Page 1 of 27 
 
Washington Women’s Heritage Project records, 1900-2000 
University of Washington Libraries Special Collections 
Etta May Bryant Alldredge 
January 28, 1998 
Cassette 2, Side 1 
 
 
Stephanie Holan  00:00 
Stephanie Holan on January 28th, 1998. Today, I'll be interviewing Etta Alldredge for the first 
time about her childhood. This is Stephanie Holan, and I'm here with Etta Alldredge for our 
second-- our first interview. And it's January 28th, 1998.  OK, so what I thought that I would ask 
you -- since today, I think we're gonna do your childhood, when you were little.  
 
Etta Alldredge  00:31 
Childhood [laughs]. 
 
Stephanie Holan  00:32 
And, so, I guess my first question would be, "What is your very earliest memory?" 
 
Etta Alldredge  00:37 
Now, what? 
 
Stephanie Holan  00:37 
What's your earliest memory? 
 
Etta Alldredge  00:39 
Oh. I think I was about three years old.  
 
Stephanie Holan  00:46 
Oh, really?  
 
Etta Alldredge  00:47 
I knew that my mother was in bed with my-- had this-- of course, we didn't go to the hospital or 
nothing like that. She had the baby in the home. And she was in bed, and my grandfather came 
down and sat at the foot of the bed. And I remember going up and looking at him. And I can just 
see him just as plain today as if he was down here, too. But that's all I remember.  
 
Stephanie Holan  01:18 
--is your grandfather at the foot of your mom's bed?  
 
Page 2 of 27 
 
Etta Alldredge  01:18 
Huh? 
 
Stephanie Holan  01:19 
Your grandfather at the foot of your mom's bed? 
 
Etta Alldredge  01:24 
Now, what?  
 
Stephanie Holan  01:24 
Your grandfather was sitting on the foot of your bed, or your mother's bed? 
 
Etta Alldredge  01:29 
Foot of my mother's bed.  
 
Stephanie Holan  01:31 
OK. 
 
Etta Alldredge  01:32 
She was in bed and-- with the baby, and he was-- sat at the foot of the bed, in a chair. 
 
Stephanie Holan  01:42 
Which baby was it? 
 
Etta Alldredge  01:43 
My brother.  
 
Stephanie Holan  01:44 
Your brother...? 
 
Etta Alldredge  01:47 
Raymond.  
 
Stephanie Holan  01:47 
Raymond?  
 
Etta Alldredge  01:48 
Yeah. 
 
Stephanie Holan  01:48 
So Raymond's younger than you? 
 
Etta Alldredge  01:50 
Oh, yes, three years younger.  
 
Stephanie Holan  01:51 
Page 3 of 27 
 
Three years younger. 
 
Etta Alldredge  01:52 
That's the reason I remember I must have been about three, because she was in bed. That's about 
all I remember [laughs]. 
 
Stephanie Holan  01:59 
And then Wilma, your sister, is older than you.  
 
Etta Alldredge  02:03 
My brother's older.  
 
Stephanie Holan  02:04 
And then you have another brother that's older. 
 
Etta Alldredge  02:06 
Yeah, Winton. And then my sister was about 16 months younger than he.  
 
Stephanie Holan  02:13 
OK. So you're the second to youngest in your family?  
 
Etta Alldredge  02:17 
Yes. Yes, I came along about 1900.  
 
Stephanie Holan  02:23 
Wow. And you lived in Rice? 
 
Etta Alldredge  02:27 
What?  
 
Stephanie Holan  02:27 
You lived in Rice when you were that little? Rice, Washington?  
 
Etta Alldredge  02:30 
Well, it's a little post office called Arizina.  
 
Stephanie Holan  02:35 
Arizina, that's right. And it's next to Rice.  
 
Etta Alldredge  02:38 
Yeah. 
 
Stephanie Holan  02:39 
And what was your house like when you were little? 
 
Etta Alldredge  02:42 
Page 4 of 27 
 
My house like? 
 
Stephanie Holan  02:42 
What was it-- what did it look like? 
 
Etta Alldredge  02:44 
Oh, there's a log cabin house and two rooms. 
 
Stephanie Holan  02:50 
Just two rooms? 
 
Etta Alldredge  02:51 
Two rooms. 
 
Stephanie Holan  02:51 
Wow.  
 
Etta Alldredge  02:53 
And my father had-- built on it two more rooms, a kitchen and a bedroom. 
 
Stephanie Holan  03:02 
And so did you all-- where did everybody sleep?  
 
Etta Alldredge  03:04 
Well, we all slept in that-- we slept in that-- the front room was probably the front room, and 
then-- in this log cabin. And then we all slept in that-- 
 
Stephanie Holan  03:16 
In the bedroom?  
 
Etta Alldredge  03:17 
In the bedroom.  
 
Stephanie Holan  03:18 
And did you all have your own separate beds in there?  
 
Etta Alldredge  03:20 
Oh, no, we never-- oh no, we all slept-- I guess we all slept together. I guess my mother and 
father had a bed. But us kids, I don't know how we slept. I don't remember [laughs]. 
 
