By: Ava Tello
⏰Sun, 12/10 13:44PM · 45mins
Summary
The transcript covers a conversation between me and my Uncle Joe, where I interview Uncle Joe to learn about his life experiences and perspectives as a Latino. Key topics discussed include Uncle Joe's childhood during World War 2 where Mexicans faced discrimination, his education at Lincoln High School struggling for equal opportunities, pivotal experiences leading him to become a civil engineer, time working overseas in Asia and Vietnam applying engineering to major construction projects during the war, thoughts on embracing his Mexican identity and fighting prejudice, lessons learned from his parents about education and life, cherished family memories, and views on societal issues like abortion rights. I came prepared for answers to 4 questions I had initially planned; I ended the interview with more stories and knowledge from this incredible man than I could have anticipated.
Chapters
Childhood and Schooling During World War 2 Era
Uncle Joe describes growing up in the Mexican part of town during WW2, facing discrimination and violence. He explains challenges getting equal education at Lincoln High School where college prep tracks were limited. He initially planned to be a shop teacher before a friend suggested civil engineering for better pay and travel.
Pivotal Experiences Becoming Civil Engineer
After switching to civil engineering, Uncle Joe recounts being recruited to work overseas in Thailand and Vietnam on major construction projects during the Vietnam War. He highlights incidents applying practical common sense to save costs and accomplish objectives for the military.
Embracing Mexican Identity and Fighting Prejudice
Uncle Joe emphasizes he embraced his Mexican identity despite prejudice, using humor and wit to counter racist assumptions. He remains dismayed that such issues still persist and encourages society to understand the roots of prejudice.
Lessons Learned from Parents
Regarding his parents, Uncle Joe recalls his father's advice to always do his best and use the library for knowledge, and his mother's focus on keeping family together. He shares amusing stories about his father's music and trickery when they traveled together.
Societal Views on Abortion and Women's Rights
When discussing societal issues, Uncle Joe argues abortion decisions should be made by young women not older men. He advocates for women getting education to be prepared for unpredictability in life.
Conclusion
One of the main takeaways that I gathered from this interview was the pride that Joe has for not just his family, but his culture. Leaving this interview I couldn't help but be in awe of the incredible amount of hard work that he accomplished by staying true to who he is. yes, he faced moments of discrimination and limitations because of who he was. However, he was never deterred and you see it in the love he has for his family, noting how they are the legacy that has continued those morals of hard work and pride. I can only hope to continue that legacy.
Mom 00:08
Hi Uncle Joe!
Uncle Joe 00:10
Where's your daughter?
Mom 00:12
She's right here! Hi Uncle Joe! She's using, she needs to use two phones! Or I think that's, I think, or she just likes two phones.
Uncle Joe 00:22
Okay, well I'm ready!
Ava 00:24
Hi Uncle Joe, this is Ava.
Uncle Joe 00:28
You sound real good there Ava. I like your name.
Ava 00:31
Thank you! It's a nice name my parents chose it out for me.
Uncle Joe 00:40
I wonder where they got it from?
Ava 1:00
I have no idea, but I like it. Thank you. So I just, I wanted to just ask you some questions about yourself and when you're going up. And I just wanted to first thank you for doing this with me. I really appreciate it. Thank you so much Uncle Joe.
Uncle Joe 01:13
Why are you doing this?
Ava 01:19
My goal is to interview different people within my community about what it means to be Latino and discussing any of the issues they may have faced and the different journeys they've taken and just describing what they've done in their community to really help benefit it.
Uncle Joe 03:09
Okay, go ahead and ask me questions.
Ava 03:16
Okay, so the first question I have is when you were younger what were some of the largest differences that you saw between yourself and your peers in school just how you were treated compared to other people in your school?
Uncle Joe 03:32
Well, remember I was growing up during World War II. Okay, during that time a lot of things that were happening was because of the war. And I went through the part where the Navy guys came into the Mexican part of the town and beat up the Mexicans.
Uncle Joe 03:59
And it sort of affected everybody because here we are during a war and we're fighting against each other. And my dad got drafted into the war and he was a Mexican and my mom was a Mexican. But they offered my dad citizenship if he accepted the draft, which he did.
