Page 1 of 14 
 
Washington Women’s Heritage Project records, 1900-2000 
University of Washington Libraries Special Collections 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand 
April 29, 1986 
Cassette 2, Side 1 
 
 
Robert L. Reed  00:14 
This is tape number two and the beginning of the second interview by Bob Reed of Esther Brand 
in her home at 102 Northeast 50th Street, Seattle, Washington. The date is April 29, 1986. 
 
Robert L. Reed  00:33 
Mrs. Brand, when you first came to Seattle, were there any family hardships right after you made 
the move, like a problem with your father finding a job or anything like that?  
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  00:45 
Well, there was a problem for some time, because we were not acquainted, and there were not 
that many jobs to be had. However, we got along very well. We didn't really suffer through it. 
 
Robert L. Reed  00:57 
Where was your first house in Seattle? 
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  01:00 
The first house was a house we-- actually my father built on 45th Street. 
 
Robert L. Reed  01:05 
On 45th Street? 
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  01:06 
Oh yes, and he had to finish the house. It was not entirely finished when we moved in. That took 
up time for a couple of years, I might say. 
 
Robert L. Reed  01:14 
So you've been a Wallingford resident since 1908. 
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  01:16 
1908. 
 
Robert L. Reed  01:21 
Page 2 of 14 
 
You mentioned before that your sister Theresa and you were very unhappy when you first came 
here, but then you began to like Seattle. You were about 15 at the time. And where did you enroll 
in school?  
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  01:36 
We enrolled in Lincoln High School. We were sophomores when we came. 
 
Robert L. Reed  01:43 
And did you find it an easy-- a friendly atmosphere there?  
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  01:47 
Well, at first, it was very strange. It seems everybody was a little bit different than back East. But 
we did fine. We were very happy after a while, and we had a lot of friends, and we went on with 
the school activities. In fact, we were so happy we didn't want to go back to Minnesota not long 
after. 
 
Robert L. Reed  02:07 
Can you think of what a typical day would be when you were in high school here? Like, how 
much household work did you have to do after you got home? What kind of recreation did you 
have? Did you have to do a lot of studying? Were there any after school activities and so on that 
you engaged in?  
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  02:26 
Well, let me see, that's a lot of space to cover. Well, we went to school at the usual time, I think 
about 8:00 or 8:45. It was only a few blocks from where we lived, so we walked. And of course, 
we had to take about six subjects-- five or six subjects, which kept us very busy. And then we, 
we would walk home after. And we helped our mother very much around the house, because 
there were so many of us. We helped her with cleaning and the dusting and the shopping and 
whatever there had to be done. But we took many walks. We walked in every direction from our 
home to get acquainted with the neighborhood. And that's about it. 
 
Robert L. Reed  03:13 
Did you go to basketball games [crosstalk]?  
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  03:15 
Occasionally. Football and basketball was very prominent. Especially, some of the girls played 
basketball. 
 
Robert L. Reed  03:23 
When you graduated, did you have any thoughts about continuing your education? 
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  03:28 
Well, I think everybody does, but in those days, people were fortunate when they had a chance to 
go through high school. It was very few that went on to college. 
 
Robert L. Reed  03:40 
Page 3 of 14 
 
You told me how you became acquainted with your husband. Could you tell me something about 
the wedding itself?  
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  03:49 
Well, let me think. Yes. We were married at St. Benedict's Church, and we had our wedding 
breakfast at my mother's home, a few guests, and then we took a trip into Canada. I think it was 
Victoria we went to. It was my first boat ride, or should I say, ship ride [laughs]. It was 
wonderful, very exciting. 
 
Robert L. Reed  04:15 
Were you able to start housekeeping right away or did you live with parents?  
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  04:18 
Yes, we did. But at that time, my parents were contemplating moving to Oregon. They had taken 
up land, the homestead, and my brothers and sisters all went with them, so we decided to stay in 
our mother-- my mother's home for a time, so we would have time to look for a home of our 
own.  
 
Robert L. Reed  04:37 
Had any of your brothers or sisters married before you? Or were you the first one out of the nest? 
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  04:46 
I was the first one. And two years later, my oldest brother got married. 
 