Stephanie Holan  03:31 
So were you really close with your brothers and sisters when you were little? 
 
Etta Alldredge  03:34 
Oh, yes, yes. Yeah, I sure was. 
 
Page 5 of 27 
 
Stephanie Holan  03:39 
What did you guys do together?  
 
Etta Alldredge  03:41 
What? 
 
Stephanie Holan  03:41 
What did you guys do together? Like, what, did you play games, or...? 
 
Etta Alldredge  03:45 
Well, I don't remember much about-- I wrote down some things I thought you might be 
interested in.  
 
Stephanie Holan  03:51 
Oh, OK! 
 
Etta Alldredge  03:54 
He homesteaded next to a swamp. Had water all over. It's just a little swamp. And then he piped 
it into the house, into the what they call a milk house.  
 
Stephanie Holan  04:07 
Oh, wow. 
 
Etta Alldredge  04:08 
And it run all the time. And then he piped it on out to the water trough, for the horses. And then 
it's-- I guess it sank, because it never run any place. I don't remember it running any place, but it 
must have sunk. 
 
Stephanie Holan  04:23 
Oh, wow. And your dad did that? 
 
Etta Alldredge  04:25 
Huh? 
 
Stephanie Holan  04:25 
Your dad did that?  
 
Etta Alldredge  04:26 
Oh, yes. And then he had [inaudible] quite a lot of the time. And then we all-- I don't remember 
much about those early days [laughs]. But anyway, one time -- I told you that my father made his 
money by selling hogs. Well, one of his old sows had about 12 little pigs. And one of them, she 
must have stepped on it and tore a [inaudible] right over his heart.  
 
Stephanie Holan  05:11 
Oh, wow.  
 
Page 6 of 27 
 
Etta Alldredge  05:12 
And Mama took it in, I remember, took it in, and took her needle and thread-- and black thread, 
and she sewed that up. You could see his little heart a'beatin'. 
 
Stephanie Holan  05:24 
Oh, wow.  
 
Etta Alldredge  05:25 
He was just goin'.  
 
Stephanie Holan  05:27 
Just a little tiny?  
 
Etta Alldredge  05:28 
Oh, yes, real tiny. And you could see his little heart beating. And she sewed him up. And she 
kept him-- I know she kept him in a box behind the kitchen stove, so he'd be warm. And then she 
fill him-- fixed a bottle of milk, and he took that. And she fed him with the spoon until he could 
strong enough to suck.  
 
Stephanie Holan  05:55 
Aww.  
 
Etta Alldredge  05:55 
But he that-- and then after he got big enough to got-- he got well, and then he got-- they put him 
outside, then, of course, in the pen out there. But us kids all fed him that milk.  
 
Stephanie Holan  06:08 
Oh, you got to feed him, too?  
 
Etta Alldredge  06:09 
Oh, yes, we all fed him.  
 
Stephanie Holan  06:11 
Aww. 
 
Etta Alldredge  06:11 
Mama fixed a bottle, and we'd stick it down there and he'd just suck it [laughs]. 
 
Stephanie Holan  06:16 
Did he have-- did you guys name him? Did he have a name?  
 
Etta Alldredge  06:19 
Name? No, I don't remember. 
 
Stephanie Holan  06:21 
You don't remember? 
Page 7 of 27 
 
 
Etta Alldredge  06:22 
No. But anyway, when that sold in that fall, or when [inaudible], he still had his scar, but he was 
a bigger than all the rest of them, because we fed him too much milk [laughs]. 
 
Stephanie Holan  06:39 
[Laughs] aww, that's cute. So how did you feel when he went back outside? Did you miss him?  
 
Etta Alldredge  06:46 
Now, what? 
 
Stephanie Holan  06:47 
When he went back outside, did you miss him being in the house?  
 
Etta Alldredge  06:49 
Oh, he'd-- we had more fun with that. He'd follow us all over the whole country, all over the 
place. He just like one of us. We played with him all the time. 
 
Stephanie Holan  07:02 
Aww, that's so cute. That's so cute. 
 
Etta Alldredge  07:07 
Oh yes, we had more fun with that pig. 
 
Stephanie Holan  07:10 
So did you guys-- you just had pigs on-- or d-- or hogs? 
 
Etta Alldredge  07:14 
Uh-huh. 
 
Stephanie Holan  07:14 
Did you have any other animals?  
 
Etta Alldredge  07:16 
Oh, oh, yes, [?Pop and?] Daddy had horses and cows. We had-- he'd milk cows. Mother kept her 
milk and Daddy piped up the water to this trough, kind of in this milk house. And it had about 
this much water [?in there?] all the time. And that's where mother kept her butter and milk and 
all that in there. We didn't have no freezer or anything. 
 
