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Tape 20a: Interview with Valentin Romero
Interviewer: Helen Krische
Date of Interview: 2006
Length of Interview: 31:45
Location of Interview: St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church
Transcription Completion Date: November 20, 2020
Transcriptionist: Emily Raymond
Helen Krische (Interviewer): Okay.
Valentin Romero (Interviewee): You probably have a number of questions.
HK: Yeah, well, um –
VR: Pre – Pre-made? Alright.
HK [laughs]: I do, but first we’ve got some paperwork to take care of. And, um, I’m gonna
introduce myself first on the tape, and – and I’m Helen Krische, the interviewer. And, um, this is
Val Romero. And, um, he’s going to do an interview with us today. And first of all, I’m going to
have – uh, this is our consent form. This, um, basically tells what we are doing; we’re doing the,
um, the oral history for, uh, Mexican-Americans here in Lawrence. And the tapes are going to be
held at the Watkins Community Museum, and also possibly go to the Kansas State Historical
Society. Um, and it’s basically asking for you to grant, um, both of these entities all the rights for
recordings, including the intellectual property rights. And, um, this may be, uh…all or parts of
the interviews might be, uh, either in written form; they may be transcribed. Um, we have our
audiotape, videotape, and they may eventually be put on compact discs. Um, they might be put
on the website, um, all of these things, and this is asking for your permission to do this. And I
also want to state that if at any time you want to discontinue the interview, um…if you don’t
want to answer a question that I ask, that’s perfectly fine. Um, if you want to stop briefly for a
rest break, that’s fine, too. So, just let me know, you know, how you’re feeling, what you want to
do, and we can accommodate you.
VR: Well, I – I think my information is about as public as it can be [HK laughs]. I may, uh, say
something that, uh, may not be quite right, but…um, as far as accuracy, just…from my
experience [murmurs].
HK: Sure, sure. And if you could sign that for me, please?
VR: Where would you want the signature?
HK: First of all, I need your name up here: “I the undersigned.”
VR: Alright. [Pause] I’ll give you my real name.
HK [laughs]: Oh, okay. [Pause] What is your real name?
�VR: Valentin.
HK: Oh, okay.
[Pause]
VR: Okay, that’s – that’s the way I spell it there. It’s – it’s just a good Russian name.
HK [laughs]: Okay, down at the bottom, there are two little things, it says, um: “I make the
foregoing gift and grants of right with no restrictions.” And then the next one says that there are
some restrictions, so whichever one of those you want to…um, just put an “X” by it if you want
to, or…
VR: Far as I know, the first one is applicable.
HK: Okay. And then below that, um, we have – there you can print your name and the date. And
then your other information, um, we’re gonna make copies of these tapes so that we can, uh,
contact you and give you a copy, um, as soon as possible. And then today we’ll also give you a
copy of the consent form that you’re signing.
VR: And you want my date on here?
HK: Yeah, what – what is today’s date?
VR: 22nd.
HK: 22nd.
[Pause]
VR: My fingers are stiff nowadays. [HK laughs] Alright. You want the rest of it filled out?
HK: Yeah, the address and your phone number. So that way we can contact you when we have
the tapes ready to give to you.
[Long pause]
VR: I don’t write as fast as I used to.
HK: That’s fine, just take your time.
[Long pause]
VR: I see in today’s paper they have, uh…uh, where they want ‘em to learn how to write again.
HK: Yeah. [Laughs] With some people, you can’t really read their writing anymore, so…
�VR: That’s very true.
HK: Yeah. Alright –
VR: That’s the way I was to begin with [laughs].
HK: Alrighty. So, um, Val, what part of Mexico did your family originally come from?
VR: My, uh, dad came from Leon, Mexico, state of Guanajuato (sic). And my mother also from,
um, the state of Guanajuato (sic). A little town, oh, I’d say, maybe fifteen miles away. [Via?] Del
Plato. Uh…Leon at that time was, uh…a village that the last time I visited, and that’s been over
twenty years ago. It was over 400,000 people.
HK: Yeah.
VR: And, um [clears throat], anyway, uh…my dad, at the young age of – I would say seventeen,
eighteen – when the revolution was there of 1910, uh, was one of the compelling reasons that he
might want to come to the United States. ‘Cause everything was chaos around that part of the
country.
HK: Mm-hmm.
VR: [Clears throat]: Um…they had, at that time, what they call a [unintelligible?] mass which is
kind of a gathering or fiesta-type thing, and they’d invite the young people to come into the city
square and they had music and what have you. Now this is being told, uh, this is repeating.
HK: Uh-huh.
VR: This is – I think that I – and from there they would keep the young men who were eligible
for conscription into the forces. Uh, now, I don’t know whether it was for the federal forces or
the revolutionary forces. This, I never understood. However, [clears throat], my dad supposedly
was, uh, caught in one of those. And, uh, he was in the military of some sort, for a while. And,
uh, the day that they found out that the railroad went north, which was quite a ways to go, they
says, uh, we’ll just drop our arms and go on. And, uh, he came into the United States by way of
El Paso. Uh, permanent residents under the railroad. Uh…at that time, there was not just one
railroad, but, uh, different people on the railroad were connecting. Uh…the rail systems. To
make a rail system. So, uh, my sister Gladys was born in Wichita. She’s – my brother Raymond
is the older, he was born here in Lawrence. And I was born here in Lawrence. So there’s a time
there that, uh, they went from one railroad company into another company until they got to,
uh…uh connect it with Santa Fe. And one of his first stations Santa Fe was Lecompton, Kansas.
