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Release Form

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Interview Log

Name: Reyes Gonzales

Date of Interview: March 16, 2017

Location: Queen Creek, Arizona

Interviewer: Matheu Gonzales

Time Subject

00:00-00:24 Introduction of Matheu Gonzales and

Reyes Gonzales.

00:25-02:29 A personal view of Reyes’s life

throughout his childhood.

02:30-06:26 Reyes describes his family setting and

how his parents raised him.

06:27-13:07 Diving into Reyes’s personal life, career

and views.

13:08-19:10 Reyes describes the Town of Gilbert’s

reaction to history in the 60s and 70s

19:11-24:37 A continued section of Reyes’s career as

an educator and his endures.

24:38-26:12 A small detour of Reyes’s family.

26:13-29:35 Reyes explains what has changed in

society, as well as the Town of Gilbert.

29:36-36:00 A personal tour into the life of Reyes

Gonzales.

36:01-45:34 A final word from Reyes and his opinion

to the generations.

Interview Questions

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Matheu Gonzales

Interview Questions

Sources

https://gilberthistoricalmuseum.org/gilbert-history/

http://www.ushistory.org/us/55d.asp

Gale Virtual Reference Library:Vietnam War Protests

1. Where and when were you born?

2. What was something that always took your mind off stress?

3. What job did you have growing up as a kid/teen? if any.

4. Describe your family lifestyle… such as how many siblings did you have? Were you

the oldest or youngest of your siblings?

5. Have any of you siblings made great examples of themselves such as you have? If so

please explain.

6. What did your parents do for a living?

7. Compared to where you are now, how is your life different?

8. Can you give some examples of segregation, in school or any public place?

9. In college how were you able to break through and be so successful in that time

period? How were you able to pay?

10. How was the time period, in which you grew up in?

11. What were the views of the town/people about the Vietnam war?

12. How did the small town of Gilbert react to the Kennedy Assassination?

13. The MLK Assassination?

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14. What did you do for a living?

15. Did you face any discrimination when you acquired the position? If so could you

elaborate?

16. How much do you know of you family history? Where was you family from?

17. From your point of view how has society changed?

18. How has Gilbert changed since it was a small farm town?

19. What are some of major set backs or experiences you've endured? How do you think

they have helped you along your life?

20. Are there any traditions you would like to have live on?

21. What is the most important lesson that you have learned and would like to be shared?

22. What keeps you mind calm now?

23. What is your opinion of todays generation? How would you compare it to your own?

24. Now is there anything that you would like to speak about that I have not Covered?

Oral History Interview Transcript

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STUDENT: Hello the date is March 16, 2017. We are here at my house, Queen

Creek Arizona. My name is Matheu Gonzales and I am interviewing my father

Reyes Gonzales. Thank you for being here.

SUBJECT: You're Welcome.

STUDENT: I am going to go ahead and jump in with the first question. Where and

when were you born?

SUBJECT: I was born in Watsonville, California. Its near the Bay Area, just in the

vicinity of Santa Cruz and Carmel.

STUDENT: And where did you grow up?

SUBJECT: Grew up in Gilbert, Arizona. And then spent most of my life there.

Went through all the school systems in that district.

STUDENT: Now as a kid what was always something that took your mind off

stress?

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SUBJECT: For me it always seemed to be sports. It didn't matter which sports. It

was basketball, baseball, track and any of those related areas.

STUDENT: What job did you have growing up as a kid, kid or teen? If any.

SUBJECT: When I was a kid, probably around, oh maybe, 8, 9 and ten years of

age. There weren't many jobs to be had so we had local newspaper building in

Gilbert. Which is now Joe’s Barbecue, and we were able to take papers form there

and just kinda pretty much run an individual paper route. And we would sell the

papers, then we’d come back and return the papers and the money, if there was any

papers left over. And we’d split it, they’d give us half of it and we did that almost

everyday. Oh and also when we got older I worked on the farm. Worked on the

farm for, that belonged to Father Patterson, because I was an alter boy around that

age. And he would hire some of the alter boys and go work on his farm. Anything

from driving tractors to spraying weeds, and raking hay. He also had race horses

that he had. And we would feed those horses and kind of walk them around and

exercise them… things like that. So anything of that nature on the farm.

