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Washington Women’s Heritage Project records, 1900-2000 
University of Washington Libraries Special Collections 
Janet Askren Brown 
April 30, 1987 
Cassette 2, Side 2 
 
 
Deborah Gates  00:00 
On April 30-- this is Deborah Gates, it is April 30, 1987. I am on my way to the home of Mrs. 
Janet Brown in Seattle, Washington to interview her. Well, Mrs. Brown, last time I was here, you 
were telling me about how you helped look after your grandchildren, and I was just wondering, 
have you-- did you speak much to your granddaughters about their relationships with men, or try 
to prepare them for their menstruation? Or did you do that with your daughters?  
 
Janet Askren Brown  00:35 
I got some books and had them read them mostly. I wasn't the mother, so I didn't feel quite the 
same as if I'd been the mother to explain to them a lot, but I'd given some books to read, I think 
that helps them. 
 
Deborah Gates  00:56 
What about with your daughters? Did you try to prepare them, or did you-- and did your mother 
prepare you for the facts of life?  
 
Janet Askren Brown  01:05 
I don't remember too much, but I think I got a book for my daughters also. That's all I remember. 
 
Deborah Gates  01:30 
Okay, well, why don't we start talking about then when you retired? Because I remember you 
telling me that you're very active in some different organizations, so maybe we can start from 
there today. 
 
Janet Askren Brown  01:42 
Well, I was-- I mean... Okay, I retired fairly because of health reasons. And so my friends were 
very active in teaching English to aliens, and they urged me to go to a workshop. And so I did, 
and I've been actively engaged in this volunteer work ever since I was 55, which would be 14 
years ago. I got on the board of our agency in, well, I guess maybe a couple years after I started 
teaching, they put me on the board, and I've been on the board ever since. I've been getting-- I go 
to the workshops on the last day or the next to the last day, and give each tutor a student and try 
to match them up, because many of the people work and can only do it at night time. So they 
have to get somebody that prefers to have a student come at night-- I mean, a tutor come at night 
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to teach them. Or if it's a mother, they usually want it in the daytime, to get maybe a retired 
person to do that.  
 
Deborah Gates  03:42 
How long was it from the time you retired until you got into this organization? 
 
Janet Askren Brown  03:50 
I'd say about six months.  
 
Deborah Gates  03:53 
So you didn't have a very long-- 
 
Janet Askren Brown  03:55 
--no-- 
 
Deborah Gates  03:56 
--retirement? 
 
Janet Askren Brown  03:57 
I quit January. Well, the end of January, when the term-- half the term was-- well, school term 
was over and I think I went to the workshop in September. And got-- I started in with a real 
bang, because I went five days a week to this one girl from Saudi Arabia. I was really gung ho to 
do it every day, but I did cut down since then, but then I have taken on more students. When 
you-- once you get started, they all have a friend that wants to have help, too, and one lady from 
Taiwan has just given me all of her friends to teach. So I have five of these Taiwanese ladies that 
I help. Right now, I have one from Pakistan and one from Vietnam. I did have one from 
Indonesia. But she got a-- her job-- she was doing so well in her job that they asked her to work 
till five o'clock at night. And I don't care to be out at night teaching, I want to be home with my 
husband, so I had to get somebody else for her. 
 
Deborah Gates  05:48 
And you go into their homes to teach? 
 
Janet Askren Brown  05:50 
Yes. For an hour-and-a-half each time. So, I've got it down now, where I go-- I leave home at 
8:30 and get there at nine, teach one till 10:30, and then go a little ways and teach until about 12, 
and go to another one till 1:30, and then go from there to the last one, about quarter to two until 
3:30, and I'd get home at four on two days a week. I was doing it two-and-a-half days, but one of 
them left, moved away, another one quit, so I arranged it by schedule, a different way. Used to 
go on Tuesdays and Fridays. Now it works out pretty well. At each place, I get different kind of 
tea. It's real fun. The lady from Pakistan feeds me, uh, tea with stick cinnamon in it. And she has 
tried to, several of her kinds of food, to feed me, but it's so hot, I can't take it. She-- for a while, 
she was giving me popcorn every time and the tea. But then I changed to morning, and so then 
she decided to make me one of these, it's like a pancake. I think they call it a chapati. And she 
tried to put some of her curry stuff in it. You're supposed to kind of wrap it up, [inaudible]. I 
couldn't eat the curry, so now she just gives me the outside part.  
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Deborah Gates  08:06 
She couldn't fool you.  
 
