Page 1 of 11 
 
Washington Women’s Heritage Project records, 1900-2000 
University of Washington Libraries Special Collections 
Erna Dora Meerscheidt Bouillon 
October 6, 1980 
Cassette 3, Side 2 
 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  00:03 
Erna Bouillon, interviewed by Susan Ehlers, Washington Women's Heritage Project, October 6, 
1980, tape three, side six. [Movement.] 
 
Erna Bouillon  00:19 
What did you want to know? 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  00:24 
Okay, your husband-- 
 
Erna Bouillon  00:25 
Oh, these are the, this is the apartment house. 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  00:28 
Okay, your husband had always wanted to move back? 
 
Erna Bouillon  00:32 
It's three sections. Yes, he'd always planned to, and she wasn't well. This is the section we lived 
in, this section was here and it went like this. There was one missing, I'm getting.  
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  00:44 
I see. And so it was for her health, with the drier climate and whatnot, that she usually stayed 
there.  
 
Erna Bouillon  00:51 
No, she just was too sick to move. It takes work to move.  
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  00:56 
Oh, I see. 
 
Erna Bouillon  00:57 
She couldn't go through that. He just had to nurse her illness.  
 
Page 2 of 11 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  01:00 
During World War Two, do you remember anything particular about the way your life might 
have been changed by that? 
 
Erna Bouillon  01:14 
World War Two.  
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  01:14 
[?Anything you?] remember about it? 
 
Erna Bouillon  01:16 
I can't really-- 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  01:20 
[?Write outs?], rationing?  
 
Erna Bouillon  01:23 
Oh. 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  01:24 
Soldiers and [inaudible]? 
 
Erna Bouillon  01:26 
No, except my daughter went over to, from New York, she was in New York, and she went from 
New, New York to be a recreational worker in the, in a recreational center for the soldiers. They 
opened from eight to 11-- 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  01:49 
[?This was with?] the Red Cross, the USO, [?are you?]? 
 
Erna Bouillon  01:51 
I think it was, I'm not sure, I'm not sure. I don't remember-- [Knocking in background] someone 
there?  
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  02:00 
No, I think it's across the hall.  
 
Erna Bouillon  02:01 
I see. 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  02:01 
Let's see, oh, on your scholarship to Rudolph Schaeffer's School of Design. So you got the 
scholarship. Now, who was the one giving it out?  
 
Erna Bouillon  02:21 
He gave it to me personally. 
Page 3 of 11 
 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  02:21 
Oh, I see, it's from the school itself. 
 
Erna Bouillon  02:24 
It's from the school, and that included the tuition, the instruction, and all the art supplies. And art 
supplies are expensive, they amount to a lot a year. I had to provide my room and board. 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  02:45 
I see, it's from the school itself. I thought it might've been some arts group or whatever. You got 
it by painting, showing samples of your work, [?the paintings and the?]--  
 
Erna Bouillon  02:57 
Yeah, well, he saw it in my daily work there.  
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  03:01 
I see. Okay, did you ever learn to drive a car?  
 
Erna Bouillon  03:08 
I only drove for three weeks and then, or three months, and my, my husband was and that was-- 
He, he didn't want to go to serve if he didn't have to, because we had four children. 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  03:24 
This is during World War Two? 
 
Erna Bouillon  03:25 
Two, yes. And so he, they had a camp up, on the university campus, I don't know who put it on, 
and, and they trained them as if they were going to war, so that, in a real emergency, he'd have to 
go, and he would be trained. And during that time, I had the car and that, and I drove it, and I'd 
put--I'm shocked when I think about it--I couldn't, I couldn't turn, couldn't park, and I couldn't 
back, back in or turn around or something. Anyway, I had the nerve to put my one child in the 
front seat with me, and drive lightly off, you know, when you're young-- 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  03:26 
Did you have any other instruction?  
 
Erna Bouillon  04:01 
No, I taught myself, and I got along fine. And if I'd had the car long, I'd have been driving, and it 
would have been a great help in my decorating. I went on the bus and carried all the bundles. The 
hardest part of it was carrying those bundles of goods on the bus. I didn't mind riding on it, in 
fact, I'd relax. But oh, those bundles were heavy, getting on and off, and all. 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  04:54 
I see. So you never actually got a driver's license, it was just this one-- 
 
Erna Bouillon  04:58 
Page 4 of 11 
 
Yeah, just that. 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  04:59 
--few months time?  
 
