Gen Smith Interview

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Dr. Radke- Moss Women‟ s Oral History Collection
Gen Smith
By Gen Smith
January 22, 2005
Box 1 Folder 27
Oral Interview conducted by Kurt Hunsaker
Transcript copied by Dawn Kim
Brigham Young University- Idaho
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Kurt Hunsaker: Today is January 22, 2005. I will be interviewing Gen Smith about her life experiences. This is for the Women‟ s History Collection at Brigham Young University- Idaho. There we go, alright; it‟ s working. Ok, so the first thing that I wanted to ask you is when were you born?
Gen Smith: August 19, 1923
KH: August 19, 1923. Ok and where were you born and where did you grow up.
GS: I grew up here in Rexburg, the little ward out here. It would be just west of Rexburg, is where I was born. I was born at home, and I was one of nine children. This is where I was raised was in this area, went all through my schooling and wonderful times in my life here.
KH: Ok, and your parents, what did your parents do for a living?
GS: My father was a farmer.
KH: And your mother did, she stay at home with the children?
GS: You bet.
KH: Ok, alright. And what were some of the things that you remember from your childhood, like activities that you would do or favorite memories from your childhood?
GS: The thing I remember most was we all had to work very hard on this farm. Times were hard, and the children had to go out and work right along with my father. Mother stayed in the house, of course, and kept house and wonderful meals cooked for us. We only had one brother, and he was younger than I, so he wasn‟ t all that much help to my father. So he‟ d get all of us girls, there were eight girls and one boy. So we learned to work very, very hard in those days. We all had to, as soon as we was old enough, we would hire out to other people on their farms learning how to pick potatoes, top beets. On our own farm, we helped our father bunch hay, shuck grain, and help to harvest all of those things. We each had a job. And every evening, of course, when we‟ d come from school, we would have our job of milking cows, slopping the pigs, gathering the eggs, feeding all of the animals just like a man would have to do. But we were happy about it. That was our part of life. we were happy in the family, and we knew that we all had to do this from very young, and so we did. We worked very, very hard. We were poor but that didn‟ t matter. We had so much love in our home. It didn‟ t matter, and do you know the thing that was nice about all that was everybody else was poor too, all around us, so we all had to scrounge for what we got. So our play times that we had sometimes and all was just things that we made up to do around the home.
KH: And you were saying with everybody else being poor at the same time, did you guys spend a lot of time helping each other? Did people work together on their farms? 3
GS: Yes, mostly in the grain. When it came time to harvest the grain, then this one man had the harvester. It seems like he‟ s the only one in the community. We each took our turn. We‟ d call when it felt like our grain was ready, and then we would speak for a time and harvest time was a wonderful time because that‟ s when would see the grain come in and see it go through this harvester and come out as this grain, little kernels of grain. So we all had a part in that doing one thing and another helping to hall the shucks of grain in; and it was the same way with when it was time to put up the hay everyone had a job, and we were mighty tired at night. We were children that had to work hard but so did the other neighbors children, but this was a must. It was hard times for our parents because they didn‟ t know how the crops would turn out because we depended on solely and completely for our living all through the winter months when they were hard. But that was mostly the time that we would help our neighbors would be at this doing the grain, getting the grain in, but the rest of the time, most of us would do our own hay, big stacks of hay, and it was fun.
KH: Yeah, so your childhood would have been during the depression then?
GS: Yeah.
KH: During that time, did you know that America was in a depression or was that…
GS: We did not realize it, and our folks did not talk much about in front of us, children, because they didn‟ t want us to have to worry that, maybe, we would go hungry someday or something, you know, because there certainly was no price for our farm produce, or products, hardly at all. so we just had to, they would raise a large garden of which my mother would can, and so she canned almost all the stuff that we needed to eat that winter. We had the cows, there was our milk, there was our butter, there was our cheese. What more could we ask? We didn‟ t‟ have a great big beautiful home to live in. Sometimes, we were stuffed in smaller homes due to a great big fire that we had in a great big home that was left to my parents by their parents, and it took everything. And from then on, times were really rough because there wasn‟ t that many homes in the ward or near our farm that we could live in, so we bunched up. I‟ ll tell ya, two or three of us in a bed or four sometimes. I remember four of us girls slept together lots of times. But, you know we didn‟ t look at those times; they were not sad to us. There was togetherness. There‟ s something about hard times that pulls people together lots closer than when there‟ s so much money to be had.
