Mexican American Oral Histories

Melissa Berry: Okay, so could you please state your name?

Victoria Vasquez: Victoria Vasquez.

MB: And could you spell that please?

VV: Victoria V, I, C, T, O, R, I, A, Vasquez V, A, S, Q, U, E, Z.

MB: And do I have your consent to record this oral interview today?

VV: Yes, you do.

MB: Okay. So this is Melissa Berry interviewing Victoria Vasquez at her home on March 8, 2025. So, we were starting to talk a little bit about your parents.

VV: Yes. My dad, born and raised in Tucson, four generations, lived on South Herbert, which is in not too far from Santa Rita Park. And they, they came to this house after it was built in 1957. Yeah, so I'm the oldest of eight, eight children. I've got two sisters and five brothers, one brother that is deceased, but this is the Flowing Wells area, and at the time my parents bought the house, it was sort of far from, you know, regular Tucson, and it was farming [land]. There was an irrigation ditch behind our house when we moved. There was a, a tractor that had been abandoned at the end of the street. So it was rural, I guess is what you would call it back then. And now you know this, this is, this is not really rural anymore, but yeah, so I went to kindergarten down at Iola Frans, which is part of Flowing Wells High School. And I was born in San Antonio, Texas. My dad was in the army. He was stationed in San Antonio right after my parents got married in 1951 in San Francisco, where my mom was born and raised. So they, they drove down to San Antonio, where my dad was in, stationed in the army there, and that's where I was born. And so we were there for I think, a year and a half, and then my dad was out of the army, and we moved back to San Francisco, and we were there for I think about a year and a half, there, too, and my brother George was born there. So each, each place, like, we went, like, my sister Rebecca, who's number three, was born in Tucson, at TMC. My brother Greg, my dad was working down in Nogales, he worked for a loan company, so we lived down in Nogales, Arizona, and my brother Greg was born down in Nogales, Arizona-- very small hospital, he was the only baby in the nursery. But my mom had gotten tired of going back and forth from Nogales to go to TMC, so, that's why they decided to stay down there. And everybody else was born in Tucson, and, all my other siblings.My brother George, who was number two son, number two in the family myself, George, Rebecca-- number three-- and I think my brother Greg, we all went to Catholic school in Sacred Heart church, which is in the '05. So we went from first grade to eighth grade, and my parents couldn't afford to go to Salpointe, which was the Catholic school, so we were only four blocks from Flowing Wells, so we walked to school. It was a great school. It was a smaller school. And it was in a Mormon area, and so there were quite a few Mormons that went there, but it was a great, great, you know, school to attend and be from, and I'm still friends with people that I went to high school with. A lot of them moved away, but there's still some that are still in town. After I graduated from high school, I went to Pima College for two years, and I had taken a civil service test for the federal government and I had scored high in the test so I'd gotten a call-- before I had graduated from Pima, because I was in the legal profession at that time. I was either going to go medical or legal, and I didn't like needles or blood, so, I went into legal. So, I got a call about getting a job at the U.S. Attorney's office, so that's where I started my career, my legal career, was there, at the U.S. Attorney's office for seven years, and then I left and went to Europe for a while, just traveling with a friend, and then came back and had some part-time jobs and stuff like that, but then I got a job at Pima County Superior Court for a judge that I had worked with at the US Attorney's Office. So I was there at Superior Court for 30 years, and then I worked at... [I] went back to the US Attorney's office after John Leonardo was appointed US attorney, and worked there for seven years, and I retired in 2019. I also worked for private attorneys for a couple years, but I, I worked downtown most my career, so I was ready to retire after almost 44 years. Yeah. So. I'll be 73 in June. So yeah. Yeah. So I've been retired, and it's been great. And I was living with my mom when my dad passed away in 2013 so I started living here with her. So we were roommates and everything. So this is a family house now that all the siblings, we all own it together. So, I was very comfortable here after 10 years. So I own a house with my niece that's on Twin Peaks North. So she lives there and and it's worked out. It's been comfortable for me living here, and we're never going to rent it, and we're not going to sell it, unless it comes down to that. But, yeah, it was really, you know, it was good. There was, it's a cul-de-sac here. So when we were growing up, there was about 100 kids on this whole block, because there was a lot of, well, mostly, most of the families. There's nobody that's original, except for my mom here now, but I always, we always say the Summers' house, or the Paulsey's house, the people that we knew, you know, so, so, oh yeah, the Vida's house down there. That's how we know which house we're talking about. But lot of kids and, you know, play outside. And it was, play cards and, you know, just different things, you know, just and we were always so bored. It was just like, Oh. I thought-- I would give anything to have a summer off now, you know, but as a kid, you're just going, ugh, there's nothing to do. There's nothing to do. But you know, it was a good, it was a good place to grow up, really was. And my dad's, we used to visit my, my dad's parents, who lived on Herbert Street, which is north of 22nd Street, and probably about two or three blocks from Santa Rita Park. So we used to go visit my grandparents and, and just hang out with them and go visit my cousins who lived across from Santa Rita Park. They would come down from San Francisco to visit their grandparents. And, yeah, we just had, you know, really fun time. And we knew some of the kids that lived on my grandparents' block too, so we would see them and be playing outside with them too. So yeah, it was good. It was good growing up.

MB: Do you have any specific memories of things that you guys would do, playing around [here]?