Janet Askren Brown  08:07 
[Laughs] No. It was really too hot. I couldn't take it. And then I have a new student who's from 
Korea now, and she was a kindergarten teacher, and she has a boy and girl twin that are two 
years old, and they're just so cute. But her husband, if I can come on Tuesday mornings, her 
husband doesn't have to go to the university right at that time. So he takes them to McDonald's or 
somewhere like that, and keeps them out of the way so that we can do our studying. But she's 
real eager and real smart too, and so we get along fine. Then these other ones... Well, the people 
from Vietnam, it's an older lady. She's about 60, and her daughter and son both work, but every 
once in a while, like for Christmas or sometime, they'd take us out, my husband and me, out to 
dinner down at Chinatown and treat us to some of their food. It's real interesting, talk to them 
and... The mother was one of the ones that came over in a boat, and when the waves were 
coming, she had to hold on to the mast or she would have fallen in the oceans. It was really a-- it 
was a hard trip for her, but she's doing pretty well. She's not afraid to answer the telephone now. 
She really was at first, but she... yeah. I don't suppose she'll ever get to be really good at 
grammar, but she's trying, and she studies real hard. She'll copy down what you put, and I don't 
know if she's getting it real well, but least she's able to function much better now in our society, 
not so afraid of everything. 
 
Deborah Gates  10:45 
Do you see these women's lives as much different than your own?  
 
Janet Askren Brown  10:49 
Oh yeah. They're getting quite Americanized in lots of ways, but their culture is so much 
different The-- in Taiwan, the oldest son is responsible for the mother, especially if she's a 
widow, and they have to send money every month to them and... Because two of the daughters 
had been married and divorced, they sent them over here and wanted the oldest daughter to see if 
she could find some husbands for them, and so she was responsible or trying to find somebody 
that the mother would like over here. And when she did find a husband for her youngest sister. 
He was pretty good to her, but they did have a lot of fights, but one of the main ones was that she 
had a son by her first marriage, and he would not accept the son at all. And so the older sister had 
to take over raising this nine year old boy, because they-- well, she's the oldest sister, so she's 
kind of responsible for doing that, I guess. And then she went back to Taiwan at Christmas time 
to sell Avon Products. Made a couple of $1,000 with profit on it. And it's the second Christmas 
she did it. The first Christmas, she got $1,000. This one, about a couple of $1000, I think. And so 
while she was gone, while-- she made her sister take back the boy. And now her husband lost his 
job here, and he's back in Alabama, so they're going to move, so the-- I guess the husband's 
gonna just have to accept this boy, whether he wants to or not. But evidently, it's-- they just don't 
accept people from other husbands. You know, they feel they lose face or something, and just 
wouldn't have anything to do with. The other sister had the same thing happen to her too. I think 
the grandma is raising her boy because the second husband wouldn't take him, and I feel it's 
really not good. You know, if you're accepting the-- they're going to marry the girl, they should 
take the boy too. Well, I don't know what'll happen on that other sister, but I did teach the young 
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one. She had been a travel agent in Taiwan, and had taken trips, and she was quite well-educated 
that way. But of course, when she came here, why, she wanted to speak English, and she really 
didn't know it. So I taught her for a little while, and then she decided to go to a community 
college, and go every day, and really go into it. And I think she went to Central Community 
College, and she really blossomed after that, and she did fine, and she got a job. She's doing okay 
now. I wonder if she's still going to school or not, but she was going to school and working also. 
 
Deborah Gates  15:13 
Sounds like you really enjoy what you're doing, teaching them. You've always been a teacher, 
and it also sounds like you're really enjoying learning about their culture.  
 
Janet Askren Brown  15:22 
Oh, I got my house just filled with fans and their, well, some of their not-work that they make, 
and kids, I can hardly find a place on the walls to put all this, the presents they give me, they're 
so appreciative of what you do. It's just real fun. You learn so much about their country and 
everything. It's just like taking a trip. I figure I'll never get there myself, but it's really an 
education to talk to each one of them. Each one is different, of course. It's so much fun. I really 
enjoy it. 
 