Robert L. Reed  04:52 
Did you continue living near your family and see them very often or did they move to Oregon? 
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  04:58 
Well, when my parents came home to occupy their own home, well, then we found a home not 
too far away from theirs, right here, where I'm still living. 
 
Robert L. Reed  05:06 
You moved into this house where we're interviewing? 
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  05:10 
Yes, and I've been here since 1918, I believe.  
 
Robert L. Reed  05:14 
1918.  
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  05:14 
By that time, I had two-- we had two children, a little four year old and a little two year old.  
 
Robert L. Reed  05:29 
Helena and Ruth.  
 
Page 4 of 14 
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  05:30 
Helena and Ruth. 
 
Robert L. Reed  05:31 
You had the first child, Helena -- is it HE-le-na or He-LE-na?  
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  05:34 
HE-le-na.  
 
Robert L. Reed  05:35 
HE-le-na -- in 1915. Were you...? See, your mother was not right here at the time. Who was 
helpful as far as to your becoming a mother?  
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  05:49 
Oh, well, my mother did come at the time and stayed with me about two weeks. 
 
Robert L. Reed  05:56 
Did you have other relatives or-- 
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  05:58 
No. 
 
Robert L. Reed  05:59 
--or neighbors? 
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  06:01 
No. We had neighbors, but they all had their own families and their own children. 
 
Robert L. Reed  06:09 
Your husband, Mr. Brand, Joseph Thomas, he didn't have any relatives in this area at all, did he? 
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  06:16 
No, he didn't.  
 
Robert L. Reed  06:17 
Or in the country, even. 
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  06:18 
Not that any-- that he could define. He was told that, he thought, had a couple of uncles in New 
York, but he never could find them, get in touch with them. No. 
 
Robert L. Reed  06:29 
If you can think back to that first year of marriage, that sort of corresponds with the beginning of 
World War I, except that the United States didn't get in until a little bit later.  
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  06:42 
Page 5 of 14 
 
Yeah, that's true.  
 
Robert L. Reed  06:44 
Did that have any effect on your lives that you can remember? 
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  06:48 
Well, no. Of course, food was not that readily purchased. We had to have tickets to buy bread 
and to buy meat and to buy cheese and all the things we really needed were only allowed so 
much per week, and even materials in the stores were not that plentiful. But somehow we got 
along all right. My babies were small; they didn't need very much, and we could always get food 
for them and the rest of the family. 
 
Robert L. Reed  07:20 
Pushing to 1917, you had two children, Helena and Ruth. What was a typical day like with two 
small children?  
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  07:31 
Well, it was very difficult, much more so than today. We didn't have the appliances to help us do 
our work. I had a gas range. It's a very small one. I didn't have a washer. I didn't have a 
refrigerator. Depended on the ice man to bring ice, and usually when I needed the ice the most, it 
was such hot weather, he never got around to me. But somehow we never thought much about it. 
That's the way things-- that's the way it was, and that's the way we accepted it, and other people 
had the same problems. 
 
Robert L. Reed  08:06 
Were you able to have much of a social life in those days? 
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  08:09 
Well, our neighbors were very nice, and of course, we had socials at our church, which we 
always went to, my husband and I. And a few years later, it seems to me, there was a little theater 
opened up, movie theater, which was about walking distance on 55th and Meridian, and that was 
a real treat. We would go to the matinee, early Sunday matinee, about two or three o'clock, take 
our children with us. It was wonderful. Put them in their go cart or carriage and go back home 
again. 
 
Robert L. Reed  08:41 
I'll bet there are not many people around who would remember that little theater at 55th and 
Meridian. 
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  08:46 
Oh, well, I don't know what it was called. I just think it was the Meridian Theater. But it was 
thrilling. We'd see Mary Pickford and a few of those old-timers. 
 
Robert L. Reed  09:01 
That was in this house you were living at that time? 
 
Page 6 of 14 
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  09:07 
No, at that time I was living on 45th.  
 
Robert L. Reed  09:08 
Oh, still on 45th Street.  
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  09:09 
Well, when we came here, it was entirely different. It was more-- the settlement had grown up 
and we neighbors would get together for a coffee or whatever, and the children would play 
together. 
 
