Martha

Martha

Oral history from Durango, Mexico to Dodge City

Martha is from Durango, Mexico and is currently the principal of Dodge City High School. In this interview, she talks about her positive experience in school, the closeness of her family, and the importance of connecting to your community.

1978

Durango, Mexico

Marta Caminero-Santangelo

Martha

Martha (M)
Marta (C)

M: [My father] was–had already been in the States for a year.


M: My aunts and my uncles had moved to Wichita. They had a pretty decent beef packing plant and job and so they felt they could help him out. So he did come illegally to the US just because we didn't have a future. I mean, he didn't have a future in Mexico. He just can find work. He'd go and sometimes he'd come back right away because he didn't have he didn't have work. So he finally just told my mom I can't do this. You don't need to provide. And so he ended up coming, but he did send for us a year later.


M: And he had paid somebody to bring us over. Obviously. He passed around a lot and made sure he talked to families that he had crossed over. She was really nervous about for children and his wife, putting a trust and somebody to bring his family. So he ended up getting somebody he thought he could trust it cross us over. And so that's kinda what we did.


M: My my mom left everything as it was in our little home. It was just a one bedroom one room for everything home. And so we just had the clothes we had on our bags. That's all we traveled with. And there are four men, four children, my mom and a 16-year-old girl. And the guy bringing this over, that crossed.


M: And so we ended up, like I said, in Wichita and get the taste of my new life right away. I felt like I fell in love with everything about which taught that it was a beautiful place. And most importantly, we were–we were with my dad


M: And so school–we came in closer Labor Day and school started. I absolutely fell in love with school.


M: My teacher, I think had everything and anything to do with my success at the start of my new life in school here in the US. She took a very special interest in me and my family. She ended up pretty much adopting all of us. She was a single. She was single. She was a nun for 30 years, then ended up in public education. And she was strict. Obviously, she was a nun before, but she was definitely–not was but is definitely the reason why I am in education now.


M: She made me fall in love with education. She taught us all the hidden rules of this country and all the new things that I was exposed to that I know nobody else would have taken the time to.


M: She exposed us to our first library visit–public library visit. She showed us exactly what to do so that my mom could then take us. And we didn't live so far away from there that–it wasn't so hidden. I mean, it wasn't so far that my mom was unable to learn the ropes of okay. This is what you do in a public library. This is how you check books out, you know, but she [the former nun] taught us that.


M: She also exposed me to your family. It isn't just cut your hair. You actually go to a hairdresser. She took me–she probably saw my hair. Have wondered who I'm probably going to give this girl a haircut or whatever, or somebody gave her a haircut. So she exposed me to that.


M: She exposed–exposed us to this to movie theaters. She took me to my first play ever–was Sleeping Beauty. My first time to a restaurant, Dairy Queen,..My first dictionary that I ever had.


M: My dad's friend on the weekends used to play guitar for us and he saw that I showed interest in their guitar. And she he gave me his guitar because he was leaving and my teacher took it so that somebody could fix it and get it ready for me because she thought that it was necessary for me to have something that was of value and she didn't have to do those things.


M: But so there's other things that she did teach me, hidden rules about how to act in public and what Hispanic children do that might not be so prevalent and unlike the American culture. And so she was Hispanic herself, but she'd been here forever. So she really took interests in our family and just teaching us different things so that we were successful in the US.


M: So she was part of my life until we moved to Dodge City.


M: And just back then, you didn't have text messages or, you know. Phones, that cell phones. So we slowly started losing the connection. But I wish that I would have done more to let her know how wonderful she was.


M: So yeah, we just we came to Dodge City after five years in Wichita–the reason being was that the beef packing plant, my dad work that they asked him to transfer to Dodge [City] because they were closing there is and since he had not missed one day of work in five years, they told him that, we know you're not legally here, but you're a good employee and we will hire you on the spot in Dodge City and we’ll even pay you $500 cash in your first month's rent.


M: So my dad took the offer. He didn't bring us right away because we have school. So he waited until we finished school, which was only about a month and a half. He was in Dodge City in April.


M: And so we moved to Dodge, which was a huge shock. It was a big difference from the area where I was going to school in Wichita which was the north side, which was predominantly Hispanic and African-American.


