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Washington Women’s Heritage Project records, 1900-2000 
University of Washington Libraries Special Collections 
Lindsay Buxton 
April 21, 1996 
Cassette 3, Side 2 
 
 
Lindsay Buxton  00:01 
Everybody thought that I was about 18. I looked older. I'd like to give myself credit in saying, 
Well, I was sophisticated. When I was 12, I was getting tired of dancing, you know, these 
amateur shows and USOs and wanted to make some real money, steady money, not really 
depending on, you know, competition so much. This-- went into the store, it was a [?Carl?] shoe 
store. It was just about a block and a half away from the Florence Theater, and the owner was 
talking to my mother. And my mother had said, Well, my daughter is looking for a job. He came 
over and I said, Well, I need a cashier so I can count money. So my first job was as a cashier for 
the shoe store. Unfortunately, it only lasted a day. He found out I was 12 [laughs]. 
 
Debbie Guerrero  01:23 
How old were you supposed to be? 
 
Lindsay Buxton  01:26 
I think 16.  
 
Debbie Guerrero  01:28 
Oh, is that right?  
 
Lindsay Buxton  01:28 
Yeah, he was shocked. And then I did waitressing, you know, for this Filipino restaurant. And 
then, one time I worked in that dry cleaning, as a cashier for this cleaners in Bellevue, and the 
owner had an eye out on me and would pick me up and take me, you know, to work. And, I was 
telling Mother, I didn't like-- really go there, because he always tried to pull me back in the extra 
room. And she said, Well, don't go. I say, But I need the money. She says, Well, you make a 
choice. I made the choice. I decided I would not work in the cleaners anymore. So much for that 
experience. Oh, pay. Babysat a lot.  
 
Debbie Guerrero  02:40 
Did you?  
 
Lindsay Buxton  02:40 
Mm-hmm. 
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Debbie Guerrero  02:42 
Was that to help out when you were married, or this-- before you married-- 
 
Lindsay Buxton  02:47 
Before I married. Before I married.  
 
Debbie Guerrero  02:49 
Who did you babysit?  
 
Lindsay Buxton  02:51 
Neighbors' children. Yeah, by this time-- I was a 12, 13, 14... um, 13, 14, my kid sister was just 
born. We had moved from [?First and Bell?] to housing project on Yesler Terrace here in Seattle. 
My stepfather and... We didn't-- another-- another place that we lived was a three bedroom 
housekeeping apartment complex, and there are a lot of families there with children, and I think 
they would pay us, like 50 cents or a quarter an hour. You know, it wasn't very much, but it was 
fairly good money at that time. I love to save. I had an account, Marshall Mutual Savings Bank, 
that we all opened at Catholic school, and of all my sisters, I was one that saved. I understand 
that's a Cancer-ian trait. We hoard things, crabs hoard things. Scavengers. Anyway [coughs], I 
saved quite a bit of money. One time I ran away from home because my-- I was having a hard 
time with my stepfather's advances, and my mother got drunk, and she didn't believe me. She 
accused me of lying, and being jealous of her happiness, and crazy drunk talk. She told me to get 
out. So I packed my things and I went to the Cambridge Apartments, which-- from Capitol Hill, 
and I told them I was a college student, and I took out my savings every month to pay my rent. 
 
Debbie Guerrero  05:14 
Wow. 
 
Lindsay Buxton  05:14 
Yeah. I was 14. They were shocked after three months when the authorities-- Mother had filed a 
complaint. I just refused to go. Mother didn't believe me. My stepfather was-- no, I missed my 
kid sisters, I really did. But I had to survive. I had to finish school. I had to study. My tensions at 
home was so-- so much that it affected my study. I loved living alone. I had a cute little 
kitchenette, a mercy bed. I don't remember how much the rent was, but I lived there on my own 
for three months. Then one day, when I came home from school-- I was very careful-- [coughs] 
excuse me-- to change from my uniform to regular street clothes, because I told him I was a 
college student, and told him I was 18. Anyway, when I walked through the lobby, the manager 
was there with a man and a woman from Health Services-- uh, Child Services. Called me over. 
You know, caseworkers just have that look about them. I knew I was in for it. The manager had 
said, Are you only 14? I said, Well, chronologically, I am, but spiritually, I'm 18. And he turned 
around to the social workers and said, I'm amazed. I would-- she, you know, she paid her rent, 
you know, she's quiet, she studied, you know, she bothered nobody, had no friends over, and I 
didn't-- music was, you know, down. Well, anyway, I had to pack my things and go back to the 
juvenile center. And I explained. I said, I don't want to go back to my mother's. I'm just tired of, 
you know, the stress and the turmoil. So I got another foster family. This is a Jewish family. My 
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foster father was a heart specialist, and his wife was a-- she had her own manufacturing business 
in New York.  
 
