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Basque Oral History Project Index Interview Tape Index
NAME: Lucia Mallea
TAPE MINUTE SUMMARY OF CONTENTS
Tape 1
Side 1
0-6:00 Lucy’s father is Juan Martin Larrinaga, and his mother is Ezekiela Andreinua, both from Munitibar, Bizkaia. The couple raised about 200 sheep on their baserri, which were wintered in Mutriku. The baserri (Okizibar) was at the bottom of a mountain, and it wasn’t uncommon to get 3 feet of snow. There were nine children in the family: Maria, Julian, Gregorio, Felix, Jesus, Irene, Natividad and Eloisa. Lucy discusses her childhood: she and her sisters helped with the sheep once in a while, but also went to the mill near town to have the grain ground into flour. She was born on 29 June 1934, in baserri Gerrikaiz in Munitibar.
6-12:00 Lucy began school when she was 7 years old, and recalls that classes were conducted in Spanish, with non-Basque teachers imported from Donosti. She spoke no Spanish before school began, but learned quickly to avoid paying a fine (monetary or food, such as raisins) for speaking Basque in class. Lucy remembers that she once had to bring a peseta to class, and the teacher (who was boarding at her paternal uncle’s class) gave it back. It was a little strange to have the woman staying with a Basque family. Few people in town spoke Spanish, since there had been no need to do so before Franco’s regime.
12-18:00 Franco also instituted many other laws to suppress the Basque culture, but Lucy’s parents never talked about this, because they didn’t like to speak badly of other people or talk politics. She was only a few years old when Gernika was bombed, and so does not remember very much of the war, but has vivid recollections of the aftermath. Lucy describes food rationing: there was black bread that nobody liked and very little sugar to go around. Her brothers used to sneak to the mill at night to make illegal flour for fresh bread. The family never went hungry, however, because they had their sheep and made homemade cheese. Lucy recalls that her parents hired a maid to help take care of all the housework (one was named Elvira Zabal) and farm work. Occasionally, people used to come and ask for alms and food.
18-23:00 Lucy did not learn much in the 1st grade, but eventually learned quite a lot: sewing, catechism, and all the traditional subjects. Boys and girls were not separated, and they even played pelota in the adjoining fronton together (especially Lucy). The school also had a little kitchen, where the children learned to cook, and they sometimes brought in wool to make thread and other things. Lucy remembers going home for lunch every day, but also ate at her tia’s house (since it was closer). The teacher ate here occasionally, but since she was dating Lucy’s cousin (Martin Muńozguren), she was often out with him, as she had no other friends.
23-30:00 Lucy had school from 9 to 12, then a few hours for lunch, and more class until 5 or 6 in the evening. She also had a break, when the kids played handball. One of her cousins later became a very good handball player. Lucy had many chores to do at home, including boiling milk, cleaning out pots, watching her younger sisters (Eloisa was 12 years younger), cooking, washing clothes, cutting grass for the animals, and scrubbing the floor. Every Sunday, the family went to church, so there was ironing to do, and the girls needed clean clothes for the weekly romerias. Her brothers went hunting, she says, while she worked at home! She says she married young just to get out of the house. Church was a big influence in the town’s life, and interestingly, catechism was held in Basque. The children went once a week.
Side 2
0-5:00 Lucy talks about learning how to sew, which the boys did not have to do. She continues discussing the farm work, which included harvesting grain and cutting grass—which they carried in piles on their shoulders—for the animals. This hurt Lucy’s back considerably. She finished school when she was 12 because there was too much work a home, and although Lucy really wanted to learn more, she only made it to class one more winter. The baserri had little success with tomatoes, but most other vegetables, grain, and beans did well in the foggy climate. She recalls baking big breads in an outdoor oven.
5-10:00 The family sold cheese in the Ondarroa market on Mondays, and this task frequently fell on Lucy and her neighbor, Miren Bolano (who later married her cousin). Lucy describes the Sunday romerias in Munitibar, which were a lot of fun. Unfortunately, her family thought her too young to go all the time, but too old to avoid hard physical labor! She talks about her brother’s military conscription.
10-15:00 Lucy was married in 1954 to Benancio “Ben” Mallea, who came to work in the United States in 1956. Since there was a quota in place for women at the time, Ben was not able to bring his wife over until 1961, and he could not return to her for fear of losing his contract. Throughout this time, Lucy was living in a home her godparents’ rented to her, with some of her sisters. Her husband found employment with Walt Bennett in Grandview, ID. Lucy’s first daughter, Mari Loli was born in a Gernika hospital in 1954.
15-24:00 Lucy and her daughter came to the United States with friend Fulgencio Legarreta in October of 1961. Before departing, she was a little nervous, but knew she couldn’t live without her husband any longer. At the beginning, she says, nobody liked the change, but the workload was no different from what she had grown up knowing. Lucy and her daughter flew from Bilbao to Madrid to New York to Chicago to Salt Lake City (where a Spanish speaker helped them, as one did in New York). She describes being taken advantage of by several people who were supposed to be facilitating the trip. It took her a long time to sort out the ensuing problem with her immigration and identification cards.
