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This is Irene Ruiz interviewing Mr. Luis Saltero at 909 West 23rd Street. Mr. Saltero. Was a captain of, uh, the waiters and room service at the Millbach Hotel in Kansas City, Missouri for a number of years. July. So, um, tell me something about your early life,

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like where you were born and when. I was born in Mexico, 1903. 1903. My father was his name was uh Rodrigo Saltero. And my mother was uh Guadalupe. Gomez Saltero. What, uh, what state or what city or town in Mexico was this? It's a small town.

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They call them Temalan state of Jalisco Jalisco. OK. And about how many brothers and about how many sisters altogether did you have? We have, uh, 9 sisters and. And A brothers. Um-hum. And, um, Not, not all of them lived to adulthood. Some died at another. It's

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only about 33 out of, out of them, we only, we only live with 3 sisters and, and 3 brothers. Um-hum. Now, um, was, uh, what kind of work did your father do or what? I was working on a farm. His father worked in, your father worked

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in a farm. All right. And, um, did you stay there for many years, or did the family stay there, or did the family come to Kansas City or did they stayed I stayed with my family for 18 years. Mhm. Practically I spent all my life in

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Kansas City. Um-hum. So, when you were about, uh, 18, you came to Kansas City. 19, yeah. 1819 years. 19. All right. And, um, Did, um, why was it that you came to Kansas City? Did you have, um, somebody else that you I have one of my

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brothers with me. Um-hum. He, he went to Chicago and I stayed here in Kansas City. I see. But were there, what was the reason though, for coming to this part of the country? You could have gone somewhere else? Why, why did you both decide to come

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to this? We just stop in Kansas City and we stayed here in Kansas City. So you stayed here and he, he went on to Chicago. Yeah. OK. Now, where did, did you, had you gone to school in Mexico then? You had gone to school. Just to

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the third grade. Just to the third grade. You went to elementary school. Did you work some then in Mexico before coming to? Well, like I said. With the farm, with your father. Yeah. OK. And then, uh, upon arriving here in Kansas City, did you have an

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idea of what you wanted to do or did you, um I didn't have no idea because, um, I work, I work in a, in a baking house. Oh. Cutting hay. Oh, when you came here. When I came here to Kansas City. Um-hum. Did you find a,

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uh, a job right away or you just went seeking for a job and you were? No, I just went to look for a job and I found one. And you worked at the back. Where were you living then here? Were you living here on the west

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side? I was living on 2327 Monitor. Monitor place. And, um, did you remain there? Did you stay working at the Cutty? A few years. And um What, what do you remember then this would have been uh. By 19 um. 1924 when I went and worked in

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the mailbox. Yeah, uh-huh. But, OK, then about that time, what, um, well, you came here, though, about the time of World War One, right? Yeah. Um-hum. What, do you remember something about that period? What, is there anything that stands out in your mind? Anything that, No,

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I don't I don't remember. You don't remember too much. I don't remember. OK. And, uh, how was it that you went, uh, how did you happen to go to, to work at the mailbox? Did somebody tell you about it and you decide. Some friend of mine

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invited me to work, to go over there and work with him. He was working in the mailbox. And I went with him. Oh, I see. As a bus boy. As a busboy. So, that's what you did? Yes. And you liked it? Yes. OK. Now, what do

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you remember? Do you remember something about the neighborhood, you know, where you lived here, about the streets? What kind of the streets, what kind of activity or about the people? Well, there was a lot of Mexican people here on 24th Street at that time. What about

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the businesses and the shops here? They have a lot of business, drug stores, drug stores, grocery stores. Grocery stores. Were there clothing stores too, or? Yes, 22 clothing stores. Were those owned by Mexican people? No, but it was owned by Jewish people. Um-hum. And the grocery

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stores, were any of those owned by the Mexican Mexican people. And, uh, at the time, did you already attend Guadalupe Church? Yes. Where your family had been? Yes. Mhm. And um As it turned out, you did like working for the, for the mail buck. How, how

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long did you work as a busboy? A few years and then they invite me to be a waiter and I was afraid to take a job. But they insist, insist for me to take that job, so I did. You learned as you went along, or you

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were trained? Or did they have some kind of training? Mhm. And, and what, tell me a little bit about that then. Well, I kinda like it. And I started meeting a lot of people. They used to have the American Royal every year in Kansas City and

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they used to bring a lot of. Movie stars from Hollywood. On those days. To take part in the. Yes. And I used to serve a lot of them. Um-hum. Oh, which, uh, are there some that you remember from that time? Well, it was, uh, a lot

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of, uh, Leo Carrillo was one. He's, uh, Linda Barnell. What, uh, The one, Took the uh big picture they call them biba villa, Pancho Villa. Wallace, Wallace? Oh, Wallace Berry. Yeah. Oh, did he come here too? Yeah. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Uh, and then I think you showed