Debbie Guerrero  08:09 
What were their names?  
 
Lindsay Buxton  08:11 
Dr. Bill-- I don't remember her name, Weinstein. Dr. Weinstein had passed away about 10, 
maybe 15 years ago now. He was a terrific influence. I was pretty bitter at this time about life 
circumstances. I wondered how many times I was going to have to be placed in other homes. I 
regretted the fact that my mother wasn't stable, or my family life wasn't stable. I began to be 
ashamed of my mother and the whole life situation. I hated being an Indian at that time. The 
Indians that I saw living in the urban area were always such sad stories, and I wanted to be-- I 
didn't want to be a sad story. I didn't want to be around anymore sad stories. And at the same 
time, I resented my foster family... Such wealth. They lived so well.  
 
Debbie Guerrero  09:35 
How did that make you feel? Did that make you feel comfortable or uncomfortable in that kind 
of environment? 
 
Lindsay Buxton  09:42 
I was rebellious. I resented such an extreme of poverty and richness. It seemed so unfair. Mrs. 
Weinstein did not really like me. She was a good woman, just very stern. My shock, the first 
night she had just brought a home-- a child home. She had just given birth, and the baby Robin's 
bedroom was next to mine. And if it was ever-- if I was ever instructed that I was to-- I knew that 
I was to help take care of the babies, but I certainly did not expect that I would have to get up, 
you know, for the early morning, wee hours, you know, feeding. And I had heard Robin crying, 
crying. I said-- I was thinking, God, what kind of mother is she to let her baby cry? It bothered 
me, you know? And I didn't want to interfere. Mrs. Weinstein came over, slammed the door 
open. She said, Don't you hear the baby crying? And I said, Oh, yes. I do! What's taking you so 
long? No, and says, You're supposed to get up and change her and feed her. Oh, I didn't know 
that. I thought a mother does that, you know? She says, What do you think you're living here for? 
Oh, I didn't know that. So, anyway. 
 
Debbie Guerrero  10:28 
So you were like their live-in nanny or something? 
 
Lindsay Buxton  10:38 
Yes, yes. 
 
Debbie Guerrero  10:38 
Only nobody told you. 
 
Lindsay Buxton  10:38 
Nobody told me that. 
 
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Debbie Guerrero  10:38 
Oh my gosh. 
 
Lindsay Buxton  11:24 
Yeah. She was very upset that I'd let Robin cry. She said, You know, Dr. Weinstein needs his 
sleep. And I'm thinking to myself, So why don't you get up and take care of your baby? I had-- 
that was quite a shock. I got attached to Robin, the baby, and Mrs. Weinstein did a lot of 
entertaining. So I got some terrific ideas about things socially. She tried to get me to date a 
couple of Jewish boys, but I had overheard them talking about how Jewish boys only date non-
Jewish women for fast sex. And they keep their Jewish girls holy, if you will. And I was 
determined I was not going to be unholy, so I refused to go to movies and ice cream parlors, you 
know, with the Jewish boys and Mrs. Weinstein, who was very-- a social climber, I guess, 
resented that I did not associate, you know. Every time I would have my days off, which was 
Saturday and Sunday, I would [sighs] take off by myself. Sometimes I would say I was staying 
with my mother and father. 
 
Debbie Guerrero  13:30 
Did they ever pay you for these services? Or was your room and board basic-- 
 
Lindsay Buxton  13:33 
A room and board. Yeah, room and board. [Coughs]. 
 
Debbie Guerrero  13:37 
And the meals? 
 
Lindsay Buxton  13:38 
Mm-hmm. Um, the... 
 
Debbie Guerrero  13:44 
How long did you live with them?  
 
Lindsay Buxton  13:45 
Maybe 12, 15, months? Dr. Weinstein and I grew close as-- as close as you know, a foster father 
and daughter can be. While I was way on one of my weekends, I became infatuated with a young 
Filipino that was in the Navy. He was a medical student, and he was taking some classes at the 
UW, and I had mentioned this to Dr. Weinstein, and he was very interested in meeting him, 
because he thought that he was much too old for me. They got along beautifully. 
 
Debbie Guerrero  14:46 
Did they?  
 