Stephanie Holan  07:39 
[Gasps] I didn't-- you know what, I didn't even think about that. I couldn't imagine not having 
those things. That's so weird! I didn't-- I didn't even think about that. So she kept them in the 
milk house-- 
 
Etta Alldredge  07:52 
Yeah. 
Page 8 of 27 
 
 
Stephanie Holan  07:53 
--and they stayed cold in there?  
 
Etta Alldredge  07:54 
Oh, yes. Just that came right out of that-- came right out of the ground and right into the milk 
house. 
 
Stephanie Holan  08:00 
And so the milk house was next to your house? 
 
Etta Alldredge  08:02 
Right next to the house, yes. 
 
Stephanie Holan  08:03 
Right next-- OK. By the kitchen, or...? 
 
Etta Alldredge  08:06 
Down to the-- by the kitchen.  
 
Stephanie Holan  08:08 
Oh, wow.  
 
Etta Alldredge  08:10 
No, people don't think about those things.  
 
Stephanie Holan  08:12 
No! And so did you guys have running water in your house?  
 
Etta Alldredge  08:16 
No, we didn't have it in the house. It was just in this milk house. 
 
Stephanie Holan  08:20 
And so you'd get the water from the milk house, too?  
 
Etta Alldredge  08:22 
Yeah. We wanted, we'd go out there and get water out of that trough. 
 
Stephanie Holan  08:27 
Oh, wow. So then where did you guys bathe? 
 
Etta Alldredge  08:30 
Bathe? Oh, Mother had a tub, and we'd heat the water and we bathed in the tubs. 
 
Stephanie Holan  08:38 
Oh! I did not-- I forgot-- I didn't even-- this didn't even phase-- so you had, like, a big tub?  
Page 9 of 27 
 
 
Etta Alldredge  08:44 
Well, just a wash basin-- wash tub. It wasn't very big. But we'd all bathe; she did get water and 
then we'd bath. 
 
Stephanie Holan  08:53 
So did you guys do that, like, once a day, or...?  
 
Etta Alldredge  08:56 
No, about once a week.  
 
Stephanie Holan  08:57 
Once a week? 
 
Etta Alldredge  08:58 
I don't know how-- I don't remember how often we bathed [laughs].  
 
Stephanie Holan  09:01 
Oh, wow. 
 
Etta Alldredge  09:03 
But I know we bathed, that's how we bathed. 
 
Stephanie Holan  09:05 
Oh, my gosh. That's-- I did not-- that's so crazy. I didn't even think about that.  
 
Etta Alldredge  09:11 
And then-- when Daddy wasn't use these horses, why, he turned them loose, and they'd go up in 
the pasture and they'd stay up there maybe two or three days, till they got thirsty, and then they'd 
come down to water. And one day, they came down and had water. They came up on the 
barnyard, and they [?all stand up there, the sun shining?]. And I decided I'd walk in between 
their legs. And I walked in there, and I crawl-- had to stoop a little bit to get underneath the 
horse's stomach. And I walked underneath the stomach between their legs. 
 
Stephanie Holan  09:50 
Were you scared? 
 
Etta Alldredge  09:52 
No, I don't know. I walked... But guess what? Dad caught me. And he told me to get out of that. 
If I ever went back in there again with those horses, they'd tan my hide for me. 
 
Stephanie Holan  10:07 
Oh, no [laughs]. 
 
Etta Alldredge  10:09 
Page 10 of 27 
 
Well, those horses didn't seem to bother. They weren't scared of me and I wasn't scared of them, 
I guess [laughs]. 
 
Stephanie Holan  10:14 
Aww, that's awesome.  
 
Etta Alldredge  10:17 
So I didn't ever do that again.  
 
Stephanie Holan  10:18 
You didn't do-- well, you were a good kid, then [laughs].  So you-- did your-- did you and your 
brothers and sisters, did you have chores at your house? Like, were you supposed to feed the 
horses, or...?  
 
Etta Alldredge  10:29 
The what now?  
 
Stephanie Holan  10:30 
Did you and your brothers and sisters have chores around the house?  
 
Etta Alldredge  10:33 
Oh yeah, oh yeah, if we got big enough. Oh, we all had our chores to do. Now, I don't remember 
when I was little, like [inaudible]-- I don't remember my chores. Oh yes. We all had our chores 
to do [laughs]. 
 
Stephanie Holan  10:46 
And so then, how old were you when you went to school? 
 
Etta Alldredge  10:49 
Well, then-- we had a big orchard [inaudible].  
 
Stephanie Holan  10:53 
Oh, an apple orchard?  
 
Etta Alldredge  10:55 
Oh, apple orchard, and cherry orchard, all kinds of fruit.  
 
Stephanie Holan  10:58 
Oh, wow.  
 
Etta Alldredge  10:59 
And we's playing out there in that orchard one time, just before we went to school, even. And we 
had little dog, name was Tippy.  
 
Stephanie Holan  11:11 
Tippy. 
Page 11 of 27 
 
 
Etta Alldredge  11:12 
And there's a little snake out there. We didn't know it, but she took hold of this snake and shook 
it, and all-- they were little snakes all came out of the mouth. I don't know where it-- must have 
came out of the mouth, because they was all over. They were just little, about this long.  
 
