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Oral History Tape Summary Helen Kelley Morris Tape 1. Side A 006 Kelley born Waitsburg, WA on 2/11/1 0; farm on Jasper Mountain. One miscarriage prior. Both sets of grandparents lived in 011 Jasper Mountain isolated; no cars 029 Father and his father were cattle ranchers in Ft. Collins, CO. Father broke hip. Injury was set, so was a cripple. 046 Father got a job as an engineer with the Northern Pacific RR from Portland to Dayton, OR 053 that ran Father's parents didn't like running cattle alone so came out purchased a hotel in The Dalles, OR OR and 064 Mother lived in Waitsburg; her family came from Illinois to be with relatives and because house in Springfield burned down; started over in WA as farmers for hire or as hands 080 Mother and Father met at Waitsburg Community Dance; married as Methodists. 099 Farm on Jasper Mountain before married; had cattle, horses and grain. 110-122 Moved to town because a neighboring farm had two or three little girls who were "scared to death of a strange man." When Mildred was born, Father said he couldn't imagine raising three little girls up there. Came to Walla Walla, found a job at the Farm Bureau and sold out on the mountain. 137-147 Just played at home before went to school; the three girls always received a doll at Christmas. After Helen went to school, held a school in the attic; fixed desks for Mabel, Mildred, and Bud and made them write papers. "I was the teacher. I always thought I'd be teaching. But I didn't like school that much so I gave up teaching but the worst thing I ever took up was bookkeeping." 153 "I had to work for Dad after I got big enough;" worked in his business at the Grain Growers. 159 Mom never worked outside home. "She worked. She had three girls that had to have starched dresses, aprons, and petticoats; she had little boy clothes and Dad had to have a clean shirt, so she was busy. She had to cook three meals for six people." 168 Stove had a boiler on it and mother boiled the clothes. "Dad bought her a washing machine." The washing machine had a wringer on it and it was electric; "It was wonderful." 187 "He bought her a new stove that had gas on side, on two plates and she accepted that." 200-216 Bought seven or eight warehouses and had a warehouse man going in with him--A.B.A. Hughes. "Dad was going to start Kelley Grain Company and the warehouses were going to be Kelley-Hughes Grain Company." Then Mr. Hughes went hunting and shot himself. Howard Hughes, his son, took over the business. "He ran the warehouses and Dad ran the grain company and made a pile of money." 228 The farmers would come into town for a part, sit around all day and then call the Kelleys at 1 Opm and Dad said he'd seen them smoking and drinking at Shep's Smokehouse during the day, but he'd get dressed and get what they wanted. He was trying to make a go of his business. 242 "I went to High School four years, and college one year." 248-275 "Mom always saw to it that we had dolls for Christmas. The big thing was what our doll was going to look like. There were two little girls living one block down who never had a Dad and didn't get a doll, so Dad . . . picked out two dolls and had them delivered to those girls. He didn't tell them; that's the way he was, he'd go out of his way for anyone." 277 Mother: "She was always tired. When I think of my mother, I think of tired. She only weighed 90 lbs. I don't believe she ever weighed more than 90 lbs. in her whole life. And she did more work that any of us. When we moved to Pullman, I worked in the Kelley Grain Growers all the time-all summer and some years, Mabel would work, too. Doing bookkeeping, adding wheat receipts--a boring job." When farmers brought in a load, they would receive a slip, which was brought to the office and added to the dailies. Not many other women working. Worked all day Saturday and all summer. 322 Captain of basketball team at school; also played volleyball. "I was never much of a sportsman, but you had to do something." 365 "All we had were dances at school. I didn't ever have many dates, just went out with a bunch of people. By the time we got home from school, we had to go to school until 4, and I did all the cooking for many years--Mom got tired--and we'd have our big meal at noon ... " 392-415 "One year the farmers decided to cooperate and go into business for themselves, so that put all the people like Dad out of business, so he sold it to the farmers and they hired Howard to run it because the North Pacific Grain Growers, which was all the Grain Growers in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho, had an office in Spokane and they had hired Dad to run it. So we moved our whole kit and kaboodle to Spokane and I went to Kinman Business College." Side 2 002 "Before we did that we lived next door to a woman who ran a kindergarten and she needed help, in those days, I guess you didn't have to have a teacher's certificate to open one of those places, so anyhow I started working for her." 010-035 "So I decided to go to business college because I didn't know enough about bookkeeping. So I went to the Kinman Business College and there was girl there named Dorothy and she was married and one day she said, 'I'm going to go to a dance this Friday and so we've got a friend coming to town, would you go with him?' and I said yes and so they came to pick me up and she was not with her husband. It shocked me to death. I just didn't have a good time and it wasn't the fault of that guy that brought me, it was because I just was ashamed to be out with her--what if people knew her? Well, you know they did, that's the reason we were there--it was something of hers. So I would never go with him again. I just got to thinking, 'what if my mother would do something like this?' No kids were involved, though. I didn't know anybody that got a divorce." 