VV: We would go to the park at-- my uncles played baseball on city teams. My uncles are 10 years older than me. My dad's twin brothers, the youngest ones, and we go to their baseball games at Santa Rita Park. Yeah, and it was, my uncles play, you know, baseball and stuff like that. And, yeah, so that that was fun, you know. And we go to the Dairy Queen, which is on 22nd Street, and get a ice cream cone and and different things. Or we go and get something to eat with my grandparents and and things like that. So, yeah, so, you know, it was, it was good memories. There was a lot of people out and about, you know, and riding bikes and stuff like that, so and, yeah, so it was, you know, things change, you know, that's, that's part of life, yeah.

MB: Do you remember when about the park started to change? And--

VV: What, when it started changing? I would say probably late 70s, early 80s. You know, it was just, a lot of people sold their houses. And there's a house probably about four houses down that there's a couple families that live there, and you see that a lot. And on a street, a couple streets over there's, there's usually about six or seven vehicles there, and, and you know, there's, that's what they can afford. You know, they they can't afford it themselves. So, you know, they have a place for all of them to live and, and so you see that a lot more you really do.

MB: Do you remember any specific restaurants or stores that you wanted to open back up or that you---

VV: [cough] Um, let's see, trying to think, well, I know down here, where there's a school there, there used to be a grocery store that was a long time ago, though, and my mom didn't drive for a long time. So we would walk to the store that was over there, Food Giant that was on the corner there. They were either family owned and couldn't, you know, couldn't afford to stay open anymore, and things like that, or some of the bigger stores too that left, like at the at the mall over there, where Sears closed down, and different stores that closed down that you were used to, you know, going into, it just happens, yeah.

MB: After your parents moved here, did you have any other family, like aunts or cousins or grandparents who lived in the area, or was it just your parents?

VV: No, my dad's, his two sisters, Laura and Alice, still live in Tucson. My aunt Lena, his oldest sister, had lived in Whittier, so she, you know, they would come to visit and stuff like that. And my twin uncles lived, they were in construction, Bob and Dick, and they lived here in Tucson. So have cousins and, you know, people like that that we would see different times, either weddings or funerals and stuff like that, you know, kind of thing. But yeah, we would, we would see them, and then my cousins from San Francisco that would come down and visit and stuff like that. They would, they'd visit with their grandparents, but there wasn't much to do, so they'd want to come over here. So and their grandmother used to say, you can't go to the Vasquez' because it's like, got so many kids, you know, my dad said, no, no, they can come over. You know, they would come over and we'd, we'd have fun with them, and they'd be with my brothers and stuff like that, and go out and and ride bikes and everything. So it was, we always have been around family. Yeah, it's been important.

MB: What was your impression of your dad like? Was he always kind of like a, everyone come in--

VV: My dad very, yeah, my dad and mom both, very welcoming, you know, very and my dad was from a family of seven. He was, [he] had an older sister, and then my dad was the second one, but, yeah, very family oriented. Family, you know, meant a lot. It still does a lot, yeah, but he was my dad was amazing.

MB: Is there anything else about your dad that you really want to share?

VV: [He was] funny. [sniffles] Sorry. But, he worked for Social Security, and he worked with some, some women that were Papago (O'odham). So he took a course to learn their language. So he'd sort of known, yes, known, not know the language completely, but know, some words and, you know, and they they thought, Oh, my God, he's really wants to understand us, kind of thing. But anybody that would have questions about Social Security, they call my dad at home, you know, kind of thing, because he was able to help, you know, a lot of different people and stuff. And a lot of people wanted to talk to him because he was a Spanish speaker too. And they would go, no, we want to talk to Louis, you know, kind of thing. But yeah, so he was, he was good at whatever he did. And my mom, she didn't work until after my brother, Alex, who was the youngest I went to school. She worked at the cafeteria down at the high school, and then she also worked for American Cancer Society and the MS Society. She worked as a bookkeeper at both of those places, yeah, so, so she was all, I don't know how she did everything, you know, she had eight kids, and she'd have dinner ready, she'd be home, you know, in time. And for, for everything, you know, she was just there all the time.

MB: What's the age difference between you and your siblings?

VV: Let's see, I'll be 73 in June, and my brother, Alex is, let's see my sister, we're 10 years apart. So Alex is going to be 62 this year. So within 11 years, my mom had, yeah, the eight kids. No twins, you know, just like and like, like, my nieces will say, Oh God, you know, we have one kid. How did you do with eight? Well, I'm the, you know, being the oldest and stuff. You know, I was 10 years old when my sister Mona was born, and she's the, number seven, and you know, we just, we just learned we had to take care of each other, you know? And it's just, like, my nieces that have one child, you know--that never-- you know, the one and only-- we never had to deal with that, because there was always somebody, you know, you always had somebody, you know, so that, that was, that was different, you know, and it's different for them, when they have a sibling that they were raised with, and now to just have one child, it's just like, wow-- you know, we didn't have to go through that! Yeah, so, yeah, but, I think-- let's see, my brother Ted, who's number six, he works at the U of A so he's supposed to be retiring this year, so, Alex has a couple more years to go. But yeah. So everybody you know, the years go by and they go by quick. You'll find out. As my mom always said, just wait, the years are gonna fly by. Oh, yeah, okay, yeah. But she was right, yeah.

