Page 1 of 23 
 
Washington Women’s Heritage Project records, 1900-2000 
University of Washington Libraries Special Collections 
Etta May Bryant Alldredge 
February 4, 1998 
Cassette 3, Side 2 
 
 
Etta Alldredge  00:00 
And that's where we picked cherries in that. 
 
Stephanie Holan  00:06 
And how much did you make packing cherries? 
 
Etta Alldredge  00:08 
Not very much. 
 
Stephanie Holan  00:09 
Not very much? 
 
Etta Alldredge  00:10 
No. They didn't pay very much in those days [laughs]. 
 
Stephanie Holan  00:14 
But enough to help out? 
 
Etta Alldredge  00:16 
Yes, I guess so, yes. 
 
Stephanie Holan  00:19 
So then you lived in Kettle Falls at this time, when you were picking cherries. And Ward... 
 
Etta Alldredge  00:26 
I live in my-- in our house.  
 
Stephanie Holan  00:28 
In your house. 
 
Etta Alldredge  00:29 
Yeah.  
 
Page 2 of 23 
 
Stephanie Holan  00:29 
And then how much-- did you and Ward spend a lot of time together?  
 
Etta Alldredge  00:34 
Oh, yes, [?spent a lot of time together?]. But he did work around, [inaudible] around, but wasn't 
much to do in the wintertime.  
 
Stephanie Holan  00:45 
Yeah. 
 
Etta Alldredge  00:46 
And then just as soon as the winter came, why, then he went back up logging in the spring. But I 
didn't go back up that time.  No. And then-- oh, I know now what I was going to say. And while 
we were living there, why, my father found [?alundum?]-- a mine over in Omak. [Inaudible] 
Omak.. You know where that is?  
 
Stephanie Holan  00:54 
You stayed?  Isn't that not quite as far east as Spokane?  
 
Etta Alldredge  01:19 
No, it's up north. 
 
Stephanie Holan  01:20 
Up north. 
 
Etta Alldredge  01:21 
Yeah.  
 
Stephanie Holan  01:21 
OK.  
 
Etta Alldredge  01:22 
Okanogan? 
 
Stephanie Holan  01:24 
Oh, OK, yeah. 
 
Etta Alldredge  01:27 
Well, anyway, we decided all-- well, my brother decided to go over and--  
 
Stephanie Holan  01:33 
Which brother?  
 
Etta Alldredge  01:33 
My oldest brother.  
 
Page 3 of 23 
 
Stephanie Holan  01:34 
Winton? 
 
Etta Alldredge  01:36 
Yes. 
 
Stephanie Holan  01:36 
OK.  
 
Etta Alldredge  01:36 
We all moved over there into a house over on-- below this mine. And the men-- all went up the 
men and worked in this mine.  
 
Stephanie Holan  01:49 
And so then the women stayed back at the houses? 
 
Etta Alldredge  01:53 
No, I went with them.  
 
Stephanie Holan  01:55 
You went with them?  
 
Etta Alldredge  01:56 
Yes, after we found out they're gonna go over the mine, why, we all packed up... My brother 
packed up his [inaudible] on a big, big truck, and my stuff, because we didn't have very much 
furniture at that time [laughs]. And we all moved over to Omak. 
 
Stephanie Holan  02:14 
And then so the men would go work in the mine all day, right?  
 
Etta Alldredge  02:19 
Yes. 
 
Stephanie Holan  02:19 
And then you would stay at the house with Barbara? 
 
Etta Alldredge  02:22 
Yes, I had Barbara. And my mother and my father moved over, too, with us.  
 
Stephanie Holan  02:25 
Oh, they did?  
 
Etta Alldredge  02:26 
Yes.  
 
Stephanie Holan  02:27 
Page 4 of 23 
 
And then Winton was married?  
 
Etta Alldredge  02:30 
Yes.  
 
Stephanie Holan  02:30 
And his wife was there, too? 
 
Etta Alldredge  02:32 
Yes. Oh yes, his wife came along, too. 
 
Stephanie Holan  02:35 
So was it nice to have more people around? 
 