Stephanie Holan  11:27 
Oh, were you-- 
 
Etta Alldredge  11:28 
All around. 
 
Stephanie Holan  11:29 
Oh, were you scared?  
 
Etta Alldredge  11:31 
Oh, no, I-- no, I didn't-- that was just nature. I mean I guess I would just-- didn't think about 
being scared.  
 
Stephanie Holan  11:39 
Oh, wow. So what did you guys do? 
 
Etta Alldredge  11:42 
Well, I guess we kept on playing, I don't-- [laughs] all I remember.  
 
Stephanie Holan  11:45 
[Laughs] Oh my gosh, wow.  
 
Etta Alldredge  11:49 
And then meantime, my dad bought 150 acres more land.  
 
Stephanie Holan  11:56 
Wow.  
 
Etta Alldredge  11:57 
And then he built a four bedroom house on that-- on the new land that he bought.  
 
Stephanie Holan  12:07 
Yeah? 
 
Etta Alldredge  12:08 
And then he dug a ditch and buried all that water, all that pipe, into the new house.  
 
Stephanie Holan  12:16 
Wow.  
 
Page 12 of 27 
 
Etta Alldredge  12:17 
So we had water. That's the only water we had, in the new house, but we had plenty of it. He did 
stay in there-- he'd had this trough, and we'd kept our butter and stuff in that trough. And then 
he'd pipe it out for the horses and the cattle out in the yard. 
 
Stephanie Holan  12:35 
Oh, wow. So did you guys-- you said you had butter. Did you make the butter? Or did you buy 
the butter? 
 
Etta Alldredge  12:40 
Oh, no. We churned our butter, made our own butter. Ma, yes. My mother skimmed all the-- put 
milk in the pans, and then she'd skim all the cream off and it [inaudible] got ripe, what they call 
ripe. But then we'd churn it. We had a churn, we'd churn until it came to butter. And then we 
had-- what you call it? A butter mold, about a pound, is what... And then we'd put this-- after we 
got it all worked out and salted and everything, then we put it into this butter mold. And then 
when it got [inaudible] then we could take the [?bowl?] off. And hook it, and take it off, and 
we'd have our pound of butter. 
 
Stephanie Holan  13:24 
And you made butter?  
 
Etta Alldredge  13:25 
Oh, yes, many a time.  
 
Stephanie Holan  13:27 
Wow. 
 
Etta Alldredge  13:29 
After I got big enough. 
 
Stephanie Holan  13:32 
So do you remember the first time you made butter? The first time you learned how?  
 
Etta Alldredge  13:36 
Oh, I-- now. I would make-- I remember my mother making it years. I don't know. I don't 
remember the first time. 
 
Stephanie Holan  13:43 
Wow. So did you-- you made all your dairy products, then. Cheese, and everything? 
 
Etta Alldredge  13:49 
Oh, yeah, made all that. Yes.  
 
Stephanie Holan  13:51 
See, I don't even... I can't even relate, because we buy it.  
 
Page 13 of 27 
 
Etta Alldredge  13:55 
You people don't know that.  
 
Stephanie Holan  13:57 
Wow. That's amazing to me. That's amazing to me that you know how to do those things. 
 
Etta Alldredge  14:01 
Well, [crosstalk]. We moved in the new house. I went to one log cabin to school. My first two 
years of school, I went to  log cabin. 
 
Stephanie Holan  14:11 
And how old were you?  
 
Etta Alldredge  14:13 
Well, I suppose I was about six, I suppose. [?Used?] a kid to go to school.  
 
Stephanie Holan  14:17 
OK. 
 
Etta Alldredge  14:17 
And then they build a-- and we-- and then they build a schoolhouse closer to the house. There 
was about 12 or 14 of us in this log cabin, but she taught from one to eight, up the eighth grade, 
one teacher. And then-- but after, moved down to-- in the big school by... Then there was about 
28 to 30 of us, then. But just one teacher [inaudible] taught from one to eighth grade. She'd take 
the first grade, then she'd take the second grade, the third grade and fourth grade on up to the 
eighth grade.  
 
Stephanie Holan  14:54 
Wow. Was she nice? Did you like your teacher? 
 
Etta Alldredge  14:57 
Huh? 
 
Stephanie Holan  14:58 
Did you like your teacher?  
 
Etta Alldredge  14:59 
Oh, yes. Yes. I remember of her, yes. 
 
Stephanie Holan  15:04 
So when you went to school, you went with your brothers and sisters all to the same 
schoolhouse? 
 
Etta Alldredge  15:08 
Oh, yes. Mm-hmm.  
 
Page 14 of 27 
 
Stephanie Holan  15:09 
And did you have good friends at school that you played with, besides your brothers and sisters?  
 
Etta Alldredge  15:12 
Oh, yes. Had a lot of children about-- a whole bunch of us girls was about... Some of us three 
months older, and some of us three months younger than me, but we's all about the same age.  
 