Robert L. Reed  09:21 
Did that house remain in the family, or was it-- for some time, or was that sold after you--?  
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  09:26 
For a while, my oldest sister stayed there. My two sisters, they never married, and they took 
charge of it and rented it out, so and so forth. Then we had-- she had a wonderful opportunity to 
sell it, so we agreed that she would sell it.  
 
Robert L. Reed  09:41 
During those early days of marriage when you had the first child and the second, did you have 
many friends with whom you could discuss common problems with...?  
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  09:54 
Well, there was a little group of friends in my neighborhood where I live now. I've been here so 
long. You know, they've all passed away. I'm the only one left of that group. And we would get 
together. We had-- when either one of our birthdays came up, we'd have a birthday party for 
them. So, you know, about 12 people, that would be 12 birthday parties a year [laughs]. That 
gave us something to look forward to. Then when our children got to school, there were so many 
things there that I became active in, anything that pertained to the children, like the mother's 
club, like different, oh, groups, church groups, and that took an awful lot of time, but I was 
always home when the children got home. I never failed to be here when they came home from 
school. Somehow I would [?wriggle?] some way. If I had to shop, I'd go real early in the 
morning downtown, be back. Well, we have a very happy life. In fact, my husband and I were 
together for 59 years, just lacking 60, few months.  
 
Robert L. Reed  10:59 
How did you and Mr. Brand handle things like shopping and banking and handling the family 
money? 
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  11:08 
Well, he worked for a large meat concern down at the Public Market. Saturday nights, you know, 
the vegetable man would want to get rid of all their things and not take it home. They sold bags 
for just maybe 25¢ or 50¢, and he would-- that was his job, to bring home the meat and the 
vegetables. But he was good at cooking it, too. He would cook the meats. He was a very good 
cook. 
Page 7 of 14 
 
 
Robert L. Reed  11:32 
And when the United States got into the War, was there prejudice noticeable against people with 
German background?  
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  11:45 
Well, to a certain extent. Not too bad. Most of our neighbors knew that my husband was 
German, or German decent. They didn't make too much of a fuss, excepting one man who didn't 
want my husband to wait on him where he was selling, but the boss said, "If you don't want him, 
you don't get anyone else. You can go somewheres else." It may have happened more times, but 
my husband didn't discuss it and I didn't give it a thought.  
 
Robert L. Reed  12:13 
When I was born, it was in our home. How about with your children? Were your children born at 
home?  
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  12:20 
All born at home. That was the thing to do. 
 
Robert L. Reed  12:29 
Did you-- and you had your mother or some relatives or somebody around to help when you--? 
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  12:33 
Well, two or three times my mother came, and then, it was during-- must have been the harvest 
time or something, it was very difficult. So I found a nurse through a neighbor who was going to 
have this particular nurse, and lo and behold, we had our babies on the same day. So my husband 
had to rustle around, and someone gave him the number of another woman who would come in 
an emergency, which she did [laughs]. It was funny. I never had any problems. After that, I had 
another woman each time. 
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  13:09 
Did you have a regular doctor or midwives, or...? 
 
Robert L. Reed  13:11 
No, I had a doctor, a doctor. 
 
Robert L. Reed  13:18 
Since-- did you keep pretty close contact with your brothers and sisters after you were married? 
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  13:25 
Oh, yes, we wrote regularly when they were out of town. They'd come and visit me when they 
were in town. 
 
Robert L. Reed  13:38 
What was the community of Wallingford like when you first moved here? Well, did people 
consider Wallingford a community at that time? 
Page 8 of 14 
 