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STUDENT: Now, for your family. Please describe how your family life style was,

how many siblings did you have. Were you the oldest or youngest of all your

siblings?

SUBJECT: Okay basically, we were the typical hispanic, catholic family. And

mom was really into the religion and she was a disciplinarian and what ever she

said went and dad just kind of backed her up…he was the enforcer kind of, and he

was the muscle. I had two sisters they're Anna Mari Gonzales and Linda Linna

Gonzales and I am the oldest, Reyes Gonzales.

STUDENT: Now have you or your siblings made great examples of yourselves?

For example jobs education wise?

SUBJECT: Yes my older sisters, well actually my older sister which is younger

than me

but she is the older one that I have. Her name is Linda and she was probably the

most natural athlete I’ve ever seen. She was probably the athlete of the family.

Even though I thought I was , but she was far beyond better than I was at anything.

Especially for a young lady. And she also played sports in high school and college

and could’ve gone on but elected to get married and work. So she ended up

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working at Saint Annes Catholic Church. And she did administration work there.

Like keeping the books, and just things like that of that nature for the office. And

my younger sister, is Anna Mari Gonzales, which is Ames now, she also graduated

from high school and went on to go to a junior college at Mesa Community for a

couple of years. And then ended up taking a job at the Gilbert Police Department.

Where she ended up working her way through and eventually becoming the

manager of the records facility…Not bad.

STUDENT: No not bad at all. As for your parents what did they do for a living in

the small Town of Gilbert at the time?

SUBJECT: Mmkay, my parents… as far as my mom she was, which was Rose

Gonzales, and actually her name was Rosal, but we called her Rose and nickname

was Chauita. She was a technician, a lab technician for the Beckman Corporation

which was located in Scottsdale. So she had to leave Gilbert, and drive all the way

to Scottsdale and work there. And she worked in, as a, and what they did at

Beckman at the time is they were creating these digital boards for clocks and

watches and they were the ones you get those little digital electronic looking

things. Way back then thats the first time we’d ever seen those, and she was

involved in that. And my father he worked out of Gilbert also, he worked for a

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cement finishing company. By the name of Progressive Concrete. And that was a

big company, which was great because he a lot of major projects. And they had

some projects such as laying the foundations and floors for the Arizona Canal,

which is a big project thats still going on or its been finished by now. Many Coca-

Cola companies, their warehouses and different types of buildings. They also built

the foundations and the floors for the banks in Arizona, many of them. And also

did a lot of the residential tracks. That boomed in Arizona, at that time. And

etcetera as far as concrete is concerned.

STUDENT: He was a busy man.

SUBJECT: Very busy and hardworking work that he did.

STUDENT: So compared to where you are now how is your life different?

SUBJECT: Now, I was born in the age you know where technology wasn't as big

as it is now. So the biggest difference is entering the technology age. The best way

to some this up is, growing up I use to watch a program, cartoon program called

the Jetsons. And they were like the family of the future. And that aired like in the

early 1960’s. Basically what it comes to, we always thought wow thats amazing.

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You know all these things, you know maybe the future is going to produce and

stuff. And actually I think were very close into using the same things that they had

on that cartoon program. Because what they introduced at the time, actually we

were watching this on this little box, called a television, that was new for us.

Especially when it was in color, that was very new. And the program they showed

that there was robots and they were the robots that were like the maids and they did

the maintenance work and stuff like that. And they had microwaves, we didn't

realize what that was but now its a big thing. They had computers, they had the

internet they had TV watches, which was my favorite. And flat screens all over the

place and they had cell phones, push button technology was big. Flying cars, which

I don't know if were near yet, but were probably coming to that. They even showed

in the medical field, they showed MRIs, EKGs…meals in form of pills and stuff

that you just take and that was it you were full. Treadmills, and the treadmills was

unique because they were like walking sidewalks like they have at the airport now.

