https://voicesofignacio.cvlcollections.org/files/original/c87cfe96f50f865ce81969db59a99464.pdf 10bab603218f4beca6714a9c2cfd002e PDF Text Text Anna Mae Alires -(Navajo) My name is Anna Mae Alires. I was born in Shiprock, NM. I am 72 years old. I had been in boarding school most of my life. I ended up here at the Ute Vocational School back in 1946 and graduated on my birthday in 1950. After that I worked in Durango cleaning people's houses. Then, I got married and had a daughter, but I got divorced about a year after that. I entered Fort. Lewis College (the old Fort Lewis in Hesperus). I lived in Durango and rode the school bus to the college every day. I just went a couple of years there, and then I got a job at Mercy Hospital for about a month until I applied for a job here at the Bureau of Indian Affairs [BIA]. I was hired as secretary for the Branch of Education. When I was going to school here it was a vocational school where we learned how to cook, how to sew, how to be a homemaker. They boys learned farming: they took care of the garden and the chickens, and milked the cows. In the fall they would bring in the vegetables from the field. The girls would learn how to can. The boys would kill the chickens so that we could learn how to clean and dress them. We learned how to cook in our home economics class. Then, I graduated and I left. In '55 I got my job here at Bureau oflndian Affairs with Branch of Education. I really don't remember when they integrated with the public schools. Instead of going to school here at Ute Vocational, they started going down to the public school. We just stayed open to let them board and room here. We took in students (Indian students) from Crown Point area; that's in NM, and Ute Mountain. But, I enjoyed my work with Branc·h of Education. We dealt with the children and everything, and there were some that were ornery; we'd have to deal with them. I would have to take them home and tum them over to their parents, and their parents would have to return them to the school. Like I say, I enjoyed that work, but then it closed in '81, September 1981. The dorms closed entirely, and so I transferred over to Branch of Forestry up 'til 1990. I retired from there, but while I was working for the BIA, I had a part-time job as a dispatcher for the Southern Ute Police Department. I retired from that job on August .-.ro23rJ~2002. I came up here from St. Michael's in Arizona, and I really wasn't too happy there. It was a boarding school, too. The food wasn't that great. So, when I came to Ute Vocational this gal named Elsie Watts (she was from Ute Mountain) said, 'if you want to, you can room with me,' because here there were two to a room. When I was at St. Michael's it was a big room with a bunch of beds; you didn't have that much privacy. When I came here she said you can room with me, and I went up to the room and there were only two to a room; that was really something. And then she took me over to the dining hall. I was amazed, because the food ... I could not believe they were serving salad, mashed potatoes, gravy, meat, and all that. It was so different from St. Michael's. I really liked this place, because it was homier than that place. I had fun: I was a cheerleader (Elsie and I were). And, you know Stella Santistevan? I was a cheerleader with her sister. I stayed, because I liked this part of the country. So, I got my jobs here and I stayed, and all of my children were raised here. We don't know too much about our traditional way of life. I was orphaned when I was ... When I was born, my mom died. My dad didn't want me to be ratSed on the Navajo Reservation raising- sheep-; he didn't want me to have-a dozen kids raising �Page 2 of 3 sheep. He wanted me to get out and get educated, to get off the reservation. This German lady, she was on her way to take a bunch of children to Good Shepard Mission in Arizona. They didn't have any parents and it was an orphanage. My dad was late in bringing me in and she couldn't wait, so she took the other babies. But, when she came back I was in a room waiting for her. She never gave me up: she kept me, raised me until I got married. I was happy to have her take me, but I was never able to learn my language or to really learn about their traditions until later. When I was young it didn't really interest me, but now it does. I've been reading about the Navajo traditions and the Ute culture. I'm finding a lot on the Internet now. There is a lot on the Internet that you can read. We couldn't speak in our native languages at the Ute Vocational School. If you talked in you native language, you were punished (I was punished). I did learn a few words, and one was, 'shut up.' I would say that to the instructor and I got punished. They'd make you stand in the comer or something. But, all the time that I was going to school, we weren't really severely treated, we weren't treated harsh or anything. At Fort Lewis I wanted to become a secretary. I