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Washington Women’s Heritage Project records, 1900-2000 
University of Washington Libraries Special Collections 
Lindsay Buxton 
April 21, 1996 
Cassette 1, Side 2 
 
 
Debbie Guerrero  00:02 
Okay, what were you saying? 
 
Lindsay Buxton  00:06 
Being alone, because my mother had a drinking problem. I was alone a lot. I was pretty good at 
entertaining myself. And then after a while, I got used to the system, you know, the welfare 
system. They would come by-- people, you know, neighbors would complain. We think that, you 
know, the daughter has been abandoned. And after a while, I got wise, and I said, Okay, they 
would know that Mother wasn't there, because my mother was a smoker, and so I would light 
cigarettes and put them out. I'd do things to make it look like she was around. I got pretty good at 
it. 
 
Debbie Guerrero  00:06 
Smart. 
 
Lindsay Buxton  00:47 
Yeah, well, after I had a couple of frightful nights at juvenile center, I didn't want to go back 
there. I wanted to be around, to be home when my mother came home. 
 
Debbie Guerrero  01:11 
When they found out you were abandoned? 
 
Lindsay Buxton  01:13 
Several times. 
 
Debbie Guerrero  01:12 
Did they take you to juvenile centers? 
 
Lindsay Buxton  01:14 
Yeah. 
 
Debbie Guerrero  01:16 
That must have been scary, too.  
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Lindsay Buxton  01:17 
It was, but after a while, it just got so that I knew the caseworkers. Hi, Mrs. Miller, Hi, Mrs. 
Rice. Oh, were you back again? [Laughs] Yeah. I had briefly been a ward of the court, placed in 
foster homes. It just got so that it was an adventure. It was an adventure. I always felt so sorry 
when I would see my mom in court, you know, and I knew she loved me, and I knew she was 
doing the best she could, and I knew Mom couldn't stop drinking. Her-- I was probably 
rationalizing for her, maybe being a codependent at an early age. I forgave her a lot.  
 
Debbie Guerrero  02:18 
Yeah, I was gonna just ask if you felt a lot of anger or resentment-- 
 
Lindsay Buxton  02:24 
Yes-- 
 
Debbie Guerrero  02:24 
--for her lack of responsibility. 
 
Lindsay Buxton  02:25 
Yeah. And I look back, and I think we learn a lot from the parents, whether it's positive or 
negative, and one thing that I determined was that I would never be a drunk Indian woman. I 
would never go to jail. So embarrassing to have to go pick your mother up from jail [laughs]. 
 
Debbie Guerrero  03:09 
Did your mother ever work outside the home when you were a child? 
 
Lindsay Buxton  03:13 
Mama seemed to always be working. I remember in Alaska, she worked in a shrimp cannery. 
They would shell the shrimp, and I remember feeling very proud about my mom, that she was a 
fast shrimp picker. And I said, Well, Mama, that's nice. She said, Shh, don't tell anybody. She 
said, It-- who wants to be known as the fastest shrimp picker? She had a great sense of humor. 
Mother worked as a housekeeper, waitress. I think her favorite job was working as a nurse's aide. 
She loved were-- wearing a white uniform, you know, white shoes. It got very hard for her. 
Mother had TB so all those younger girls had to be farmed out again, and she had never... Never 
really held a serious job after that. Had been on welfare. Her lung capacity was just really very, 
very low. And having only a third grade education. Mom can only do, you know, the lowly 
paying jobs. But to this day, she's going to be 78 in September. She's volunteered for United 
Indians for the last five years and helping the American Indian elders, you know, during their 
luncheons. And one year, United Indians paid her, and she was just so proud of that. She looked 
at Bernie as her grandson, and, Well, my grandson finally paying me [laughs].  
 
Debbie Guerrero  05:49 
Where were you when she was working? How old were you? Do you remember? I mean, did 
you happen to have someone watching you, or were you in school? Or did you have to go home 
to an empty house? 
 
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Lindsay Buxton  06:02 
A lot of times it was an empty house. Back home in Alaska, when I went back as an adult 
woman, people would say, Oh-- Dolly was my nickname. Oh Dolly, I used to change for diapers. 
I used to take care of you. I used to babysit for you. One time I heard this so many times I said, 
Where was Mama? You know, what'd she do [laughs]? She had me and just went away. They 
told me that Mother always worked. Actually, Mother is not a very good mother, so I think 
unconsciously, she did the best route [laughs]. 
 
