This is a Living History interview with Lucille McEver, conducted by Marilyn Summers on April the 18th, the year is 2011. 

We are at her home in Canterbury Court, Atlanta, Georgia, and the subject of the interview today is her life and her experiences. 

Lucille, I'm so glad that you're feeling well enough to do the story today, and we're happy to be here. And you've got a really nice apartment here, so it's nice to be here. 

Peaceful and quiet, and the sun is shining, and we're going to go down memory lane together, okay? 

Okay. I want to know when you were born and where. I was born in Carroll, Nebraska, June the 17th, 1917. 

So you have a birthday coming up in a couple of months, right? 

Yes. Okay. 

So I'm going to ask you to think way back all those years ago to when you were born. 

Do you remember what your mother and father were doing in Nebraska? 

Why did they live there? 

They were farmers. They were farmers. On a 400-acre farm. 

Now, what did they grow? 

What kind of farmers? 

Corn and oats and a lot of hay for cattle. 

My father went to Sioux City, Iowa, and Omaha, Nebraska, and would buy carloads, probably about 10 carloads at a time of white faced or different type of cattle and fatten them in the farm in the field I mean in the pens where they had them because those were all bought from the sand hills and brought back to fatten around Omaha and Sioux City and Chicago where they would ship them to when they were fat. so they were they were meat cattle they were the yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah he so he would buy them as calves or no they were pretty grown they were pretty grown up they just had to be fattened for steaks uh-huh so they they were fed well yes they got special feed and yeah and how did he get into the farming business was he born in Nebraska who your father let's see my father and mother were both born in Nebraska. They were both born there? 

Yeah. Okay. Let's talk about your father first. Okay. What do you remember? 

Tell me about him. 

Well, my father went through high school and then to college, Wayne State College, where I went. And he went to work in a bank there in Wayne, Nebraska. That was a county seat. And his father talked him out of it. He told him that he would give him the farm if he would come and farm it. 

So your grandfather had the farm first then? 

Yes, they bought it when they came from Germany. They all came from Germany. Your grandparents were from Germany. 

So your grandfather immigrated to Nebraska and he got the land grant or he purchased this land? 

I don't know how. You don't know how? 

He had a brother. 

My grandfather had a brother in Pilger, P-I-L-G -E-R, Nebraska, but he and his wife did not want to live there, so they went up to Carroll, Nebraska. 

And do you know how your grandfather met your grandmother? 

Was she an immigrant from Germany too? 

No, no, no. Where'd your grandma come from? 

Where did she? 

Yes. 

Let's see, my grandmother came from, no, they did not come over in the book, they were all born in Nebraska somewhere. 

Okay, what was your grandfather's name? 

Paulson, exactly like my grandmother's name. 

One family came from South Germany, the other father family came from west, south and north, south and north, yeah, and they were spelt the same name and later on Bruce looked into, went over, you know, to look into them and they were no relation whatsoever. 

So ever, just happened to have the same last name. Yeah. What was your grandfather's first name? 

Henry. And what was your grandmother's first name? 

Anna. Do you remember them? 

Yeah. 

Did you get to visit them when you were a child? 

Did they still live on the farm when your dad moved to the farm? 

You don't know? 

Let's see I don't think I remember that. 

Did they still live what? 

On the farm that when your dad when your grandfather said to your dad Harold you come home and you could not Harold, but your father's name. What was your father's first name? 

Harold. Your father's first name was Harold? 

When he said come on home and I'll give you the farm. We'll turn the farm over to you. Did they still stay on though, the grandparents? 

No, they moved into the townhouse. Oh, they moved into town. Carroll, Nebraska. They were done with farming when they were done. 

Okay, so here comes your dad and had he married your mom by that time what was your mother's first name Margaret Margaret did Margaret and your grandfather and your dad did they marry before they moved to the farm oh yeah they married in Chicago they went to Chicago and were there for a month I think and then they came back and started farming yes that's a tough life I know it is yeah how many children did your parents have there was you and who else do you have brothers and sisters yes I had two sisters Eva and Mark yeah Margaret Ann and they're both dead out in California even Margaret Ann no brothers though no so your dad had to hire somebody to help he must oh yeah we had hired men all the Sometimes. Yeah. Lord, in harvest time, sometimes you'd have 12 men and they'd be there for dinner. Oh boy. And my mother had to cook dinner for them. 

So just like we see in the movies, huh? 

Putting out a big spread. Yeah. And cooking all that stuff. Did you girls have to help? 

Yes. 

Dressed chickens and of course the beef and the pork they'd buy at the, what do you call the store that sold meat butcher shop butcher shop yeah at the butcher shop okay so now we know about your dad's parents what about your mother's parents what were margaret's parents like do you remember them no i don't i don't i don't maybe they didn't come to carol you don't remember their names you don't remember seeing them at all maybe they passed away by the time you were a little girl you do remember very strongly the Paulson family oh yes that they were the ones that were around so you got to visit with your grandparents oh yes from time to time what is the thing you remember first from when you were a little girl what's the first thing you can remember the terrible snow I hated it oh did you really I hated it you came home at noon and it took you a half hour to get your clothes off, another half hour to get dressed to go back to school because the schools didn't have noon luncheon, noon lunches. You had to come home for lunch. Yeah. 

You didn't carry it with you in a bag? 

They made you come home? 

How far away was the school? 

Not far, probably two blocks, three blocks. 

But still, if it was deep snow. Yeah, but the snow had to be shoveled off the sidewalk. They did that first thing in the morning. Oh, my. Every day, snow, snow, snow, all winter long. No, not always. Sometimes it didn't snow? 

No. You never liked the snow? 

Oh, I hated it. I hated it. 

And the minute I graduated from high school and finished teaching, I went to California and got a job, as I said, in the bank. Yeah. 

Well, let's not go out there yet. I still want to find out more about school. 

All right, you had, were you the oldest or were your two sisters older than you? 

No, one was four years older and one was four years younger. 

So you're the middle child then. Oh, okay. 

So your big sister was the one who went off to school first. Yeah. 

So she knew the way. And she taught school. Later, in later years. All right, let's talk about how old you were when you went to school the first time. Were you five or six? 

No, I was about four and a half to five. The teacher stayed at our house, so that's why I went to school. The teacher stayed at your house? 

Yeah. She was a boarder? 

Yeah. Yeah. What was the name of the school? 

Oh, it was just a country school, Carroll. Just Carroll School? 

Yeah, public school. 

How many elementary schools, just grade school was there, one through eight? 

They were all in the same building, brick building. One through eight? 

Yeah. No, one through twelve. Oh! All the way through? 

The high school was in the upstairs. I'll be goodness. Okay. 

So, the teacher stayed at your house as a boarder. your parents let her have a room there yes so did she go to school the same time you went to school yeah we went with her boy there was no skipping for you was there no you had a teacher going to school with you every day what was her name blanche johnson can you remember her oh yes was she good she'd always have to write lesson plans at night yeah she was good and strict so you knew how hard it was to be a teacher then it wasn't just being in the classroom was it no Did you have, um, how many grades did she teach? 

I mean, did she teach everybody or how did she operate? 

She couldn't have been the only teacher. No, there were several. I don't remember that anymore. Can you remember the classroom? 

Yes. What was it like? 

We only had about 12 to 14 in it. In my graduation class from high school were only 343, not even that many. 

Well, then it was a pretty big school. No, it wasn't. It was a small school for all 12 grades. Oh, you're saying 343 for all 12 grades, not your graduating class. Oh, at the time you graduated, okay. 