KH: Do you remember, was the church able to do anything to help the ward members through these times like they have all the programs now? Did they…
GS: Not nearly like they have now. No, I do not remember anyone having to come and help us. And we jut as poor as the very last one. You asked a little while ago, did we help one another. Yes, if someone was really down, we could go and help them. As a child, I remember there was a couple in our ward that lived about two miles from our house, and they were both blind. So they had no way to make a living. I have no idea being so small how they did make a living, but I 4
remember I would go every Saturday to help clean their home, and it would be in just really bad shape because they couldn‟ t see where to go to the bathroom or anything. It was terrible. They didn‟ t have indoor bathrooms. So they were very poor, and to fix a meal and all she had to being just blind. But it was the most beautiful experience of my life to be able to give of myself to someone else, and I was very young but I remember scrubbing wooden floors on my hands and knees, cleaning all the dishes up that they weren‟ t able to find to wash them; wonderful people, because she could prepare a meal being blind, been that way for quite a while. That was a wonderful experience as a child of mine to give to someone that was so unfortunate. But they was so happy, those two and they loved one another. They were dependent on other people. They did have some family that could come and help too, but they didn‟ t live near. And how many other people went into help, I‟ m sure there was, but I remember it was a choice experience. I‟ d walk clear there every Saturday morning and help them all day, and then I‟ d walk home.
KH: How far was it?
GS: I‟ m sure it was, probably, only two miles, but I felt so rewarded. I didn‟ t‟ expect pay. They didn‟ t have pay, I did it out of love, and I‟ m glad because I learned so much.
KH: When World War II broke out, how old were you at that time?
GS: I was married.
KH: You were married at what time:
GS: Yes, I was. I was married in 1940.
KH: Ok, in 1940. And how old were you when you got married?
GS: Seventeen.
KH: Seventeen?
GS: Yes, now a days, we‟ d have a fit if our kids had married that young but I was seventeen and very much in love. And my parents knew the young man I was to marry and knew that I would be well taken care of, so they gave their permission without even asking to question him.
KH: And how did you meet your husband?
GS: I met him at school. We went to Madison High School, and I met him. First, I always call it “ we met at our first bump.” You know how everybody is going into study hall at the same time. There‟ s just strings of kids all going into study hall. Someone right in front of my husband, he wasn‟ t my husband at that time, my boyfriend. No, he wasn‟ t even that, this young man he was handsome, I was following and not knowing who he was, and he didn‟ t know me. All of a sudden, someone stopped right abruptly in front of him. He stopped fast, and I bashed into him. And he turned around and looked at me as if to say, I‟ m sure he was going to say clumsy or 5
something, you know. And he looked into my eyes, and I looked into his, and we both liked what we saw. So we carried on and went into the study hall, and we kind of watched each other all through the study hall period. I don‟ t know if they still have that now a days or not. They give one hour all those years that I went to high school. There was what they call a study hall, and we were in there to prepare for the next days, our studies and all. And so that‟ s where we first met. Then it wasn‟ t too long after that where one of the favorite things to do during our youth when it would be the dating time for me was that we loved to go roller skating, and these people had the roller skates. We‟ d go from one ward to another which was out to Hibbard Ward, Burton Ward, Plano Ward, and this city‟ s wards as well so that every Wednesday night you could go roller skating in one of these places which our parents let us do. And this night, when I went roller skating, I was skating around there— I really didn‟ t notice who all there was there— there were so many kids, ooh, this was well attended. I tell you there was a lot of fun and very inexpensive. All of a sudden, one of these kids that thought was real good friend, he thought he‟ d pull a smarty, and he come past and tripped me, just put his skate under mine, and I fell backwards. And who should catch me? This handsome young man I bumped into going into study hall. So I just literally fell into his arms, and from then on he started asking me out. And we did fall in love, and we dated for two years, or we were married.