Stephanie Holan  15:23 
And you played together? 
 
Etta Alldredge  15:24 
Oh, yes, played all together.  
 
Stephanie Holan  15:26 
And so you had 150 acres, which I can imagine is a lot of land [laughs].  
 
Etta Alldredge  15:33 
Yeah.  
 
Stephanie Holan  15:33 
And so how far away was your next-- was your how far away did your girlfriends live?  
 
Etta Alldredge  15:38 
To school?  
 
Stephanie Holan  15:39 
Um, how far away-- yeah, how far away was the school?  
 
Etta Alldredge  15:42 
Oh, it wasn't much further than-- [?out?] this first [?house?]-- oh, it wasn't very far from where 
we lived. 
 
Stephanie Holan  15:48 
OK. And then how far away did your girlfriends live from you?  
 
Etta Alldredge  15:52 
Oh, they lived all around. I don't know. They lived all around there. 
 
Stephanie Holan  15:55 
And did you play with them outside of school, or just when you were at school?  
 
Etta Alldredge  15:59 
Just at school, I think.  
 
Stephanie Holan  16:00 
Just at school? 
Page 15 of 27 
 
 
Etta Alldredge  16:01 
And [laughs] one time we-- us girls were all in-- at noon, it was, sun was shining, and the 
window was open. [Inaudible],  and the boys were outside. And this boy picked up a little rock, 
and he kicked it into the-- into the bathroom-- inside the schoolhouse, and put this girl eye out. 
And we's all right around her and it came out. Come all run out.  
 
Stephanie Holan  16:33 
Her whole eye came out?  
 
Etta Alldredge  16:35 
Oh, yeah, all that white stuff came up.  
 
Stephanie Holan  16:38 
What did you do?  
 
Etta Alldredge  16:39 
Oh, nothing. We just all astonished. We-- but the teacher came right along and put a towel over it 
and took her home. I don't know, I don't-- that's all I remember. 
 
Stephanie Holan  16:49 
Oh, wow. Oh, my gosh. 
 
Etta Alldredge  16:52 
Oh, yes. He was trying to-- I think he was trying to get a girl attention, because he kind of liked 
her, I think. He just took that rock in there. But it was the three [inaudible], and he just struck her 
eye. 
 
Stephanie Holan  17:11 
So did you--?  
 
Etta Alldredge  17:11 
But she got over it, and kept on-- graduated up in eighth grade with us, so it didn't [crosstalk]. 
 
Stephanie Holan  17:17 
[Laughs] must not have hurt her too much!  
 
Etta Alldredge  17:19 
Well, [inaudible] after it was out, there was nothing... I don't know what-- she didn't have an eye 
or anything, I don't remember. That's all I remember.  
 
Stephanie Holan  17:29 
Oh, wow, wow.  
 
Etta Alldredge  17:32 
Oh yes.  
Page 16 of 27 
 
 
Stephanie Holan  17:33 
So did you have a crush on any boys in your class? 
 
Etta Alldredge  17:35 
Oh yes, I had a boyfriend I liked pretty well, but.  
 
Stephanie Holan  17:40 
Do you remember his name?  
 
Etta Alldredge  17:41 
Yeah, Roscoe [?Day?]. 
 
Stephanie Holan  17:43 
Roscoe? That's a pretty slick name.  
 
Etta Alldredge  17:45 
[Laughs]. 
 
Stephanie Holan  17:47 
What did Roscoe look like? 
 
Etta Alldredge  17:48 
Huh?  
 
Stephanie Holan  17:48 
What did he look like? Do you remember? 
 
Etta Alldredge  17:51 
Well, they just moved in there not long before that, and they'd lost their mother. There was five 
children, and he raising them. The father was raising them. And we used to-- I used to go up 
there and spend the night with them and and see my... After we moved into the new house, my 
father bought an organ for my for my older sister, and we all learned how to-- learned how to 
play it. And then after I got into the eighth grade in school, why, she wanted to learn how to-- 
they had an organ, and so I'd go up there and spend the night with them and teach her how to 
play organ. So I taught her how to play the organ. 
 
Stephanie Holan  18:50 
Roscoe's sister?  
 
Etta Alldredge  18:52 
Huh? 
 
Stephanie Holan  18:52 
Roscoe's sister?  
 
Page 17 of 27 
 
Etta Alldredge  18:53 
Yes.  
 
Stephanie Holan  18:53 
Oh, wow. 
 
Etta Alldredge  18:54 
She was about my age.  
 
Stephanie Holan  18:56 
And was Roscoe older than you or younger than you?  
 
Etta Alldredge  18:58 
Older. 
 
Stephanie Holan  18:58 
Older? Ooh, going for the older man.  
 
Etta Alldredge  19:01 
Well, he was-- well, he wasn't more than three or four months older, anyway.  
 
Stephanie Holan  19:08 
Oh. So did you ever date Roscoe? Did you ever--?  
 
Etta Alldredge  19:12 
No. Oh, no, no. I didn't date until I was 15 or 16 years old.  
 
