Page 1 of 16 
 
Washington Women’s Heritage Project records, 1900-2000 
University of Washington Libraries Special Collections 
Olive Lempi Paavola Armstrong 
April 14, 1986 
Cassette 1, Side 1 
 
 
Linda G. Greiner  00:01 
--6, and we're about to begin the biographical information of Olive Armstrong.  
 
Linda G. Greiner  00:09 
OK, Olive. One thing I will ask you to do is that when we talk about names, if I can get you to 
spell the names so I can make sure and have them correct in my information, that will really be a 
big help. 
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  00:25 
Mm-hmm. 
 
Linda G. Greiner  00:27 
So, first name is Olive, O-L-I-V-E?  
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  00:33 
Yes. And my middle name is L-E-M-P-I, Lempi.  
 
Linda G. Greiner  00:38 
Is that a--?  
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  00:39 
Finnish name. It means "love" and all the good things, you know? 
 
Linda G. Greiner  00:46 
Really? Is that--?  
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  00:48 
I don't usually use it, because you always have to spell it out, you know? So I just omit that. That 
is what it is. 
 
Linda G. Greiner  00:56 
That's interesting.  
 
Page 2 of 16 
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  00:57 
It's supposed to mean like, "sweet" or "good", you know, "love".  
 
Linda G. Greiner  01:06 
Wha'ts your maiden name?  
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  01:09 
Paavola, P-A-A-V-O-L-A. 
 
Linda G. Greiner  01:12 
What nationality is that? 
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  01:17 
Finnish. 
 
Linda G. Greiner  01:21 
I would be correct in assuming, then, your nationality is Finnish. 
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  01:25 
Yes, Finnish from Finland. 
 
Linda G. Greiner  01:29 
Right. But do you-- you're-- you are a US citizen?  
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  01:34 
Yes.  
 
Linda G. Greiner  01:36 
One question. Your parents, were they native to Finland, and they...? 
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  01:42 
Yes, and my father came here first, at probably 1887 or so, I'm not sure about the date. And then 
he went to Finland and married my mother and-- I guess in 1901, because I was born in 1902. 
January 6, 1902.  
 
Linda G. Greiner  02:12 
What-- you were born in Finland. What town in Finland? 
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  02:21 
I'd have to look up the town, but it's right by Laihia. You can put Laihia on there. The area, I 
went there, and there's little-- it's a sort of a farming community all around there. And there's 
little towns, and they just all run in together, you know? And they-- the main thing is, you can 
get anywhere with just say "Laihia," you know? They're these different little towns. I have it 
written down someplace.  
 
Linda G. Greiner  02:50 
Page 3 of 16 
 
OK, well, hopefully we'll get all that information and put it in here. 
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  02:53 
Yeah.  
 
Linda G. Greiner  02:55 
Let me just make a confirmation on your address. 5307--  
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  02:59 
Meridian.  
 
Linda G. Greiner  03:00 
--Meridian North?  
 
Linda G. Greiner  03:00 
Do you have any nicknames that you use once in a while?  
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  03:05 
No.  
 
Linda G. Greiner  03:08 
And your phone number's 632-- 
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  03:12 
1411. 
 
Linda G. Greiner  03:12 
--1411.  
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  03:16 
In fact, my name that I was baptized with is A-L-L-I, and when I came to school here, why, the 
teacher thought that the-- that it was "Olive", and she put me down as Olive and it stuck with. 
My folks never-- when they signed my report card, I guess they never noticed, or else they 
thought, "Well, that's the way it's spelled here," or something. I don't know how it came about. 
So I went through all my life as O-L-I-V-E.  
 
Linda G. Greiner  03:49 
What does what does Alli mean?  
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  03:52 
Nothing that I... It's just a name. 
 
Linda G. Greiner  03:55 
Uh-huh. I bet that-- [inaudible] that interesting.  
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  03:57 
Page 4 of 16 
 
Uh-huh. I was named after a cousin in Finland, and when I went over there this summer, or this 
fall, went to the cemetery where they-- all the-- all of us were buried in the... In fact, we went to 
church at where my folks were married, and went to cemetery and saw all the relations there, and 
I saw the grave of my cousin, who I was named after. I got pictures of that, and it was all very 
exciting. And you got the feeling of, that's where you come from. That's where you, you know, 
you-- right away, you belonged there. That was where you came, you know?  
 