And from Lecompton, Kansas, this would be about 1910. Up when ex-president Teddy
Roosevelt came to Lawrence to dedicate the water fountain. My dad got to shake hands with, uh,
Teddy Roosevelt. And, uh, maybe I’m saying this wrong, but he – he said, “Hey, there’s no other
president [unintelligible] that’s the one I met, Teddy Roosevelt.” Uh, this was one of his things
that he kept until age 92 [clears throat]. Uh, coming in…the, uh, railroad would, uh, bring the
�people in and they would drop them at, uh, different, uh, sections. Uh, well, they’d come through
Emporia, they’d come through, uh…actually, I don’t remember the next town there. Then Osage
City, um, Carbondale, Pauline, Topeka, Kansas. Topeka, Kansas, they’d come to Spencer. From
Spencer they’d come to Lecompton. Uh, Lecompton to Lawrence. So my dad chose Lawrence
for the last stop during his stop.
HK: Mm-hmm.
VR: Uh, however, he spent time in Lecompton, working on that particular section. Uh…and, um,
of course they came without any transportation. So, uh, when the railroads would have, uh,
derailment or some need for one section to help another section, to help another section, uh, they
would bring ‘em together. In this way the men, the workers, laborers, would interact to find out
where they came from, what year they may have came – came in, how old are you, how many
chicos do you have, how many niños? Family. Uh…and that’s the way they started to get, uh,
acquainted with one another.
HK: Mm-hmm.
VR: And the Santa Fe at that time, after you worked so long, you were eligible for a pass, which
would let you board the train and you could go to Kansas City, Chicago, or wherever you wanted
to, long as the Santa Fe was running there. Uh…that’s the way my dad knew a few people in
Topeka and – and he never did stay much in Kansas City, because he – he said that was just not,
uh…it just wasn’t his kind of town.
HK: Mm-hmm. So he worked for the Santa Fe railroad?
VR: Yes, he worked for the Santa Fe over 30 years. Mm-hmm. And, uh [laughs] then they had
the lay off just before Social Security, so he didn’t get in on – on that.
HK: Oh.
VR: But he later found a job, of course, and he did get Social Security. But, uh, during those, uh,
earlier years, they had a union or – or an organization and they had medical hospital in Topeka,
uh, for the workers, that is. ‘Cause, uh, I was born at what would be, at the, before the 9th Street.
That’s where the original Santa Fe bunkhouses that were made out of ties, railroad ties, in
Lawrence
HK: Oh.
VR: And, um, that was the housing for the workers. And then, however in ‘27, when I was born,
they made the new houses across the tracks, east, but you had to get in by way of 8th Street to get
to the real nice cement floors, brick, good windows, good doors, good roofs, just a real good
place to be.
HK: This was in Lawrence?
�VR: Yes, this was Lawrence. This was all Lawrence, east Lawrence. Uh, the yards, the Santa Fe
yards were larger than what they are today. And Poehler Company was a wholesaler company
that brought in wholesale groceries for the – for the area. And then they, redistributed it again,
what I understand. I never worked there or [worked?] for there, Mr…let’s see, Mr. Henshaw?
That sound right? Kerchaw. Mr. Kerchaw ran the business at that time. Everybody knew one
another, or knew of one another. So, uh, I went to New York School for, uh, all of us, you might
say, all of us went to school except for a couple of ‘em that went to Pinckney. And then some of
the older boys went to the old Quincey High School, or maybe I’m wrong, high school. No, uh –
Quincey School, uh, where the US Armory used to be on 11th Street. They’re pretty near right
across from, uh, Capitol Federal today.
HK: Oh.
VR: Uh…the Central Junior High, and – and the old high building which was the high school.
And, um, [Manuel?], the other school, there’s one on each corner. Uh, where the schools I went
to for junior high. And then from there, uh, graduated or came to Lawrence High School at 1400
block Massachusetts.
HK: Mm-hmm.
VR: And my brother was the first Mexican boy to graduate from – from the high school. I guess
I was the second one [laughs]. Uh…it was Mr. [Weir?] was my, uh, principal. And, um, I got
drafted, uh, let’s see, I got out of school in – for graduation and then June the 4th, 1945, I entered
the armed forces. Which happened to be Army for me.
HK: Uh-huh.
VR: And I went to the European theater, everybody says: “Why do you call it the European
theater?” [“Hey,” addressing someone who entered the room.] That’s just what it was –
Unknown Person: Excuse me, I’m gonna bring some stuff in, just in case y’all get thirsty, okay?
HK: Okay.
Unknown Person: Some ice…
VR: And then, after serving just a short two years in the Army, I came home at, um, I worked for
Skelly Oil Company.
HK: Mm-hmm.
VR: And a Chrysler Plymouth Agency. And I worked there maybe 20 years, and then after that I
went into the post office. Um, but in the meantime I’d taken a couple of years at the University
of Kansas. And I don’t know if it’s fair to say this or not, but I had a lady counselor that when I
went up to the University of Kansas: “You don’t belong here!” That isn’t what I was there for. I
�– I said: “Young lady, I’m here to learn. I – why do you tell me – tell me that I don’t belong
here?” And, um, I just let it go at that.