Stephanie Holan  19:18 
Oh, really?  
 
Etta Alldredge  19:19 
No. 
 
Stephanie Holan  19:19 
Wow. Fifteen or sixteen [laughs]. So um, in your family -- back to your family -- did you guys 
spend a lot of time together?  
 
Etta Alldredge  19:30 
Oh, yes, lots of time. Oh, and then after-- we moved in there, and then-- oh, I have to [laugh] 
remember. I have get my glasses. 
 
Stephanie Holan  19:44 
OK. 
 
Etta Alldredge  19:52 
Page 18 of 27 
 
And then, after we moved in there, why, my brothers had found the catalog. Had a catalog. I 
don't know what the catalog was, but [inaudible]. Put a radio together. So he sent away and got 
all the parts. He put that radio together and and we had to listen to it in our ear. We didn't have 
no loudspeaker, or anything. But all the neighbors would come in and listen to that radio. 
[Laughs]. 
 
Stephanie Holan  20:27 
Did you like it? Did you like it?  
 
Etta Alldredge  20:29 
Yeah.  
 
Stephanie Holan  20:30 
Do you like music?  
 
Etta Alldredge  20:31 
Huh? 
 
Stephanie Holan  20:31 
Do you like music a lot?  
 
Etta Alldredge  20:33 
Oh, yes. So then after a while, then they-- he built-- they built a tennis court. 
 
Stephanie Holan  20:41 
Outside of your house? 
 
Etta Alldredge  20:42 
No-- yeah, outside the house. And we would play tennis. And people, young people, would come 
in and spend all Sunday and then play tennis all day long. 
 
Stephanie Holan  20:54 
Were you a good tennis player? 
 
Etta Alldredge  20:56 
Oh, yes, oh yes, we all played tennis. 
 
Stephanie Holan  20:59 
Were you good? Did you win a lot?  
 
Etta Alldredge  21:00 
Oh, I don't remember about that [laughs], but we played a lot of tennis.  
 
Stephanie Holan  21:05 
Wow.  
 
Page 19 of 27 
 
Etta Alldredge  21:06 
And then not long after that, why, then they had this big creek right down off in the property 
from about [inaudible] from here up to the next house. There's a creek down. And Dad put in a 
pump-- then that [inaudible]-- the salt dried up. So then we had-- he-- Dad had to go down and 
get this creek and got-- put a pump down there and pump water up to the house. Meantime... And 
then they'd go down and-- went down and dammed up the creek, and that's where we learned to 
swim. 
 
Stephanie Holan  21:55 
You swam in the creek?  
 
Etta Alldredge  21:57 
Yeah! It had [inaudible]-- not a big-- great, big place, but enough for us kids.  
 
Stephanie Holan  22:02 
Were you-- when you learned how to swim, were you afraid at all? Really? And did you do-- did 
you just pick it right up, and it was no problem?  
 
Etta Alldredge  22:11 
What? No... And in the wintertime, that was freezed over. And then we'd skate on it.  
 
Stephanie Holan  22:19 
Oh, fun!  
 
Etta Alldredge  22:21 
Oh, yes. We had lot of fun skating. 
 
Stephanie Holan  22:24 
Were you a good ice skater?  
 
Etta Alldredge  22:25 
Oh, I skated. I wasn't-- we didn't run no challenge or anything. We just played on it.  
 
Stephanie Holan  22:33 
Yeah. Wow.  
 
Etta Alldredge  22:35 
And then there's a great big, long hill back of the house without no timber on it. 
 
Stephanie Holan  22:39 
So the hill's in the back side of the house, and the creek's in the front side of the house? 
 
Etta Alldredge  22:44 
On the back of the house.  
 
Stephanie Holan  22:46 
Page 20 of 27 
 
OK. 
 
Etta Alldredge  22:47 
The house here and the hill there.  
 
Stephanie Holan  22:50 
And is the creek in front of the hill?  
 
Etta Alldredge  22:52 
Oh, no, that creek was down there. This is another great, big hill on it-- on-- up on the house.  
 
Stephanie Holan  22:58 
OK. OK. 
 
Etta Alldredge  22:59 
Then my brother made these real skis.  
 
Stephanie Holan  23:03 
Your brother made skis? 
 
Etta Alldredge  23:05 
Yes, and my father made skis, and he made all of us skis. We'd go up in that hill as far as we 
could go, and then we'd ski down.  
 
Stephanie Holan  23:15 
Oh, my... [laughs]. 
 
Etta Alldredge  23:16 
Oh, we did everything [laughs]. 
 
Stephanie Holan  23:18 
You-- so you can play the organ, you can swim, you could ice skate, you could ski...  
 
Etta Alldredge  23:27 
Yes. 
 
Stephanie Holan  23:28 
That's pretty amazing.  
 
Etta Alldredge  23:29 
And then-- then my sister married.  
 
Stephanie Holan  23:42 
Your sister got married. 
 
Etta Alldredge  23:43 
Page 21 of 27 
 
Got married, and she took the organ. 
 
