Hernandez, Feliz Todd 1989-08-17
Feliz Todd Hernandez, a Lubbock resident talks about here life in this city, her financial and work issues and the effect of the tornado of 1970.
General Interview Information
Interviewee Name: Feliz Todd Hernandez
Additional Parties Recorded:
Date: August 17, 1989
Location: Lubbock, Texas
Interviewer: Yolanda Romero
Length: 85 minutes
Abstract
Tape 1, Side 1:
Born in Lubbock, Texas in 1930;
Parents: Daniel Todd, mother’s name unknown;
Brothers: Alex Todd, Julian Todd and Joe Todd;
Sisters: Celia de León, Ernestina Logar, Francis Hernandez and Elvira Segura;
Children: Homer, Cecilia Zachary, Olivia Rodriguez, Raymond Jr., Eric Hernandez;
Mother: Housekeeper;
Father: Manual labor;
Life in Lubbock;
Father and grandfather’s work;
They use to clear the skin of goats and trim trees;
Why they came from New Mexico to Lubbock;
Work in the laundry;
Lubbock laundry;
She use to iron;
Other ladies helped her;
Todd family;
She has four brothers and four sisters;
One sister lives in Grand Prairie, one in Dallas and one brother in New México. All the other ones live in Lubbock;
Education en the family;
Everybody tried to go to school;
They quit to work;
The ones that finished school were in the Service;
Feliz dreamed of being a nurse;
Discrimination in Lubbock;
Kids didn’t like Mexicans in the schools;
Teachers were hard with the kids too;
The Guadalupe neighborhood;
No many people lived there;
Humble and small houses;
She lived on Avenue L;
Memories of her neighbors;
Her father’s death;
He died of pneumonia;
Feliz and siblings worked to help;
Her brothers in the Service helped too;
Visiting;
They used to visit an uncle not their friends;
Only during the weekends;
Feliz worked in Arthur Lay;
Temporary, only during the summer;
She worked with other three hundred people;
They produced clothes for the soldiers;
Feliz worked in Patterson;
sewed;
How she met her husband;
He was a friend of Feliz’s brother;
They knew each others since ever;
They started their relationship at a dance hall;
They had to go in as a couple to be admitted;
Married life;
They had three boys and two girls;
They all reside in Lubbock.
Tape 1, Side 2:
Life in the neighborhood;
They lived in a small house with two bedrooms;
Tornado of 1970;
Rain and hail before the tornado;
How they covered to avoid injury during the tornado;
How they got the children to take cover;
Their house and most of the neighborhood were destroyed;
Their oldest son stayed in the church helping people;
The aftermath of the tornado;
Feliz house was destroyed;
One neighbor was lifted by the tornado and died;
Another neighbor was buried underneath the walls and a truck;
They got a lot of help from relatives and others;
They moved after the tornado;
People that worked in Lubbock;
They got along with the people in the neighborhood;
They use to dance and drink beer;
The murder of a Police officer;
Feliz saw him on the ground;
She knew the officer;
The murderer is still serving a life sentence;
Medical attention for the family;
They used to go the Porter clinic;
They didn’t have insurance; they paid from their own pockets;
Hispanic newspaper;
Feliz doesn’t remember any.
Range Dates: 1930-1989
Bulk Dates: 1930-1989
Access Information
Original Recording Format: audio cassette
Recording Format Notes: digitized; CD available in Reading Room
Transcript: drafts of Spanish and English transcripts available in Reading Room
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