24-30:00 Lucy’s husband, brother Julian and Julio Iglesias (the owner of the Basque Hotel) met her at the Boise airport. It was autumn, and so the weather was awful. Mari Loli, who was 6, was not able to attend school right away either. Lucy and Ben lived and worked at Bennett’s Grandview ranch for a year, where she did a lot of cooking. The family then moved to the Basque Hotel in Mountain Home because Ben wanted a change. Lucy was pregnant with her next child, and all the work the hotel required (making beds, cleaning and cooking) made life very difficult. Lucy had no help with all this work, and was constantly pregnant. Her children are Mari Loli, Juan Martin, Teresa and Miguel. It took her quite a while to find a friend.
Tape 2
Side 1
0-8:00 Lucy discusses the Mountain Home Basque community as it was when she arrived. There were many young Basques, some who worked in construction at the Air Force Base, others as sheepherders, and still others with livestock. Nowadays, there are no Basque sheepherders. Lucy and her family liked to go to picnics and dances, and to socialize with the Basques at the various boarding houses in town, but she had far too much work to go out as much as she would have liked. Lucy rented rooms at the hotel to Basques, but there were several Americans there as well through the years. Although Lucy admits that they would rather have rented exclusively to Basques (mostly because they paid more reliably than anyone else), sometimes they had little choice. She relates the story of one boarder who was always sick because he drank too much. Lucy describes her cooking schedule at the boarding house, as well as the dance s and parties they had. She thinks that Basques began leaving Mountain Home in droves about 1974, or even before, when people left the shepherding business in favor of better-paying and less isolated jobs.
8-13:00 Many Basques apparently returned to Euskadi after Franco’s death. Lucy and her husband left the boarding house in1980, at which point Ben retired from his ranch job in Hammett, and Maria went to work as a custodian for the public schools at the Air Force base. She worked there for 18 years, and remembers seeing several Basque students, most of whom did not speak Euskera.
13-20:30 Lucy always spoke Basque to her kids, and tried to teach them the beauty of the Basque culture. She understands most everything in English, but prefers to speak Euskera. Her parents never discussed the evils of Franco’s regime with her, and Lucy never did so with her own children later; she prefers to live her life and not speak ill of anyone. An Echevarria bought the hotel, but Lucy and her family continued living there for a little while. She laments that many people don’t appreciate Basque culture until they notice that it is dissipating. The hotel burned down in 1983, and a Twin Falls newspaper wrote a story about it
20:30-30:00 At home, and in the hotel, Lucy and her children always spoke Basque. She continues describing the burning of the hotel. She recalls living in the Basque country with her children right before Franco’s death, when there were many public demonstrations and the police constantly stopped her for questioning. She recalls her children’s early education experiences in Gernika, which helped her to decide that, contrary to what she has always expected, the US was now her home. Lucy has now spent almost 41 years in Idaho. Lucy has experienced hardship in her life, particularly in Grandview, but she put up with it, and even learned the English language with no formal training. She has taken 2 trips back to the Basque country.
Side 2
0-5:00 Lucy reminisces about her first trip back to the Basque country: she enjoyed many parts of the trip, but her kids were frightened by all the violence, including terrorist bombs, and wanted to return home. She describes problems with airports, including slips in new security measures. Her sisters wanted to visit her in Idaho, but not after September 11.
5-14:30 Lucy has not maintained much contact with her old friends in the Basque country, but is still in close contact with her family. Long distance telephone calls are much more expensive than she would like! Lucy mentions some of the changes she has noticed in the Mountain Home Basque community: things are more mechanized, but there are fewer active participants. Most of the younger Basques left the city for other states, and so only the elderly remain. Lucy is a member of the Mountain Home Basque Association, largely because she enjoys going to the frequent dinners with friends and family. She discusses her participation, which helps her grandkids get involved.
14:30-28:00 Lucy considers that she will always be Basque no matter where she lives, but she has lived in America a long time, and so finds it difficult to separate her identities. She has not experienced any of the political or criminal hardships in the US to which she was subjected in Spain. Lucy does not believe that becoming a US citizen would mean rejecting her Basque heritage. When she traveled back to the Basque country, she realized that her “head was now in America.” She mentions some of the ill treatment the secret police showed her in Gernika and Madrid. Compared to the gracious she welcome she received in America (even by non-Basques, including gentlemanly behavior when she had her kids with her), it was quite striking.
NAMES AND PLACES
NAMES:
Andreinua, Ezekiela:
Lucy’s mother
PLACES:
Basque Hotel (Mountain
Home)
Boarding houses |
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