Stephanie Holan  23:44 
[Laughs].  
 
Etta Alldredge  23:46 
Well, it's her organ.  
 
Stephanie Holan  23:47 
It was her organ. 
 
Etta Alldredge  23:47 
And next, Dad bought me the piano, and I still have the piano.  
 
Stephanie Holan  23:51 
Oh.  
 
Etta Alldredge  23:52 
My grandson has it now. 
 
Stephanie Holan  23:55 
So how old were you when your sister got married? 
 
Etta Alldredge  23:57 
I was 13. 
 
Stephanie Holan  23:58 
Thirteen?  
 
Etta Alldredge  23:59 
Uh-huh.  
 
Stephanie Holan  23:59 
OK.  
 
Etta Alldredge  24:00 
And I-- we played the organ. I played. And then when I-- I told you, I rode to high school. Well, 
then I stopped once a week and take my piano lessons. 
 
Stephanie Holan  24:12 
On the way home from school? 
 
Etta Alldredge  24:15 
Tie my horse up at her place, go and take my piano lesson, come out and go back, go home. 
 
Stephanie Holan  24:20 
Page 22 of 27 
 
So who taught you how to play the piano?  
 
Etta Alldredge  24:22 
Older woman there, was a music teacher. 
 
Stephanie Holan  24:24 
A music teacher? Right by the school? 
 
Etta Alldredge  24:27 
Oh, no. Was half-- about halfway between the three miles. Between about a mile and a half from 
our place and a mile and a half from the school. About halfway.  
 
Stephanie Holan  24:36 
And so did you pay for piano lessons, or did she do it...? 
 
Etta Alldredge  24:39 
I don't know if Daddy did.  
 
Stephanie Holan  24:41 
You don't know? 
 
Etta Alldredge  24:41 
I never asked him. 
 
Stephanie Holan  24:43 
Did you like playing the piano? 
 
Etta Alldredge  24:44 
Oh, yes, yes. And then... I can't remember all our things, but we did-- it just come to my mind.  
 
Stephanie Holan  24:57 
Oh, that's OK. That's OK. 
 
Etta Alldredge  25:00 
And then-- that was 13. And then another family moved into the neighborhood with children 
about our age. And they would-- we'd all gather their house, and we'd sing.  
 
Stephanie Holan  25:15 
You'd sing?  
 
Etta Alldredge  25:16 
Sing, oh, sing, everything to think of. 
 
Stephanie Holan  25:19 
Did you play the piano while you sang?  
 
Page 23 of 27 
 
Etta Alldredge  25:21 
But they-- she had organ. They had organ. And we-- and she played. And we'd sing and sing and 
sing and sing. And then, when she'd get tired of playing, when I'd take over, and we'd sing some 
more. And then if we'd go to each house, different houses, and do this. And then if they didn't-- 
we didn't have-- if they didn't have an organ, why, we played-- when-- then we played with 
"Skip to Lou, My Darling." Do you ever hear of it? 
 
Stephanie Holan  25:57 
Uh-huh.  
 
Etta Alldredge  25:57 
That's what we'd-- play all these, we'd play different tunes like that. We'd sing [laughs].  
 
Stephanie Holan  26:03 
Did you dance, too?  
 
Etta Alldredge  26:04 
Well, eventually we got the-- got so.  
 
Stephanie Holan  26:07 
Eventually you started dancing?  
 
Etta Alldredge  26:08 
After we got [inaudible], we danced.  
 
Stephanie Holan  26:13 
So you just sang all the time? Or did you do it for holidays, like Christmas? 
 
Etta Alldredge  26:18 
Oh, just on Sundays or Saturdays.  
 
Stephanie Holan  26:19 
On Sundays and Saturdays? 
 
Etta Alldredge  26:21 
[Crosstalk] when we got out of school. All this happened mostly in the wintertime.  
 
Stephanie Holan  26:25 
In the winter? 
 
Etta Alldredge  26:26 
Yeah. Except when you're [?swimming?]. 
 
Stephanie Holan  26:29 
So what were-- that's awesome. So what were the holidays like at your house? Like, what did 
you guys do for Halloween when you were little?  
Page 24 of 27 
 
 
Etta Alldredge  26:39 
I don't remember.  
 
Stephanie Holan  26:39 
You don't remember? What was Christmas like? 
 
Etta Alldredge  26:43 
Well, I know we had Christmas.  
 
Stephanie Holan  26:46 
Mm-hmm. And did you all sit at home and make dinner, and...? 
 
Etta Alldredge  26:53 
I don't remember that.  
 
Stephanie Holan  26:54 
You don't remember? 
 
Etta Alldredge  26:57 
I oughta be able to. But anyway, we'd-- I know one-- had one Christmas, my aunt gave us, my 
sister and I, both a doll. Oh, we were-- I wasn't 13 years old, then [laughs]. I was a lot younger.  
 
Stephanie Holan  27:13 
[Laughs] Yeah. What kind of doll is it? Just a little baby doll? 
 