M: When I moved to Dodge I had a huge exposure to people that were not like me, which was mainly white people.


M: And so I had to, I felt like I had to re-learn a lot about the American culture that–not the American culture I was used to seeing, but a whole different being.


M: There was nobody in school that looked like me as far as teachers are role models. There were some kids, were Hispanic, but none of them like–I longed to see somebody that was also born in Mexico like I was, and I didn't see that.


M: So there's a lot of things that I did to not cause attention, which now I'm like, I wish somebody would have guided me.


M: For example, like in my social studies classroom, are Tea Tree use to recognize those that were doing very well in her class, she would have you stand and give you a ranking like Martha Reeves had a 97, has a 97% in the class. Well, I noticed that it was me and a few other kids that were very, I guess, the well-known, rich kids. And she said, you know, if the top ones will end up coming to my house for a party and I have a pool and I'm like, Okay, Number one, I don't know how to swim; two, my parents would never buy me a bathing suit; and, three, I don't I don't even know how to get there.


M: So I purposefully went down in some [of the] assignments because I didn't want to be called like she did. And so just I guess this dumb stuff that you as a kid or really kind of analyzing in your head. And I just shut myself from the top of the class to not have so much attention drawn upon me.


M: But of course, you know, my parents were immigrants, so my dad didn’t finish second grade, my mom didn't finish fourth-grade.


M: So there's a lot of navigating that I had to do for them because I was the oldest. And so there are a lot of things that I did for the family since I was very young.


M: I do remember as early as third grade, maybe even possibly second, where I would go in and take care of paying the bills. I had my little envelopes and would go in and do the transactions myself. Obviously, somebody would drive me there. My dad would drive me or an uncle, but I would do–I would get down and get those done. I would go pay the rent.


M: So the exposure to that was just that was a common thing that I had to do. Translating papers at vino would come in, I would have to do that. Then it got a little bigger to–opening a checking account and making sure that I balanced the checkbook and buying our first car, negotiating about that.


M: And then I–when I was 13, we bought my dad actually found an abandoned home that somebody was selling it very cheap, like $3 thousand, which is unheard of, but my dad was just looking for a way to not pay rent. And obviously with six kids at the time, he just wasn't able to provide a lot of for us.


M: So this house, my dad just said, hey, there's this house. I need you to find out what we could do to purchase it. I didn't–I had no clue how somebody had mentioned that downtown and dodge, there is somebody that could help and they pinpointed where the business was. So it was like a county title place.


M: So I went and I'm sure they were shocked to see a 13-year-old kid saying, Hey, well, we want to buy a house and this is what's going on. Can you help me? And so yeah, the lady walked us through the entire thing. Obviously, it took about a month to go through all the paperwork and things, but I felt pretty proud that I was able to negotiate those things that pretty much adults do, but I had to do it because my parents counted on me to do it.


M: Just everything. I was a first for a lot, so my siblings kinda had a count on me and we were in charge of our own education because my parents just trusted us that we would do the right thing. Did all of us follow that, possibly not all of us, but I feel as the oldest I had a responsibility.


M: And so when I didn't understand that I was not legal here until I knew that we were illegal, but I didn't know the extent of how it was going to affect me until I started high school.


M: I didn't know what I was gonna do past high school, but I knew that high school–that just getting my diploma was not going to be the end. I just–I had bigger dreams, I guess. I didn't know how he's gonna get there. I didn't even know what college was about.


M: But I remember that they did like a Hispanic day at K-State and they selected some Hispanic kids from the high-school to go. And I was one of them. And it just gave me a whole different perspective about life after high school, but I still didn't not know two things: I didn't know how to get there; and I didn't know what you did there.


M: But I couldn't ask anybody because of my [indistinguishable] people know.


M: So a few close friends at the bike. So how did you fill out your application for college? And they're like, No, my parents did. So I'm like, Oh man, who's going to help me?


M: So I remember there was a meeting for parents for financial aid and I told my parents about it and they're like, Well, you know, go ahead and go and see what they tell you. What are we going to do? We don't understand anything. You have been pretty much doing everything on your own. So just go Listen.