And they also had treadmills to walk the dog because they were like hovering in

space and stuff like that. And those we didn't have any of those time. But they're all

over the place now, especially in workout places. And they also had space travel of

course, and we kind of involved in that for sure so, and it just went on and seems

like were there or almost there. So that was the biggest thing that was different in

my from my age when I was young man to now.

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STUDENT: So technology has taken a big step.

SUBJECT: REAL BIG

STUDENT: Now during your time in school, in public school, can you tell me, do

you have any examples of segregation if any?

SUBJECT: I heard many stories, from my parents and stuff like that, because they

were actually, you know they went to the schools that which was the Mexican

Schools in Gilbert and stuff like that. And that was new to me. As far as my

personal experience, the only thing I can think that comes to mind, and I still

remember this to this day. When I was in fourth grade, our fourth grade teacher

gathered, would gather all of the hispanic students classroom. And they would

move us to a table, in front of the classroom and stuff like that and all the other

students are still around and stuff and they made us work on our CHs in front of

the entire class. Like church would instead of saying, we used to say shurch, I

believe and schocolate. So now they were teaching us to say CHOCOLATE,

CHURCH. So I'm pretty good at it now.

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STUDNET: Impeccable!

SUBJECT: HA HA HA to say the least!

STUDENT: Alright, now you went through the public system, you went to Gilbert

High correct?

SUBJECT: Yes I did.

STUDENT: Now can you give us a little information about Gilbert High? How

that was? Just of the top of your head if you can.

SUBJECT: Yeah, Gilbert High was a, compared to all the other schools in the

valley, Gilbert High was the small school. It was considered a B school, which

probably our entire four grades probably had about 400 students. Where as Mesa,

Chandler, Tempe schools they were like in the 1500s to 2000s, which they were

considered triple A and basically a small school. But that was you know nice,

because it was a small community, small town, smalls schools. So we knew

everybody and we knew a lot of the parents, not a lot of the students allowed me to

play almost every sport that was available.

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STUDENT: And your favorite was?

SUBJECT: My favorite was sport was, you know what I, everybody thinks that its

baseball which it is, its up there, but I used to love to play basketball and baseball

was definitely a second.

STUDENT: I didn't know that.

SUBJECT: Well it was Kind of like, the sport itself kind of like made me continue

with baseball because I guess basketball you had to be a little taller and I'm not one

of the biggest students or athletes at the time. Still not.

STUDENT: I share your pain.

SUBJECT: HA HA HA

STUDENT: Now you did attend college, can you please tell us how you were able

to break through and be so successful in that time period?

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SUBJECT: Yes basically, college was a real big stretch for me at first because it

was so big. Now coming from a small school, like I mentioned earlier, it was that

was nice and it was so, you knew everybody. And college was just a big deal I

didn't know hardly anybody except ran into a couple of students that were with me

in Gilbert High and stuff that. But the main objective was baseball. Sports was

always there and baseball, went there on a scholarship, ended up getting a

scholarship at Mesa Community. And that helped quite a bit, and I think thats what

pushed me and through. Of course you have to have the grades, so that helped in

that category also.

STUDENT: And of course you did move on to a four year, can you explain how

you were able to…

SUBJECT: Afford that?

STUDENT: Afford that?

SUBJECT: Yeah basically went on to Northern University, Northern Arizona

University. And again ended up playing baseball there and I got a scholarship there

and they paid for most of the, for everything actually and I ended up of course

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getting those care packages from home which was also great food that they would

send you and then of course inside the packages there was always a check or two

you know for a little spending money. So that, that was well, I guess well accepted.

I took that in stride and really appreciated that.

STUDENT: Now how was the time period in which you grew up?

