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Charleen Brown 2/25/05 CD Summary Interviewed by: Stephanie Spurgetis Hist. 398 Oral History Track 1 4:40 min. Track2 6:18 min. Track3 5:24 min. Track4 6:17 min. Name and birth date. Born in North Central Kansas on Labor Day 3 Sept. 1917. Grew up on a farm w/ no electricity and running H20. Lived through depression & dust bowl days. Mom died in grade school in child birth. No siblings. Dad married when 17, two Yz brothers and one Yz sister. Left after marriage w/ 35c. Worked in dime store & watched children. Helped w/ construction of new schooL Moved to Topeka, Kansas. Worked in cafeteria then moved next door to Chinese restaurant. Went to business college. Worked all day going to classes in between. Graduated in 1 yr. Earned 4$ a week + meals. Rented a room for $1.25 a month. Farm was Yz mile from school & church. Dad into education. Started at age 7 because family did not like teacher. Always had male teachers. Church highlight of life @ the time. Dad avid supporter. Herded cows up & down road during drought to "mow" the lawn. Dusted church from age 10-11. Did all chores on the farm. Only thing they bought was coffee & sugar. Lived off farm. Took over ALL duties when mom died. Drove a team of horses @ young age. Lord sustained her. Moved to Denver & met husband. Moved to Arizona for winter. Worked@ a Dude Ranch. Wealthy clients. Husband worked in restaurant. Summer moved to LA. Had first son in 1940. Worked nights, took care of baby in day. Mother-in-law came to live with them & took over house. Stayed till she died. Worked for Realtor. Saw movie stars all the time. Bing Crosby, ect. Moved to North Long Beach, worked for steal comp. Did payroll and personal. Second son born 1946. WWII alerts. Husband worked in shipyards. Steal comp. owner Jewish, she wrote personal letters for him because he could not write in English. Moved to Alaska Track 5 5:37min. Track 6 3:53 min. Track 7 10:00min. Track8 5:15 min. Track 9 5:19 min. in 1953. Went to Fairbanks & got job@ Air Force base next day. Started as pay clerk & eventually put in charge of accounting. Talks of frrst computer. Divorced husband due to his affair. Remarried in 1968 to a military man. Never expected to. Retired in 1972 & 1975. Asked to come back to work at base to start a military library because men were not passing MOS tests. Took about 3 yrs. Did it all by herself. Lived on her salary, saved his. Built log cabin for 2 yrs. Finished cabin, retired & left Alaska. Planned on traveling but instead got apartment in Coeur d' Lane. Second son moved to Spokane owns printing business. Has 3 kids. 5 grandchildren. First son general contractor in Alaska still. Has two daughters, 4 grandchildren. Husband dies of heart attack @ home in 1992. Moved to Spokane, W A in 1993. Took care of many elderly neighbors. Has survived all of them. Tape cut out for a few minutes. Talking of South Hill Bible Church. Lord directed her there. Close to her house. Met pastor right off and thinks of the church as her family. Knows 75% of church members. Says easy to meet people because of her vast work experience. Raised in the church because dad was a Christian. Says Mother-in-law led her to a personal relationship w/ Christ. Raised sons in church. Talks of younger son getting into printing business even though dad did construction, but 3 Uncles in printing business. Says had limited education, but got by. Learned as she went. ALWAYS worked w/ men. Usually ended up working in payroll & personal. Talks of working for an engineer starting a construction comp. in Anaheim, CA. Sees him years later in Alaska @ base. Lord provided one Christian wherever she was. This is what she needed. Never had trouble w/ the men in the military. Got slapped by a newspaper from a Sergeant in the hip, but immediately apologized because he did it out of habit. Only thing she remembers. No intention of sexual harassment. Only thing she could think of. Talks of multiple practical jokes, but absolutely no sexual harassment. Refers to Mae West story. Sexual harassment was not tolerated. She was very protected. Track 10 5:18 min. Track 11 1:31 min. Soldier's mom writes Charlene & says son told her he had another mom (referring to Charlene) Arkansas man was only one who made a fuss working for her. He "did not join the military to work for a woman, especially a civilian." Convinces him to learn office system while he waits to be transferred, but says he learned system & stayed. Talks of a girl she helped study for G.E.D. Spent more time in Alaska working for military than anywhere else. Switches to talking of working @ packing plant. Tells fun stories of co-workers/employees @base. Has to have good sense of humor to work w/ men. Talks of men thinking differently. Talks of great friends spanning her life. Speaks of neighbors. Rude interviewer's cell phone rings, interview over.