Linda G. Greiner  03:59 
Where your roots were.  
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  04:33 
Yeah, the roots.  
 
Linda G. Greiner  04:43 
Right.  
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  04:43 
And met the relations that I hadn't-- we hadn't-- not-- we had not even had a chance to 
correspond to them, because folks never talked much about it. My mother did, but my dad never 
did, and sort of kept to himself. He was always reading history books and things like that and us 
kids had to be quiet in the house. When we brought our friends in, why, we all knew-- they all 
knew that we had to be quiet at my house, you know? And I think most of the homes were that 
way. Father was the boss, and the kids had to be quiet when they brought their friends in, you 
know?  
 
Linda G. Greiner  05:23 
What was his occupation?  
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  05:24 
He was a coal miner.  
 
Linda G. Greiner  05:26 
He was a coal miner.  
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  05:27 
In Black Diamond. He had worked at different places in the United States and Canada before he 
settled in Black Diamond. And then when he earned enough money to go back to Finland, why, 
then, that's when he married my mother. And he came back alone, and -- after I was born, about 
two months afterwards -- and then he sent for her and me, and we came on a ship on the Cunard 
Line. 
 
Linda G. Greiner  06:03 
Do you remember the-- do you remember the ship voyage at all? 
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  06:10 
Page 5 of 16 
 
No, because I was 18 months old [laughs]. No. But my mother said that she was so seasick the 
whole time, and she said there was one young Russian man with a red beard and red hair that 
took charge of me, and in between time, he'd carry me around the deck and entertain me, you 
know? So my mother could finish with her throwing up [they laugh].  
 
Linda G. Greiner  06:36 
Do you happen to know your father's year of birth?  
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  06:43 
Yeah, but I'll have to look it up.  
 
Linda G. Greiner  06:45 
OK, well, we can go-- we can come back to that. How about his name? That was-- 
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  06:48 
His name was Mike, Michael. And in Finland, it was "Mikko", M-I-K-K-O. Mikko, son of 
Mikko, son of Mikko, son-- no, Mikko [?poika?], [?son?] Mikko [?poika?], [?son?] [inaudible], 
way, way back. He was named Mike. And my mother's name was Matilda. Matilda [?Marja?].  
 
Linda G. Greiner  06:56 
[?Marja?] means-- being her maiden name?  
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  07:24 
Yeah, mm-hmm, Rahnasto. 
 
Linda G. Greiner  07:28 
Do you know how to spell that? 
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  07:30 
Huh? 
 
Linda G. Greiner  07:30 
Spelling on that?  
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  07:32 
R-A-H-N-A-S-T-O. 
 
Linda G. Greiner  07:36 
Do you happen to know her year of birth, just offhand? 
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  07:44 
Yes, I have that. I have to look it up, though.  
 
Linda G. Greiner  07:47 
OK. Well-- 
 
Page 6 of 16 
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  07:47 
I asked you if I had to look up things and you said, "Not the first time."  
 
Linda G. Greiner  07:53 
Yeah, well, I--  
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  07:54 
Well, I can get it.  
 
Linda G. Greiner  07:55 
OK. Well, we can, shoot, we can stop. [Tape cuts.] 
 
Linda G. Greiner  07:58 
OK. Now, your mother's place of birth? 
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  08:01 
Is Laihia, [?Kumaran?] [?Kumaran?] Kylä, Finland. 
 
Linda G. Greiner  08:12 
OK, how-- could you spell that for me?  
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  08:16 
K-U-M-A-R-A-L-U-M K-U-L-A. "Kula" is a separate word.  
 
