Oral History Commons^™

Interview No. 1711, Beatriz Villegas

Combined Interviews

Beatriz was born in Torreon Coahuila, Mexico. She arrived in El Paso when she was 25 years old because she got married, but she used to visit El Paso frequently because she lived in Juarez with her family. Her stepdad made the family moved to Juarez because he thought that it was cheaper living there.

Beatriz has always considered herself a Mexican woman, but she knew that in reality, she was an American citizen. Throughout the years she has work as a community activist and spiritual activist when Beatriz was asked about her being a leader she mentioned that she …

Interview No. 1683, Hilda Villegas

Combined Interviews

Hilda was born in El Paso, Texas. She was raised in El Barrio Chamizal and attended Beall Elementary, Guillen Middle, and Bowie High School. She recalls that growing up in the community felt like home. She talks about the possible closure of Beall Elementary by El Paso Independent School District as an alternative to cutting costs due to underutilization of elementary schools. She feels that they are targeting areas in which the parents are not as engaged. The students would be redistributed into Zavala and Douglass Elementary Schools. Since it is one of the poorest areas in El Paso, mobility …

Interview No. 1706, Alicia Marentes

Combined Interviews

Alicia was born in Ciudad Juarez Chihuahua, Mexico. When Alicia was 16 years old she got married and crossed the border thru the river and head to Albuquerque, New Mexico with her husband. As a young immigrant, she couldn’t get a job so she started cleaning houses and her first cleaning job was at a Doctor's house. With the money that she earned she saved a portion every month and used to send it to her mother back in Juarez.

Alicia then moved back to Juarez while her husband went and worked in Los Angeles. After a couple of months, …

Interview No. 1684, José Rodríguez

Combined Interviews

Senator José Rodríguez was born in Alice, Texas and grew up in Alamo, Texas in the Lower Rio Grande Valley. He went to grade school in the mid-fifties when Mexican-American students went to separate schools from Anglo students. These schools did not have all of the resources that were in the Anglo schools. If they spoke Spanish they were paddled. He felt like he did not receive a very challenging elementary education. In middle and high school he came across teachers that saw potential in him and encouraged him to read books. They would give him books to take when …

Guide To Ms315 Carl Hertzog Collection, Cindy Milazzo

Finding Aids

Jean Carl Hertzog (1902 – 1984) was a book designer, typographer, and printer. The Hertzog ephemera collection dates 1947 – 2010, bulk 1950 – 1990. This collection contains materials about or by Carl Hertzog which were collected by various donors. Types of records include publications printed and designed by Carl Hertzog, book catalogs, correspondence, UTEP handbooks and catalogs, slides, holiday cards, an audio tape, and other printed material.

Interview No. 1709, Lorena Andrade

Combined Interviews

Lorena Andrade is the director of La Mujer Obrera. Andrade grew up in Los Angeles, California and moved to El Paso, Texas in 1997 to volunteer with LMO. She began working with the organization in 1998.

Andrade defines leadership as being able to remember what the principles of the organization are and as a leader, ensuring that those are respected during meetings, discussions, and decision making. She also believes that a leader’s responsibility is to reinforce these principles and make sure that everyone is heard. As a leader, she works to keep the history and the values of the LMO …

C.L. Sonnichsen Special Collections Department Newsletter, Special Collections Staff

UTEP Library

No abstract provided.

Interview No. 1744, Jaime Creel

Combined Interviews

Jaime Creel was born in Mexico City. He was son of Salvador Creel Terrazas the smallest in the family of his grandfather Enrique Cuilty Creel former governor of the state of Chihuahua and Foreign Affairs Secretary during the last presidency of Porfirio Díaz, which was married to Ángela Terrazas Cuilty, daughter of General Luis Terrazas the biggest landowner in the state. He recalls his family origins in Ireland and the United States and mentions that his great grandfather came as a U.S. consul to Chihuahua City, Mexico. He remembers general things about his grandfather Enrique C. Creel and his family, …

Interview No. 1698, Carolina Sandoval Maynez

Combined Interviews

Her name is Carolina Sandoval Maynez, she is from Chihuahua, Chihuahua, she has a really big family and all summers they all go to a ranch on Valle de Allende, where she spends almost 2 months every year of her childhood. She learned a lot from this vacation because workers at the ranch had a lot of knowledge on horses, plants, cleaning, and cooking. The ranch is located near Parral, Chihuahua which is a city 2 hours away from Chihuahua, Chihuahua. At that time the phones and tv weren’t something that kids paid attention to, they would prefer going outdoors …