Object Description
Rating | |
Title | Brown, Charleen Oral History Interview, 2005 |
Interviewer | Spurgetis, Stephanie |
Date | 2005-04-30 |
Description | 60 minute oral history with Charleen Brown, conducted for a Women in the West (HIST 398 course at Washington State University). She talks about her early childhood on a farm in northern Kansas during the Depression and the Dust Bowl. Her mother died when she was young, so she was raised by her father and took care of the household responsibilities. After high school, she attended business school in Topeka, Kansas, then moved to Denver, Colorado, where she married and had two children. The young family moved frequently, then built a home in Alaska. She and her first husband divorced, she remarried, then was widowed. After her second husband's death, she settled in Spokane, Washington. |
Subject | Rural women; Farm life; Internal migration; Divorced women |
Coverage | North and Central America--United States--Kansas; North and Central America--United States--Colorado--Denver County--Denver; North and Central America--United States--California--Los Angeles County--Los Angeles; North and Central America--United States--Alaska; North and Central America--United States--Idaho--Kootenai County--Coeur d'Alene; North and Central America--United States--Washington (State)--Spokane County-- Spokane |
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 | ua262b07f77 |
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 | ua262b07f77_Abstract |
Full Text | Charleen Brown 2/25/05 CD Summary Interviewed by: Stephanie Spurgetis Hist. 398 Oral History Track 1 4:40 min. Track2 6:18 min. Track3 5:24 min. Track4 6:17 min. Name and birth date. Born in North Central Kansas on Labor Day 3 Sept. 1917. Grew up on a farm w/ no electricity and running H20. Lived through depression & dust bowl days. Mom died in grade school in child birth. No siblings. Dad married when 17, two Yz brothers and one Yz sister. Left after marriage w/ 35c. Worked in dime store & watched children. Helped w/ construction of new schooL Moved to Topeka, Kansas. Worked in cafeteria then moved next door to Chinese restaurant. Went to business college. Worked all day going to classes in between. Graduated in 1 yr. Earned 4$ a week + meals. Rented a room for $1.25 a month. Farm was Yz mile from school & church. Dad into education. Started at age 7 because family did not like teacher. Always had male teachers. Church highlight of life @ the time. Dad avid supporter. Herded cows up & down road during drought to "mow" the lawn. Dusted church from age 10-11. Did all chores on the farm. Only thing they bought was coffee & sugar. Lived off farm. Took over ALL duties when mom died. Drove a team of horses @ young age. Lord sustained her. Moved to Denver & met husband. Moved to Arizona for winter. Worked@ a Dude Ranch. Wealthy clients. Husband worked in restaurant. Summer moved to LA. Had first son in 1940. Worked nights, took care of baby in day. Mother-in-law came to live with them & took over house. Stayed till she died. Worked for Realtor. Saw movie stars all the time. Bing Crosby, ect. Moved to North Long Beach, worked for steal comp. Did payroll and personal. Second son born 1946. WWII alerts. Husband worked in shipyards. Steal comp. owner Jewish, she wrote personal letters for him because he could not write in English. Moved to Alaska Track 5 5:37min. Track 6 3:53 min. Track 7 10:00min. Track8 5:15 min. Track 9 5:19 min. in 1953. Went to Fairbanks & got job@ Air Force base next day. Started as pay clerk & eventually put in charge of accounting. Talks of frrst computer. Divorced husband due to his affair. Remarried in 1968 to a military man. Never expected to. Retired in 1972 & 1975. Asked to come back to work at base to start a military library because men were not passing MOS tests. Took about 3 yrs. Did it all by herself. Lived on her salary, saved his. Built log cabin for 2 yrs. Finished cabin, retired & left Alaska. Planned on traveling but instead got apartment in Coeur d' Lane. Second son moved to Spokane owns printing business. Has 3 kids. 5 grandchildren. First son general contractor in Alaska still. Has two daughters, 4 grandchildren. Husband dies of heart attack @ home in 1992. Moved to Spokane, W A in 1993. Took care of many elderly neighbors. Has survived all of them. Tape cut out for a few minutes. Talking of South Hill Bible Church. Lord directed her there. Close to her house. Met pastor right off and thinks of the church as her family. Knows 75% of church members. Says easy to meet people because of her vast work experience. Raised in the church because dad was a Christian. Says Mother-in-law led her to a personal relationship w/ Christ. Raised sons in church. Talks of younger son getting into printing business even though dad did construction, but 3 Uncles in printing business. Says had limited education, but got by. Learned as she went. ALWAYS worked w/ men. Usually ended up working in payroll & personal. Talks of working for an engineer starting a construction comp. in Anaheim, CA. Sees him years later in Alaska @ base. Lord provided one Christian wherever she was. This is what she needed. Never had trouble w/ the men in the military. Got slapped by a newspaper from a Sergeant in the hip, but immediately apologized because he did it out of habit. Only thing she remembers. No intention of sexual harassment. Only thing she could think of. Talks of multiple practical jokes, but absolutely no sexual harassment. Refers to Mae West story. Sexual harassment was not tolerated. She was very protected. Track 10 5:18 min. Track 11 1:31 min. Soldier's mom writes Charlene & says son told her he had another mom (referring to Charlene) Arkansas man was only one who made a fuss working for her. He "did not join the military to work for a woman, especially a civilian." Convinces him to learn office system while he waits to be transferred, but says he learned system & stayed. Talks of a girl she helped study for G.E.D. Spent more time in Alaska working for military than anywhere else. Switches to talking of working @ packing plant. Tells fun stories of co-workers/employees @base. Has to have good sense of humor to work w/ men. Talks of men thinking differently. Talks of great friends spanning her life. Speaks of neighbors. Rude interviewer's cell phone rings, interview over. |
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