M: So I went by myself. No parents know students were there–it was just for parents. So I didn't give anybody eye contact. I just went with my notebook. And I just listened and took notes and kind of stumbled my way through community college, which was here and Dodge because I really didn't know what else to do. And at the time I felt like marketing was probably going to be something that I would get into just because everybody told me you're bilingual, you should go into business, etc.


M: So kind of listening to some people, but I was the first to graduate from high school in both sides of my family. Nobody had ever done that. Which was a big accomplishment to them because, you know, I mean, I think I had a few aunts who graduated sixth grade and that's it, Like nobody else.


M: And I was the oldest on my mom's side of the family, which were the ones that were here in the US. Mostly my dad's, we're still in Mexico.


M: So most of the time in Mexico, even today, sixth grade is basically if you don't go after that, but unless you have money.


M: So I kinda had a little secret. Actually, it was a big secret when I graduated, I knew that I was pregnant. And that was a big, huge burden that I carried for a little bit because they were so excited about me getting my diploma and just doing something with my life. And then I have this hidden thing that I was carrying a child and only two people knew.


M: I knew and my now husband at the time, he was my boyfriend, we knew that we were going to be parents. We had seeked help. Both of us decided to go to what was called Birthright, I believe, and for advice.


M: And so they were very, very good to us and just kinda helping us try to figure things out and navigate this humongous thing that we were encountering.


M: But long story short, I just kept pushing forward. I took 21 credit hours when I was pregnant and I got straight A's and I just kept going after that. I mean, not as strongly as, you know, when I didn't have a child, but I just kept pushing forward and got my associates and then obviously then my bachelor's degree.


M: By that time, I had my second child when I was teaching already. And then I decided to get my master's degree and they–through K-State–hey had a specific cohort.


M: They were doing academies, and so I was part of a leadership group for five years through case date, I went every summer. And so a lot of the negotiation and trying to figure out this cohort and academy to come to Dodge.


M: And we finally made it a reality. We were the first academy ever offered in Dodge City to get a master's degree, which I feel like I led that somewhat because I was so desperate to get something here based on just higher education.


M: But long story short, I've been co-liaison, which means that I help teach some of those classes here.


M: This is, I believe, our fourth or fifth Academy where I take part and I collaborate with the professors and they let me teach some parts of it.


M: And now I'm working on my doctorate. I started about a year-and-a-half ago. I still have a long way to go, but I feel like everything is possible and people say like, I have why do you do that like is unnecessary for you too, to get your doctorate and I'm like, you know, I've always been I always feel like you can do anything you put your mind to and I'm not doing it for anything, but just because I feel like that's what I want to do.


M: Next summer. I'll have my–I'll be eligible for my license to be a superintendent. Do I want to be a superintendent? Not right now I don't. But I always feel like it's not about luck that you get things. It's about being prepared.


M: So who knows, you know, five years from now if something would come up, I just want to be prepared.


M: So I feel like through both of my parents, my dad being such a hard worker, he worked the beef packing plant for 37 years. He got tons of awards for not missing work for being just very, very true to his job and just being a hard worker and a person that people counted on. He taught us a lot in that aspect.


M: Yeah. My mom, she was a silent, silent parent for a lot of times because she didn't drive, she didn't speak English, but she still made it to all of our conferences. She still was the one that was the connection to the school. And she's seeking a lot of help at times from teachers, from counselors, whatever. When she found that there were difficulties raising teenagers, which, you know, how that goes. And then she had so many of us right in a row.


M: So but I feel like my family had a lot of success in Kansas because not just my parents, but also our community. We had in Wichita, Hoover kids.


M: We had so many people helping us, whether it's from church or the recreation in the city, people, the police. I mean, we had, so, I have so many stories of how wonderful the community was to us. And I felt like that was a big turning point.


M: For example, we were brand new newcomers to the country, and it was Christmas time. I believe I was in third grade at the time, but the police came. It was Christmas day and a police officer, his car was out there and he knocked and we were all in shock. Of course, my parents had with the kids because we just tried to stay completely out of their radar.


M: And I opened the door because I was the one that spoke English and he just asked if this was the Reece residence and I said yes, and he said, Well, I have something for you guys, I have gifts. So I told my siblings, of course everybody went running except for my parents are still behind, but somebody must have asked us at that time what we wanted for Christmas and they actually got us some really nice gifts. So when the officer was leaving my little sister at the time, she said I want to be a police officer just like them.