Erna Bouillon  04:59 
Yes. 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  05:00 
And otherwise-- 
 
Erna Bouillon  05:02 
And then, and then later on, you see, we, at first, we only had that one car, and later on, those 
children, this daughter that was hurt, needed it badly because it helped her with her friendships 
to, if she could transport some of her friends and all. And my, my husband loaned her the second 
car. He took one to work, and then the second car, he gave to her. And then by the time she was 
through with it, gone off to New York, why, the son was, needed it. So, I never got a shot at it 
again. And I, of course, I could have made a fuss, but you see, I wasn't like that. 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  05:53 
Oh, as a girl or, anyhow, or a young woman, were there any foods that you remember your 
family having, that you-- Are not available anymore, or else--  
 
Erna Bouillon  06:08 
No. 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  06:08 
--that nobody cooks. 
 
Erna Bouillon  06:09 
The only food-- 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  06:09 
[Inaudible] specifically German or whatever?  
 
Erna Bouillon  06:11 
Well, we, we were taught to eat everything, and we had the best food on the table. They, my 
mother and father, always imported German cooks, Swiss midwives and, to nurse the baby 
because my mother had both breasts removed, and you had to nurse your baby in those days. 
And so he'd bring a Swiss midwife, I think they called them or something, from, from 
Switzerland, and a cook from Germany to do all the cooking. But my mother, no table was put 
on the table-- No meal was put on the table that my mother didn't first go in the kitchen and taste 
the food to see if it was all right. And if there was anything lacking or she didn't like, they'd have 
to fix that before they could serve the meal. And the only food I can remember the whole family 
disliking was hominy, down in Texas. Hominy was served with, with bacon and molasses, I 
think, I don't know. Anyway, we never had hominy, and they serve it down here sometimes. And 
Page 5 of 11 
 
I always strike it off of my menu and tell them to bring me a substitute, because I can't tolerate it, 
and that's the only food. But otherwise, we ate everything, but it was good food. It was good 
food, well prepared. 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  07:54 
Oh, what are your feelings about what are called women's issues today? Women's rights and 
whatnot. 
 
Erna Bouillon  08:03 
Well, I approve of most of it. I think sometimes they might go too far, and that leaves the family 
without the real head to take care of the children. They have substitutes for that. And sometimes, 
I think that is causing some of the trouble we have had with youth. When they grow to 
adolescence, they begin to smoke and drink. And now, which, it's a free society, and I think that 
we have too much trouble. Our young people aren't all responsible, and it's due to some, some, 
when they go to extreme in the freedom of women. But I do believe that we had to come out of 
the woods, you know? 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  09:12 
Oh, were you going to say something else?  
 
Erna Bouillon  09:13 
No.  
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  09:14 
Oh, about raising your own children, you think they were raised fairly, strictly?  
 
Erna Bouillon  09:18 
Oh, strictly, yes, but there was never, we never had any dissension in the home. I can't remember 
my having any trouble with any of them. My oldest girl turned to her father, which adolescent 
girls do a lot, and away from the mother some, and I felt that some, for some, for some years. 
But my heavens, that's all blown over because he's gone. But I mean, it blew over a long time 
ago and, and they don't feel as-- They never felt as close to him as they did to me, I think maybe 
because I was in the home and I did-- 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  10:18 
Oh, so, in general, all of your children were closer to you than to your husband? 
 
Erna Bouillon  10:19 
Yes, I think so. Pat, for a while, the oldest one, was closer to him while she was going through 
adolescence. But that only lasted a little while, and then she swung back. And then, of course, he 
died so early.  
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  10:41 
Did you really you really miss him and [inaudible] after he-- 
 
Erna Bouillon  10:45 
Page 6 of 11 
 
No, well, I don't, yeah, I can't remember. I don't think so, I think I got busy. He was out of the 
home and traveling so much. I went with him a lot when he was in this coffee, Manning's, 
business, because he'd traveled to all those places, and I went with him a lot. Sure, I missed him, 
because we did have fun together. He, we went to dances and parties together, and we, I did miss 
him, yes, very much. And he was always good to me, except that I never felt he took any 
responsibility in the home. Always left that all to me.  
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  14:38 
You would have liked [inaudible] with that? 
 