HK: Uh-huh.
VR: But she still continued the counseling, but it wasn’t any – any counseling that I would give
to someone else. Uh…I never looked into the lady’s background or anything, but I’d see her
running around campus and she had the hair braided around her head like that. And nobody
spoke to her, so I suppose she was somewhat of a “I’m over here and you guys are over here”…
HK: Yeah. She wasn’t very encouraging.
VR: Not – not very encouraging, no. And, uh…those are the only few jobs I ever had with, uh,
working for Chrysler. And working for Skelly Oil Company.
HK: You did get married?
VR: Oh, yes, yes, I – we would go to, uh, dances like, uh, Ottawa, Chanute. Uh, Kansas City
occasionally, Topeka, and – and, uh, we – some of ‘em were weddings, you know, where
couples married and you know one another and we actually, the old folks knew just about
everybody around. And, uh, they’d say, come get together. Yes, I married in 1957.
HK: Okay.
VR: Mm-hmm. Um, my wife, Elizabeth, is from Osawatomie, Kansas. I met her in Chanute at,
uh, what they call the Sixteenth of September Celebration, ‘cause, uh, Chanute had a big
Mexican population working in the Santa Fe shops. And, the people from Oklahoma,
Independence, Fredonia, Howard, Kansas, uh, Coffeyville, Newton, Wichita, El Dorado, they
would all come in and take over the town for two days.
HK: Oh.
VR: It was quite a celebration, quite a get-together.
HK: Uh-huh.
VR: That’s where I met her. [HK laughs] And, uh, the funny part about it was, the next time I
met her was at Ottawa, and, uh, I was sitting right next to her and I really didn’t pay much
attention to her. And, uh, I went out and danced and when I came back to sit down on the chair –
when I sat down on the chair, the chair collapsed.
HK: Uh-oh.
VR: And I said, that’s when I really saw her. [HK laughs] And from there on, we became friends
and later – then got married…and everybody says: “Hey, somebody just wanted you to see who
was next to you.” [HK laughs] But the chair did break. [HK laughs]. Yeah…
�HK: How many children do you have?
VR: Four.
HK: Four.
VR: Two boys and two girls.
HK: Mm-hmm.
VR: Yes, and all the children went to high school. The oldest girl, she finished college. Of course
you plan for the first one, and you don’t really plan for the – the full commitment –
HK: Yeah.
VR: Of the rest, because, uh, well, to hear the prices of college now as to the prices of college
then, um, I even kind of wonder how I got my first daughter through college.
HK: Mm-hmm.
VR: Um, I wasn’t making that much, and although I was very fortunate, I averaged about $305
dollars a month, and, uh, that – that was a pretty good salary at that time.
HK: Mm-hmm. Could you describe – did you live in La Yarda?
VR: Yes.
HK: Could you describe a little bit about, um, what it was like living there and what it looked
like, and…?
VR: Oh, okay, uh…the yard, if you take this container here, it was kind of an E-shape without
the center. And then this other side was, say, facing the center. We had a community pump on
the south side. And [clears throat] the toilets were on the opposite side. Uh, two sets, one for
each side.
HK: Those were like outhouses?
VR: Yes, outhouses.
HK: Like the – mm-hmm.
VR: There were – there was an apartment here on this corner, apartment here, apartment here,
and an apartment at this corner. And the – the ladies would plant flowers in front of their houses
to equal the outer shape of the – of the “L,” you might say.
�HK: Mm-hmm.
VR: And, uh, then where the pump house – now this is City water – not City water, it was Santa
Fe well water, which was made for the old steam engines to refill.
HK: Mm-hmm.
VR: I don’t think the City was connected to that, but we had piped water –
HK: Mm-hmm.
VR: Not, uh, lever pump. Uh [clears throat] from there, uh…there was a big walnut tree. I would
say that that walnut tree was half as big as this table.
HK: Wow.
VR: And under that tree on the hot summer days, lunch was under that tree. Picnic style, you
might say.
HK: Mm-hmm.
VR: And, uh, ‘course each family brought enough for their, each family. That was one of the
things there. And back here, towards, behind the outhouses, we made, a – leveled off some
ground and we’d play, uh, something like tennis, only we had paddles instead of tennis rackets.
And we’d build our own playhouse, uh…out of logs and what have you, kind of a little stage
there, but it was on the ground.
HK: Mm-hmm.
VR: And we would, uh, uh…dramatize, uh…we had the – uh, an older boy that was a little bit
hard of hearing. But he had ideas. He says: “Let’s do this and let’s do that,” and we’d, uh, we
were actors. [HK laughs] We were actors. And I don’t remember exact scenes or – they were
strictly what little we knew there, and, uh, one of the scenes was: “Ahhh! I am a great hunter, I
shall go out and hunt a rabbit.” And that was the end of it. [HK laughs] And the next scene was,
uh…what was it…oh: “I am a musician. I have a guitar but I don’t know how to play it.”
[Laughs] Well – I mean, this is – is really true, what we were doing, we…uh, and then we’d say:
“Well, up at school, we sit down and we write and we read and Mrs. Wood and Miss Overly,
they tell us, they’ll read a story to us.” So one of the girls would – we didn’t have books, like you
might say, and she put her hands up like this and kind of read a – a makeup story, you know.