Etta Alldredge  02:37 
Oh yes, it was nice to have. And then we'd take-- we'd walk up to this mine. A long, quite a ways 
up there, but way up in the mountains. 
 
Stephanie Holan  02:47 
And what did they what did they mine for? 
 
Etta Alldredge  02:50 
[?Alundum.?] 
 
Stephanie Holan  02:50 
Aluminum? 
 
Etta Alldredge  02:51 
No, no. [?Alundum?]-- I can't [?tell with this teeth?] [laughs]. [?Alundum?]. 
 
Stephanie Holan  03:02 
Aluminum? 
 
Etta Alldredge  03:03 
Yeah.  
 
Stephanie Holan  03:03 
OK. 
 
Etta Alldredge  03:04 
Not alumium, but... I don't know, [inaudible].  
 
Stephanie Holan  03:10 
OK. That's fine.  
 
Etta Alldredge  03:11 
Page 5 of 23 
 
And they made-- well, they-- then it didn't move-- pan out. About a year, I guess, we spent up 
there. And then we moved-- [Telephone rings] 
 
Stephanie Holan  03:24 
Ooh!  
 
Etta Alldredge  03:26 
I moved back to Kettle Falls. 
 
Stephanie Holan  03:29 
OK, so you were saying you lived up at the mine for about a year. 
 
Etta Alldredge  03:33 
Yeah.  
 
Stephanie Holan  03:34 
OK. 
 
Etta Alldredge  03:34 
And when we moved back, I moved back to Kettle Falls.  
 
Stephanie Holan  03:38 
OK. 
 
Etta Alldredge  03:39 
And then I got pregnant with Ruby.  
 
Stephanie Holan  03:45 
Ruby? 
 
Etta Alldredge  03:46 
No, Wan-- no-- yeah, Ruby [laughs]. And then she was born in Kettle Falls at his mother's house. 
She ran a maternity hospital for two or three years. 
 
Stephanie Holan  04:00 
Oh, really?  
 
Etta Alldredge  04:01 
Yes. 
 
Stephanie Holan  04:02 
So she helped, and you did it all naturally.  
 
Etta Alldredge  04:05 
Oh, yes. 
 
Page 6 of 23 
 
Stephanie Holan  04:06 
Painful? 
 
Etta Alldredge  04:07 
Huh? 
 
Stephanie Holan  04:07 
What was it painful? 
 
Etta Alldredge  04:08 
Oh, yes [laughs]. You don't-- that's something you forget awful easy, though.  
 
Stephanie Holan  04:13 
Yeah? 
 
Etta Alldredge  04:15 
You know? And yes, I had the doctor came over from Colville and I had the baby. 
 
Stephanie Holan  04:21 
So then little Ruby was born. So then you had the two girls and you and Ward. And how long did 
you stay in Colville? 
 
Etta Alldredge  04:30 
Well, then the loggin'... Oh, the loggin' run out and they shut the mill down because they run out 
of logs. So he got another job over at Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.  
 
Stephanie Holan  04:51 
Oh, OK. I've been to Coeur d'Alene. [Laughs.]  
 
Etta Alldredge  04:54 
Well, anyway, we moved over to Coeur d'Alene and rented a house there, and he took his truck 
and went in the woods and logged there. And I stayed there about a couple of months. And then 
they moved the logging, [?well, now, that place's done?], so they moved further away. So then I 
decided to go back home again, back to the house where I lived. 
 
Stephanie Holan  05:21 
With you and the girls? 
 
Etta Alldredge  05:22 
Just me and the girls. So then I had my brother come over with the truck and took our furniture, 
and then we had a little Ford pickup. And I took the two girls in that Ford pickup, and I drove-- 
from Coeur d'Alene, I drove back to Kettle Falls. 
 
Stephanie Holan  05:42 
Wow, that's a long drive with two little girls. 
 
Page 7 of 23 
 
Etta Alldredge  05:45 
That's right. I had to-- I put the baby... Barbara sat over here, and I had the baby laying with the 
head up this way, and on-- across my lap. And then just as I got out of-- just [inaudible] got into 
Spokane that day, I had a flat tire.  
 
Stephanie Holan  06:07 
Oh, no. 
 
