Eva Medrano and Yvette Jones

[00:02] EVA MEDRANO: My name is Eva Medrano. Today is January 13, 2023. I am 70 years old. And today I'm here with my eldest daughter, Yvette Jones.

[00:15] YVETTE JONES: My name is Yvette Jones. I am 47 years old. Today is January, Friday the 13th, 2023. We are in El Paso, Texas, and I am here with my mom, Eva Medrano. Okay, so I'm going to ask you some questions and see if I can get any stories out of you, okay?

[00:38] EVA MEDRANO: We'll see.

[00:40] YVETTE JONES: Okay, so when and where were you born?

[00:43] EVA MEDRANO: Okay. I was born September 1, 1952. And I was born in Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico, which is right across the border from El Paso, where we are. I was born at home. I had a midwife. The midwife was my grandmother, my grandmother, my dad's mom. And she was the midwife to most of the firstborns of my aunts, my uncles, her children.

[01:20] YVETTE JONES: So, like, she delivered her grandchildren, she delivered her children. What was her name?

[01:24] EVA MEDRANO: Her name was Maximina Sotelo. And they called her Chaminalita. Chamina, miauelita Chamina. And what happened is that later years, I realized that some people would always call her when they come visit from out of town, from where she was born in Chihuahua. They would come and they would always come looking for Abuelita. And I didn't understand why so many people would call her Abuelita if she was my abuelita. But it was because back in the day, when the midwife delivered a child, it was customary to call her Abuelita.

[01:55] YVETTE JONES: So that children that were born with her assistants called her abuelit.

[02:02] EVA MEDRANO: Yes.

[02:02] YVETTE JONES: Oh, that's interesting.

[02:03] EVA MEDRANO: I didn't know, and I didn't know that, you know, and I, when I was younger, I realized what they were doing and I didn't like it. I said, why do they do that? She's my grandma, you know? But when I realized what it was and what it meant, I thought that was a really cute.

[02:17] YVETTE JONES: That is cool. That is really cool. I didn't know that I knew. I think I remember knowing that she did help to deliver kids, but I didn't know that there was a name.

[02:28] EVA MEDRANO: The majority of my cousins in my mom's, in my dad's side, her daughter, she delivered the kids from her daughter, or my dias, you know, my aunts. So most of our cousin, my cousins, my age, my group, we were all delivered by, by grandma.

[02:44] YVETTE JONES: That's nice. And you have, how many siblings do you have?

[02:47] EVA MEDRANO: I had two, but the baby sister, she passed away at like, I believe, two to three. No, like two months of age.

[02:55] YVETTE JONES: I think it was my. I remember my ugalita saying two months. I think my.

[02:58] EVA MEDRANO: I was like, maybe. I don't know, like seven or eight years old. I remember vaguely. And I have a brother. He's actually eleven years younger.

[03:08] YVETTE JONES: Eleven.

[03:09] EVA MEDRANO: I mean, eleven months younger. Sorry.

[03:11] YVETTE JONES: I was gonna say, no, he's not eleven years younger.

[03:13] EVA MEDRANO: Eleven months younger. So we're very close.

[03:16] YVETTE JONES: Oh, so I didn't realize that. So you guys are, like, irish twins, which. I don't know why it's called that.

[03:24] EVA MEDRANO: I don't care.

[03:25] YVETTE JONES: I didn't realize that.

[03:26] EVA MEDRANO: Yep.

[03:27] YVETTE JONES: Okay, so then let's see. What else was I gonna. Okay, so you said you were born at home. Was that the house that I remember and why it's the green house? Or was it a different house?

[03:38] EVA MEDRANO: That was a different house. The house that you know of was a house that my mom and my dad built with their own hands.

[03:46] YVETTE JONES: I remember even making their own.

[03:49] EVA MEDRANO: What we call them adobes.

[03:50] YVETTE JONES: They made the adobe, the clay bricks.

[03:53] EVA MEDRANO: That they made themselves to build the house. No, I was born in another house where we used to call it a vecindad. Which was, like, a house that had.

[04:05] YVETTE JONES: Like, an apartment complex, kind of.

[04:07] EVA MEDRANO: But it was kind of enclosed. It had a big wooden gate door to go into the house or to go into the patio to the property. Into the property. And inside, you know, it was, like, a big area. And there were rooms on the right and the left. And, like, each family member. Because there were, like, three or four of my uncles that lived there with their families.

[04:28] YVETTE JONES: So it was all family that lived at that location.

[04:32] EVA MEDRANO: Actually, the brothers. Three brothers got together, including my dad, and purchased the property. And they all lived there with my grandma. She was the one living there originally, which is where they bought the house. And the majority of us were born in that place.

[04:47] YVETTE JONES: And you said your grandma. That's Aulita Chamina. Yes. Okay.

[04:52] EVA MEDRANO: My other grandma at the time, she came over when I was born, and she helped my mom raise me.

[04:58] YVETTE JONES: When do you remember moving or how old you were when you moved to the house that I know, the green one.

[05:07] EVA MEDRANO: I must have been. Oh, my God. Maybe I don't own three. I was in school, yet we were small. There's pictures of us when my mom and my dad are, like, on the top of the roof, and they're building, like, a. Another room. We moved there when they first built one room. And this is kind of sad to say, but there were differences among brothers, you know, when that property was there and my dad decided to move out. You know, because things weren't getting any better with brothers and sisters. And.

[05:41] YVETTE JONES: Is this the house you were born in?