052 "The Depression did have lots of effects on my family, except my dad had such a good job that paid him well. On day one of the girls at school said, 'you have more clothes than anybody I ever saw,' and I said, 'well, I've got two sisters.' We could all three wear each others' clothes." 075-091 Father quit the Spokane job because they wanted him to come to Chicago to run the United States Grain Growers Headquarters. "And he wanted to, but Mom said, 'I'm not taking three young girls to Chicago to live'--it was during ... AI Capone--'l'm not taking three young girls back to Chicago to live in that environment, if you go, you go alone.' So he started looking ... The Walla Walla Grain Growers were looking for a manager. So we moved back to Walla Walla and he managed the Walla Walia Grain Growers until he died. My mother had died in the meantime." 105-123 James Morris was a reporter for the Walla Walla Union and he had to take care of the markets; "He had to stop at our office and I had to give him the markets . . . One day . . . Jim came in and was in the office talking to Dad and I had something Dad wanted so I took it in and Dad said, 'Helen, I want you to meet Mr. Morrison,' and before I thought, I said, 'His name is Morris.' I was so unhappy with myself. Then he knew I'd been checking on him. He said, 'how do you do,' and we looked at each other and grinned." 133 "I wanted to invest in the stock market and they wouldn't let women invest in the stock market then. He [Jim] said, 'I'll do it for. You give me your money and tell me what you want,' and I said, 'Okay, maybe I'll do that,' and f mentioned it to Dad and he said, 'No, you're not going to do that. You're not supposed to invest in it and so you're not going to." 177-218 " After we went to the movies a couple of times, he decided he wanted to take me out after he got through work at 1 o'clock in the morning. Well, that didn't go over very well with my Dad but I went out with him a few a times that way, but mostly we had Saturday night dates because he had work Sunday. Then they changed his day off to Sunday and we'd have a Sunday date but we'd go to a movie and then we'd go up to the Chinese restaurant to eat--sometimes we'd be the only people in there, but usually there'd be other people who worked late. It was the only restaurant place to eat in the town. This went on until we got married. I finally had to quit work because I wasn't getting enough sleep and so I'd have colds and everything. I had to have my tonsils taken out." 230 "We went to Spokane and got married at the Falquists. And when we came home we went to mother's, my mother's, and after we'd been there two or three nights, Jim came home from work and said, 'Mom wants to know when we're going to go over there and stay.' So we went next day. I was determined to get along with my in-laws. Well, they were nice people and so I got along with them." 260-339 "All kids lived at home then. No, we didn't have a place and Mom and I went everyday to see where apartments were . . . Clinton Court had an apartment I wanted but he thought it was kind of expensive, probably $40/month, and we could get this place for $25. We moved in there and we stayed there until we had Mike and then we moved up on Roosevelt and down to Delma. When we lived on Roosevelt we lived on Mill Creek and so said, '! won't be able to let him go out and play ever.' So we moved over to Delmo and we were only one house over from it! So that's where we lived when he had to go to the hospital. He had a kidney infection and he had to have it removed and he got ether pneumonia and he didn't make it. He died the twelfth of December, Melinda was born the twentieth of January. One of Mildred's friends said, 'Oh, isn't it too bad she's left with those two little kids?' And she said, 'What are you talking about? That's the only thing that saved her life.' I didn't have time to fuss and stew about whether I was going to make it or not. Well, Dad decided I needed a house. I was staying with them and Mother and I were looking at apartments. I had Jim's insurance money and so Dad made the down payment on this house and then we got through it somehow. He finally paid it off--the whole thing.'' 344 "Jim used to come home from work and tell me about how bad things were in Europe. And I said, 'you're not going to go fighting--you gotta stay with me,' and he said, 'well, I'm sorry, you'll have to put up with it. If they send for me, I gotta go.'" 362-412 "Working was the only thing that saved me. Because ! didn't have to go to work until I got the kids in school. I got $75/month and I paid the bills, bought stuff for Mike and Melinda and of course, Mom furnished most of their clothes. She was always buying clothes. Mom and Grandmother Morris and Muriel wouldn't let a special day go by they got clothes."