MB: Did you have any pets as a child?

VV: We had birds. We had some fish. My mom didn't want anybody, you know, anything, because she said, I'll end up taking care of it. So after I left home and stuff like that, my brother Ted's [dog] and my sister's dog had puppies, and they, my brother Ted begged my parents, please, let us have a dog. Okay, okay, I'll take care of him. Yeah, okay. So they did. They we had one dog, you know, Bruno, and my parents fell in love with him, you know, after, and he died of cancer, and everybody was so sad, but it was just that was, I forget how long, yeah, he was, he was around for a while, but they used to take him camping, the boys and everything, you know. It was just, he loved going with them, but, yeah, so that was basically, but it was just birds and fish. That was it. Yeah. No time for pets. Yeah.

MB: Do you have hobbies?

VV: Yeah, I like to read, I like to garden. What else? I like to shop. But I'm not really-- I have to be in the right mood to shop, you know. And if I'm gonna go shop, I want to go. I know what I want, you know. And it's just in and out kind of thing. I'm really not a like-- some of my nieces and my sisters are great shoppers, but I don't really enjoy it that much. Yeah, but I like to read and and, and take care of the yard and everything, and go to the casino sometimes with my but my best friends up in Phoenix, so we go and so, yeah, it's, it's, it's good life, yeah.

MB: What kind of stuff do you like to read?

VV: I like to read mysteries. I like to read some biographies, depending on on who it is, yeah, but and some historical and depending on, I like to go the bookstores and just look and see what's around, kind of thing. I was just up at Barnes and Noble the other day, and just, I just like to go and see what's, what's, you know, what's up, you know, kind of thing, and what, what's new. Yeah, there's some stuff that I wouldn't mind reading. I like to go to Bookmans too, because it's cheaper there, and it's really a nice Bookmans on Stone. Have you been there? No? You'll have to go. Yeah. It's really nice. It's just south of River and just north of where the mall is.But yeah, you can, they've got a lot of different things there, and it's very well set up. There's a lot of room and stuff like that, and they've got music and everything. So it's a nice place. Store.

MB: Bookmans is a local store, right?

VV: Yeah, it is, Bookmans, yeah, it is local. And you can trade. You can go in and sell and trade. You know, they'll give you a, either you can get some money, or you can give, they'll give you more. If you want to have, like a, you can, like a coupon to buy anything with it, kind of thing. But it's a, yeah, it's a local store. It's been around for a while. It's really good.

MB: Do you remember how old it is?

VV: Oh gosh, it's gotta be late 80s. Maybe is what I'm thinking. I might be wrong, but I think I'm right, because there was one right there at Campbell and Grant right where the, that-- now there's a Starbucks there, yeah, so they, they tore that down, but this Bookmans, over there, used to be on Ina, and they just moved last year over here. It's a bigger place, which is nice. And I think there's a Bookmans on Speedway also, yeah. Have you been there? Yeah, okay, so you know, yeah, yeah, yeah. My uncle, Dick, passed away in 2015. He was in he was a general contractor, and he was a twin. So to, to, to be a twin, and lose that part of you, is just unbelievable.And my cousin that passed away in, I think it was August of '20, yeah, I guess it was 23, their birthday's tomorrow, yeah, so and they're the same age as I will be, 73, so he goes, yeah, he goes, part of me just left, when Ed left, you know. And it's just, it's true, but it was he, he always, "but I'm the oldest by three minutes", or something like that. I said, "Oh, yeah, I know". You know that's always, doesn't matter. "You know you're the older brother." And he said, "Yeah, that's it. I'm the older brother." But, yeah, we had-- my mom's father was a twin, and, and my mom thought maybe she would have twins. But no, no twins. I know my, my aunt Laura, my dad's sister, her daughter had twins. So I think it passes a generation, is what it is, I believe. But yeah, no twins, so. I don't know. Yeah, but we would go back. My mom, being from San Francisco, we'd go back, usually one, one, in the summertime to go visit. And of course, we'd have to go-- the station wagon-- you know, go back there and and we had cousins and stuff there. My mom had two sisters and a brother, so we had cousins that we always had a great time there, going into the city and, and it was just a great, great time. And sometimes my sister and I would, we would stay there for a month or so, and then we come back on the bus, and, oh, we used to have so much fun because my cousins were there. We go the movies. They would get on the on the bus, and just, we'd go out the whole day, you know, kind of thing. It was really, really, some great memories being up there. What else?

MB: Was that one of the cousins that [was a twin]?

VV: Yeah, that's one of the cousins, yeah, he, they moved down. There were truck drivers in one construction and stuff. They lived in Seattle and Portland. They lived in different places. And they eventually moved back down to Tucson, and that's where they lived and retired kind of thing, but yeah, so, I'm hoping, I talked to my, my cousin's brother, and said, you know, we'll take Tom out for breakfast some morning. And he goes, "Well, we're gonna see if we can get him out to go to dinner. He doesn't like to leave the house." I said, "Well, I hope he does", you know. But he, last time we were together, we went [to] Bookmans. He loves books and and he, he said, "How old am I?" And I said, "you're 72", I said, "your birthday is coming up". And he goes, "Oh, how old am I going to be?" I said, "73" he said, "Are you sure?" And I said, "Yeah, I'm pretty sure". And he goes, "it'd be Ed's birthday too". And that's his brother. And I said, "Yeah, would be Ed's too". So he just, he talks, he talks about him a lot, you know, which is good, but he just, he's sort of lost without him. Yeah, sort of lost. And that happens, I think, even worse for twins, yeah.