Interview No. 1636, Olga Kohlberg

Combined Interviews

A radio dramatization of Olga Kolberg’s life presents her educational efforts in El Paso. Mrs. Kohlberg describes the concept of kindergarten, and the importance of education in very young children. A narrator details Mrs. Kohlberg’s efforts to raise money and establish a kindergarten in El Paso. El Paso’s school system had the first kindergarten in the state of Texas thanks to the work of Mrs. Kohlberg and the other women. In 1894, the women formed the Current Events Club, later renamed the Womens Club, and led by Mrs. Kohlberg. This group set out to accomplish a number of projects, including …

Interview No. 1475, Lorenzo Cano

Combined Interviews

Interview in Spanish

Interview No. 1476, Raymundo González

Combined Interviews

Interview is in Spanish

Interview No. 1545, Rosa Martha Zarate

Combined Interviews

She recalls crossing the border twice in Tijuana; she details her two distinct experiences with border agents. She details the racial discrimination she felt in the convent from priest and other nuns; her push for Spanish Catechism and more Spanish masses. She remembers meeting Cesar Chavez; details her first protest with him, her revolutionary idealistic music, and her involvement with the Agriculture Movement, as well as the role of chicano priest and nuns in creating a better connection with the people; she recalls being seen as the evangelical voice of the Latin American Church Movement. Rosa’s activism and music labeled …

Interview No. 1506, Francisco Escalera

Combined Interviews

Escalera recalls that his father died in 1954 and his family moved from Michoacán to Guadalajara, Mexico since it was hard to earn a living. He remembers that in this place he got a job with the city government for which he worked for 34 years and in 1959 he got opportunity to go to the U.S. and got a license from his job to be absent for three month. He describes his journey from Guadalajara going to the contract center in Empalme, Sonora, then to the border in Calexico, California from which he was hired to go to Santa …

Interview No. 1697, Victoria C. Schwartz S. L.

Combined Interviews

The interview takes place at the Convent of Loretto in El Paso Texas. She was born in St. Louis, Missouri. She was born on February 9, 1940. Her brother is 15 years older than her and mentions her parents were older when she was born. Her father was 40 years old and her mother was 38. She was taught at our Lady of Mt. Carmel for kindergarten through eight grade and then attended Sisters of Loretto High School. She then attended Webster University in St. Louis and graduated in 1963. Her final vows her done in 1966. She has been …

Interview No. 1638, Margarita R. Mendoza

Combined Interviews

Margarita Mendoza was an employee for Union Manufacturing in El Paso, TX; was born in East Chicago, IN on July 28, 1927; her parents were from Durango, Mexico; her father was a farmer for his mother’s family on their hacienda, she describes how they met when she was a baby and he was a farmhand; she reveals father’s brothers fought with the revolutionaries in the Mexican Revolution, but he came to the U.S. in 1910; she relays mother’s family struggle to escape the Mexican Revolution, she describes her parent’s courtship; she mentions they had six children while working in Kansas …

Interview No. 1504, John Romero

Combined Interviews

John Romero got his start in his father’s tax preparation office when he was in the 7th grade. By the age of 14, John and his other siblings would assist their father with tax return preparation. After graduating from Cathedral High School, John worked at a Safeway grocery store, working his way up to different positions within the store. During this time, John and his siblings continued to help their father at his tax business during tax season from January until April. John would work at Safeway, then work at the commissary part time and attend The University of Texas …

Interview No. 1503, Carlos Eduardo Casillas

Combined Interviews

Carlos attended school in the United States while living in México with his family and at the age of 19, his father decided to move the family to the United States permanently. Carlos Sr. owned a transportation business and Carlos would tinker with the bus ticket machines. His fascination with computers grew and he got a degree in computer science. After college Carlos worked for his father some more before starting his own company, Icon Technologies. Icon Technologies went dormant and Carlos along with his business partner Ruben Ramirez started E.R. Computer Doctors in 2002. At E.R. Computer Doctors, Carlos …

Interview No. 1502, Arnaldo Chavarria Dds

Paso del Norte Entrepreneurship Oral History Project

Dr. Chavarria is the sixth child in a line of nine siblings. After graduating from high school, Dr. Chavarria briefly worked at a factory before applying and getting accepted to the El Paso Community College Dental Hygiene program. Dr. Chavarria worked as a dental hygienist before applying and being accepted to dental school in San Antonio, Texas. After graduating dental school, Dr. Chavarria worked with Dr. Watson, the El Paso City/County Health Department as well as La Fe Clinic and Sun Plaza Clinic. Soon after, Dr. Chavarria opened his practice on the Eastside of El Paso. Dr. Chavarria has received …

Interview No. 1502, Arnaldo Chavarria Dds

Combined Interviews

Dr. Chavarria is the sixth child in a line of nine siblings. After graduating from high school, Dr. Chavarria briefly worked at a factory before applying and getting accepted to the El Paso Community College Dental Hygiene program. Dr. Chavarria worked as a dental hygienist before applying and being accepted to dental school in San Antonio, Texas. After graduating dental school, Dr. Chavarria worked with Dr. Watson, the El Paso City/County Health Department as well as La Fe Clinic and Sun Plaza Clinic. Soon after, Dr. Chavarria opened his practice on the Eastside of El Paso. Dr. Chavarria has received …

