History Commons^™

Interview No. 1839, Gilberto Aguero

Combined Interviews

This interview with El Pasoan Gilberto Aguero, reflects on his childhood growing up in South Central El Paso during the 1940s and 1950s. Born in El Paso in 1941, Aguero describes a simple but happy upbringings with his six siblings. He attended Alamo Elementary and later graduated from Bowie High School in 1959. Much of his childhood centered around outdoor activities such as roller skating, baseball, football and spending time with neighborhood friends. Aguero remembers the area as close-knit where families lived near one another and children spent most of their time outdoors. He recalls accompanying his mother on grocery …

Interview No. 1842, Esperanza Quintana Martinez

Combined Interviews

Esperanza Martinez was born in 1935, in Las Cruses New Mexico and grew up in Chihuahua and El Paso. Esperanza was 90 years old at the time of the interview, as she reflects on how much the world has changed. Esperanza’s life was hard and sad but it is her family relationships that give her fulfillment in life. The relationship that she had with her husband (Jose Martinez) was one that she felt shortchanged in, and now that he has been dead for a few years she finds that it is important to voice her emotions. An important detail to …

Interview No. 1845, Carlos Sierra

Combined Interviews

Carlos Sierra was born in Juarez, Chihuahua in 1958 and moved to El Paso, Texas when he was in the seventh grade. After mastering English in his ESL courses and completing his high school education at Bowie, he continued his education at EPCC and UTEP in business, gaining the knowledge to help his brother effectively run Sierra manufacturing. He has come to value education, continuing personal development outside of formal education and encouraging his own children to pursue bachelors degrees and beyond. Most of the discussion focuses on manufacturing in the Chamizal area, including the work study programs at local …

Interview No. 1835, Matrina Estrada

Combined Interviews

Martina Estrada was born and raised in Durango, Durango, Mexico. She recalled memories from her childhood and playing games such as canicas (marbles), dodgeball, and chinchilagua. In 1979, she immigrated to the U.S. when she was about 15 or 16 years old, and she learned English at the Lamar adult school. In El Paso, Estrada would spend some weekends dancing at the Montana Village dance club where she met her husband. She mentioned different aspects of her life in the city and about her time at the Hilos de Plata Senior center in South Central El Paso. Estrada shared insights …

Interview No. 1833, Concepcion Portillo-Cardona

Combined Interviews

Summary to be posted soon.

Interview No. 1832, Alma Peña

Combined Interviews

Summary to be posted soon.

Interview No. 1837, Guadalupe Luna

Combined Interviews

Guadalupe Luna shares about growing up in the Guardian Angel area of South El Paso.

This area has always been a close-knit community, based on family, religion, and culture. Luna went to the Guardian Angel Catholic School from pre-K to 8th grade and participated in many of the Catholic traditions and customs that were part of this community. Luna talked about many of the stores and businesses that were part of her everyday life and helped to develop a sense of community among neighbours through Nava’s grocery store, attending church bazaars, and enjoying dining at the many restaurants and recreational …

Interview No. 1841, Rubén Casas

Combined Interviews

This interview with El Pasoan Rubén Casas reflects on his childhood both in Ciudad Juárez and El Paso, as well as his experiences growing up in Segundo Barrio. Casas describes his early life in Juárez as centered around family, where relatives lived together on his grandmother’s property and spent time together daily. In 1959, when he was around ten or eleven years old, his family moved to El Paso after his mother wanted a different life for the family. The transition was difficult because he struggled to adapt to a new culture, environment, and language. Despite the challenges, he gradually …

Interview No. 1836, Charlene Carrasco

Combined Interviews

Charlene Carrasco details her childhood growing up in Segundo Barrio, El Paso, Texas. Carrasco spent most of her childhood in an adobe house her grandfather built close to St. Ignatius Church. Like many in the community, Carrasco experienced poverty and dangerous environments. Those who lived in the community during this time all experienced constant shootings, stabbings, and exposure to gang violence. Carrasco recalls living constantly aware of her surroundings with her family, even practicing safety measures during drive-bys. Carrasco states that as everyone in the community was in the same position, there was a strong sense of community as neighbors …

Interview No. 1838, Victor J. Perches

Combined Interviews

Victor J. Perches recounts his childhood in South El Paso, along with his attendance at Douglass Elementary, Guillen Middle School, and Bowie High School in the 1970s and 1980s. According to Victor, Douglas Elementary was a very safe and supportive place. The teachers provided support for students who had difficulty succeeding due to economic problems in the neighborhood . He recalls there were meals, activities, and other events available to students who lived in Salazar Housing Project, making them less likely to join gangs due to being occupied. Perches talked candidly about the social situation in his area, poverty, gang …