[05:43] EVA MEDRANO: Yes.

[05:43] YVETTE JONES: Okay. And that's when they started to build their own house.

[05:47] EVA MEDRANO: My dad was a tap. And you remember Tito. He was the type of person that would always be saving a little bit. Always saving a little bit for later, for tomorrow, or whenever there wasn't a job, you know. So he had a little bit of savings and he bought that property. And when things weren't working out better with his brothers, you know, and grandma, you know, we moved out. My dad moved us out, and that's where we started to live.

[06:18] YVETTE JONES: Yeah. And then that, I know, eventually also became a vecindada because I remember he rented the rooms. And I think the main house used to be. It was. I remember the two or three rooms in that house, but the rooms next to it had been closed off. But that was the whole house initially, right?

[06:40] EVA MEDRANO: Yeah, we initially lived in the whole house. It was a strange built house, not like the ones today, you know, this was just like rooms, you know, patched together, you know, with.

[06:52] YVETTE JONES: Remember that? It was all cement floors.

[06:54] EVA MEDRANO: Yes.

[06:55] YVETTE JONES: Because I would get bored easy. And Tito would give me a bucket and a paintbrush with water. A bucket with water. And I could paint outside.

[07:04] EVA MEDRANO: Yes.

[07:04] YVETTE JONES: I painted the sidewalk and the walls and everything every time I was there. But if it was rainy, windy or cold, I. I remember my Tita would send me to the back room.

[07:13] EVA MEDRANO: Yes.

[07:13] YVETTE JONES: And I could sit on the floor and paint on the concrete.

[07:16] EVA MEDRANO: Yeah.

[07:16] YVETTE JONES: You used to dry, and then it would just dry. So my paintings would disappear.

[07:20] EVA MEDRANO: Yeah. I used to like going there alive when you were little. And Tita and Tito used to take you there often. It was customary for us, when we moved to the. To El Paso when I was little, to go back every weekend.

[07:33] YVETTE JONES: Yeah, I remember that.

[07:34] EVA MEDRANO: We would go back every weekend. I'd spend all weekends in Juarez.

[07:39] YVETTE JONES: Well, when did you move to El Paso, then? Do you remember what year? How old you were?

[07:45] EVA MEDRANO: I remember the year of hand, but I was. I must have been like maybe six or seven.

[07:51] YVETTE JONES: So had you already started school in Juarez?

[07:54] EVA MEDRANO: Yes, I remember very vaguely. Only one teacher, so it must have been either kinder or first. That's the only remembrance I have of a teacher in the school which, to date, that school exists.

[08:07] YVETTE JONES: Oh, it's still there. Do you remember what it's called?

[08:11] EVA MEDRANO: I think it was Manuel Aguilar signs. I think it was the name of some person.

[08:18] YVETTE JONES: Somebody.

[08:19] EVA MEDRANO: Yeah.

[08:21] YVETTE JONES: Okay. So then when you came to El Paso, you were school age. Where did you move to in El Paso? Where did you live in El Paso?

[08:30] EVA MEDRANO: We walked. I remember walking across the bridge. It was back then. It was the only bridge. It was on Santa Fe street. It was right across the river. There was no up bridge, nothing. Just a flat bridge, very narrow, like an overpass. Like an overpass. And we walked across, trying to remember if it was one little luggage, something very small, clothing. And I still didn't understand a whole lot of what was happening.

[08:58] YVETTE JONES: You didn't realize you were moving?

[09:00] EVA MEDRANO: No, I didn't really realize that. But we came over, and I remember my dad renting, like, a two room apartment in a tall building right on the same street. On El Paso street.

[09:15] YVETTE JONES: So the El Paso bridge?

[09:17] EVA MEDRANO: Yes.

[09:17] YVETTE JONES: Okay. And it was right near the bridge. Right. Okay.

[09:20] EVA MEDRANO: And it was right. Well, we were there only for, like, 30 days, only because it was rushed and temporary to be there, and we just needed to wait for our actual passports to come. And then from there, my dad rented a small apartment from the same area. We called it Segundo barrio, which is still called Segundo barrio Segue. And the school was right across the apartment that Grandpa granted.

[09:50] YVETTE JONES: Well, we're kind of near Segundo barrio, aren't we? Or are we in Segundo barrio? This is considered Segundo barrio?

[09:55] EVA MEDRANO: It is considered Segundo barrio. Right.

[09:58] YVETTE JONES: Right here where we are right now. This building?

[10:00] EVA MEDRANO: Yes.

[10:01] YVETTE JONES: So it was not too far from here.

[10:03] EVA MEDRANO: No.

[10:03] YVETTE JONES: So is that second apartment, was that the Kansas street apartment?

[10:07] EVA MEDRANO: No, the very first one was on El Paso street.

[10:09] YVETTE JONES: Uh huh. But then the next one.

[10:10] EVA MEDRANO: But then the next one was Kansas.

[10:13] YVETTE JONES: It was Kansas.

[10:14] EVA MEDRANO: Because I remember second story, those old, old buildings.

[10:17] YVETTE JONES: I've driven by there. I have the address somewhere. I found the address in my details, things when I used to, you know, help you watch them.

[10:26] EVA MEDRANO: The building's still there.

[10:27] YVETTE JONES: It's very one.

[10:28] EVA MEDRANO: Yeah, it's old. Old. It's probably breaking down.

