I met Ray Granados, Jr., in a Gulf Gas Station on Bladensburg Road, NE, Washington DC.  The station was at the southwest corner of either Morse or Neal Street.  he worked there along with Lawrence Sadtler.  Ralph Day would stop in there, also.  Lawrence, Ralph and I attended Eastern High School at the same time.

At this time, New York Avenue, NE was being extended from Florida Ave. NE to Bladensburg Road.  In order to extend it father, McQueeney's home and gas station would have to go.  It would take quite a few years before this would happen.  The company doing the work on New York Avenue was a Georgia Company.  They brought their own work crews from Georgia.  Many of them roomed at McQueeney's home.  I went to school with Regina McQueeney and we had become close friends, visiting them quite often.  During these visits I met the roomers.  I dated on of the fellows.  We would usually go out with a group.  they had use of a company car and a company credit card with Gulf Oil Company.  I met Ray through these fellows.  I got my driving experience with these fellows.  I had driven with my father, but he was a poor instructor;  he had no patience with me.  I got my driver's permit and Dad finally bought a second car.  I was not allowed to buy it in my name, although I made the payments.  I bought gas at the Gulf Station which the Georgia fellows used, which led to Ray asking me for a date.

We dated for a year or more.  The Depression was on.  Jobs were scarce.  After Ray left gulf Oil Co., he worked for the Jewel Tea Company, selling from door to door.  When they cut back, he found work cleaning the railroad overpass on Rt. 1 in Hyattsville.  If I remember correctly, it had just been completed.  This work was sponsored by one of the "New Deal" Agencies, offering work to the unemployed.  This was during the Roosevelt Administration before World War II.  Through another of the "New Deal" programs, Ray went to work for the Gulf Oil Company again.  He first worked at the station on Rt.1 at Queensbury Road.  Later he was transferred to the station at Rhode Island Avenue and Monroe St., NE, Washington, DC.

My parents were no happy about our dating.  I think they still believed in the behind the times idea that the oldest daughter should take care of her parents (like my Aunt Katie did for my father's parents).  Ray and I decided it was a "now or never" situation.  My family was becoming more and more dependent on my salary, so a break had to be made.  I took my savings and paid off all my mother's bills.  She didn't learn anything from this, because after we married, she sent Biddy to my office to have me sign papers so that she could cash my Life Insurance Policy.

Ray and I purchased bedroom furniture and had it delivered to Clara and Charlie's home on Roanoke Road in Riverdale Heights.  They had rented us a bedroom.  We were married on Saturday evening, September 16, 1933 at Holy Name Church, 11th and k Streets, NE, Washington, DC.  We went to a movie afterwards.  I don't even remember the name of the movie.  It was the Fox Capitol on F Street, NW, if my memory serves me right.

We lived with Clara and Charlie for at least a year.  After Aunt Helen's husband, Louis Mittelstetter, died, she asked us to come live with her.  We stayed at Aunt Helen's for about a year when Mom and Dad asked us to come there, since Dad was out of work at the time.  We lived with them until we bought the house in Riverdale Heights in 1936.

The Granados' home in Riverdale was a large, Victorian Style home, with a porch across the front and extending around the side.  407 Fist Street, Riverdale, was south of Riverdale Road, and the last cross street before Edmonston Road (now Kenilworth Avenue).  The house was on the west side of the street.  There was an entrance hall on the left side of the house as you entered, with the stairway to the second floor.  To the right was the living room.  To the rear was the dining room with a bay window.  The kitchen adjoined the dining room, at the back of the entrance hall.  The kitchen was large, the gathering place for all.

After we moved to Riverdale Heights, Mr. Granados became a frequent visitor.  He had many interests.  He kept rabbits which he raised and sold.  He had a garden of many flowers, as well as his vegetable garden.  They had chickens as well.  My husband tells of Luis' boys setting the chicken house on fire.  They had been smoking in the chicken house.

Mr. Granados would be very popular with today's organic gardeners.  He was very much into "organic" gardening.  Ramon Jr. has told of having to stir the barrel of "fertilizing material".  He also grew grapes.  

In "Portrait of Spain" by Tad Azule, he states, "Aging wine in skins is another vanishing art because it is no longer economical.  It is, however said to survive in the mountain village of Polop, in the Mediterranean Province of Alicante, where a whole ham is placed inside a wineskin full of young red wine.  The wine, the goes, is allowed to "eat" the ham during the two or three years fermentation, an aging process, thus acquiring a special raw taste prized the villagers."  This story reminded me of the wine that Ray's father made.  I remember his telling about putting ham in the wine he made.  I can see now why he did.

When we were in Spain, we were reminded of so many things that Mr. Granados did.  As we drove through Huelva Province, where Aracena is located, we saw the yuccas with the white, bell-like flowers growing in profusion.  He had many of these plants in his garden in Riverdale and gave me some when we moved to Riverdale Heights.  In this area, we also saw many espaliered fruit trees.  We can understand why he was so interested in agriculture., since this is a region where a variety of things are grown, although the mountainous terrain certainly makes farming difficult.

The house in Riverdale had a well that was shared with the next door neighbors, the Harlison's.  This caused much dissension, the neighbor claiming the Granados' used too much water.  The house had running water, but it consisted of a large tank in the attic.  The tank was filled by hand-pumping water to it.  This was not the most favorite chore for the children.  

Coal had to be brought up from the basement for the kitchen range.  Ramon Jr. hated this chore, not liking to go down to the dark basement.

Mr. Granados did a lot of the cooking during the I knew him.  He made a bean soup of garbanzos.  It was a meal-in-one.  Some of his concoctions were better than others.