KH: What day, were you married?
GS: October the 2nd, 1940.
KH: Nineteen forty, okay. When World War Ii broke out and Europe, do you remember what was happening in the world at that time?
GS: Yes, I should say. My husband had a few animals here when we were married. He had a few animals. He had a pickup. He had a few pigs and a few things that was very own. So when they began calling for help into the building the airplanes down in California, then they‟ d send out the word for any man that could leave what he was doing and come to do so. So we didn‟ t have any children right then but we did go to Burbank, California. And his father took care of our animals for us. So then, he went right into building airplanes there in Burbank, California. And there we lived for the next three years, I believe it was. Then, soon we had our first child, and then two years later we had our second child. Then it was time for him to leave the airplane industry and go to war. Now, he was not drafted but he could feel it coming, and he was sure he would be drafted. So he said “ I must join up because I want to serve my country, and I want to go into something specialized not just in the field artillery,” of which he did. And he went into the radio, learning the radio and to do what he needed to there.
KH: Where was he stationed?
GS: He was stationed in Fort Sill, Oklahoma, first.
KH: Alright. 6
GS: That first place, and there for quite some time. Of course, they didn‟ t keep them near as long here in the United States in training as they do nowadays.
KH: They keep them for a long time now.
GS: Yes, I‟ ll say.
KH: How did you feel when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor? Do you remember?
GS: Oh, yes, that was terrible. I‟ ll never forget that day. It was just horrible. Well, in the first place thought for sure the next place would be us. Well, we felt really, wondered why we was so unprepared there. They just didn‟ t expect this to happen, everyone. It took us so by surprise and a lot sadness came over the world at that time because we knew we now would be drug into this real big time. And so it was at that time, still having two children now and my husband bidding me goodbye to go off to war, knowing that he would be able to stay in the United States for some time. We were in being stationed in Oklahoma after he‟ d been there for quite some time, then they gave the servicemen permission to have their wives and children come and live there if they could find a place to live and could be there. They didn‟ t have any long it might be, two or three months, it might be longer and so my husband got permission to have me and the children come out. And I‟ ll never forget that train ride. Oh that was, well, one of the first ones that I and then had to take those two little children all that way and try to keep them happy and everything. But this was such an exciting time. He found us a place, and he wouldn‟ t have long until he would have to go overseas. So he got a place. Well, we was on the train for several days going from Washington, where I went to live with my parents, until he came home. When we finally got to Layton, fort Lawton out there, he met us at the train, of course, and I thought there was a look of sadness in his eyes. I thought, oh, what is this, he‟ s going sooner than he planned. But I could he‟ d been crying, and he said that he had got a call that day and said we just decided that we don‟ t want any children in our apartment and in our home. We don‟ t want you and your little family to come here, so you‟ ll have to find someplace else. This was terrible, but my husband. He was so, always the conscience looking ahead for us and wanted us there so badly. He said, there‟ s no place for us to go but to go the hotel and find us a place. This was Christmas time. We was so happy to be with him at Christmas time. So was in for the hotel, and when we got there then we got all settled in, and we couldn‟ t afford to spend many nights there. So he just hunted and hunted and hunted for a place to live and couldn‟ t find one. And here it was just the night before Christmas, and we in the hotel room, no Christmas tree, no nothing. And he said “ come on pack your suitcase, we‟ re going to get us a taxi,” and he‟ s going to help find us a place, I hope. So we loaded ourselves and everything we had with us in this taxi, and we sit there and told him our plight. And he said, now, I don‟ t have too much money but here it is. And I want you to drive around and drive around and see if you can find a for rent place anywhere around this city. So he did, round and round, and all of a sudden, he put on his brakes. And he said “ I just remember I have a girlfriend that has been working for this family, and she‟ s there taking care of things while they have gone to Florida for the holidays.” He said “ I‟ m wondering if, 7
