Alvin Santleben Sr. and Carmen C. Santleben have lived all of their lives in La Coste, Texas. We married in '47, we bought it after we were married, we must have bought it in '49 or '50. I started farming at sixteen years old. He was at the ranch most of the time, Bill and I farmed it. Then dad would come in on weekends, he was down below DeHanis about sixteen miles. He had 2,200 acres down there 350 breed cows sometimes 400. We have taken care of his place.
(Interviewer: Carla Santleben, Palo Alto College Student, Fall 2002)
Mary Angela Soliz (nee Villanueva) was born on March 26, 1949 in San Antonio and raised in the outskirts of Poteet, Texas. It (Poteet) was a thriving lil’ town in the '60’s up to the '70s and it wasn’t declining till the '80’s. We had a variety store, it was like a scale down dollar store. There was a theater and a pharmacy. The pharmacy was a combination pharmacy and soda fountain. We had a lil’ grocery store and a Franklin's, it had clothing and stuff. We had Anderson's, it was a hardware store. We had a lot of gas stations. We had car dealership, two of them as a matter of fact. We were doing pretty well.
(Interviewer: Stephanie Soliz, Palo Alto College Student, Spring 2003)