Etta Alldredge  06:08 
No, I come to a little town called [?Dishman?]. So I drove in there and had him fix the tire. It 
cost me 50¢.  
 
Stephanie Holan  06:19 
Fifty cents?  
 
Etta Alldredge  06:22 
Yeah. 
 
Stephanie Holan  06:22 
Wow. You know how much it costs to have a tire fixed now? [They laugh.] Like probably $25 to 
have your tire fixed. 
 
Etta Alldredge  06:31 
That's all he charged me. 
 
Stephanie Holan  06:32 
Fifty cents [laughs]. That's amazing. 
 
Etta Alldredge  06:35 
Well, she's 76 years old, so it must have been quite a while ago. Then I drove back, and I didn't 
get into my house till about 9 o'cl-- about almost 10 o'clock that night.  
 
Stephanie Holan  06:55 
Wow, that's a long day to be in the car with two little girls. 
 
Etta Alldredge  06:58 
I drove through Spokane. Well, I was used to driving at that time. I was used to driving. So it 
didn't [inaudible]-- wasn't much too bad.  
 
Stephanie Holan  07:07 
Yeah. 
 
Etta Alldredge  07:08 
So then I stayed there in my home there. 
 
Stephanie Holan  07:13 
Page 8 of 23 
 
Were you happier with your parents [crosstalk]? Was that frustrating? 
 
Etta Alldredge  07:14 
Oh yes. As long as he couldn't come home only weekdays, coming home late Saturday night, and 
had leave Sunday, well, I thought there was no use to me paying rent there, because I couldn't be 
with him anyway, because he was logging all the time.  Yes, I guess it was at the time.  
 
Stephanie Holan  07:33 
Yeah. 
 
Etta Alldredge  07:34 
So then I moved back [?to Falls?]. 
 
Stephanie Holan  07:38 
And then did-- when did-- how long was he in Coeur d'Alene? 
 
Etta Alldredge  07:42 
He was there all the rest of summer.  
 
Stephanie Holan  07:45 
All the rest of that summer?  
 
Etta Alldredge  07:46 
Yeah. And then they ran out of logging there. So then he sold the trucks.  
 
Stephanie Holan  07:53 
Then he sold tr--?  
 
Etta Alldredge  07:54 
Oh, and then after we moved back, then we bought another house in Colville.  
 
Stephanie Holan  07:58 
OK. And so then you lived in Colville?  
 
Etta Alldredge  08:03 
Yeah.  
 
Stephanie Holan  08:04 
And then he moved back to Colville with you?  
 
Etta Alldredge  08:06 
Yeah.  
 
Stephanie Holan  08:07 
And then, so then what did he do? He sold trucks? 
 
Page 9 of 23 
 
Etta Alldredge  08:11 
He sold his truck-- oh, then he started selling sewing machines.  
 
Stephanie Holan  08:16 
Oh, yeah? 
 
Etta Alldredge  08:18 
Yes. He sold sewing machines all over the whole co-- all over the country.  
 
Stephanie Holan  08:22 
And then-- did he do it door to door, or did he work--? 
 
Etta Alldredge  08:25 
No, he-- oh, no he-- oh, he went all over the country. Just put them in the car and drove it. And I 
went with him; practically every time he went I went with him.  
 
Stephanie Holan  08:41 
Did you like doing that?  
 
Etta Alldredge  08:42 
Oh, I didn't mind that.  
 
Stephanie Holan  08:44 
You didn't mind? And did the girls go, too?  
 
Etta Alldredge  08:46 
Yeah.  
 
Stephanie Holan  08:47 
OK. And then did the girls go to school? When did-- when--?  
 
Etta Alldredge  08:52 
Yeah, they went-- when Barbara got old enough to go to school, we lived in Colville then, at the 
time, so she went to grammar school there. And then she went to high school. And then by the 
time Ruby was old enough, then she went to kindergarten or-- and then she went to high school, I 
mean, kindergarten, and then she went to grammar school. And then when Ruby got out-- 
Barbara got out of high school, she got married. 
 
Stephanie Holan  09:25 
And when was... 
 