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  13:48 
Well, in a way. It wasn't much of a community, though. If you want me to tell you what it looked 
like, what I remember, the streets were narrow. We had sidewalks. We had one grocer. There 
was a meat market. There was a hardware store. I think my father had to walk quite a ways to the 
hardware store. And what else was there? Now I forget what. We had trolley busses-- trolley 
streetcars for 5¢ a ride each way. If you bought tickets, it was six for a quarter. But we didn't 
often go to town. My parents were sort of disciplinarians, and we were new in this country. They 
wouldn't allow us children to go anywhere alone until we were about 15-16 years old. However, 
we didn't need to go. The dry-- the nearest dry good store was on 14th. I think that's University 
Way. It was Brigham's Dry Goods store. When my mother needed thread or she needed yardage, 
we'd walk there, which was only 14 blocks. So we got along very well. But in the summer, the 
heat, there was no garbage system as we have it today. There was an open truck drawn by horses, 
and many times, part of the garbage would be strewn on the street as it went along. It wasn't very 
sanitary. We had flies every summer. It was the worst experience. I've never seen a fly since. But 
that's all due to the fact that the vacant lots had been built up. People used to throw their garbage 
sometimes on the vacant lots nearby, never realizing that they were responsible for all these flies. 
We would shoo them out. We had fly paper, we had swatters, but they seemed to come in droves. 
My mother would open the front door and the back door and give us children towels to shoo 
them out. And that's terrible. That was one thing we just didn't like or to get along with or to get 
used to it. And in the wintertime, it was mud, ankle-deep mud. We had to wear tall galoshes to 
keep our shoes from getting, you know, soiled, so we wouldn't track it into the house. In the 
summer, it was the direct opposite. It was so hot that dust blew over here. Dust blew in the 
house, everywhere. Clothes on a line, you know, things like that, would collect dust. But other 
than that, [inaudible]. We got along very well. 
 
Robert L. Reed  16:44 
Where did your children go to school? 
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  16:46 
Let me see. By that time, my children-- we had moved in this parish, and the parish was new, the 
Blessed Sacrament parish and school.  
 
Robert L. Reed  17:00 
What was the name, again, of the parish? 
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  17:01 
The Blessed Sacrament. It's down [crosstalk], near the library. 
 
Robert L. Reed  17:02 
[?Blessed Sacrament, yes?]? 
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  17:06 
Anyway, we were there when the church was built. We went to church when it was still in the 
basement, and sat on long benches.  
 
Page 9 of 14 
 
Robert L. Reed  17:19 
That's interesting.  
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  17:20 
Yes, and then later on, when my children were old enough to go to school, the church was 
partially built, half of it, without the new roof. And the sisters were very nice. They had the 
Dominican Order of Sisters there, also the Dominican Order of Priests, and the children would 
go to school and walk. It's quite a little walk for them, but it was also good for them. So they 
were interested in-- they liked to study, and they belonged to the scouts and the different things. 
And of course, I was active in those things, too, on their account. 
 
Robert L. Reed  18:02 
So do you remember the milk wagons and the ice wagons?  
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  18:05 
Oh, yes.  
 
Robert L. Reed  18:05 
When did you-- did you have a telephone all of that time, or...? 
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  18:10 
We had a telephone here in this home, but not at first when we came to Seattle. 
 
Robert L. Reed  18:18 
When did you and Mr. Brand get your first car? 
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  18:26 
It was a Ford.  
 
Robert L. Reed  18:28 
Model T? 
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  18:29 
Model T. There's a few pieces of it still down in the basement we're keeping, collecting, with 
those kind of grating across to keep things in-- you-- when you pile them up against the door. 
You have to step into the-- what do you call that when you...? 
 
Robert L. Reed  18:48 
A fender? 
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  18:49 
Yeah. We don't have fenders now, but we had wide fenders then. And it was so cold when we'd 
go out, I would put blankets for the children to wrap up in the backseat. But we were determined 
to go out. Every Sunday was family day. We just went. Took trips around the lake. 
 
Robert L. Reed  19:08 
Page 10 of 14 
 
That was sometime after 1918?  
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  19:11 
Let me see. 
 
Robert L. Reed  19:12 
That's alright, we don't need the exact time. 
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  19:14 
When children are quite small, we'd take them out. 
 
Robert L. Reed  19:20 
Can you remember when you got your first radio? 
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  19:25 
We were about the first in the neighborhood, [?too?], with that, but I don't remember the 
[?year?]. I think part of that's in the basement and it still works. 
 
Robert L. Reed  19:35 
Your first refrigerator instead of an ice box?  
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  19:38 
Well, it was just about that time. About that time. I don't remember; I should look that up. 
 
Robert L. Reed  19:47 
And of course, your first television set was much, much later.  
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  19:53 
Yeah, it was a little later.  
 