Deborah Gates  16:12 
And how many people you said you-- you have other people that go out and teach, how many 
people do you have doing that about? 
 
Janet Askren Brown  16:20 
Well, we just have the north end of Seattle, and we have about 100 tutors in the north end, and 
then there's one council in West Seattle, and another one down in the Rainier Valley area. And 
we're all sort of under the umbrella of the Washington State Literacy, and they have an office in 
the Lowman building down by Pioneer Square, and they take some of the calls, and they're 
helped by United Way. We kind of started out with them. They would-- people see their name in 
the phone book, called to them to get the help, and they give us the telephone call slip. And then, 
I try to get somebody to teach these people. And just recently, since the radio stations are putting 
on a, called a Plus Program, for literacy. They have a hotline and a separate office where they 
take calls from people who want to volunteer. We have a whole computer list of those, and then 
we have another one that's of just students that want help. We've had many TV programs and 
radio programs advertising that you can get help if you want it, or if you want to give it, you can. 
And so they have this hotline. We've been getting those since last September. Made us busier 
than ever. Was trying to phone these people, and we had to get a phone committee to phone 
them, because I don't have time to do that, when I'm-- because I'm not home that much to do it. 
So we decided we'd have to have help so their other people are helping at that part. 
 
Deborah Gates  18:51 
You've mentioned you're tutoring women. Are there men that are also being tutored? 
 
Janet Askren Brown  18:55 
Yes, though they don't ask much, but we also have men tutors also. So I try to match the men 
with the men if I can, because many of these ones from other countries do not want men to come 
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with their women at all. I was-- we were making up a brochure, and they wanted to take a picture 
of me and one of my students. So, we got this lady from Egypt, and we had the photographer 
come out to her house, take many pictures, and then when her husband found out about it, he 
wouldn't let us use them at all. He didn't want to have her in the limelight at all, and so he was 
against his feelings that he didn't want to have at all. So she was not-- we had to get somebody 
else in. So I was helping a man from Cuba at the time to get his citizenship, and we had him in 
the picture instead. So we had to take the pictures all over again, but I did get in the picture. But I 
have kept photos of each of my students, and I've got three photograph albums full of them. I've 
had so many of them, but either they go back to their country, or they would go to community 
college or something like that. However, the community colleges give such hard words that they 
really need help with it. I'm helping two of them now that when I come there, instead of using 
my books very much, they just want me to help with their homework. They're just swamped with 
it. They-- I have this one lady from Yugoslavia, she stays up almost all night trying to get these 
words that they give her, you know, and learn how to spell them. And their vowels are spelled 
differently-- well, pronounced differently in their country. So she's really confused when she 
starts to spell because an I is different in their country than in our country. And well, it's just real 
rough on her to try to learn all these big words: ophthalmologists, and optician, and, oh, she has a 
whole lot of real hard words that we don't use too much, you know, some of these other ones. 
And then last time, when I was there, the lady had-- teacher had told them to make all these 25 
words into a-- an essay, and-- but she really went for that. I was surprised, because she had the 
man who was a collector of coins, a numist-- I forgot how you pronounce it. I didn't know it, we 
had to look it up in the dictionary. There are words that I didn't even know, you know. And 
anyway, we looked it up. And then it came to coquette. So she put a lady in the story, and she 
was having the man-- he was supposed to be kind of stingy, with a big word for that. I forgot 
what it was, and so he was stingy and wanted to be by himself most of the time, until he saw this 
coquette and he gave her one of his coins, and she was having fun doing that [laughs]. She goes 
for that kind of stuff.  
 
Deborah Gates  23:08 
And then you're also, in the meantime, you're still active in your church. Don't you have an office 
in that? 
 
Janet Askren Brown  23:15 
Yeah, president of the Women's Society. Not very big, but anyway. Always have work to do for 
it. 
 
Deborah Gates  23:24 
What do you-- 
 
Janet Askren Brown  23:24 
--I was gone all day Tuesday, over in Auburn for a meeting. Didn't get home till about-- well, we 
left at eight in the morning, got home about four o'clock in the afternoon, so it was a long day. 
 
Deborah Gates  23:41 
What did this women's organization do in the church? 
 