[10:31] YVETTE JONES: I know the one by the bridge is not there. No, because when I was trying to find it, there's, like, nothing there. But that's where the location shows it to where it should have been.

[10:39] EVA MEDRANO: Well, because part of that area now belongs to the bridge that is now built. It took part of that location, but that's way. Oh, I remember now. We were living right there when President Kennedy was assassinated at the bridge apartment. Yes. The very first apartment was, what, 60. 219 60.

[11:01] YVETTE JONES: 219 63 62, I believe.

[11:04] EVA MEDRANO: And I remember it was chaos. I was in school.

[11:07] YVETTE JONES: Oh. Cause at the bridge. Yes.

[11:08] EVA MEDRANO: They closed the bridge. It was really strange because we were young and all the people were running around because they closed the bridges. A lot of people that worked in El Paso to go to Juarez weren't going across.

[11:21] YVETTE JONES: You couldn't. Yeah, because a lot of people worked here but lived in Juarez.

[11:25] EVA MEDRANO: Yes.

[11:26] YVETTE JONES: Which a lot of people still do that now. Our students, kids. Right. Coming to school and then going back. At the end of the day, it.

[11:34] EVA MEDRANO: Was something really strange because we had never lived through anything like that.

[11:38] YVETTE JONES: Do you remember, like, did you. How did you find out about President Kennedy? Did you see?

[11:43] EVA MEDRANO: I remember because we had a black and white tv, an old box tv, the big ones. The big ones. And it was in the radio, you know, the news were like, so much. You know, it was like, wow. You know, we couldn't believe we're young, you know, but it was, like, too much for us to understand, you know?

[12:02] YVETTE JONES: Yeah. Well, you would have been, I guess, like 1062. You were, like, about ten years old.

[12:06] EVA MEDRANO: About 1011.

[12:07] YVETTE JONES: Yeah.

[12:08] EVA MEDRANO: Somewhere around there.

[12:10] YVETTE JONES: Okay, so you don't remember moving, really moving to. About being aware that you were moving?

[12:16] EVA MEDRANO: No, actually, because after we got our passports, which wasn't very long back then, in the day, was so easy to get legalized and be in the states, you know, and Tito or my dad was already working here, so we, like, qualified in every way to be legalized and come live in the states, you know, not like now. That's so difficult. You know, we have so much immigration. But custom was that every Friday after work, my dad would pick us up and all of us would go to Juarez, you know, my mom and my brother and myself.

[12:51] YVETTE JONES: And you get back to the house, because I still remember that house up until after high school, I think, for me. So I graduated 93, and I remember still going to that house.

[13:06] EVA MEDRANO: Yeah.

[13:07] YVETTE JONES: And I remember that we used to go on the weekends as well, because eventually my ualita moved in with us.

[13:16] EVA MEDRANO: Yeah.

[13:16] YVETTE JONES: And they still wanted to go back to Juarez to the other house, because he had it. He had the rooms rented, so he would go and check it out, make sure everything was fine, collect rent. But I remember climbing into the station wagon.

[13:29] EVA MEDRANO: Yeah, black station wagon.

[13:31] YVETTE JONES: The black station wagon with. I remember it had screen window attachments that you could use, which I thought was so weird, but I always remember that it was really dusty. My awolita hated it. She'd always dust it before we got in it. But I remember going to Juarez Friday after school.

[13:47] EVA MEDRANO: Yeah, we spent a lot of time.

[13:50] YVETTE JONES: You and my dad, when you get out of work, drive to Juarez, pick us up, bring us back.

[13:54] EVA MEDRANO: Yep. Because when you guys were born, were you and Annabelle, you're five years apart, but even then, you know, plus most of your dad's family and most of mine as well, we're still in Juarez. So all parties, all birthdays, everything.

[14:08] YVETTE JONES: I remember going to lots of parties in Juarez.

[14:10] EVA MEDRANO: So we used to spend weekends and Sundays, birthday parties and get sanded and get dirty and come back.

[14:18] YVETTE JONES: Yeah, no, I remember that because. And I also remember on Sundays going to see my abuelita Mariah. That was our tradition, to go see my Ulita Maria, which is my dad's mom, right? And everybody like Mattia Carmen, my dad's sister, she lived here in El Paso too, or still does live here. And all her kids, we would all meet up in Juarez, get together with the other cousins that we had that live behind Auelita Maria's house that I believe are still living there, right? Yeah, I think they still. And they were like up the street and down the street and up the hill. So I remember that there was a lot of fashion. So Sundays were for Odisa Marias, my dad's side of the family, and Fridays. And my grandma and my grandpa were with us all the time.

[15:04] EVA MEDRANO: Your first birthday party, we actually had it in Juarez. You know, it was like a park. It was like a. It was a park. You rented the park, you know, and had the party there and whatever. And it was really nice.

[15:21] YVETTE JONES: I don't remember the party, but I do remember that you had, or I don't know if you still have it. A little newspaper clipping, some reason or other. My party was written about in the newspaper in Juarez.

[15:37] EVA MEDRANO: Your dad had.

[15:38] YVETTE JONES: And there's a picture of me with the pinata, which I think the pinata had kind of like a veil. I don't know, it was kinda.

[15:45] EVA MEDRANO: It was a doll, kind of like a muneca.

[15:47] YVETTE JONES: I just remember the picture. Cause I remember it was like a veil on this pinata.

[15:51] EVA MEDRANO: Must have been. I don't remember. Must have been some character of a movie or a book or.