Erna Bouillon  17:07 
Oh, yes, I'd like to have had him a little more. 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  17:07 
I see. Can I ask why he died suddenly? So, you had no [?warning?] or-- 
 
Erna Bouillon  13:52 
He had, he had a heart-- No, he had, his heart went, he died very suddenly. 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  17:18 
Let's see, let's talk about your travels there with the papers. 
 
Erna Bouillon  11:59 
Well, I made, first, these travel sheets-- 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  12:04 
Well, just in general, where have you-- All the different places you've been [inaudible].  
 
Erna Bouillon  12:08 
Well, you see, I started as a young child going to Europe and seeing Europe, and Germany, and 
Switzerland, and the Alps, and Lucerne, and [?Zurich?]. And we saw New York, and we went 
through Calgary, Alaska, and the Yukon, San Francisco. And then, when I, after I raised the 
children, I went with a, he owned a Where To Go Bureau on Fifth Avenue, right, close to 
William L Davis', his name was Carl Helgren. I think he was Swedish, Swedish or Norwegian, I 
think it was Swedish. And he would take, every so often, eight women-- Seven women and 
himself on trips. And always the same, if you got into his group, I got into his group. One day, I 
went in there, not knowing anyone, into the Where To Go Bureau, met him, and it just happened 
that one of his eight, seven women, and he made the eighth, was ill and couldn't go on any more 
trips. And I guess he, I passed with his [?he liked me enough?]-- 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  13:52 
[Inaudible.] 
 
Erna Bouillon  13:39 
Yeah. And he said, said, "Do you know any of these?" And I said, "Well, I've heard of some of 
them. I don't know any of them intimately." But he said, "You can come with us, and if it's all 
Page 7 of 11 
 
congenial, I'll take you on the second trip." So I made, oh, I don't know how many trips with him 
on, with that group, and we went to England, Copenhagen, Paris, Vienna, [inaudible], Venice. 
And then, and then we went to Italy and saw Rome well and Spain, with that group too. I made a 
trip alone to Alaska, my daughter was living in, married-- The youngest daughter, she had her 
first baby, and I didn't go up at the time of birth because they only had one bedroom, and she 
said I'd have to sleep upstairs on the second floor, and that wasn't heated, and she was afraid 
she'd have a sick mother on her hands with a new baby, and she said, "Wait until June and 
come." That was in February. So, I went alone in June. Then, I made a Texas trip, 43 years after 
I left Texas. And I made that with my older sister, Beulah, and her, and her husband, Robert, and 
we drove to San Antonio, and my younger sister, the one who is nine years younger and has now 
passed away six months ago, we drove down and back. And that was a very nice trip, because it 
was good to see all these people again, and my girlhood friends I saw, and I have pictures of 
them all. See, I had everything written up, all these different trips, each one a separate book and 
postcards, [?I didn't use the camera?]. And then I made a trip to Mexico, let's see, I can't 
remember whether-- I made that with Carl, this Carl Helgren too, the Where To Go Bureau man, 
the head of it. And when I went to the Orient, I went to Tokyo and Japan-- The Orient, Tokyo, 
Japan, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Thailand, Singapore, Manila and the Philippines, and in Tokyo, 
Japan to the what they call the New Territories. And they had a boat there, something like Love 
Boat, that we went on and ate on, everybody ate on it, it had a great big dining hall. And I went 
to Naka, Japan, Nachi, Japan, Itami, Kyoto, and Tokyo, Japan. And let's see, and I made the, then 
I go, Mexican trip with Carl Helgren. We went to Mexico City and we went to the bull flight. It 
must have been, they must have had bull fightings in Mexico as well as in Spain. And I, I don't 
know whether Jalisco, I can't, in Mexico, Guadalupe and Chapulte-- Chapul, Chapultepec, 
Chapultepec, I don't know something, I'd forgotten. [Inaudible] and Basilica de Guadalupe and 
the lake Lago de [inaudible] and the view of Taxco and Mexican city. I did that because--  
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  17:41 
[?These trips were from?] Mr. Helgren, they were after your first husband had died?  
 
Erna Bouillon  17:47 
Yeah, he was dead. He was gone, yeah. Then, I made trips with my second husband. You see, I 
have one book-- So he was district governor, governor of that, that group that I told you about, 
and they-- 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  18:12 
The Rotary? 
 