Etta Alldredge  27:20 
Yeah. A doll.  
 
Stephanie Holan  27:23 
Just a doll.  
 
Etta Alldredge  27:24 
It had the china head, I know.  
 
Stephanie Holan  27:26 
Oh, wow. So, um, when you-- where did-- did all of your family live in Arizina, Washington? 
Like, your grandparents and aunts and uncles? 
 
Etta Alldredge  27:41 
Oh, no. They lived in different places. We didn't get very often together.  
 
Stephanie Holan  27:48 
You didn't? 
 
Etta Alldredge  27:48 
Page 25 of 27 
 
No. My aunt lives in Spokane and my other one lived in Republic, and all just around the 
neighborhood, but not close.  
 
Stephanie Holan  27:58 
Not close? So when you guys had holidays, was it just your immediate-- you and your brothers 
and sisters and your mom and dad? 
 
Etta Alldredge  28:07 
I don't remember when I was-- oh. We didn't have time to holidays, I don't think. Oh, all the time 
I was-- we were learning things all the time. I learned how to sew, and Mama had a sewing 
machine. And I learned how to crochet and knit and knit. And Daddy raised these hogs, and he 
laid lots of corn, but we'd have to pull the weeds out of those corn, us kids would. 
 
Stephanie Holan  28:44 
Ugh. Did you like pulling weeds out of the corn? 
 
Etta Alldredge  28:47 
[Laughs] yeah. And then we-- which-- [inaudible]-- then by the time the fall came, why, then 
Dad would put a box on the wagon and we'd husk the corn and throw it into this wagon. So we 
got a load, then we'd take it down and put in the corn crib.  
 
Stephanie Holan  29:06 
Where was the corn crib? 
 
Etta Alldredge  29:08 
Oh, building that had the slits each about this far apart all around it. They would-- lots of air 
could get through into the corn.  
 
Stephanie Holan  29:23 
OK. 
 
Etta Alldredge  29:24 
And had a roof on it, so it would get-- never would get wet or anything. 
 
Stephanie Holan  29:29 
And it was-- was it by the milk house? 
 
Etta Alldredge  29:32 
No, had that down by the barn.  
 
Stephanie Holan  29:34 
Oh, that was down by the barn? 
 
Etta Alldredge  29:36 
Yeah, it was close to the hog pen. 
 
Page 26 of 27 
 
Stephanie Holan  29:38 
OK. And how far away from the house was that? 
 
Etta Alldredge  29:43 
Just about like this, I think. 
 
Stephanie Holan  29:45 
Like, about to Nancy's house? Maybe about...  
 
Etta Alldredge  29:48 
Yeah.  
 
Stephanie Holan  29:49 
OK. 
 
Etta Alldredge  29:49 
Yeah. We had a big-- had a big two barns on it, and a big yard, big barnyard, and had a 
blacksmith and a corn crib, and a garage.  
 
Stephanie Holan  30:02 
Oh, garage? 
 
Etta Alldredge  30:03 
Oh yes, we had a garage. After Dad-- when I was 15 years old, Dad bought a car. 
 
Stephanie Holan  30:10 
Oh my gosh, I forgot about this! See? These are the things that are different. They're so different, 
like everybody has cars here. 
 
Etta Alldredge  30:17 
Oh no, no. We was the first to have had the radio in the neighborhood. I know that [inaudible]. 
 
Stephanie Holan  30:24 
You were the first one in the neighborhood to have a radio, so everyone came to your house to 
listen to the radio.  
 
Etta Alldredge  30:29 
Yeah.  
 
Stephanie Holan  30:29 
Did you have a favorite program that you listened to?  
 
Etta Alldredge  30:32 
Oh, no. 
 
Stephanie Holan  30:32 
Page 27 of 27 
 
No?  
 
Etta Alldredge  30:32 
Oh, no. We just picked it up whenever we could, because it didn't come in like it does now at all, 
because it was just out in the waves, I guess. I don't know.  
 
Stephanie Holan  30:45 
Yeah.  
 
Etta Alldredge  30:46 
And then meantime, when I was home, Daddy bought a lot of batteries, and he hooked it up so 
we had electric lights in the house, and that big light on the out-- I had-- he had one, a big 
[?pole?] out in the yard, and he had a big light out there. And he put on-- see, then he bought an 
engine to run them, charge those batteries. We had electric lights. 
 
Stephanie Holan  31:14 
Were you the first ones to have elec--?  
 
Etta Alldredge  31:15 
Oh, yes. 
 
Stephanie Holan  31:17 
Oh, wow. 
 
Etta Alldredge  31:17 
[Crosstalk] first to ever have electric lights. [Inaudible] they've got electricity all over every 
place, then Daddy joined up to that. 
 
Stephanie Holan  31:26 
Wow. So how old were you when your dad put electricity in?  
 
Etta Alldredge  31:30 
Yeah, what? 
 
Stephanie Holan  31:31 
How old were you when your dad put the electricity--? 
 