maybe, you couldn‟ t move in with her or something. And it‟ s plenty big there; it had two bedrooms and all.” I was so embarrassed. I couldn‟ t believe we were just going to go in on somebody like that, I just couldn‟ t. Anyway, he went and knocked on the door, and he explained it to her. And she said bring these people in, and so he brought us in. And there was a tree all decorated up for her and everything, but she had just told her boyfriend that they‟ d had serious illness in their family, and she was going to have to leave. So she said “ I would love it if your family could come in and take these people‟ s home, take care of it until they come back. And I‟ m sure that would be fine with them.” And do we did, and how happy we was, decorated tree. We had a few gifts in our suitcases for one another. So that was one of the loveliest Christmases we‟ d ever had because we‟ d literally come of the street and was able to have Christmas for our children. And to little children, they‟ d seen the trees and everything of people‟ s homes and lights and wondered what we would land up and what we would be doing. So this was a wonderful experience, and there we stayed until those people came home from their trip. And they was so grateful because I had kept the house really clean and nice. So, then, we had to find another place, and so my husband had been looking out near the barracks. And so he saw a sign one day, and it some older people that had a room to rent, and it was a back room affair. All they had, they didn‟ t, doors on their rooms or anything. But it was just pull a curtain, you know, but they did have indoor plumbing and everything. So we stayed there because it was near to him, and in just a few minutes… well, he could come and be with us each night. It was really kind of hilarious, something that I‟ d never even been used to is being in a home where someone smoked, let alone chewed and spit. Well, the man and wife both did this, but the woman was especially good at it, and this was quite a good size room, their front room. So we‟ d be sitting there visiting, and all of a sudden she‟ d go kaploo, you know, and spit that stuff out. Hey just reveled in seeing how far they spit this stuff. I‟ d never seen this, and it was ugly. Boy, here was this spittoon clear across the room from us. Boy, she was good at it. She could hit that ever time, and it would go basing, you know. That was their life there but they were good to us too while we was there, and made us feel at home until he had the word that he was to leave.
KH: Do you remember what years it was that you were in Oklahoma?
GS: ( 1944- 1945) So when it came for, Charles got the word that he had to leave then he bought us a car. It was a Buick station wagon. It wasn‟ t a new one by any means but we headed out to Hanford, Washington, where my parents lived. They wanted us to come and bring the two children so they could help care for us. There my father, he had left the farm a couple of years before this because he had an opportunity. He heard there was work there. There was no money on the farm. So he rented the farm out, and then he headed for Washington, for Hanford. It was surely a makeshift town. A lot of people moved in, lived in tents, just any kind of a lean- to. My father hurried and bought scrap lumber and built a small house that our family could live in. It was a couple of bedrooms or so, and so they could help to take care of us. And then we had about a... not very long together, until he had to leave me. saying just a little bit about my father worked, they told him that it was very, very secretive, that it was a good job, and he was paid 8
good money there at Hanford. No one knew, no one knew, there was never whispered about or anything. My father did never know what he was working on until it was just about time to leave there, and it was the atomic bomb that he was to help build. There was hundreds of men there doing that same thing.
KH: Do you know what his job was?
GS: He didn‟ t ever tell us what his job was. I imagine making some of the material that went inside of this bomb but never to talk about. I do not remember how many years really he was there. It was a time when they felt, I think it was about two years that we lived, and then they felt it was necessary to move all of these people away from this spot because it‟ s too dangerous for people to live there. so they moved us to a town nearby that was already settled with homes and everything in it, and it was called Richland, Washington. It was out near Yakima and out in that area, and so the people all moved from there and went there. They still worked for this Hanford but had to travel out to the dessert. All of us being worried not knowing what it was there being built, of course, we were apprehensive and did not know for sometime what it really was that he was working on. There‟ s where my husband had left and went off to war, and he went almost directly to Germany.
KH: Do you remember where he was stationed at? What city?