Well, you're going ahead of me again. I want to know more about elementary school. 

You started in the first grade? 

You think? 

They probably didn't have kindergarten there, did they? 

No, no, no. 

So you would have started in the first grade? 

Yeah. Did you know how to read? 

Yes. Yes. I thought so. Somebody taught you at home. Yeah. Did your mom, you said your dad went to school to be a teacher. Did your mom go to be a teacher? 

No, no. She had to work. She worked. As a hired girl, yeah, she worked. Did she come from a big family? 

Yeah. Do you remember any of her sisters and brothers? 

Oh, yes. Uh-huh. They lived out in California. She had two sisters out there, and she had John, and three brothers up in Laurel, Nebraska. 

So you had lots of aunties and uncles. Yeah. And so you do remember them. Did your father have brothers and sisters too? 

No, he only had one sister, Anna. One sister. 

So you had one aunt on one side and a few aunts on the other side. When you went off to school, somebody had already taught you how to read. Oh, yes. And the teacher stayed at our house, so. Did your family have books so that you read quite often? 

Oh yes, we had all the books we wanted. 

You know, I think about being snowed in, because you could have gotten snowed in, couldn't you? 

Oh, could be, but they got through there one way or another. Yeah, so the house that you lived in, was that the house that your grandfather built? 

Had built. He didn't think the Americans knew anything. he was from Germany so he and my grandmother went on a ship went back to Germany and brought home an architect and he built both those houses oh for heaven's sake they brought an architect back from Germany wow just to build the houses well you should see them oh they're magnificent yeah they're huge we can't tell from the pictures how big we are on the inside but they were big houses. Oh, they were big houses. Gorgeous fireplace in the basement completely finished, divided into rooms. One tool room, one furnace room, one recreation room. They were wonderful. They were fine homes. Oh, yes. 

So the cattle business was pretty prosperous for you. Yeah, that's how you made your money. Yeah. On those about 14 carloads of cattle every year. Wow. And then fattened them up and shipped them, and that's what you eat for steak. 

Did you girls have to do any chores around the house? 

Oh, yes, around the house, and we helped out our daddy, too, but not in the wintertime. We wouldn't be out there. 

But in the summertime? 

Yeah, we had hired men and hired girls, we called them. There were no ****** up there whatsoever. I never knew a black until I went to college, and he was the cook in the kitchen. Yeah, Nebraska's not heavily populated, period. No, no. Yeah, those are kind of remote. Good places for growing cattle and making them fat. Yeah. 

So your family was on the right track with that, weren't they? 

So when you would pass from elementary school, you went to first, second, third, fourth grade. Did you get a different teacher all the time, or did Ms. 

Blanche stay with you all the way through? 

No, she stayed all the time she was teaching then, but we girls would go to different grades. In different grades, yeah, moving along in different grades. Did you like school? 

Oh, yes, I did. I loved it. I loved to study. You did really love it. Oh, that's good. Did they have a library? 

Yeah. At the school? 

I graduated with a scholarship. Oh, that's wonderful. When you went to school, your school, was it in the little town of Carroll? 

Yeah, in Carroll. 

But the college was in Wayne, the county seat. Yeah. 

So Carroll was not a big town. It was a small town. Very small town, 400 people. You said that there's two houses there. After your grandfather built the farm, then he built an in-town house. That was, yeah, two miles in. 

And what was the point of that? 

Why did he do that, do you think? 

Because he wanted to retire? 

So my father and his wife could move on the farm, and my grandmother and grandfather live in the townhouse, and we would stay with them then during the nights of the week going to school. Oh, that made it a lot more convenient, didn't it? 

Yeah. 

What do you remember about going to school? 

Did you have Girl Scouts in that community? 

No, we didn't have Girl Scouts. What do you remember? 

We didn't have Boy Scouts. What did the children in the town, what did children you went to school with? 

We had a choir. 

Okay, same. And, of course, we didn't have any football. There was basketball and baseball. 

So would you go to the games if there was a basketball game? 

Oh, yes, yes. 

So there was a lot of town spirit there. Yeah. 

We would stay with my grandfather and grandmother to go to any of the school activities at night because you couldn't get in through all that snow. 

That was pretty nice that they had a place that you could stay, isn't it? 

But, oh, I hated that place. Oh, I hated that place. You mean the snow and the whole community? 

The carol, yeah. Isn't that too bad that it had to be so dreary then, huh? 

Oh, it was awful. Oh, my goodness. 

Did they have a picture show to go to? 

They did at first, and then it went closed, and it was only on Saturday night. What about a library? 

Did they have a library? 

We always had a library. And I bet you knew how to go there. Yeah, Mrs. Jones, right, but it was only open on Saturday night. Really? 

Yeah. They closed that whole town up except for one night a week? 

Yeah. 

Everybody must have been very good close to their families then, huh? 

You didn't have much else you could do. That's right. What about when you got into high school? 

Well, it was about the same thing. I mean, the library was only open on Saturday night, was never open any other night. What did you do for dates? 

Just dated. 

But where was there to go? 

Dances. We had dances on Saturday night in a pavilion. This was a big pavilion that was built that they used on the weekend to sell stock. 

Oh, okay, so like they would auction them off, bidders would come in and get them, and then sometimes they would let the school decorate it up or clean it up and you'd have dances. Yeah, Christmas and you know, holidays, Halloween and things like that, and the proms. 

But the proms, we went to Wayne to the hotel. Oh, they were a really big deal there. Yeah, and we had, you know, all wore formals, yeah, it was nice. Were you a good dancer? 

I loved to dance. My folks loved to dance, too. 

So they might come, too, then? 

No, no. 

Where would they dance? 

They would dance in the pavilion, and they'd bring in an orchestra, especially on Saturday night. 

Okay, so it was open to the whole community when they had a dance like that. Yeah, on the weekends. 

That's kind of a nice memory to remember your parents dancing, isn't it? 

Oh, they loved to dance, Mom and Dad. See, they were the ones that had Lawrence Welk for their 25th wedding anniversary. Oh, you had to tell me that story again, Lucille. Tell me how that happened. 

Well, I mean, we heard Lawrence Welk over the radio, WXIA, I think, Yankton, South Dakota, a gurney seed company. 

And sometimes my daddy would drive us up there and we would listen to Lawrence Welk because he played every Sunday afternoon for the public and listened to him. 

So, when they were married 25 years, they had him come to play for their... They gave a party. At the house. At our house. Yeah. Because we had a great big house, as you can see. And everybody came? 

Oh, yeah. Danced in the basement. And then Mother served oyster stew and celery stuffed with cheese, a metal cheese. You can remember that, huh? 

Yeah, yeah. Tell me about how it happened to be February. 

Well, that was their wedding anniversary, February the 15th. And what happened that day that we could have predicted? 

It snowed, didn't it? 

Yeah, it did. 

So what happened? 

How did they get Lawrence Welk in? 

Well, my grandfather, uncle, Adolph Rethwidge, was a highway patrol, highway engineer or something, and he had to hire a snow plow and Lawrence Welk behind him and they drove up to our house and then at midnight after everybody had oyster stew and everybody then they drove them back to Yankton, South Dakota. All the way from one place to the other, huh? 

That was quite a celebration. I bet everybody in the community wanted to come to that one. 

Well they did. They invited everybody. Do you remember it? 

Yeah. Did you get all dressed up for that? 

Well, yeah, but my mother made all of our clothes. She was a beautiful seamstress. 

So for the three? 