[15:57] YVETTE JONES: For some reason, when I think about, I kind of feel like maybe she was dressed in some kind of folklorico type of a dress. Just from the picture.

[16:06] EVA MEDRANO: I'm trying to remember the.

[16:07] YVETTE JONES: Because I don't recognize. I don't recognize a pneta. I don't know. I just know that she's got this really long veil.

[16:13] EVA MEDRANO: Well, it wasn't like today that you go into all these themes about doing. It was always there. Come bring it and make your party. And. But it was always carrying huge bags of candy. Remember those?

[16:23] YVETTE JONES: Yeah. Because they were full of. There was always an orange and peanuts, loose peanuts in their shells and unwrapped, unfortunately. Unwrapped hard candy mixed up in there with the peanuts.

[16:36] EVA MEDRANO: Yes.

[16:37] YVETTE JONES: Which was just gross to me. You can't eat them. They're covered in peanut.

[16:42] EVA MEDRANO: And I remember one time coming over, they would always check. Remember we had the huge suburban?

[16:48] YVETTE JONES: The suburban, yeah, I remember that.

[16:49] EVA MEDRANO: We had all the stuff in the back, and we're coming across, and they would always ask you anything to declare. And your dad would always say, snow or something like that. And then one time they searched through the stuff, and they found the sack, paper sack, candy bags. And there were oranges in there.

[17:08] YVETTE JONES: Oh, you couldn't cross oranges.

[17:09] EVA MEDRANO: And you couldn't cross oranges.

[17:10] YVETTE JONES: I know that. You couldn't cross certain things, but.

[17:12] EVA MEDRANO: And they took all those sun and put them in the trash, and you and Yvette and Annabel started crying because they dumped your oranges.

[17:19] YVETTE JONES: That would have been very sad.

[17:20] EVA MEDRANO: So we had to be careful what to bring across.

[17:22] YVETTE JONES: Because of the seeds. Right? It's the seeds. Cause I know when you guys used to go, or when we used to grocery shop over there, we would always buy avocados. Avocados. And we always had to have them sliced and the pit removed, because if they had the pit, we couldn't keep them. They would have to toss them. I remember that.

[17:39] EVA MEDRANO: I know.

[17:40] YVETTE JONES: So that was kind of weird.

[17:40] EVA MEDRANO: We used to gobble a lot of the fruit over there so we wouldn't bring it back, but it was fun.

[17:46] YVETTE JONES: Okay, so what elementary school did you go to?

[17:52] EVA MEDRANO: It's a oi, which is still.

[17:55] YVETTE JONES: It's still there.

[17:56] EVA MEDRANO: Part of it was, I think. I'm not sure if it was all demolished and rebuilt, but it still exists. Right? Like a block or two away now. But it's, like, right by the border, right in the same area, right by the same bridge. Still there. That's where I went to my elementary school, you know, and it was so much fun. I had so many friends and.

[18:19] YVETTE JONES: Did you know any English?

[18:21] EVA MEDRANO: No, not a word.

[18:22] YVETTE JONES: And when you started?

[18:24] EVA MEDRANO: No.

[18:24] YVETTE JONES: How did you learn it or how did you pick it up?

[18:28] EVA MEDRANO: I don't remember exactly how, but I used to. I did pretty good. I picked it up kind of well. And there was only one thing. Not in grade school, but in middle school and high school, when I went to middle school, in order for us, because most of us were from the same generation we came across at the same time, and most of us didn't know any English, and we were learning it. And the only way they thought of us, for us to learn well, was to not speak Spanish. So we would speak Spanish to each other, like, secretly, or so the teachers wouldn't hear us.

[19:07] YVETTE JONES: Yeah, because you'd get in trouble, right? I know. I've heard.

[19:10] EVA MEDRANO: Give us the attention.

[19:11] YVETTE JONES: Because you spoke Spanish.

[19:12] EVA MEDRANO: Yeah. So maybe that helped a little bit in a way. I don't know. But we all remember that even now when I get with my friends from way back, middle school, grade school and middle school. Which we still have friends.

[19:23] YVETTE JONES: We still have some friends. Which friends do you have right now? Who are you still friends with now that you were friends with in elementary school?

[19:32] EVA MEDRANO: Mainly it was. Which is still my friend. They're all still my friends, but I have, like, three or four good ones. Melinda.

[19:40] YVETTE JONES: Melinda Luz. Luz. Okay. So you knew all of them from elementary? I was just from high school from way back. And I know all of them.

[19:51] EVA MEDRANO: And then you all know them and you know some of their kids.

[19:53] YVETTE JONES: Yeah. And I'm friends with Melinda's daughter, Sanitia. You were in her wedding and I was in her wedding. Yep. And I remember we used to walk home from school because we lived near each other, so we would get out. I was in first grade, she was in kinder. And we'd walk to my house because her parents were working. And you were home because you had just had Annabelle. Annabelle was still little and you're five years apart. Yeah. So she would stay with us until her mom picked her up. I used to remember that. Okay.

[20:23] EVA MEDRANO: And now she's a mom and her daughter's in college.

[20:26] YVETTE JONES: Oh, my goodness. I know.

[20:27] EVA MEDRANO: And your baby's in high school.

[20:28] YVETTE JONES: My baby? My 15 year old. Okay. Okay. So that's elementary. And where did you go to in middle school?

[20:37] EVA MEDRANO: Middle school and high school were the same schools. It was Bowie High School.

[20:41] YVETTE JONES: Really?

