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Early Childhood and Adolescence in Northern New Mexico

I attended the parochial school from third grade to the seventh grade and then transferred to the public school in Penasco. A Saint Anthony school bus would pick up all students attending parochial school. I chose to attend the public school in Penasco, New Mexico, because I got in trouble for speaking Spanish on school grounds.

One spring morning, as we were coming in from recess; and as I entered the classroom, I made a remark in Spanish. I had heard this “saying” somewhere, and I thought I would repeat it: “Pancho Villa pier do a sue vieja en la mantiquea.” The entire class, third and fourth grade, thought it was hilarious. We were all from the surrounding communities, and our primary language was Spanish.

The Dominican sister was from Michigan, and their goal was to teach us English. To my surprise, and I suppose to everyone else, they didn’t understand Spanish, so she assumed that I was making fun of her, or she thought I had made a remark about her. She took me outside the classroom and scolded me and asked me to translate what I had said. To her surprise, I couldn’t, and it wouldn’t make sense in English if I was able to. I kept quiet and wouldn’t say a word. As the Spanish people from the village would say, “En boca serada no entra mosque.” In other words, if you keep your mouth shut, nothing comes in and nothing goes out. She got so frustrated and insisted that I needed to call my parents to the school grounds for a conference. For fear of being punished by my parents, I didn’t say anything to them. She kept asking me when my parents would be coming, and I would ignore the question. She finally gave up and approached my sister, who was a couple of grades ahead of me to relay the message to my parents. She was instructed to relay the message, and if she didn’t, it would be a mortal sin. For fear of having a mortal sin in her record and not qualifying for the gates of heaven, she had no choice but to tell my parents. Do people have to use religion to justify equality and justice? I thought for sure that I was going to get a good beating, but to my surprise, I was asked why they were being called for a conference, so I explained. My parents attended the conference, and I was asked by the nun to repeat what I had said, so I did, and it was kind of funny to my parents. I was only repeating what I had heard.

The nun asked my parents to translate what I had said, but in English, it lost its meaning. My parents translated, but it had no meaning.

A few days later, the nun told the class that there were eleven commandments. It was kind of strange to hear the nun say there were eleven commandments because all along, we had been taught only ten. She stated there are eleven commandments; the eleventh commandment is, “Thou shall not speak Spanish on school grounds.” It seemed to me that it was her problem and hers alone. A thought erupted in my mind as to why should I be blamed for her ignorance. I was trying my best to learn English. I attended the nun school for three years only, and soon after this confrontation, I transferred to the Penasco Independent Schools.

Early Childhood and Adolescence in Northern New Mexico

Growing up in Northern New Mexico was a blessing, although we didn’t appreciate it when we were young. We took everything for granted, I suppose, because we didn’t know any better. We had many chores, and our time was of great value. We didn’t have time to be bored. We all spoke fluent Spanish with close ties to the Catholic Church and la famila. We had farm animals to feed and attend to, a garden in the summer, pasture land to cultivate, as well as making sure we had plenty of wood for the cold winter months. In my family, everyone had a certain chore to attend to since we were self-sufficient. The boys took care of the outside chores, and the girls took care of the home chores.

At the age of seven, I had a responsibility assigned to me other than the chores at home in the summer: it was to take care of the fifty plus sheep my father had. My older brother and I had to herd the sheep to the nearby mountains where my father and grandfather owned property. There we had to make sure the sheep had enough grazing for the day. Lucky for us, as the day got warmer, the sheep would take to the shade, and that gave us some leisure time. We would leave the house at seven in the morning, and we would not return till late in the evening about seven o’clock. After a while, the sheep got accustomed to the travel, and so did we. I recall going through a pair of leather shoes in about a month; we did a lot of walking.

We were a close-knit family. La famila was very important. My grandfather and grandmother lived next door to our house, and since my grandparents lived alone, I spent most of my spare time with my grandfather. I enjoyed hanging out with my grandfather. He was very articulate, and he took the time to talk to people in the community.

He knew what was happening in local affairs as well as county and state. I recall every evening after supper, he would read the newspaper page by page to the end. He was always encouraging me to do well and was always praising me for doing it. As I entered high school, I moved in with my grandparents since my older sister who lived with them had left the house. I was my grandfather’s chauffeur, and he was my mentor. Although I didn’t have a driver’s license, I was allowed to drive, provided an adult sibling was present. Once in high school, I took driver’s education, and I got my license.

Although my time was well occupied during the day, I still had time to participate and join the Cub Scouts. Our meeting were held in the late evenings. After being a Cub Scout, I later moved up the ranks to Boy Scout, and finally Explorer Scout. Our scout meetings were held in the evenings, so I was able to participate. I recall my grandfather taking me to Taos, New Mexico, to JCPenney, and he bought me my Boy Scout uniform, and I was so thankful and appreciative. That meant the world to me. During the time I was a member of the Boy Scouts of America, we participated in several Boy Scout camperies at the county and state level. In one particular State Boy Scout campery, our Troop 512 took the state championship in Cuba, New Mexico. We competed with Boy Scouts from all over the state. We had all our merit badges to be Eagle Scouts. We knew the practical as well as the theory of scouting. We were survivors at an early stage in life.

After my brother graduated from high school, the herd of sheep was reduced to just a few, and cattle replaced the sheep. I was in charge of attending to sixty plus cattle during spring break and after school and in the winter months. I had to make sure they were fed every day before going to school and after school in the evening. Never a dull moment, and our morals and value were high.

My father had all the farm implements that go along with the farm to be self-sufficient. We would cut and bale hay for people in the neighborhood. I learned to drive a tractor at an early age, along with all the implements. We would cut and gather timothy hay in the fall, along with other crops, and store them for the winter months.

Every day before going to school and after school, I had to make sure all the animals got fed. Being raised in a farm in Northern New Mexico, we had different farm animals as well as different crops.

Attending Penasco High School until graduation in 1968, I was a C average student; and when evaluation came around, the majority of the schoolteachers stated that I was not college material. It seemed to me at the time that the only students that were encouraged to attend college were the sons and daughters of schoolteachers. I was not encouraged to attend college, and perhaps the mines would be the best choice. There was only one schoolteacher, Mr. Elias Fidel, that suggested that college was the best way to go. He had been in a previous war himself and had gotten an education through the GI Bill and had hope for all students to attend college.

The spring after I graduated, I had the opportunity to go work in Lake Tahoe, California, for an outfit called Champion Construction Co. The company did trailblazing and refurbishing old forest service trails. It was labor work, and jobs were scarce at the time. I worked through the summer and saved enough money to pay tuition for a semester in college, so in September, I registered at NMHU, Las Vegas, New Mexico. I successfully completed the first semester. Although I was considered not to be college material, I took the same classes that my classmates from Penasco High School were taking as freshmen, and I had the same grade they did, even though they were A and B students. I came home for Christmas vacation, and during the break, I didn’t know if I was going back to college. I couldn’t afford to pay for college, so I decided to join the US Marine Corps and hopefully continue the pursuit of a college degree after I had done my duty to God and my county and to protect freedom.