Our coats, our jackets, our jobfers. Wow. She must have been really good. And when I had Bruce, she made Bruce's first overcoat and little pants. Oh, isn't that wonderful? 

What a good memory. Where did she learn to sew so well? 

Wow. She did that before she was married. That was one of her jobs, she said she had to work, huh? 

She learned how to be a seamstress. And then she had three little girls to dress. 

I could remember her many a year because it was a two-story house going up to bed, and there was my mother sitting sewing, and she sewed all of our clothes. She had a sewing room and a machine? 

Yeah, and she knew how to design, you know, everything. She made her own patterns too? 

Yeah. Oh wow. 

So did she dress you girls alike ever or did you all have your own things? 

No, no, no. Nobody dressed like, you had your own clothes. You didn't get hand-me-downs from your older sister? 

Oh yes, we would get hand-me -downs. She'd alder them. 

Now it doesn't snow there 12 months out of the year. You must have had summer time. 

Well it's snowed an awful lot. They raised a crop of corn you know and hay, three crops of hay so So, we had pretty weather. Sometimes, yeah. 

Was there any lake anywhere near around there where you could go swimming or boating? 

No, we had to go into the town. Laurel and Carol didn't have a swimming pool, but Wayne did, the college town. 

And when you'd go there, you could go in the swimming pool there? 

So you girls did get to do that then? 

Yeah. 

Did they have public transportation? 

Or did you have to have someone drive you if you were going to go somewhere? 

No, you didn't have any public. Yeah, they had a bus between Wayne and Carol. 

Okay, but you would have to either walk into Carol or have somebody drive you then? 

No, we never walked. Was it too far to walk two miles? 

Yeah, we never did do that. How, did your dad ever let you drive? 

When we were old enough. Yeah, but what was old enough in Nebraska? 

How old did you have to be? 

Sixteen. 

So once you were sixteen you could drive? 

Yeah. Somebody teach you how to drive? 

Well, you got a car, so you learned how to drive. How did you get a car? 

Your daddy would buy you a car? 

Yeah. A used car? 

No, I think it was new because it had to last for us to go to college and everything. No, it was a new car. 

So the family had a plan that you were all going to go to college? 

Yeah. Oh, yes. That was the plan. 

Did you get to pick which college you wanted to go to or did your dad decide? 

We went right there in Nebraska because of tuition. It would have been expensive. 

But he would give you a car so that you could drive yourself to school. That's right. 

Now, you went... 

But we stayed at the school all week long. And I can remember some weeks not getting home for six to eight weeks because of the snow. We're talking about how far away was Wayne from Carroll. Oh, not far. Fifty miles? 

Twelve, no. Twelve or fifteen. Really, it was that close? 

Mm-hmm. 

So when you were old enough to go to college, your dad made sure you had transportation and you would pack up and go off and stay there every night or just? 

No, we stayed in the dormitory. 

So you did have dormitory. Yeah. And you had a roommate. Okay. And your sister had gone before you because she was older, she was gone by the time you came. She was already teaching. Where? 

Where did she teach? 

Emerson, Nebraska. 

So it wasn't hard to get a job then, wasn't she? 

No, no. 

All right, so when it's your turn to go off to school, let's see, if you were born in 1917 and you say it might be 1934 maybe when you were 17 or 18, you started school early so you got out of school early. 

Did most of the children that you went to school with, the kids that you hung around with in high school, were most of them going to college? 

Yeah. The others went right to the farms to help their fathers. 

So was it one or the other? 

Yeah. Yeah. 

But it's unusual for the times for your dad to be willing to send his girls to college other than that part. I mean like if you lived down here in the south they wouldn't have been doing that. 

So it's kind of nice that he saw the value of sending you to college to be a teacher. 

So when it was your turn to go you knew where you were going. Oh yes. Okay. What do you remember about going to school? 

Oh it was lovely. Who was your roommate? somebody you knew or no? 

No, it was a girl that I met when I got there. She had signed up for a room, too. Where was she from? 

Herndon, Herndon, Nebraska, I think. 

But she's dead. She died of cancer years ago, but she was a teacher, too. You stayed in touch with her, though, for a while, then, if you knew that. Dormitories. 

Yeah, well, you lived in the dormitory, but after you graduated, you stayed in touch with her then? 

Yeah. What was her first name? 

My roommate? 

What was her name? 

It'll come to you. Yeah, I can't think of it right now. I can see her face. 

But you were lucky, you got a good roommate. Oh yeah, she was nice. And of course we didn't dare smoke, nobody smoked. 

The boys didn't even, and if they were trying to smoke when you went into a formal which was in the big auditorium you had to leave you didn't get to stay and the teachers were right there if they could smell tobacco out you went they were strict yeah it was good that's a good rule to have they didn't know it at the time but that was a real good rule to have yeah so when you went off to wayne which was much bigger than carol yeah much bigger than carol The only thing you didn't like about all that was the weather, the crummy, long, long winters. Other than that, it was a pretty nice community. 

Oh, yes, and the dormitories were so lovely and everything, and the sidewalks were kept, you know, clean, but to put on boots and overshoes and all that stuff. Too much work. Yeah. 

Did you like the idea of being a teacher? 

Well, that's about all you could be then, unless you wanted to be a secretary. And I didn't want to be a secretary. 

So you figured that. What about being a nurse? 

Did anybody give you that option? 

No. Because women had to do nursing, too. Yeah. It was a different time. We're talking about the early 30s, right after the Depression. Yeah. 

Was your father affected by the Depression in any way? 

No, not really because we didn't have a drought I don't think at the same time. And as long as he could feed the cattle there was a market for cattle. And buy the food too, you see. 

So he kind of didn't have to worry about the depression too much. Oh yes, everybody worried about it. 

But he had enough to eat, you all had enough to eat. And enough haylands, see, to be cut for hay for the animals. That's very, very important. Yeah. No, it's not pleasant living on a farm. It's lots and lots of work. I'm trying to think about the stories I've heard about the dust bowls out there. Oh, yeah. About when the drought did come. That was awful. Did you ever live through a time like that? 

Yes, yes. We had to keep all of our windows down and fans. You didn't have air conditioning. and all the fans going and put we put towels and wet rags under the windowsills and of course we had such a big house you had an awful lot of wet towels and then every morning rinse them out and put them back and all this to try to keep the dust out of the dust because it just blew and Oh it was awful, it was awful. No crops, no nothing. That was really depression. Really difficult time for everybody. 

Now we hear you know the songs they sang about you know how tough it was. Yeah. 

But that was a very big trial for a lot of people wasn't it? 

Sure was. Did you all go out to school? 

Oh yeah we always went to school. Even if the dust was pouring? 

Oh yes. Nothing stopped you? 

No. 

Not even foot or snow at a time you'd still go to school? 

Well they had to do the roads ahead of time. That's the thing, they were well prepared, the community was well prepared. 

But there was nothing pleasant about living in Nebraska, nothing. Summertime it was beautiful. Lawns were so pretty and green. 

But you always knew winter was coming pretty soon, huh? 

And once it came, it stayed. 

Like when I was teaching one year, we had a bad snowstorm in March or April, and I didn't get home, which was no more than, oh, 50 to 75 miles until school was up. Really? 

Wow. Wow. That was one of your jobs. Let's talk about the rest of your school year. How many years were you in college? 

Four. 

So we kind of guessed that maybe you got out in 1937 or 1938, right? 

We're not too sure when you graduated? 

Yeah. Sound about right? 

Yeah. 

