Interviewer
Institute of Oral History
Project
Farah Strike
Summary of Interview
Jaramillo was born in San Antonio after her parents cross the border thru Laredo when immigration wasn’t very strict. After a year they moved to El Paso, Texas where all of her other siblings were born.. One of the things that she admires about growing up in El Paso is that almost everyone knew each other or knows someone who knows them. Her mother owned a restaurant and her father a tailoring shop in which Jaramillo and her siblings grew up. After a couple of years her father passed away. Her mother then decided to sell the tailoring shop and start a grocery store with the money.
During the depression Jaramillo and her siblings finished high school, which at the time it was an impossible task to complete, but they did it. Almost everyday after they were done with school she used to go bowling with her friends and she used to go hiking on the weekends. After high school they had a really hard time trying to get a job. She finally got a as a secretary when she was about to enter college, but since she finally got a job she decided to put college on hold. After that job she got a job at a factory near the Civic Center. That factory was very admired by everyone in the city because they treated their employee’s great and they were the first factory to have a cafeteria and other accommodations.
Jaramillo mentioned that during that time crossing the border wasn’t difficult at all. Passports didn’t even have a picture so you would borrow your passport to your friends so that they could cross. The river was pretty full with water so it was kind of hard to cross the border by river if you were an immigrant, but most of the time people did it and went to look for a job and better life. People also would go to El Paso on the weekends and buy groceries for their homes in Juarez, just as people do now a day.
In the meantime, Jaramillo got married and build her own family. They used to go every weekend to Juarez and buy cloths or even groceries, because it was cheaper than the ones in El Paso. There were several things that you couldn’t cross such as vegetables or animals. Over all she loved living in El Paso and her experiences in the border.
Date of Interview
2-1-2023
Length of Interview
57 minutes
Listen to the Interview
Tape Number
No. 1774
Transcript Number
No. 1774
Transcriber
Andrea Santos
Interview Number
No. 1774
Terms of Use
Unrestricted
Recommended Citation
Interview with Jaramillo by Institute of Oral History, 2023, "Interview no. 1774," Institute of Oral History, University of Texas at El Paso.
Comments
Andrea Santos transcribed the coversheet of the interview. There is no transcription of the interview.