SUBJECT: The time period that was like probably the 60s and the 70s and

basically in those days it was it seemed like, compared to now it was a slow simple

times and especially being in a small community, a small farming community it

was very peaceful, very slow and stuff like that. Where we did a lot of out door

things we played a lot outside and play a lot of sports. We built things, you know

even though we couldn’t, you know we didn't know what we were building, we

built go-carts and stuff like that. And kind of like pushed them down the hill and

we kind of, you know inside those. We’d keep modifying them like maybe even

try to put bricks on them, which we never got to that part because we, the brakes

didn't slow down at the end or crashed. But basically we always walked

everywhere, we walked to all our friends houses you know to go visit. Bikes , we

biked everywhere and stuff like that. And we ended up, fall out of our trees that we

were climbing, and we would cut ourselves and break bones and break teeth. But

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there was never any lawsuits, those were like hard to come by. It was like OH hey

you just shake it off and keep on playing or whatever. But we were fortunate to

grow up in a time you know where lawyers and the government didn't really

regulate our lives like it does now. Which is also a good thing.

STUDENT: Now during the time you grew up the Vietnam was going on, the

Vietnam war was going on. What were the views of the town and the people in

Gilbert.

SUBJECT: Thats aah, ha ha thats a good little…hmmm thats a good little…can’t

remember what I was going to say.

STUDENT: Controversy?

SUBJECT: Well yeah there was always controversy but basically what happened

in Gilbert, it was a small town like I said. They didn't really care for it they were

against the war but they supported the young men in our town that were drafted or

that enlisted. But basically they just you know went with it and of course they are

patriotic town. So you know they just fell in suit and backed backed the war as best

they could.

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STUDENT: Okay so they, when the soldiers came back they weren't treated badly

as you would say in the big city or treated, disrespected?

SUBJECT: No, and as a matter of fact they were pretty much revered as honored

individuals you know as heroes actually. Especially the ones that made it back. No

they were well received at home and everyone was glad to have them back.

Because we all knew each other and missed them and were glad for their safety

and that they made it back home.

STUDENT: I’m going to throw you a curveball right here.

SUBJECT: SOLID

STUDENT: I mean since your a good hitter, how did the Town of Gilbert view

Woodstock? They did they view that kind of free thinking, free living mentality?

SUBJECT: Thats a very good question. Got to remember that I lived in a small

little farming community and we were pretty much you know real basic type

people and stuff. Music was either you know mainly country western or whatever

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and maybe a little of rock n roll here. And I kind of like a little bit of the R&B

music and stuff like that. And that made me kind of like, you know not an outcast,

definitely somebody that liked other types of music. But I wasn't alone, but

basically…I forgot the question.

STUDENT: How did like the people view it, Woodstock.

SUBJECT: Woodstock oh yes, like basically they just though they were a lot of

long haired hippies and stuff like that and didn't really understand what was going

on. And like I said they simple people, and simple music. But there was plenty of

people intern that really you know took it and went with it and of course my, the

people my age stuff like that we really though it was something fantastic. Where

the parents probably said oh you know those crazy rock n rollers and stuff like that

so typical probably common everywhere.

STUDENT: Now the Kennedy assassination, that was a big moment in history.

America was devastated, what was the reaction of the small town of Gilbert?

SUBJECT: You stated that well it was devastating and at the time I think I was

about 10 years old and in my neighborhood most of the people were in shock.

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They were sad and also scared and that they couldn't believe that such a thing

could happen. And they just you know kind of like rallied around each other and

stuff like that and just you know like you said it was devastating.

STUDENT: I would assume the MLK assassination was responded in the same

manner?

SUBJECT: Very Same Manner it was very close. It was, at the time I was about

14, so I was a little older. Again my neighborhood people were in shock again, sad

but this time they could believe it since it happened to the president you know now

they were kind of like a little numb. They were kind of like, were kind of

understanding of how the ways of the world, that even our small community just

dealt with it as it came.

STUDENT: Now you are retired correct?

SUBJECT: Yes I am.

STUDENT: What did you do for a living?

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SUBJECT: Actually I’ve been, did little things you know while I was in college I

would drive for general motors you know in the summers. And maybe even work

on the farms but I was a test driver for general motors for quite often which was

great. But basically I once I graduated from NAU as with a teaching degree, I went

to work at the Gilbert Public Schools right there in Gilbert. Where I taught 4th

grade for 4 years, 6th grade for 6 years and junior high school computers for 10

years and then I went into the computer technology services there in Gilbert. The

Gilbert District for 17 years and I also taught for Northern Arizona University for

12 years as a computer multimedia adjunct teacher.