MB: Did either of them get married or have kids?

VV: [coughs] No, no that, and you know, it just the, the one twin that passed was-- and I would, would used to go visit them, and when they were in Seattle and Portland and, and he was with-- Ed, the one that had passed-- was with a girl that we really thought he was going to marry, but he just couldn't commit, and his brother goes, "I wish I would have known, because I would have married her". You know, it's just like, it doesn't work that way.

MB: They were identical twins?

VV: Yeah, yeah, identical twins. And so are my uncles, too. But once they, once they got a little bit older, you could, you could tell, you know, but, yeah, identical twins, it's just like-- and their mom, --the ones that live in San Francisco--, she didn't know she was having twins, because in that time there's the son-- there was no sonograms and anything like that. And she didn't know she was having twins. So she and she had two boys after that, but when they had the baby shower, they thought it was just for one baby. And here she winds up with, you know. So she had the, the twin stroller, you know, she got big, she got a twin stroller. And I think after, after, she got done with the when the twins were older and stuff, she gave the stroller to my mom because my youngest brother and sister just a year apart. So we used the stroller here. Yeah, it was pretty nice. But not to know you're gonna have twins. It's just like, oh gosh. She just thought she was-- I forget how much they weighed or how big they were, but maybe she just thought she was having a big baby, I don't know, oh gosh.

MB: To go back to when you were a little bit younger--

VV: Yeah.

MB: What was your elementary, middle, high school experience like?

VV: Well, I was at Catholic school, you know, with the nuns and stuff like that, and it was good. And that's when there was a new math that was coming out. And we had a really great teacher, Sister John Anthony. She was really, really good. And, I made, you know, a lot of friends and and most of them were going to Salpointe afterwards, some of them were going to Amphi. Flowing Wells and Amphi were rivals, and the cutoff point was Fairview Road. If you lived east of Fairview, you went to Amphi, and West you go to Flowing Wells. But now I think you could pretty much go almost anywhere, I think really. But it was, you know, it was good. It was good, you know, going to Catholic school for me and my siblings and stuff. The other ones, I think, the four, four younger ones, they went to Walter Douglas, that's on Flowing Wells. So they didn't, they didn't go to Sacred Heart, yeah.

MB: Is that a K through eight? Sacred Heart?

VV: Yeah. Well, it was, it was, I think it was first. Well, let's see, because I went to kindergarten down there. I think they didn't have a kindergarten there. I think was first through eighth. Yes, first through eighth. And I forget one that closed down, you know, where they didn't have the school anymore, because the church is still there and and they have catechism in the classes and stuff like that. But, but thethe nun that taught the math, Sister John Anthony, she became the dean of a school in Florida. Yeah, it was, I forget the name [Barry University, Miami, FL, 1981-2004], but she was, she was very well known there because she, she, developed, or she got funding for this college there, and she was there for like, 18, 19, years, yeah, but it was just, I thought, oh my god, that was my math teacher, you know. But she was such a brilliant, such a wonderful person, you know, I wasn't surprised. But I said, Oh my gosh, you know, that is, that is her kind of thing. And I did write to her one time, and she wrote me back, you know, just to tell her she taught, you know, I was at Sacred Heart and, and you were my teacher. And she wrote back, and she goes, oh, you know, she thanked me for writing and, and I told her that I had seen an article on her, and she goes, "oh, yeah, there's lots of articles". She goes, she goes, "you can't believe them all". And I said, "well, I believe this one", you know, kind of thing. But, yeah, you remember certain teachers that were really... and in high school, in Flowing Wells too. It was history. [The] history teacher was great. There's certain teachers that really, you know, stick out in your mind, and it's--

MB: What was special about the history teacher?

VV: Oh, he was just, he just, was just, so-- everything was interesting, you know, and a lot of participation with the students, stuff like that. And he just was, he knew everything, you know. You could ask him anything, and he would-- we're going, "how does he know that?", you know, kind of thing. But yeah, he was just just a, and he could relate to the students, which is really good. A couple of the math teachers, uh, just not, you know, geometry, and what was the other one? Oh, I forget. I took it, but it was just too much geometry, I think was mine. I thought, "why you need to know this stuff?" Gosh, you know, it was just like, you know, but, yeah, they were different. They're in their own world, I guess, numbers and everything else.

MB: They had a hard time connecting with the students.

VV: Yeah, they were in another world. Yeah, this and they-- one was so smart, it was, he had no common sense, kind of thing. You know, he was [a] brilliant guy. But you know that that doesn't mean anything when you're trying to teach, you know, people, you've got to come down to their level. Well, they couldn't have, it, but it was, but the what, but the students that were at that level, you know, they, they really got a lot out of it. But no, mostly, yeah.

MB: Did you have any friends that came from Sacred Heart to Flowing Wells or was it only other schools [that they attended]?

VV: Um, no, let's see. Because, I'm trying to think, yeah, well, there was, there was a family on the next block over that. Some of them went to Sacred Heart and then went to Flowing Wells. Not a lot of them, because a lot of them were from that side. So they would go to Amphi, or some other school over that way. But not a lot, not a lot.

