De La Garza, Celia Herrera (Sally)
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Rosa Rodriguez: This is Rosa Rodriguez and I will be interviewing Sally de la Garza in Idaho Falls, Idaho. Sally, can you tell me where you were born?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: I was born in Hardin, Montana.
Rosa Rodriguez: Okay. How did your, family come into Idaho?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: How did my family come into Idaho? My dad came first.
And he worked for the sugar factory as an interpreter. Then they brought 500 families from Mexico to help with the harvest. And he was involved in that. And one of those families happened to be my mother. That's how they.
Rosa Rodriguez: They met and that's how they met. And so, when was that family? Do you remember when he first came into Idaho?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: He came, in about 19 three.
Rosa Rodriguez: Then he come into Idaho.
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: He came into Idaho. He, but before he worked for the sugar factory, he worked for the railroad.
Rosa Rodriguez:
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: In fact, there's a little town up here somewhere that he used to call strawberry, where he worked on the railroad.
Rosa Rodriguez: And, that was like around 1903.
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza:
Rosa Rodriguez: And, when what do you remember most about Idaho as far as the most recent times? When was it that you remember?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: I remember, I remember, living on a farm.
Rosa Rodriguez: How old were you then?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: Oh, I must've had three, four years old. And we. It was, a mr. Webb that my dad worked for. And after he got through working with the sugar factory, and we used to farmed one.
And we were there forever. Okay. We, We lived there for at least 15 years.
Rosa Rodriguez: So you were about three yourself when you came in from Montana?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: No, I was nine months old.
Rosa Rodriguez: Nine months old?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: I was nine months old when we moved here.
Rosa Rodriguez: And can I ask you what year you were born?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: I was born 1931.
Rosa Rodriguez: And your. When your father first came into Idaho. He came in alone, and then he met.
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: And then he met my mother. And they had two children here in Lincoln.
Rosa Rodriguez: They were born here in Idaho.
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: One of them was born in 1920, and the other one was born in 1922.
Rosa Rodriguez: Lincoln being part of Idaho Falls. And that used to be called Lincoln and that now is part of Idaho Falls.
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: At that time, it was a separate community all together.
Rosa Rodriguez: So when your, father worked in the sugar factory, he was an interpreter. Yes. And when you worked with Mr. Webb, he helped him.
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: He, He was like the ranch hand. Mr. Webb.
Rosa Rodriguez: How did he get into the country? Did he go through immigration process or.
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: Yes. He had his papers. He had his passport with him. And, when he came in, he came straight to Idaho, as far as I can tell you. Okay. And then the two children were born. Well he married my mother when she was 18 and he was 36. So there was a 20 year difference there.
And then they had the two children and then they traveled to different states. In fact I have 3 or 4 brothers that are.
Rosa Rodriguez: White.
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: From.
Rosa Rodriguez: Different states.
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: Different states.
Rosa Rodriguez: Did your father speak Spanish only or.
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: He spoke, Spanish at home? But he could speak English. Where he picked it up.
Rosa Rodriguez: You don't know?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: I don't know. Okay. But it was all they spoke at home was Spanish.
Rosa Rodriguez: And when he worked for Mr. Webb, did he work, like, during the harvest or during the summer?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: During the harvest? Oh. He would work, get the crops in. Okay. And then we'd wintered there.
Rosa Rodriguez: Did Mr. Webb let him let you stay there without paying anything or.
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: We never paid that. I know they never paid any rent. We had a real nice home. I remember it was kind of a big know, very comfortable home. Big yard. We always had plenty to do because my dad raised a big garden, and we always had chickens and beef and pigs. That the farmer. Okay, would turn back for having a kelpie or whatever.
Rosa Rodriguez: So and so on his off time, on his off season, he would be an interpreter for the sugar factory.
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: You know, he was an interpreter first. Okay. When he first came into the country, he came straight as an interpreter.
Rosa Rodriguez: Okay.
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: After, he quit being in the interpreter. Okay. And he had traveled like this all through the states here. Then he came back and we, he settled here in Idaho Falls on this live on.
Rosa Rodriguez: And where was it that he, started working for the railroad?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: That was when he was, let's see, after the fourth child, he worked for the railroad, and then he got hurt.
Rosa Rodriguez: What year would that be, Sally?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: I would say that would was around 1925.
Rosa Rodriguez: Then you worked for the railroad, Do you? Did he ever tell you what kind of work he did for the railroad?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: Manual, as far as I know. Because when he broke his feet, they had dropped a rail on his feet. So I figure it was like a labor. Okay.
Rosa Rodriguez: Laborers and. And what happened when he. After he broke his feet? Did they help him with things?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: He never said. I really don't know. What.
Rosa Rodriguez: Happened? And how long did he work for the railroad?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: I would say it most two years.
Rosa Rodriguez: And then he.
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: He just went to the farming community. He loved farming. He loved working out in the fields. That was my joy.
