https://voicesofignacio.cvlcollections.org/files/original/69fe79e53079fabacc4018ce3e946988.pdf 25716e7a5fc9dfaff05dab6b2f8ea7d7 PDF Text Text ANDY AND LUCY (Valdez) DURAN Not many youngsters can say "I was the 14th child in my family." Fewer yet can say, "I was the 14th child in my family and I have 6 younger brothers and sisters," but Lucy Duran can make both statements. When asked what it's like to grow up in a house full of people, Lucy says, "My older brothers and sisters took care of me, carried me, dressed me and fed me. Mother was busy all the time. She never stopped. The older kids had to help with the younger ones because mother had only a little time to spend with each child. When Lucy was 4 years old her parents, Cornelio and Ferminia Valdez decided to leave Blanco, New Mexico, and moved to a farm south of Ignacio. "When I look back on those days, I think how poor we were, especially compared with today. We each had one set of clothes and one pair of shoes. When the shoes were worn completely out, father would try to buy us another pair." "Father and the boys were always busy on the farm. They raised grains and hay. We produced our own potatoes and beans and corn and everything else we could grow. Mother dried apricots and peaches and vegetables. In the fall our cellar was full of potatoes, squash and apples. After it was cold enough, the butchering would start. The hams were coaled with curing sugar, wrapped with cheese cloth and stored in the cool house. We hung a leg of beef outside and covered it with a sheet. Whenever-we wanted meat we went out and cut off whatever portion was needed. In the spring 1the leg of beef was moved into the cool house until it was used up." "We seldom ever came lo town except lo go to mass on Sunday. Dad and the boys hitched the team to the big wagon. To keep our dresses clean we threw quilts into the back of the wagon. If the weather was bad, we stayed home and Dad read the Bible to us." Transportation in the old days seems slow lo people today, but it was dangerous at times. Lucy recalls, "Once Dad and Mother and Mary were driving the wagon from La Boca to Ignacio. When the tail of one of the horses got caught in the reins, it became very frightened and bolted. The wagon turned over. Dad and Mary were unhurt, but Molhe~s leg was broken. After Dad got the wagon tipped up again, he lifted Mother inside and brought her to Dr. La Forge." Like most children of her generation, Lucy loved to ride horses. "We always rode bareback lo bring the cows in. We liked to ride fast and to race. At that time I would rather ride horses than anything." Lucy got lo go to school in the country a few years. then the family moved to town. "I was a little afraid to go to school in town because I could speak hardly any English, but I met Jesse Stauffer and Frances Copeland and we became good friends. Within a week or so I could get along with the English pretty well. I began earning my first money washing and ironing clothes for Mrs. Wayt (Vida Ritter's mother. ) I went early before school to wash and hang the clothes. At noon I would take them off the line and sprinkle them. Then in the evening I ironed them. I made $.75 an hour doing that." 44 �., ., ., ~ ., ~ J J ) ' ) ) ' ) ) ) ) ) ) ) _) "Dad didn't care for dances, but Mother loved them. She often took us kids to the dances at the S.P.M.D.T.U. Hall. It was at one of the dances there that I met Andy Duran. Andy's first wife had died some time before. We dated for about two years and then decided to get married. Andy Duran was born in Durango on October 29, 1902. "Dad didn't care for dances, but Mother loved them. She often took us kids to the dances at the S.P .M.D.T.U. Hall. It was at one of the dances there that I met Andy Duran. Andy's first wife had died some time before. We dated for about two years and then decided to get married. Andy Duran was born in Durango on October 29, 1902. His mother died when he was still a small child, so his grandparents raised him in Rosa, N.M. Andy quit the 8th grade to go to work on the railroad. He was still working on the railroad when he and Lucy were married. The Duran's have 10 children, Andy Jr., Cornelio, Jack, Orlando, Rudy, Lillian, Eileen, Corinne, Martha and Yolanda. As a railroad employee, Andy and his family had-free tickets to ride the train. Most of their travel was back and forth to Durango for shopping and visits. In 1941 Andy was moved to Rico as Section Boss. After a couple of years there he got an opportunity to work in the mines at Telluride and Ophir and stayed with that for 12 years. That is definitely not easy work, but living there provided a magnificent place for the children to grow up. Probably no place