Did you come home for the summers then, to live at home during the summer? 

No, I went to California to visit my grandparents. And so that's where I got the idea. Then I would go back and teach school. And after two years of that, I thought, that's a lot of poppycock. I'm not coming back to this Nebraska anymore. Okay. 

So your grandparents, this is the same grandparents that built the house in town, the Poisson's. Yeah. They moved out to California at some point? 

Yes. 

When did they move in? 

After my granddaddy died, my mother moved out to California and lived there the rest of her life. Your grandmother? 

Long Beach. Long Beach, California. 

So when you had a break from school, you would go visit your grandmother? 

Yeah. 

And when I had Bruce, now Sharon of course wasn't born that old enough, but Bruce was we'd go visit his grandmother in the summertime. 

Lucille I looked at the pictures of the farmhouse which was huge a big big house I want you to tell me describe the farmhouse for us what was it like how many bedrooms on the first floor one and how many upstairs four and it there were only one bathroom for the whole house yeah wow That's all I had then. Did it have a bathtub? 

Yes. A big old bathtub in it? 

Yes. And no shower? 

No. Most people didn't have showers, did they? 

No, no. We had, on Saturday night, you waited, and each of the girls took, you took one bath a week then. Yeah. Unless, of course, it was in the summertime. You were allowed to throw a whole bath a week. Tell me what other rooms there were in the house. 

Did it have a big dining room and a big kitchen? 

Yes, yes, because at thrashing time, when they thrashed the acres of wheat and rye and that, you'd have to have those 12 men all in for dinner. And my mother would get up early in the morning and kill the chickens and dress them and fry them. Of course, and then she bought the pork and the beef, you know. 

So three kinds of meat. For those men, they were starved, just starved. Couldn't feed them enough. 

They came at 6 o'clock in the morning, and they worked until about 5, so they could go home and get their own chores done. 

But in the middle of the day. 

And then that crew went to the next place where the big harvester was that thrashed the wheat and the rye out of the... 

Now, when they came, they came for a noon meal, like in the middle of the day. Yes, yes, yes. 

So your mom was cooking all morning long, getting it ready. Because she had to fix vegetables, potatoes. Oh, everything. Everything? 

Everything. You remember that well? 

It was a terrible job. 

What other rooms were in the house? 

Well, there was four bedrooms and each had a closet upstairs, but there was no bathroom of course upstairs, and then this stairway, winding stairway, and another hallway, and a wraparound porch around the whole house, this part of it, and then around the kitchen were two screened in porches out of both you know kitchen doors and uh so it was it was very very nice it looks in the picture like there was a third like a cupola or something up at the very top oh they were they put but there were no rooms up there no rooms up there but could you go up there no no looks like there'd be a good view from way up there and you said the basement was all completely into rooms. 

Yeah there was a tool room and there was a furnace room and then there was a great big room for playing and that kind of stuff and then mother had a course further on down what we called a basement where she stored all the fruits and vegetables and everything she canned all summer long. 

So it was like a pantry where everything was all lined up. 

We would buy crates of apricots and crates of peaches and crates of plums and the apples of course we had so you peel them and cook them and can them. You worked those farm wives they really really worked. 

It may not have been snowing in the summertime but it sure was a lot of work time anyways wasn't it? 

Yeah. 

So you ate good all winter. Oh we ate good all the time. 

We had a basement where all this was stored on shells and you'd go down and oh they even stored roast beef and roast pork. 

We had a man from Germany that was noted for that so he came and he killed the pig and he killed the beef and let it drip you know and all that and dressed it in our basement. 

We had a great big basement and a store down I mean a stove down there and they cooked the roast and canned it in quart jars and they cooked the roast pork and canned it and then they made sausage they had a sausage machine have you ever seen that operate yeah and put the meat in there and grained out the sausages and cut them open you can remember seeing that huh and then they cured the hams and they would be in big crocks granite crocks out in on the porch and salted down and then they had to stay salted i don't know how many weeks and that I don't remember that. And then that preserved them? 

Yeah and then they went in the basement. 

So the basement must have been cooler than the rest of them. Yeah that wasn't in the basement we kind of called that a cellar where the fruit was. A food cellar sure people had those kind of things. It took an awful lot of time just to make sure you had stuff to eat didn't it? 

Oh my gosh. People didn't I mean they didn't go to the store and just pick something up. Oh no. Everything was work work work. 

No you didn't buy a can of tomatoes or a can of peas or that you did it and then like pea crop you'd get out there and pick them in early in the morning and then pot them can you remember sitting there taking them out yeah run your finger along the line and farm life was no pleasure really yeah it was work work work you told me about another chore that was your responsibility and that was keeping the grass trimmed around the picket fence yeah tell me how you had to do that with the scissors you took us scissors see we didn't have these nice clippers clippers we didn't have clippers then and took us scissors and would trim that grass so it wouldn't show on the roadside you know the grass everything was neat and true oh we had a fish pool too and we had of course that had to be drained every winter and watch those little goldfish swim around in there. We had our pleasures too. 

Well it's good to remember a few of them. 

Now and then you can think of a few things that were fun. No I wouldn't live back there for... Nothing at all I know. 

But it was, I mean the pictures if it don't begin to do it justice I'm sure. No, no. Those pictures were taken a long time ago but it was a beautiful place that's for sure. and it was on a all by itself out in the middle of nowhere no there was a road that went by and then there were farms a farm on that side and we were two farther up the road two and a half miles from Carol and of course over a hill and things like that and then there were houses depended on how many acres you had did you go ever to visit another farm I mean would you walk oh yes visit your neighbor we had telephones well sure you talk on the phone but I mean would you ever go visit a neighbor and did any of the neighbors have kids your age no you're not sure no no not you don't remember having a good friend when I went oh yeah in high school we had a lot of good friends but on the farm there it was different everybody that was on a farm not only your family but other families were all working too I mean everybody had to maintain that's right that's That's right. 

Part of the heritage that came with the German people was being very particular about everything being just so, right? 

Your grandfather expected that from your father and your father expected that from all of you. Everybody. 

But he didn't get a son. He only had three daughters. He had to depend on all of your women folk to help him out. 

But we helped them in the farm. we used to drive the tractor did you where they would pull uh-huh to cut the hay and that behind us and he would be in a tractor right beside of us yeah you remember doing that yes i remember i remember doing it one fourth of july i had a date that night for a dance and the man you know wouldn't work fourth of july so i drove a tractor beside my dad all day out in the sun wow i had a big hat on. Did you? 

Yeah, I wasn't going to get wrinkled. 

Well, it worked pretty good. No, it didn't. You've lasted for a good long time. No, it didn't. It was a lot of work all the time. Oh, it never quits. Yeah, there was always something else to do. 

But can you think of any fun things that happened? 

Tell me something fun. On the 4th of July, you had a date. Where were you going on your date? 

To a dance. And the dance was in Randolph, Nebraska. Oh, it was another town. 

See, we would get the big orchestras that would come from New York through to Los Angeles, and they would plan to be in these dance halls at holidays. Would they be along the train line? 

They'd be coming by train? 

No, not necessarily. Uh-uh. They were always in buses. In buses. Okay. 

But they set up gigs, so to speak, they called them, and then the local town would advertise it? 

They didn't need to advertise it. Everybody knew. They waited for it every year. 

So, Lucille, do you remember any of the bands that would have come? 

Yeah, Harry Dorsey, and he had a brother. Tommy and Jimmy. Tommy. Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey. And they would stop in the pavilion there and play for a dance. And the one married to Betty Grable. Did they ever bring singers with them? 