Rosa Rodriguez: Tell me about your mom. When she. You say that that she had two children at in the Lincoln area. Did she have a midwife, or did she go to a doctor?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: They had doctors. They had a midwife. But there was a man by the name of Mr. Porter. Okay. He was, Nangle. And his wife was the midwife.
Rosa Rodriguez: Okay. And so she didn't work.
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: So she delivered.
Rosa Rodriguez: Well, were they born at home then?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: They were born at home,
Rosa Rodriguez: And, tell me a little bit about how you were, raised, assuming you were one of the oldest, children.
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: I was one I was the youngest out of seven.
Rosa Rodriguez: You were the youngest out of seven.
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza:
Rosa Rodriguez: So then you didn't have, very many responsibilities as far as helping with the with the little ones. Because you were the people. That was nice for you. Selling. Tell me about growing up, in Idaho, in Idaho Falls. What do you remember most about? About the schools.
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: The schools?
We had to war. The districts. Okay. Like they are now. When I started going to school, I went to, Emerson. We were, what we call first street now and hit road. We lived right on the corner of Hit Road. And first that's where our farm was.
Rosa Rodriguez: Were Mr. Webb working boy.
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: And that was way out.
Rosa Rodriguez: Okay.
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: And in order to take us to the bus to catch the bus, my dad would have to hitch a sleigh and horses to take it. So we knew it was way out there, oblivious like, like the winters are now there's some mild. I mean, there was so much snow that the electrical wires would actually get buried in the snow.
It was, but it was fun because we never rode the sled, but we were always cookie bobbin' back. I would go on up and down.
Rosa Rodriguez:
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: But Amerson was the first school I attended.
Rosa Rodriguez: Do you did with children go to Emerson also?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: No, because they lived in town. The farm was ours. The, the owner of it lived in town.
Rosa Rodriguez: So you took care of the farm? Yes, I foster went left in town. Well, tell me about, your friends. Did you do was there very many Mexican people, Hispanic people in Idaho Falls?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: No. In fact,
When I was before I started school. Okay. I remember the colonia in Lincoln, and there was a lot of families there, but I don't remember them going to school.
Rosa Rodriguez: Okay. A lot of Mexican families, a.
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: Lot of Mexican families. I would say it was at least 30 homes there in Lincoln. And we used to go over there like on Sundays at people that my parents knew. And that's when I play with them. But I never saw him at school. I mean.
Rosa Rodriguez: Well, Lincoln land at Lincoln area is very far from the Emerson area.
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: Okay. But see, I that was way after I started school. The colonial was gone, okay. But people were still. They would come and go, okay. They never stayed put. I mean they were always going and coming and but I the only thing that I can think of, the school district was maybe I went to a different school, I don't know, I know that a lot of those people ended up in California because, my parents would visit them later in the later years, we'd go to California and we'd see all these people that had been in Lincoln.
I think the only, families that really stayed there was the Patterson Pass. And, I don't going to school. I don't remember any Mexican children.
Rosa Rodriguez: So how were you treated, Sally?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: I was treated fine. I was treated like, the rest of them. Maybe I didn't know any better. Okay. But, I had a lot of friends, neighbors, Farms. You know, we'd visit each other and. But I don't remember ever being mistreated in school because I was a Mexican or Hispanic, whatever you want to call me. But no, I.
I can't remember ever being discriminated against. Okay. When I was in school.
Rosa Rodriguez: When you were a little girl growing up and going to school, what kind of things did you used to do with your friends? But.
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: Like I say, you know, you live in farms, and the farms are about maybe a half a mile, two miles between each other. We used to, get on the horses and ride horses. We play in the ditch and, you know, swimming. We play in the canals.
Just like children to now and farm community. I don't think it was any different, you know, than than it is now. When you move up in the farm, it's completely different. There's so much to get into on a farm.
Rosa Rodriguez: But do you have a teacher that stands out in your mind?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: I have three teachers that really stand out in my mind, and one was a spelling teacher each. Her name was Mrs. Flores.
And the best you could get as far as that teacher was concerned, I was the next one. I, I was, I worked towards that. She was she she was a hard teacher, but she was a good teacher. And she stands out in my mind. Her and Mrs. Davis was our math teacher, but she learned I mean, you didn't talk because they came around with a ruler and swatted you in the hands or in the back of the head or whatever.
And I was about to get. But you did you learned. You learned in those. And then, Mrs. Brown and I singing teacher.
And those three teachers really stand out. A principal that I had at Hawthorne School was Mr. Crouch, and I have very fond memories, and it was real nice.
Rosa Rodriguez: After you, went to Emerson, how many years did you go to Emerson?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: I went to Emerson until we moved into town. And I must have been about 14 years old when we moved into town.
Rosa Rodriguez: So what grade would that be? Grade.
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: I think I went to the sixth grade, I think, at the time, because I had been sickly for the first two years. Six and seven.
Rosa Rodriguez: And I had been sick. What was wrong with you?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: I used to have, like, blackouts. Something like... I would say now, something like epilepsy. Okay. And so they had to keep a very close eye on me the first couple of years.
