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Tape Summary Grace Roorda Date of Interview: 3/20/03 Interviewed By: Stephanie Roorda Side A 0-30 30-60 60-160 160-270 ~Introduction ~Spoke of childhood and growing up in Holland ~Spoke ofwhat school was like in Holland, life during WW2, and the benefits of living on a farm during the German occupation of Holland ~Talks about being a seamstress, attending a special seamstress school, did not have to go off to work because she was a seamstress ~Talks about meeting her husband, Albert Roorda ~Talks about living in small town, everybody knows everybody ~Loved to go skating on the canals during the wintertime ~Then goes back into life during the war again --Scarcity of resources ~There was a German camp close by that was continually bombed by the English-looked like fireworks-very scary! ~Many planes were shot down and firebombs were dropped-family was very fortunate because they only hit the driveway-and not the barn where grain was stored, as well as no one in their family dying ~Also spoke about German work camps ~Engagement to Albert Roorda--engagement different today-much longer engagements ~Roordas were on a waiting list to go to America-after 3 years, approved ~In order to go to America, Grace married Albert a month later after being approved (21 and 22 yrs. old) ~Left to America in the spring (March) ~Albert lucky to go to America because he was discharged from Dutch army-many men shipped to Indonesia at that time-medical personal reported him having poor hearing (however, has very good hearing) ~Dutch money worthless-bought furniture and shipped to America across the Panama Canal and up to Seattle ~Grace and Albert traveled on boat for 10 days and arrived at Ellis Island ~Grace was pregnant at the time, very sick on boat ~When in America, did not speak English and only had $22 left in their pocket ~Traveled on train across country to the Dutch community of Lynden, W A-had relatives there ~Most beautiful sight when arrived 270-300 300-365 365-482 SideB ~Albert had a hard time keeping a job-he was a carpenter-but only knew the metric system ~First winter was the worst ever-they told Albert's parents not to come to America ~All of the canned foods in basement broke because it was so cold ~Never homesick because she looked forward to having children, unlike in Holland-she now had a house of her own, food, and children of her own-was always busy with her children ~Sewed clothes for neighbors-they taught her English ~Spoke of cold winters where there was no drinking water, when they sent milk to the creamery, the milk cans would come back filled with drinking water for them ~Farm was a secondary job; Albert laid brick or did carpentry work during the day and would milk in the morning and at night. ~Spoke about pregnancy ~Visits with doctor ~Gained so much weight because now she had so much food available to her-weighed up to 200 lbs. ~Stayed up to 5 days in Hospital after childbirth -Spoke of raising children 0-30 -School- started with reading, writing-lots of memorization -Went to a Christian school-memorized the Book ofPsalms-still knows all the verses today 30-85 85-140 -Boy went home at 3pm-girls stayed and learned a handcraft ~Went home for lunch and had 15 minute recesses -Wore wooden shoes-Grace's father made them-wore big wool socks underneath ~Talked about her parents and their family ~Mother was 28 years old when married, Father was 6 years younger ~Worked so much, not much time for other activities-hard working, Christian people ~Learn to obey parents when young ~When young, read a book about a ship on a blue ocean--never thought that would be her one day on a ship on the big, blue ocean ~Albert and Graced hoped to get a motorcycle one day--instead ended up with a Ford Model T ~America very different-everything is big, beautiful, and wonderful 140-160 170-325 325-390 390-465 465-482 ~During the war had nothing-very fortunate now to have a house and land ~Spoke more about farm-had from 12-20 cows ~First winter-had beautiful Holstein cow-froze to death ~Talked about how she learned to can food and bake BREAK ~Spoke about her brothers and sisters-brieflife summaries ~Spoke about Albert's family ~Both families knew each other-small town ~Spoke of Holland after the war, reclaimed land ~Grace's family moved to new reclaimed land-town where everything was planned out ~She was glad she learned how to be independent and how to make a living ~Never borrowed money from the government--did not want to be controlled by government ~Reflects on life ~Hardships in family life--divorce of son and pregnancy of daughter ~Croqueting blankets for all of her grandchildren-baby blankets for their future children ~Talks about her name change to Grace-Albert kept his name--easy to pronounce-not like hers ~Tape cuts off conversation
Object Description
Rating | |
Title | Roorda, Grace Oral History Interview, 2003 |
Interviewer | Roorda, Stephanie |
Date | 2003-04-22 |
Description | 62 minute oral history with Grace Roorda, conducted for a Women in the West (HIST 398 course at Washington State University). She talks about her early childhood on a farm in Holland during World War II. She talks about her community and growing up during the war. She married a friend of her brother's and moved to America, and the Dutch community of Lynden, Washington. She describes her new life in America. |
