| Interviewer |
Gomez |
| Where are you originated from? |
I was born in Chicago, Illinois. |
| Your ancestors, you don’t know where they came from? |
From Mexico. |
| From Mexico. What part of Mexico? |
Zacatecas, Guadalajara, just spread all over. They’re all over. |
| How big was your family? |
How big? My family? I have five kids. Three daughters and two sons. |
| What about like your parents? You have any brothers or... |
I have three brothers and one sister. |
| Where did you grow up? |
In East LA. Went to Roosevelt, Hollenbeck, and Soto and Breed St. School. |
| What year did you graduate from high school, from Roosevelt High School? |
1957. |
| How was high school growing up? |
How was what? |
| High school growing up. |
How was it here at Roosevelt? Well, it was quite different because it was a mixture of different people. We had Asians, we had Jewish, Armenians, Blacks, Latinos. So it wasn’t predominantly Hispanic like it is now. It was just a mixture. |
| Was there a lot of violence? |
No. We didn’t have too much violence. Oh, we had a few fights and so on but...We had gangs: White Fence, Little Soto, Flats, and so on but they kept to themselves and it wasn’t like it is now. You could walk down the street at night, go to Hollenbeck Park at night, walk around, and you wouldn’t have the problems that you have now. |
| Tell us about a time when you really got in trouble. |
When I really got in trouble? |
| Uh huh. |
You want to hear my little story? |
| Yeah. |
Okay. When I was about seven years old, eight years old, I was going to Breed Street School and a couple of my friends, peer pressure at the time, asked me to go fishing at Hollenbeck Park and I didn’t want to go. But I did. So there was four of us that went to Hollenbeck and we were fishing and oh...about 20 minutes later this man came up to us and he says, “What are you boys doing here?” And we said, “Well, we’re fishing.” He took out a badge and he was evidently a truant officer. So he took us to the office at Breed Street School, the principal. And the principal told us to come after school and do some work because we ditched but at the time I didn’t know what the word ditch meant. You know, we just left. So we stayed after school and we did some chores and so on.
So when I went home, my mother asked me in Spanish, “How was school?” And I said, “Fine, Mom” because she used to tell me this all the time, ask me this. But then she asked me again, “How was school?” And I said, “Fine” but normally she doesn’t ask twice. So I walked into the kitchen and once again my mother asked me in Spanish, “How was school?” And I said, “Fine.” And yet I couldn’t realize why she asked me three times. And then she turned around and looked at me, she said, “Your principal called me.” And I said, “Oh oh, I’m in trouble.” So my mother said, “Wait ’til your father gets home.” Now, my mother, when she would scold us, it wasn’t too bad. But my father would use anything, pick up anything, to hit us. You know. I mean, it wasn’t abuse but if you did something wrong, at the time, you were going to get something.
But anyway, my dad got home about 9 o’clock that night and I was in bed and I figure, wow, since I’m in bed he’s not going to do too much. But I could hear his footsteps coming to my room and once again, in Spanish, he says, “Son, how was, how’s everything?” Says, “Oh, fine.” Says, “What happened?” I says, “Well, I went to school and I went fishing.” And at the time that he was asking me these questions he was taking out his belt , okay, so I was already crying. And he said, “Son, do you know why I’m doing this?” And I said yes. And he said, “Why?” Says, “Why? Because,” I said, “Because I, I didn’t go to school.” And he says, “No, son. I’m not going to do this because you didn’t go to to school. The thing is you lied to your mother three times. She asked you three times how was school and you said fine. Now, if you were man enough, you would have said what you, what you did.” So he did hit me three times
and it wasn’t because I ditched, it was because I lied to my mother. And I learned the lesson there because my father told me, he says, “You’re going to grow up and you’re going to do a lot of things, good and bad and wrong, but never lie.” And my mother’s 93 years old right now and I don’t lie to her right now. True story. |
| What’s your best childhood memory? |
Sports. I grew up in a loyal White Fence and I think I was involved in sports and a lot of my friends that I grew up with were in sports but we went to junior high school and they started to hang around with the, the opposite side, you might say. Started to hang around with White Fence and a lot of my friends turned to the wrong road. |
| What kind of sports did you play? |
I played football and baseball here at Roosevelt High School. And I was a quarterback and Captain and I made All City here at Roosevelt. |
| What did you do for fun? |
For fun? Oh, we went to parties. We went to the beach, to the park, joined clubs. And I used to belong to a car club. At the time we used to have a lot of car clubs. It was called the Vampires. |
| Where did you live? |
On Chicago Street, right by the hospital. |
| Describe your wedding proposal. |
My wedding? |
| Proposal. |
When I asked my wife? |
| Yeah. |
Well, it’s really...(laugh) I didn’t ask my wife. She asked me. She said it was about time and she wanted to know what I was going to do. I said , “Well, I’m too young to get married.” I was already twenty-five, twenty-four and she was eighteen. But, at the time, girls, women used to get married kind of early. You know, eighteen, nineteen. But I thought I was too young. I thought I was still too...I loved the single life. Independence. But it was my decision and uh...But as far as asking who asked whom, she asked me, you know, what we were going to do. |
| What advice would you give your child or your grandchild on their wedding day? |
On their wedding day? |
| Mmm hmmm. |
Be honest, truthful, take care of the family. Your family comes first. And don’t be afraid to say the word love to your family, your wife, and your children. |
| If you had it to change something from your life, what would it be? |
Well, it would probably be a couple of things. When I was small, when I was in high school I wished I was taller. But I figure well, that’s something that’s never going to happen. But I don’t think I’d change anything different. I think I’d still continue doing what I’m doing. |
| What is the hardest choice you ever had to make? |
I think when I was, when I graduated from college I was a, I used to work at (?) Playground, I was playground director there. And the principal, Dr. Dyer, asked me if I wanted to come teach at Roosevelt. And this was 31 years ago. And I said, “I really don’t know if I want to be a teacher or not. I want to be a coach.” But I enjoyed what I was doing. I was a playground director and I was on my way up to be a supervisor. But I made a choice and I came to Roosevelt and I’m happy. I’ve been here 31 years. |
| What is the most amazing thing that ever happened to you? |
Amazing? Aw, gee. The most amazing thing that ever happened to me. I can’t t hink of anything right now. |
| What about during a game or something? |
Oh, okay. Sports. Okay, we played Garfield when I was in the 11th grade and I threw four touchdown passes against Garfield. In my three years here at Roosevelt I never lost to Garfield. |