M: And she actually is–she's a detective for the Wichita Police Department and she never deviated from that path. And I felt like even though she was young, that was a humongous turning point for her to know that people do things and people from the community did embrace who we were.


M: And I don't know, there are so many amazing stories about people that touched our lives, but I feel like six kids. All of us have some type of degree. Obviously, right now, I'm the high school principal at Dodge City high school. And my first year I've been in administration for a long time, but first-time are at the high-school level and I have a sister that does professional development for security along the coast of Florida, and then my brothers an electrician, my sister, like I stated, she's a detective for the police department in Wichita and then I have my next sister. She is second to the youngest, and she has her own salon here in Dodge City and she's very successful salon. I think this is gonna be her 15th year as a salon owner. And then my youngest sister, she is a broker. She has her own real estate company, ReMax.


M: And so I feel like as immigrant children, truly our whole entire lives, we have lived in Kansas. Kansas has been a blessing to us. We didn't understand the degree of what happens when you become an immigrant when you leave your own country. But I feel like the gifts that were given to us, we really took advantage and in a blessing way, not, not in a bad way.


M: But I do remember coming back to Dodge City after we were legalized because we were–we were able to be legalized through the amnesty act that Ronald Reagan signed in 1986. We were coming back from Wichita after they told us that we were residents and we were driving home, making so many plans with our lives because we now have the ticket to be able to live without fear of being deported, enabled to go to school, meaning college, being able to do the things that American people do, except the voting piece at that time.


M: But, um, it was a trip that I will never forget because we just felt like we had so much power to do so many great things. And my dad, he just had this big smile because he just kept–he kept here. And all of us talk about all the things that we're going to do and it's just an amazing, amazing experience.


M: But when people–when you did the pledge of allegiance or you do you any opening of any sporting event or whatever it may be. I really feel the words that we have to say when we do the pledge or when we sing. Because it's–it's very significant for me.


M: I don't forget where I come from. I think it's important to know and to always remember and always pay tribute to where you come from. But–but also know where your home is. And we feel that Kansas is our home. It's been our home.


M: I'm 51 now, so I've never left Kansas and never plan to leave Kansas. It is just part of who we are. It's because of people in this state, but that's basically just–my story in a nutshell. I mean, if I can go in detail into some other aspects, but I feel like that's basically just a brief summary of what we've encountered in as an immigrant family in Kansas.


C: So that's an amazing story. Thank you so much for sharing your story. It's really, really powerful on so many levels.


C: I wrote down some questions is I was going along. You do not need to answer them if you don't want to. But these are just some things that occurred to me.


C: You mentioned when you got to Dodge City that maybe there were some Latinas are some HispaniC, but there was no one who looked, who you thought was like you from your situation.


C: Did that change later? Were there more?


M: Yes. So the beef packing plant in that time was called Excel, now called Cargill, but that's when these jobs opened up. So within the 10-year timespan that we were here, the minority majority flipped.


C: Wow.


M: It was significant. But at the time when we got here, it was–everybody knew everybody. I mean, you still to some degree do but not really because it's grown. I meant everybody knows everybody within the Hispanic community, like you knew.


M: Oh, so you live on because everybody lived in the same area. The church was the hub of the–Catholic Church was the hub of that area.


M: So we would go to church, 150 people or whatever. It was. Not a lot. We just felt the closeness, but then it just started getting too full. And then it turned to various masses and then that was too–not enough. So then they moved it to the Parish center. And then from the Parish center. Then they–they made this humongous church that wasn't even close to our neighborhood anymore they seated now a thousand people, So just kinda just yeah, it just progressed.


C: So. When did that sense of like, as you were growing up, did that change your or did that affect in any way your sense of your relation to Dodge City?


C: Or I guess it was this was was this this was Wichita?


M: Dodge City by then. Yeah. No. It was a blessing in disguise that we ended up in Dodge. Later on, we realized through our family that was done in Wichita that the area where we grew up, it became big. It really truly began to be infested with gangs. And it was all the kids. We knew the area that very same block that we lived in.