Oh, yes. They always had a vocalist, always. Occasionally it was a man, but generally it was always a woman. A woman that sang. And so you heard all those wonderful songs that are still good today. 

All that music is still good today, isn't it? 

See, I lived out in California then after that for six years, and we went to all the big bands. 

So you always saw that? 

They had a great big pavilion in Long Beach on the harbor, and they would have those big bands for a night. 

Well, we're still out in Nebraska, though. Yeah. 

Now, how far away would you have to go to Randolph on that Fourth of July? 

Oh two and a half miles. 

Randolph was that close? 

Yeah, no we lived on a farm and from the farm into town was two and a half miles. 

But you told me your date had to take you to Randolph, Nebraska. 

Well that's where the dances were but Carol had them too. Yeah, oh but how far away was Randolph? 

Oh it was probably 40 miles something like that. 

So see that was a good long ride. 

Well you'd go on your date. Yeah. And you danced until generally midnight and then come home. 

Do you remember anybody you dated? 

Can you remember one of your boyfriend's names? 

No but I'm not going to tell you anyway. Oh come on. No. Tell me one boyfriend. No it wasn't the one I married so. No so you don't want to talk about it. No I'm not going to. 

I just wondered because that's such a long time ago you know and they were probably guys you went to high school with you know no these were college guys oh you dated older men oh lucille were you were you you were a high stepper in college huh no no now you had just turned that was your birthday right after the fourth of july so you would have still been celebrating your birthday did your family celebrate birthdays i mean oh yes Yes, we always had a birthday cake. 

So your mama would bake the cake? 

Yeah. I don't imagine you ran up to the corner to buy one. No, no, no, she always baked it. And generally had strawberries. Wow. Yeah, June you would, wouldn't you? 

Strawberries and whipped cream. Yeah, that would be good to have for your birthday. 

Did you girls learn how to bake from your mom? 

Well, none of us took after to be a great big cook, but we all cooked. We all helped. And we didn't have a dishwasher you had to wash dishes. 

I'm sure you were helping that way yeah but like she didn't say well let me teach you how to make a chocolate cake or how to make it done you know she just did it and if you watched you watched. 

And at the holiday time did she make traditional things for her to celebrate the holidays like Christmas cookies at Christmas time? 

Oh yes we had all those. Did family come in did you have family gatherings on the holidays? 

Yes yes. Yes. 

My mother had, as I said, these three brothers-in-law at Laurel, and they'd come for Thanksgiving or Christmas or, you know, the holidays. 

When you were just a little girl, do you remember Christmases? 

I mean, did your family bring in a tree? 

Oh, yes. Tell me about your Christmas. What was it like? 

Well... 

Say when you were six or eight years old, what would be? 

Well, at first, when we were real little, we woke up and came down, because it was a two-story house, and came down and all of that stuff was there, and the Christmas tree was, you know, lit and everything, but later on, we wouldn't have any Christmas till we all came down Christmas morning. 

But you didn't put the tree up a week ahead of time. Oh, no. It showed up overnight, huh? 

Yeah. Isn't that? 

That was when we were small, but later on we put it. 

But that kind of made it very magic then, didn't it? 

Yeah. 

Did you get a lot of gifts, or did your parents just get you a few little things? 

No, we got a lot of gifts. 

So you were well taken care of as a child. Oh, yes, yes. 

I've heard stories about how sometimes people who lived on big farms only got like oranges or chocolate or something like that. Yeah, you always got it in your stocking, hanging up on the fireplace full of oranges. 

Where would your parents buy things for you? 

Did they order them through a catalog or go to a big city to buy them? 

No, they'd go to Wayne. They'd go to the big town and buy things. Or Sarah's Roebuck. We had Sarah's Roebuck then. That would be a catalog. The Wish catalog, yeah. 

So the catalog came and everybody looked at it pretty good, didn't they? 

I don't think people know how important that was at that time. It was like a window to the world. I haven't seen a Sarah's Roebuck catalog for so long. I don't even know if they make them anymore. 

They might have them in stores or something, but for the hard-to-get things, I think that's what they do now. Probably. They put them in stores. 

But it was a big deal when you were a little girl. Yeah, you were a kid. You had running water in your house, though. Oh, yes. And you had bathrooms in your house. 

So you were very fortunate it was like that. 

All right, I wanted to know some more about when you were a little girl, and you told me a few more things i know you were working all the time you always had chores to do oh yeah we always did did any of you girls learn how to sew from your mother yeah my baby sister did my baby sister did that was margaret ann yeah she took after your mama yeah she could make things and did beautiful i have in my apartment where am i i'm down in this bathroom behind the door. I have novelties on the wall that she made and fixed, you know. Oh, that's nice that you have things. She was very ambitious because she didn't have any children. Neither one of my sisters had any children. I have the only grandchildren. Oh, that's interesting that neither of them did. All right, let's go back to college. 

It gets close to time when you're going to graduate from college, and it's in the 1930s, probably the late 30s maybe 37 or 38 and do they tell you then when you're still in school that they've got jobs available how did you find your teaching job well the school superintendent where I taught school knew my folks and I played in his band on Saturday you didn't tell me you played in a band I did let's see what you play a saxophone you were a sax player yeah wow because on Saturday Saturday night in Carroll, we had a bandstand and we had to give a concert for the public every Saturday night. 

So we had to practice once a week too. Wow. How many were in the band? 

Oh gosh, that grandstand was full. Might have been 15, 20? 

Probably about 30, 35. 30? 

Wow. 

They were men that had played instruments years and years ago, and Ira George was a band leader in Osmond, and he came up there and taught them, gave them lessons and everything during the week. 

So we had a band on Saturday night. That was what you called a community man, because all ages came together. Yeah. What fun! Do you remember that with fun? 

Yeah. Did you take sax lessons? 

Yeah, and... 

Your sister's take? 

Mabel Jean Peterson, a girl the same age as I was in the same class, played a saxophone, so they called us the saxophone twins. How wonderful. That's a nice instrument to play. It sounds good with the big band sound. 

Well, I played the... what's it called? 

Soprano. Oh. No, there's one at alto. Alto sax. because when we marched in football parades I didn't have to go because my instrument I was playing the baritone and that was too heavy so you didn't make you march no I would get to sit out and that was sure nice when it was snowing yeah I bet but at the for the entertainment you played the alto because that's a good saxophone for that did your sisters play instruments too? 

Yeah, my baby sister did, not Eva. Eva didn't. What did Margaret Ann play? 

Saxophone, same saxophone I played, yeah. You passed it down when you were done with it. 

Well, instruments were expensive. Oh, I'm sure they were. And your family owned it? 

They didn't rent it? 

Oh, no, no, no. 

No, we gave it when we got through with it and Petty didn't have any children and none of my children wanted to play a sax. They were tennis players. 

So we gave it to the college and they appreciated it And we were glad to get the donation. 

So now you're graduating from college and you find out that the superintendent from a certain school knows you're going to graduate. 

So he offered you a job. You didn't have to go looking for a job? 

No, no. 

But where was it going to be? 

Osmond, Nebraska. And that was how far from home? 

I would say, what did I say, about 30 or 40 miles somewhere. You've said a couple things, but it was not just up the street a bit. It was a good trip. No, no. 

And you were used to doing it with your car, but if the weather were bad then you couldn't do it with your car. You wouldn't do it. Yeah. 

So where did you stay? 

In a private home. 

So you rented a room just like Mrs. Blanche had done from you. 