GS: I do not remember the city. All I do remember is that one thing that was so important to him is to know that he didn‟ t ever have to kill anyone. He got in on the very tale end of the war with Germany. In fact, there was a large convoy of servicemen that was all heading over there to Germany, and still the war was raging. When they were about half way between the United States and Germany, all ships were stopped, and they couldn‟ t imagine why. And then they were all told over the loudspeaker that as of that moment the war was over with Germany but the war was still going in Japan at this time, now. So they, just half of this convoy were told to turn and go to Japan, which was another direction. And then this other half was to carry on to Germany and help with the cleanup. And so he was there, I can‟ t remember just exactly how long, but he was there. and it was such a just horrible cleanup, and the children were so hungry and ragged and going down the streets begging for food. And if he got to see, you couldn‟ t ever see a dog because they‟ d find one, they‟ d kill it for meat. Food was that hard. But these little children, that was the thing that would hurt him more than anything was these hungry little kids begging for food. My husband, every time he‟ d leave his barracks there, he filled his pockets with cookies, candy, mostly candy and walked the streets and would give to all these little tiny kids. So, like he said, the cleanup was not fun. They saw devastation and there was lots of death and all that. He did not have to, he had to shoulder a gun, but he did never have to use it, and how grateful he was for this. So the cleanup of getting things back into to place and people into their homes and everything was quite a experience for him. But he was so happy that he didn‟ t have to go shoulder to shoulder against any enemy. And so he was there for at least a year. I don‟ t know how much longer than that, and then he was able to come home unscathed. Before Charles 9
left for some reason or another, he had never had his patriarchal blessing. Before he left home that day for the last time, he came to me and said I just have such a strong desire for my blessing, and I would like it now. Let‟ s go see if we can get it. And so the man that we had give, he gave me mine also. His name was Patriarch Larsen, and he was from here in Rexburg, and here is where we were making our preparations to stay in Washington for all this time. So he went to him for his blessing. And he was promised that if he would hold his priesthood high and honor, keep the commandments and honor everything that he knew of his church that he would be guaranteed a journey home unscathed from the woes and cruelties of war to the arms of his beloved wife and children. What a blessing this patriarchal blessing was, and when it was given to him at such a special time. He said that he never, never closed his eyes at night without reading through the patriarchal blessing. And he just always thought and knew that by living the way he should that he would be able to return home to his loved ones. One time, he wrote me, and he said “ my patriarchal blessing is so thin, this paper is getting so worn; I need another copy.” So I had one made and sent to him. The thing of it being that so many of the soldiers, they hadn‟ t had the religious upbringing that my husband had and all. The barracks would become almost scarce at night because the guys would all head to town and have their big beer parties and drunken brawls and one thing and another. And my husband would always stay behind and read his patriarchal blessing first, and then he‟ d find; he loved to read. He felt so secure in having this always. Well, night after night after night being alone in the barracks and everybody partying, they‟ d always try and get him to go into town. And he refused and would say “ no, I have something so wonderful to live for, to be able to go home to and that‟ s what I want to do. But after months of this, he got just a little bit tired of being alone. The guys coaxed to come in, told him he didn‟ t need to party if he didn‟ t want to, just be one of the gang. So he went along with them. So the first place they‟ d go into was these pubs. There was nothing else for them. So they sat down to this great big table, they‟ d go around seeing what each of the guys wanted, and each one of them ordered their pitcher of beer. And my husband spoke loud and clear— he knew he‟ d be made of fun of but, “ please, could I have a pitcher of milk?” And, of course, the person looked at him like he was crazy. Nobody took anything but beer over there, you know. But he had his milk. But he did have a good time with the guys just kind of associating with them. Well, so then when it came for the second time to go to town, they asked him to go: “ Come on Charlie, you can go and have your jug of milk.” So he‟ d go. He‟ d say that‟ s ok, that‟ s ok. If can just have my jug of milk. So it got so that every time they‟ d go into town, usually into this same place why this person that was waiting on them and all, he just automatically come bring him the big pitcher of milk for Charles, and they all laughed and made fun of him for a while. Then they told him how they did envy him to want to just have that and keep his life clean and wanted to know what kind of a church that he belonged to that would believe in this. So he had his opportunities to tell them about our church. Some, of course, still made fun but when it was time to come home everyone of them, the guys in his barracks come and told him how he admired how he enforced sticking in to what he believed in and what a shining light he was to the rest of the crew. For a few years after that, he got letters from these 10
guys saying how they wished that they had been brought up like he had been and looked so forward to his family that was waiting for him. So I know that his patriarchal blessing helped him along that way too, because promises there that were kept and he come home unscathed, and we could carry on with our life.