MB: But your siblings came over with you, the older ones.

VV: Yeah, right, right, yeah, they did. And, you know, we knew everybody in the neighborhood, because they all went to Flowing Wells, so, and it was nice because we were able to walk home for lunch if we wanted to. And that was really nice. Yeah, that was nice because sometimes you didn't want cafeteria or bring your lunch, you know, kind of thing. So, and then being able just walk to school was was nice.

MB: Do you remember what the cafeteria food was like?

VV: Um, it wasn't bad, really. They had some good cooks and stuff like that. You know, it was okay, because there were, there were some times I think it would go half and half, because my friends, we'd eat there, and some of the ones, let's, we're just gonna go home. So we would just, we would just do that.

MB: What about your college experience?

VV: Oh, well, I was the first year, 1970, was when Pima College [started[. And it was good. It was, I went to the west side, but they were still getting stuff together. So I had some classes over on old Nogales Highway, south of Valencia, and one of the big hangers, I guess is what you would call it. They had, they had some classes set up there because they were still working on getting it finished. But no, it was really good. I really enjoyed it a lot. Some really good teachers and, and, no, it was really good. And I had gotten my first job at the US Attorney's office before I graduated, and so I was doing night school, plus, plus going, you know, to work. And that was hard, but I was glad I did it. But it was, yeah, the first year, 1970, for Pima College. But it was, it was good, you know, new college and and teachers were great. And, you know, a lot of lot of students, not just from Tucson, but from other places, you know, nearby, would come. There were some people from Nogales, Arizona that would come, and some from Tumacacori , you know, they're from the South there and, and I don't know Marana, I don't know if Marana was even established, but kids that came from other places besides in town, yeah. So it was, it was good, it was good experience. I was glad I went.

MB: Was it more general education, or did they also have some classes that you could use for your law career?

VV: Oh, yeah. No. They had, they had stuff for, yeah, because I was sort of in the legal secretary, like a program, kind of thing, yeah. So, it was good. It was. I learned a lot, but I learned a lot more having a job, an actual job, learned a lot, yeah, so, and it was a great career, great, you know, we had really, I was very fortunate to have really good bosses and judges and people that I met, a lot of attorneys and and I would go somewhere and see somebody I knew, and my brother would go, "who don't you know?" And I said, "well, when you work in this field and stuff, you know a lot of people", you know, court reporters, clerks, a lot of the sheriff's department, you know, I knew a lot of people, and working with the judge and stuff like that, I I got to know a lot of different people, and not just from Tucson, but, you know, attorneys from all over. So, yeah, it was really a great career. [I] really enjoyed it, and lot of good people and memories, yeah.

MB: Do you think what your parents did influenced your--

VV: Oh, I'm sure, yeah, they, I wasn't sure what I wanted to do, you know. And it was just like my Dad says, I said, "well, this is just starting out", you know, "the college" and he goes, "well, try it, try it", you know, and, and no, they were always there to guide us, but it was always it's your choice. You know, it's your choice. They, they, you know it's like they say, you can, you can instruct them and teach them and stuff like that, but after that, you have to let them go and they make their own decisions.

MB: It sounds like you're really close with your parents.

VV: Oh, yeah, very, very, all of us. Yeah. I don't know if you see Alisha's picture up there, one at the end, and you know her daughter?

MB: No--

VV: That's her daughter. The little one in the front, yeah, that's Athena, yeah. But, well, like, the thing says, that they're family. [gestures to sign reading 'family'] I think my sister got that for me for Christmas. But yeah, everybody, and I'm surprised nobody's come over today, because they usually come over on the weekend, you know, just to come over, and, and my, my niece, Tanya, was here before. She brought me my mail from the house up there. And so she goes, What time is your interview? And I said, at one. And she she said, "oh, I've got to get going. I've got to stop here and here". I said, "okay". She goes, "tell Melissa hi". I said, "okay". She's a school monitor at Keeling, which is on Glen, just west of First Avenue. And so she, oh, she loves those kids. She's been doing it for God how long now, seven, eight years now, yeah. But the kids love her too. She's really good with them, yeah. But yeah, with everything that's going on with the government and everything like that. And they're, they're doing, taking away money and, you know, shutting down departments and just getting rid of people.

MB: What changes have you noticed with that over time?

VV: I'm sorry?

MB: What changes have you noticed with that over time, like in the Tucson area? Social support--

VV: I think it's, I think it's going to be getting worse with everything that's going on. It's just really, really sad, because the people that really need the help are the ones that are-- it's going to affect the most. And that's what's really, really sad, because it's, it's, if they don't have that help, what's going to happen? I mean, you know, and the homeless are, it's bad now, but what is it going to be like later? Because the funding and stuff and a lot of the grants and stuff like that, and, you know, I don't know if, I don't know if your thing is on a grant-- it is on a grant, yeah, because you need things like this, because if you don't, everything's lost, you know, if you don't have records of different things, they're gonna say, I don't remember that, there's no record of it. Oh, okay, you know, and that's not how it should be. You need to remember things you know and have a history, yeah.

MB: Did your mom bring any of her bookkeeping archival [skills]--

VV: Um, no--

MB: --back to the home?