STUDENT: WOW you were busy.

SUBJECT: Very busy

STUDENT: Ever since a kid

SUBJECT: Worked too much probably.

STUDENT: Now with as many positions as you acquired did you face any

discrimination?

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SUBJECT: Yes and I can break that down. Lets see for example, after I graduated

from at Northern Arizona University I went looking searching for a job, actually I

played a little baseball before that and once that was through I said okay its time to

go to work. I went for interviews in Gilbert and in Mesa and I was eventually, and

I went to several of them, and then I was eventually hired by the only hispanic

principal which was in the Gilbert District his name was William Rivera. And

nobody else gave me a chance but he did and you know 37 years later I eventually

retired from the Gilbert Public School system. Other things you know while I was

in junior high, when I was teaching in junior high, while we were coaching, I

ended up coaching baseball, coached quite a few sports but coach basketball,

baseball and football. But baseball I found that it was kind of like it was an

interesting situation where, there was an anonymous letter that was delivered to the

superintendent and that was stating that the two 7th grade hispanic baseball

coaches were only playing the hispanic players on a 15 player roster, that is how

many players we had on our team. And actually the only hispanic players we had,

we only had three hispanic players, on a 15 man roster and one of the hispanic

students was the starting second baseman. The other one was a pitcher, he was our

number 4 pitch in the rotation so he pitched you know every 4th game or relief

once in a while. And the last, the 3rd hispanic was just a bench warmer, not just

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you know they were very important too, but he came off and played off the bench

and played outfield for us. And basically the rest of the players were anglo and just

want to put a little note on this, was that the team it was probably one of the best

team I’ve coached and they were probably one of the better, one of the best teams

in the state, and because they were we were winning big in every game. And that

allowed even the bench players to play an equal amount of innings as the starters.

So I she no idea where that letter came from and why I don't know what the game

they were watching, but apparently not ours. And the last thing was probably when

I went to work for technology services in Gilbert, it seemed like I had to prove

myself to the teachers. I was always kind of… to show them that I was capable of

teaching computer lessons to their students in the computer lab. Which is part of

my job, I’d go in and I would take over the class and teach them computer skills.

And then when I was offered the technology service position as a cortech, which is

a computer research technician, I was told that I could use any lab in the district

because I was a cortech. And teach computers for Northern Arizona University

when I was teaching part time for them. I was currently using my computer and

computer lab that I was working at in the junior high level, I was using that lab to

teach NAU classes and basically what it came down to was teaching the next

semester or the next session I was having a difficult time locating a lab that they

would allow me to use. And they were insinuating that NAU should supply the

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computer lab. Wherever their office was, which was in Mesa. And they did have

one lab but it was always used for different types of classes. Thats why I was

teaching in the district. But anyway eventually NAU straightened that out and said

that hey were renting out the facilities allow this man to teach any classes on your

campus and there was a contract so my supervisors were then allowed me to

choose and pick which ever computer lab I wanted. So that was a little different a

little discerning.

STUDENT: Now lets go back to your family. Lets talk a little about your family

history. How much do you know of you history and where was your family from?

SUBJECT: Okay oh basically I know some history and for example my father was

born in Mesa, Arizona. And my mother was born in Phoenix, Arizona and they

pretty much lived in Gilbert area and Mesa area, Tempe area and then even in

Phoenix. And they ended up eventually getting married and once they got married

they moved to California. They moved to the Watsonville area. And thats where I

was born and my oldest sister, which is younger than me but she's the older one,

she was born in Watsonville, California where my folks worked there. They

worked there, they worked in the canneries, and in the strawberry fields and my

dad was the foreman of a strawberry field, which was pretty cool I guess. And I

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guess thats where I ended up liking strawberries which I still like strawberries

today. My folks always said that I helped a little bit in the fields, I was really

young but basically all I helped was, I helped myself to most of the strawberries

and stuff. So that was always interesting. then they moved out here to, to Arizona

and they stayed, I think we moved out here when I was about 4 or 5 years old and

we stayed in Gilbert the whole time. And the rest is history.