Debbie Guerrero  06:54 
Do you know-- are there any stories that your mother told you about her childhood, where she 
was born? 
 
Lindsay Buxton  07:02 
Mother has told me over and over again of how she happened to be living with my two older 
sisters' father. There are some painful things that happened to my mother in Angoon. She wells 
up in tears, so that part of her life, with her mother and father, is closed to us. We hear stories, 
you know, from other relatives that are just really very, very hard. Mother would tell me about 
her relationship with my father, and some of them were really very comical, like my father trying 
to fry salmon eggs, and they ended up popping all over the room, and her teasing him about 
being a damn stupid white man, you don't fry salmon eggs [laughs]. Family members-- she 
would talk about her older sisters. I've met two, that is Annie Turnmire of Angoon, and Ella, who 
lives in Juneau. My mother was closer to Ella because they were just about a year apart. And-- 
 
Debbie Guerrero  08:11 
What's her last name, Ella? 
 
Lindsay Buxton  08:48 
I can't remember it right now.  
 
Debbie Guerrero  08:50 
Oh, okay. 
 
Lindsay Buxton  09:01 
Yeah, her daughter's name comes to my mind because Aunt Ella's daughter and I got very close 
there, and she was Josephine Purcell. She now works as Associate Director of Personnel, and so-
- state in Juneau. Vonda is her married name.  
 
Debbie Guerrero  09:28 
Vonda?  
 
Lindsay Buxton  09:29 
Yeah, my mother's true sister. So her maiden name is Davis.  
 
Debbie Guerrero  09:36 
Oh. Ella? 
 
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Lindsay Buxton  09:38 
Mm-hmm [affirmative]. 
 
Debbie Guerrero  09:39 
Okay, so she was one of your mother's-- one of the 14. Right? 
 
Lindsay Buxton  09:43 
Yes, yes, yeah. They were very close, because they were just about a year apart, and their 
nicknames was Pots and Pans. And I said, Why would you get a nickname like that? She said, 
Well, we're told that we were always into the pots and pans. So I said, Well, which one are you? 
Are you Pot or Pan? 
 
Debbie Guerrero  10:04 
What did she say? 
 
Lindsay Buxton  10:05 
Yeah. I think she said she was Pot [laughs]. 
 
Debbie Guerrero  10:11 
That's great. 
 
Lindsay Buxton  10:12 
Yeah. And she would tell me about how they would have to slime fish, you know, clean fish and 
put up fish. It seemed like such an ancient chore, you know. Really, being raised in an urban 
setting to have to go through all that when it's-- you can go to the supermarket. I'm glad those 
days are over. And washing clothes by washboard. How she said that it was just so hard, you 
know, when you had sheets, and that's the little washboard, you get all these sheets, and you're 
scrubbing, and how bears used to get into the garbage. You know, she would share some things 
like that [coughs]. 
 
Debbie Guerrero  11:12 
Is there anything that stands out in your mind that you liked to do with either your mother or 
your father? 
 
Lindsay Buxton  11:21 
With my mother, I love to go to the park. She used to take us to the zoo a lot, and she loved the 
Puyallup Fair, and she liked the Penny Arcade, if you will. They have one game there, where 
there's squirrels and their heads pop up and down, and you have to take this little, big hammer, 
you know, and try to-- you know, hit them. Mother-- Mother's reflexes were always a little slow 
[laughs], and she would get frustrated, but laugh at herself. That's a wonderful memory, and 
then, she liked to play bingo. I can't stand the game, but as when we were at Puyallup Fair, so we 
went into this bingo parlor, and they had very nice gifts, and she's going and on, and it was like a 
quarter of play or something. It was fairly fast, and it got to be fun, seeing my mother's delight 
was just very comforting. We didn't win a thing. Thanks six dollars later, you know. Nice going 
Mama, we could have had a nice dinner. And my mother loved to go to-- she used to take me to 
the Florence Theatre. It was a family theater back on First Avenue, down on Pioneer Square. 
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And every Friday, they would have family specials like you could see, like over the weekend you 
could see three movies, you know, for the price of, like, a dollar. Yeah. And then on Friday 
nights, they would have amateur hour. My mother-- but Friday nights, they would have scary 
movies, and I like to get scared with her [laughs]. 
 
Debbie Guerrero  13:31 
Did you? 
 