HK: Mm-hmm.
VR: I – I forget what the subjects were, but really, for not having material readings, we, uh, we
were still competent at reading. And, uh, this particular family, the Romeros, were transferred to
Humboldt, Kansas, which is south, pretty near to Chanute. So, us – my brother and mom and
another family – decided to go visit them. Uh, one Sunday afternoon – one Sunday, whole day,
�we left early and came back late. The thing was, we said: “Okay, what’s the name of your
town?” “Oh…is it Hamburger?” [Both laugh]. So we…we said: “Well, write it out for us.” And
– and, uh, that – that was one of the descriptions of the town Humboldt, Kansas. I remember that
real well, and I said: “Hamburger? That doesn’t quite…” Well, however. Uh…then that
particular family was moved back to Lawrence. Uh [clears throat], and my – now, if I go back to
Lecompton, and my dad, like I said, worked on the railroad. But in the cold weather, they would,
uh, uh, not give ‘em vacation, but they’d, uh, there was just time that they really couldn’t work.
HK: Mm-hmm.
VR: So he worked for a pipe company that was building a pipeline through one side of
Lecompton.
HK: Mm-hmm.
VR: I don’t know whether it was gas or gasoline or what it was, but they…they said my dad was
a smaller man, [murmurs] very muscular, very short person, very agile. He could have been a
good gymnasium – you know, a gymnast. And they’d send him down at the bottom of the pipe,
the pipe was to align it, cause they’d say: “Hey, Johnny! John, John! Go down there and check
that pipe.” And I – I kept thinking back, I said: “You know, Dad, you used to take a lot of
chances going down in those ditches, ‘cause they could cave in or something.” He says: “Yeah,”
he says, “You know, I didn’t think anything about it; it just was a day’s work.” I said: “But, Dad,
how come, uh…you did that?” And he said: “Well, I had to work. We had to earn money,” he
says, “the farmer down the road wanted to sell me some land for two dollars an acre, and I was
trying to make money.” But we never did buy that land, so…two dollars an acre is – compared to
what it is today, that’s quite a…well, anyway. Then I look back and our Sunflower Ordinance
work came out, some of the young ladies that were left here applied to work out there, and they
were on that powder line, the mixing, that were highly explosive just like any [murmurs]. I said:
“Did you guys work there?” I said, and they said: “Yes, even your sister was there.” I said: “How
long was my sister working there?” She worked two weeks and that was all. [HK laughs]. She
said the, uh, the explosion rate was too high.
HK: Yeah.
VR: Uh, for the flash, and I should – not explosion, but flash –
HK: Mm-hmm.
VR: That place. But, uh…far as Lawrence, we would come to the concerts at South Park. We
would go to the University, they had a summer school, uh, dances up there. We’d attend those.
‘Course we’d go to the museum, and we’d see Comanche Indians [HK laughs, tape cuts off].
END OF TAPE 20A
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Tape 20b: Interview with Valentin Romero
Interviewer: Helen Krische
Date of Interview: 2006
Length of Interview: 32:56
Location of Interview: St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church
Transcription Completion Date: November 20, 2020
Transcriptionist: Emily Raymond
Valentin Romero (Interviewee): Our other trip was to go the University and we’d have a picnic
up there, at [unintelligible].
Helen Krische (Interviewer): Uh-huh.
VR: But this was on a streetcar, not a – not a bus or –
HK: Was Woodland Parks still in operation at that time?
VR: Uh, Woodland Park was there; it was operated by [Game?] Price.
HK: Mm-hmm.
VR: Uh, related to – let’s see, his sister – his wife was part – one of [unintelligible] family. And,
um, Woodland Park, the way I remember it, they had a baseball diamond, they had a horse track,
and that’s all I can remember. And it was, if you go down 11th Street and could have gone
straight through the woods, uh, that’s where it was.
HK: Okay. So it was – was it right next to the cemetery, is that right?
VR: Uh, before you get to St. John’s or Mount Calvary Cemetery. Uh, it was towards the
railroad tracks. Mm-hmm.
HK: Now, the – the houses in the La Yarda, were they constructed of brick?
VR: Yes. The ones that were constructed on the east side of the railroad, uh, by way of entrance
of 8th Street, they were very, they were cement slabs, brick house, double brick. And, uh, like I
said, good windows and good doors, air-tight. And a chimney, they had, for your wood stove, of
course, at that time. Uh, wood stove was for making food and, uh, for heat in the wintertime.
HK: How did those compare with, like, Union Pacific houses?
VR: Now, Union Pacific housing at that time, what little I remember, were boxcars.
HK: Okay.
VR: They were modified boxcars. Very, very neat, but of course an 80-foot boxcar is quite a bit
of space.
�HK: Mm-hmm.
VR: Like today home trailers.
HK: Okay.
VR: They’re about 80 foot.
HK: Yeah. Did they have the boxcars, like, divided up into rooms, or…? How did –
VR: Uh, most generally one family per boxcar.
HK: Uh-huh.
VR: Uh, yes, they, uh, if they didn’t have walls, uh, they strung a curtain or – or…whatever it
was for privacy.