[20:42] EVA MEDRANO: Yeah. We didn't have a middle school at the time.

[20:44] YVETTE JONES: Or junior high.

[20:45] EVA MEDRANO: No, it was. It was from kinder through 6th grade. Seven, eight and nine were buoy. Buoy, but it was like a separate building. It didn't have a different name, but.

[21:00] YVETTE JONES: It was like Bowie Middle. Bowie junior High.

[21:03] EVA MEDRANO: Yeah.

[21:04] YVETTE JONES: I didn't know that.

[21:05] EVA MEDRANO: And then was right there. The different building was. The main building was the high school then.

[21:09] YVETTE JONES: That was the high school.

[21:10] EVA MEDRANO: High school. Still not in the same location anymore. The building's still there, but it's now called Guillen.

[21:15] YVETTE JONES: That's Guillen. Middle. Right?

[21:16] EVA MEDRANO: Guillen Middle.

[21:17] YVETTE JONES: Guillen Middle School. Because it's right across the street from Buoy Bakery. Yes, yes. Which is very good.

[21:24] EVA MEDRANO: And anybody coming has to go see.

[21:27] YVETTE JONES: It and has to go buoy is a historical, and it's been there for 50 years. So now with buoyancy, you. I know that there's a new buoy which is not called new Buoy anymore, but you went to the original buoy, the original building. And if I remember from your yearbook that I used to love to look through, the year that you graduated was the last class.

[21:58] EVA MEDRANO: Yes.

[21:59] YVETTE JONES: Last high school group of students at the old original building.

[22:03] EVA MEDRANO: Yes.

[22:03] YVETTE JONES: And then, so you graduated, and the next year, everybody that went to the new building. Right.

[22:11] EVA MEDRANO: So that's kind of good history for us. And we just had our 50th bouillary union, remember, we went to our dance and we had such a good time, you know, we saw so many good friends. Ours, a lot of them have passed, but we had a good remembrance party, too. And I mean, like usual, we talked to so much and try to remember so many things. And now we built a chat group for most of us on WhatsApp, and we send in stuff and pictures, and it's so good. There's like about eight to ten of us on a chat group. And it's so cute and so nice to see all that and hear all that and remember us. You know, we all look different. None of us look the same, of course.

[22:55] YVETTE JONES: Just a little different.

[22:56] EVA MEDRANO: Just a little bit different.

[22:58] YVETTE JONES: Let me see. So what did my abuelito, when he.

[23:01] EVA MEDRANO: When.

[23:02] YVETTE JONES: Okay, prior to moving to El Paso, what did he. What was his job like in Juarez?

[23:11] EVA MEDRANO: When they got married, they were in paral, Chihuahua, and they moved over right after they're married. You know, they only got married by court because my mom had just lost her deal. But he was like her daddy, because my mom didn't know her daddy. He passed away when she was very little, so she knew her uncle.

[23:35] YVETTE JONES: He was like a father figure.

[23:36] EVA MEDRANO: She was like a father figure. And he had just passed, so she did not want any type of festivities of all.

[23:44] YVETTE JONES: And it was, I guess, from what I remember her saying, too, I guess, I mean, it was traditional back then. I guess that there was like a mourning period, because I remember her saying, estamos de luto. Yeah, estabamos de lutos. Cas nos casamos pole.

[24:00] EVA MEDRANO: There were no kinds of parties, celebrations, and they all wore black for about a year, depending on the closeness of the member.

[24:09] YVETTE JONES: And then they just got married by court. And then, like immediately moved to Juarez, right?

[24:15] EVA MEDRANO: Yes. They just had like, a little celebration at one of my mom's cousin's house, where my mom was actually living. They had like, a little dinner, something. And from there, they took their only belongings, took a bus. They came to Juarez and.

[24:33] YVETTE JONES: Okay, so you said they got married in parral. Were they born in Parral? Where were they born?

[24:38] EVA MEDRANO: They were actually both born in Bayesa, Chihuahua, which is very close to parral. And. But they didn't know each other back then. Their moms knew each other, but they didn't know.

[24:51] YVETTE JONES: So they didn't know each other. When did they meet, do you know?

[24:54] EVA MEDRANO: From what I understand, my mom was staying with a cousin of hers and her mom in my. Her tio, which I call him Tio as well. He was elderly. They had a little grocery store, and they lived in parral. So she came to live with them to help her with her newborn. Cause my mom hadn't been married. She was considered an old maid. My mom, she married about 26.

[25:22] YVETTE JONES: She was 26.

[25:23] EVA MEDRANO: I think back then there was.

[25:25] YVETTE JONES: Oh, yeah, that was ancient. She was an old maid. That's it. Give it up.

[25:27] EVA MEDRANO: So she came to live and helped her cousin with the firstborn. And at the same time, they had a little grocery store. And they had a couple of rooms in the house. I remember the house really well. The little stories to go help them and pack arrows, the rice and sugar and salt. Little packs, you know, and have them ready for sale. I used to love to do that on vacation times when we used to.

[25:53] YVETTE JONES: Go, that's so funny.

[25:54] EVA MEDRANO: I know, it's so cute. And Bella, I don't know if I've.

[25:56] YVETTE JONES: Ever told you, Bella, when we would go to stores, she would rearrange the shoes. We would go, like, if we'd go to goodwill or something. And she did that for me once. Yeah, no, she would go up there to the store. But she's like, I'm gonna arrange them. And she would fix the shoes so they were all nice and easy.