Etta Alldredge  09:26 
[Laughs.] 
 
Stephanie Holan  09:31 
I'm losing my mind today. When was Wanda born? How old were--? 
Page 10 of 23 
 
 
Etta Alldredge  09:38 
Oh, then out in Colville, oh, a whole bunch of us women, we went up and took exercise class.  
 
Stephanie Holan  09:44 
Oh, you did?  
 
Etta Alldredge  09:44 
Yes. And four-- three or four of us got pregnant. 
 
Stephanie Holan  09:50 
All at the same time? 
 
Etta Alldredge  09:51 
Yes [laughs].  
 
Stephanie Holan  09:52 
And did you still go to exercise class when you were pregnant?  
 
Etta Alldredge  09:56 
No, I quit after I got pregnant.  
 
Stephanie Holan  09:57 
You quit after you got pregnant?  
 
Etta Alldredge  09:59 
And then they all had children. So did I. And then I went back to Mrs. Alldredge, that's my 
mother in law.  
 
Stephanie Holan  10:08 
Yeah. 
 
Etta Alldredge  10:09 
In the maternity ward, and that's where Wanda was born. 
 
Stephanie Holan  10:12 
And how old were the girls when Wanda was born?  
 
Etta Alldredge  10:14 
[?They were-- see?]... Well, Wanda's-- Barbara's-- Wanda's 54 and Ruby's 76-- I mean, and then 
Barbara's-- no. Ruby's 70, and my-- and Barbara, oldest daughter is 76. Six years between them 
[?to the children?].  
 
Stephanie Holan  10:41 
And then how old's Wanda, 60? 
 
Page 11 of 23 
 
Etta Alldredge  10:42 
She's 54. 
 
Stephanie Holan  10:45 
Fifty-four.  
 
Etta Alldredge  10:47 
So she's a little [?closer?] than the other two was.  
 
Stephanie Holan  10:51 
So they were a bit older when Wanda was born. 
 
Etta Alldredge  10:55 
[Inaudible.]  
 
Stephanie Holan  10:55 
The two older girls, Barbara and Ruby, were quite a bit older--  
 
Etta Alldredge  10:59 
Oh, yes.  
 
Stephanie Holan  11:00 
--when Wanda was born. 
 
Etta Alldredge  11:01 
Oh, yes, both of them-- yes, it was.  
 
Stephanie Holan  11:04 
So was that hard to have two older girls and then a little baby again, or...? 
 
Etta Alldredge  11:09 
No. 
 
Stephanie Holan  11:09 
No?  
 
Etta Alldredge  11:10 
No, no. No, just all the family. 
 
Stephanie Holan  11:14 
And were you pregnant any other times besides when you had the three girls?  No?  
 
Etta Alldredge  11:18 
No.  [Laughs] [inaudible] my hearing aid and then [inaudible]. 
 
Stephanie Holan  11:27 
Page 12 of 23 
 
And now I'm spacing out. OK, wow. [Laughter.]  So, when he was selling sewing machine, was 
he still selling sewing machines when Wanda was born?  
 
Etta Alldredge  11:37 
Yes.  
 
Stephanie Holan  11:37 
And was that hard for him to be a-- or did you go with him?  
 
Etta Alldredge  11:41 
Oh, I went-- when I could, I went with him every place. 
 
Stephanie Holan  11:44 
Was-- and then, so when you got really pregnant, did you stay home?  
 
Etta Alldredge  11:49 
Oh, yes. 
 
Stephanie Holan  11:50 
Or did you just keep going?  
 
Etta Alldredge  11:51 
Yeah.  
 
Stephanie Holan  11:52 
So was it hard to have him gone while you were pregnant and you had the two older girls? 
 
Etta Alldredge  11:58 
No, she was born in the wintertime. See, she was born in the 21st of January. So he wasn't 
working then.  
 
Stephanie Holan  12:06 
Oh, OK, OK. And did you have a lot of close friends in Colville? Women friends? 
 
Etta Alldredge  12:14 
Oh, in Colville?  
 
Stephanie Holan  12:15 
Yeah. 
 