Uncle Joe 04:32
And my mom, since we lived right across from the little grammar school, would go there and take government lessons. We would come home from school and she would test us on what she learned. So I had government twice.
Uncle Joe 04:49
And a lot of it was affected by my parents and the time as far as choosing do what I would do. It grew it up. Like, uh, and listening to you right now, you're going to a big bar to climb, which I don't think I could ever do.
Uncle Joe 05:11
I know your mom was very good at that. And, uh, with me was just trying to get a job. And, uh, one of the things I decided that I was good in doing mechanical things and things with my hands. So I decided that I would go to school and be an industrial arts teacher, which I could do woodwork, I could do metalwork and teach that part.
Uncle Joe 05:46
And, uh, it started that way. And then all of a sudden, I made a friend of mine in a bookstore and I, and they was Pete Gloss. And I said, Pete, what are you taking in school? And he said, he was taking civil engineering.
Uncle Joe 06:04
And I said, wow, that's great. And he said, Joe, you should do it. I said, oh, I don't know. I'm interested in being a teacher. And he says, you realize you can go all over the world. You can make a lot of money, isn't that?
Uncle Joe 06:18
All of a sudden, Pete saved a lot of money, go all over the world. And I said, little Mexican boy like me? I'll go for that. So I changed majors. And I started the engineering classes. And I was, as a matter of fact, I was talking with your uncle Jerry the other day.
Uncle Joe 06:45
And we go back and forth because he's doing it as a job. I didn't study it. And it was, I then got into engineering and started going through that. And I did. I was able, once I got working, I was able to get into going to Vietnam, going to Thailand, going to Saudi Arabia, going to Venezuela.
Uncle Joe 07:15
And I could have gone to other places, but that's when I was getting too old.
Ava 07:25
Well, I know that you were in high school, middle school, when you were at Lincoln High School.
Ava 07:35
What was it like at Lincoln High School? I understand that taking math classes was also hard. And just advocating for yourself to get into those harder math classes took, what was that like?
Uncle Joe 07:51
Well, that was interesting about that. I didn't realize that until we left. Later on as I left, but there were only 30 of us in my grade that were taking college prep courses. They were using the school to build carpenters, metal shop people, auto shop people, up posters.
Uncle Joe 08:18
And the kids rebelled after I left school because they realized they were being treated as tradespeople. And the education that we did get was not that good. I was in LA City and I had to take out calculus and I'm in there wrapping my head trying to figure out what the heck are they talking about with this thing.
Uncle Joe 08:49
And I see a friend of mine that shows up and he had gone to another high school. For my middle school, they split us into about three high schools. And he had gone into the one closer to the city. And he says, Joe, what are you doing?
Uncle Joe 09:10
I said, I'm trying to learn this calculus and I don't understand it. And he says, well, you want me to help you? And I said, how can you do that? Well, I took it in high school. Then it really got me angry.
Uncle Joe 09:21
But the best we got to high school was geometry. And a little bit of trig. So I knew we already had the education we had gotten was not that great. And eventually the school, the whole school, rebelled.
Uncle Joe 09:42
And now today it's considered to have a pretty good academic standing.
Ava 09:58
I've heard a little bit about Lincoln High School when at this summer program, I attend that we talk about the walkouts that occurred in Los Angeles that advocated for Latino, just student rights and better education for Latinos.
Ava 10:21
So I was really curious to see what your experience was like at that high school, since I've heard about it so much, but from an outside perspective.
Uncle Joe 10:37
It was just that they had told us, well, we're splitting the whole class. There was, I think, about 130 of us in the class into A, B, C, D. And that's how you'll go through school. And the A classes would have a choice of these classes, D and this and this.
Uncle Joe 10:56
D was a... always the industrial arts part. And we just accepted what they were doing for us. And later on, when you found out that they were really ruining your lives because you weren't getting an education where you could go on to do better things.