Yeah, and I had a private room and a bath on the first floor, and her husband was dead and then she kept two other teachers upstairs, she had four bedrooms see. 

But I had my own private room and bath on the first floor. Did you make enough money to cover that? 

Well, things weren't as expensive as they are. No, the first year I only made $60 a month. Oh, my word. How much did you have to give for room and board? 

Probably $15. A week or a month? 

A month. A month? 

Boy, it was cheap then. Oh, Lord, yes. What about your food? 

Did you provide food to you? 

Three meals a day. 

Wow, how could she have done that, that cheap? 

Well, we were near the school, well things were all cheap then. Yeah, that's something. She had a big garden. And she grew the stuff and canned it just like your mama had done. 

So, Osmond was bigger than Carol. Oh, yes. 

And what school did you go to teach in? 

What was the name of the school? 

The public school, Osmond Public School. Osmond Public School. And what grade did you select? 

Seventh and eighth. Oh, they were terrible then. I don't know. You picked 7th, 8th graders out? 

Well, you taught different subjects. Yeah. What did you teach? 

History. Science. 

A little bit of everything then, huh? 

You were well prepared at Wayne Teaching College? 

Yeah, that's what it is. Yeah. And you had to do the same thing that Miss Blanche had to do. 

You had to sit at night and make up your lesson plan, huh? 

How big were your classrooms? how many children would you have? 

Oh gosh. Pretty big or small? 

No, small. Small? 

Probably fifteen, some thirty, none over thirty. Never more than that? 

Uh-uh. 

Well that's pretty good, and I imagine in those days the children were well behaved too. 

Well, yes and no. 

Sometimes you had troublemakers? 

Well I had two boys, the best looking boys, one of them was killed in the war later on. Oh no. 

And one noon they didn't show up after lunch, sea and I knew uh oh they're playing hooky because they were here this morning so I called the home and the mother said they were home for lunch they're playing hooky so I got one of my students that I trusted to take a class hold a class and I went out and I knew just exactly because they had been talking about fishing you know seventh eighth grader so I went out and got them. Boy, they regretted that. You went to the fishing hole and got them? 

Yeah. Brought them back. You rounded them up. 

And that wasn't hard to do because I knew where they were going because they had been talking about it. They weren't too smart, were they? 

Were they surprised to see you? 

Yes, they did. I bet they could. What happened to them? 

Did you punish them? 

Sure. And I bet their mama punished them too then. Probably. I didn't ask. I bet she did though. 

Well, you know she did. 

Yeah yeah that's the way it was it's not like that anymore but back in those days you were held accountable right so I bet they didn't do that to you again knowing you were all business huh? 

Were you strict? 

Huh? 

You were pretty strict then huh? 

Oh yes. Kept order in your classroom? 

Oh I wouldn't let a child misbehave. Or else? 

Well I never let my own misbehave. Yeah you You called their mamas if they weren't in line, huh? 

Oh, that's funny. How many years did you teach in Osmond? 

Five. That's a long time. That's a long time to teach. I went to California every summer, see. That was your treat, huh? 

Yeah, that was my treat. To get away from Nebraska and go to California. And then when I got that job in the bank, I thought, nope, I'm not teaching. Never going back there again, yeah. 

Now when you went to California, it was because your grandmother was living there on Long Beach, you said? 

And she had enough room for you to come? 

No, I had an apartment. Oh, you had an apartment? 

Mm-hmm. Okay. 

Well, did you get a job over the summer or you just... Yeah. What'd you do? 

I told you I worked in the bank. 

Well, that was when you moved there, but over the summer you didn't work at the bank, did you? 

Yes, I did. Every summer I worked. Oh, you started working in the bank? 

Yeah. Oh, I didn't realize that. 

So they knew you were a school teacher, but they let you work there in the summer as a bank teller then? 

Yeah. No, we stayed all year round then, because I wasn't going back to Nebraska to teach school anymore. You had your fill of that, didn't you? 

Oh, gosh. 

Now, you told me an interesting thing. You said that Security First National lost all of their bank tellers. Drafted. To the war. That was World War II. They drafted them all, because that wasn't an important industry. And so they had to go get the teachers to come. Yeah. AND YOU SAID A LOT OF THE TEACHERS CAME FROM NEBRASKA AND SOUTH DAKOTA AND SOUTH DAKOTA. AND IT WAS A PLAN, IT WORKED OUT REALLY GOOD. YEAH. 

NOW ONE OF THE REALLY INTERESTING THINGS THAT HAPPENED TO YOU, WELL LET'S TALK ABOUT WHEN THE WAR WAS COMING. YOU WERE AWARE THE WAR WAS COMING FROM NEWSPAPER ARTICLES AND THINGS OF THAT SORT. 

SO LONG BEFORE PEARL HARBOR YOU EXPECTED THAT THERE WAS GOING TO BE A WAR, PRETTY MUCH EVERYBODY KNOW. WHAT WAS IT LIKE THEN IN THE COUNTRY? 

IT WAS AWFUL. YOU WORRIED. DID YOU WORRY? 

You sure did. Your head was going to get blown off. 

Really? 

You felt like you were in danger, huh? 

One of the good things that happened there, though, is you met Harold. And was he a teller? 

No. How did you meet him? 

He was a pilot. He was in the Navy, U. S. Navy. 

So how did you meet him? 

He came in the bank. No. 

We had to go to school every night at the big hotel on the ocean to study banking because none of us knew anything about banking. We all had college degrees, but that isn't banking. 

So by going there every night, we got our dinner. We ate dinner there. 

And one night when we ate dinner there, there were this bunch of pilots for them sitting next to us so they pulled their chairs up and talked with us while we ate and then they wanted us to go home, take us home and that and I said no, I'm from Nebraska and my mama always told me that you don't go home with somebody the first time you meet them so they found out that we were at the bank. 

So the next day at lunch time here come those four pilots, Navy pilots and they all had their bank checks because they had just got here and they wanted to open a bank account you know and have checks so that's where I met him. 

He opened an account as you you're the teller that opened his account huh were they in their uniforms oh yes so they had enlisted in the military they were they were already pilots yeah they'd already been gone through their training yes yes was Harold older than you a couple years maybe he might have been a couple years older than you. Did you fall in love at first sight? 

Lord, yes. We were married in six weeks. No, really? 

Yes. 

But that was the way it was because of the war, huh? 

Six weeks, my goodness. And they used to tease me, well, how long will this last? 

Who teased you? 

My friends. Yeah. And a lot of them were getting married in a hurry too, that early courtship. Not too many. Not too many. You were one of the racy girls. You got married right off the bat. 

What was he going to offer you? 

Where were you going to live? 

What? 

What did he offer you to live? 

Where were you going to live when you got married? 

Well wherever he flew. 

He said you're going to join the Navy with me, huh? 

No I'm not going to join it but I'm going to travel with you. Yeah and and so you got where did you get married? 

Long Beach. Right there in California? 

There was a big pavilion on the ocean. Did your folks come? 

No, my father was an invalid so mother was taking care of him. She couldn't leave. Who came from the family? 

Your sisters maybe? 

Yeah, my two sisters. And your grandmother still? 

Was she around still? 

No, no, she was too old. She was too old by that time. 

But at least your two sisters were there. And you had a nice little wedding then. Yeah, and we went up to, toward Santa Monica and up toward San Francisco on our honeymoon. We had a week off. Did you really? 

Oh, my. And did he have a car? 

Oh, yes. What kind of car? 