Rosa Rodriguez: And. And how did your parents take you to the to see a doctor.
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: Oh, yes. And they gave me medication and, I took it for about ten years. And then they kind of went away. They faded away. So I was always behind as far as school was. And then last, school that I can remember, a, when we moved in town was Hawthorne School. And I attended there, and then I went on junior high, and then we the reason we moved in town was, was because two of the boys went into the service into World War two, and my dad wanted a secure place where he knew that if anything happened to the boys, he could be reached real easy.
So this is how come.
Rosa Rodriguez: Nobody can get into town? So did you graduate from one of the schools here?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: No. When I was 16 years old, I was in a car accident. In a truck accident? We were in California, and I was in a cast party cast for nine months. At that time, we we went to California for this for the winter that year. And this when I was in this accident. And.
Rosa Rodriguez: Yeah. Why? Excuse me, family. But why did you go to California for the winter that year?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: One of my brothers had been wounded in the service, World War two. And, there was two more getting discharged. And my dad wanted to be as close to Ford as possible, I see. And, we went to California. Like I said, I was in that accident, and I was, a freshman. And there and after that, I dropped out of school because I was in this body cast.
Okay, I fractured my back, and I didn't want to go to school. Let this body cast. So, I just went to work after that. I didn't go back to school.
Rosa Rodriguez: So then you moved after that year, you moved back to the winter. You move back to Idaho, to Idaho Falls.
Would that. That would be during the depression, wouldn't it?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: That was during World War two. During the depression, we lived on the farm still,
Rosa Rodriguez: Do you remember very much about that family?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: No, because like I said, I always saw plenty of food. My dad would always, there was a market here at our falls. It used to be the dry there. More beautiful store was a big store. Well, look big to me.
Rosa Rodriguez: But where was that at?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: It was located right on Yellowstone Avenue. And, my dad would come in the fall, buy everything he needed for the winter. And I'm talking, we take, either a truckload or a trailer. He buys, like, cheese, you know, 50 pound beans, 100 pounds flour, 100 pounds. Sure. Well, surplus. He'd always bought enough to carry him through the winter months.
Rosa Rodriguez: To where would he store all that?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: We had a extra room in that big house that I was telling you about. That, he always kept real cold. We weren't allowed in there to play in there. That was our kind of like a pantry.
And everything was stored in that room. It was just like a little store. He buy eggs by the cartons. By the crates. Okay. He by 50 pounds of lard. Everything was in big quantities. We always have plenty in me when I do chicken or pork or or beef. He would slaughter hang them out. So we always had fresh meat.
I don't remember the depression. I don't remember ever going to that place. And I don't know whether it was because we lived on a farm. I really don't know. But I don't remember the depression being going without doing.
Rosa Rodriguez: Without what kind of coal would you. Where did your mom make your clothes?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: And no, mine were store bought because I remember coming shopping coming up, not across. We hear these during a soon town every Saturday. The girls would go to the dances, the oldest girls and the boys and my dad, my and my mother would go shopping. We'd go to the show, and then we'd go to Ada Street, because that was when Ada's mother ran to respond.
Rosa Rodriguez: And, Ada's Cafe. And that's the Chinese place.
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: That's the Chinese place. And so I remember it's so different. In fact, I've seen pictures, here recently of when I was a little girl by remembering that that restaurant. But it was that was our main part of the show. Would go shopping.
Rosa Rodriguez: Would your dad go with your older sisters to the dance?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: No. My oldest brother took she chaperon. He chaperon. And they were not allowed to go. If you didn't go.
Rosa Rodriguez: Are you talking about Mexican dance?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: No, I'm talking about the wandering Mia here in Idaho Falls. It was a big dance hall.
Rosa Rodriguez: What was their name again?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: Wonder. Mia.
Rosa Rodriguez: I see.
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: And, that I'd love to. After I got old enough, I got to go to a couple of dance, and it was a beautiful dance, only to have name bands come in there. But that was, every Saturday night thing. You know, as long as my oldest brother was with them, he would take them, like me, just from town again.
Rosa Rodriguez: And buy them. Were there other, Mexican families in town or,
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: The Mexican people that I remember, okay, that were in Lincoln when I was a little girl, I would say that 99% of them moved to California, but Pocatello had a lot of Mexican people. And, we would go visit. Okay. These, different families. And it was like, their birthdays or baptisms or weddings, and I remember those dances.
Rosa Rodriguez: What years were those? Sally?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: I couldn't have been. Oh. 13, 14 years old. Because I know I wasn't old enough to go to the dances myself. Okay.
But I know my sisters are, also, there was dances and drinks. This man that lived in this. Labor camp, they used to go pick peas for six weeks. You pick peas and rice, and it was like a picnic. Really. It's what it was like for us. Same with me. And we'd go down there for six weeks, and this family would hold dances in their front yard, you know, just with local people.
