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AR: Well, let's get back to you. After you worked at the Harvey House, then your next job was with the Ranch Kitchen?

MM: I went to the Ranch Kitchen before I... let's see, how was it? No. I was at the Harvey House, before that I had been at the Manhattan for a while and then I went to the Harvey House and I worked at the Harvey House for ten years. And then they were going to close the Harvey House at that time, so that's when I went to work for the Ranch Kitchen.

AR: Okay. It would have been late '50s probably?

MM: Yeah. That's... I mean, we had to look for something else. They just closed the restaurant down completely.

AR: Now, what was your husband doing by that time?

MM: He worked for the city for thirty-five years.

AR: Okay. What kind of job?

MM: He used those, what is those old machines? Graders or...

AR: Oh, uh-huh. And snow plow graders?

MM: Is that the... he used to grade the streets. At the time there plenty of places that they had to grade.

AR: I see, uh-huh. Okay. And he didn't mind you working?

MM: At the beginning, he did. And then when we come back, he wanted me to quit. I was already at the Ranch Kitchen and I told him, "Look, Louie," I says, "We got a lot there. Why don't we just go ahead and try and build us a house before, you know, I start quitting? I'm able to help you now." And, oh, he thought it out and this here was one of those mine houses from Gramerco.

AR: Oh.

MM: And they were selling them. And this was from... Well, this is all new. But from here back, that's where we remodeled it and that's where he and I'd done the boards and all that stuff. You know?

AR: Brought the house from Gramerco?

MM: This is what we worked on. Well, it was all from Gramerco, the house, and we got somebody to do the outside, the plaster, the roof. We couldn't do things like that, but they fixed all that stuff. And we done the inside.

AR: It's beautiful. It's nice.

MM: Well, every nail that went into place, I handed to him. [Laughs]

AR: And so how did you manage raising your daughters and working at the same time?

MM: My mother-in-law was always next door. There was a house here and she lived there. And when she passed away, he got it and so she took care of them for... when she didn't, then my sister-in-law, Helen, that was her house at that time. She used to take care of them, mainly the family.

AR: I see. Did they all grow up straight and narrow? Did they all grow up well?

MM: With Louie around, they had to. The one that battled, tried to battle is that Shorty. She'll battle anything. And she come and, "You be home by nine o'clock." "Why? Why do I have to come home at nine o'clock? Now look at Gloria. She can come home at eleven." I said, "Because Gloria doesn't have you for a father and I have you, you have me for a father. You be here. "I don't see why." She'd go on battling, and I'm telling you, she was... she still is. [Laughs]

AR: She's an active, pretty big activist for the community, right?

MM: Oh, she gets into everything. Yeah. She was with the city for a good while there.

AR: Now did your kids go to college?

MM: They went to business college.

AR: Business school, uh-huh.

MM: Yeah. So I don't know. I tried to educate them as much as possible. The thing was, they went to Albuquerque with the tips that I used to make as a waitress, and whatever. I'd save that money and that's what paid their college. So it was, it paid off to be a [inaudible].

AR: Now do you think you've tried to pass on any Japanese qualities or beliefs to your children?

MM: The one that showed it most is Shorty. Inez, you know, she's different, yeah. But she kind of brings out the Japanese in her every now and then. So...

AR: Are there Hispanic culture values that you've passed onto your children? Are they all, are they in the Catholic Church, in the Catholic faith?

MM: Oh, they're Catholics, yeah. They're... every one of my kids are Catholics. So...

AR: Are there other things that you tried to instill pride in them about their Hispanic heritage?

MM: Well, you know what? I think my husband had more to do with that than I did, because I was working all the time. And I'd get out of work and he'd come and he'd take over and you know, babysit with them. I mean, if I had to go to work at four o'clock in the afternoon, he'd come home as soon as he got out of work and he took over the babysitting part and I would get out at nine or something like that. And so they, like I says, the only one that tried to trouble me is that little Shorty there.

AR: Did any of your daughters or your grandchildren marry Japanese Americans?

MM: No. Inez is married to a Spanish, Vacas, from here. And then got a divorce and then she married Heron, Robert Heron. And Shorty, she just got married once and maybe he liked her, but then that's it.

<End Segment 14> - Copyright © 2012 New Mexico JACL and Densho. All Rights Reserved.