StoryCorps: Ray Martinez

From: StoryCorps
Series: StoryCorps
Length: 02:36

Ray Martinez remembers growing up in an orphanage during the 1950s. Read the full description.

Piece Audio

Playing: StoryCorps: Ray Martinez
From: StoryCorps

Martinez_small Days after his birth in 1952, Ray Martinez was sent to an orphanage in Denver. He recalls the five years he spent there as a time when nothing belonged to him -- not a toy, not a coat, not a closet. And it was also difficult, Martinez said, to find a place where he belonged. Back then, the Colorado State Home for Dependent and Neglected Children allowed prospective parents to "check you out like a library book," Martinez said, to see how a child would fit in with their family.

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Piece Description

Days after his birth in 1952, Ray Martinez was sent to an orphanage in Denver. He recalls the five years he spent there as a time when nothing belonged to him -- not a toy, not a coat, not a closet. And it was also difficult, Martinez said, to find a place where he belonged. Back then, the Colorado State Home for Dependent and Neglected Children allowed prospective parents to "check you out like a library book," Martinez said, to see how a child would fit in with their family.

Broadcast History

NPR's Morning Edition 6/20/08

Transcript

Ray Martinez: In the orphanage, you really don't own anything. Nothing is yours. You don't have your own toy box. You don't have your own closet. Everything you did was shared. When you played outside, if it was cold outside, they'd bring out a table of coats in our age group and everyone threw on a coat. And every day you had a different coat. And I remember that the orphanage had this practice, they would allow potential parents to check you out like a library book. They could take you home, borrow you for a couple of weeks and see if you were a fit for their family. And a couple of times I remember riding in the front seat of a car, leaving the orphanage with prospective parents, and I can remember them trying to make me happy, make me laugh, sitting in the front. But I never remember being at their home. But what I do remember is riding back in the back seat of the car and no one tal...
Read the full transcript

Intro and Outro

INTRO:

StoryCorps has been travelling the country, recording the stories of everyday Americans. Tens of thousands have taken part in the project.

Today, we hear from Ray Martinez. He tells us what it was like to grow up in an orphanage ... in Denver ... during the 1950s.

[TAPE]

OUTRO:

Ray Martinez at StoryCorps in Ft. Collins, Colorado. Martinez was mayor of that city from 1999 to 2005. This StoryCorps interview will be archived will all the others at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.