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Washington Women’s Heritage Project records, 1900-2000 
University of Washington Libraries Special Collections 
Etta May Bryant Alldredge 
January 25, 1998 
Cassette 1, Side 2 
 
 
Stephanie Holan  00:01 
--two of my interview with Etta Alldredge about her family background, and I just asked her 
how old she was when she didn't go to school, when you stopped going to high school. 
 
Etta Alldredge  00:15 
I was about 12, I guess. 
 
Stephanie Holan  00:17 
About 12?  
 
Etta Alldredge  00:18 
Yeah.  
 
Stephanie Holan  00:18 
And then how old were you when you met your husband Ward? 
 
Etta Alldredge  00:26 
I met a lot of fellas between there [laughs].  
 
Stephanie Holan  00:28 
Oh, you did? You had a lot of boyfriends? 
 
Etta Alldredge  00:31 
[Laughs] and then I went to this dance with this boy -- I'd been going with him several times -- 
and I met my husband at the dance. I knew of him. He had a homestead in Montana, or in-- yeah, 
in Montana. And so he wasn't home. But after the war, he came back. And that's how-- when I 
met him. 
 
Stephanie Holan  00:59 
Where'd you meet him, at the dance? 
 
Etta Alldredge  01:00 
Yeah, yes.  
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Stephanie Holan  01:01 
Did he ask you to dance? 
 
Etta Alldredge  01:02 
Yes. 
 
Stephanie Holan  01:03 
Is that how you met him?  
 
Etta Alldredge  01:04 
Yeah. Then we started going together after that. 
 
Stephanie Holan  01:08 
What happened to the boy you went to the dance with?  
 
Etta Alldredge  01:11 
No, he was around there [laughs]. 
 
Stephanie Holan  01:16 
And so how long did you and your husband date before you got married? 
 
Etta Alldredge  01:20 
Well, we met at this dance... Not very long. About six months, I guess, [inaudible].  
 
Stephanie Holan  01:33 
Wow.  
 
Etta Alldredge  01:34 
Well, I was 19 and he was 28, I guess, or what was. 
 
Stephanie Holan  01:39 
Wow. So then you got married, and you stayed in Colville for a while? 
 
Etta Alldredge  01:46 
No, we-- we married in Colville.  
 
Stephanie Holan  01:50 
OK. 
 
Etta Alldredge  01:51 
And we spent a few days with my folks, and stayed a few days with his folks, and then we 
moved to Montana. That's when I-- we moved upon Montana, or [inaudible], Washington, up to 
Montana. Up to his homestead.  
 
Stephanie Holan  02:09 
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Up to the homestead.  
 
Etta Alldredge  02:11 
And we stayed there a year. 
 
Stephanie Holan  02:12 
How'd you like living on the homestead? 
 
Etta Alldredge  02:14 
Oh, it's all right. 
 
Stephanie Holan  02:15 
Was it? What'd you guy-- what did you do on the homestead? 
 
Etta Alldredge  02:19 
He farmed. We put in wheat. And then the grasshoppers came along and ate up all the crop 
[laughs].  
 
Stephanie Holan  02:28 
The grasshoppers did? 
 
Etta Alldredge  02:29 
Oh yes, we had grasshoppers all over. Well, we moved back to my folks.  
 
Stephanie Holan  02:31 
Oh, wow. So then what did you do?  Because of the grasshoppers? 
 
Etta Alldredge  02:41 
Huh? 
 
Stephanie Holan  02:42 
Because of the grasshoppers?  
 
Etta Alldredge  02:43 
Yes.  
 
Stephanie Holan  02:44 
Oh, wow.  
 
Etta Alldredge  02:45 
Yeah. And then he got a job in the county seat in Colville. And we lived Colville for quite a 
while.  
 
Stephanie Holan  02:52 
Wow. That's really cool.  
 
Page 4 of 7 
 
Etta Alldredge  02:57 
And then he bought into a Mack truck. And we moved up into the mountains, a white pine 
sawmill across the river from Kettle Falls. And he logged hog logs. And we lived in a tent.  
 
Stephanie Holan  03:14 
You lived in a tent?  
 