Etta Alldredge  12:15 
Oh, yes. I knew all the neighbors around there., 
 
Stephanie Holan  12:18 
So that must have been nice--  
 
Page 13 of 23 
 
Etta Alldredge  12:20 
Yeah, see--  
 
Stephanie Holan  12:20 
--when he was gone.  
 
Etta Alldredge  12:21 
Yeah. And when Wanda got big enough to walk -- oh, she was about three or four years old -- 
every morning I'd get up and I'd dress her, clean her up, and comb her hair. She had long, curly 
hair. And she started out and she'd go to all the neighbors. They all knew Wanda [laughs]. 
 
Stephanie Holan  12:46 
So then, who was your closest friend out of the neighbors?  
 
Etta Alldredge  12:55 
Well, I think Mrs. Stratton was my closest friend.  
 
Stephanie Holan  13:02 
She was?  
 
Etta Alldredge  13:03 
And we'd-- every Halloween, we'd dress up and go out with the kids and go Halloweening. Oh, 
we had more fun. 
 
Stephanie Holan  13:14 
So did you guys, you know, talk about things together when you were feeling bad or when 
something was wrong? Was that who you talked to, was Mrs. Stratton?  
 
Etta Alldredge  13:22 
Yes, we did. She had a big family, and she'd tell me her troubles, and I'd tell her my troubles.  
 
Stephanie Holan  13:31 
So that must have been nice--  
 
Etta Alldredge  13:32 
Yeah, oh, yes. 
 
Stephanie Holan  13:39 
--to have someone to talk to.  Um, let's see. 
 
Etta Alldredge  13:42 
[Tape noises] I was living in-- living there after Wanda was born [inaudible]. And then the war 
started up.  
 
Stephanie Holan  13:52 
Oh, OK. 
Page 14 of 23 
 
 
Etta Alldredge  13:53 
So then my husband went to Seattle to work in the shipyards, and I stayed home there-- oh no, 
no, no. We went-- no. [Inaudible.] He went back to Chicago after-- we had-- that winter, after 
Wanda was three or four years old. But then my brother was working in Spokane, and he got 
Ward a job up there. So then I moved to Spokane. And [inaudible] Spokane, and then he went to 
Chicago. Then about two or three months afterwards, I-- my brother came west, and I picked up 
and I went back to Chicago with him.  
 
Stephanie Holan  14:52 
Oh, you did?  
 
Etta Alldredge  14:52 
Yeah. And I was back there about a year.  
 
Stephanie Holan  14:55 
Did you like Chicago? 
 
Etta Alldredge  14:56 
Oh, yes, that was nice.  
 
Stephanie Holan  14:58 
The Windy City?  
 
Etta Alldredge  14:59 
Yeah [laughs], we went-- I seen everything you could see in Chicago. And that's where Ruby 
started her first-- or one of the first years of high s-- of school. It was in Chicago. 
 
Stephanie Holan  15:10 
Oh, OK. And did the other girls go to school there, too?  
 
Etta Alldredge  15:15 
No, Barbara was married all that time.  
 
Stephanie Holan  15:18 
Oh, so what was that like, to marry off Barbara? When did Barbara meet her first husband-- or, 
her husband, not her first? 
 
Etta Alldredge  15:31 
Oh, she was-- one winter before she met him, why, she was working for a lady out of Kettle 
Falls, helping her out. And that Eldred was working there at that time, because she had the big 
orchard. Not the other orchard that I've talked about, but just another orchard. And so then that's 
how Barbara met him, in that orch-- in that-- working for that. 
 
Stephanie Holan  15:59 
So what'd you think of him when she brought him home? 
Page 15 of 23 
 
 
Etta Alldredge  16:01 
Oh, I thought he was all right.  
 
Stephanie Holan  16:03 
He was OK? 
 
Etta Alldredge  16:04 
Yeah, yeah. And then, and then she was married in Kettle Falls. 
 
Stephanie Holan  16:14 
She was married? And how-- what was that like, to marry your first daughter off?  
 
Etta Alldredge  16:25 
I don't know, it's just natural, I guess. I don't know. 
 
Stephanie Holan  16:30 
Was it hard to see her go, or was it time?  
 