Linda G. Greiner  08:25 
OK. OK, let's see, your mother's year of birth... [?March?] 16? 19--  
 
Linda G. Greiner  09:23 
[Inaudible.] Here's your mother's... There it is, eighth month, 21st day, 1882. You have got all 
kinds of information on here.  
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  09:59 
Moved from this town to Laihia, that's the main town. Rahnasto, Tuomas [inaudible]. Oh, this is 
beyond me [laughs]. It tells the on and on, and then the what-- who they married, and their-- the 
wives' names, and so forth and so on. And then this is her immediate family.  
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  10:52 
This is kind of interesting, here, the-- see, who did that? [?Can?] just stay there.  
 
Linda G. Greiner  11:02 
Consulate of Finland. 
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  11:04 
Mm-hmm, when I got the passport, that's what he wrote down on it.  
 
Linda G. Greiner  11:21 
Page 7 of 16 
 
So you've got-- you've got several documentations for your information. 
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  11:24 
Mm? 
 
Linda G. Greiner  11:25 
I said, "You've got several documentations for your information."  
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  11:40 
And this is my birth certificate, which I did-- I think this is a copy. No, this is the original. This is 
original when it's real dark, like that, isn't it? 
 
Linda G. Greiner  11:51 
Mm-hmm.  
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  11:53 
Anyway, I did not have a birth certificate, so that's one reason it made it so hard for me to get a 
passport.  
 
Linda G. Greiner  12:02 
Oh, I see, and so now you've got one.  
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  12:05 
That was a big thrill when I got that.  
 
Linda G. Greiner  12:07 
I'm sure it was. 
 
Linda G. Greiner  12:14 
What-- I see here in this information that your brother signed an affidavit claiming [inaudible]-- 
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  12:22 
Yeah, we tried to go that route, because they told us that-- the man told us at the -- what do they 
call that place? 
 
Linda G. Greiner  12:31 
Naturalization [inaudible].  
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  12:32 
Yeah. He says, because I didn't have a birth certificate, and they wanted to know if I was indeed 
my father's daughter. And I said, "Well," he said, "Well, could your brother-- one of your 
brothers verify that?" So then I went to the lawyer down here on 45th and that's the paper there. 
But it was not enough when I went-- when I went back the next time, I still had to have a birth 
certificate. And that's when I got in touch with this lady that did all this work, you know, and got 
the birth certificate. Then there was no problem.  
 
Page 8 of 16 
 
Linda G. Greiner  13:10 
So, what are your-- what's your brother's name, again? 
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  13:14 
This one is George. And then I have a-- I had a brother Mike also. He died several years ago. 
 
Linda G. Greiner  13:26 
Same last name as your father, correct?  
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  13:28 
Yes, mm-hmm. 
 
Linda G. Greiner  13:29 
Did you have any sisters? 
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  13:31 
No, unfortunately. 
 
Linda G. Greiner  13:33 
But you have two brothers.  
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  13:34 
I didn't have a sister.  
 
Linda G. Greiner  13:35 
Do you have any cousins that you feel are important to your life, or that you'd like to include? 
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  13:40 
[Inaudible]-- 
 
Linda G. Greiner  13:41 
OK. Can you think of their names offhand, you can give them to me?  
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  13:45 
Oh, dear. Yeah. One cousin in Minnesota. Embarrass, Minnesota. Her name is-- now, I could 
have done a whole list of... if I knew we were going to go in like this. The main one in Laihia 
was Tapio and Marketta Manu in Miettylä, Laihia.  
 
Linda G. Greiner  14:31 
How you spell that last name?  
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  14:34 
M-A-N-U. Marki-- Tap-- Tapio, T-A-P-I-O and Marketta Manu. And they're in Miettylä, M-I-E-
T-T-Y-L-A, Laihia. Like I say, Laihia is the largest place and the-- all these other communities 
kind of go [?together?]. 
 
Page 9 of 16 
 
Linda G. Greiner  15:03 
OK.  
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  15:07 
And then the other cousin-- [Tape cuts.] 
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  15:15 
--D-I. And his wife is Tuula, T-U-U-L-A. They have three children-- no, four children. Two 
teenagers-- [Tape cuts.] 
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  15:27 
--and they live in Helsinki.  
 
