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Basque Oral History Project Index Interview Tape Index
NAME: Lucy Astorquia Osborne
TAPE MINUTE SUMMARY OF CONTENTS
Tape 1
Side 1
0-7:00 Lucy’s mother was Josephine Antonia Ensunsa and her father was Eusebio Astorquia. Josephine’s parents had emigrated from the Basque country separately and married in the United States. Mr. Ascuena, a friend of Lucy’s maternal grandmother, took her under his wing because her parents had died in a boat accident. She most likely met Lucy’s grandfather most likely met in a boarding house, and they settled in Gooding after their marriage, where Josephine was born. Eusebio was born in Aulestia, Bizkaia. His mother had died when he was a young boy, and as the eldest, he came to America to help earn money for the family. His father, Adrien Astorquia, was a leader in town who knew how to get things done, and Eusebio’s siblings were Julio, Juan, Faustino and a sister. The civil war was raging in Spain as they were growing up, but Adrien didn’t want them to fight, so he obtained passports for them and smuggled them out of Spain. Their ship docked in Spain, where there was a festival. Youngest brother Juan loved to run races, and so he participated in a French one, but missed the boat to the States. He got on the next boat, thinking it was headed to America, but it went to Australia. Lucy did not know that she had cousins in Australia until she was in her teens, and vice versa. When she later visited these relatives, they told her that the family name was originally ‘Astorkia’, but to get the passports, Adrien had changed it to make it sound more French. Lucy surmises that these brothers didn’t tell their kids about each other’s existence because they weren’t sure the others were still alive, and felt they needed to start anew. When Lucy and her siblings found out about their Australian cousins, they began corresponding, and continue doing so to this day.
7-10:00 Lucy recalls her visit to Australia. She remembers being amazed that her cousins there (sugarcane farmers) had the exact same likes and mannerisms—odd considering the oceans of separation and lack of communication. The Aussie accent was the only difference. Lucy would like to go back to visit her family there. These cousins speak Spanish—not Basque—since their mother was a Spaniard.
10-15:30 Lucy’s parents were married in 1931, after getting acquainted in the boarding house. When Eusebio had first come to the US, he began working for Frank Gooding, then for Jay Farmer, but he owned his own sheep business at the time he met Josephine. The couple moved to his ranch in Gooding, where they lambed, but moved to an 80-acre ranch outside of town when Lucy’s sister Rita started school. Eusebio also farmed alfalfa later, as soon as technological advances made irrigation and train transportation possible. Lucy was born at her grandmother’s house (the norm at the time) on Thanksgiving Day, 1938. He siblings are Rita, Annie-Lou, Connie, Georgia (died at 9 months from pneumonia), Agnes (died at 12 in an accident), twins Frank and Joan, Susan and Patty—nine girls and one boy!
15:30-20:00 Lucy’s mother took care of the house, raised her kids, and did all the cooking for the hired hands. She also gardened, took care of the yard, and was active in the Catholic Church—a remarkable lady. The hired hands were all Basque, and seemed like a part of the family. During the summer, all but a few left with the sheep, and during lambing season, they all had their own little camps or bunks in the property. All the men were from the same general area of the Basque country, and it was not uncommon for one of them to pack around a baby while Josephine did the cooking. Everything the family needed to eat was raised on the farm, and everyone was invited to the Astorquia’s huge Christmas gatherings. Lucy describes the situation as having 2 lives: the Basque life and then the American life with friends and at school. Her parents were big on Basque traditions, but did not teach their children Basque on purpose, in order for them to integrate completely into American life. Josephine (who grew up bilingual) and Eusebio conversed in Basque all the time, but not with their kids.
20-25:00 Eusebio taught himself English, and also how to read. He did a lot of visionary things in his life with no formal education, including design a huge barn with a minimum of support beams for all the wool he stored there. This barn became quite a story in the community! This ingenuity was one of the reasons he was so successful. Eusebio raised his kids to have the same creativity: free reign to explore their passions, the will to figure out solutions for themselves, and non-physical discipline to encourage respect. Eusebio only needed to give someone a look to get them to do what he wanted. Lucy adds that her cousins in Australia agree: the Astorquias knew how to instill a love for hard work.
25-30:00 Lucy tries to remember some of the Basque men who worked on the ranch, but most of them went by nicknames. Half of these men went back to Spain, and the others retired in various boarding houses around Idaho. Eusebio also hired 1 or 2 non-Basques who worked on the ranch. Lucy began school at the Gooding Lincoln School (now Safeway’s) at the age of 6. There were 2 bus routes: one started at 8 and ended at 4, the other started at 9 and ended at 5. It turns out that the bus contractor was a friend of the Astorquia family, and instigated this change because Josephine had no time to cook breakfast for the men and get her kids ready for school at 8 in the morning!