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me some photographs a while ago too. Yeah. Of some dancers. Yes. Belos? Belos and Yolanda? Yolanda, uh-huh. Dance. Did they dance there at the hotel? Were they there dancing? Yes. Uh-huh. And, um, who else do you remember? Somebody else? Well, uh, From that period, I mean,

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the entertainers, we'll talk about the other people, the politicians. Any other entertainers? Oh, there was too many. There were too many. Like, uh, Lupe Vale was one of them. She was and Lola Rio. Lol Rio. Um-hum. Kargable. Kargable? Way back. Oh, I said that I can

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remember all of them. Um. We are, are any of those that you particularly remember or something, or were they all fairly nice? Or was there any incident that you recall with any of them? Were they pretty nice to you? They were very nice to me, yeah.

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You enjoyed doing that? Yeah. And I It was nice to serve with those kind of people, you know, nice to meet those kind of people. Um, OK. Then, uh, about this time, when, about what period in your life did you get married? A little bit later

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on or about then? I was, got, got married in 1924. In 1924. Now where was your wife from? Was she from here, from Kansas City? She was, uh, she was from Mexico too. They call in Torreon, Torreon, but she was, uh, when she was 2, 22

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years old, that's when she, they moved over here in Kansas City. Mhm. And what was, what was her name? And, uh, Manuela Castillo. Castillo. Where did you meet her? Right here in the, right here in the colony. In the, in the area. All right. And, um,

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then, uh, did you have a family? Did you bring up a family? I have 4 boys and 1 daughter. Boys and 1 daughter. They're all grown now. They're all grown up. They're all married except 10. Mhm. Were you, were you, your wife and you, were you

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active in the community? Were you, um. Here in Guadalupe. I was a member of the UCM. Cultural Mexicana. I was a member of that. You have been a member of that for how many years now? I was president for 4 years. For 4 years. When did

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you join the UCM? 1935. 1935. And you're still a member. Well, not anymore. Not anymore, no. You finally I gave up. You gave up. How long did you stay in the organization? Uh, about 12 years. About 12 years. 12 years. Um-hum. And you were president at

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one time. Yeah, they had me every year elect me a pre as a president all the time. And, um, were you active, uh, uh, especially, you know, at the hotel? Did you join some group, organization, or any? No, that was the only one. I, Mhm. You

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didn't join any, any other. No, not any others. Um-hum. No. But what about with the church then? Did, were you active with the church and? Well, no, just, just go to the, Do the mass every Sunday. Um-hum. Um-hum. And, uh, did you all help at all

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with the fiesta when they had the yearly fiesta or? No, I never did, because I was too busy. Too busy working. UCM. And the UCM? Um-hum. OK. Is there something else that you remember about the, then a little bit later on, uh, it was also your,

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I guess to your interest that you met some other famous people. Well, like, uh, the presidents of the United States. You showed me some photographs earlier. Uh-huh. What were some of those presidents? One, Harry S. Truman. Harry S. Truman was one. And who else? Eisenhower when

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he was general and also when he was the president. Dwight Eisenhower, uh-huh. Uh, Johnson. Um, mhm, President Johnson, and, uh, when he was already president, huh? And Who else? Well, the last one I saw was, uh, Nixon. Nixon. That was the last one I saw. Was

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there anyone in particular that you liked specially, or was there any. Well, like, uh, Truman, he was very nice to me. Uh-huh. He was. And you also showed me some letters that that you received, not only from President Truman, but also from Hubert Humphrey, wasn't it?

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Who was vice president. They, they would write you letters because you, you. Were nice to them or served them in such a manner. And, uh, you also showed me some photographs. Now, uh, one of them you were dressed as George Washington. Would you care to tell

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me about that? How was it that you ended up being dressed as George Washington? Well, the people, Me to dress like a George Washington, just, just me. Um-hum. For that occasion, that his birthday. For the. Cause he. President Truman's birthday. Yeah. Now, this has been a

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yearly function. Yeah. Something that is celebrated every year. Every year. Uh-huh. They always come over to the mailbox. To the mailbox. Uh-huh. And one year they decide to dress me like a George Washington. So I did. So you did. I saw several photographs and they had

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a big cake. Now, who, do you remember who made the cake? Was it somebody from the hotel or? I don't, yeah, there was, uh, they make in a hotel, but I don't remember the chef or I didn't remember the chef of the, uh, the one that

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makes the, uh, cake. Mhm mhm. And also, um, somewhere along the line, you would, well, some of the photographs you showed me, also President Aleman from Mexico came to dedicate the um One of the areas there, one of the little, um, uh, patios and the little