HK: Mm-hmm.
VR: And, uh, now those people had a – a pump. They had a hand pump. Uh, they didn’t have…
well, Union Pacific had their own water systems for their steam engines. But, uh, they didn’t
have it for all the different sections.
HK: So the water that you got that was piped in, was that sanitary water, that you know of?
VR: Yes, it, uh, ‘cause it was the same water that the Santa Fe depot used for their own use
within the depot.
HK: Mm-hmm. What – what did you all do for healthcare? Like if you had to see the doctor,
or…?
VR: Well, uh, under healthcare…the quickest doctor I can think of is Dr. Orchard (sic). He was a
family practitioner, and he brought a lot of the babies into the world.
HK: Mm-hmm. Did – did he make house calls there, at, uh…?
VR: Oh, yes, they made house calls. And I was gonna say Dr. Cabell? But that isn’t the right
name. Um…he was, uh, right down the street from 9th Street and Kentucky. Upstairs [clears
throat], uh, he was another – another doctor. And then the surgeon, Dr. Zimmerman, uh, well,
they were the three basic – there was other doctors, and Dr. Jones, but they were the three basic
doctors that, uh, our people went to.
HK: Mm-hmm. And did– did the Santa Fe Railroad help to pay for your healthcare, or was
there…?
�VR: Uh, the healthcare that the Santa Fe had was for, uh, the worker only.
HK: Oh, okay.
VR: I don’t recall that it was for family. See, like I said, my dad came out of the railroad system
just when Social Security kicked in. And at that time, they may have had other provisions within
their, uh, medical health.
HK: Okay. And dental care, was there any dental care at that time?
VR: Uh, yes, Dr. McFarland [spelling?]. Dr. McFarland was a good doctor, but he – he was an
older dentist, and all I can remember is this one person said: “I have a bad tooth, and I have a bad
tooth, I’ll go to see Dr. McFarland.” Dr. McFarland said: “Alright, climb up here. And we’ll take
that tooth out.” And he said: “That poor doctor did as much as he could, and couldn’t come out,
and he says: “I’m gonna have to get on top of you to – to get – get that tooth out.” And he said,
he practically climbed on him to remove the tooth, but other than that, that’s just one of the
stories.
HK: Yeah. [Both laugh]
VR: But, uh, I don’t recall us as a family having tooth problems. I mean, we may have had ‘em,
we may have had ‘em, or…because I didn’t start seeing the dentist until I went to school and
they would examine your teeth and kind of give you a little checkup.
HK: Now, did you – did you grow up speaking Spanish, or were you –
VR: Yeah.
HK: Bilingual, or…?
VR: Uh, I was…my sister and my brother had gone to school earlier.
HK: Mm-hmm.
VR: So they – they were already ahead of me. But being I stayed home, I spoke to my mom and
dad in Spanish.
HK: Uh-huh.
VR: And, uh, my – I say that my mom and dad knew good Spanish. I don’t know if you
understand…like people have street Spanish out here, or street English, and over here they have,
uh, uh, broken English.
HK: Uh-huh.
�VR: My – my mom and dad spoke good Spanish. What I call good Spanish. Uh…in fact, the
whole community spoke the better Spanish, in my opinion.
HK: Did you teach your children any Spanish? Did they grow up speaking any Spanish?
VR: What was that, now?
HK: Did your children grow up speaking Spanish?
VR: Yes, up till the – the time my grandfather – their grandfather died.
HK: Mm-hmm.
VR: Mm-hmm. Now, my last two children, Grandfather was already gone, so, uh…sure, they
know enchilada, comadres, uh, things like that, and Carlos O’Kelly, and…[HK laughs] uh, but,
uh, they can understand a lot of it.
HK: Uh-huh.
VR: But their words are stumbling sometimes. And we do use Spanish, and if we come up to a
word, they’ll throw English in there, and keep on going.
HK: Sure, sure.
VR: Now, on my wife’s side, out of their little town of Osawatomie, they had to learn English
because, uh, there were just so few of them, even if it was a – a roundhouse, uh…community,
there wasn’t that many Spanish-speaking people. They were mostly Italian.
HK: Oh.
VR: Mm-hmm. And, uh, she, the mother, her mother knew good English, I mean, very well, in
English. Her mother and – and my – Liz’s uncle – he lived in Stanley, which was…oh, I don’t
know how far, maybe 40 miles away from there. And, uh, they were just one family. One family,
so they – they just fell in to the community.
HK: Mm-hmm. Did you have any other extended family living with you? I know that you had
your dad and mom were there of course, but did you have any aunts and uncles that – ?
VR: No. No, I did not. However, this lady, Matiana from Eudora, uh, I’d hear all the children:
“We’re gonna go to Grandmother’s house, or Grandmother’s coming over!” And I asked my
mom, I said: “Mama, I don’t have a grandmother.” She said: “No, you don’t, you – you have
yours in Mexico.” So this lady Matiana said: “I’ll be your grandmother.” And…well, what do
you think, I mean, sure! So, now I was in grade school when this happened. So I would get on
the train, Santa Fe train, the workman’s, uh, the work train. And I’d ride the caboose to Eudora.