Whoever wanted to play could play. But those are the only Mexican dances that I can recall. As a young woman. I remember going to the name bands, but not Mexican dances. And the only time we went to Mexican dances was if we wintered in California, then those Mexican dances. But then my dad worked with us.
Rosa Rodriguez: So Sally. What? Where were your. Where did your, brothers and sisters go to school? Did they graduate from high?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: I had a brother that graduated from high school here. And that was about it.
Rosa Rodriguez: So when when you moved to, I remember you telling me that you moved to California one winter. So therefore, the children had to leave the school and enter another school, right in California. Right. What was that like for them?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: Oh, I don't think it was any different than it was for me. We knew we had to go to school, so we went to school. My dad was, He never stopped us from, education. It was our choice if we didn't want to go to school anymore. You're not going to go to school. You're going to go to work.
But we had no problem as far as, going to school. Okay? Whether it was here in California.
Rosa Rodriguez: So did you eventually get a GED? So you were unable to?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: Yes. In fact, I have a brother. At that time. Went on to, took a couple of years of college. I took my GED, maybe ten, 15 years, and, And I've been very fortunate. This company that I worked for will give us all the schooling that we want. Okay.
Rosa Rodriguez: Where do you work?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: So I work for Eugene GM, and, of course, plus the courses the company themselves require. So, and the schooling is there for me. I want it, but like I say, I've been very fortunate.
Rosa Rodriguez: I want to talk a little bit about your mother. What part of Mexico were they from?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: My dad was from Newman, Michoacan. My mother was from Duran Duran.
Rosa Rodriguez: Did she ever talk about wanting to go back to Mexico? Did she miss the warm climate?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: When she married my dad. I guess the five. Because when they immigrated, all those families over here, they were here for it was a contract for five years.
Rosa Rodriguez: With the sugar.
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: Family, with the sugar factory. Meanwhile, my mother had married my dad. When the five years came up, her family had to move, went back to Mexico. She stayed. And I guess it was real hard for, because they were very close family. But, she never got to see her mother again. She, passed away a young woman, my grandmother did, but, I got to meet my great.
And.
Rosa Rodriguez: And how did you meet?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: We went to visit, that took us over there for six months. And we spent all the time.
Rosa Rodriguez: And by then your grandmother had passed away.
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: But I had my grandma, my great grandmother. And, So she's the only grandmother that I knew as a as a young, as a little girl. Okay. But we went back, but her mother passed away, right? I knew my grandfather and my great grandmother and my, she had an uncle that she treated like a brother, and he treated her.
So we always used to call him awful. But I met a lot of her family, her sisters, and, of course, later on in the years, we would take her down to visit family. But that's about the only part of Mexico that I can remember her.
Rosa Rodriguez: Did your mom. Well, I'm assuming that she didn't have time to visit other women in the area. Only Hispanic women.
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: The only time they visit. It was probably on a weekend. Okay. And, like I say, I remember going to Lincoln, but once those people moved out of there, okay. And they they visited in Porcello.
Rosa Rodriguez: But those people in Lincoln would always come back when it got warmer.
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: No, no, when they left, they.
Rosa Rodriguez: Left when they left and came back.
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: And
Rosa Rodriguez: So at one time.
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: That was a flourishing community at one.
Rosa Rodriguez: At one time in the Lincoln area, which is now Idaho Falls.
How many Mexican families do you think we had?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: I would say there was at least 20 to 30 families and just that little community there.
Rosa Rodriguez: In, in what year would you.
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: I must've been about six or so. I mean, that's a long time ago, you know, that I would have I would say maybe that was during the depression. You know, during.
Rosa Rodriguez: That they all work. They must have come here on contract to work.
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: I don't know if they worked for different farmers or from what I'm gathering. Okay. From what I gather was the sugar factory owned a lot of ground and they would work for the sugar factory. And then when they got through working for the sugar factory. And when I'm saying the sugar factory raised its own beans, they would contracted out to these people that came to live there.
Okay. And that's how they worked.
Rosa Rodriguez: And what about the the families that lived in there? You said there was like said, okay.
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: There was in between the harvesters and in between the thinning and the hoeing of the beans. Okay. There was six weeks that there was nothing to do. Okay. So the people would go to Driggs for six weeks to pick peas. Fact I was accused of being spoiled because I never had to do that. The rest of the family.
Rosa Rodriguez: You were the baby.
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: That was the baby. But they would go over there for six weeks, and these families came from all over, Idaho Falls, Pocatello, the Blackfoot. Yeah, it was fun place. Everybody built their little houses and it was just like camping for six weeks. Yeah.
Rosa Rodriguez: Do you remember, do you remember a strike over there? The Mexican people on our strike?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: I think so, okay. And, Mr. White on that was the name of the camp was Whites Camp. So, you know, I remember something very little about it, but I do remember.
Rosa Rodriguez: Where they, where they striking because of that working conditions or.
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: No, I think they were.
Rosa Rodriguez: Working.