STUDENT: Now from your point of view how has society changed as a whole?

Meaning like, United States as a whole and a world as a whole, if that falls in the

same category that you want it to.

SUBJECT: Okay, well as far as I'm concerned and as far as my eyes, as far as its

touched me is that society has improved significantly, more as far as the area as far

the advanced technology that has appeared. Technology is all over the place and its

just amazing whats being done today with technology. And also the laws today are

protecting people in this generation a lot better than the last few years that I was

alive. And I say that because nowadays, when my parents were talking about it,

and I kind of mentioned it and kind of chuckled you know it was little jokes. You

know mom the way the laws are today, basically you guys could've been thrown in

jail quite often because we never had helmets you know when we were riding our

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bicycles and all that. We didn't have seat belts and all that. We could've been

arrested for anything, so the laws do protect you a lot, maybe a little bit too much

but basically like I said it was a simple time in those days. I think the laws are there

for the people but it that was just an interesting little antidote there as far as my

parents being improper parents which they weren’t, they were great but was a nice

little story you know to throw around.

STUDENT: Yeah, yeah. Now Gilbert obviously has changed quite a bit since it

was a small farm town but I want to know your view on it. How has it grown to be

better or worse? or how are the people changed? Just anything you find different.

SUBJECT: Well lets see basically Gilbert was hit with progress. Progress that hit

in a big way. It is now probably a large populated city and farmland has been

converted into housing developments all over the town, actually the land area. The

house I grew up in is now a parking lot, behind the new down town section of

Gilbert. Its not as friendly, I hate to say, I mean theres still a lot of nice people in

Gilbert and new people that are moving in are nice. But not overall as friendly, as

peaceful and quiet as it use to be. We could drive around, and you know farms

there was the crops. There was always fields there with different types of crops.

From alfalfa, majority was alfalfa and the corn and the maize and just different

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things. It was nice and cool, which seems to be a little warmer now with all the

new buildings and the concrete. So basically just population boom hit Gilbert and

it is totally different and once in a while I run into some of the old folks, some of

the old Gilbertonians and its nice to sit there and say WHAT HAPPENED? HA

HA HA

STUDENT: HA HA HA. So throughout your entire life what are some major

setbacks or experiences that you've endured and how do you think they have

helped you along your life?

SUBJECT: AHHH interesting question. Basically theres been a little setbacks but

not many. But one of the biggest setbacks that I can remember that really helped

me was playing professional baseball. I didn't quite get the chance to play a lot I

was drafted kind of, I was picked up for a what they call at the time they called this

the rookie league. And I played there, I thought you know it went well but

eventually when they were taking the players to go place them in farm clubs to go

out an play in the A league, B leagues, or triple A leagues I wasn't selected so thats

when I started you know teaching. So it wasn't that bad I guess, I ended up

teaching and made a career out of that. But basically what that helped me do is, I

now approach things in a positive manner and through that I learned patience is a

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virtue and I use that everyday in m life as far as teaching, working. Especially

when you're teaching, it ends up needing a lot of that. It helped me to research

before I do things and prepare. I ended up focusing a little better and basically one

of the biggest things was persistence came into mind and you have to have that.

And also the confidence, it was a big confidence builder, once I got out there and I

yeah well I can tackle almost anything if I put all those things into effect. And

basically thats how I pretty much, kind of base my life on. That you can do

anything you want you just got to put the hard work into it. So then I think back to

my baseball career and say maybe if I focused a little more and put a little more

work into it and not think that I was good enough, which I was probably good

enough but needed to be better.

STUDENT: And the team you played for was the?

SUBJECT: Chicago Cubs ironically enough

STUDENT: Okay, and you finally forgive them and lifted the curse, the Gonzo

curse. Not only did they have the Goat curse.

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SUBJECT: Well thats funny, thats one of the jokes going on with all my friends.

