WILLY CHAVEZ

 

from an interview on September 26, 1980

by Donald L. Haynie

 

Willy Chavez lives in Alamosa now, but he was originally from Los Cerritos and Manassa.  Willy lived in Los Cerritos, which is due south of Alamosa and southeast of Manassa.  It was right on the Conejos River and next to two hills.  They moved from Los Cerritos to Manassa because they didn't have work.  Willy's mother and father separated.  He can remember the first pair of pants he ever put on.  Willy lived with his mother most of the time because, in Los Cerritos, he had something he could do. 

His father was in Maµassa, but Manassa was a rough place for the Spanish people in those days.  There weren't many Spanish people there.  In fact, Willy's father's family was the oldest Spanish-speaking family in Manassa.  Willy's step-father was a carpenter and he would take Willy . w ith him on the job.  Willy started to school, but he had to quit to help make a living for the family when he was about six years old.  He remembers Manassa as being really "hell" for the Spanish people. 

Willy's first job was on a hay baler.  A man, Mr. Reynolds, had a hay baler and Willy drove the horses for the baler.  The man hired Willy for fifty cents a day to keep the four horses going around by standing on the power box and keeping them pulling even from daylight to dark.  He had a whip and, if the horses weren't going fast enough, he let them have it!  There was a plunger on the baler that had to be pushed in.  It was operated by a chain, and another chain pulled the plunger out.

Willy worked for Tom Payne for several years in the hay fields on a hay mower for one dollar a day. 

In Los Cerritos, Sunday was a big day.   People would come from all over the San Luis Valley.  They would rope calves, ride horses, and break broncos.  Then, there would be a ball game and a dance.  His step-father had a dance hall.  It wasn't very big, but the people would dance until two or three in the morning.  They usually had a dance on Saturday and, sometimes, on Sunday.  The only Spanish Mormon family in Los Cerritos was that of Willy's step-father.  Willy's father lived in Manassa amd he was Mormon.

His step-father's name was J.D. Trujillo.  Willy's father came from Albuquerque before Willy was born.  Willy's grandfather was a full-blooded Indian and he had a great-grandmother from England.  His mother's mother died when his mother was born in Mississippi.  Willy's mother came from Mississippi to the San Luis Valley, and she met his father in Manassa.  Her name was Pearce.  Willy's wife's name was Sophie.  She was from La Isla, from near Sanford,

Willy told how he proposed to Sophie.  One Thanksgiving Day, he was working on the threshing machine.  (That was all he could find to do, and he was sick.)  His twin sister had made a big dinner and had invited Sophie.  Willy can't remember if she came alone or with her sister.  After lunch, he felt awfully rough and went outside, and was sitting on a bench holding his head, when Sophie came outside and sat beside him.  He told her he didn't feel well, and he suggested they go for a walk.  They held hands and went about a quarter of a mile north of the road and stopped to turn around to return to the house.  Willy said, ''Sophie, I'm going to ask you one question and I want you to be true and honest and I want you to answer 'yes' or 'no.'''

She said, "What is it?"  Willy said, "Sophie, I've known you for some time.  I've taken you out to dances.  I've always respected you.  I'm going to ask you one question.  If I go over to your house and ask your parents for permission to marry you, would you marry me"?  She hugged him and kissed him and said, "Honey, I've been waiting for this for the last five years."  Another thing Willy told her was that the only thing he had to offer her was his own two hands.  He didn't have what her father had - - horses, land, and stock - - but she said that did not matter. 

He farmed with his father-in-law and, then, he got some land (160 acres) on Platte.  A neighbor told him about 80 acres west and he took him to Bountiful or Morgan, where he share-cropped for Chris Harmsen.  Then, the war came and the boys did not want to stay, so they sold all the horses, machinery, milk cows, turkeys, and chickens, and went to Utah where Willy worked for the railroad.  But, he never did like to work for a big outfit, so they came back to the Valley where his daughter, Gertrude, lived.  He got a job with Henry Sorum on the ranch and worked for several years and, then, worked for Jones Construction for a few years.  Then, he worked for Vane Edgemand from seven in the morning until eight at night, for a dollar and a half a day. 

Willy sums up his life as starting with nothing, using only his two hands.  He would give Sophie all his money and she would budget, but there were times when they didn't have things they wanted, but they got a little farm and he always worked hard.  Even though he worked hard, and they did without, they led a happy life. 