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: Because of the salary, from what I gather. Because I guess they used to pay in the pound or carrying them for these baskets, big baskets. And I think they were rebelling against, the wages that they wanted to pay.
Rosa Rodriguez: Did they have someone that spoke for them?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: I don't know. I really don't.
Rosa Rodriguez: Was your father, type of person that would advise the other families?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: I think so my dad was a leader. He was so, you know, he was in there, you know, very sociable man, very leadership type person.
Rosa Rodriguez: So when they you would go visit in the Lincoln area, they would listen to.
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: Oh, yes.
Rosa Rodriguez: Oh.
This is Rosa Rodriguez, and this is part two of, Sally de la Garcia's interview.
Sally, when you were growing up, especially during, your younger years, what do you remember, the kinds of foods that your mom would make for you?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: Mexican food, cocktails and beans. She, Potatoes and homemade pie.
Rosa Rodriguez: Did she ever use that? Anything from outside? I know you had a garden, but did she ever use. You know, leaves or anything like that? I mean, the reason why I ask is because I know that some families used to eat candy there.
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: Yes, she she used to cook and eat this. She could be tops.
But this, she had a, that, can leave this by her. And my dad used to go out and eat this. I remember that.
Rosa Rodriguez: And how did she used to make them?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: She used to fry them with onion and chili.
Rosa Rodriguez: Became so she should think so. Do you remember once again talking about your mom, if she would ever tell you an acquaintance, sir?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: Oh, yes. Stories about Mexico. In fact, every night was a story night. My dad would.
Different stories. Okay, sometimes they were so, spooky. Okay. That we were afraid to go to bed at night alone, so we'd all sneak in their bedroom, you know? But, yes, every night and every night after supper and would tell scrapbooks and stories.
Rosa Rodriguez: And did they all relate to Mexico, or would he just make some.
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: Up 90%, 99% related to Mexico? And no, I don't think he made them up. They were stories that he had read because he used to read a lot.
Rosa Rodriguez: And did he read them when he lived here?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: Oh, yes. He used to like, the cowboy stories at the time, they were paper bags, but they were bigger than.
Rosa Rodriguez: They were all in English.
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: Western. They were all in English.
Rosa Rodriguez: And what about your mom?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: She wasn't too much into the English. Okay. She read a lot of, they used to send for the paper. Her family would send her La Prensa from Mexico, and that's what she would do. She would read the Mexican magazines, whatever she could get her hands on.
Rosa Rodriguez: Did she ever sing you any lullabies in Spanish?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: Not that I remember. No. And she sang a lot. Her and my dad used to team up and sing along.
Rosa Rodriguez: Did he play the guitar?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: You know, but they would sit out after dinner outside, near the home or whatever, and they'd sing. Both of them, we remember them singing.
Rosa Rodriguez: And you would sit and listen.
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: To. Oh, yes. Oh, yes, of course, there was no television at that time either. So, no, we had a very they kept us very busy. And, very united. And they spent a lot of their time with us.
Rosa Rodriguez: And when did your, mother passed away?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: She passed away 30 years ago. And, she was on a trip to Mexico, and she passed away in Mexico. She had gone to see her dad and her sister, and she passed away in Mexico on a trip.
Rosa Rodriguez: But other than, your your parents, your sisters, her giving birth to your brothers and sisters at home. Did she have any your your dad or your mom have any illnesses that you can remember?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: My mother was, diabetic. My dad just died of age. But my mother was a diabetic. Lost control, but still know she was.
Rosa Rodriguez: When your dad would tell you. Cuantos did he ever talk about? The Mexican Revolution?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: No, he never did. The Mexican Revolution. My mother's grandfather. Was, officer. And how they had, What's his name? Yeah. Famous Mexican.
Rosa Rodriguez: Pancho Villa.
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: Right? They they hid from him because he was an officer for the other side times. And she used to tell me that, in order to keep him, you know, and, that they would travel at night to hide.
Rosa Rodriguez: So that he would not.
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: Anything so that he would not be seen.
Rosa Rodriguez: So then,
Your grandmother was how old? When they would travel?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: My mother says she was about ten years old from the Mexican Revolution. So I really can't tell you how.
Rosa Rodriguez: My grandmother was. Well, Sally, what do you think of, about, of our Mexican-American students, our Idaho Mexican-American students? How do you think they do in school?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: I've had three children myself. Okay. Two of them graduated. One has taken his community. One went on to college for two years. We, we tried to push education on my children. My girl didn't want college. Now she regrets,
I think education is there if you want it. If you don't want it. You're not going to have it.
Rosa Rodriguez: What's different between the the Mexican students now and when you were a student yourself?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: When I was a student and when my brothers were students, I think we were the only Mexican students in school. Okay, so there was. You couldn't compare. We were treated the same as the rest of them. So we felt. Until recently, I. I in, like, reading in the newspapers, you know, about Skyline High School. And it's kind of disturbing because we never had that before.
We never had, the commotion that you see now.