Uncle Joe 11:17
I'm real happy to hear that you're going to do something I would consider it. And you know something, if you need any help and I'm still alive, I want you to ask for help. Because what you're going to do is going to really help someone somewhere and yourself.
Uncle Joe 11:35
Your education means a lot. Look at your mama. I used to see your mama commit and she cleaned the table, turned on the light, get everything ready, start doing homework. I always enjoyed watching her do that.
Ava 11:53
I really appreciate you, Uncle Joe. you being able to help me. Oh, I want to learn about the bridge you designed for the United States while you're in Vietnam.
Uncle Joe 12:09
Okay, here's what happened with that is I am managing a hundred projects in a war zone and the Vietnam was split into four pieces.
Uncle Joe 12:25
The closest one to the debilitarized zone was the one I had was the way. And what happened is the Vietnamese bombed the bridge and we had a general call saying he wanted that bridge back online. He said we needed now I want to be able to pass tanks on it.
Uncle Joe 12:48
So we got the order and we were given I don't know I think about a hundred some thousand dollars to do it. And that was gathering that the drawings taking it down to the design group.
Uncle Joe 13:05
They would then give it out to the engineering group that would make the design. Right. So I'm over there watching how much money is going out and then they come up with the drawings and they look at it but I said wait a minute, wait a minute.
Uncle Joe 13:21
We can build it all right but this is very expensive. Did you guys talk to him about it? There was always you always have people that are gunho and don't sit down and look at the problem. So I told him I'm going to give it back.
Uncle Joe 13:39
You guys look at it and then come up with something. Well they did and it was a little bit better. And I said look let's do this and if we do that we can build it. So they said okay. By turning it down,
Uncle Joe 14:00
we had a group that would see how much money was being saved of it. And by doing that, we saved over half a million dollars. And everybody got all, we started shaping it. I said, well, you know, some of this is just common sense, people.
Uncle Joe 14:18
Look at what we got. I had a captain that's just under the admiral because it was Navy. That was dictating to people out of the site, do this, do that, do that. And I see the cost going up. So I go see him at the top.
Uncle Joe 14:36
Look, captain, we're not going to bury money in this country. We're just going to try to bring it up. So he says, well, what are you going to do? He says, I'm going to go talk to my boss. Well, he had a plane and he could fly in Saigon.
Uncle Joe 14:53
And I had to get, I had to wait out of the airfield to see him. see about getting myself back. By the time I got into the office, he was already talking to the admiral. And the admiral told me, Joe, what could we have done?
Uncle Joe 15:07
He says, well, admiral, if he would have called you or me and told us what he needed to do, we could see about getting the funds to do this. But you weren't going to be happy when I come in and tell you that we're half a million dollars over budget.
Uncle Joe 15:25
And he looked at it and he says, no I would not be. So I think it's he was taking too much under his control. I know what he's trying to do. He's trying to make himself look good. But we have to control everything in money.
Uncle Joe 15:41
You're going to find that everything you want to do, it's always got a dollar sign to it. You want a new book? Dollar sign. You want to go to some place? It's going to be a dollar sign to get there. And that was what we were doing.
Uncle Joe 15:58
So in the end, we saved a lot of money, but we had to, I used to tell them, we're not burying money in this country. We're going to use money. And that's what happened is I saved the money by questioning what they were doing.
Uncle Joe 16:16
And that saved us half a million dollars.
Ava 16:23
When I learned about Vietnam in school, we don't even really like learn about some of these individual accomplishments. And we just kind of get the basic understanding of what war was like.
Ava 16:36
And I feel like getting this more like in detail account of things that happened that really just helped the United States is really fascinating to me. I wanted to ask you that what would you consider to be one of the greatest accomplishments in your life?
Uncle Joe 16:56
Having two daughters. Having two daughters.
Ava 17:07
Well I I really appreciate you Uncle Joe and I have I have two more questions for you. What is one piece of advice that you would give to Latino students wanting to pursue an higher education?
Uncle Joe 17:32
Go for it. You didn't have to tell your mother. She was way ahead of that. And I'm very proud of you too, Ava, because you you're going above what people even never thought about.