And, uh, then – this would be on a Friday, maybe, or a Saturday, I’d go – and then I’d spend the
night with them at Eudora, at her house. And, well, hey, I did chores, I did what little I did,
�‘cause – and then I’d come back in the big train from Kansas City to Lawrence, and it would stop
at Eudora and pick you up and bring you in. Yes, that was quite a deal. I did that until the lady
passed away, and I guess I would have been, uh, I was still in junior high. And I was one of the
pallbearers. And they lived away from the main road and…and, uh, when she passed away, it
rained so much that they couldn’t get through that road.
HK: Oh.
VR: So we carried the casket, well, maybe today you might say a quarter of a mile.
HK: Wow.
VR: And, uh, we just walked it all the way through. And, you know, we never did rest. We just
walked it and I was one of the carriers.
HK: Mm-hmm.
VR: One of the pallbearers. But that lady, I – I don’t know if she ever had a husband or not, but,
uh, she had a son by the name of John. And, uh, they were just good people. Good people to me,
uh…well, she – she says: “What would you like to eat?” or, you know…just like a, you might
say, a grandmother spoils a kid.
HK: Sure.
VR: And I think that, like she said, uh…uh, in Spanish: “Tu eres la luz de la casa,” in other
words, saying: “You are the light of home, the…You bring light into our home.”
HK: How sweet.
VR: Uh-huh. And I…kind of remember that.
HK: Did you, uh, were you aware of any prejudice in Lawrence growing up, or, um…?
VR: Well, I really didn’t know what prejudice was.
HK: Uh-huh.
VR: Uh, I ate at the restaurants, at Mr. Reed’s. I, uh…I went to the show. Let’s see, what else did
I do…I went to the barbershop. Well, I did just about everything.
HK: Mm-hmm.
VR: ‘Course, uh…you might say I was kind of a loner there for a while, ‘cause all the other boys
were already working and they were, uh, doing what they’re doing.
HK: Mm-hmm.
�VR: And, uh, they had brothers and sisters: “Oh, I’m gonna go with my brother or I’m gonna go
with my sister. Or the three of us are gonna go,” And see, I was – I was the only one left in our
family and I kind of had to go, well, kind of alone.
HK: Mm-hmm.
VR: Yes. Uh…no, but, uh, the only thing that bothered me – well, not – not bothered me – but I
saw here at St. John’s that, um, they wanted us, when we came to Mass, to sit on the back pews.
HK: Mm.
VR: But I didn’t take that as, uh, as being discriminating. I mean, I didn’t feel it at that time.
HK: Mm-hmm.
VR: Maybe it – it was, maybe – maybe…but we did occupy the last, um, pews. Mm-hmm.
HK: Did your family join St. John’s when they first came here to Lawrence?
VR: Yes, yes.
HK: Yeah, so…that is a long –
VR: In fact, in 1927 when I was born, Dad said: “Hey, they built a church for you.” [HK laughs]
See, if you look at our cornerstone, it says 1927.
HK: Uh-huh.
VR: Yeah, yeah. Marie Ice, and Ice [murmurs] under, we were baptized under Father Fitzgerald.
I can’t think of his first name. Yeah…uh, yes I would attend the summer relish – uh, religion
school with the nuns from Leavenworth. No, I – I don’t feel, ‘cause the boys I ran around in high
school, we would go to the Meadow Acres in Topeka to see the big bands. And, uh…then the
university occasionally would get a big band and we’d go to that.
HK: Mm-hmm.
VR: Although I never did go to the, uh, the high school prom, I – I guess I just didn’t go.
[laughs]. But as far as going in the – we’d get over to the Dynamite, which was over past 23rd
Street. And then Mr. Wiedeman’s, he would serve us ice cream though he had other stuff he
could sell, but, uh…we usually got a dish of ice cream. Then, the Velvet Freeze, we’d sit down
in there and we’d be served. I don’t recall any – I mean, to me, now, now this is just me. Maybe
somebody else had a different experience. But, no… But I noticed that Ottawa and Topeka and
some of those towns were really bad about that. I don’t know what the reason was, but, uh…I
suppose they had ugly moments or something.
�HK: Yeah. So how do you think, um, the lives of Mexican-Americans today differ? I mean, do
you think it’s a lot better for them now? Um, what advantages do you see that they have?
VR: Well, uh, when we lived down there at the section houses, everybody was the same. Nobody
had money.
HK: Mm-hmm.
VR: I mean, you could come down Massachusetts Street and you’d know all the – all the shop
owners, and they were a little better off, of course. [Clears throat] But far as the children that
went to school at New York School, uh…uh, we were all on the same level. ‘Cause I remember
one kid by the name of Charles, he says: “What is money?” You know? “Uh, I don’t know any
math.” But hey, I – I had a quarter my mom…on Saturdays would give me a quarter and I’d
come to the [Pathe?] Theatre. And I’d buy popcorn, and then after that I had enough to buy a
hamburger at Mr. Reed’s hamburger stand. And when I spent my quarter, that was the end of the
day. [HK laughs]
HK: Well, can you think of anything else that…?
VR: Well, at our house we never had a lock.
HK: Oh.
VR: We – we never locked our door.
HK: Uh-huh.
VR: If, uh…my dad had some tools, like a saw or hammer, couple of hammers, a – a big
sledgehammer, uh…different-sized saws, and things that people’d say: “John, I need a – I need a
heavy hammer!” “Well you know where it’s at, it’s over in the tool house there at home!” And
they’d have wedges for splitting wood, you know.