Object Description
Rating | |
Title | Morris, Helen Oral History Interview, 1998 |
Interviewer | Waldron, Nel |
Date | 1998-05-08 |
Description | 62 minute oral history with Helen Morris, conducted for a Women in the West (HIST 398 course at Washington State University). She talks about her early childhood and daily life on a cattle ranch in rural Washington. She describes her experiences during the Great Depression and her difficulty, as a woman, to find employment. She attended Washington State College for a year, as well as a year at Kinman Business College. She met her husband while working for Walla Walla Grain growers and raised two children. |
Subject | Farm life; Rural women; Economic & social conditions; |
Coverage | North and Central America--United States--Washington (State)--Walla Walla County--Waitsburg; North and Central America--United States--Washington (State)--Walla Walla County--Walla Walla |
Type | Sound |
Genre | Interviews |
Publisher | Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections, Washington State University Libraries: https://libraries.wsu.edu/masc |
Rights | http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
Rights Notes | In copyright. Item is in copyright until 95 years after 2011 publication date. |
Identifier | ua262b02f21 |
Source | Is found in Archives 262, Women in the West Oral Histories https://libraries.wsu.edu/masc/finders/ua262.htm at Washington State University Libraries' Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections (MASC) https://libraries.wsu.edu/masc |
Holding Institution | Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections, Washington State University Libraries |
Contributors | Digitization and description funded through a National Endowment for the Humanities We the People grant for Washington Womens History to the Washington Womens History Consortium, a part of the Washington State Historical Society. |
Language | English |
Digitization | Original audio cassettes were converted to wav files using Audacity and a USBPre interface. Mp3 files were then created from the wav files for online access. Film clips were created as mpeg-4 files using Adobe Premiere Elements 9 to add selected images to the wav audio files. Print documents were scanned to pdf format using a Xerox Workcentre 5030 copier/scanner. |
Description
Title | ua262b02f21_Abstract |
Full Text | Oral History Tape Summary Helen Kelley Morris Tape 1. Side A 006 Kelley born Waitsburg, WA on 2/11/1 0; farm on Jasper Mountain. One miscarriage prior. Both sets of grandparents lived in 011 Jasper Mountain isolated; no cars 029 Father and his father were cattle ranchers in Ft. Collins, CO. Father broke hip. Injury was set, so was a cripple. 046 Father got a job as an engineer with the Northern Pacific RR from Portland to Dayton, OR 053 that ran Father's parents didn't like running cattle alone so came out purchased a hotel in The Dalles, OR OR and 064 Mother lived in Waitsburg; her family came from Illinois to be with relatives and because house in Springfield burned down; started over in WA as farmers for hire or as hands 080 Mother and Father met at Waitsburg Community Dance; married as Methodists. 099 Farm on Jasper Mountain before married; had cattle, horses and grain. 110-122 Moved to town because a neighboring farm had two or three little girls who were "scared to death of a strange man." When Mildred was born, Father said he couldn't imagine raising three little girls up there. Came to Walla Walla, found a job at the Farm Bureau and sold out on the mountain. 137-147 Just played at home before went to school; the three girls always received a doll at Christmas. After Helen went to school, held a school in the attic; fixed desks for Mabel, Mildred, and Bud and made them write papers. "I was the teacher. I always thought I'd be teaching. But I didn't like school that much so I gave up teaching but the worst thing I ever took up was bookkeeping." 153 "I had to work for Dad after I got big enough;" worked in his business at the Grain Growers. 159 Mom never worked outside home. "She worked. She had three girls that had to have starched dresses, aprons, and petticoats; she had little boy clothes and Dad had to have a clean shirt, so she was busy. She had to cook three meals for six people." 