M: We have an uncle that lives there and we lived next door and then a lot of neighborhood kids were around there. We were the not–we weren't the troublemakers, but we were the louder kids. We were the ones that were always outside. And there is a family who–their children went to a Catholic school and they hardly ever got to play with us. Well, they were the main guys in the gang now and we were floored–we were like, what would have happened to us? Who would've stayed? Because–


C: Oh, my God…


M: Literally was infested. Yeah.


C: And do you have any sense of the source of the gangs or where did that come from?


M: I think that when you, when you grow up literally truly living two cultures, you began a huge almost like a separation because you go home and you live a specific life that your friends have no clue about. And so if there's a, there's a piece missing, you tend to go to the side where you are getting what you want, your craving.


M: And so I feel like my parents saw that a lot of the people that were working at the meat, beef packing plants or where the job was dominating. So for example, a lot of my friends at that time, their parents both worked at the plant, which one worked at night and one worked during the day.


M: So they didn't see one of the parents or they didn't see both parents. So my mom and dad made a commitment that my mom would not work. Even though there were six kids. Just because my dad's like, we need stability in the home and he busted it for many years, but we knew we went to bed at a certain time. My mom made sure that she did her part as a mother to make sure we had food to eat. We were clean. We–all those things that mothers that work still do but it's just it was a different time back then you know.


M: So I feel like there was–me and I'm not saying that some of my siblings didn't want to turn that direction. Obviously, your teenagers and you're looking for rebellious things, but it thank goodness that it didn't stick.


C: Are you still close to the entire family?


M: Yes, we are extremely close.


M: My dad once said just recently, he said, If one of you is in pain, the rest of you hurt, which is true.


M: We are very, very, very close family. I love my siblings or my friends, but you know, that's we hang out with each other and we're such a big family that we can do that. And to some degree, my dad raised us where the home is just for the families. So we really didn't have friends that came over and friends that were part of our lives, but we were not–we didn't go to their homes a lot. They came to ours. And it was just kinda like that even though we were had we had a 400 square foot home for six kids, mom and dad, but we still have friends stay the night. We still had we still had kids at crave to be in our house.


M: And I look at things differently. You know, we had a friend who was white. She had an underground pool at her house. She lived–she lived with us like she was always at our house and we're like, you have your own room. But she–she was the only child. And so when she came over and my mom my mom and dad acted like she was their kid. So she just really gravitated towards our family.


M: And so I understand now, but back then I'm like, I didn't get it. Yeah, it was quite a few of our friends, like my best friend, her dad was an alcoholic and she spent her time with us. My parents understood. My dad and my mom paid extra attention to her because she needed it–she need that love. That's the family I don't know.


C: Yes, it's the family connections and ties. The luxuries that.


C: My daughter, when she was growing up, had a friend who I don't know this for a fact, but I strongly suspect that the friends family was undocumented and the friend was not ever allowed to sleep at our house. And so we that's how we were there. But the friend was not allowed to sleep.


M: It's very common in the Hispanic community. I really don't understand why, but that was a big bright and that's why we only went over before–


C: If you–if you're in a potentially insecure position, you don't want to send your kid to another place? Very scary.


M: Yeah. I remember we were at Shelton park in Wichita and something happened. I don't know if a little girl got ran over or something happened, but the police–it was just packed with police while we were at the park is my dad always took us in the afternoons and we played basketball or we did something, but I remember the police just try coming out from everywhere.


M: My dad grabbed us and we ran the opposite way, took the long way home and left the truck there. We didn't go pick up the truck till late at night because we wanted to stay under the radar as much as possible.


C: Yeah. So here are some other questions I wrote down. You didn't say much about whether you remembered coming over?


M: Yes, I do. I–I mean, I remember my mom and dad talking at night and my mom was crying because my dad's like, hey, yeah, we gotta go. I have to go. There's no other option and she's like, you know, how many men leave and then just leave their women and find somebody else over there and they thought that the children were asleep, but I heard everything.


M: It was hard because my dad is very like–we have the same love language. So it's a lot of hugs, a lot of “I love yous” a lot of physical touch like we just–he just loves that way and we did too, So we missed that. We missed him a lot.