HK: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
VR: Uh…well…and then, of course, when my brother learned how to drive, we bought us a
Model A Ford truck and we did a little hauling, you know, people, they – they, sometimes they’d
move and they’d say: “Can you haul this over to the other house?” We did things like that. And
then in the ‘40s, ‘39s and ‘40s, before the ‘51 flood, uh…in the summertime the whole town, not
– not only us – would go out and pick potatoes with, uh…hauled out potatoes on the other side of
the river.
HK: Oh.
VR: I – I worked for Mr. Nicholson, a – a gentleman, an older gentleman that had a greenhouse
on East 11th. And I’d help him plant tomatoes, I’d help him cut asparagus, uh…in the fall, we,
�uh, picked turnips. Uh, what else did we do…well, anyways, he didn’t have no – he had
livestock, but we didn’t move bales or anything like that.
HK: Mm-hmm.
VR: That came later on. I…I learned quite a bit from him. He, uh, him and Annie, uh, ran this,
well, 80-acre farm. Well, that’s what, uh…people used to be able to live off of an 80-acre farm
that they’d raise corn, they’d raise, uh…oh, what else would they raise…? And then he had him
an apple orchard there, to one side, by an apple orchard, I think he had eighteen trees and, uh, he
did a lot of spraying work and a lot of taking care of the orchard.
HK: Mm-hmm.
VR: And then there was a vinegar cider plant on, uh, the 800 block of, uh, Pennsylvania. And
when the, uh, apple season was on, and – and I didn’t go out to Mr. Nicholson, I’d bring me a
bag, take it to school, and then on the way back I’d stop at Mr. Krum’s, uh, vinegar place. I’d
say: “Mr. Krum, do you have any good apples?” He said: “Well, you know all the apples I use
for vinegar, why don’t you go back there and fill up your own sack?” Well, a little sack was a
little bit bigger than a little sack. [HK laughs] And he said: “Oh, do you have a dime?” I said:
“Sure, I have a dime,” that’s about what I…he’d charge me. And every once in a while I
wouldn’t have my dime, he says: “Go back there, go back there.” [HK laughs] He was real good
to – to me, anyhow. I – I don’t know…
HK: Did you, um, where – do you remember the – the POW camp being over on that side? How
– how far was it from, um, the…La Yarda there?
VR: Uh, just across the tracks.
HK: Okay.
VR: Across the main line and two spur tracks. The two spur tracks I’m talking about are where
we had the bulk stations of gasoline, bulk stations. Uh…they would bring in carloads of…uh,
train carloads of gasoline and it’d be siphoned out of the tank car into storage cars. There was,
uh, Skelly Oil Company, City Service, [RV?], and then two other companies that had a – a line
up there. And then immediately to the east was, uh, POW camp, mm-hmm.
HK: Was there – ?
VR: But, uh, they didn’t give us any trouble, they…they, a couple of ‘em spoke English.
HK: Mm-hmm.
VR: Let’s see, what was the only phrase I knew at that time? This was pre-, pre-Army time. [HK
laughs]. Uh… ‘Course, I’d hear the other older people downtown said: “Wie sprechen Sie
Deutsch?” and uh, uh…well, I said [unintelligible] and…Well, that, you know. And, uh, yeah,
�they had their compound, wired compound there. Far as trouble, they were no trouble, they –
they were farmed out to people with farms.
HK: Mm-hmm.
VR: You know…
HK: So when the ‘51 flood came, did that destroy the compound there, or…?
VR: The water was above the chimney.
HK: Oh, gosh.
VR: Of the place, there. And, uh [clears throat] Joe Ramirez and myself, we went down there
when the water was coming across the 8th Street road. And we told the folks: “The water is
coming, and they say it’s gonna be above your houses. Move.” And, um, well, us young kids,
you might say, we were – we would still be…we would still be about, uh, under eighteen, trying
to tell older folks what to do, or –
HK: Mm-hmm.
VR: Or what we recommended that somebody else told us to do. Yes, they moved, but they left
their – some of their furniture stuff, uh, propped up –
HK: Mm-hmm.
VR: Uh, and then of course you – when you come back, everything’s in disarray.
HK: Mm-hmm. So did the – did the people move out at that time from the compound?
VR: Yes, they all moved into town. A few of them stayed in town afterwards. Uh…it, they
reclaimed it, just as good as it was before…
HK: Mm-hmm. Well, I think we’re about to run out of tape.
VR: Oh, my goodness. Time, huh? Yeah, that’s the one thing you don’t want to run out of.
HK: That’s right, that’s right. Well, I thank you very much for coming and telling – telling us
about your experiences.
VR: Well, uh…there’s probably a lot of other things to say, but, uh…you’ll – you’ll get it from
the rest of the people.
HK: Uh-huh, uh-huh. Fantastic.
VR: But, uh, sometimes, if you get two or three – at least two of them together –
�HK: Mm-hmm.
VR: They’ll, uh, they’ll bring up ideas, families. See, now, like I said, I was just Mom and Dad
and my sister there for a while.
HK: Mm-hmm.