Robert L. Reed  19:53 
The reason I'm asking the question that younger people can't all see back when those things 
didn't exist, you know? 
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  20:02 
Our first TV was just a little one like this, but we were thrilled with it, even though it was so tiny. 
 
Robert L. Reed  20:10 
How did you and Mr. Brand make out during the Depression? Did those days affect your lives?  
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  20:16 
No, he never lost a day's work.  
 
Robert L. Reed  20:19 
Continued working all through it. 
 
Page 11 of 14 
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  20:20 
Mm-hmm. There were many people, even in this neighborhood, that ran out of food. We were 
very fortunate. 
 
Robert L. Reed  20:29 
You showed me a clipping from the Outlook about your mother in which she is called the First 
Lady of Wallingford. Do you remember what year that was? And that's quite a tribute. Can you 
tell me about a little bit?  
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  20:48 
Yeah. Let me think how long that was before she died. Well, she died in '47 and it was a few 
years before that, because our home was the first one on 45th Street between Meridian and 
Burke. And she was very active, you know, in anything that came along. She was active in 
church work, and also when people need it, she's good for helping people out. And she did a lot 
of traveling. She'd been out here, you know, I told you before, in '83 and she was quite a 
knowledgeable woman. 
 
Robert L. Reed  21:29 
This is going back a little bit. Do you know if she was engaged in the women's suffrage 
movement, getting the [inaudible]? 
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  21:36 
No, I don't know anything about that. 
 
Robert L. Reed  21:43 
Do you know some of the community issues that she was interested in? You mentioned already 
of helping people who needed help and so on.  
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  21:50 
Well, it was the time of, I think, Hi Gill, the mayor, and when he came in, I think we had... Well, 
prohibition before he came in, and then when he came in, when he-- they voted that out. And the 
town really got to be wild. We weren't affected on the outskirts, but downtown, they say it was a 
very rowdy. People didn't care to go down 1st Avenue or any of those areas where it was quite 
wild. People were drinking, getting drunk and all that. 
 
Robert L. Reed  22:31 
Your mother sounds like a very interesting woman.  
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  22:34 
She is. She always was. She was a businesswoman all her life. So was my father. 
 
Robert L. Reed  22:43 
Did-- she was busy, I suppose, even back in Minnesota with personal--  
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  22:51 
Oh yeah, she had her own business there, you know?  
Page 12 of 14 
 
 
Robert L. Reed  22:53 
I know she had the business, but was she, you know, helping people and getting involved in the 
city and various--? 
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  23:00 
She'd [inaudible] many times when the farmers' wives, farmers would come to town and there 
was no place for their wives to keep their children warm, they always came to our house and 
they would take care of their babies or feed them and when their husbands got through with their 
shopping, then their husbands knew where they were. 
 
Robert L. Reed  23:26 
You and Mr. Brand had five children, three girls and two boys, between 1915-1931.  
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  23:33 
Actually, we had one other little boy who passed away. So we have six children in all. 
 
Robert L. Reed  23:39 
Six. In raising the children, do you feel that the way you and your brothers and sisters were 
raised had a strong effect on the way you raised your own? 
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  23:50 
Yes, I think. I think so.  
 
Robert L. Reed  23:53 
In what way?  
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  23:55 
Well, maybe not-- my father was a strict disciplinarian. My husband, he believed in that, but 
actually, we were not quite that strict. We were a happy family. Our children never gave us any 
trouble. We always knew where they were and when they'd be home, and that's a big thing when 
you have a family. And they were not children that ran on the street to be entertained. They were 
home children and had their friends in the home and in our own yard. My yard used to be full of 
children sometimes. I could hardly grow any grass or flowers [laughs], but I'd sooner have them 
home than not know where they were. No, we didn't have any problems that way. 
 
Robert L. Reed  24:45 
Well, you've already told me quite a bit about Mr. Brand and his job, that he worked all through 
the Depression.  
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  24:53 
Mm-hmm. 
 
Robert L. Reed  24:56 
So did the job have long hours? Was he has to be away from home a great deal?  
 
Page 13 of 14 
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  25:00 
Yes, they were all-- they're longer than now. He wouldn't get home till about 7:00 in the evening. 
He leave in the morning to be where he was going to work about 8:00. They were very long 
hours, and there were six days a week. Seven-- the seventh day was our day with our children, 
and we spent it that way, every Sunday. Well, he enjoyed it. It was good for the children, too, 
you know.  
 