Interview No. 1840, Norma Flores

Combined Interviews

This interview with El Pasoan Norma Flores reflects on her childhood growing up in Segundo Barrio and the strong family and community ties that shaped her life. Born in 1949 at Newark Methodist Maternity Hospital in South El Paso, she described growing up primarily with her grandmother on Grama St while her parents and siblings lived nearby on Frutas St. Norma shared vivid memories of her neighborhood life, including children playing outside together, helping with household chores and walking to school at Guardian Angel Catholic School. She recalled both joyful and difficult moments, such as spending summers outdoors with family …

Interview No. 1823, Sylvia Torresdey

Combined Interviews

Sylvia Torresdey (Sylvia Chavira), born in 1955 at El Paso’s Hospital Dieu, grew up as one of six sisters in a family that maintained a vibrant transnational life. While her parents, Juanita Payán and Don Nasiano Chavira, established a residence in El Segundo Barrio to ensure their daughters could attend school in El Paso, the family maintained a home in Juárez’s Colonia del Carmen. Torresdey describes a childhood of constant movement across the border, crossing the bridge daily or weekly to bathe, collect clothes, and share weekend meals with her parents in Juárez. This bilingual upbringing involved speaking Spanish at …

Interview No. 1791, Ingrid Leyva Vasquez

Combined Interviews

Ingrid Leyva Vásquez was born in Chihuahua, Chihuahua, but grew up in Ciudad Juárez. She considers herself a borderland resident since she often travels back and forth between the United States and Mexico. She remembers traveling to El Paso on weekends to spend time with family or enjoy family celebrations. Her family had birthday celebrations at Furr's and went shopping at the dollar store; she felt that her childhood was typical for Juárez.

However, she also addresses the violence created by the Calderon Administration and the “narco” war. Ingrid is the middle child of three women and was raised solely …

Interview No. 1787, Antonio Marín

Combined Interviews

Mr. Antonio Marín is a former resident of El Segundo Barrio. Arriving to the United States from Jalisco, Mexico, at the age of 5, he recalls entering for the first time through the Santa Fe port of entry from Ciudad Juárez to downtown El Paso. He and his family first rented a single-room apartment and then moved to a two-room flat in a tenement. Antonio attended Aoy Elementary and Bowie High School. He talks about how Southside El Paso was a segregated community of Mexicans and Blacks, where they would get along well in places like Douglass Elementary. Mr. Marín …

Interview No. 1789, Jorge Peña

Combined Interviews

In this interview, Mr. Jorge Peña describes his childhood living in Ciudad Juárez. Walking to school, playing with other kids on the street, as well as his family are some of the memories he has from these early years. One that stands out is crossing to El Paso to eat at restaurants and go shopping, creating a positive impact in his desire to cross the border in the future. When the time came for Jorge to enter high school, he came to El Paso to live with an aunt. He then attended Irving High School, went to El Paso Community …

Interview No. 1788, Simon Chandler

Combined Interviews

Simon Chandler was born in Marlborough, Wiltshire, England. He graduated from North Staffordshire in 1990. After that, he began traveling through America. He got to El Paso in 1991 to work as a volunteer in Casa Anunciacion.

Before coming to the United States, Simon had impacting life experiences in Africa and Israel, shaping his approach to community life and community service. After that, he came to the United States to know the culture more profoundly, leading him to El Paso as a volunteer at Casa Anunciacion. His plans to travel to Peru changed unexpectedly, keeping him and his family in …

Interview No. 1792, Osvaldo Velez

Combined Interviews

Mr Velez grew up in Segundo Barrio during the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. He associates those times with gang warfare because of the introduction of guns. He also remembers that in Segundo Barrio, many families lived in tenements. With the number of people living in the tenements, there were a lot of activities in the community, including social gatherings, parties, and family parties. In the absence of technology, most time was spent outside, whether it was hearing local gossip, visiting family and friends, or socializing; that was life in a small community. He lived in a tenement on the corner …

Interview No. 1757, Carrillo

Combined Interviews

Her last name is Carrillo and she was born in Mexico, and she arrived at Cuidad Juarez when she was 5 years old when she turned 12, she moved to, El Paso Texas. She was a home stay person and she helped with all the duties in the house, she is the middle child she has 3 older brothers and 3 younger brothers. Before she was married, she was working at a factory where they packed eggs and she worked in the fields picking pecans. She got married at the age of 22, with her husband that she met in …

