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Basque Oral History Project Index Interview Tape Index
NAME: Andres “Andy”
Lejardi
TAPE MINUTE SUMMARY OF CONTENTS
Tape 1
Side 1
0-10:00 Andy’s parents were Jeronimo Lejardi and Clara Ibaibarriaga, both from Bolivar, Spain. Each of their baserris had a name: Jeronimo’s was Gosta and Clara’s was Bernabide. Neither of his parents ever came to the US, but remained farmers in Bizkaia, earning money to support their 7 children. Andy’s siblings are José, Martin, Javier, Luis, Esteban, and Mari Angeles; he is the 5th born. Since the eldest child was born in 1928, he thinks his parents must have been married in 1927. Andy’s parents settled in his father’s baserri after the wedding. It was a small farm, with 5 cows, wheat (important because Clara made her own bread), corn, and feed for the cows. Since the only girl in the family was the lastborn, the outside chores were divided between the brothers. Once the older ones were out of the house, they worked to earn money in nearby sawmills, tile factories. Wages were low, so everyone had to work. The family raised meat and produce mostly from themselves, but did take a few things to market; families could not afford canned food. Andy was born in 1939, and remembers the hard times brought about by the end of the Civil War. Farm families never went hungry, but the government took a lot of food for redistribution, and there was not much variety in their diet. Bolivar had a bakery for bread (for when the family ran out of wheat at the end of the year, and a small market for other goods (where Andy’s family sold milk and a few other things).
9-20:00 Andy loved to play handball and soccer whenever he had a free moment as a child. There were also romerias, with dancing and fun. People were able to speak Basque in the street of Bolivar, but not in school or in the army. At school, boys and girls were taught in different buildings. There was a single teacher for all the grades. Andy recalls the difficulty he had when he began his education, since he spoke no Spanish! His parents never learned how to speak Spanish. The language of mass was Latin, but the parishioners communicated in Basque with each other. Catechism was in Basque. Andy had several teachers through the years—generally a man for the boys and a lady for the girls—most of whom were shipped in from other parts of Spain and spoke no Basque. The punishment for speaking Basque in class was to kneel in the corner of the room for close to an hour. His school placed a high priority on mathematics (unlike schools today!), and so years later, when Andy took the GED at the College of Southern Idaho in Twin Falls, he scored very well on the math portion of the test. Andy was 14 when he finished elementary school in Bolivar, then attended 4 years of trade school in Markina, gaining experience as a machinist. The studies were sponsored by the Esperanza factory, so Andy had a job as soon as he got out of school. Friend Enrique Goitiandia went through the same program, which was later turned public. The factory processed raw material, making mortars and other things, sending the goods to other countries (a lot in Africa), after tests performed in Euskadi. Andy worked there for 3.5 years until he joined the military in 1961, where he served for 16 months. He was released in 1962, and filled out immigration papers to the US right away. He remembers serving in Bilbao and Vitoria—he had volunteered to go before the mandatory conscription age of 21 in order to finish his duty in time to leave the country before a freeze was put on his passport. Wages in the military were disgraceful, and Andy had to ask for money from his parents so he could survive on sandwiches.
19-26:30 Andy’s father died while he was in the service, and his mother had to run the farm all by herself. By this time, most of her children were old enough to support themselves. Andy had decided to come to the US while he was in the service; he saw his brother (who had work in America) with a pocketful of money, and thought that he would earn some cash for 3 years and return to the Basque country. His older brother Martin had come to Hagerman in 1958, and Andy asked him to secure a job for him. It didn’t take very long to process the documents for Andy to cross the Atlantic, and he studied shepherding facts in order to pass a necessary employment test. When the authorization came through, he had to travel from Bolivar to Hagerman all alone. Andy took a train to Bilbao, then to Madrid, flew to New York and then Chicago. He had fallen asleep at one point and could not answer a stewardess’ questions, and since no one else on the plane answered a PA asking for Spanish speakers, he never did find out what she wanted. Andy did not Speak a word of English, but somehow managed to fly to Boise and take a cab to the Valencia hotel. What a relief when Ramon Ysursa greeted him in Basque at the door! Ramon sent him on a bus to Hagerman the very same day, and he was finally reunited with his brother. Andy had brought a suitcase with a few clothes and a wool scarf his mother had made him bring, and a suit. His new boss, Bill Bradsford, bought him the clothes necessary for herding life. There were 3 Bradsford brothers, and Andy only worked for Bill(who rant he northern sheep) a year before shifting to Fred (ran the southern sheep). Bob ran the farms.
26:30-30:00 Andy had heard a few stories about America from some of the older Basques before arriving, but he knew he had to come to make money. The transition was difficult at first: the lambing sheds weren’t so bad, but when he moved out into the desert, life became dark, lonely, sad, and sometimes scary. His first reaction to the US was one of disbelief: he did not like the food (though he does now).
