Hispanics of Roosevelt County, New Mexico: A History (American Heritage) by Trujillo Agapito

Author:Trujillo, Agapito [Trujillo, Agapito]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing Inc.
Published: 2015-04-27T04:00:00+00:00

George Trujillo (far right) at work at Hatch Packing Company. Courtesy ENMU Special Collections, Golden Library .

George Trujillo (right) was employed as a service attendant after completing Philips 66 training. Author’s collection .

The school years progressed, and I found myself in high school, still with no goal to aim for. I took classes because I was supposed to. I did manage to get myself into a mechanics class. I did quite well, and the class was three hours long, which suited me. I only had three other classes to worry about. The mechanics teacher was very competent at his job, and even though I did not have a vehicle to work on, I gained a good basic knowledge, which I figured I could use later on in life.

The three other classes that I had to take proved to be my undoing. Try as hard as I might, success seemed beyond my reach. One memorable experience during my high school years was when the mechanics teacher, Mr. Meadors, took the entire class to Mexico to see the final leg of the Pan-American cross-country road race. I was on the verge of not being allowed to go, supposedly because of my grades. In those days, there wasn’t a “no pass, no play” school-wide rule. But a particular teacher enacted that rule just for me. What finally made it possible for me to make the trip was that the mechanics teacher and all my mechanics classmates petitioned for me, and the teacher relented under the pressure. The trip was the highlight of my high school career. I was the only Spanish-speaking student on the trip, and even with my fragmented Spanish, I became the official translator while we were in Mexico.

Although there were some very good teachers in the system, there were several that were not yet accustomed to teaching non-Anglo students. I was repeatedly reminded that my only vocation in life would be that of a laborer. I was constantly told by teachers, not educational advisors, to take as many vocational courses as I could because I was destined to dig ditches for a living. Later in life, some people said that maybe they were only trying to motivate me. Well, if they had been there at the time, I doubt they would think that.

Perhaps the most memorable and devastating incident that both George and I experienced was with the Portales Country Club. While in high school, several of our friends would go to the club and serve as caddies for the local golf players. This gave them the opportunity to earn a few dollars of spending money. We were asked to accompany several of the students one Saturday morning. We arrived at the club and were eager to learn the caddie business. The man who was in charge of the club approached George and me. He told us that we were not allowed at the club for any reason. We were told to leave. We left, and to this day, I

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