sixties. I worked in the hospital for twenty years. [I did] cleaning. [I liked it] because I could go from room to room. I knew all the patients there. I would go visit them, to cheer them up if they were feeling bad. I really enjoyed working in the hospital.

When the hospital closed down, they put me at the smelter. I had to wear a hard hat and awful shoes and Levis. (laughs) First I had to use those great big hose to hose down the sand and that stuff. It was kind of hard for me. I had to put the hose between my legs 'cause they had so much pressure. Becky [my daughter] wrote letters to people and then they [Phelps Dodge] put me cleaning the offices and the shower rooms. I think I got cleaning, mopping, sweeping, (laughs) and all that. I worked nine months out there. Yeah, [I retired from PD].

It was during the strike [of 1983] when I was working there, the big strike. We had to vote. I vote for the union and a lot of people vote against it, the scabs. The union? I thought it was a good thing 'cause a man worked real hard to get that union started. For years and years they had to struggle to get a union. It was a sad thing when they voted against it. "