VV: She was tough. She was an amazing... she, she kept records of everything, you know. She kept records of everything. It was just, if we wanted to know somebody's birth date, or when somebody died, or this or that, she knew everything. And she she would balance her, her books each month, and to the penny. [If] it was off two pennies, she would go back and look for everything, you know. How did I miss this? And she would guess what, in her, in her checking account and stuff like that, you know, I said, "Mom, you don't have to do it to the--" "Yes, I do", you know, but that's, that's how it was. You know, when you're a bookkeeper, you have to keep track of everything. But, you know, she was, she took care of, you know, family of 10. You know, it was amazing. I don't know, after everybody was leaving, you know, the house, after they grown up and stuff. Took her a long time to cook for just her and my dad. So she would make stuff, and then she go, she'd call and say, "come over and get some of this",you know, "your dad doesn't want to eat it for leftovers again", kind of thing. So she finally, you know, after a while, but you know, she didn't have she didn't need recipes. She knew exactly what to make for a family of ten, and my dad needed to have something for dessert. So she was a great baker and and we always, you know, had good meals and stuff. And she's, of course, the last one to sit down. You know, that's how it is with the mom.

MB: When you moved out, did you end up cooking anything that your mom made?

VV: Oh, yeah. Well, tacos. You know, we make tacos, and she would-- her being, her father was from Greece, and her mother was from Mexico. So living up in the, San Francisco, where they did, it was an Italian neighborhood, so my grandmother taught the ladies up their Mexican food recipes, and they taught her Italian. And so my mom would try all different kinds of food. We ate all different kinds of things, as long as my dad liked it. [coughs] One time she made liver. Dad didn't like it; we never had it again. Thank God. But we would, she'd [make] Italian, Mexican, Greek. We'd had all different like, we'd have artichokes, and I'd say it to a friend-- "artichokes, what's that?" A lot of them were meat and potato people, you know, so, but my mom had tried different things all the time, so we we had a good selection of different foods that, and then foods that would that you could make, that would be a lot, you know, kind of thing. And so whenever we would have desserts and stuff, there was anything left over, we'd get a a piece, put in the refrigerator, put it, have our name on it, make sure nobody else got it. Because that's how it was. Because it's just like you have to, you have to, you have to mark it. You'd have to mark it, yeah, but it was, sometimes we'd have a piece of cake or pie for breakfast, you know, in the morning, go to school, kind of thing, which is, you know, "that's okay, you know, that's what you want go for it", but we wanted to make sure we got it before somebody else did.

MB: Did you ever consider leaving Tucson, or was it, was family always a reason for you to stay?

VV: Yeah, no, and because of my work and stuff like that and my connections here, no, I just never, I don't think I ever did, because of my career here. You know, it really was-- and I never, I never did get married. I came a couple times, maybe close, but never did. But I was just, I think, from being the oldest and stuff like that, you know, you sort of feel like you've raised kids already. So I enjoy all my nieces and nephews. There's nine of them, and then, and then their kids, now too. So, yeah, so there's always something going on. Yeah.

MB: Tell me a little bit more about your career.

VV: Oh, gosh, just working in the courts. You know, for 30 years with I was a judicial assistant, worked for a judge, so keeping track of his calendar and all the correspondence and setting up stuff in court and stuff. And we'd have a courtroom clerk and a law clerk and a court reporter. It would be like the four of us and I was always in the office, and then the other ones would be going in and out of court and stuff like that, but I worked in criminal and civil and was at juvenile court for probably about three years, and the judge I was working for was appointed presiding judge of the whole court. So then we came back to Superior Courts from juvenile court, and that was more administrative stuff. He wasn't in court that much, which he really missed. He missed. He was just a really good judge, very good administrator, but a lot more administrative duties, you know, kind of thing and and he must have did that for about four years, but, no, very, I enjoyed it a lot, you know, and and then working at the US Attorney's Office too, that was my first job. And then I ended it seven years there, and then seven years, I had 14 years, and by 2019 I was ready, yeah, I was ready. So I thought, now I've done enough time, and it was right before COVID. So that was, yeah, that was, that was tough. And my brother that passed away, Greg was diagnosed with cancer that year in '19 when I retired. So I was able to, with my niece, his daughter, we were able to take him to chemo and do everything. And he was diagnosed the end of February, and passed in October. So I was glad I would had been retired so I was able to, you know, help out and stuff like that. But, yeah, I don't know how I worked all those years. I mean, you think. It was so nice when I retired, just being able to get used to not having to get up, get dressed, psych myself up, okay, and go on and during the week and stuff, being able to do things, go out and it's, it's, it was nice. It took me a little little bit, but not too long, once I got used to it. And now it's been, it's going to be six years now, yeah, it's going to be six years. April 1. My brother, Fred, who works at the post office, retired on the same day, same year that I did on April 1 so, and he had 30 some years there, I think, yeah. So it was, it was a good, good career. It's just, can't believe I worked that long, yeah, yeah. But it was something I enjoyed. I was very fortunate, because I just can't imagine people having a job that they just hate going to, yeah, and I know there's a lot like that. I understand that. So, [I] feel very blessed.

MB: Did you-- do you and your siblings have any, like, regular times you guys get together, or do they just filter through?