Chevrolet. And then you grabbed your clothes and your suitcase and off you went, huh? 

Off we went. Yeah. And do you know what? 

That was 65 years ago today. Is it? 

Yeah, April 18th. Yeah. That's the day we were married in that wedding. It was a wedding chapel on the ocean. Yeah. Sixty-five years ago today. How about that, huh? 

Mm-hmm. 

Isn't that something? 

So as newlyweds, you went up to San Francisco on a driving trip, right? 

You took the scenic highway. What? 

As newlyweds when you went on your honeymoon. Yeah. You went up the scenic highway in the car. Yeah. And you stopped along the way at different hotels, different cities. 

Yeah, I guess so, but we spent a lot of time, I'm trying to think of what was that famous hotel we spent. I mean you could go in swimming and so on and so forth and the meals were so good. 

But that's so long ago, sixty-four years ago today. Sixty-five today. Sixty-five years ago today. 

But you have a good memory, you had a good time. A wonderful time. What was Harold like? 

Oh, he was just as sweet as could be. Was he talkative? 

Yes. Yeah? 

And he didn't have a bad temper either. Oh, he was nice and mellow. Yeah. 

What did you know about him? 

What was his background? 

Where had he been born? 

Gainesville, Georgia. Oh, so he was a Georgia boy. Yeah. 

Oh, we know he was a good guy then, don't we? 

And he told me all about that awful hurricane they had. Oh, yeah. It was a tornado that destroyed Gainesville, and he and his twin, he was an identical twin. What was his brother's name? 

Bill. Bill. William and Harold. Okay. 

And they had gone home for lunch and they saw this cloud and they went in the courthouse, thank goodness. Saved their lives. And the whole town was destroyed. 423, I think, there was a book published. Yeah, about all the people that died. Uh-huh. Yeah, it was terrible, terrible, terrible. Did he have a Georgia accent? 

My friends thought he did. They'd always tease him in California when we'd go out to the club for dinner. When did you get your first pair of shoes? 

Make him so mad. They were trying to apply. 

But see, you only had 12 grades, 11 grades down here. You didn't have that 12 grades. Yeah, and he didn't go to college, he joined the military instead, joined the Navy to see the world. Yeah. And so they were teasing him about being a hick, a country boy. 

But he must have had a pretty, not too bad of an accent then, if you didn't notice it so bad. No, he didn't have. Anyways, when he got back, he was stationed probably at Long Beach. Was that where he was stationed? 

And it wouldn't have been too long. He went to the Philippines. and let's see I stayed where did you go with him were there any places that's what I'm trying to figure no I couldn't go to the Philippines no no well the war had already started by then yeah yeah and let's see we're up in Seattle and and And that they showed us where the *** planes went down through, you know, that when they came into the United States and where they destroyed Hawaii. I'll never forget that. You mean Pearl Harbor? 

Yeah. Yeah, I'm in Pearl Harbor. Yeah. You remember when that happened, of course. Yes. 

Now, when Harold went off to the war, did you stay in your apartment there by yourself? 

No. What'd you do? 

I went back to Nebraska to be with my people. Oh, you did? 

Yeah. 

And when you went back to Nebraska, even though you didn't want to go back to Nebraska, because you said you hated Nebraska, you still went back there? 

Did you teach again? 

Substitute teach. You were a substitute teacher. Yeah. Oh, okay. 

Only, And, you know, when my mother was there with Bruce, in the same way when Harold came back and went back with Delta, I would substitute teach whenever my two kids were in school. Okay. 

Well, you didn't have any kids yet, though. No, but I did later on. Yeah. You said your father was an invalid when you got there. Yeah, he had a ******. 

So Daddy had a ****** after you moved to California then, huh? 

He had a ******, yeah. They moved him on the train in an ambulance and a nurse, you know. 

So when you went back to stay with your people, you said? 

Yeah. 

You went back to the farm or to the townhouse? 

Well, I went back to the farm at first, and then when they moved to California, I'd just go to California to see them because there was nothing to go back to Nebraska to. We sold all that stuff. Oh, you did sell the big farm? 

Yeah. Oh, my. And the townhouse. We sold both of them. All those are gone now. I hope they still exist, though. Oh, yes, yes. They didn't tear them down. No, and they're kept up nicely. 

Well, that's good to know. 

All right, so how many years was Harold away? 

Two or three years? 

One year? 

No, longer than that. It seemed like a long time, huh? 

Mm-hmm. Did you write letters? 

Oh, yes, all the time. I wrote him every day. Did you really? 

Every day? 

Every day. 

Just to tell him what was happening and how much you missed him, huh? 

And did he write once in a while? 

Whenever he had a chance. It was pretty hard. Yeah. 

He was in the Pacific Theater, right, so he was with the taking of Guam and all of the islands and everything. 

Was he, he was a pilot then, but was he involved in battles? 

Oh, yeah, he's been in, no, he flew passenger planes. During the war? 

Yeah. They had to have supplies. 

So he was taking runs back and forth. Yeah. 

Okay, so he was constantly in the air then, wasn't he? 

Constantly in the air. 

Well, the war finally was over with. For Japan, it would have been 1946 that we had VJ Day. 

And then did he get out right away? 

He had enough points to get out? 

Yeah, and when he got out, he went with Delta. 

Okay, he came and picked you up. You were still in California then, huh? 

Yeah, and then, then, let's see. He got a job offer. No, with Delta. And he just started and the Korean War broke out and we were called back in the Korean War. That was in the early 50s that you had a call? 

Yeah. We lived in Patuxent River, Maryland. That's where the atomic bomb was. 

Now, when was Bruce born? 

As soon after Harold got back? 

The year after Harold got back? 

Bruce was born in, let's see, we were married in 43, and Bruce was born in 44. 

So Harold wasn't here when Bruce was born? 

No. He was at the war? 

Yeah. Oh. 

Well that was a big deal. You had to have your baby by yourself, huh? 

That was nothing then. All the women were going through that. Yeah, I'm sure they were, yeah. Yeah, but you did take Bruce with you up to Maryland when you moved to Maryland. Oh, yes, yes. 

How long was he tied up in Korea? 

How long did he work for the war? 

Oh, they had so many pilots, they didn't know what to do with them, so they sent us back home after we got up to Maryland. 

Okay, so it was only a year. Yeah, and then we came back to Atlanta. 

And did Delta took him back on again? 

Oh, yes, the government, they had a law that made him, That if the government took them, the industry they worked for had to take them back. No, they were firing them and getting new, see, for them. 

But the government stepped in, thank God. 

So he came back, and then did you rent a house here in Atlanta area, or where did you work? 

Yeah, we had to rent a house first, and then we built one. Where was the first house that you built? 

Let's see, at the airport, it would be College Park. 

So you built your first house, that was your first experience. You said that you built the house, you meant that you contracted with him. Yeah, because he was always gone. 

But of course he signed the, you know, we had the... Plans. Plans. The architectural plans and everything. 

But you had to keep track of everybody and everything, didn't you? 

Huh? 

You had to keep track of all the contractors. Yes, I went out there every day. And were you satisfied with it? 

No, not the first time. We were very disappointed with the building. Oh, that's too bad. Did you live there a long time? 

No, not too long until we decided to build another house. Where did you build your second house? 

Sandy Springs. You moved closer away from the airport then, closer into town. I was at East Point. No, we didn't build in East Point. College Park. Riverside Drive, you said? 

Yeah. That would have been Sandy Springs. Yeah. And you told me that house you made was just a little bit bigger, huh? 