Rosa Rodriguez: That that skyline incident being the time when that kid said that for Hispanic students at skyline got, bombarded by 300 of Anglos.
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: And, but we never had that kind of problem. My brothers, my sisters or myself, And it's sad to see it even now.
I don't know whose fault it was. And, I read with interest your articles on it. All the articles councilmen, the mayors. I think that, it was blown out of proportion. Right, from front to the back and all that. It both ways. Okay. I think it could have been settled a little bit. A little bit more for mass than it was.
Rosa Rodriguez: Do you think that these students in the present time, these Hispanic students, care about going to school? What are your feelings about the high Hispanic rate of dropout?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: It's sad.
It's. I wish we could do more for, I wish we could talk, talk, talk to them at their level. Something that they can understand. Not putting them down, not giving them false hopes. Okay. About if you get an education, you're going to get the best job in the world. That life isn't that way, but be very realistic with them.
I think we need more programs not to stuff down their throat, but to. Just keep them on board on.
What goes on, you know, from education and not get anything. Like I say, I have been lucky. I have real good bosses. I've had, they've always steered me to go up. They've always taught. You've always encouraged me, no matter what job I've had a I've been. Like I say, I consider myself very lucky. I've had real good bosses for me.
Rosa Rodriguez: Well, tell me about your first job.
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: So my first job. My first job was at Skaggs Drugstore.
Rosa Rodriguez: How old were you?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: Oh, 16. And there was a fountain there. And I worked in the farm, and I loved it. It was in downtown, out of falls. That was my first job.
Rosa Rodriguez: Did your. Excuse me, Sally? Did your other brothers and sisters work also?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: Yes. My oldest sister was assistant manager for Diana Hughes. I have, a brother that worked for the telephone company for 27 years.
Rosa Rodriguez: Those were their first jobs.
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: You know as well. After. After they got out of the service. Okay, the first jobs that always had a farm. So they always farmed with him until he retired. Then the boys went on their own. I have a brother that, was a hairdresser. Later on in the years he churned, as a musician. Plus he was in inter heat, and and he was an interpreter for the courthouse.
United falls.
Rosa Rodriguez: And one other kinds of jobs that you have aside from the one at Skaggs.
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: I worked at Christmas, I tended children. I was like a nanny for, Mr. De Sweeney's I, I live I didn't live with them, but I was there. I took care of the children when they went on trips.
Then I worked in warehouses. From there, I went out to the side. There. You? Yeah.
Rosa Rodriguez: And how long have you worked there?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: I've worked there 12 years.
Rosa Rodriguez: Well, do you feel that your economic position is better or the same as or worse than your parents?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: I think we have more stress now.
Rosa Rodriguez: Okay. More stress.
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: More stress.
Rosa Rodriguez: In other words, you don't go sit on the porch and sing with.
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: Oh, no, oh, no, you don't have time. You know, you come home from work, you've got things to do, so you do them. But, I don't think it's as carefully as it used to be. And maybe it's because we didn't know their problems, but, I think it's more carefree.
Rosa Rodriguez: But as far as, as far as economically they're concerned there are you worry your parents better off than you at that time and compared to this time.
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: But they have their home just like I've got my home. That was theirs. They paid for it. I think we just want a little better things. You know, they didn't have microwaves and all the conveniences that we have now. Okay.
Rosa Rodriguez: Well, going back to your job, Sally, your first job at Skaggs, how did you find out about that job? And how was your interview? Do you remember.
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: My sister work there, and, she told me there was going to be an opening in the farm, and she was going on to have a job and she was leaving for California.
Rosa Rodriguez: And how did your sister get that job as gas?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: She interviewed for it, and she worked at Fong's drugstore. And when I took over the counter here, I interviewed with Mr. Skaggs, and I got the job.
Rosa Rodriguez: Well, what did you like about the job or what didn't you like about the job?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: I liked the job. I, I enjoyed the people. I enjoyed my boss.
I probably didn't work there very long because, I remember working for the soybeans after that.
Rosa Rodriguez: Well, do you think that, the Mexican-American population in Idaho were treated fairly? As far as their jobs are concerned?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: I can only speak for myself, and I think I'm being treated very fair. You have to be open minded about the situation. Yeah. I think if you make waves, you get waves. You know, you still have rights. Yes, but don't like them. You're kind of somebody else.
Rosa Rodriguez: Tell me about. Tell me about. Don't force. I know I'm going to make you go back again. But what made your dad come to live in Idaho Falls? It was probably called Eagle Rock at the time.
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: Since I can remember, my dad loved Idaho Falls. There was no place. Any place he traveled all over, as, a single man. They traveled all over as a couple. And their mother.
Rosa Rodriguez: By all over. Stanley, are you talking about different states or different states?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: Different states. Okay, he liked Idaho Falls. We would call it California winter in California. But come April, he wanted to be another falls. I see the last time he went to California, they went to visit. He had a stroke and he called and says, come and get me, because if I'm going to die, I'm when I die in my beloved Idaho Falls.