KH: During the war, what was the role of women during WWII? Do you remember?
GS: Too many of them, of course, had to go to work because there was not enough men. They had to go into the warehouses and work like men. A lot of them did that. They left their children with someone else, the baby tenders and all. At a time, at Hanford, they had a huge theatre there, and that‟ s all they had in the line of entertainment for anyone that lived in that city. I can not give you the amount of people that lived there, but there was big. That grew to be a big city of people working there. So there was this theatre house, and they was calling for someone to come and to help usher and run the theatres. We lived just about a block and a half from that , and mother says “ if you want to go to get away from the children for a little bit and do something that‟ s a little entertainment for you, I„ ll tend the children.” Which I did, and I went and worked at this big theater, and we learned an awfully lot, to know a lot of people there. It was a growing places in the airplane factories and out also. They were drawn into the field which was a sad thing for a lot of them because they wasn‟ t there waiting for there husbands when they came home. They‟ d learned to be with others and a lot of the men, of course, didn‟ t have to go in. The women worked very, very hard in these industries. And I felt badly for them because I would have hated to have gone in like that and work side by side by men because a lot of them, if they don‟ t have the same upbringing that I did, they talk very, very rough and crude, cruel and those women had to work very, very hard.
KH: What were you feelings when you found out that the war was over in Germany and in Japan?
GS: Oh, my goodness, that was the most wonderful thing when we known he was going to be in Europe. And they told him that he would be there for that year, and probably then that Japan would not, they told the men that other‟ s would always go to Japan. When they were done cleanup, then they got to go home. What a blessing that was to know that we had that part of lives, maybe, behind us and would be able to come back home and pickup the pieces and start our lives all over again of which we did. But it was hard. It was hard; a lot of our friends that stayed home, I‟ m speaking of the young men; they got to stay home because they were farmers, and they didn‟ t have to go to war. I think, if Charles would have followed that through a little bit more and gone back to his two or three of cattle and that, maybe, he wouldn‟ t have had to go, but he felt it his duty to serve. So all of our friends that go to stay home and on the farm, then, of course, the produce and farm products and all were a lot better priced than you see. So they didn‟ t have the years that my husband had literally taken away from him as far as making a good living and building homes and farms and stuff for his family. So we had to go back and pitch in 11
and start our lives over more or less which was very hard with no money. We just had to pick and…
KH: Was your husband able to go to college or anything on the G. I. Bill or anything like that?
GS: He got one year of college, and he always wanted to go back and get more but there just was not enough money. There wasn‟ t enough.
KH: And what did he do when he got home?