They say the Cubs finally won the world series, and they were always saying it

was the goat, the Curse of the Goat. I said yeah but the big curse was the Curse of

the Gonzo. I cursed them, but that was just a joke. I still follow them and like them.

STUDENT: Okay, now as of right now are there any traditions you would like to

have live on?

SUBJECT: I think one of the biggest traditions that I would like to live on, and I

would like to leave my family with and my boys would be the ability to continue

with a good family unity. I had that growing up and I thought it was very important

and I didn't know it at the time after being you know how things went my folks,

my dad and mom they were really big in the foundation of that I received and they

were very religious, and they were very hardworking people and they were always

wanting you to do better and always wanted you do to good. They wanted to see

you know to succeed in everything that you do. And they were very motivators and

back me and anything that I did. And I think if you have a good family unity you

can go places, you can do anything and the world is a better place with that.

STUDENT: Thats a good mentality to have.

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SUBJECT: Well I think so.

STUDENT: Okay what is the most important lesson that you have learned in your

life?

SUBJECT: I would say, after saying what I just said about about my family, I

would probably say… probably the most important thing that I learned and I would

like to share with especially my boys, is simply remembering whammy mother

taught me period.

STUDENT: I like it

SUBJECT: I do too.

STUDENT: HA HA HA… Okay now that your retired, you played ball, you got a

college education., what keeps your mind calm now?

SUBJECT: Basically theres a few things but the biggest thing that comes to mind

is trying to be patient with everyone, trying to be patient with myself in general

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with my family. With our dogs, with anything that might come, but the other thing

is learning to accept things and putting them into a situation where you can either

grow from that or go on and move on from there and having it be a building block

instead of anything negative. So making everything positive. And I still revert to

getting out and going to play softball with some of my old friends. Which we still

try to do thats to be out on the softball field is just, its like…I don't know… its very

peaceful for me and just very calming and soothing, its a nice place to be

especially when you smell the cut grass. As long as you don't pull any muscles its a

nice place.

STUDENT: Its always a good thing.

SUBJECT: Yes it is. very nice.

STUDENT: Okay, what is your opinion of todays generation, how would you

compare it to your own?

SUBJECT: Ooh, generations very good questions. Basically I could go around and

say this generation has of course is just a technology driven generation which we

didn't have much growing up, so thats a big difference. But you know what I can’t

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say that and basically I just wanted to say all generations and whether they're a

good report or not, what I feel is that all generations are good, there’s some that are

bad. But basically were all trying to cope with life in the best way we know. So I

would just say take it easy on the millennials, and take it easy on the baby boomers

were all in this together. And were just trying to figure it out as we go along.

STUDENT: I like it. Now you became an educator and I want to go back to you

growing up. What teachers do you remember that inspired you to become and

teach they way you did in a good or bad way?

SUBJECT: Okay, basically teachers that come to mind that kind of left a mark

with me whether they're good or bad. One of the was that 4th grade teacher of

mine, she was a nice lady but the times as they were she wasn't really a negative

thing but it wasn't a good thing. But it was something that kind of like I kind of

wondered and it made me think, you know what I do need to, you know I’m living

here in Arizona and I need to learn this english I need to take care of my CHs.

Because I do want to continue, I didn't know it at that age but I figured you know

having the background that my folks has instilled in me I wanted to make sure I

did those things correct. So she was devastating but at the same time I learned from

her and it seems like everything good or bad you can learn something from that

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and I did from her. So she's the one that stands out in my elementary years. Then

going into junior high was in those times there was sometimes you had to have a

little fire lit under you and we had a teacher there that, a math teacher to be precise,

was really strict and he helped in a way that I never forgot my homework again

and I always turned in my homework. So he kind of lead me to down that path, if I

forgot my homework one time the dog ate it type of thing, and ended up getting a

swat for that. In those days that was common. And that was the only swat I ever

received, actually I received one more but that was from playing softball or playing

playing baseball on the grounds. And basically that was installed into me, so that

was a bad thing but I turned it into a good thing. And in high school I had some

pretty good teachers in high school. I had one that was my baseball coach, was also

my history teacher. And he was, that was Bon Everret, he was like I said was one

of my coaches, also coached football too. He was an interesting fellow, he was

very athletic and very knowledgeable and I had a good report with him, even

though kind of like would stand up to him on occasions. And not necessarily in a

bad way but he had a little story he tells people when I was playing, I was a short

stop and anyway, anytime we were playing a game and I had this friend of my that

was a catcher his name was Luis Sesate and we were kind of clowns, but anytime I

would miss a ball which I’m glad wasn't frequently, but I did it on occasions. I

would just let the ball go out in the outfield turn around and look at my buddy and