Lindsay Buxton  14:47 
Yeah. His name, my Filipino friend was Arturo Santos. I used to tease Arturo that he really 
wasn't coming to visit me, he was coming to see Dr. Weinstein. They really got along well, and 
Arturo and I fell in love. One time, Dr. Weinstein had invited Arturo, and then me as a second 
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thought, to witness an open heart surgery. Well, Arturo was just excited, you know, and I was 
reluctant. I was not too sure if I wanted to witness it.  
 
Debbie Guerrero  15:37 
Where was it? The surgery?  
 
Lindsay Buxton  15:39 
So, UW, I believe. Although we were high up, you know, in a theater style, I fainted.  
 
Debbie Guerrero  15:52 
Did you? 
 
Lindsay Buxton  15:53 
Yes, yes. Well, so much for my ambition to be a doctor. But Dr. Weinstein really wanted me to 
get into medical field, and he got me a job, working-- working in the emergency board. My task 
as a clerk was to take down the patient's name and the address, and get the particulars, and 
inventory their personal things. Usually in ER, it's an accident, so we need to know who the next 
of kin and all that sort of stuff. Well, the accidents were just awful. The first accident was a 
motorcycle injury, and I saw the bone sticking out, you know. I fainted [laughs]. Another time, it 
was a stab wound, and I could see the heart pumping. I fainted. The third time-- already, you 
know, medical staff is wondering about me-- was a leg injury. The bandage had come out and 
blood was just spurting off. I fainted. They talked to Dr. Weinstein, and they put me as a cashier 
in the cafeteria. I kept saying, Daddy, I'm so sorry. I really try to be brave. I try not to look, you 
know [laughs], as well. At least I would have some spending money, you know, working in the 
cafeteria [laughs]. I like to save. 
 
Debbie Guerrero  18:01 
That's how you controlled your earnings? 
 
Lindsay Buxton  18:02 
Yeah, mm-hmm. 
 
Debbie Guerrero  18:04 
When you did spend, how did you spend your money? 
 
Lindsay Buxton  18:07 
Usually it was going to the theater. And Mother had trained me very early to go to thrift stores, 
and so I would browse around there. I loved paperbacks. I love books. I love to read and-- just 
whatever was on sale. Sometimes I would read about, you know, a composer, sometimes a 
woman pilot. I love biographies. I was fascinated with people's psyche. You know, what makes 
them tick? Why did they do this? Why did they make that decision? Like in [?Hopes?]. my 
mother read a lot of true confessions.  
 
Debbie Guerrero  19:03 
Did she read them to you?  
 
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Lindsay Buxton  19:05 
No. 
 
Debbie Guerrero  19:06 
She read them to herself.  
 
Lindsay Buxton  19:08 
She did. I would read them. I learned a lot, you know, from them. Not having aunties or, you 
know, female cousins around, I used a lot of those true confessions as my make-believe family. I 
was always creating family. They saved me from a lot of mistakes. 
 
Debbie Guerrero  19:34 
That's interesting, you know? 
 
Lindsay Buxton  19:36 
Yeah, yeah. A few years ago, there was this comment from the circle that I was talking with her, 
Oh, God, she is just so uneducated. I mean, she reads True Confessions. And I said, Oh, for 
Pete's sakes. I said, True Confessions saved my life many a time, you know, let me tell you 
[laughs]. 
 
Debbie Guerrero  20:02 
[Inaudible]. 
 
Lindsay Buxton  20:03 
Right? Yeah, human interest stories, you know. Anyway, so I'm confessing, I read True 
Confessions. 
 
Debbie Guerrero  20:15 
Well, do you want to talk about your married life?  
 
Lindsay Buxton  20:19 
Yeah, I like being married.  
 
Debbie Guerrero  20:21 
You liked? 
 
Lindsay Buxton  20:22 
I did.  
 
Debbie Guerrero  20:23 
And being a mother? 
 
