Basque Oral History Project

Chronicler: Interviewer: Location: Date:	Miren Zubizareta Mikel Chertudi Boise, Idaho 30 August 2001

	Miren was born in Jordan Valley, Oregon in 1924 to Felix Eiguren and Rufina Celaya. Felix worked as a camp tender for the Ross sheep company while Rufina cooked and cleaned for her family and the workers. Each summer, Felix would come into town to fetch his family and take them to the Ross' cabin at Reynolds Creek. Miren remembers cutting pine boughs to make their summer mattresses, riding the cantankerous burro and playing with her siblings. She shares her memories of the Basque communities in Jordan Valley and Arock, Oregon, where her parents moved in 1936. After high school, Miren moved to Boise, Idaho to work. She found a room at the Delamar Hotel and jobs with JJ Newberry's, CC Anderson and the Credit Bureau. She studied at Links Business College and immersed herself in Boise's Basque community, where she happened to meet Fermin Zubizareta at a Sheepherders' Ball in 1946. They married the following year. Having left the work force to raise her daughters, Miren returned to manage the books for two Food King grocery stores, which the Zubizaretas and other partners owned. They retired in 1970. Finding retirement a bit dull, Miren and Fermin decided to go back to work in real estate. They eventually opened Associated Realty, which they ran until 1998. Even though she worked full-time, Miren kept herself involved with the Basque community by volunteering at the Basque Center, Basque Museum & Cultural Center, and keeping in touch with old friends from the Delamar. She sheds light on several values her parents instilled in her.
Miren "Marian" Zubizareta	Read the interview summary