[26:13] EVA MEDRANO: How that comes so long, huh?

[26:15] YVETTE JONES: Oh, my God.

[26:15] EVA MEDRANO: So. But anyways. And they. They were. It was. They built like three or four rooms, I think was like three rooms. They had them, like, boarding house for mine workers.

[26:28] YVETTE JONES: Because Myuelito was a miner too, right? I have a picture of him in the mines.

[26:32] EVA MEDRANO: Paral was a mining place. And so he just happened to come and he was working as a miner there. So he rented a room. And of course, with the rental of the room, they would feed him and I think, pack him a lunch or something like that. So my mom was there, and she was helping out lunch, and so that's how she meth my dad, you know? And it was very strange, you know, because three months after they married. After they met, they got married.

[27:04] YVETTE JONES: It was just like, three months.

[27:05] EVA MEDRANO: Three months. And they were married up until they passed away.

[27:09] YVETTE JONES: I remember. I know. My bolita telling me about, like, they didn't date really, but I didn't realize it was that soon after they.

[27:21] EVA MEDRANO: Back then, it wasn't like. I'll tell you the whole story. From what I understand, my mom's other cousin that also lived there liked my dad.

[27:36] YVETTE JONES: Okay. So.

[27:38] EVA MEDRANO: But my dad from back then, you know, liked my mom.

[27:44] YVETTE JONES: Okay.

[27:45] EVA MEDRANO: So it was like, a little.

[27:46] YVETTE JONES: So Tito chose my Tita.

[27:50] EVA MEDRANO: Yeah. And it was like they had a little misagrement between cousins and. Because the other cousin, which I think you remember her, she came to.

[28:01] YVETTE JONES: Which cousin was.

[28:03] EVA MEDRANO: Remember? Oh, my God. What was her name? She came to your quinceanera and her husband. Oh, my God. Anita.

[28:10] YVETTE JONES: Oh, Anita.

[28:11] EVA MEDRANO: Anita. Oh, okay.

[28:13] YVETTE JONES: Yeah.

[28:13] EVA MEDRANO: My tia. Anita.

[28:14] YVETTE JONES: Anita was so down.

[28:15] EVA MEDRANO: She later learned to. To, like, cope with it, and she would make fun of that incident.

[28:20] YVETTE JONES: I didn't know how.

[28:21] EVA MEDRANO: Did I like you or. Cause I remember that.

[28:23] YVETTE JONES: Yeah.

[28:24] EVA MEDRANO: You know.

[28:24] YVETTE JONES: Yeah. Cause I remember they stayed. They stayed with us. They stayed at our house. Cause I remember the day that quinceanera, me and Lorena got kicked out of the house.

[28:35] EVA MEDRANO: Yeah.

[28:36] YVETTE JONES: We weren't allowed to shower at my house, so we had to walk down the street, two houses down to where my abuelita and my abuelito lived.

[28:44] EVA MEDRANO: And I think you stayed there, too.

[28:45] YVETTE JONES: And we. I think we did stay there. We showered and everything at Maya Uelita's house.

[28:52] EVA MEDRANO: Yeah. But it was interesting because, you know, after all those incidents.

[28:55] YVETTE JONES: Yeah.

[28:56] EVA MEDRANO: And they kind of asked my mom at the time, you know, like, she wasn't welcome there anymore, kind of, sort of, you know.

[29:03] YVETTE JONES: Yeah.

[29:03] EVA MEDRANO: You know, stuff like that. Because, I mean, Anita was, like, to always get her way.

[29:09] YVETTE JONES: Oh.

[29:10] EVA MEDRANO: You know, so drama. Her mom was my dad that lived there. Of course. You know, it was her mom.

[29:16] YVETTE JONES: She was like, they're like, if you're gonna get married, then you need to go.

[29:20] EVA MEDRANO: I know. Wow.

[29:22] YVETTE JONES: And so they. And then right away, they went to Juarez.

[29:24] EVA MEDRANO: Yeah.

[29:25] YVETTE JONES: They came to Juarez with his family.

[29:27] EVA MEDRANO: Yes.

[29:28] YVETTE JONES: And they stayed with his family until they built their house for just whatever drama happened there.

[29:32] EVA MEDRANO: For just a little bit. They stayed there, and then they. That's when they got together and they bought that property, actually, they had done one or two before that. But your grandpa was always the type, and you know him, he was very meticulous.

[29:47] YVETTE JONES: Oh, yeah.

[29:47] EVA MEDRANO: He was very organized, and he always wanted to have everything right, you know?

[29:56] YVETTE JONES: Okay. Yeah.

[29:57] EVA MEDRANO: So he. They always knew that he had a little savings, and they always wanted to take it away from him.

[30:02] YVETTE JONES: Yeah, I know. I know. He was like. He was a very hard worker. He did a lot of stuff on his own. He had. I know he had a hard life growing up.

[30:11] EVA MEDRANO: Yeah. And when he. When they first came over here, he started coming to us as a farm worker, as a bracero.

[30:19] YVETTE JONES: Bracero, yeah, the bracero. And he used to stay. I remember he told me at the buildings that are over by.

[30:26] EVA MEDRANO: In Socordo, and the buildings are still there.

[30:28] YVETTE JONES: And the buildings are still there. I took down. We were driving there.

[30:33] EVA MEDRANO: Yeah. And he did.

[30:35] YVETTE JONES: Yeah.

[30:35] EVA MEDRANO: So he used to come work and.