Interview No. 1597, Leticia Carabajal

Combined Interviews

Her maternal grandfather she explains fought alongside Pancho Villa and was eventually killed; she explains that her father is a bracero but she did not discover this until he began speaking about working in Utah, Colorado, and California; her father worked as a bracero in order to support the family, eventually buying a house with his earnings; she points out that her father does not have his bracero documentation; she began seeing articles about braceros in local newspaper, consequently she began recording her conversations with her dad and gave him a journal so he could write down his experiences; she …

Interview No. 1501, Jose Luis Lopez

Paso del Norte Entrepreneurship Oral History Project

After graduating from The University of Texas at El Paso in 1975, Joe worked at Safeway groceries and with two advertising agencies. He worked for Coca-Cola selling Minute Maid orange juice as an unpaid worker in order to gain experience in the advertising field. Coca-Cola hired Joe and he began working in New Products bringing new items to local grocery stores. Joe did well and was moved to run a small division within Coca-Cola that allows them to test new products, come up with new names and then work on the selling and distribution of the products. Joe was the …

Interview No. 1501, Jose Luis Lopez

Combined Interviews

After graduating from The University of Texas at El Paso in 1975, Joe worked at Safeway groceries and with two advertising agencies. He worked for Coca-Cola selling Minute Maid orange juice as an unpaid worker in order to gain experience in the advertising field. Coca-Cola hired Joe and he began working in New Products bringing new items to local grocery stores. Joe did well and was moved to run a small division within Coca-Cola that allows them to test new products, come up with new names and then work on the selling and distribution of the products. Joe was the …

Interview No. 1499, Rosa Santana

Paso del Norte Entrepreneurship Oral History Project

Rosa had her first job when she was 13-14 years old working at an A&W drive thru. While Rosa was in high school, she was a part of DECA, a program that helps students learn about professional jobs and Rosa was able to work at the Popular Department store in El Paso, Texas. Rosa married and moved to Las Vegas for short time and had a daughter. Rosa moved back to El Paso and after a few jobs, Rosa went to work for Kelly Staffing Services. Working at Kelly, Rosa was able to get involved and grow professionally within the …

Interview No. 1500, Jose Luis Villanueva

Paso del Norte Entrepreneurship Oral History Project

Not included.

Interview No. 1499, Rosa Santana

Combined Interviews

Rosa had her first job when she was 13-14 years old working at an A&W drive thru. While Rosa was in high school, she was a part of DECA, a program that helps students learn about professional jobs and Rosa was able to work at the Popular Department store in El Paso, Texas. Rosa married and moved to Las Vegas for short time and had a daughter. Rosa moved back to El Paso and after a few jobs, Rosa went to work for Kelly Staffing Services. Working at Kelly, Rosa was able to get involved and grow professionally within the …

Interview No. 1500, Jose Luis Villanueva

Combined Interviews

No abstract provided.

Interview No. 1498, Kelly Thomas Pacheco

Paso del Norte Entrepreneurship Oral History Project

Kelly gives her father, the late George Thomas the credit of having mentored and guided her through the residential building business and Kelly also recognizes she learned decorating from watching her mother who had a natural talent for decorating. Kelly began decorating model homes while in high school. After high school, Kelly ventured into her own business called Del Pueblo Furniture and she would purchase furniture in México and re-sell it in the United States. At the end of 1989, Kelly began working for her father in his business Carefree Homes. Kelly eventually branched out with her own business, Quality …

Interview No. 1498, Kelly Thomas Pacheco

Combined Interviews

Kelly gives her father, the late George Thomas the credit of having mentored and guided her through the residential building business and Kelly also recognizes she learned decorating from watching her mother who had a natural talent for decorating. Kelly began decorating model homes while in high school. After high school, Kelly ventured into her own business called Del Pueblo Furniture and she would purchase furniture in México and re-sell it in the United States. At the end of 1989, Kelly began working for her father in his business Carefree Homes. Kelly eventually branched out with her own business, Quality …

Interview No. 1608, Margaret E. Mendoza

Combined Interviews

Margaret Mendoza, born in El Paso, Texas on October 22, 1934, worked for Farah for three years. Shortly after graduating from Bowie High School, she married an army soldier and left El Paso for Brooklyn, New York, but her marriage was not successful and she moved back to El Paso with her children. Because Mendoza needed to support her family she worked as a receptionist in several offices in El Paso. Later, her friend recommended that she work for Farah. She was hired at Farah and she earned twice as much connecting calls for the company, but would also tape …