Yeah. No, it was quite a bit bigger than the one. And did you have more fun with that one? 

Oh, yeah. That one turned out better. Yeah, we enjoyed that one. Oh, that's good. And why did you build another one? 

To retire in, I think. Oh, okay. 

So you're following that? 

Mm-hmm. You raised the children. 

Now, we know you had Bruce, but you had a daughter, too, didn't you? 

Yeah, they're three years apart. 

So if Bruce... No, they aren't. They're six years apart. Mine are six years. Sharon's are two years. Okay. 

So you had Bruce in 44, and you had Sharon in 50. Does that sound right? 

Yeah. Yeah. No. 49. 49. Okay. And you raised them right here in the city of Atlanta, and you joined the Methodist Church. 

You told me that you always, when you lived here in Atlanta, you always belonged to the Methodist Church, St. John's, St. 

John's Methodist Church, and that's where you met and got involved with one of the things that you hold dear, which is the Wednesday night Bible school class. yeah you told me tell me what the preacher's name was that you like so well well the first i have three preachers very close to me bishop bev jones and dr gill watson and now our preacher doctor oh lord get me my church bulletin i can't even remember because see i can't go anymore yeah he comes to see me does he come see you oh that's wonderful that's good but you sure Did he enjoy the Sunday school classes, didn't he? 

Oh, Lord, yes. We have four Sunday school teachers. They rotate. The fifth Sunday, of course, is the preacher's Sunday. 

But it never has increased in attendance like big churches. It's a beautiful church. Do you know where it is, St. John Methodist? 

And it's a beautiful church on the outside, just gorgeous. 

And it finished just in time before Sharon was married, and Sharon and Mason were the first couple married in that church. And we just don't have any attendance. We got about 400 or 500, and our attendance every Sunday is 100 plus, 123, 120. You don't understand why, huh? 

Yeah, I sure don't. 

Well, it's just one of those funny things. Yeah. 

When we talk about your life with Harold, one of the big advantages of him being a Delta pilot, But disadvantages, he was hardly ever home. He was always flying somewhere. 

But advantage was you got to fly. Oh, yeah. And you told me you've been everywhere in the world, huh? 

Well, just about. 

Just about? 

Everywhere you wanted to? 

We didn't wait until Harold retired, and like other couples, and then, you know, you're decrepit and you're not able to go. 

So we had a wonderful, wonderful life. You went all the places you wanted to go. Wanted to go. 

What was your favorite place to go? 

I think what's funny, I mean Paris is nice and Europe, but Norway and Sweden and Denmark are so unusual, they're so unusual. And Chile is pretty, Chile, South America, it is so pretty. 

But they're all, they're just lovely. You go to the Norwegian, Sweden, and Denmark in the wintertime, then it's like Nebraska. 

Well, I've never been there in the wintertime. Yeah, I didn't think so. And you'll never go either, right? 

No, I know that. You don't visit winter, do you? 

No. No, you go where it's nicer, smart for you. In the same way, Chile. Chile, South America is a beautiful country to visit in the wintertime. Is it? 

Beautiful. Yeah. 

Is there any place you would have liked to have got to that you never did, or did you manage to get everywhere you wanted to go? 

No. I've been everywhere I wanted to go. Oh, that's wonderful to be able to say that. I still have that card. 

I can travel at any time I ever wanted to if you wanted to but I don't want to yeah well airline travel now is not like it used to be no I know so much of a hassle I think about Bruce because he travels all the time all the time and he has to put up with all that hassle but he's got so much mileage and so much mileage that he travels business class if it isn't full they put him in first class which is better than coach but it's still a hassle yeah everything is yeah it's a hassle and his baggage did get here and it comes later maybe the next day and it's it's really something to put up with I know it is I know it is so but he's very good about coming to see you oh gosh yes yeah tell me a little bit about both of the children tell me a little bit about Bruce this is your chance to say something that you'd like to say about him Well, you know, I love him, and he's just the most faithful, the most thoughtful, thoughtful individual of everybody, and religion means so much to him, so much to him, and he's getting his degree in what? 

Master of Divinity. Master of Divinity from Harvard. From Harvard. From Harvard. And you couldn't be prouder, could you? 

No, no. Yeah. That's wonderful. He has worked so hard for it. Yeah. And when he's done working hard for that, then he'll go back and write more poetry. Yeah. Because he's a wonderful poet. Yeah. And tell me about Sharon. 

Well, Sharon is a speech therapist in that new high school, and she enjoys her work so much. she's worked over 30 years as a speech therapist and she has two daughters and they went to where'd they go for 12 years Westminster went 12 years there and then they both went to Duke and graduated wow you've got a lot of family to be proud of yeah and that's all the family I got Well, are those two girls, one of them's married? 

One of them is to be married. To be married. Which one is that? 

That's the older one. And she lives in Florida and works for Mr. Magotti. And she's the one who'll be getting married. Yeah. And you're going to go to the wedding because she's getting married here in Atlanta, Georgia. At Cherokee. And the reason she's doing that is so you can go. Remember what I told you, you are going to go. I'm the boss, right? 

Yeah. And what about your other granddaughter? 

What does she do? 

She's here in Atlanta now. She's been in New York for four years working, and she is going to Emory now. She lives out of Emory and getting her master's in business. and uh so that's her life right now all of your offspring and your grand offspring are very smart people they all have masters yeah and they got it all from you no no no other side too well yeah but they talk so highly of you lucille they're so respectful Well, they're wonderful kids. They are very thoughtful. Yeah. They call me just about every day. Isn't that grand? 

Or every other day. 

So somebody knows what you're up to all the time. Yeah. They keep track of you, huh? 

Yeah. Yeah. How long have you lived here at Canterbury Court? 

Do you know? 

Since this building was built. 

So it's been at least five or six years. Oh, yes. Since the new part. See, we got three parts. And this is the new part. Because this part has a washer and dryer in it, and the other parts have it. Oh, does it? 

So this is a better part, right? 

You have to go in the hallway and use the laundry. Ah. Harold passed away in 1996. Yes. And you stayed in your home for a while? 

Oh, yes. I stayed until this was built. And then decided this would be a good place for you to come. 

Well, another Delta couple came in here. 

And they told you about it? 

So they told me why Lucille live out there, you know, in that big yard and everything, and by yourself. 

So I bought in this one on the seventh floor, and it's just wonderful. You know, I should have that curtain open. It's such a beautiful view. 

You've got a nice view, and you've got peace and quiet, and you've got good friends, good neighbors that come to visit. And they take good care of you. They sure do. Yeah. They sure do. They bring you your meals and take good care of you. They're very, very interested in you. 

Well, that's wonderful. I know you're tired. You told me I'm making you very tired. No, you aren't. 

Is there any other story that you think maybe we ought to have on the record that we didn't talk about? 

Something magic maybe that you and Harold did over the years? 

Some memory that you want the kids to be sure to know about? 

I just want them to be sure to know about that I dearly dearly dearly dearly love them and I'm so very very very proud of all of them oh I'm sure they're going to be happy to get that message uh and to know that um you know that you appreciate what they do for you and they do it in love they're happy to love you yeah and they'll be happy to hear your story today No, I'm not happy to hear my story. See, it's a gift you've given them, and so that's a good thing. You're happy to give them something back, aren't you? 

Yes. Yes. You know, I'm happy to give back all the wonderful things they have done to keep me proud of them. Yeah, they've been a great group, and they'll be real happy to have your story. 

Okay, thank you. Thank you so much.