Etta Alldredge  16:33 
Yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah, she was old enough. She was 17, 18 years old. At the time she was 
working around different placesbefore she married.  
 
Stephanie Holan  16:46 
And so she was about 18, so then Ruby was about 12 at that time?  
 
Etta Alldredge  16:52 
Yeah.  
 
Stephanie Holan  16:53 
And then you moved to Chicago? 
 
Etta Alldredge  16:55 
Yeah, and we stayed there about a year, and then that job played out [laughs]. So then we moved 
back to Kettle Falls again.  
 
Stephanie Holan  17:06 
Back to Kettle Falls? What was it like moving around so much?  
 
Etta Alldredge  17:09 
Oh, honey, I never think about it.-- didn't think about it enough then, but now, I think, must have 
been awful. [Laughter] I didn't know; at that time. I didn't realize it, but I moved an awful lot of 
times in my life.  
 
Stephanie Holan  17:23 
Yeah, I mean, that's a lot of times to be moving around.  
Page 16 of 23 
 
 
Etta Alldredge  17:27 
Yes, with children and everything.  
 
Stephanie Holan  17:29 
Yeah, that must have been hard.  
 
Etta Alldredge  17:32 
I don't know, it's just where every job was, that's where we went.  
 
Stephanie Holan  17:36 
Yeah, to pick up and leave your family and your friends and go to a new place, and... 
 
Etta Alldredge  17:41 
That's right. 
 
Stephanie Holan  17:42 
Did you make a lot of new friends in Chicago? 
 
Etta Alldredge  17:45 
Oh, yes, a few around there. I know one time we went to a celebration, and Wanda kept rubbing 
her-- itching her head back here. And she was standing in front of me, and I looked down and I 
said, "Why are you rubbing your head, scratching your head?" And there she found out she had 
head lice.  
 
Stephanie Holan  18:08 
Oh, no.  
 
Etta Alldredge  18:09 
I didn't know [laughs]. I know where she got it, though. There was a lot of Negros. Not right 
around me, but there was Negros in the neighborhood. And this-- her and her girlfriend was 
playing outside, and I think she got an old hat in the garbage can. And I think she got that out of 
it-- well, I'm pretty sure that's where she got the head lice, off of that old hat. 
 
Stephanie Holan  18:39 
Well, that'll teach her a lesson [laughs]. Don't wear hats out of the garbage. So then-- 
 
Etta Alldredge  18:45 
I got that cured up. 
 
Stephanie Holan  18:48 
I had head lice when I was little, and that's quite a chore to get rid of it.  I mean, you have to 
SCRUB your head.  
 
Etta Alldredge  18:52 
Page 17 of 23 
 
It's quite a chore.  And wash everything. And Ruby slept right with it in the same bed, and she 
never got one of them.  
 
Stephanie Holan  19:03 
Oh, thank God. Thank God. [Laughter.] Because when I was little, my two good friends and I, 
one of us would get it, so the other one would get it, and then, like, I would get cured of it, and 
then I'd get it again. So it must have been two years we went back and forth having head lice.  
 
Etta Alldredge  19:19 
Oh, I know. They're hard to get rid of. I washed Ruby's-- Wanda's head till she thought she was-- 
she thought I was gonna mean to her [laughter]. Washed her hair so much, but I had to, to get rid 
of it.  
 
Stephanie Holan  19:35 
Yeah. Oh, yeah.  So then when you were in Chicago, did you and Ward spend a lot of time 
together, or was he working a lot? 
 
Etta Alldredge  19:42 
Oh, no. We'd take trips over all over Chicago. On Sunday and Saturdays, we'd just go anywhere 
we wanted to. We had a car, and we'd just drive wherever... Did the parks and just places around.  
 
Stephanie Holan  19:55 
So that must have been nice.  
 
Etta Alldredge  19:57 
Oh, yes, we-- I enjoyed it. Yes [laughs].  
 
Stephanie Holan  20:00 
So then you moved-- you stayed in Chicago for a year?  
 
Etta Alldredge  20:03 
Just about a year.  
 
Stephanie Holan  20:04 
And then you moved back to Spokane?  
 
