Evelyn Fite: A Biography: Education

In Evelyn’s words:
“When we lived in Santa Rita and we were going to school, they had company stores, and company schools, and this was the depression. And they had an excellent school. Because it was not a state school, and the company hired these teachers and they had good teachers, and I didn’t even realize it – until I went to high school in Hurley, that little tiny high school, and we had good teachers. Well, I dropped out my third year and went to work, then I went back to high school in Magdalena. It was appalling. It was pathetic. I took two years high school in one year, and I hardly ever had to study. ‘Cause I already knew all that stuff. Those poor kids had no education … And of course, I was just lucky. I got to thinking I was pretty smart when I got to high school. And I was a valedictorian. And I was too busy lookin’ out the window for … when Dean was going to show up. That was in 1921, something like that.

“Mrs. Fite (Dean Fite’s mother) taught school at Rosedale, before Rosedale was Rosedale, there was just a … see it had been a mining town, and then it closed up, but there was a building there, and she lived on a ranch not far from there and had four children. And her husband worked for Mr. Reinhardt, who was a millionaire from Oklahoma. And he needed somebody to run his ranch, so Mr. Fite had that job. And she had these four children and she taught school at Rosedale. She would take her Model T Ford and pick up her four … she had three school age and one was too young to go to school, so she’d leave her with … another ranch house and pick up their older kids, and she’d have school in this little school house. And she would cook a pot of beans or make a beef stew and they had a big wood stove and she’d put it up on top of that and taught ‘em to read and write and do their arithmetic.

“Well, the reason I didn’t continue (education), I had enough trouble getting through high school. And Dean was sitting there with the motor running, wanting to get married. So that’s when I moved to the ranch, the next day after I finished high school. See, that’s when I enrolled in Ranching 101 – and studied it for 67 years and never graduated. I had the college of hard knocks. I had a college of learning at the ranch. I guarantee you that was a whole different world. It was depression times and people had a tough time. During the drought, you know, and then they drafted all the cowboys, and we had rationing and all that. Gasoline rationing and tires."

Introduction

By Brenda Wilkinson

U.S. Bureau of Land Management

SOCORRO – As the 150^th anniversary of the 1862 Homestead Act approaches, the Socorro Bureau of Land Management’s Cultural Resource Program is increasing emphasis on oral history collection, particularly as it relates to homesteading.

This interview with Socorro resident Evelyn Fite is a part of that effort. After years of struggle, a homestead claim eventually resulted in the development of a large ranch for Dean and Evelyn Fite. A 640-acre homestead claim under the Enlarged Stock Raising Homestead Act enabled the Fites to develop a large ranch by establishing a basewater, and to gain leasing preference on adjacent public lands after the passage of the Taylor Grazing Act.

They did without a lot in the early years, saving up to buy more private land as it became available. Early on, Evelyn wanted to build a house, but Dean told her, “You can’t make any money with a house.” So they bought more cattle and eventually more land.

Collected and transcribed by Brenda Wilkinson, Archaeologist, BLM, Socorro Field Office, 2009

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