GS: When he got home, then we went into the dairy business. When we came home, my father‟ s home was empty— out in Hibbard— and it was the farm and there several out buildings and all. So my husband and I decided that we would try the dairy business. So having the few cows that he did have originally from when he left then we bought a few more. We had to go in debt for that, of course, and then we went to the dairy business. We had quite a dairy herd, and so then we decided, why don‟ t we bottle our own milk, get one of these machines and bottle our own milk and deliver it, of which we did and had a pace all cleaned up, a special place in our basement at his home out there. So we milked the cows and bottled it and either he and I or my dad and him, dad was home from the service or building atomic bombs by this time too. He had decided to go else where to work. Anyway, we hired a young man, just Boy Scout age. He was one of Charle‟ s boy scouts to help deliver the milk. We put this milk in our car, and this boy come and run the milk into people‟ s places. We had built up quite a route in through Hibbard and then onto several people in Rexburg, and we did this for quite some time and decided that, maybe, there wasn‟ t enough money. That didn‟ t seem like we was making enough money and that, so we decided to sell out. We just sold our cows at a terrible, terrible amount of money. People just knew that we needed to go out took advantage of us when we had our sale. Anyway, so we left there and then we headed out to the Seattle area where we had heard that they were still making airplanes out t here at Boeing. So we were there for three years. Then he had such a yin to back to school and get what he wanted for his life‟ s occupation. So when we came back to go to school, he wanted so very much to stay in the Rexburg area. And one day, he was talking with one gentleman that was up there, his name was Fred Batey, and he was over all the hiring of the students to keep the buildings clean and all. So he offered Charles a job. He said “ would you like to work here and go to school? He said, “ It would be wonderful.” So he did work at that and went to school. Finally, he got the job of the head of all the janitorial. He was the supervisor of all that up there, and that was when there was just a matter of two, three building up there at that time. It just seemed to just grow and grow and more came to school, more building s needed for the school, students and everything. He wasn‟ t able to hold down this good job, supervisor in charge of everything with the new buildings being built, and see to it that they were kept clean and everything. So he quit college and thought, well, I‟ ll pick some of that up later. So as I said, his job grew with the more buildings to keep clean and take care of and everything. Oh, he loved that work in the janitorial; he just working with good people at Ricks College. He said rubbing shoulders with them was one of the most glorious experiences that you 12
could have. And people, they would say “ you‟ ve got a year of school behind you, now, and you should be able to get a better job than that, why do you want to stay with that?” He said, “ No, I wouldn‟ t trade my job. It‟ s not a high pay but I love it.” And as it grew bigger in his job, was more demanding but, oh, he did love it, to rub shoulders with those people that taught there and the brethren that would come from Salt Lake City to visit and everything was truly a wonderful experience.
KH: Did he work there till he retired?
GS: Yes, 25 years and so it was a good job. We was able to go ahead with our lives and look forward to building our home which we did one day. We thought when we build our home, we will build it board by board as we can afford so that I‟ s done it will be paid for. That‟ s what we were doing. Charles built the basement so beautiful. He just had that fixed up so lovely for us and our three daughters. One day, we received a call from someone at the college. I thought it was President Clark, I‟ m not sure. We were just going to live in this basement down here. Again, it was fixed so nice until we had this all done up here. It was all boarded in, the size and what room, but to finish it. Well, anyway, President Clark, one day, called and said “ Charles, I know that you‟ re building a home.” And he said “ would you be able to go onward and upward with it and be able to move up there and let some of our college students rent your basement?” he said “ I‟ ll guarantee you if you will do that, you‟ re basement will never be empty. You‟ ll always have boys. So at this time, the rodeo was just beginning to be big time at Ricks College here, and he said “ now,” he said “ you‟ ve got three months. Could you have your home built and be in it complete enough so these college boys, we have ten.” Charles said “ I‟ ve only got three bedrooms down here, big living room and everything, but,” he said “ I‟ ll fix it for ten if you want me to. I‟ ll bunk each bedroom. I‟ ll double- bunk so that there will be four to each bedroom and two in the small one.” So he said “ I‟ ll be able to take your ten for you then.” So this is what we did: we hurried, he just worked and worked and worked to get it done with the help of my father and a few others, and we went ahead and finished this all off. And sure enough, the cowboys come to town. We was ready for them. It was so fun because in that basement, we not only had ten cowboys, but we had ten saddlers; we had ropes all between my nice fixtures. There‟ d be ropes that strung out to dry, to stretch, to everything you know and all. This was the beginning of our renting to boys which is now about fifty years later that we rented to boys. It was as wonderful experience, and we was able to help to pay for our home by having these college boys in. but that was the story of that. He did not get to go onto get more schooling, but he learned so much from these young people that would come from all sorts of homes all over the world looking for work, and he tired so hard to give everyone a job so they could finish their education. I felt like he was as educated as any man in town. And he was such an honest man, and he took on a second job of selling sewing machines. He bought me a sewing machine which was the Pfaff one time, and I just loved to sew and everything. So, finally, he was approached by the company and would he like to sell up in through this area, and so he did. He sold sewing machines all voer this upper valley and everything. And that was his second income with Ricks 13
College. And then he repaired machines for many years. He was one of the most honest men you‟ ll ever know. He could not take advantage of everyone and charge them for something that he didn‟ t have, or that they didn‟ t get, like a repair that might not quite suit them at this time or whatever, but that was our livelihood the rest of our life.