Interview No. 1769, Gonzalez

Combined Interviews

She says that everything is back in busisnes at Farah and that the new president of Farah is not fighting with the union any more. She says that many people are getting left off and many people just like her she was let off and came back 3 times in a row and she says that she is thinking that is better for her to start studying. She says that Willy Farah, the owner, was very hated and loved at the same tiem and she says that many people will give them gifts such as bringing him mariachi and workers …

Interview No. 1774, Jaramillo

Combined Interviews

Jaramillo was born in San Antonio after her parents cross the border thru Laredo when immigration wasn’t very strict. After a year they moved to El Paso, Texas where all of her other siblings were born.. One of the things that she admires about growing up in El Paso is that almost everyone knew each other or knows someone who knows them. Her mother owned a restaurant and her father a tailoring shop in which Jaramillo and her siblings grew up. After a couple of years her father passed away. Her mother then decided to sell the tailoring shop and …

Interview No. 1781, Sanchez

Combined Interviews

Sanchez grandparents took her in and his brother after his father passed away during the war. A couple of years after leaving with them, his grandfather got fired. Sanchez grandma and mother then started to work to support the family, since his grandpa couldn’t do it anymore. Her Aunts used to work at Luby’s to help support them. After a couple of years, they went to live with her mother and his husband and he bought them a new home. Sanchez mentioned that he was a great man that always push them to do best and to go to school. …

Interview No. 1772, Perez

Combined Interviews

She was working at Farah and she says that they will treat them really bad and that they were told that this was the best job that they could ever had. The least they can do was to continue to work but they eventually got tired of how they were abused. Her responsibilities at Farah included cleaning and cutting, which was a labor-intensive task. She claims that prior to the union, they had no one to turn to for assistance. They believed that the union would improve their situation, but it didn't work out that way. When they were employed, …

Interview No. 1773, Del Hirerro, Leyva, Gonzalez

Combined Interviews

They are talking about their job at Farah, and how bad the conditions were. They have been let off work for months now, they said that some of them have been 5 months but they say that the company will take over a year to tell you that you are not required anymore. They said that the company will never raise your pay, even if you have been for years working in there. When they were done with their job they were obligated to full fill other positions were they had no experience so that they don’t have any type …

Interview No. 1759, Herrera

Combined Interviews

Her last name is Herrera and she used to work for Farah. She says that when she was working in there the supervisors where very racist with Mexicans and Latinos, and they treat them like slaves. She says that the instability of the workers and the company was because of how supervisors did their job. She says that as a woman was very difficult to defend herself from a man and she says that the best thing to do was quit. After she was thinking of quitting her job, she heard people talking about a protest against the company that …

Interview No. 1763, Marin-Graham-Cortez

Combined Interviews

Their last names are is Marin -Graham -Cortez, and she was working at Farah in El Paso, Texas. She says that engineers were trained but they didn’t do their job the way they were supposed to do it. She mentions that everyone was complaining about the supervisors and how they do nothing about anything that affects the employees. He mentions that many people will work many hours and not get a rise or even some extra cents for the extra work. She says that most of the ditties were to sue pants and pockets and it was a demanding job. …

Interview No. 1764, Lezema

Combined Interviews

Lezama started her journey with Farah in the year 1959 and worked there for nineteenth years. She used to make jeans and sew other clothing items. Her first time in the company was when she was 17 years old, and she worked there for three months before taking a break and going back to the company for the next nineteenth years. Lezama mentioned that in her nineteenth years in Farah she never earned the 3 dollars that they promised her she would earn if she stayed with the company for a couple of consecutive years.

While working at Farah her …

Interview No. 1766, Hernandez

Combined Interviews

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Interview No. 1771, Estrada

Combined Interviews

His last name is Estrada, he started working in 1966 and he worked in there for 5 years and in 1970 is where problems begging to occur. He says that he had to leave his job because it wants convenient for them to keep working in those conditions. He says that he did enjoyed doing his job and he will do the best that he could to improve the way he worked. He has never arrived late to any job and he was always compromised with whatever he did. He says that the most common injury to get in his …

Interview No. 1749, Jesse Muñoz Rev.

Combined Interviews

Jesse Munoz was an El Paso priest from Our Lady of the Light Church. He was born in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, in 1940 during the depression years. When he turned eleven him and his family moved to El Paso, Texas in hopes of a better life and education. At the age of fourteen he took a bus to New York and worked there for over a year. He then had enough money to go to Spain and pay for an education and many years later he came back to El Paso, Texas.

At the time Rev. Munoz came back to …

Interview No. 1750, Tarango

Combined Interviews

The audio is unintelligible