Ray's home was a gathering place for friends.  Ralph Day would stop in for a visit with the "old man". Mr. Granados enjoyed his company.  They had many a heated discussion on topics of the day.  Besides, there was always the glass of red wine.  The evenings always ended with the demitasse cup of coffee.

The Saturday night "500" card games were good fun.  There were many friendly arguments over the rules.  A copy of the rules for "500" was obtained and Charlie had copies printed for each of us.  Thereafter,, the copy was brought out to decide the argument.

The fist New Year's Eve Party I ever attended was at the Granados home.  The year was either 1931 or '32.  Rose supplied the alcohol, 100% pure, obtained from the dentist she worked for.  "Gin" pills were added to the alcohol to make Gin for the drinks.  This party was before the repeal of Prohibition.  Johnnie served the drinks.  He made sure no one's glass was empty.  There was a splendid array of food.  I can't remember all the foods served, but I do remember the fried rabbit.  It tasted lid fried chicken.  It was the first time I had tasted rabbit.  It was delicious.  Each one was given a rabbit's foot for "Good Luck".  I still have mine.  It is close to sixty years old!  This was my first experience with hard liquor.  I had wine to drink many times, but never the hard stuff.  I did not know how lethal that stuff was. Johnnie kept filling my glass and I kept on drinking it.  My next memory of the evening, is waking up on Ray's bed.  I had a hard time living that down.

After Ray and I were married, the Saturday crab feasts during the summer were great fun.  Beano or Tony were sent on their bikes to collect fifty cents from those wishing to participate. Ray usually took his father to the wharf in Southwest Washington.  In those years the crab boats from Southern Maryland and Virginia came to DC to sell crabs and fish right off the boat.  The live crabs were purchased for $10 a bushel, sometimes less.  The crabs were brought home and steamed.  The table and chairs were set up in the kitchen and everyone found a place.  The children were given the claws to eat because they didn't pay.  One must remember that this was still "depression" time and no one had much money to spend.  These gatherings were so much fun.  My own family have these gathering to eat crabs and they are still loads of fun.

Ray tells of walking to St. Jerome's church for Sunday Mass.  Their mother would question them as to the color of the vestments the priest wore.  If they had the color wrong, she knew they had not been to Mass.  He also told of the expectancy and excitement when his father returned from his tours to Spain.  Also, containers of chestnuts were sent from the Granados farms in Spain.

Mrs. Granados had died before I met Ray.  She had been dead for several years.  Ray had great affection for his mother, but he had no particular stories to tell about her.  Connie remembers her grandfather in Spain, her mother's father.  Connie evidently spent a lot of time with him when they were living in Seville.  Her grandfather said his family came from Sanlucar de Barrameda.  The family used to spend their summers there at the seaside.

When Ray worked for Holmes Bakery, he would be quite late getting home on Saturday nights.  Saturday was settlement day, so as many outstanding accounts as possible were collected in order to settle up and receive their pay.  Also, the route was in Virginia, so it was a long trip back to the Bakery and then home.  Ray's father would walk up to our house to listen to the news from Spain on our short wave radio.  Mr. Granados was a firm believer in Spain's Franco.  He followed the Civil War in Spain very closely.  At the time, may argued with him on his belief in Franco.  Time has proven him correct in his faith.  He was good company and helped pass the tedious hours waiting for Ray to come home.

I took Spanish in one of Mr. Granados' classes, after my day's work at the Franklin School at 13th and K Sts., NW. The Spanish School of Washington was just down the street and across to H Street.  Mr. Granados and I would ride home together on the street car and bus to Riverdale.  We shared a book of monthly tickets.  Somehow, half of the book took care of each of our fares to and from work for the month.  Sometimes the ticket was all that I had in my purse.  Times were lean.

The Lurba brothers, Ramon and Jimmie, were good friends of Ramon Granados.  We understand they met on board ship bound for the US. The Lurbas had a delicatessen on upper 14th Street, NW, which the Spanish people of Washington patronized.  At Mr. Granados' suggestion, they added tables so food could be  served in the shop.  Later, when the Old hippodrome movie closed on E Street, NW, the Lurbas opened the Pomona Restaurant there.  Later they expanded, opening the Ceres next door, and the Earl Restaurant in the Earl building which also housed the Earl Movie Theater.  Jimmie Lurba knows my son, Ramon and they have kept the family acquaintance.  Johnnie has also kept the friendship with the Lurbas, since he had worked for them for many years.

Luis says his father translated a book on rules for the game of Jai Alai.  The original book was written in Spanish.  The game has become popular in Florida, but there were no rules written in English.  Luis assisted his father with the translation.  The book is supposedly still in print.  Luis also says that his father taught at the Berlitz School.  he said there were some arrangements made for him to teach there before he came to the US.

In talking with Luis Granados this summer, we asked what connection his father had with the Salesian Fathers, since their name and address were listed as his destination in New York City on the Manifest of the S. S. Montevideo, the ship that brought him to the US.  Luis said that the Salesian Fathers served the Holy Trinity Church in Seville which Luis had attended while living there.  Ramon Granados attended schools taught by the Salesian fathers.  The Saint, Don Bosco, was a Salesian Father and Luis attended their school in Seville as a young boy, the same on his father had attended.

I enjoyed Mr. Granados' company.  He was an interesting conversationalist.  It was a great shock when he died.  I don't remember how we heard of his death.  Luis and Ramon went to DC to take care of arrangements.  Mr. Granados had been taken to George Washington Hospital which, at that time, was just a few doors from his office on H Street, NW.  Johnnie and Tony came to live with us.  It was the end of an era.