And the boys went and got it. Of course he didn't die a time back.
Rosa Rodriguez: Well, he got better when he walked back here.
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: He did. He did. He lived another ten years.
Rosa Rodriguez: Well, what how do you feel about this community? Sally?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: I love Idaho Falls. I always have things have changed a lot. But I've always lived out of falls. I married a man from Texas, and I told him I will marry you. I one condition died at home, not Texas.
Rosa Rodriguez: Tell me about, about your, brothers. You say that they served in World War two?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: Yes. I had, three of them serve in World War two and one in the Korean War.
Rosa Rodriguez: And tell me about how they felt about serving in the war. What was their experiences like?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: The one that went to war first was rolled. And as soon as he went to my brother, my oldest brother says if he's going, I'm going. So about six months later, he went in and as the draft came in, they all three of them got a facto. I had a brother in law. My mother that time had five, three of her sons and two of her son in laws were in the service.
And, one of my brothers was wounded and lost a leg. He was transported to Fort Morgan in here to Brigham City, the closest they could get him. He was there for three years, though.
Rosa Rodriguez: Your one brother and, I have a location right. And. What happened when he had that? When he had his accident? One. Does he talk about that?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: He was barely 19 when it happened. He had a big adjustment to me. That was very hard on my mother.
But he came. I was flying colors. He's the one that's gone to college and has been the interpreter here at the courthouse. And we're very proud of him. He's a lovely man.
Rosa Rodriguez: Sounds like all your family is lovely.
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: Family they are. I have four brothers. Maybe I feel that way because they all spoiled me. But I do have real nice brothers.
Rosa Rodriguez: And tell me about your other brothers. Your other two brothers served in World War two. Do they ever did? Did they ever talk about if there was other Hispanic soldiers?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: Oh, yes. I got along fine with them. Made friends with them. I think one of them was their sergeant. Very fond memories of them when they talk about them.
Rosa Rodriguez: How long were they? And, in and how long that they serve?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: I think they, other than own, because he was wounded and, of course, he wasn't discharged until after he left the hospital, but they served therefore, three I think it was three years at the time before they were discharged.
Rosa Rodriguez: I can imagine your mother with three sons being.
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: In the war. So she went there. She, I really aged her. She heard continually about them. We miss them terribly. Three year olds. They left when I was a little girl. And they come back when I was a young woman. And, It was hard. It was hard to be without them. We played hard together.
In fact, we still do that. We were very close. Very close knit.
Rosa Rodriguez: So it at one point, that's when you're at one point in that three period, three year period was the time that you that your father moved to California to be closer to Fort.
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: Yes. And we just went there, like I said, for a few months. Just to make sure that he was going to be there when the boys were going to be coming home, because about that time, I think the war had ended, but it was still, you know, and, he wanted to be there in California.
But I say, because of the boys, and then when I was in that accident where I hurt my back, the boys came home and we all came home together.
Rosa Rodriguez: So do you remember that? Yes. Voice that home? Yes. And your mom?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: Yes. I remember the first one that I saw after the accident was the brother that had been in Brigham City. He was on crutches, and he brought me up. He bought me a bracelet. I remember that gold bracelet he brought to get a hospital. That was the nicest thing I can remember. Waking up and seeing him. And, then we all drove home.
Dad says, let's just.
Rosa Rodriguez: Let's just go home.
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: Let's just go home.
Rosa Rodriguez: What about your your brother that served in the Korean War?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: He's in California. He, They don't say anything bad about the service.
Rosa Rodriguez: They were proud to.
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: Say they were proud to serve. And my dad was a proud man. So proud of.
And, When I'm married, I'm married to a marine who was in the Marine Corps. So that pretty much my dad.
Rosa Rodriguez: Even proud. Prouder. When did you meet? When did you meet your husband?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: When I met him in 1952.
Rosa Rodriguez: Here in Idaho Falls.
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: No, I went to visit one of my brothers in Nevada. That was. So it was, ammunition depot there. And he was working for the government. And I met my husband there. He was stationed there.
Rosa Rodriguez: One of your brothers that served in the war? Yes. And he just got a government job? Yes.
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: And I went to visit him. The first week I was there. I met my husband. Six weeks later. We were married. 36 years later, we're still married.
Rosa Rodriguez: But for you. So, So you wanted to go back to Texas?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: She. He loved Texas.
Rosa Rodriguez: But what part of Texas?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: He's from San Antonio. And I told him I'm from Idaho. I can't live without my mom and dad. So he did. He got out of the service, and he says, if I can get a job in Idaho, we'll stay. But if I can move to San Antonio. He was here a month, and he got a job.
I think the government paid so much because he was a veteran and, company that he started work for pay the other half, something like that.
Rosa Rodriguez: Here in Nevada was his station, the submarine.
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: Half foreign.
Rosa Rodriguez: Where did he serve?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: And and no, he never got overseas. Yeah. Stay in state one. Yeah.