Uncle Joe 17:49
I watched today and I see that women are being brought back in. losing some of their rights. And it took a lot of work to get those rights. And now they're losing because some old guy and really I've come up with with my solution to taking care of the abortion problem.
Uncle Joe 18:12
You do not allow men to vote on that subject. You do not allow women over 50 to vote on that subject. Because it's a young woman's subject and they should be in charge of what they want to do. Anyway, I'll go for that.
Ava 18:46
first of all, yes, I agree. In my school, it's being heavily talked about because I go to a very liberal arts school and I completely agree on that stance.
Ava 19:00
I think it's very important to kind of readjust who is voting for these issues and discussing this. I wanted to go back to the bridge in Vietnam. I understand you won, was it a medal or an award for it?
Uncle Joe 19:18
Oh, they gave me $1 ,500. And yeah, I got a medal. I even got a picture somewhere like with fine things. Since I moved out a couple of times already, I don't know what things are. You know, a lot of this is what I remember from being in school was, is it the time?
Uncle Joe 19:45
Is it the place? Or is it you? And it just means that all three collided at one time. And by being able to get into it, by you getting your education, by you going on the way you are, you may see that, you, time and place, and you'll be the person that makes the difference.
Uncle Joe 20:11
I really think that every woman should have an education. This is the biggest problem, I think it's not, you're very lucky, you have a mother and a father that's stressing it, and you know, leaving a child on this earth that's not unprepared to go on, you never know what's gonna happen ever.
Uncle Joe 20:32
You don't know what's gonna happen to you in your lifetime, but you have an education that will be able to do something for you. I keep saying, I didn't wanna bring two children into this world, and leaving it without knowing they could eat their way through life, they can.
Ava 20:57
Do you think that being Mexican has affected your perspective on your community and the role you play on it like how do you think being Mexican as part of your identity is shaped the way you see the world around you
Uncle Joe 21:16
Well, I embraced being a Mexican and I mean, you know every time my name came through Tell a tie or I had to go to a meeting or we had set up a meeting My name goes in as Jose Arturo Mendoza And I'd walk in and I'd see these people at all of them were white And I would say I know you expected us have a short fat Mexican I'm 6'8.
Uncle Joe 21:49
Hey, you have a tall handsome Mexican here But I embraced it. I embraced being a Mexican And I had a lot of fights over it I Had one guy that I had 15 people working for me we were working in a back door and We we have a production that we have to have so many drawings go out every week and He was a Texan and I went over and I said well Bob how many of these drawings you're gonna have for me Friday?
Uncle Joe 22:25
I dunno, maybe 10. It's 10 Since Bob I'm a little Mexican boy and I want to do 15 Are you gonna let me beat you like that? He gave me 15 Mm -hmm and If it that's how I use it. I did I didn't fight it.
Uncle Joe 22:47
I embraced it So it was the tall dark Mexican
Ava 22:50
Mm -hmm. I think it's It's really important to embrace your culture. I know I've tried to embrace that myself. I think, you know, I am people's only. Huh?
Uncle Joe 23:07
Do they bring it up when you're in school?
Ava 23:10
Well, mainly it's they don't expect that I'm Mexican. I think everybody just kind of sees that I have red hair and light skin and they just think I'm 100% Irish.
Ava 23:24
So it's often more of a surprise that I have to kind of prove myself that I'm Mexican. So that's an interesting thing that I've had to deal with before.
Uncle Joe 23:37
You know, I can't believe that it's still being brought up.
Uncle Joe 23:45
But I guess maybe something that you can learn in your classes when you go on to college. Why is it that man... has to be little man. I don't understand it.
Ava 24:06
Okay. Well, I think I'm going to ask you one more thing. I wanted to get details about like how long were you in Vietnam and how long were you there and what and like what were your what brought you there in the first place?
Uncle Joe 24:26
Okay. Remember when I told you I met that friend of mine at the bookstore? Mm -hmm. And you're going to be a civil engineer? Yeah. And then I decided, okay, I would do it. So what happened was we had to the company I was working for got a contract in Tyler Square and my boss that I was working for at that time was chosen to go and you have to go through physical for that.