Erna Bouillon  18:12 
Yeah, Rotary, and they made a book, and it's a scrapbook, and they gave this to me, it was a 
beautiful book, you know, and the first page had great big letters, "To District Governor, Victor 
J. Bouillon and Lady Erna," they called me. And that was the Sunnyside Rotary Club, July 6, we 
went there. April 23 to Penticton, BC and Lake Placid, to Calgary, to Toronto, Roto-- Rot, 
[?Rotorua?] Village, Toppenish, Prosser, Washington, Wenatchee, Coulee Dam, Cashmere, 
North Kamloops, Rocky Beach, Vernon, Vernon BC, Banff and Lake Louise, Princeton, British 
Columbia, Oliver, British Columbia, Chinook, Chelan, Ephrata, Washington and back to 
Ellensburg. And then-- 
Page 8 of 11 
 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  18:35 
Were there many more different countries besides the ones you mentioned already? 
 
Erna Bouillon  19:25 
Well, I've mentioned Alaska, Mexico-- We went back to Europe, you see, even though, I mean, I 
went back three or four times. We went all through Canada later on, here with my second 
husband, went through Canada and went back east, and he showed me the United States, which I 
really hadn't seen, because we always flew, you see, and in the later years, and he, he-- 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  19:58 
Yeah, those first trips taken as a girl, [inaudible] by boat? 
 
Erna Bouillon  20:01 
We went by boat, yes. Once we went from, from Galveston, Texas, and the cap-- Or the top, 
head engineer, one of them, fell overboard. He was fixing an engine or something, and, and 
drowned. And so they had, they had to train his assistant. And we were on that boat, 28 days.  
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  20:30 
I see, it's very quick from Galveston to-- 
 
Erna Bouillon  20:33 
To, let me see, [inaudible] might have been. 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  20:37 
Of all the places that you visited, any particular standing out-- Stand out in your mind as your 
favorite?  
 
Erna Bouillon  20:45 
Oh no, because, you know, it's amazing. When I looked through my albums and made these lists, 
you know, because I go months, eight months or a year without looking at any one of them, 
because I had 13 albums there, and I'm busy. I was amazed at all the beautiful places, you know, 
that I had really seen. I feel like I've seen pretty much of the world, except South America and 
Africa. But otherwise, I really-- And saw it well because we were, this, I went on this wedding, 
wedding trip, and then, then one trip, that was with Victor, the second husband, and then--  
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  21:46 
Did you have anything like a honeymoon with your first husband? 
 
Erna Bouillon  21:49 
No, we, we, we got married, and he had a new job with a motor company in Tacoma. So, our 
wedding trip was to go to Tacoma and look around for an apartment, which we found near 
Wright Park in Tacoma.  
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  22:10 
[?Oh I see?], so you were living in Tacoma the first years of your marriage to Mr. Weeks?  
Page 9 of 11 
 
 
Erna Bouillon  22:14 
Mm-hmm. 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  22:15 
About how long were you in Tacoma then, all together, remember how many years?  
 
Erna Bouillon  22:22 
Oh, I don't think we lived there more than about three years. And finally, he, he dropped the Ford 
Motor Company for one reason. They changed their system. He thought he would become, see, 
he was assistant manager of the Ford Motor Company of the western section, and he thought he 
would become the head, but they changed it so that it was run from the east, managed from the 
east. And he decided to leave them because his friend, Ray Tirola, wanted him to come with 
Manning's. And so he changed to that, and then we began to go down there, to California, on 
trips. 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  23:21 
Okay. On your life in general, this is an oldie but a goodie question, would you do anything 
different if you had to do it over again? 
 
Erna Bouillon  23:30 
Oh yeah, I suppose you'd do a lot of things different, but I can't, I don't know just what right 
now. I feel pretty satisfied with how things have worked out for me. I, I don't know what I'd done 
differently, probably lots of little things along the line. 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  23:52 
Are the-- There's any other interesting stories or anything that you feel that you would like to 
include that perhaps we haven't covered? 
 