Etta Alldredge  20:07 
Yeah. 
 
Stephanie Holan  20:08 
Is that where Ward got another job?  
 
Etta Alldredge  20:10 
Yeah. 
 
Stephanie Holan  20:10 
Page 18 of 23 
 
Was in Spokane? 
 
Etta Alldredge  20:11 
And then he came to-- after we'd come back from Chicago, then he went to work for the-- went 
to Seattle and worked for the-- in the war.  
 
Stephanie Holan  20:21 
During the war?  
 
Etta Alldredge  20:22 
During the war.  
 
Stephanie Holan  20:23 
In Seattle?  
 
Etta Alldredge  20:24 
In Seattle.  
 
Stephanie Holan  20:25 
And did you stay in Spokane?  
 
Etta Alldredge  20:26 
I did that for a while. And then one time there was-- I got a note. Two boys, and he had-- one of 
them had a car. And I made an arrangement with-- through them, if I could ride back with him to 
Seattle, or, yeah, to Seattle. And they said yes. So I gave him $15, I think, and we came back-- 
he-- and I-- Ruby and-- and then she had her typewriter [laughs]. She was taking typing.  
 
Stephanie Holan  20:59 
Oh, OK. 
 
Etta Alldredge  21:00 
And we drove back to Seattle with [inaudible].  
 
Stephanie Holan  21:04 
You and the girls?  
 
Etta Alldredge  21:05 
Yeah, and with those two boys. They was coming back to college, you see, in September, or 
when college started. 
 
Stephanie Holan  21:12 
Was that fun, or was that hard, or...? 
 
Etta Alldredge  21:15 
It was-- we was pretty well crowded, but we got along all right. But one had a room for-- he had 
got a room, so they dropped us off at this-- and Ward was at this room he rented.  
Page 19 of 23 
 
 
Stephanie Holan  21:32 
OK. And then how did you get-- so you all stayed there? The boys and you and the girls stayed 
in this room?  
 
Etta Alldredge  21:37 
Yes. 
 
Stephanie Holan  21:38 
To take a rest? 
 
Etta Alldredge  21:39 
For oh, not very long, I think, a couple of months, I think. 
 
Stephanie Holan  21:44 
And this-- is the room in Seattle? Is that...?  
 
Etta Alldredge  21:46 
Yes. 
 
Stephanie Holan  21:47 
Oh, OK. OK. What part of Seattle were you in?  
 
Etta Alldredge  21:55 
See. I have to think of that. I don't know. After I moved out of there, I never went back. I don't 
know how, tell you the truth. 
 
Stephanie Holan  22:16 
So you didn't-- did you not like it there? 
 
Etta Alldredge  22:17 
Oh, yes, I liked it, but we rented another apartment. This woman had a big house, and she has 
taken in roomers. So we rented two rooms and the kitchen [?privilege?].  
 
Stephanie Holan  22:35 
OK. 
 
Etta Alldredge  22:36 
So-- and then we-- I moved up there. And then we lived there for, oh, I guess all that year.  
 
Stephanie Holan  22:45 
Yeah.  
 
Etta Alldredge  22:46 
And then we bought a house in Seattle, and that's in the [?Wallingford?] district.  
 
Page 20 of 23 
 
Stephanie Holan  22:51 
I work in Wallingford.  
 
Etta Alldredge  22:52 
You now?  
 
Stephanie Holan  22:53 
Yeah, I do.  
 
Etta Alldredge  22:54 
Oh! 
 
Stephanie Holan  22:54 
Right now, I work up there. 
 
Etta Alldredge  22:55 
Oh, you do. Yeah, we-- I lived a house, great big house, right close on-- down, just till about-- 
oh, not very far, below Main Street, big town.  
 
Stephanie Holan  23:05 
Do you know-- do you remember what streets you lived on? It's OK if you don't, I just know 
where they-- I know the area, so... 
 
Etta Alldredge  23:17 
Well, it's right across the high school, just across from the-- 
 
Stephanie Holan  23:22 
The Lincoln High School up there? 
 
Etta Alldredge  23:23 
The Lincoln High School. Just across the street from Lincoln High School. 
 