168 Stove had a boiler on it and mother boiled the clothes. "Dad bought her a washing machine." The washing machine had a wringer on it and it was electric; "It was wonderful." 187 "He bought her a new stove that had gas on side, on two plates and she accepted that." 200-216 Bought seven or eight warehouses and had a warehouse man going in with him--A.B.A. Hughes. "Dad was going to start Kelley Grain Company and the warehouses were going to be Kelley-Hughes Grain Company." Then Mr. Hughes went hunting and shot himself. Howard Hughes, his son, took over the business. "He ran the warehouses and Dad ran the grain company and made a pile of money." 228 The farmers would come into town for a part, sit around all day and then call the Kelleys at 1 Opm and Dad said he'd seen them smoking and drinking at Shep's Smokehouse during the day, but he'd get dressed and get what they wanted. He was trying to make a go of his business. 242 "I went to High School four years, and college one year." 248-275 "Mom always saw to it that we had dolls for Christmas. The big thing was what our doll was going to look like. There were two little girls living one block down who never had a Dad and didn't get a doll, so Dad . . . picked out two dolls and had them delivered to those girls. He didn't tell them; that's the way he was, he'd go out of his way for anyone." 277 Mother: "She was always tired. When I think of my mother, I think of tired. She only weighed 90 lbs. I don't believe she ever weighed more than 90 lbs. in her whole life. And she did more work that any of us. When we moved to Pullman, I worked in the Kelley Grain Growers all the time-all summer and some years, Mabel would work, too. Doing bookkeeping, adding wheat receipts--a boring job." When farmers brought in a load, they would receive a slip, which was brought to the office and added to the dailies. Not many other women working. Worked all day Saturday and all summer. 322 Captain of basketball team at school; also played volleyball. "I was never much of a sportsman, but you had to do something." 365 "All we had were dances at school. I didn't ever have many dates, just went out with a bunch of people. By the time we got home from school, we had to go to school until 4, and I did all the cooking for many years--Mom got tired--and we'd have our big meal at noon ... " 392-415 "One year the farmers decided to cooperate and go into business for themselves, so that put all the people like Dad out of business, so he sold it to the farmers and they hired Howard to run it because the North Pacific Grain Growers, which was all the Grain Growers in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho, had an office in Spokane and they had hired Dad to run it. So we moved our whole kit and kaboodle to Spokane and I went to Kinman Business College." Side 2 002 "Before we did that we lived next door to a woman who ran a kindergarten and she needed help, in those days, I guess you didn't have to have a teacher's certificate to open one of those places, so anyhow I started working for her." 010-035 "So I decided to go to business college because I didn't know enough about bookkeeping. So I went to the Kinman Business College and there was girl there named Dorothy and she was married and one day she said, 'I'm going to go to a dance this Friday and so we've got a friend coming to town, would you go with him?' and I said yes and so they came to pick me up and she was not with her husband. It shocked me to death. I just didn't have a good time and it wasn't the fault of that guy that brought me, it was because I just was ashamed to be out with her--what if people knew her? Well, you know they did, that's the reason we were there--it was something of hers. So I would never go with him again. I just got to thinking, 'what if my mother would do something like this?' No kids were involved, though. I didn't know anybody that got a divorce." 052 "The Depression did have lots of effects on my family, except my dad had such a good job that paid him well. On day one of the girls at school said, 'you have more clothes than anybody I ever saw,' and I said, 'well, I've got two sisters.' We could all three wear each others' clothes." 