Oral history interview, Dolores Silva, 2013 (video and transcript)

Dolores Silva is a long-time resident of Lafayette, Colo. She was born at home in Denver in 1929, assisted by a black midwife. Her mother was from Taos, New Mexico; she was part Indian, and when orphaned as a child was raised by the Taos Indians. She came to Denver and met Dolores’s father, a professional baseball player. When they divorced, their other children were sent to an orphanage, but Dolores was a baby and stayed with her mother and step-father. Her father was a coal miner after he left baseball; a relative was daughter of Joe Jaramillo, killed in the Monarch Mine explosion. Dolores went to school in Denver and did well but did not graduate because she had to go to work. She came to Lafayette where she met husband Manuel, who had come from Mexico; they have been married 68 years. Manuel worked in the mines in the winters and did other jobs in summers; he worked for CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) after the Depression. Dolores worked for Walmart and then NeoData, for 33 years. Her father was a coal miner after he left baseball; she has a relative who was the daughter of Joe Jaramillo, killed in the Monarch Mine explosion. Her husband was a coal miner in the winters and did other jobs in summers; worked for CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) after Depression. She describes good relations between Mexicans and Italians in Lafayette; lack of discrimination when their son was in the military in Vietnam. Importance of the VFW post as a social center. Dolores sang for parties and events.