KH: There are just a few more topics I would like to cover. One would be the period of the 1960‟ s. And during that period, there was the women‟ s liberation movement of the 1960‟ s and there was also the Civil Right Movement. I just wanted to find out what were your feelings about these different things. Did you support the women‟ s liberation movement and the Civil Rights Movement, or how did you feel about those?
GS: It was very hard when the women started demanding as much money as a man to work, you know. It was very hard to go along with two different ways. I thought the women should be able to make more money than they did, should have been evened a little bit more, but I always felt like my husband was superior in my home. I wanted him that way. He was the man that would make all the final decisions on what, you know, was best for his family and everything. I mean the women went into the workforce, and they were very demanding. I believe there that they should make what they were really worth, but as far as making more than man, no. I did never look at that right square in the eye and could feel good about that. I thought they should have more of a desire to be home raising families, and this was where the war when that came in and the women had to go work. This was the very beginning of them finding hey could work, make good money, and wanting more worldly things which was a bad thing because those little children suffered from mother working. So this was the bad part about it. I always looked at it that as long as my husband possibly could to make a living without my help that he should do so, and he felt that way too. I wanted to not only be the priesthood and the main worker bringing in the money and that in my home. I felt that he should be at the top of the list when it comes to that, and he wanted to do that. There were times during our lives when after the children were a little bit older, and I found out that I could work at some of the dress shops in town and then I could be home with my children when they were home. Then I helped out there as much has I could too. As far the black movement, I was so happy to see blacks get anywhere that they could possibly get. I looked all my life at them being mistreated, always will feel bad for them and the Indians. It was just hard for me to believe that they had to suffer so much of which they did. I feel sorry for when we see these true movies and that of the Negro people and how they beaten and shunned and everything. I just couldn‟ t understand that. That was horrible to me. I‟ d like to tell one little experience going back in time when we lived in Burbank down there. Once in a while why whenever I‟ d go to town, I had to ride a bus. We didn‟ t have a car. Charles had a bicycle, and he‟ d ride to work. So I‟ d get on the bus, and I‟ ll never forget the first day I got on this bus. A beautiful sunny morning and I wanted to go to town and do some shopping. I was without the children this time. They stayed with a neighbor while I could go shopping without Charles. I got the bus, and it was kind of frightening because I really didn‟ t know where I was going. But I just told the driver and that. Anyway, the only seat I saw on the bus was this one 14
with this, right beside of a black lady, very, very black lady. So I went down, and I sat by her. Boy, I started talking with her, and she didn‟ t have too much to say, but I wanted to be friendly and just brought up conversation about the weather and our families and one thing another. We talked back and forth, and I looked around and oh, the people were glaring at me. It was just terrible. So when I got off the bus, it was my turn to get off, I bade this lady goodbye. The bus driver says as I got off, he said “ don‟ t do that again, lady.” I said “ what did I do wrong?” “ You sat with one of those Negros and talked with her too. I said “ what‟ s wrong with that? They‟ re just a different color in skin. They‟ re human too.” Oh, I was so crushed. Next time I got on a bus, I made it my point to find a black one to go sit by. And I did all the time, and I didn‟ t care what people thought. Someone told me later, he said it‟ s funny that you wasn‟ t yanked out of that bus and beat up because you could have been. But no, I got to love those people just much as anyone else, and I did not look at there skin. That didn‟ t mean anything to me. I befriended everyone I could find, and I found enjoyment in that.
KH: Ok. I want to thank Sister Smith. This tape will be put into the Women‟ s History Collection at the BYU- Idaho Special Collections and Archives for future researchers.