Rosa Rodriguez: And and so. But he did. You eloped when you got married?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: No. Since I was staying with my older brother, I told him, I says I'm going to get married. You better tell mom. Dad. You better. I. So, he didn't, my husband asked for my hand in marriage. You can be my brother. I, I respected my brother. Now, to have him come over, I said you I'm living in his home.
You feel like he was my father. And that's exactly what happened. My dad didn't talk to me for a year until my first payment was for this little boy.
Rosa Rodriguez: Was that hard for you, Sally? That your dad didn't talk to you?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: It was very hard. But he would talk to my husband. But he wouldn't.
Rosa Rodriguez: And what about your mom? Of course your mom went.
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: Oh, yes. I'd call every week, and she would never tell me that my dad would talk to me. She'd say, he's out of guard, or he's busy doing this.
Rosa Rodriguez: And you lived in.
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: Nevada.
Rosa Rodriguez: Or Nevada.
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: Until, he put in four years in the service. Then we came home and got a job, and my first baby passed away. And, Yeah.
Rosa Rodriguez: And he found a job in Idaho. Yes.
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: He did, a month later. And then he, started working for the grocery stores, which was food chain at the time. And he worked in the groceries for 27 years. He worked for Jack gamble and that, food chain, you know, savings center.
Rosa Rodriguez: And what did he do?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: He was, either assistant manager or manager. A lot of the stores, then about eight years ago, he just got tired of all the night work, all the weekends. And he works for challenger pallet now.
Rosa Rodriguez: Well, tell me, about, you tell you told me that you didn't ever go to the Mexican dances.
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: In California I did.
Rosa Rodriguez: But here in Idaho, you didn't?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: Oh, no, because there was there wasn't any when I was a young.
Rosa Rodriguez: Girl at that time in Driggs, when they would get together.
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: When they would get just like a house party. Okay. But now, as a young girl, I never did ceramics, Mexican.
Rosa Rodriguez: So was your. So I'm assuming your father was the one that made all the decisions for the family?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: Yes.
Rosa Rodriguez: And when he wasn't around, it was your older brother?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: No, it was my mother.
Rosa Rodriguez: It was your mother.
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: It was my mother. My mother couldn't run that house.
Rosa Rodriguez: So what would happen? Sally, if you want to go out, let's say to the dance who? Who? You would ask your mom and.
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: We would ask our mom, okay? And then she would ask our dad, or else we could go straight today. And, I was always one that I could kind of sit on the arm chairs and that. Is that. All right?
Rosa Rodriguez: Until you got married and then you took it for a ride. So lost your father. The one that disciplined you then?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: Yes.
Rosa Rodriguez: And how would he discipline a family?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: He never got rude with us. All he had to do was look at us so we knew we'd better settle down. He never got. I don't ever remember being spanked or slapped or.
Rosa Rodriguez: Was he harder on the boys? And he was on the.
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: Oh, yes. He, he didn't like the boys sitting around in the house doing nothing. So we always had him. He always had work for him to do. Chopping wood, bringing in coal, bringing water.
Rosa Rodriguez: Well, tell me, Sally, what kind of games did you play when you were growing up?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: We played, house. We played Cowboys and Indians and play in the haystack and slide down. Make it mine because we make a mess out of the hay straw.
Rosa Rodriguez: Yes. We kick the can.
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: Kick the can. And then and, I don't remember what the name of the toy is, but it was a we'll, And then the boys would make a piece of wire that come and they just, you know, you don't that move you all over.
Rosa Rodriguez: Oh, and it was. Did your dad ever make you any toys? Did he carve anything?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: Yes. He used to carve, a little, ma'am. Okay. And he put it on a two sticks with string and you could press and like this, and they would do somersaults. Oh, he made those for us.
Rosa Rodriguez: Out of wood.
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: Out of wood. He made those wheels that I tell you, he'd get, some kind of wheel on a wire and, he make slingshots. He made guns with rubber bands.
Rosa Rodriguez: And those were probably your best toys.
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: Yes. We didn't have Christmases the way my grandchildren have Christmases or even the way my children had Christmases. Our Christmases were nuts and oranges and apples. No big, huge trees. Maybe they'd stay up all night cooking Mexican bread. Those were candy once in a while.
Rosa Rodriguez: And he carved you some toys.
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: I don't remember them ever buying his toys.
Rosa Rodriguez: I mean, carved.
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: All our carved little cars. He'd carve, tops for the boys. He'd carve little dolls for us.
Rosa Rodriguez: My dad used to carve the tops out of the thread. The.
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: The spools. That how he, And then they put a nail on the opposite side. You know, they would do that. And it was real peaceful. Our evenings were offbeat, peaceful, very. Maybe it was because we lived so far from other neighbors that all we had was each other.
But they were very loving cars.
Rosa Rodriguez: Did you, did you go to church?
Celia Herrera (Sally) De La Garza: Oh, yes. Yes. (tape runs out).