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I would just smile, I a had big smile on my face and I didn't realize at the time but

the coach didn't care for that. He said you're one of the leaders, you need to show

an example, so why are you smiling? Don't you care for the game? I said I love this

game and I said but you know what, I didn't know at the time, but I figured it out

when he asked me that he goes I told him that the reason I smile is kind of like

keeping, it allows me to keep my head in the game and shake that off and continue

on and say alright I'm ready for the next pitch, I'm ready for the next grounder.

And I kind of went with that story. Later on I found out that he uses that, he

starting using that philosophy with baseball is trying to keep the players you know

mind in the game and shake things off and let it go. So he kind of like thanked me

next time I saw him, and he says he uses that now. So that was very interesting.

Another person in high school was my training coach, my P.E. coach. He was just

a real good motivator and he kept me healthy because I was injured all the time,

playing sports. And he was a very good coach, very good educator. He just, there

was times where I didn't start and I felt like I should've started in certain games,

and he said hey you know he would put me up and he was a good motivator. And

would say hey you're just as good if not better than a lot of those guys. He says you

know what you'll get your chance, just take advantage of them. And I thought you

know that was good. And then in college there was also college teachers that were

good, I really enjoyed my education classes at both Mesa Community and at NAU.

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Again one of my baseball coaches at Mesa, he was a real strict individual and he

was you know he had so much talent in the schools he could pick and choose

where he wanted to. But he was tough, you make a mistake and he’d make you run

one of the stories that comes to mind on that is we were playing a home game in

Mesa. I was converted into a, I was moved from shortstop to the outfield so I was

learning the game or learning the position and a grounder was hit opposite of me so

I kind of stood there and watched that, it was a line drive to the fence and I was

admiring the hit. And I realized I need to go cover 3rd, so I kind of hesitated and

he caught that, saw that I did that. So I went over there and covered 3rd base and

the throw came to third and he caught it and that was it. So I was jogging back to

my position and coach was, had his little finger pointing to for me to come in and

he wanted to talk to me. So, in the middle of the game, so I walked over to him, ran

actually and he told me do you know what did you? I said yes I hesitated to come

and cover 3rd base. He goes yeah go ahead and put your glove down and run the

ballpark until I tell you to stop. Well I kept running, that was in the, I remember

this very vividly it was the 3rd inning and I ran till the 9th inning. But I was joined

by another outfielder, who was the centerfielder he made some kind of a mental

mistake also and we were out there running. Little embarrassing running in front of

all those fans, but yet I never made that mistake again. And basically my NAU

coach he was just a fun type of guy, easy going not like the one at Mesa

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Community, he gave me chances and I used those opportunities to play and did

well. Those people come to mind as far as education. And kind of rounded me out

I think and in a good way

STUDENT: Wow, Well those are some pretty good stories you got. There nice.

SUBJECT: Anything else?

STUDENT: So now is there anything that you would like to speak about that I

have not covered yet?

SUBJECT: Oh basically, I would just like to go back and just say that I was

blessed to have great parents and I think thats one of the things thats missing in

todays lifestyle and I know that its a different type of world. But the parenting if its

good and they're both there and they're committed to you and committed to the

family life, you know kids have a good chance. So I think thats very important.

And I can’t emphasize that too much.

STUDENT: Well thank you for your time!

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SUBJECT: Oh no problem, it was fun it was interesting. And nerve racking at the

same time

STUDENT: Ha ha ha well alright we will end it now.

Foundational research