VV: Yeah, we, let's see, Easter is coming up so we and it's easier for everybody to come here than you know, and we've got room and stuff like that. But Thanksgiving, we had Thanksgiving here. [coughs] Excuse me. We were going the last five or six years to my brother Ted's, who lives on the other side of the Tucson Mountains, and he would have it over there. But this year, this past year, he was going to his in-laws in San Diego, so I thought, well, we could have it here. So everybody brought something. So at Christmas time too we-- and it was, this is how it was throughout the years. Was everybody did their Christmas Day on Christmas, and they would come here in the afternoon, and we'd have the tree, and, you know, everything. And we make tamales also, we would make tamales the week, usually the Monday before Christmas. And so, yeah, so we had Christmas here. So it's usually on the holidays and stuff like that, and sometimes on birthdays, sometimes on birthdays, we'll get together or meet at a restaurant.

MB: Have you changed the house much, since [your Mom passed]?

VV: Not really. It's a three bedroom, two bath. All that in the back, there's another bedroom, and then, like a storage room back there and a family room back there, that was added on, I think, in 1981. So, my grandfather, my mom's father, was a carpenter. He built bunk beds for us, and so we had bunk beds in the back bedroom. You can-- come over here, we'll-- can you bring it (the recorder)?

MB: Yeah.

VV: We had bunk beds that he built. So my, this, this [front bedroom] was where the boys slept. So we had bunk beds in here. And so there was two sets of bunk beds. And then-- you'll have to look these pictures afterwards-- and then this was where my sister, my, my sister and my younger sister, Mona, had-- so we had a bunk beds, and then another bed here, and my parents room with the other bathroom. So that's, this is the original house. [gestures to family picture board containing children's school photos and group photos of the family] And this board was pictures that my grandparents in San Francisco had. So these are all school pictures of all of us and my cousins. This is five of us here, my mom and my dad.

MB: Where are you on this?

VV: [points out girl in family photo in center of board] I'm right here.

MB: Are you anywhere else?

VV: Oh, yeah. [points to a girl's school photos] This is my whole row. See the top here. These are all of us, yeah. So this was a board that my grandfather made. So when my mom would send pictures, they would, they would put them up, yeah. And so there's some cousins here too. And this was my mom and her brother and two sisters there, yeah. So, so this is a lot of memories, yeah, let's see. I don't think there's any now, these are all older ones, so the younger, the grandkids are not on here. This is all just the ones from my grandparents. [gestures to plaque hanging on wall next to photo board] And this is an award for my dad from Social Security from '68 to '87. Yeah.

MB: Is that when he retired?

VV: Yeah, '87, yeah, because they did a lot of, they did a lot of traveling. And this is the, you know, they redid the kitchen and stuff like that. So this back room,the family room, all these pictures here are from my mom's memorial. [gestures to second family photo board] On the bottom, this is my mom and my dad, but these are all pictures that we had it at the service after my mom--at the reception and stuff. We just have left them here. We just, like my niece and my, my sister, put them all together so, they got them out of different books, and there's some behind you here. There are a lot of old pictures.

MB: [points to black and white photo of young woman] And that's your mom?

VV: Yeah, that's my mom, and there was a family, let's see if I can, this picture right down there. [points to photo of two young couples smiling] The guy and the woman there, they were in San Antonio when my mom and dad were there, and they shared a bathroom. There was a house that they were renting rooms from, and they would share the bathroom, and they would take turns cleaning the bathroom. One week would be my mom's, and the other ones would be Marilyn's. Well, they were from Cincinnati, Ohio, and they ended up having eight kids also. And so one year, my parents, I don't know how they did it. There's another bedroom and then a storage room there. One year, my brother Alex, was like a year old. So that was like 60 years ago. We went back to visit them in Cincinnati, Ohio, in a station wagon with eight kids. And they had eight kids. They had-- he owned an office supply store in Cincinnati. Really great people. And let's see, there was, I think they had four, four girls and four boys, so we stayed at their house, and they had cots in their family room--I mean, it was just, we had the best time with them. It was just really a great, great time. When my parents were very close with them. But what a trip to go. I remember seeing the, I don't know if it was the beginning of the St Louis Arch in St Louis, but you know, it was the summer time, so it was so hot, was so hot in the summer and stuff like that. But it was a really great trip. I mean, 16 kids, and then the parents, you know, it was just we went to a restaurant and and people were staring at us like we were from a bus or something like that. Here's all these kids coming in, but we had a really nice visit with all of them. It was, and they, they always still keep in touch with them, the kids and stuff. Both their parents are gone, and now mine. But yeah--all-- after all these years, you know, they kept in touch. It was a good friendship. Really nice friendship.

MB: Was there anyone you were particularly close with?

VV: Yeah, well, their daughter, Susan, we were the same age. She was born-- I was born in June, in San Antonio, and she was born in September, yeah. So we were the same age, so we kept in touch, and she passed away in a fire. Oh God, a number of years ago, but still. And then they just lost-- one of the brothers passed away recently. Last year, yeah, I think last year he had cancer, yeah, so, but yeah, so we still keep in touch, you know, Christmas cards and stuff like that. So, yeah, they came down to visit us too, when all their kids one year, and they thought there's just gonna be cowboys and sand around. They were shocked to see palm trees. You know, it was just like, well, you don't, you just don't have an image. You just have your own images of what it's going to be looking like. But they had so much fun. It was really, really fun having them here too. They stayed at a at a motel on Miracle Mile. They had about three or four rooms they got so because we didn't have room here for them, but yeah, it was good. It was a really nice friendship all those years.

MB: When was that trip out here? How old were you, do you remember?