Etta Alldredge  03:15 
Yes! And we cooked and [inaudible]-- he boarded the-- put the tent up, and then he put a floor in 
and built up on the sides. 
 
Stephanie Holan  03:27 
So what did you do while he was logging all day? 
 
Etta Alldredge  03:33 
I guess, nothing. Oh, I'd go up with him every once in a while and go up in the woods with him 
and come down with him with a load of logs. I take my-- I had a baby by that time, and Barbara 
was born.  
 
Stephanie Holan  03:43 
Oh, yeah?  
 
Etta Alldredge  03:44 
And I'd take her we'd go up-- up in that big Mack truck and go up in the woods. So they loaded 
him up with a great, big load of logs, and then we'd come down.  
 
Stephanie Holan  03:55 
And how long did you live there?  
 
Etta Alldredge  03:57 
Well, we lived there couple of years. Till they run out of logs. 
 
Stephanie Holan  04:01 
You lived in a tent for a couple years?  
 
Etta Alldredge  04:03 
Well, then we-- oh, then, meantime, we bought a place at Kettle Falls.  
 
Stephanie Holan  04:07 
Oh, OK. 
 
Etta Alldredge  04:08 
And we moved that. When the logging run out, right, we moved it in there. Oh, I moved a lot of 
time in my life. 
 
Stephanie Holan  04:17 
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So what was it like to have a little baby in the tent while your husband was logging?  
 
Etta Alldredge  04:23 
All right! I washed, did my washing and cooking and everything, and I was fine. 
 
Stephanie Holan  04:29 
What kind of stuff did you cook? What did you make?  
 
Etta Alldredge  04:32 
What did I cook? 
 
Stephanie Holan  04:33 
Uh-huh. 
 
Etta Alldredge  04:33 
Just ordinary cooking, I guess [laughs]. Just ordinary [inaudible] potatoes and gravy and meat.  
 
Stephanie Holan  04:43 
Wow. And then was Ruby born up there in Kettle Falls, too? 
 
Etta Alldredge  04:49 
She born in-- his mother run a maternity hospital, and she born in her grandmother's house. 
 
Stephanie Holan  05:00 
Oh, really? Wow. Just born in her house. 
 
Etta Alldredge  05:04 
Well, I guess they were all born in her house, all my children. 
 
Stephanie Holan  05:09 
All of them were? And were all of their births easy? 
 
Etta Alldredge  05:11 
Huh?  
 
Stephanie Holan  05:12 
Were they easy, or were they painful?  
 
Etta Alldredge  05:15 
The what?  
 
Stephanie Holan  05:15 
Were the births easy, or were they painful? Were you in labor for a long time? 
 
Etta Alldredge  05:20 
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Oh, yeah, just giving birth. Yeah, it was bad [laughter] time, but something you forget awful 
easy, though. 
 
Stephanie Holan  05:29 
Yeah. That and it worth it? 
 
Etta Alldredge  05:32 
Oh, yes. 
 
Stephanie Holan  05:33 
Yeah? Well, I think that's good for today. What do you think? Is that good for today?  
 
Etta Alldredge  05:42 
Yeah.  
 
Stephanie Holan  05:43 
And then I'll come back on Wednesday.  
 
Etta Alldredge  05:45 
Yeah. Maybe I'll-- I can remember better [laughs]. Some days I can remember better than other 
days.  
 
Stephanie Holan  05:50 
And if you want to show me pictures, too, I could put pictures in it, too. If you have pictures or 
anything that you want included, we can look at them. And if you don't mind... 
 
Etta Alldredge  06:00 
No, I got 'em here.  
 
Stephanie Holan  06:03 
OK.  
 
Etta Alldredge  06:04 
I'll look them up and to get things ready.  
 
Stephanie Holan  06:07 
OK. So what about three o'clock on Wednesday? 
 
Etta Alldredge  06:10 
Fine.  
 
Stephanie Holan  06:10 
Is that good?  
 
Etta Alldredge  06:11 
Yeah. 
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Stephanie Holan  06:12 
Cool. 
 
Etta Alldredge  06:12 
Yes, I'm-- 
 
Stephanie Holan  06:14 
I'm gonna turn it off.  
 
Etta Alldredge  06:15 
Yeah. 
 
Stephanie Holan  06:16 
OK? 
 