M: And my mom said that I did go through depression because it was just hard–it was hard for me as a wife. But the kids suffered. So when he asked for us to–when he got all the arrangements for us to come. I mean, I do remember traveling on the bus, getting to the border, Juárez.


M: It was a whole different world because Juárez is crazy. I mean–I this the first time I saw first transvestite and we just stared at mom's like, you guys can't stare, you know, we just we're here. We're going to stay at a hotel to hear what we have to do.


M: So a guy that night, he kinda told us what was going to happen. The next morning, we met up at a park, and that's when we met all the people that we're gonna go with us.


C: You said you were the oldest. How many were there?


M: There's four of us. Four of us, four men. And then my mom, a 16-year-old and the coyote.


M: So when we got to the actual river, they had some deal that said, you know, if you–if we honk twice, you know, getting the water, if they gave us the clues. So the men already headed arrange for they're going to take each of us, each guide to each kids [sic], which I honestly think it was just like a God thing because how did four men end up with four kids. I don't know.


M: But so anyway, we were–I remember one of them had me and he was just going through the water and I turned back and I saw my mom and the water was up to here–to her [Martha points to her neck] and she was walking with the 16-year-old and we just started screaming.


M: I started screaming first. Siblings are screaming bloody murder because we were going to lose my mom, you know, and so the guys are really nice there. He was reassuring me. He was as soon as I put you down, I'm gonna go get your mom.


M: And I look now and I'm like, you know, here are for men with four little ones in the back for a big long trip like we didn't know them but it turned out there turned out to be good people, you know, it's just we're all on a mission for the same thing, but but yeah, it was a very long trip.


M: And I just remember we couldn't get down. But we did go up, pull up. What's–what's now Sonic, but I didn't know what it was at the time. And just you push a button, somebody comes in rollerskates with your food. I like, you know, like–like the hamburger had red stuff like this is gross but we still try to do.


M: But even now, when I tell, sometimes I tell my–my kids, my students that stories and I say even now, I have to, I have to take a whiff of the bag of Sonic because it takes me back to that day. You know what?


M: The other day I had a really, really, really hard day at work. It was a Friday, August 27th. Because it [was] terrifically time-consuming and a hard day of my new job because we had threats and social media got–it was chaos in here.


M: And at the end of the day, my husband, he's like–don't cook. Like let's, you know, let's just go get some food somewhere. I'm like, I do not want anybody to see me. I don't want to be out in public because it ended up being such a horrible thing. And it's [Dodge City] a small community.


M: So he's just let's just go to Sonic. You know, and I–we sat in the parking lot and The smell took me back like, you know what? Look where you are now. Like don't I don't know. It just it's a constant reminder to me just because it's the smell just takes me back to that little girl.


M: And I, and I'm blessed and I shouldn't be complaining about a difficult day like you learn from it, move on and do things differently.


M: But yeah, it just there's little things that always reminds me of honestly like if you don't progress in this country is because you don't want to. It's there, It's there for you to do something with your life in so many different things are offered to you that you can–you can accomplish whatever you want to accomplish.


C: That's so powerful and I'm so–I'm so impressed that you tell your students that story.


C: Do you think your students identify?


M: I do because our schools is 80% Hispanic and I'm very passionate about recruiting teachers.


M: So we have a teacher cadet class in high school. And before I came here, this is my eighth year that I come talk to the kids. It's my former teacher. I've only had two amazing teachers was my second grade teacher and my high-school teacher, Mr. Maple, who's still here.




M: So I give a speech to his class and so he asked me this year to come in. You're here now, so just come come early. And so I went a few weeks ago to talk to them and I do want them to know my story because it's very similar to their stories.


M: So I want them to understand that you can accomplish no matter what obstacles are in front of you, you still have to push forward.


M: I remember being pregnant and showing up to college and here's all these young girls and guys partying it up. And but I felt no shame, honestly, I just needed to do what I needed to do.


M: Even now, like my doctorate, I feel like there's so many people that are extremely brilliant in my class. But you know what, I'm going to push through it because it's what I want and it's gonna take me three or four times the longer than some of them because I have to work at it, you know, and so…

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Durango, Mexico

Dodge City, Kansas