Subject | Economic & social conditions; Immigrants; Rural women |
Coverage | Europe--Netherlands--Holland; North and Central America--United States--Washington (State)--Whatcom County--Lynden |
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 | ua262b06f67 |
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 | ua262b06f67_Abstract |
Full Text | Tape Summary Grace Roorda Date of Interview: 3/20/03 Interviewed By: Stephanie Roorda Side A 0-30 30-60 60-160 160-270 ~Introduction ~Spoke of childhood and growing up in Holland ~Spoke ofwhat school was like in Holland, life during WW2, and the benefits of living on a farm during the German occupation of Holland ~Talks about being a seamstress, attending a special seamstress school, did not have to go off to work because she was a seamstress ~Talks about meeting her husband, Albert Roorda ~Talks about living in small town, everybody knows everybody ~Loved to go skating on the canals during the wintertime ~Then goes back into life during the war again --Scarcity of resources ~There was a German camp close by that was continually bombed by the English-looked like fireworks-very scary! ~Many planes were shot down and firebombs were dropped-family was very fortunate because they only hit the driveway-and not the barn where grain was stored, as well as no one in their family dying ~Also spoke about German work camps ~Engagement to Albert Roorda--engagement different today-much longer engagements ~Roordas were on a waiting list to go to America-after 3 years, approved ~In order to go to America, Grace married Albert a month later after being approved (21 and 22 yrs. old) ~Left to America in the spring (March) ~Albert lucky to go to America because he was discharged from Dutch army-many men shipped to Indonesia at that time-medical personal reported him having poor hearing (however, has very good hearing) ~Dutch money worthless-bought furniture and shipped to America across the Panama Canal and up to Seattle ~Grace and Albert traveled on boat for 10 days and arrived at Ellis Island ~Grace was pregnant at the time, very sick on boat ~When in America, did not speak English and only had $22 left in their pocket ~Traveled on train across country to the Dutch community of Lynden, W A-had relatives there ~Most beautiful sight when arrived 270-300 300-365 365-482 SideB ~Albert had a hard time keeping a job-he was a carpenter-but only knew the metric system ~First winter was the worst ever-they told Albert's parents not to come to America ~All of the canned foods in basement broke because it was so cold ~Never homesick because she looked forward to having children, unlike in Holland-she now had a house of her own, food, and children of her own-was always busy with her children ~Sewed clothes for neighbors-they taught her English ~Spoke of cold winters where there was no drinking water, when they sent milk to the creamery, the milk cans would come back filled with drinking water for them ~Farm was a secondary job; Albert laid brick or did carpentry work during the day and would milk in the morning and at night. ~Spoke about pregnancy ~Visits with doctor ~Gained so much weight because now she had so much food available to her-weighed up to 200 lbs. ~Stayed up to 5 days in Hospital after childbirth -Spoke of raising children 0-30 -School- started with reading, writing-lots of memorization -Went to a Christian school-memorized the Book ofPsalms-still knows all the verses today 30-85 85-140 -Boy went home at 3pm-girls stayed and learned a handcraft ~Went home for lunch and had 15 minute recesses -Wore wooden shoes-Grace's father made them-wore big wool socks underneath ~Talked about her parents and their family ~Mother was 28 years old when married, Father was 6 years younger ~Worked so much, not much time for other activities-hard working, Christian people ~Learn to obey parents when young ~When young, read a book about a ship on a blue ocean--never thought that would be her one day on a ship on the big, blue ocean ~Albert and Graced hoped to get a motorcycle one day--instead ended up with a Ford Model T ~America very different-everything is big, beautiful, and wonderful 140-160 170-325 325-390 390-465 465-482 ~During the war had nothing-very fortunate now to have a house and land ~Spoke more about farm-had from 12-20 cows ~First winter-had beautiful Holstein cow-froze to death ~Talked about how she learned to can food and bake BREAK ~Spoke about her brothers and sisters-brieflife summaries ~Spoke about Albert's family ~Both families knew each other-small town ~Spoke of Holland after the war, reclaimed land ~Grace's family moved to new reclaimed land-town where everything was planned out ~She was glad she learned how to be independent and how to make a living ~Never borrowed money from the government--did not want to be controlled by government ~Reflects on life ~Hardships in family life--divorce of son and pregnancy of daughter ~Croqueting blankets for all of her grandchildren-baby blankets for their future children ~Talks about her name change to Grace-Albert kept his name--easy to pronounce-not like hers ~Tape cuts off conversation |
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