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Janet Askren Brown  23:46 
Well, we give to missionaries, mostly, and also we-- if there's any kind of potluck or social 
gathering of any sort, we have to kind of supervise that. We're going to have a committee of 
Native Americans coming on the 30th of May from as far as New York, and Arizona, and all 
around. They're coming to meet in our church, and we will put on a luncheon for them. 
 
Deborah Gates  24:37 
What's this meeting about? Are they Presbyterian? 
 
Janet Askren Brown  24:40 
Yes, it's a committee of all the Indian people and the Presbyterian Church. They have 
representatives, could be about 12 or 14. So it's not a whole big deal, but it's kind of interesting 
to meet all these people. We also have a big project of-- it's called our Oktoberfest, where we 
have-- once a month, we meet and cut out quilt blocks, and fix quilts, and pillows, and other 
artwork things that we can sell in October, and we use the money for the missionaries. It's a 
Christmas present for them, send them money, and also some for the church kitchen to replace 
some of the coffee pots and things like that that are needed. 
 
Deborah Gates  25:55 
Do you sell these quilts and artwork at the church bazaars?  
 
Janet Askren Brown  25:59 
Yeah, uh-huh, and we have a breakfast, a pancake breakfast in one room, and then the rummage 
sale in another room, and then the artwork thing in the main room. Maybe-- it seems like it was 
$5,000 or $6,000 we raised last year. We always raised quite a bit of money. And we're going to 
decide where to spend it, but all the ladies in the church work together on that. That's our big 
thing every year, to do that, so takes some of our extra time. 
 
Deborah Gates  26:49 
Where are your missionaries located throughout the world, or throughout the country? 
 
Janet Askren Brown  26:55 
Well, we have some in America, but others are... We have two in Nepal, and another one in 
Malawi, South Africa, and... Oh, Japan. Couple there. Some there from other places. Most of 
them are connected with our church in some way. Some of them, we have raised since they were 
little kids in our Sunday school, and they have gone out for March [inaudible], try to remember 
them at Christmas time. And we're also trying to be kind of secret sisters to them, to send them a 
birthday card on their birthdays. We're going to try that this year. Got that idea a couple months 
ago, so we're trying to work on that one now. 
 
Deborah Gates  28:11 
So it's your idea? Did you say? 
 
Janet Askren Brown  28:13 
Yeah, for the women to do that. So I assign a missionary to each one, and we're all going to try 
to remember certain ones to be kind of like a big sister to them. 
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Deborah Gates  28:27 
What about locally? Do you help people locally who maybe are down on their luck?  
 
Janet Askren Brown  28:32 
Yeah-- 
 
Deborah Gates  28:32 
--in community-- 
 
Janet Askren Brown  28:34 
--anything that we do not sell at our Oktoberfest, we take down to the Union Gospel Mission. 
They are trying to furnish the American Hotel down in-- it's right at the edge of Chinatown, but 
it's for mothers who have children and no place to go, and so they can go there, and stay two or 
three nights till they can find something to do, find work or someplace to live, or something like 
that. We've been quite active in helping with that, the women down there. 
 
Deborah Gates  28:58 
Do you get to know them personally at all? 
 
Janet Askren Brown  29:29 
No. 
 
Deborah Gates  29:30 
Just help out financially. 
 
Janet Askren Brown  29:33 
Most of us are too busy to take time off to go down there, which is too bad. And also, we give 
them cookies for the children at Christmas time too. They have these children's meetings after 
school around in Seattle, and they give them, at their Christmas party, a little plastic bag with 
five cookies in it, so we always try to do that. Everybody brings cookies. Then, we mix them up 
and put five different kinds in a little bag, tie it up, and take that down to the mission too. We've 
helped the Union Gospel Mission since it started.  
 
Deborah Gates  30:23 
When was that?  
 
Janet Askren Brown  30:25 
One of the very first ones to help it. And was when I was in high school, so it was a long time 
ago. 
 
Deborah Gates  30:33 
And is that a non-denominational?  
 
Janet Askren Brown  30:35 
Yes, uh-huh. 
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Deborah Gates  30:36 
Just Christian. 
 
Janet Askren Brown  30:37 
We used to, when I was a young person, we would go down there and put on meetings, and we'd 
take a quartet of our young people and we'd sing, and we'd lead them into singing. We haven't 
done that recently much, but we used to do it when we had a big young people's choir. 
 
Deborah Gates  31:03 
Do you still have a big young people's group in your church? 