Robert L. Reed  25:34 
Now, I know it didn't affect you directly, but do you remember, during the early '30s, or did you 
even see the soup kitchens and the bread lines were part of the Depression? The shanty town that 
was down on the waterfront?  
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  25:51 
Saw it. It was Hooverville.  
 
Robert L. Reed  25:52 
Hooverville.  
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  25:54 
We saw it. It was terrible. These little houses built of cardboard and tin, but somehow these 
people managed to get along. I sort of give them credit for doing so much on their own. 
Nowadays, you see men walking the streets and they sleep under-- in doorways. There's a reason 
for it. Either they're not able to hold a job or not mentally, you know, able, but it's a sad state of 
affairs. I don't think it should be that way, because we're a big country, there's lots of food, 
there's lots of ground that could be put into food, and it really hurts me to see that. One day, 
maybe, it will be corrected, but it'll take a long time. We had a lot of poor people. We had a 
neighbor, and we heard that they hadn't had much to eat for several days. So there was a little 
lady who had a very small grocery store. She would tell it to everyone who came into the store. 
Do you know Mrs. So-and-so? Do you know--? And we all got together. My husband brought 
home a huge roast of meat, and when she got it, evidently, someone told her who had sent it. She 
came over and she said it's the first we've had in weeks, and the best we've ever had. And they 
only had one child, but he couldn't find work because he was specialized. And she said he what 
didn't want to work at anything or anything; it would ruin his hands, which sort of exasperated 
my husband, because he was working with his hands all the time. 
 
Robert L. Reed  27:54 
In the education of your children, were there any economic problems in connection with that 
[crosstalk]?  
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  28:06 
No, no, we always paid tuition for all of our children. 
 
Robert L. Reed  28:12 
That's at the church school? 
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  28:14 
Page 14 of 14 
 
Yeah, the Catholic school for the elementary school, then they went on to high school, and then 
they went on to Seattle University, and the girls finished even a little more. But my sons, they 
didn't care to. My oldest son was a junior when he stopped college. Imagine that. And my 
youngest son, he was there only a year. But after all, I've heard so many things about there's 
more college people looking for work, and I decided what they were doing, they like to do. They 
like to meet people. They like to sell. They're good salesmen. They all have nice homes, 
children. You know, so it works out alright. College education gives a certain prestige, but it 
doesn't really promise you that you're going to make a good living at it, because I know too many 
people who haven't. 
 
Robert L. Reed  29:23 
When the children started leaving the home one by one, getting married, taking off somewhere 
else, and finally, the last one was no longer in the household, what effect did that have on your 
life?  
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  29:37 
It was terrible. We just felt so terrible. We never stopped them going. If they were happy doing 
it, fine. But inwardly, I think my heart broke. My first daughter, she was 23. She had finished 
college and another year on top of that, doing some kind of teaching at college. And she decided 
to become a nun, a religious-- and we didn't know about it. Everybody suspected it, but we-- of 
course, we should have known eventually one of our children would, because my husband had 
four sisters in the convent, one brother in a religious order. I don't know how many aunts and 
nieces. So it was a natural thing for one of our children to follow through, but I never gave it a 
thought. So-- but she's very happy. She's been in the Holy Name's order for over 40 years. She 
comes to see me every month for a couple of days. And then my daughter got married, Ruth, and 
she married this young attorney.  
 
Robert L. Reed  30:49 
In Seattle, or--? 
 
Esther Gertrude Garske Brand  30:50 
Yes. And they have one son, who’s doing exceptionally well. And then who came after that? 
Then George got married, and she's a coordinator of nurses at the university infirmary. And then 
Joan got married, and she-- for a time, she was the first assistant to a priest in Virginia Mason 
hospital. And there's a plaque there to that effect, "Joan Brand, the first." So now they're living in 
Honolulu, and she is doing the same thing there. But actually she was taught and trained to be a 
lab technician, but she said, "Mother, I saw so many people in the hospital as I was doing lab 
work," so many that were left alone and no one came to visit them, that she leaned towards doing 
something for them. Gave u-- 
 