in this country has more spectacular scenery or more opportunity for outdoor fun than the mountains around Telluride. Lucy remembers, "Our house was full of fishing gear, snow shoes and skis. The boys were out camping or hiking or fishing or hunting as much as they could. Even today the boys take their families over there and camp and fish and try to share that beautiful place with their children." ) ) ) ) ) ) _) ). _) Boys, even good boys like Andy's and Lucy's, are rascally at times. "They were in and out of mischief," Lucy recalls. "I especially remember the time they and their friends were daring one another to ride the tram cable across the valley." A tram with big ore buckets carried the ore from the mine down to the mill. Unknown to us the boys had been daring one another to jump up and grab a hold of the cable and hold on until it carried them across the valley to the next hill where they could jump off. I guess some of them had been doing it. Finally, it was Cornelia's time. What he didn't know was how close it was to 12:00 noon. At noon the mine whistle went off and everything, including the tram stopped while the miners had lunch. Cornelio was about halfway across the valley when the whistle blew and the cable stopped. Well, no one can hold on for an hour. Cornelia's arms gave out. He fell and fortunately, only broke a leg." ..) ..J .J J J J J ..J J J J .J ...) "For several years the family lived in company housing at the mine at Altus (Alta). Sometimes we were snowed in for a week, but we always had plenty of coal and plenty of food stocked up. Avalanches would cover the roads and the big rotary plows would have to come dig it all out." As anyone knows who lives around Ignacio, Andy and Lucy have wonderful children. Their method of child rearing is as follows: "We always tried to make our children understand that God should be first in people's lives and then a good education so that they can earn a living and be of use to others. Children should be whipped when they are bad until about age 12. From then on they have minds of their own and if they haven't learned right from wrong by then it's probably too late, anyway." 45 �When the mines closed around Telluride about 1954, the Durans moved back over to Ignacio. Andy did farm work around this area until it was time to retire. But like many other active people have discovered, retirement is not necessarily that much fun. So Andy is working again this summer. When asked if there is something she would like to do that's never been possible, Lucy replies, "I have always dreamed of going to Rome to see the Pope, but that's a long way over there." Even if Lucy never -gets to go, she and Andy can look back on a panorama of life experiences with many good memories. Their lives have spanned great changes in this country. Both still enjoy good health. We wish them many more years of health and happiness and wish their children many more reunions at Telluride. September, 1975 -- Shelby Smith 46 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Shelby Smith Interviews Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource https://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-NC/1.0/?language=en Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1973-1980 Subject The topic of the resource Ignacio; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Collection of biographies, predominantly of residents from the Ignacio Senior Center, based on interviews conducted by Shelby Smith from approximately 1973 to 1980. The abridged interviews were originally published as individual entries in The Thoughtful Years newsletter, published by the Ignacio Senior Center, beginning in 1973. They were later published as a whole in Smith's book: Oral Histories of the Southern Pine River Valley, from which the original scans in this collection have been derived. Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Andy Duran and Lucy (Valdez) Duran Biography Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 1975-09 Subject The topic of the resource Duran, Andy; Duran, Lucy (Valdez) Description An account of the resource Biography of Andy Duran and Lucy (Valdez) Duran based on an interview conducted by Shelby Smith. Originally included in the September, 1975 issue of "The Thoughtful Years" newsletter published by the Ignacio Senior Center. Later included in the book "Oral Histories of the Southern Pine River Valley" by Shelby Smith. Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Duran, Andy; Duran, Lucy (Valdez) Extent The size or duration of the resource. 3 pages Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NKC/1.0/ Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smith, Shelby