Side 2
0-7:00 It took some time for Andy to get used to a sheepherder’s life. He missed his friends, his girlfriend, but especially his mom—he was on his own for the first time. Clara had never liked the idea of losing her son to the US, and cried all the time because she was afraid of never seeing him again. Even though Andy promised the contrary, his mother died of heart attack and he never saw her again. He did correspond with her frequently, though. Andy’s shepherding wages were monthly, but he only got paid every 6 months; $225 a month for the 1st 3 years, then $250 after that. He sent money home to his mom and saved as much of the rest as he could afford. He was working under a 3-year contract, and even had a job offer from the same factory he had worked at in Markina, but he stayed 3 more years after the contract had expired in order to become a legal resident, which happened in 1968. Andy began work in a Gooding packing plant the following January. He changed his mind about staying in the US when he moved to Gooding, since the relaxed Basque community there made him feel very much at home. There were Basque bars and Mus tournaments, and his brothers moved to Gooding as well. Andy enjoyed the Basque dances in Gooding, Jerome, Buhl, and other towns, and he made many Basque friends. Even though there had been Basques in Hagerman, the herder lifestyle was completely different, and Andy had only stayed there for the money, not because he enjoyed it.
7-16:30:00 Only the Gamboa boarding house was still open in Gooding by the time Andy moved there, so the Basque dances had turned into more carefully planned annual events. These were held in Boise, Mountain Home, and Hagerman as well, and even though Andy had no car, friends would pick each other up. He found the Basque communities in each town to be largely similar. Andy had found it difficult to learn English during his first 6 years as a sheepherder, but took some classes at the College of Southern Idaho in order to obtain his GED in 1973-1974. He took government classes at the same time to become a US citizen, which he did in 1974. He had by this time decided that he wanted to stay in Idaho, and felt that naturalization was the best way to approach it. He has been in Gooding ever since. Andy began working at the Allen’s Meat Packing Company with some other Basques (he was hired right away), and found that his machinist training helped him perform well in later years, when he worked overtime to check the company’s machines. He was assigned to many special projects. The plant later changed names to Blainco, which Andy explains. It ultimately closed down in 1983, but Andy was married and had kids by this time, and so needed a job. He worked some at the local school, then began building fences. He later went back to the school, where he began as a janitor, moved on to school bus driver, and finally was sent to CSI again for skills training to do welding work. Andy found that he had to learn sign language to deal with many of the hearing impaired students!
16:30-21:30 Andy is now divorced, but married Jean Rowe in 1979. Daughter Cristina was born in 1980 in the hospital in Twin Falls. As she was growing up, Andy did his best to teach her about her Basque heritage. As a small child, Cristina had a Basque babysitter, and so spoke the language quite well, but when the woman moved back to Lekeitio and Cristina entered kindergarten, her speaking skills diminished. She blames Andy to this day, but he was always working so hard that he didn’t have enough time to spend with her. Cristina did enjoy dancing with the Gooding Basque troop, and regrets now not being a part of the organization. Andy is very close to his daughter, and took her to Euskadi with him in 1992 (which she very much enjoyed), and again in 1999 (when a cousin of a similar age was able to show her around). Andy hopes to be able to make the trip with his daughter again some day soon. Cristina goes to college in Pocatello.
21:30-30:00 Andy was the 1st full president of the Gooding Basque Association in 1982 (borrowing the Boise club’s bylaws), and served 17 years in this capacity. He made lots of friends, traveled a lot as Gooding’s representative, and is very proud of the achievements this group has made. He helped establish the dance group, the annual picnic, and many other things. Andy still helps out a lot, but now shares many responsibilities with other Gooding Basques, such as Julian Legarreta. The Gooding picnic draws thousands Basques and non-Basques alike, from all over the country, including California. Non-Basques have been very supportive of and interested in the Basque culture in Gooding, including the mayor and state politicians, who pass land grants, donate money and attend cultural events. Food is always popular!
Tape 2
Side 1
0-5:00 Relations between Basques and non-Basques in Idaho have always been very good, in large part because immigrants have earned a reputation for honesty and reliability. Andy identifies himself as both Basque and America—he was born abroad but loves his new home. He loves to travel back to Euskadi, however, even though many things have changed. Had lifestyles been as good in the Basque Country 40 years ago as it is now, Andy would never have left, but he sees no permanent future for himself there now. Now that his mother is gone, his friends have dispersed and his brothers have their own lives, he knows he cannot stay there forever when he visits. Idaho is Andy’s home now, and he has made a life for himself here.
NAMES AND PLACES
NAMES:
Blainco: employed Andy PLACES:
Africa THEMES:
Citizenship |
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