Stephanie Holan  23:27 
That's cool. Did you like Wallingford?  
 
Etta Alldredge  23:29 
Oh, yes. Oh, we had-- I had a lot of fun there. I liked the Wallingford. 
 
Stephanie Holan  23:33 
Because Wallingford is really cool, now. They have lots of stores and shops and--  
 
Etta Alldredge  23:38 
Yeah. 
 
Stephanie Holan  23:39 
--all kinds of stuff there now.  
Page 21 of 23 
 
 
Etta Alldredge  23:40 
I haven't been up there for a long, long time. 
 
Stephanie Holan  23:43 
Well, we could go up there sometime. We could, if you want. 
 
Etta Alldredge  23:47 
Oh [laughs].  
 
Stephanie Holan  23:50 
So--  
 
Etta Alldredge  23:51 
And then that's-- and Barbara and Wanda graduated from Lincoln-- 
 
Stephanie Holan  23:57 
Lincoln High School? 
 
Etta Alldredge  23:58 
--High School. 
 
Stephanie Holan  23:58 
Was it neat to watch the girls graduate?  
 
Etta Alldredge  24:01 
Yeah, yes.  
 
Stephanie Holan  24:02 
Yeah.  
 
Etta Alldredge  24:03 
When Barbara graduated, she graduated in Kettle Falls, or Colville, and there's only 75 people 
graduating at that time. Oh, wow. And then when Ruby graduated, there was almost 200, you 
know. 
 
Stephanie Holan  24:21 
That's a big difference. Wow. 
 
Etta Alldredge  24:24 
So did Wanda.  
 
Stephanie Holan  24:25 
And so did Wanda, and then how old was Ruby when she got married?  
 
Etta Alldredge  24:32 
Page 22 of 23 
 
She was [laughs]... Well, she graduated out of high school, and she was working for the 
telephone company.  
 
Stephanie Holan  24:42 
Oh, she was? 
 
Etta Alldredge  24:43 
Yeah, she worked there. And both the girls got the job on the telephone. 
 
Stephanie Holan  24:48 
And then did they live with you while they worked--  
 
Etta Alldredge  24:50 
Yeah. 
 
Stephanie Holan  24:50 
--for the telephone?  
 
Etta Alldredge  24:52 
Yes.  
 
Stephanie Holan  24:53 
And was that-- was it neat to have the girls grown up and living with you, and...?  
 
Etta Alldredge  24:56 
Yeah.  
 
Stephanie Holan  24:57 
Were you guys close? Were you guys good friends?  
 
Etta Alldredge  24:59 
Oh, yes, yes. 
 
Stephanie Holan  24:59 
Or did you fight like mom and daughters fight? No, no, we were a little too old for that then. Oh, 
they kind of had little [?dickin'?]. Sometimes Ruby would-- wouldn't hang her clothes up, and 
Wanda would get up in the morning and put on some of her clothes and wearing them to school, 
high school. They're all about the same size. And Ruby didn't like that very well. She usually 
hung them up, her clothes, when she took them off. But she just threw them over the rocking 
chair, and Wanda would get up there, and she didn't have anything-- she didn't have anything to 
wear, so that she'd slip up there and get Ruby's clothes. But that's about all. So, what was your-- 
what did your house in Wallingford look like?  
 
Etta Alldredge  25:46 
My house?  
 
Page 23 of 23 
 
Stephanie Holan  25:47 
In Wallingford.  
 
Etta Alldredge  25:48 
In Seattle? 
 
Stephanie Holan  25:49 
Mm-hmm.  
 
Etta Alldredge  25:50 
Oh, it was a big house. Big house. Had two-- 
 
Stephanie Holan  25:57 
OK, we got a little bit of tape left. 
 
Etta Alldredge  25:58 
Is it working?  
 
Stephanie Holan  25:59 
OK. I think I'm gonna leave [?my tape?] here. Yeah.  
 
Etta Alldredge  25:59 
It had two big bedrooms and a bath upstairs, and then it had a [?little?] bedroom, and a big front 
room, big kitchen, and a big-- and dining room.  
 