Uncle Joe 25:01
And he went through his physical and he did pass and I had already bought an air conditioner for him because he was getting rid of stuff. But then they said, well, he can't go because he they found out he had cancer lung cancer.
Uncle Joe 25:17
So then they made me the choice of going and it was going to be for three months. And I said, sure, I live for three months. And we doubly went to for three months. We were there six months. Well, at that time, the United States was giving out a incentive to go overseas.
Uncle Joe 25:46
And if you went for 18 months, you would be tax free in the United States. So I'm looking at I already got six months. months and I got another year and I could be tax free. Meaning that every bit of money that I make I keep.
Uncle Joe 26:03
Which became a lie but I'll tell you that again. So I decided let's me see what I can do. So we finished the job in Thailand and the life of the kind of work I did. So they asked me if I would be interested in finishing my term in Vietnam.
Uncle Joe 26:27
I didn't know what I was doing Sarah. I was just flying by the boots. So I said yes I'll do it and I told your aunt at that time I'm going to go in for Vietnam and see if we could finish this. So we'll be tax free.
Uncle Joe 26:48
And she says okay but she stays in Thailand. you I went into Vietnam. This gets interesting. The first night in Vietnam, they take me up an alley, up some stairs, into a room. The door doesn't close.
Uncle Joe 27:10
It doesn't have a latch. So I grab a hold of this big armchair they had there. I pushed it up against the door. I got a bit and I hate mosquitoes. They were all over me. They were having a feast with me.
Uncle Joe 27:26
But that was my first night at Saigon. And I went there to finish the year off. And I did. And I was getting ready to leave. Then they told me, Joe, would you consider staying another year? But this time we're getting directly for the Navy.
Uncle Joe 27:45
And I said, well, let me talk to my wife. And she came back and said, well, I'm tax free now. And if I stay in it, it just continues. And I feel as if, well, the job's easy. All I gotta do is... They didn't have...
Uncle Joe 28:03
The Navy at the time did not have people that knew construction and knew the civil work they were doing. So when the deal was easy, I had already had 10 years of the business by then. So I said, okay, I'll go in.
Uncle Joe 28:22
I'll do it. And then we get out of here. It's fine. So I get there and the first thing they asked me, Mr. Mendoza, we have this job that the contractor is billing us $80 ,000. What do you think we should be at?
Uncle Joe 28:42
They said, see it? I said, yes. I looked at it. They should be no more than $50 ,000 billing you. So they called the contractor up and said, no, we're looking at this and we feel that you guys are overbilling us.
Uncle Joe 28:56
us. He says, we'll look at it. Well, we're at $51 ,000. He says, okay, we'll accept it. Then they had me go into a meeting with them and they said, look, every time we get something from you, you tell us you want this building put up and then we went up with a lot of buildings for it because you're not sure in your scope of work.
Uncle Joe 29:24
And I says, look, you're supposed to build whatever I want as a representative for the Navy. Well, yeah, but we can't do it. And this boss looked at it and says, no, Joe's right. We have agreed to build whatever they want.
Uncle Joe 29:42
What we have is a description of scope of work that we have to work on. So I said, we'll take care of it this way. If I tell you I want a dormitory or I want a cafeteria. Anything I want, the scope of work will be that name, but everything that goes with it, five feet away from the edge of the wall, will be part of the scope.
Uncle Joe 30:08
That means electrical, means plumbing, water, gas, anything going into the building. This is good. We now have a scope of work. As you've always had it, it was how we were going to, was just saying five feet away from the building.
Uncle Joe 30:25
That's how we started going through it. They did not have a system set up, and what we did is we helped them make up the system.
Ava 30:36
That's really interesting because I understand that a lot of it is you're lured in to work and you're giving this big opportunity and then they ask you to work more and then they ask you to do another thing.
Uncle Joe 30:51
You've got to be able in the end to say no. It's not easy. When I got back, I went to work for Bechtel and we were on a job for a nuclear facility. They tell me, well, Joe, here, can you put down your vacation time, choose three days or three times that you could take your vacation?