VV: I'm trying to think... it was after we went there. So it might have been maybe about five years after we went to visit them. Yeah, so let's see my brother, Alex, is just a year old, six? God, we I was in high school, I'm pretty sure when they came down, yeah. So it was a summertime trip too for them. So yeah.

MB: That might have been an adjustment for them, too, the summer here.

VV: Oh gosh, yeah, we were in the pool a lot and stuff. But they enjoyed it because no humidity like back in Ohio. So what else Melissa, can you think of anything else?

MB: [laughs] I'm trying to go through the different stages a bit.

VV: Yeah, I know. Sorry?

MB: Are there any from your-- maybe, between young adult and now, any memories that particularly stand out about living here?

VV: Living here? Let's see. Well, I still know people on the next street that I went to high school with. A mom still lives there. She's one of the originals. And then the corner house, they grew up there, and once the parents passed, one of the daughters and her husband bought the house, so they lived there. So, you know, it's sort of nice to have that connection. And maybe we did things on the house and stuff like that. But the lady that still lives over there, she goes, "my kids want me to move. I'm never moving". She goes, "I'm going to die here". And I said, "that's fine", you know. She goes, "I love my house", you know. But her kids come and her grandkids come and, you know, so, but no, it was just, it's still, still a good place to live. You know, it's different. It's, it's, I know, like a lot of the people, like the guy down on the on the end there, his parents own that house, so him and his granddaughter lived there, but all the other people you know have sold, and there's different people that move in and stuff like that, the people across the street, the grandmother used to live there, and then she, I think, when she died, she gave the house to her daughter, So the daughter still lives there. So I've watched the kids grow up. The two sons, you know, go to school, graduating. I think the youngest son is graduating from the U of A and the other one's going to law school. He's in Notre Dame. So when watching different kids, you know, grow up and stuff like that, that's been sort of nice. And, you know, waving. And there's some, a couple of people that live on the next block, Kilburn, that they walk in the morning. So, you know, you wave and stuff. So it's, you know, that kind of connection with people is good.

MB: So it's stayed, pretty much, over time, that neighborly, connected feeling.

VV: Yeah, yeah, it still is, you know, people, there are still good people, which is nice, but yeah, it is still, you know, and I guess it depends on what neighborhood you live in and stuff like that, yeah, but yeah, it's still, it's still, you know, home and you have a lot of memories and stuff like that from it.

MB: How long did you not live in the neighborhood?

VV: I think I left after... I'm trying to think, after I... I'm trying to remember... I think after I got my job at the US Attorney's Office, and I moved in with a couple girls that had gone to high school with an apartment, you know, we were roommates and stuff like that. And that was the first time I had my own room, you know, because I always shared, yeah, it was just like, oh my gosh, my own room, wow! Yeah, but, yes, I must have been about 19, 20 I think, and, and then after that, you know, my two of my brothers were merchant seamen, so they were in and out a lot. But yeah, so after that, it was, you know, people would move on, kind of thing. And there were less people here. So my sister got her own room, you know, kind of thing. And my sister Rebecca, got married, so she was gone. So it was, you know, different changes in the family, the dynamics and stuff, yeah.

MB: And then you moved back in for your mom, for your dad?

VV: I'm sorry?

MB: Did you move back in for your mom, to help [her]?

VV: Oh, I moved back in when my dad died in '13, yeah. So I was, you know, on my own, the house that we have up on Twin Peaks we bought in 1987, so, and then I lived in apartments and stuff like that, but I was always here in town.

MB: Is there anything else about the neighborhood or Tucson in general and your relationship with it that you'd like to share?

VV: I just... somebody's just pulling up. No, it's always like, I've got friends and stuff up in Phoenix, and I'll go visit them, but I could never live, you know, I love Tucson. You know, it's, and the desert's so beautiful compared to everywhere else, and all the mountains and everything around us kind of thing. And the people are different. Because I remember when I worked at Pima County Superior Court. We'd get attorneys from Maricopa County, and I'd have to call them and say, "well, you're gonna, the judge wants to set this hearing up", and they'd go, "well, can't we do it by phone?" and they'd say, "no, well, we don't do that Maricopa County." I said, "you're not Maricopa County. You're in Pima County, and this is what the judge wants. So you have to come down", you know? So we would get, we would laugh, sort of laugh about that. It was just like, [we'd] have different ways of doing different things in different places and stuff like that. But, yeah, for the judge to order them to come down all the way from Phoenix, you know, for a hearing. You know, this was, this was before they could do it by, you know, video and all that other thing. But yeah, so, you know, in Phoenix and all the town surrounding it. It's just such a big it just, doesn't seem as, I shouldn't say, friendly, but more, you know, I don't know, being smaller, I guess. You know, people from Phoenix say, "Oh God, you have no freeways here." We don't want any more freeways, kind of thing. You know, you need them up there, maybe, but it's just, so it's just day and night kind of, yeah. So.

MB: How do you feel about the interview?

VV: Good. Yeah, yeah. It's been, it's been really good, and you'll have to let me know if you have any questions or anything. Yeah, you know, after you when you go through it, let me know. But no, it's been good. I've enjoyed it.

MB: Is there anything else you'd like to share?

VV: I can't think of anything right now.

MB: We might have to do a follow up later.

VV: Yeah, exactly, yeah, exactly.