Lindsay Buxton  13:34 
Yeah. Used to-- I remember I used to be scared opening up a closet because I just knew that hand 
was going to come out of it, you know, strangle me. And I cried, what Frankenstein, you know. 
Mother liked those. And years later, I would tease her, and I said, Yeah, that's part of my culture, 
is getting scared every Friday night. She would say, Don't talk like that. Mother is very-- she 
loved to dance, and she did tell me about when she was a young woman in Alaska, she used to 
sing with a band, and she would sing some songs for me. I thought she had a very good voice. 
And I think that maybe you know what training Mother really would have been-- who knows, a 
Billie Holiday [laughs]. 
 
Debbie Guerrero  14:47 
I'll believe that one when I see it. 
 
Lindsay Buxton  14:48 
She'll probably wonder who Billie Holiday is [laughing]. Say Doris Day. With my father, when I 
was nine and 10, I hula dance. I mimic things that I would see, you know, in the movies. Would 
see a lot of Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, you know, Dolores, I can't remember her name now. But 
anyway, they were always taken in Hawaii, and so I'd go home and I'd pretend there was a hula 
girl or a dancer, tap dancing. Anyway, the community had tapping lessons and baton lessons, so I 
would go. I was not terrific,  but I thoroughly enjoyed, you know, what I was learning, and 
Mother managed to get money together to get a costume for me and-- but I really loved the hula, 
the expressions with the hands. I was just-- marvelous. Anyway, the Florence Theatre had an 
amateur show, and they announced that first prize winners was $25 and one time it was $50, and 
Mother looked at me and said, You could win that. I said, Oh, Mama. Yes, you would try it. So 
anyway, she-- my mother talked to the manager, and came up, and said, Oh, do you know how to 
dance? I said, Well, I'm not very good. And he said, Well, no, that's-- this is an amateur, you 
know? And I said, Well, I just-- Sure, okay. So I'm on stage. 
 
Debbie Guerrero  14:49 
At the Florence Theatre. [They laugh.] 
 
Lindsay Buxton  16:28 
At the Florence Theatre on First Avenue, Pioneer Square. 
 
Debbie Guerrero  17:05 
That's great.  
 
Lindsay Buxton  17:07 
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I brought home a couple of first prize. 
 
Debbie Guerrero  17:18 
Did you really?  
 
Lindsay Buxton  17:20 
Yes, and Mother-- I'd treat Mother to dinner, and we get our hair done [laughs]. Anyway, we got 
picked up by USO, and so we would get to perform, you know, for the soldiers and the different 
hospitals, and my mother did not drink as much when I was dancing. So when I saw that, I said, 
Wow, maybe I'll become a professional dancer, you know. Let Mom be stage mom. Or maybe 
we'd become a team, because she loved to dance too. She was very good at the jitterbug, you 
know? 
 
Debbie Guerrero  18:15 
Oh, yeah. 
 
Lindsay Buxton  18:18 
Anyway, I-- um [tape restarted]  
 
Debbie Guerrero  18:25 
Okay?  
 