VR: My brother was in the Navy for four years. In fact, he enlisted, uh, one day before the 1941,
when the…December the 7th. He enlisted in the – when they made the announcement over the
radio, he took off to Kansas City and they sent him up to Great Lakes and then from there they
turned around and sent him to San Diego.
HK: Yeah.
VR: Uh, I just went to Leavenworth a couple of times [HK laughs]. Then they – then they sent
me to Camp Hood, Texas, for, uh…I took my training.
HK: Mm-hmm.
VR: But, uh, my brother and I, uh…noticed that some of the boys that had been in the army, like
Mr.…um, well anyways, he was sheriff here at one time. Uh, Saunders. Uh…Sanders, Sanders.
He was already in the Army in Hawaii and he would write – I think his folks moved, were
renting and they had to move from one house to another. And, uh…they miscommunicated, and,
uh, that’s when my brother and I, and my sisters said: “We’re gonna buy a house so Dad and
Mom will have an address that we can write to while we were in the service.”
HK: Oh, that’s…okay. Well, um…I think what I’m gonna do is, let me get you a copy of this.
[Long pause] This consent form. [Tape cuts off at 28:54]
END OF TAPE 20B
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
La Yarda Oral History Project
Subject
The topic of the resource
La Yarda (Lawrence, Kan.)
Mexican Americans -- Housing -- Kansas -- Lawrence
Mexican Americans -- History -- Kansas -- Lawrence
Mexican Americans -- Social conditions -- Kansas -- Lawrence
Description
An account of the resource
La Yarda was a neighborhood of worker housing provided by the Santa Fe Railroad for Mexican-American railroad workers in Lawrence, Kansas; located near the Kansas (Kaw) River, the neighborhood was largely destroyed by a major flood in 1951. In 2006, Helen Krische, archivist at the Watkins Community Museum, began an oral history project to document the La Yarda and Mexican-American communities in Lawrence, Kansas. The project was resumed in 2019 by Nora Murphy and Emily Raymond. The interviews primarily feature the children of the railroad workers who migrated to Lawrence in the early 20th century; they describe daily life, social activities, and living conditions in the Mexican-American community in Lawrence from roughly the 1920s through the 1970s.
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
La Yarda Oral History Project
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Watkins Community Museum (Lawrence, Kan.)
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2006
2019
2021
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
These works are the intellectual property of the Watkins Museum of History, Lawrence, Kansas. The public may freely copy, modify, and share this Item for noncommercial purposes if they include the original source information. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewer
The person(s) performing the interview
Krische, Helen
Raymond, Emily
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed
Romero, Valentin
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
MP4
Duration
Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.)
01:01:31 (video)
00:31:45 (20a audio)
00:32:56 (20b audio)
Bit Rate/Frequency
Rate at which bits are transferred (i.e. 96 kbit/s would be FM quality audio)
97 kbps
3712 kbps
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Valentin Romero La Yarda Interview
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Romero, Valentin
Description
An account of the resource
Valentin Romero was interviewed by Helen Krische in 2006 as part of an oral history project to document the La Yarda and Mexican-American communities in Lawrence, Kansas. La Yarda was a neighborhood of worker housing provided by the Santa Fe Railroad for Mexican-American railroad workers; located near the Kansas (Kaw) River, the neighborhood was largely destroyed by a major flood in 1951. Valentin lived with his parents and siblings in Lawrence's La Yarda neighborhood, and then in East Lawrence. Valentin describes his family's migration from Mexico to Lawrence, his father's work for the railroad, and his school experiences. Valentin discusses his work history, and describes how he met his wife. He describes the living conditions in the La Yarda neighborhood, childhood pasttimes, and social activities of the Mexican-American community in Lawrence and other Kansas towns. Valentin discusses experiences of discrimination and segregation encountered by Mexican-American community members. Valentin also describes the impact of the 1951 flood on the La Yarda neighborhood.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Krische, Helen
Raymond, Emily
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Lawrence (Kan.)
1920s - 1970s
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2006
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
MP4 (video recording)
MP3 (audio recording)
PDF (transcription)
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
20-VRomero-2006.mp4 (video)
20a-VRomero-2006.mp3 (audio) and 20a-VRomero-2006.pdf (transcription)
20b-VRomero-2006.mp3 (audio) and 20b-VRomero-2006.pdf (transcription)
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Watkins Community Museum (Lawrence, Kan.)
Relation
A related resource
To access the video and audio recordings of this interview, go to <a href="https://archive.org/details/20-vromero-2006">https://archive.org/details/20-vromero-2006</a>.
The <a href="https://www.watkinsmuseum.org/">Watkins Museum of History</a> also holds items related to this collection.
<a href="https://archives.lib.ku.edu/repositories/3/resources/5295">Additional research on the La Yarda community</a> is held at the Spencer Research Library at the University of Kansas.
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
Published with the permission of Elizabeth Romero, on behalf of Valentin Romero. This work is the intellectual property of the Watkins Museum of History, Lawrence, Kansas. The public may freely copy, modify, and share this Item for noncommercial purposes if they include the original source information. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
La Yarda Oral History Project
Subject
The topic of the resource
La Yarda (Lawrence, Kan.)
Mexican Americans -- Housing -- Kansas -- Lawrence
Mexican Americans -- History -- Kansas -- Lawrence
Mexican Americans -- Social conditions -- Kansas -- Lawrence
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Oral History