Uncle Joe 31:19
I said, there's only one time. By that time, my daughters were getting into their teens. I said, this is my vacation. We'll choose two more. I said, no, I'm not going to. That's what I'm taking it. My kids will be leaving soon, and I want to be with them.
Uncle Joe 31:36
They didn't like it at all because every company that I worked for would start pushing the vacation date backward and backward. I wound up leaving the company I went to Vietnam with about three or four weeks vacation.
Uncle Joe 31:56
Instead of give me the time off. So you have to learn to say no. Yeah.
Ava 32:05
So when did you eventually leave Vietnam? When was that final, like, I have to leave now?
Uncle Joe 32:15
Oh, that was easy. I was there when Vietnam got invaded by the North Vietnamese.
Uncle Joe 32:24
I was walking to work and all of a sudden I see this jeep with a 50 -calaber machine coming at me and the guy says, are you an American? I said, I sure am. He says, get off the street. So that's all I remember because the next thing I knew I was in an electric account and so from then on I said, if I think who we had about...
Uncle Joe 32:55
couple of months before my time was up. And, uh, but here's an interesting thing that really hurt me later on. I didn't realize it until lately. Since they invaded the city, it was shooting. We were running, we were staying in places and they closed up the stores, they closed up the whole city and we had to eat.
Uncle Joe 33:20
So for a first, you know, one or two days you kind of do with what you have. But by the third day you started to get a little hungry, feel thin. So I decided I'm going to go out and I'll find some food.
Uncle Joe 33:35
So I went out and started walking down the street and you'll never forget this, Ava, but I got to the middle of the block and I heard a shot go right by my forehead. And I said, well, I'm not going that way anymore.
Uncle Joe 33:54
Turn right and went the other way. And, uh, after a while you start saying you know, I'm going to finish, but I'm leaving this country. And, um, I did, I finished it, said goodbye. They were offering me another promotion.
Uncle Joe 34:14
And I said, no, no, no, thank you very much. I'm leaving. And we got on a plane and left Vietnam. And I felt like if I just throw the weight off my back.
Ava 34:30
it sounds like that you've had such a long and exciting life and that's just, I have one more question. And that is, what is your favorite movie?
Uncle Joe 34:51
Hombre.
Ava 34:55
Why? What's it about?
Uncle Joe 34:59
Because it's what you and I are talking about. It's Paul Newman. I think it's Newman. He plays an Indian. And they're always talking about him.
Uncle Joe 35:20
And the people that were stealing from the Indians are taking all the money and they got caught up and he knows about the money. And then they're talking about the woman that's in there is very tutti fruity and she's saying all those people, they'll eat dog if you give it to them.
Uncle Joe 35:43
And of course, Newman is supposed to be an Indian. He says, you'll eat dog. You'll eat dog and beg for it if you don't have anything else. And that's what the movie's about. It's always the prejudice of people.
Uncle Joe 35:59
That's why you could do me a big favor. Find out why we have prejudice. What is it about man that has to be better than another man? What else you want?
Ava 36:14
Well, I know that coming from, um, I wanted to learn about what are some of the lessons that you've learned from your mom and dad and the lessons that they've taught you and anything that you've gained from their experiences.
Uncle Joe 36:36
Okay, now you know, they're Mexicans, right? My father was a very strong father figure. My mom, a very lovely woman. And, uh, my dad told me when I was getting ready to leave the house, he says, look, I don't know what you're doing.
Uncle Joe 36:59
I don't know how you're going to do it, but whatever it is, you make sure you do the best and you'll always work. And I said, okay. And then he says, and then there's anything you need to know. You see that building over there?
Uncle Joe 37:13
He says, yes, that's a library. If you don't know it, you go into that library, tell them what you want, they'll give you a book and you read the book and you'll learn it. Okay. And with my mom, she just wanted the whole family together.
Uncle Joe 37:29
She was a very lovely woman.
Ava 37:33
Have you, um, what are some of the, um, how they like left you any, like words of wisdom from your mom and your dad and, um, like that have really stuck with you that you continue to think about today?