Linda G. Greiner  15:37 
In Helsinki, uh-huh. Anybody else you'd like me to [?see?]? 
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  15:47 
Yes, there's another cousin, [?Maria?]. There were so many Paavolas around that area that some 
of them changed their last name to another name to lessen the confusion. So her name is... 
Thought she'd be in here. Anna, [?anyway?]. Anna Peltoniemi.  
 
Linda G. Greiner  16:20 
P-E-L-- 
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  16:26 
T-O. 
 
Linda G. Greiner  16:27 
--T-O. 
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  16:27 
N-I-E-M-I. That's only one word. Before I knew the difference was, that's the way I put it down. 
P-E-L-T-O-N-I-E-M-I.  
 
Linda G. Greiner  16:35 
And she lives in [inaudible]. 
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  16:50 
And then there was a cousin -- or a second cousin, really -- Marja-- Marja Manu.  
 
Linda G. Greiner  17:04 
And then she lives in...?  
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  17:06 
In... oh, what was the name of that town?  
 
Page 10 of 16 
 
Linda G. Greiner  17:13 
Is it part of the Laihia?  
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  17:14 
No, no, it isn't. It's another-- it's a city near there. She has a lovely apartment there.  
 
Linda G. Greiner  17:28 
Well, perhaps you remember just a little later.  
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  17:30 
Yeah, I think it'd be better if I look up these things and get them to-- 
 
Linda G. Greiner  17:33 
OK, well, we can go on and fill in what we what we can remember, and we can always add to it 
later, so. 
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  17:39 
Yeah, because I'm kind of confused about these. This is all new to me, because it was quite a 
joke just to even gather up all my stuff for my passport, and then-- then to go off and go to 
Finland, where I never expected I'd-- to go when I was 83 years old, and meet relations that I 
didn't even know any thing about, and then travel around there, and... [?Oh, buses?], that's a bus. 
 
Linda G. Greiner  18:13 
[Laughs] OK, why don't we go back to you? Why don't why don't you tell me about when you 
were married, and where you were married, and if there's more than one marriage, or...?  
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  18:25 
Yes, of course. When I came here, that was to Black Diamond, and I went to school there. All-- 
you know, all through the schooling in the... When I was 18 years old, why, I came to the city to 
work in a telephone company, and that was my first job. 
 
Linda G. Greiner  18:55 
Which city?  
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  18:57 
Seattle. 
 
Linda G. Greiner  19:02 
What was the company? Was it just the telephone company, or was the Bell Company, or...? 
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  19:07 
The Telephone Bell Company, uh-huh. I worked at [?Elliott?], [?Maine?], [?Elliott?], and 
another one, and then my mother had a-- or, in the meantime, I got married to George Denison.  
 
Linda G. Greiner  19:28 
Do you remember when you got married to George Denison?  
Page 11 of 16 
 
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  19:33 
1921. In fact, that really made me a citizen, because before 1921-- previous to 1921, you were an 
American citizen, but you still had to have the-- all the proofs, you know, to get a passport. And I 
got his records-- well, he died a year and a half later of diabetes, and I was left a widow at 20. He 
was 23 when he died.  
 
Linda G. Greiner  20:03 
Oh, my God.  
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  20:04 
And then just right after-- no, just before he died, my mother had a stroke while I was working in 
the telephone company, so I went back and took care of her, and they were living in Hobart, 
Washington then.  
 
Linda G. Greiner  20:20 
Your parents were?  
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  20:21 
Yeah, so I stayed there and-- for a while, and then my husband died. And--  
 
Linda G. Greiner  20:33 
Did he die here in Seattle?  
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  20:34 
Yes.  
 
Linda G. Greiner  20:37 
Were you married here in Seattle?  
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  20:39 
Yes. 
 
Linda G. Greiner  20:43 
So did you-- when you went back to take care your mother, then your husband died, did you then 
stay with your parents? Or did you come back to the city? 
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  20:52 
No, I stayed there as-- till she was able to get around and manage, then I came back to Seattle, 
and we had built a home in-- near White Center in Highland Park, and I stayed there alone for 
about three years and went back to work, but not in the telephone company. I went to work in 
draperies and MacDougall's, and --which store no longer is here, they tore it down -- and then in 
Fraser-Paterson did draperies. I also ran elevators. I ran elevators in the Bon Marché, that old 
building on 2nd Avenue. That was probably before your time. Do you remember that?  
 
