SRA. RAMONA RICHARDS

Recorded by Romelia Gomez, Field Reporter

Sra. Richards, whose family name is Rubio, came to Bisbee in 1906 from Hermosillo, Sonora, at the age of 19. In Sonora Mr. Rubio operated a little grocery shop, which he closed up after deciding to bring his family to Bisbee, where there was more of a chance for work for them. The Rubio family consisted of the father, already well advanced in age, five daughters, and one son. Mrs. Rubio died in Mexico when Ramona was a small child.

On arriving in Bisbee Ramona immediately got a job as seamstress in a dress-making shop on Main Street where Penney’s Store now stands and the owner was a Mr. Keane (purely phonetic) and his wife. Here she worked with five other girls, one a Mexican, besides herself. They all had plenty of work to do, cutting, sewing and pressing all day long, for there were many orders to be filled. Their wages were $2.00 a day and they worked every day in the week but Sunday. Ramona liked her job very much, but it lasted only a year, after which the owner closed up the shop and moved to Mexico. Her next job was working as clerk in a little grocery shop on Naco Rd. After that ended she worked as a domestic wherever she could find jobs open, also doing some sewing at home when people brought it to her home. Her sisters also know how to sew, having been taught in Nogales, Sonora, her father paying for lessons given them.

The Rubio family first lived in a rented house on Naco Road. When this house was sold they were obliged to move and went to live at Chihuahua Hill, living on this hill for many years, in different houses. The girls loved to dance and attended many dances at the K.P. Hall and at the Opera-House on Opera Drive. These dances were attended by people of different nationalities and everyone had a gay time. The music was provided by different small orchestras, of which there were a few in Bisbee.

Being of Catholic faith, the Rubio’s attended church regularly at a little church located conveniently near their house on Chihuahua Hill. The priest from the Sacred Heart Church officiated here also and all the families on Chihuahua Hill and from Lowell went to this little church. This church was torn down after a few years, while Ramona was away at California.

Besides going to dances and to church Ramona and her sisters enjoyed taking long walks on Sundays up Zacatecas Canyon, which had only a few houses and was very picturesque, she says. Although they had to pass through Brewery Gulch, with its many saloons and drunkards, to get to Zacatecas, they didn’t mind it, as they were never molested in passing.

In 1910 Ramona married Mr. Richards, an American miner. He worked in the different mines of Bisbee, earning $5.00 or $6.00 a day and that is all she ever knew about his work. They left for California and lived there several years, her three daughters having been born and educated there. They are all married now (two of them to Americans) and are living in California.

Ramona now lives on Miller Hill in a one-room little house with her widowed sister, Mrs. Mary Kringes. Ramona’s husband deserted her and went away quite a while ago. She has heard nothing about him since. Mrs. Kringes owns the house they occupy and also another one across from it which she has rented. She is in poor health and Ramona, who is now 51, cannot leave her alone for any great length of time, except to go out to work, doing house-work occasionally, or helping at the “Molino de Nixtamal” on Brewery Gulch, where the cornmeal for tortillas, tamales, etc. is sold. She goes to church on Sundays sometimes. She has been working in Bisbee a great part of her life and yet knows very little English, though she’d like to learn the language, and would attend night-school classes if her sister’s health improved. Ramona’s brother didn’t stay in Bisbee long, but went back to Mexico, where he still resides.

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