[30:38] YVETTE JONES: Then go back, and then eventually. So when you guys moved to El Paso, where did he. Was he still doing the bracero stuff or was he.

[30:47] EVA MEDRANO: No, he was already working as a.

[30:49] YVETTE JONES: He was doing construction. Yeah, because I always remember he was a construction worker.

[30:52] EVA MEDRANO: I was to do cement work, finishing, and he was so proud of his work. He always wanted to make everything.

[30:59] YVETTE JONES: Is that why there was always so many little patches of cement?

[31:02] EVA MEDRANO: Yes.

[31:03] YVETTE JONES: Cement landings, sidewalks. I don't know what.

[31:08] EVA MEDRANO: You see any leftover cement anywhere? Because he would take it and.

[31:13] YVETTE JONES: And he would add a little patch of cement to the backyard. Cause there's a lot there.

[31:19] EVA MEDRANO: There are.

[31:19] YVETTE JONES: I don't know if they've changed it since, you know, the house got sold, their house and next door to you guys. But there was a lot of very weird shaped and sized areas of cement because he had leftover cement for something where he'd walk the neighborhood, see some construction people. They had some cement left over. So he'd bring it home and add a little patch of cement to the backyard.

[31:41] EVA MEDRANO: And, of course, he would always go help.

[31:43] YVETTE JONES: And then he'd go help.

[31:44] EVA MEDRANO: Yeah, he would always go help and tell him, you don't do it this way, you need to do it that way.

[31:48] YVETTE JONES: Well, that was what he did. And then he ended up. I know he couldn't do it anymore when he got hurt and he fell off that scaffolding.

[31:54] EVA MEDRANO: Yep. That's when he retired.

[31:56] YVETTE JONES: And that's when. That was at the Marriott building. Marriott Hotel.

[31:59] EVA MEDRANO: Right by the airport. By the airport that he fell.

[32:02] YVETTE JONES: And I remember they called you guys and the whole took him by ambulance and everything he's had.

[32:06] EVA MEDRANO: So he had so many serious accidents that he outlived.

[32:13] YVETTE JONES: It was a whole two more hours just talking about his serious bad and good luck.

[32:19] EVA MEDRANO: Yes.

[32:20] YVETTE JONES: Oh, that would be fun.

[32:21] EVA MEDRANO: He was such a strong person, huh?

[32:22] YVETTE JONES: He was.

[32:24] EVA MEDRANO: Remember now? It brings back memories when you started helping out me, huh? When they were retired and they were elderly and you needed one healthcare, and he would, you would go on Thursdays, I believe it was.

[32:37] YVETTE JONES: I think it was twice a week, I think, or a couple of hours or so. Yeah, I went for a few hours.

[32:40] EVA MEDRANO: He used to always tell you to go buy churches.

[32:42] YVETTE JONES: Chicken chuchies. Chuchies. We go choo cheese. Cause Dave, that's what he says if we're talking about something, and he thinks he wants churches, choo cheese.

[32:59] EVA MEDRANO: And your dad always used to, like, remember him, you know, like, every time there were coupons.

[33:10] YVETTE JONES: And I also. I remember because he was very frugal, and he would stash his money, but.

[33:16] EVA MEDRANO: He would take it out.

[33:17] YVETTE JONES: I remember that he would give you money from me when I was, like, four or three, when they would be watching me at the Haza Durasno and give you, like, $2 to buy me a happy meal.

[33:29] EVA MEDRANO: Yeah. You couldn't go away without your money for happy me.

[33:32] YVETTE JONES: Yeah, you better buy me my happy meal. And then when he would collect the cans, he would collect lots of cans. And then we'd take him to go return them and get money for them. We would always go. He would take us to dairy Queen. We'd go to dairy Queen. Del Chorito.

[33:50] EVA MEDRANO: Exactly.

[33:51] YVETTE JONES: La nieve del Chorito. We used to do that, too.

[33:53] EVA MEDRANO: Yeah, I know. He was a good man. And your dad will always. We talk about him, too. And he says that he was very, very grateful for your grandpa because he learned a lot from him through the years, you know? And he helped us with our first house, which has been our, always our house.

[34:17] YVETTE JONES: It's still your house.

[34:19] EVA MEDRANO: And he cared for him a lot. And you know how your dad was there with me throughout the years to help him until they passed.

[34:27] YVETTE JONES: Well, I know my abuelito would always ask my dad for help, for doing things, to help him with things or if he needed anything.

[34:33] EVA MEDRANO: And your dad will never forget how that every time, you know. You know how we lived with him for years, you know, when they got sick and we stayed there with them overnight, and we had the providers come in and how every time that your dad would go to work, you know, he would go check up on him and check that the stoves were okay, that everything was fine, and your grandma would always be giving him blessings to go, and he never forgets those things.

[35:00] YVETTE JONES: Yeah, because he always went. He always went before you guys had to stay overnight with them when you eventually had to stay overnight with them because they were not. Yeah, because they both had dementia and they could not be left alone.

[35:15] EVA MEDRANO: And I'm happy that, you know, I guess older people back then and, you know, maybe our generation has changed now, but I needed to. I felt that I needed to do what they were used to and what they wanted to have done, and they pleaded and they asked that they never be taken out of their house. To him, having his house was such a deal, you know, and I play. I pray to God that, you know, he would never leave the house. And.

[35:43] YVETTE JONES: And he didn't.

[35:44] EVA MEDRANO: And he didn't. You know, he passed away at home.