Linda G. Greiner  21:42 
Page 12 of 16 
 
No, I'm afraid I don't. 
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  21:44 
I think [inaudible] [?the Bon?] was where it is now. Well, it was a big building there. It still is, 
but I don't know what all is in it. 
 
Linda G. Greiner  21:52 
How did you-- how did you decide or have the opportunity for these particular jobs? Did you 
have any special sort of skills or education? Did you go through high school and graduate from 
high school?  
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  22:05 
No, I didn't graduate. We lived in this coal mining town of Black Diamond, and the strikes came 
about 1918, they put scabs in there, and all the miners had to leave. They couldn't stay in the 
company houses, even, and they had to leave. And so they all moved different places. Some to 
Renton. And my folks bought a farm with the money they had saved in Hobart, and they were 
only there about a ye-- well, my mother died in 1926, I think it was, and my father died in 19-- 
no, 1927 and then my father died in 1937. He was killed in Seattle. 
 
Linda G. Greiner  22:57 
Your father was?  
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  22:58 
Yeah, he was-- he had come into Seattle, and he was down there on 1st Avenue, or something, in 
a clubhouse, and he was-- somebody attacked at him and took his money, beat him up. And so he 
went out and started home, and I guess he wasn't, you know, didn't know what he was doing, and 
he was walking down 4th Avenue, and a car hit him and finished him off. So he only lived 10 
years after my mother died. 
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  22:58 
So what-- and that was 1937 [inaudible]? 
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  23:28 
Mm-hmm. 
 
Linda G. Greiner  23:31 
What happened to the [?farming?]? 
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  23:38 
Well, my brother-- my two brothers were there. And in fact, the youngest brother was -- George -
- was staying with my dad. And Mick hadn't got married. And so anyway, I carried on in Seattle, 
and then about three years later, why, I went on a vacation to California, and that's where I met 
my husband Stephen Armstrong in Oakland, California. 
 
Linda G. Greiner  24:18 
Did you stay in Oakland, California?  
Page 13 of 16 
 
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  24:21 
No, I was on a vacation, and when I got back, why, I wasn't here two weeks when he came up 
and we were married.  
 
Linda G. Greiner  24:28 
So you were married here in Seattle? 
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  24:29 
Uh-huh.  
 
Linda G. Greiner  24:30 
Do you remember the year? 
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  24:34 
1926. September 4, 1926.  
 
Linda G. Greiner  24:43 
And then he was with you. And [inaudible]... do you happen to know his year of birth?  
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  24:50 
Yes. 
 
Linda G. Greiner  24:51 
[Inaudible] offhand, or if you can't, if you need to go get it later, OK. 
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  24:56 
I'll have to look that up. I-- 
 
Linda G. Greiner  24:57 
How about the year of his death? Do you happen to have that? 
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  25:02 
I think it was '81. I'd have to look that up.  
 
Linda G. Greiner  25:06 
Here in Seattle? 
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  25:07 
Yes. 
 
Linda G. Greiner  25:16 
Stephen, does he have a middle name?  
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  25:18 
Egbert. 
Page 14 of 16 
 
 
Linda G. Greiner  25:19 
Egbert? 
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  25:20 
Mm-hmm. He was born in Des Moines, Iowa. 
 
Linda G. Greiner  25:35 
Met him on a vacation, huh?  
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  25:37 
Yeah, [they laugh] isn't that where everybody meets somebody?  
 
Linda G. Greiner  25:40 
Well, I suppose.  
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  25:42 
No, I was in the state where I didn't even want to go out or anything. My girlfriends used to say, 
"Well, why don't you go to dance with us and meet somebody?" And I-- I just didn't want to. I 
just did not want to date. And finally, I realized that you can't just go on living in a blank like 
that, and just keep working. I was doing draperies then. And so then, when I was eligible for 
vacation, I thought, well, everybody goes to California, so I did. That's what happened.  
 