Side 2
0-5:00 Lucy recalls that Gooding has pretty much stayed the same size through the years, and not many of them were Basques, most having settled there from Kansas. Her best friend in school was Basque (Julia Zabala), but there were only a few other Basques there. It wasn’t very popular to be Basque at the time, and remembers being called “Black Basco” by neighbors. Wine and chorizos weren’t as popular as they are now, and since Gooding was predominantly Methodist, being Catholic also meant being different. Lucy remembers suppressing her Basque heritage in school, and always found it difficult, even after her marriage. Her husband noted, for example, that Basques tend to be a very loud people! She developed such a tight bond with her siblings however, that “marrying one Astorquia is like marrying them all.”
5-10:30 Lucy was valedictorian, and she and her family excelled in sports and were generally well accepted, but she didn’t mix her home and school lives, which included never bringing non-Basques home. This was partially due to the unique ranch environment, and not all Basque families in Gooding were the same. She could bring her troubles with her American friends home, but not the other way. The ranch was everyone’s whole life, since Eusebio was not a leisure man (except for the occasional dance). She recalls her outside and inside chores: as one grew older, one graduated from collecting wood, to clearing ashes, to collecting eggs, to milking cows, to field work, and so on. Nobody complained about work—in fact, they all enjoyed it. Lucy and her siblings also enjoyed riding horses, swimming in the canal, playing sports, reading (Josephine’s influence), and so on. Lucy’s mother couldn’t understand her children’s love of outdoor activity
10:30-14:30 Lucy’s older siblings spoke no English when they started school, but learned very quickly. The Basques were always a bit of en enigma in town. At that time, there were not very many picnics except when the lambs were shipped. Lucy lists the locations where the lambs were shipped. In the winter, Josephine would throw a party for everyone’s birthday, and accordionist Luciano Urrea provided Basque music. All the kids learned how to dance the jota. Even though neighbors would come over, these were mostly family affairs, since the Gamboa boarding house was the main Basque gathering place. The Astorquias did not travel beyond Hailey (where uncle Julio lived) to visit other Basques.
14:30-21:00 Lucy graduated from high school in 1957. Her father encouraged higher education for all his kids, except for Frank, who as the only boy, was expected to take over the family business. For Lucy, the sky was the limit; she chose Denver. She attended Colorado Women’s College, but got very homesick. She fit very well into the American society there, but missed the ranch, and so transferred after 1 year of business studies. She went to Pocatello (Idaho State University), but soon fell in love and got married. Lucy knew Gary Osborne all through high school (he had to ask her out 15 times before she accepted!), who now does the auctions for the Basque picnics. Gary learned how to deal with the heavy Basque presence, as did all the other men who joined the Astorquia family (only Rita married a Basque—an immigrant from Ispaster), and now enjoys all the cultural activities. The couple started out farming on her father’s property, but eventually bought the land.
21-28:00 Lucy knew the Basque tendency to give kids nicknames, so she was determined to give her kids good, Christian names—but it did not work. They are Elizabeth “Tootie”, Christina “Tine”, and Frankie (who died of osteogenesis imperfecta at 14 months due to RH blood incompatibility between her Basque lineage and Gary’s blood). Both daughters feel very connected to the Basque culture, and spent many hours at their grandparents’ house. Neither of them speaks Basque or dance the jota, but they want their kids to learn, and so support the new Gooding Basque Center initiative. It was within Lucy’s lifetime that the Gooding Basque community got organized; it was the Catholic Church who coordinated everything before the Association came into being. The majority of the Catholics in Gooding were Basque, with the exception of a few Mexican families and the Irish priests.
28-30:00 Lucy was the fair manager in Gooding for 10 years, and helped rebuild the town’s current facilities, where Basque events are now held. The Gooding Basque picnic is one of the biggest and best in the West, and Basques come from all over. Non-Basques will plan family reunions for the same time period, since they like the event so much.
Tape 2
Side 1
0-7:00 Before working as a fair manager for 10 years starting in 1989, Lucy worked as an office manager and bookkeeper for the Gooding Livestock Commission for 29 years. These days, she keeps herself busy with her husband’s auction service’s bookwork. She helps on the farm as well, has started a nutritional supplement business, and loves to follow her grandkids around. These grandchildren aren’t exposed to the culture as much as she would like, but they are very interested in it, and Lucy is optimistic for the future. Lucy downhill skies, rides horses, gardens and travels. She has been on a Panama cruise and to Australia, and Euskadi is on the agenda. On her travels, Lucy has met a lot of people, and believes that Basques have a unique zest for life—something she hopes Basque centers can preserve for future generations. She discusses the unique nucleus she found in Australia.
7-10:00 Lucy considers herself and American Basque, mostly because it was so important to her parents that their children feel this way. Eusebio and Josephine were proud of their American citizenship. She reflects upon what the events of September 11th had on her: she has sought out heroes in her own life. Lucy believes that Basques who came to this country are heroes and examples for all of us. She has made a video to this effect that she calls ‘The Greatest Gift”; the overarching message is that the Basques gave their children roots and wings, which was al they needed to succeed. Her Basque and American influences have blended and cannot be separated.
NAMES AND PLACES
NAMES:
Ascuena family: friends of Lucy’s
maternal grandmother
PLACES:
Aulestia, Bizkaia THEMES:
Boarding houses |
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