075-091 Father quit the Spokane job because they wanted him to come to Chicago to run the United States Grain Growers Headquarters. "And he wanted to, but Mom said, 'I'm not taking three young girls to Chicago to live'--it was during ... AI Capone--'l'm not taking three young girls back to Chicago to live in that environment, if you go, you go alone.' So he started looking ... The Walla Walla Grain Growers were looking for a manager. So we moved back to Walla Walla and he managed the Walla Walia Grain Growers until he died. My mother had died in the meantime." 105-123 James Morris was a reporter for the Walla Walla Union and he had to take care of the markets; "He had to stop at our office and I had to give him the markets . . . One day . . . Jim came in and was in the office talking to Dad and I had something Dad wanted so I took it in and Dad said, 'Helen, I want you to meet Mr. Morrison,' and before I thought, I said, 'His name is Morris.' I was so unhappy with myself. Then he knew I'd been checking on him. He said, 'how do you do,' and we looked at each other and grinned." 133 "I wanted to invest in the stock market and they wouldn't let women invest in the stock market then. He [Jim] said, 'I'll do it for. You give me your money and tell me what you want,' and I said, 'Okay, maybe I'll do that,' and f mentioned it to Dad and he said, 'No, you're not going to do that. You're not supposed to invest in it and so you're not going to." 177-218 " After we went to the movies a couple of times, he decided he wanted to take me out after he got through work at 1 o'clock in the morning. Well, that didn't go over very well with my Dad but I went out with him a few a times that way, but mostly we had Saturday night dates because he had work Sunday. Then they changed his day off to Sunday and we'd have a Sunday date but we'd go to a movie and then we'd go up to the Chinese restaurant to eat--sometimes we'd be the only people in there, but usually there'd be other people who worked late. It was the only restaurant place to eat in the town. This went on until we got married. I finally had to quit work because I wasn't getting enough sleep and so I'd have colds and everything. I had to have my tonsils taken out." 230 "We went to Spokane and got married at the Falquists. And when we came home we went to mother's, my mother's, and after we'd been there two or three nights, Jim came home from work and said, 'Mom wants to know when we're going to go over there and stay.' So we went next day. I was determined to get along with my in-laws. Well, they were nice people and so I got along with them." 260-339 "All kids lived at home then. No, we didn't have a place and Mom and I went everyday to see where apartments were . . . Clinton Court had an apartment I wanted but he thought it was kind of expensive, probably $40/month, and we could get this place for $25. We moved in there and we stayed there until we had Mike and then we moved up on Roosevelt and down to Delma. When we lived on Roosevelt we lived on Mill Creek and so said, '! won't be able to let him go out and play ever.' So we moved over to Delmo and we were only one house over from it! So that's where we lived when he had to go to the hospital. He had a kidney infection and he had to have it removed and he got ether pneumonia and he didn't make it. He died the twelfth of December, Melinda was born the twentieth of January. One of Mildred's friends said, 'Oh, isn't it too bad she's left with those two little kids?' And she said, 'What are you talking about? That's the only thing that saved her life.' I didn't have time to fuss and stew about whether I was going to make it or not. Well, Dad decided I needed a house. I was staying with them and Mother and I were looking at apartments. I had Jim's insurance money and so Dad made the down payment on this house and then we got through it somehow. He finally paid it off--the whole thing.'' 344 "Jim used to come home from work and tell me about how bad things were in Europe. And I said, 'you're not going to go fighting--you gotta stay with me,' and he said, 'well, I'm sorry, you'll have to put up with it. If they send for me, I gotta go.'" 362-412 "Working was the only thing that saved me. Because ! didn't have to go to work until I got the kids in school. I got $75/month and I paid the bills, bought stuff for Mike and Melinda and of course, Mom furnished most of their clothes. She was always buying clothes. Mom and Grandmother Morris and Muriel wouldn't let a special day go by they got clothes." |
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