Lindsay Buxton  18:30 
Okay, I talked about going on stage in Florence Theatre. Okay? That brings me to my father, 
when I went to live with him when I was 10. One time, he had taken me to Florence Theatre. At 
that time, we were both living in Queen Anne. We took a bus. And we had a suitcase with my 
costume in it, which included, you know, flowers for my hair, and my wrist, and my ankles, and 
a little hula skirt, you know, it's kind of bulky, so it was a small but packed suitcase. And one 
time, the amateur show stayed-- it was longer than than normal, and so, in order for Dad and I to 
get back from Pioneer Square to Queen Anne, we-- I didn't have time to take off my stage 
makeup or the flowers in my hair, which made me look older than my 10. My father and I were 
waiting at the bus stop. We got on the bus, and we're-- this white man came up and took my 
father aside, and then this white man came over and said, Who is this man? He's pointing at my 
father. I said, This is my father. And he said, You're not just saying that. I said, That's what my 
mother told me [laughs]. So we got out-- we had to get off the bus, and my father had to call his 
mother to come and verify who he was and who I was. And anyway, it turned out that they 
thought that ,because of my makeup, I was trying to look older, and then obviously, my father 
was carrying a suitcase. It did not look too good [laughs]. Ironic. But anyway, my father, I 
enjoyed listening to music with. He would explain different arias. He would tell me about the 
different, you know, composers, their life stories. It's fascinating. My father is very proud of his 
Scotch-Irish [?ledge?], and he used to do the Highland Fling with the swords, and it was 
wonderful. He taught me that. So one time I had said, Daddy, isn't it interesting? I mean, I could 
do the Cha-Cha. I do a little Jitterbug, you know, my mom's influence, and the Filipinos, I mean, 
they love, you know, the romantic music. And so I could ru-- a Roomba and Samba, you know. 
And I was very good at doing the tango. So I was delighted to learn the Irish jig and the 
Highland Fling. And of course, at that time, I didn't know I had German blood. I wouldn't know 
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what they do, but... I had-- missing my mother, and I said, Daddy, does Mama know how to 
Indian dance? He said, Oh yeah, she's good, but she's only good when she's kaawashòo, which 
means drunk in Tlingit. And it dawned on me, as I was learning to do the Irish jig, and I-- how 
insane that I didn't really know much about Mother's heritage. And it seemed like music was 
always kind of universal in all the cultures, and I didn't really know what the music was, know, 
Tlingit Nation. I felt badly that, here I was, half-Indian, and I was learning to do everything else,  
but, you know, there was no drum beat in my heart. You know? I-- something was missing. 
Well, years later, I finally learned. But I had asked my father, you know, if there were places 
where I could go to learn, you know, to Indian dance, and he would try to discourage me. It was 
kind of half-hearted. He would-- I was his daughter, and he did-- he did love me in his way. He 
stressed education, he stressed dignity, integrity. One time I had talked about-- pipe dreaming, 
you know about, Well, maybe I'll be a doctor, because this female doctor made such a wonderful 
impression on me, and his remarks discouraged me. He says, Well, kid, that's quite an ambitious 
dream there, and it's not going to happen. This is because your old man is poor, for one thing, 
and another, you're a girl. But in the back of my mind, I just-- I thought, Well, that would be 
nice. Since my mother and I had been in-out of court a lot, I thought, Well, maybe I should be a 
lawyer [laughs]. I should be a judge. I've had enough experience. Maybe I'll get an honorary 
degree somewhere along the line with those experiences. But I-- intellectually my father was 
very stimulating. Outside of the molestation, I really, really missed my father. He challenged me 
mentally in many, many ways. We went-- it's very strange. We would have debates about 
different issues, and he would make me so mad. I would go to the library and I would find. Darn, 
he's right, or hey, I got him this time, you know? I did not make connection again with my father 
until I was 16.  
 
Debbie Guerrero  26:14 
After he left? 
 
Lindsay Buxton  26:15 
Yeah. I never really wanted to see him again, so strange, but I missed him terribly. I was very 
fortunate to have married my first husband, who is my best friend, and he knew. I told him 
everything. We told each other everything. When my son, my first son, was only six months old, 
my father came to the house. My husband brought him to the house. We became friends again, 
and he gave me that look that said, I'm sorry, forgive me. I embraced him, let him know that it 
happened a long time ago. 
 
Debbie Guerrero  27:14 
And you were ready to forgive by that point? 
 
Lindsay Buxton  27:17 
Yeah, that-- of course, then I realized, you know, that he never penetrated me, you know, 
sexually. I think I was more wounded about his lie. Because he had always stressed to me-- I 
used to lie a lot, you know, to get a lot of homework or get excuses for not house cleaning, or 
something. I lie a lot. I had to lie a lot, and he would always catch me, and so I really tried not to 
lie. And I kind of admire the fact that he never had to lie, I thought. And so when he lied to me, 
told me that this is what fathers do, it crushed me. I don't think I ever really forgave him for that. 
Yeah.  
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Debbie Guerrero  27:45 
The betrayal? 
 
Lindsay Buxton  28:22 
Yeah, yeah. It was a betrayal. Anyway.  
 
Debbie Guerrero  28:38 
What do you know about your grandparents, and what was your relationship with them? Did you 
have?  
 
Lindsay Buxton  28:44 
Yeah, my grandparents. I know my grandmother spiritually. Sounds very strange. Both of them 
were dead before I was born. What I know of my grandfather is what I heard from my mother. 
He was the mayor of Angoon.  
 
Debbie Guerrero  29:12 
His name was Charlie Davis? 
 
Lindsay Buxton  29:14 
Yes. He was a [?Wooshkeetaan?]. He's from Sitka, Alaska. He apparently was married twice. I 
understood that he loved my grandmother very much. He was a devoted husband and father. He's 
a fisherman. I was told that he was very active with the Alaska Native Brotherhood. I keep 
looking for his name. I don't see it. So, he must have been a behind-the-scenes person. I was told 
that-- [tape cuts off]. 