Uncle Joe 38:03
Oh yeah, like I told you that the library for what? And then he told me, and whatever you do, I was studying algebra in the living room.
Uncle Joe 38:20
And my dad walked so he says, what is that? And I said, it's algebra. He says, well, what does it do? I says, well, instead of using numbers, you represent them by letters and you go through the operations.
Uncle Joe 38:35
And then in the end, you get the numbers and apply it and then you know what your answer is. He said, I don't know what you said, Joe, but if you tell me what you are, then you relate it to dollars. I'll tell you the answer.
Uncle Joe 38:50
He could do things like that. I get here let me tell you a story about my dad. He tells me, how about you and I going down to Mexico? We'll go to Tijuana. I said, OK. And I says here, let me. All right, I was working in LA, so I would stay with him.
Uncle Joe 39:12
And I said, let me go upstairs and get the money. You don't need any money. I got money. Okay. So off we go. Just he and I. And. We go into a bar. And the bar is at the end of the. I did 60 feet deep.
Uncle Joe 39:36
And there's tables on the side. People sit there drinking. And of course, we don't look the park. And we get all the way to the end and we're sitting down having beers. And one of the Mexican go over to my father and he says, let me ask you a question.
Uncle Joe 39:58
You're from the United States. He says, yes. Is this what would happen if Mexico and the United States got into a war? He says, well, you know, I owe all my belongings I've earned through the United States.
Uncle Joe 40:23
I raised my kids in the United States. I would have to fight for the United States. And I'm looking at seeing that 60 feet looks more like a hundred feet. Now, if we got to get out of there, we're going to be getting out of the fighting.
Uncle Joe 40:39
So then my dad comes over and he's, but if there is a war and we had to work itll probably last only one day. That's why because we're going to run the airplane. all across the border and will drop tax.
Uncle Joe 40:57
You guys don't have any shoes, the war will end. I couldn't believe what he had just said. As I said, let's have this beer and get the hell out of here. He was always something.
Ava 41:14
Yeah. I mean, my mom has told me some stories about them and I've always just heard that they were very sweet and wise.
Ava 41:31
So it's just nice to hear more about them and to learn about them as well through you and just their legacy and everything. You know the part I like about your mom and my dad? My dad would go over to pick her up to take her home.
Uncle Joe 41:51
From school. And of course, she's coming out of the class. And there's my dad in the truck or a beat up van. And he's playing his Mexican music. And here comes your brother. Hi, grandpa. Hello, mija. rudadadadadadada.
Uncle Joe 42:13
And he was playing the mariachi music.
Mom 42:18
He takes us on a four hour drive. A four hour drive.
Uncle Joe 42:22
She's telling me right now that he would take them on a four hour drive.
Mom 42:26
He has sandwiches and play cards. Sandwiches and play cards.
Uncle Joe 42:30
Oh, yeah. Your aunt, to see that, him would play cards. They'd cheat each other. And they'd think that they were cheating. I find the thing about to see your aunt is coming week or next week. And I told her I'm not playing cards with her because she cheats.
Ava 42:57
Oh, yes. Now she's told me that she likes to play things the Mendoza way when we've played cards. And she will not play the correct way. But yeah. I've seen it.
Ava 43:22
Well, Uncle Joe, that's all the questions I have for you. And what I'll do is I'm going to take this conversation. I'm going to write up a draft of just the questions and answers. And I'll send it to you to just show what I've written down.
Ava 43:42
And then make sure it's OK with you. But thank you so, so much for doing this. I really, really appreciate getting to interview you. talk to you about everything that you've done in your life.
Uncle Joe 43:57
And I know you're gonna do better.
Ava 44:02
Thank you so much, Uncle Joe.
Uncle Joe 44:07
And you probably should do better than your mother too.
Ava 44:09
You know, I'll try. I don't think I can run as fast as how she used to in high school, but I'll try my hardest. Great.
Uncle Joe 44:21
Anytime you need any help, let me know.
Ava 44:24
Thank you so much, Uncle Joe. I really appreciate it and I love you so much. I love you very much. Bye -bye, Uncle Joe.
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