Lindsay Buxton  20:25 
Oh, being a mother. When my first son was born, it took me-- I could not leave his side. It-- I 
never left my son's side until after he was six months old. And people said, This is not natural. 
You need to go out and get-- No! That's why I had him [laughs]. I want to take care of him, you 
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know. Finally, my son said, No, this is not good, you know, not healthy. I didn't understand that. 
A mother is with her child. I was breastfeeding. I breastfed all three of the children. My son-- my 
husband, who sometimes was my son, took me to a movie. It was so hard being away from my 
baby, and I knew what his schedule was, and I knew, Oh, they're going to give him the bottle. 
And I could feel it, you know, in my breast, that it was time, that he wanted to suckle, and I 
would go and call him. I said, Well, put him on the phone. I was a basket case. I loved being a 
mother, dressing, taking him out and the stroller, and took him out all kinds of weather. People 
would say, Oh, he's going to get sick, you know. Said, No, I had heard from elders in Alaska that 
you take your baby out at an early age and expose them, you know, to the different climate, you 
know, the weather, so that when they grow that-- you know, their constitution, health-wise, 
would be, you know, strong. So we have bundled up and we would be in the rain, the sunshine, 
the wind, you know. I didn't really like house cleaning, you know, I like playing with a baby. So 
just about an hour and a half before my husband and my father-in-law-- we lived with my father-
in-law in a two-bedroom apartment-- and I would rush around, straighten up the house, and get 
dinner together. The children were a joy. I like being Mama. Was greatly disappointed that my 
mother not really have much feeling, I think she kind of resented my children. Mother had never 
really, I think, resolved her position. Sometimes I was Mother to Mother, sometimes sister, 
sometimes best friend, sometimes enemy. Mother always seemed to try to pattern herself after 
me. When I realized this, of course, I tried to be the best example. No, I sensed-- I have a good 
sense about my mom. I love her dearly now. There was a time that I was very ashamed. About a 
year. I didn't talk to my mother or visit. That's-- I've long since, you know, forgiven my mom. I 
give her unconditional love, as she does me. Mom-- I was afraid, really, to leave my children 
with my mother, because I know what her mothering skills were, but my husband was having a 
terrible psychological time in dealing with his stepfather. His-- 'Nardo wanted to go to law 
school, and his stepfather wanted him to go into engineering, and this was a big fight, and the 
Mandapat family was very upset that we ran away, and came back with a baby. This, the birth of 
our son, was the beginning of our lives. For me, it was-- it really was the beginning of my life, 
because all-- I really did not feel loved by my Father, I didn't really know that I had any family, 
and I felt my mother's actions spoke-- she said she loved me, but her actions did not say that she 
loved me, and it seemed all my stepfathers only wanted sex. You know? I was pinching and 
trying to fumble, and you know, that my experience of my father just really made me feel-- I had 
a very low esteem. When I had met my husband, it gave me a ray of hope, and when, after I had 
my first child, I felt important, I felt loved, I felt challenged. I wanted to be the best mother, you 
know? So my son helped me become strong. Helped me like myself. Through my love for him, I 
began to love me. I began to realize how important I really was, you know, 
 
Debbie Guerrero  26:44 
So you grew through him? 
 
Lindsay Buxton  26:45 
Yeah, I grew through him, all of them. And then the process of my development too, I would 
share this, you know, with my mother. I remember one Mother's Day that Mom was drinking, 
and all of us sisters that were in town, we went to my mother's. And of course, by that time, I'm a 
mother too, and my older sister was a mother, and so we were going to spend a half a day, you 
know, with Mama, and then we were going to go and do our own thing for our own, you know, 
intimate celebrations. And Mother was just aghast that we weren't going to spend all day with 
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her, and I had to take her by the shoulder. You know, she was drinking and saying how selfish 
we were. As a mother, you should be very grateful that you have your children that want to 
spend at least half a day, you know, with you, brought you gifts, cooked you meals, you know, 
spending time, you're taking pictures, you know. You have to remember that we're mothers too, 
and we have families of our own, and our husband's work schedule dictates that we need to go 
home, you know, and be with our families, and as a good mother, send us your blessings. And 
Mother said, Thank you, Lita. And after that, I thought, Hmm. But a revelation about my mother 
when I was 10, when we were in Alaska. Mom would go into violent streaks, you know, when 
she was drinking. Mom had a hard life. I don't remember exactly what she did, but she had heard 
me, and she said something about me being white. And I stopped her. I said, It's not my fault that 
I'm half-white. Your decision, nobody told you. Anyway. She-- I really thought she was going to 
beat me up. My mother battered me a lot when I was a little girl. 
 
Debbie Guerrero  29:37 
Did she? 
 
Lindsay Buxton  29:37 
Mm-hmm. It was very painful for her, when my father wasn't with us to, you know, come to 
Seattle, and she-- every time she looked at me, she said she was reminded that my father deserted 
her. And... 
 
Debbie Guerrero  30:03 
So she would take it out on you.  
 
Lindsay Buxton  30:04 
Yeah. That's why so many people called the authorities, because they would hear me screaming. 
She would lock-- [tape ends]. 