Interviewer
Daniel Mascorro
Project
Daniel Mascorro
Summary of Interview
Porfirio Quiroz Valenciano was born in Aguascalientes, Mexico on May 5, 1930. He recalls he attended a private primary school in Aguascalientes and he used to come back and forth from this city to his parent's ranch and describes his daily schedule during that time. He remembers that he started to work when he was a teenager spending five years in Veracruz, then he came back to his family ranch in Aguascalientes and there is where he learned how to work. He recounts he went to the city of Aguascalientes to work as a mechanic, then went back to Veracruz and then returned to Aguascalientes and had different jobs until he got his lifetime job of 47 years in a construction company that built different kinds of infrastructure around Mexico, and mentions it was the only work he really liked. Quiroz Valenciano recalls that he got married at 23 and says how he traveled with his family because of his job, but it came to a point that his wife and children settled in Aguascalientes and did their schooling there until they graduated from the university. He details his children’s careers and mentions that he is already retired, and how not working has taken its toll on his physical and mental health. He explains that his wife died three years ago, that she used to deal with all the family problems and now he has to take care of that, and mentions who they met and shares some details about their civil and religious marriage. He describes that while he was working away from his family a doctor friend of his used to take care of his wife while she was pregnant and after she gave birth, and that he was the family doctor. Quiroz Valenciano discusses several topics including that his children like studying a lot and that they are always keeping themselves updated on their careers; mentions about both of his parents being of Spanish descent, and his father having a marked ideology related to his ancestry, and that he liked to read a lot, especially his Bible; talks about her mother's roots and his grandparents owning several haciendas and how they lost everything; and mentions some details about his siblings. To conclude, he recalls that he has been to the U.S. to visit family and how in his working years they offered him to work in that country; he then continues on how he was offered to work in several parts of Mexico; his impressions about people in the U.S. and that he would not like to live there and gives the reasons for this; and says his opinion about Anglos and Mexican Americans.
Date of Interview
2-23-1998
Length of Interview
76 minutes
Listen to the Interview
Tape Number
No. 1708
Transcriber
Jaime R. Ruiz
Interview Number
No. 1708
Terms of Use
Unrestricted
Recommended Citation
Interview with Porfirio Quiroz Valenciano by Daniel Mascorro, 1998, "Interview no. 1708," Institute of Oral History, University of Texas at El Paso.
Comments
There is no transcript. Jaime R. Ruiz transcribed the summary.