Erna Bouillon  24:03 
Well, the, we, these-- Here we had all these trips with my second husband to, we went back east, 
we, we flew to Chicago, we drove as far as Chicago, and then we flew and they sent the, or we 
went by rail, I can't remember, but they sent the car up, and then we got the car in Chicago, or 
Bryson, I think that was. We went up to Toronto, to a, to a Rotary meeting there [telephone 
rings] I'll have to-- [Tape stops and starts].  
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  24:49 
Okay, you were mentioning the-- 
 
Erna Bouillon  24:49 
Oh, we went to this Rotary conference. See, he was a governor of Rotary and they invited us to, 
to Toronto. That's in the east, you know. And they had a, oh, that is a beautiful affair. And in 
fact, when it was over, they, one couple, a governor from another, from Toronto, invited us, and 
we stayed with them three weeks, and they showed us everything. And we, and then on the, we 
saw, on the trip East before the conference, we saw Niagara Falls, Toronto, New York City, 
Washington DC, Williamsburg, and then we cut across and went to Wenatchee and the Ohme 
Page 10 of 11 
 
Gardens, the Rocky Road Dam, Soap Lake, Moses Lake, Kamloops, Vernon, BC, Lake Louise, 
Victoria Gardens, Banff, Alberta. And then, then there were a lot of other Rotary trips, smaller 
trips we went on, no. And we went to California to see his son several times. We went, and one 
Rotary trip in 1965 to Oakland, then to Harrison Hot Springs, Rosario, Moran, home, Spokane, 
cap-- And the capital in Olympia, Port Angeles, Mount Rainier, Carmel, Vancouver, and Lake 
[?Canal?], and that's all of them. But I have seen the United States, and I've seen Europe and 
Mexico, Alaska and the Orient. So I have, really, I even touched in, you know, Old China was 
closed, but there was a Chinese student whose father owned a furniture shop like William L. 
Davis', you know, just beautiful furniture, only every piece of furniture was made by hand, not 
[?a tool?] used in that. And that was really in Old China, and his son Chuang, his name was, 
Chuang, see, he was really Chinese. He came to the school because his father wanted him to 
study and know what kind of furniture the Americans would like, because he made it an 
important-- 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  27:42 
This was Rudolph Schaeffer's? 
 
Erna Bouillon  27:43 
No, no, no, this, this was-- Yes, we, the student was at Rudolph Schaeffer's, sure, you're right. 
And so I had known him from there, so when I went on the trip, we had corresponded. He always 
wrote to me, and we went, I went to see him, and these he gave me-- Oh, well, you go in there 
and look right around the corner, and those Chinese ducks on that, no, to the other way, left. See 
those Chinese ducks? They come from Old China, and they are all handmade. They're beautiful 
things. And he gave them to me. And you know, you couldn't take anything out of Old China 
without paying a high, high duty. He said, "Wrap them in a bath to-- Face towel, each one, and 
put them in that patent leather big bag you have, traveling bags," and they were gifts, so you can 
take them out, but if you declare them, you have to pay a high tax on them. But he said, 
"Because they're a gift, I don't think they'll make, will tax you," and they didn't. I got in with 
them to this country. I don't know what I was smuggling in the-- 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  29:03 
Visiting Taiwan or Hong Kong?  
 
Erna Bouillon  29:05 
This was, this was out from Hong Kong. You go to the New Territories that section is called. 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  29:16 
[Inaudible]. 
 
Erna Bouillon  29:16 
Yes, yeah. And you could see the Chinese women in the New Territories walking down the hill. 
They came over from China, you know, with big Chinese hats and, I've got pictures of them. 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  29:32 
Anything else that you care to add? 
 
Page 11 of 11 
 
Erna Bouillon  29:37 
I don't know anything more, unless you want something on my decorating?  
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  29:45 
The thing is, what do you feel that you think might be added about what you're decorating? It 
was like, whose house you did or what? 
 
Erna Bouillon  29:55 
Well, as I told you, I think, I went to the president's mansion and then I decorated the Gamma 
Phi sorority-- 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  30:03 
The president of the Un-- 
 
Erna Bouillon  30:04 
University of Washington-- 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  30:05 
[?Does he have a specific mansion?]? 
 
Erna Bouillon  30:07 
Yes, in Washington Park, huge mansion, and I decorated it, and I enlarged it, and we can change 
rooms around. Then I did the John Can-- John Case's living room. Let's see, John Case, they 
were a family I lived with for a while. I don't know, I can't remember, quite, the connection off 
hand. On, on, on the Boulevard, going in the University District, way at the north end we, we-- 
[Recording ends]. 
 