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courtyard there in, uh, on the Country Club plaza and. Yeah. His name is there. And you said you also served him because your photographs there. Yeah. Too. Yes. Yes. OK. What can you tell me about that? Well, he, He was so surprised to see me. In

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a in a room. And he asked me if I was a Mexican. I told him yes, so he take hands with me. And he was pretty proud to. We have our members from Kansas City to uh be a Mexican waiter to serve in mhm mhm. And

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um you said then Truman went to Mexico, right? He also went to and he invited you to go with the to attend to the group and many of these functions of course were not open to the public. They were sometimes they were just special private meetings

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or functions where you were, you were chosen, right, to to take care of them. And you were telling me also one of the people that. Famous people was Mrs. Roosevelt, Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt. Mrs. Roosevelt. I've served her a lot of times too. Times now. She stayed

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here over a period of time, right? Yes, she was very nice. Person. Mhm. Now, is there anything else you recall or something, some incident or something that might have happened that was funny or, Well, I don't. Do you remember? You don't remember? I don't remember, but,

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uh. Uh-huh. There's so many things that I have on my mind, but I, I can't remember all of them. And then what about your, your own family, your children, um, did your boys, were they able to get a fairly good education, or had they gone on

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to business? The two of them, they went to the Marines. Marines. Yes. That was during the war or after? Well, that was the second war. Second war. Yeah. Um-hum. And some of them went to one of them went to Panama Canal. And the other one, I

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don't remember where he went, but. You, there was in the Marines too. Um-hum. And, uh, and your daughter? My daughter got married with, uh, Man from the service, he was 20 years in Japan. He was stationed. They beat it in Chicago and so they got married.

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Um-hum. Um-hum. But they live here now. Yes. Um-hum. They live on Independence, Missouri. Um. And, um, About how many grandchildren do you have? I have, uh, 11 grandchildren. 11 grandchildren. Uh-huh. Now, um, I, then you said you continued to be active in the, in the UCM.

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Now, um, What about, uh, I know that you showed me some of the letters and the photographs. Were you also given any kind of recognition? Like, how many years actually, then you stayed there working at the mailbox, for instance. So how many years did you actually

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Work there. You worked yourself up first, of course, you said as a busboy, then as a waiter and then you were back for 45 years. 45 years. 45. Stayed at the same place. Yes. It's a long time. So, you have some good memories, huh? Uh-huh. Um,

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were, were you, were they, was there, uh, you know, any kind of, um, Recognition when you, when you retired, what, what year did you actually retire? But what year was this? That was, um, 1960. 1967. 67, uh-huh. They didn't want me to retire. They wanted you

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to stay a little longer. They want me to, to stay, to, to keep on work. Uh-huh. But, uh, After so many years I was working then I said well I better take it easy now. Did you have a little celebration? Did you have a little. No.

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No. No celebration. That's right. I lost my wife about two years ago. Oh, um-hum. I'm sorry to hear that. And now you live alone here and you keep house here all by yourself? I'm by myself. You take care of the house. It looks very neat. Yes.

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And then what else do you do? Tend the garden? That's it. You have a little garden out there? Yes, outside, yes. So, you do your own cooking? I do my own cooking. Cooking, everything. Yes. Keep house and. Yes. That means you go grocery shopping all by

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yourself. Yes, all by myself. Do you have some of your old friends, some of your, uh, friends that worked with you for many years or? Yes, I, I, I. Do you all get together? I see them once in a while. We get together once in a

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while. And remember the good old times. And what else do you do? Do you play cards or. No. You don't have any other hobbies? Do you like to read? I like to read. I like, uh, watching TV. That's about all. Um-hum. What about your children or

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grandchildren? They visit you quite a bit? They visit me once in a while and not visit them once in a while. But not too often? No. You like, you like the quiet now. Yes, uh-huh. Is there, uh, anything you remember or if you want to tell

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me, tell me in Spanishalgo masquescudos and then. It's uh tango mucha cuosodon. I, I, I, I the momento no no no recuerdos muchas cosas. Uh-huh. But um, Roberto.

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Antonio Antonio Antonio Antonio Kansas City Club Kansas City Roberto Roberto and carriage carriage club. button. You suo lugar Lugarayama pubalteros restaurant I can and Independence Avenue. loss. Uh, OK. as

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much as a photographs. Mhm. And this concludes this part of the interview. Thank you. It's staying. egos. It tambien estavacorando la epoca de cuando. President Truman. margarita. OK. President

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Truman. Uh-huh. la senora que la senora. Le Gustavo mucho and And I stickas and a key and the tabayaba buena la gustavayare. Gustavo I steal. Eisenhower. And a auditorium. Los quientas personas quelosa Ianoch. Hey um Is senor Truman

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vino. He said, you know, independence pero el era uh gusta muchos amigos. salon headquarters. Bueno bueno o gusto que vista.