When he was young, one of his favorite past times was ice skating in the winter-time.  They would get on the Conejos River and skate all the way to Antonito, and they would not get back until the sun was coming up.  Their idea of luxury was to make their own ice cream.  They would go to the river and chop up ice.  Then, they would get cream or milk and add sugar, and put the mixture in a gallon bucket which they would turn back and forth in the copped ice.  Stores didn't sell ice cream, so they made their own, or didn't have any. 

They didn't have soda pop, movies, or radios, so they had games they played, or they would hunt around until they could find some stray calves to ride.  They would play "Run, Sheep Run," which was a game they could play at night.  Once group would hide and the other group would look for them.  One player would give signals and, then, they would all try to run to the base. 

In Los Cerritos, there were four or five families, a store, a post office, and a saloon.  The school house was about two miles east of town, and all the children walked to school.  When they got to the school, they would have to get wood for the fire.  They had one teacher whose son was the meanest little kid.  They finally lost patience with the kid and, leaving school early one day, made a bunch of hard snowballs, which they used to pelt the teacher and his son.  They next day, they told the teacher they had had it with his son, and weren't going to take any more nonsense from him any more, and the next time was going to be worse.  This straightened the kid out. 

In the winter, they would buy warm clothing from the stores operated by Jim DePriest or R.M. Haynie. 

Los Cerritos means "two little lost hills."  They were just chico, nothing else!  There is nothing left at Los Cerritos now.  Only one Bagwell family lives across the river.  Willy still has ten acres of land at Los Cerritos. 

Willy's mother always had a garden. The man, Cantu, had some land and he let Willy's mother have the land. She would plant cabbage and carrots, and she would store them in a cellar.  If they were able to get fruit in the fall. she would usually dry it for storage.  With her first husband she had eight children. When they separated, he took the oldest children, and the three youngest went with the mother. Willy's step-father had four children.

Willy's father farmed on Fox Creek for two or three years and, then when he came back to Manassa, Willy went with his mother. 

Willy's step-father wanted him to learn the carpenter trade, but he wasn't interested.  He liked horses best and always wanted to work with horses.   

One day, they were stacking hay and, after they got the stack made, they had to move the stacker.  Willy told Mr. Reynolds that the horses they were using weren't very good and that if he had his own horses he could do a better job of moving the stacker.  Mr. Reynolds accepted the challenge and offered to pay Willy twenty dollars to move the stacker with his horses.  And, he paid Willy another twenty dollars to straighten the stacker.  In just a few minutes, Willy had made forty dollars with his team, all because he knew how to handle horses.  One of the men present said to Willy, "Aren't you ashamed for charging a man so much for that?"  Willy replied, "I didn't charge him for it; he just gave it to me!"   

When children were born in the town. Willy's mother would help because she helped Dr. Van Fradenburg. The children were born at home.  Dr. Van Fradenburg had the first motorcycle in town and he was the first one to have an automobile. 

Nobody ever got newspapers in those days, and people were quite isolated from the outside world. The first time Willy went to Alamosa was in 1910, when he was fifteen years old. The only buildings in Alamosa were where Jones Drug Store is now, and the church house. Everything else was "chico." They went to Alamosa that first time. to bring lumber for the oldest son of his step-father to use in building a house.   

There were hard times, but there were happy times. They were content with what they had.  Willy stressed that that is one of the most important things he can recall -- you would work for a dollar a day and were glad to get it.  You could buy a pair of overall for fifty cents and a pair of shoes which cost three or four dollars that would last for several years because they were made of gen-u-ine leather.   r a dollar a day and were glad to get it. You could buy a pair of overalls for fifty cents and a pair of shoes which cost

His mother baked bread. The only things they would have to buy were flour, sometimes lard. They were largely self-sufficient.  They washed clothes on a washboard.  Then, later they bought a wooden washing machine.  They got their water from the river.  In those days, people were more neighborly.  They never locked anything and there was no vandalism.  They had a deep respect for other people.  If someone came to the house, the took off their hats, and erveryone shook hands.  There were no policemen in Los Cerritos or Manassa, because they were not needed, and there was non fire department.  If a house burned, the neighbors pitched in to help out.