Interviewer(s): Ernesto Valdes

Project: University of Houston

Porfirio Navarro was born in Houston, Texas on September 15th, 1920. He describes how his mother, born in the Valley but raised in San Antonio, met his father, a former captain in the Mexican Cavalry, and moved around the state due to a job on the railroad. He proceeds to recount growing up in various parts of Houston, giving descriptions of the city before it became the sprawling metropolis it is today. Navarro began his schooling in Alief before moving to Magnolia Park and later to the Second Ward, where he attended Jeff Davis High School. He dropped out (though eventually completed a GED) and began working in the photo engraving and commercial art sector, which eventually led him to join the Marines as a cartographer in the Pacific theatre during World War II. Upon his return, Navarro travelled around the country doing commercial art work before starting his own printing shop in Houston.