[35:47] YVETTE JONES: He passed away at home and he. Cause we were helping you. Lorena came in from Phoenix.

[35:56] EVA MEDRANO: All the guys came to her open.

[35:57] YVETTE JONES: And Omar came from Phoenix. And Anna Dollar was here. No, was she here?

[36:03] EVA MEDRANO: She was already here.

[36:04] YVETTE JONES: Yeah, she was already here. But we would spend the night.

[36:06] EVA MEDRANO: Yeah.

[36:07] YVETTE JONES: So you could get a break and go home. And then we stayed the night. And then finally that once. Was it Friday night or Saturday night?

[36:16] EVA MEDRANO: Saturday. Saturday night, yeah, Saturday night, as you guys wouldn't allow.

[36:25] YVETTE JONES: No, we may just go home. And we couldn't. None of us could stay that night anymore. And so you stayed that night, and he passed away that night with you?

[36:34] EVA MEDRANO: I felt for some reason that I had to stay that night. I wanted to stay that night, and Annabelle wouldn't let me. She said, no, mom, you're going back home. And something happened at work that they called her.

[36:46] YVETTE JONES: She had to leave, and Lorena had to leave because she'd already been there all week, and she had to go back home because she took Jamie out of school, so they had to go back. And then I had the play that. That was the first play that we did that me and Bella did.

[36:57] EVA MEDRANO: Yes, I remember.

[36:58] YVETTE JONES: And we had to do the play that night.

[37:00] EVA MEDRANO: Everything was like, so.

[37:01] YVETTE JONES: And it just. You had to stay there. And then. I mean, I know it's lots of other stuff I want to ask you, but I always thought it was interesting that when my abuelita died, when my dita died, we kind of joke about it that you were there with her most of the time because we did take her to a hospice.

[37:24] EVA MEDRANO: I know. And you were lucky enough to be there.

[37:30] YVETTE JONES: Was it not a clinic? What is it called, a hospice facility.

[37:33] EVA MEDRANO: Yeah.

[37:35] YVETTE JONES: Because she was. We knew that you know. Yeah, we knew that she was just not coming back home with us, but we knew that she liked going out. She liked to not be home until she got older, then she just couldn't. And then she was just.

[37:48] EVA MEDRANO: You know, she. In her own way, she said, yes, I don't want to go home.

[37:52] YVETTE JONES: And I remember we all decided that, yeah, we would go to the hospice place, and you were with her most of the time. Because by that point, we were. We just couldn't for. You know, with Bella and the kids, we just couldn't. And when I finally was able to go and just so happened that Annabel was able to go that day, and you guys had been there forever. We made you and my dad leave to go get rest, change, shower at home, get some food, and you guys were gone for what, maybe 2030 minutes. And it was just me and Annabelle there. And Annabelle went to go warm up her burrito. And I was the only one with her when she passed away. And I found it. I don't. I don't know what. I guess a little funny that we thought, okay, Maya Walito wanted to be with you when she. When he passed.

[38:58] EVA MEDRANO: And you were the first born, and grandma loved you to pieces. You were everything for her.

[39:03] YVETTE JONES: Bella, she was the first granddaughter. Well, great granddaughter and the only one here. But what we kind of laugh a little bit about is that my abuelita waited to pass until after you left that we said that. She probably said, finally she left, leave me alone. And she could finally go in peace, because you were always on them about everything.

[39:32] EVA MEDRANO: But, yeah, I guess they became my kids after a while.

[39:36] YVETTE JONES: Yeah, we took care of them. They took care of me and Annabelle when you were at work and I was for school and everything, and because they lived with us for a while, and then they lived a house or two down the street.

[39:49] EVA MEDRANO: And it's hard to be so close to them and so far now, because just passing by the house, it's hard.

[39:58] YVETTE JONES: Yeah. But.

[40:04] EVA MEDRANO: I don't know. Time change things behind, but life goes on, like they say, you know? And here we are.

[40:11] YVETTE JONES: Yeah. I'm just glad that Bella got to spend as much time with them. I know she was their consentida.

[40:17] EVA MEDRANO: And what I'm happy about is that she got to go see the place where they were born, Miha. And she had a vacation out there. And you, too.

[40:23] YVETTE JONES: And I, too. I was able to see where they were born. I saw the river where she was, to talk about them going to wash clothes.

[40:28] EVA MEDRANO: I know.

[40:31] YVETTE JONES: Behind the house.

[40:33] EVA MEDRANO: Well, there was no house anymore.

[40:35] YVETTE JONES: No, no, no. It was just very dilapidated and broken down bricks of adobe.

[40:42] EVA MEDRANO: But they were still able to appreciate them even though they were old and sick taking that trip, which I thank your dad for because he was the one that offered it to them.

[40:51] YVETTE JONES: Remember our trip? And I was so glad that we were able to go and for me to take Bella and your grandpa couldn't.

[40:57] EVA MEDRANO: Believe that, you know? Really, are you gonna take us? You know? Yeah, he just couldn't believe it, you know he was holding that little piece of paper on the card that we put, you know, in IOU for a trip to Mexico and he was like, ah, remember that? He just. Everybody was crying that Christmas. I remember cuz yeah. And everybody wanted to go.

[41:16] YVETTE JONES: I'm glad that we were able to go and I'm glad that I was able to take Bella. So that was good.

[41:20] EVA MEDRANO: Yeah, that was nice.

[41:22] YVETTE JONES: Here.