studied shorthand, typing, grammar and al that. And, then, I had to take other courses: Western Civilization. I don't remember what others, but I just took it long enough to where I'd be able to get a job. I didn't graduate or anything, or get a degree. I've got three children: one girl and two boys, and they were all raised here in Ignacio. I have got 13 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. They're all being raised here in Ignacio except for my youngest son's children; he moved to Cortez. That's about it, I retired and I'm enjoying my grandchildren. I was telling my children; when I was growing up, working and trying to raise them, I really didn't spend too much time with them. Because, they would be at school and I would be at work, we'd do our chores, and then they'd get ready for bed. Sometimes I took them to the movies. But, it seems like I'm spending a lot of time with my grandchildren, and I'm really enjoying it. All parents go through that, you know? (Especially when you're a single parent.) I've been telling my children what I went through, and I tell my grandchildren about how it was when I was growing up. I always dept a diary, and I started putting it on my computer. I told Tom [Anna Mae's son], 'if any of you guys are interested, make a copy and read it.' It is a diary from when they were growing up. I would write the funny little things they'd say. Now I'm retired, living in the Senior Center's apartments. I had a half-sister, I didn't know here, and I knew I had brothers. When I was here in Ignacio, at the Ute Vocational School, I found out I had a brother, and my cousin got him to write letters to me. He couldn't speak English, so he had somebody that would write for him. And then, all of a sudden, I didn't know what was going on. He was working in Portland, on the railroad. Two years later, after I got married, I asked my cousin what happened to my brother. She told me he had died in a railroad car fire. I said I didn't even know: nobody notified me. Then I found out that I had a half-sister, and I didn't meet her until after she had children and after I had children. There was a girl at the school here that was related to her husband, and she came and told me that my sister is back in Shiprock. She went to school at Riverside Boarding School. I don't remember how many years it was, but I loaded my kids up, went to Shiprock, and found her. Her kids were-as- s-mall as- my kids-. &he-doesn't know much about our father, �Page 3 of3 because he died when I was six years old and she was three. So,she doesn't know anything about my father. My foster mother didn't know much about my father, either. My son and I did go down to see my cousin a couple of years ago to find out more about my family. But, she didn't seem to know, either. She did tell us my clan name. The Navajos have clans. She told me what clan I came from. But, I don't know any of my relatives now. One time she got me down there to meet my grandfather. I went down to Newcomb (between Shiprock and Gallup) and met my grandfather. But he was elderly, and he couldn't speak much English and I couldn't speak Navajo. I remember him crying and she was translating for him. I don't know really if he was from my mother's or father's side. I wish I had paid more attention now that I'm older. My maiden name is Todae: on my birth certificate it's spelled T-0-D-E-A; my foster mother spelled it T-0-D-A-E, and that's how I went. I had brothers and sisters, a few of them died from tuberculosis; that was bad on the reservation back then. But, I didn't know them because I was the last one born. They told me they died of tuberculosis when I was a young child. Interviewed by Michael G. Miller, VISTA worker, on January 161\ 2004. � 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 Michael Miller Interviews Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/CNE/1.0/ Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 2003-2004 Subject The topic of the resource Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Collection of twelve biographies written by VISTA worker Michael G. Miller of prominent people in the Ignacio community. Based on interviews conducted by Miller between December 9, 2003 and March 15, 2004. Some contain the additional attribution "for the Ignacio Historical Society." Spatial Coverage Spatial characteristics of the resource. Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Miller, Michael G. 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 Anna Alires Biography Date Created Date of creation of the resource. 2004-01-16 Subject The topic of the resource Alires, Anna; Ignacio, Colorado; Southwest Colorado Description An account of the resource Biography of Anna Alires written by VISTA worker Michael G. Miller and based on an interview conducted by Miller on January 16, 2004. 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 Alires, Anna Extent The size or duration of the resource. 3 pages