Linda G. Greiner  26:14 
Was he on vacation there, too, or was he working?  
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  26:16 
No, he was working there. 
 
Linda G. Greiner  26:22 
What was George's occupation? 
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  26:25 
George, oh, he worked in lumber camps when he got out of school, and then he worked for the-- 
I think, a specific car-- car something or other in Renton. And he's retired. Right now, he lives in 
Renton. Of course, Mick died several years ago. I don't have the exact date. We were in 
California, then. We moved from here during the Depression. I think it was 1933, things got real 
bad, and I remember the-- down on El-- down on the waterfront, they had shacks where people 
were living. And later on, the fire department turned the hose on them to wash them out. Things 
were terrible in Seattle. There was nowhere-- people were losing their homes everywhere. People 
had brick homes and everything, and they absolutely couldn't sell them. They just had to leave 
them. You know, the other banks would take them over. Luckily, we had our own house and it 
was paid for and all that and it was no reason. But however, we couldn't sell it, and so we just 
left the house. It was a small house. And we took off to California. He thought that if we were 
going to starve, why, you might as well starve where it's warm, because that's where he's from. 
Page 15 of 16 
 
But there was no reason for that. We was getting along-- he was working all the time, and he just 
was aching to go back to California.  
 
Linda G. Greiner  28:05 
What was his occupation?  
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  28:07 
He was a automobile trimmer then. And then later, he did furniture upholstering. In fact, he's 
done all these that are in here. 
 
Linda G. Greiner  28:16 
Oh, these are beautiful.  
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  28:17 
Well, a little tired now. But that was quite an experience to go down there. We had an old trai-- 
at that time, it was a terrible winter. We had about two feet of snow. And the pipes froze under 
the house. My brothers went down there. They were-- they had blow torch to get the pipes 
running. And my husband was so disgusted, you know, he says, "Oh, we're going to California." 
So we couldn't sell the house, and we had all new furniture. My pride and joy was a four-- joy 
was a four poster bed. And [crosstalk]-- 
 
Linda G. Greiner  28:54 
Could you take it with you?  
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  28:55 
No, we just called-- we couldn't sell anything. And then we-- he called several places down on 
1st Avenue -- you know, place to buy furniture and whatever -- and only one man came and he 
says, "I'll give you $80 for it." And I about flipped because the Davenport and chair were over 
$500 then, and that was a long time ago. It was a big price.  
 
Linda G. Greiner  29:23 
What year was this that you were trying to move to California?  
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  29:25 
'33. So, and then that beautiful bedroom set, which was-- hurt me worse than anything else. And 
in fact, the first two children were born in that bed, you know? They were born at home. The 
doctor came to the house. And so anyway, we had a trailer that he-- and the end of our block was 
all trees, and so all you had to do was-- and get the-- cut down the trees and chop wood for our 
heater. We had a air tight heater then. And now, it's all houses there, all the way to Des Moines, 
you know? But anyway, we filled a trailer with trunks and and food stuffs and whatever, you 
know, our clothes, and we drove down to California. And everywhere we went, there was cars 
coming from all over with all their junk and lines on them heading for California. I don't know if 
you remember those days or not, or hear about it.  
 
Linda G. Greiner  30:28 
Yes, I've read a lot about them there.  
Page 16 of 16 
 
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  30:29 
Like The Grapes of Wrath?  
 
Linda G. Greiner  30:31 
Uh-huh. 
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  30:31 
Only you saw cars just like that, just piled up, you know, and all the family in them all the way to 
California. And-- 
 
Linda G. Greiner  30:42 
[?That's incredible?]. 
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  30:42 
Yeah. 
 
Linda G. Greiner  30:44 
What-- you mentioned your children. Who-- why don't you give me their names while we're--? 
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  30:51 
Robert Stephen. 
 
Linda G. Greiner  30:58 
[?In?]...?  
 
Olive Lempi Armstrong  30:58 
Seattle.  
 
Linda G. Greiner  31:00 
Place of birth [inaudible]. 
 
 