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Washington Women’s Heritage Project records, 1900-2000 
University of Washington Libraries Special Collections 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton 
April 25, 1993 
Cassette 2, Side 2 
 
 
Barbara Wright  00:01 
Alright. Okay, I apologize, go on. 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  00:16 
It's all right. I started in my late teens. I started going out to dancing-- to dances and I loved to 
dance. I'd sneak out, because my parents didn't believe in-- my mother didn't believe in dancing. 
But I'd sneak out. I don't know if they ever knew. 
 
Barbara Wright  00:33 
How did you manage to sneak out?  
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  00:35 
Oh, it's easy when you want to [laughs]. Well, they did let me do my own thing, you know, when 
I got home. Let me go out visiting people. And the people we visit would go dancing. They 
never asked, they never questioned what I was doing. So, I really didn't sneak, I just didn't tell 
them. 
 
Barbara Wright  01:02 
And when you went to, like, to these dance places, was it with a live band, or was it with a 
phonograph? 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  01:06 
Oh, no, no. It was live bands all the time. And then I started singing with them. Every little 
[?band?]. My parents would never agree to that, because that would-- and my professor either, he 
would not let me. I enjoyed [inaudible]. [?Didn't hurt?]. 
 
Barbara Wright  01:23 
Do you remember any of the songs you used to sing with them? 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  01:26 
Oh yeah. Smoke Gets In Your Eyes, Stardust. Well, they had a lot of, especially when the war 
started, they had a lot of army, kind of, wartime songs. I'll See You Again. They used to play 
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[inaudible] and Marie McDonald's, a lot of their songs I used to dance to, especially the waltz, 
kind of... You know, slow dancing. 
 
Barbara Wright  02:23 
How big were the-- How big would the band be? 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  02:24 
I'd say it would be about a dozen in it. Yeah, I think so. 
 
Barbara Wright  02:26 
Did you ever hear any disappointment from your parents as to not having a boy?  
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  02:31 
Well, I think Dad-- I think that's why he treated me more like the son that he didn't have, because 
I'd go with him to football games, like soccer. But I'd go with him anyway, because I love sports 
anyway, no matter if it's a sport I don't particularly care for. I used to go with him to rugby... 
[Inaudible]. Yeah, we went a couple times to cricket matches, I guess. This is when we're in 
England. When we were here in the States, of course I was quite young, so I don't think we ever 
did anything. And I know we didn't, because they wouldn't have kids that age, four or five years 
old. 
 
Barbara Wright  03:51 
Okay, also too, during your teenage years, what were some of the-- your home responsibilities? 
Did you have chores at this point at all?  
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  03:56 
I really can't say we did. My-- our dad spoiled both of us rotten, [inaudible]. But then, on the 
other hand, I always had an engagement-- a singing engagement. My sister was, when she got 
older, she was always in the church and different organizations. I didn't join any church 
organization. It was, as I said, music took up more of my life and then working at that store.  
 
Barbara Wright  04:35 
How old were you when you worked at the store?  
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  04:39 
16, 17? Must've been 17. 
 
Barbara Wright  04:41 
And this is while you're still living with your parents?  
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  04:45 
Yeah, oh yeah, I lived with my parents right up until I left to enter the service. 
 
Barbara Wright  04:53 
Oh, money that you made from these engagements, what would happen to the money? 
 
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Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  04:59 
Dad took charge of all that. I never did know how much I earned. I never had any part of it. Dad 
took charge of it. Gave me out what I needed. 
 
Barbara Wright  05:11 
What was your sister-- what was your relationship with your sister like? 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  05:19 
Well, as I said, there was five years difference between us, so I was quite grown-up to her 
mostly-- most of our growing-up years. So it's always been a regret to me we were not that close. 
We really weren't. When I got old enough and making, you know, making the money, we could 
go places. I'd always ask her to go-- if she'd like go with me, but she never wanted to. Because 
now she says she never was asked. So, I went mostly on my own. I went over to England for an 
engagement or a business deal. I'd go by myself, and then I'd always visit my grandparents. 
 
Barbara Wright  06:07 
Versus like your Grandma Milbourne, you mentioned that she had, like, souvenirs from her 
travels. Did she ever, like, go over to America or down to Africa? 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  06:14 
Mm-mm. No. 
 
Barbara Wright  06:14 
Where are some of the places that she went?  
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  06:29 
I really don't know, but I know she was always on the go. I would imagine, England, all of 
England. Because I know she was fond of Scotland too. Of course, she came over to Ireland. She 
was always on the go [inaudible]. 
 
Barbara Wright  06:37 
What-- did you do any sort of book reading when you were, like, in your teenage years?  
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  06:58 
Oh yes, [inaudible] were always reading. 
 
Barbara Wright  07:02 
What sort of books did you read?  
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  07:29 
I loved history. I know I read something-- a lot of history books. Oh, I used to paint too. I used to 
love to paint. [?I have done it?]. 
 
Barbara Wright  06:29 
What would you paint pictures of? 
 
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Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  07:36 
Oh, just still [?life?] pictures. A vase of flowers, a fruit. I think I tried portraits, but [inaudible]. 
Anything that I saw. 
 
Barbara Wright  07:43 
What sort of medium did you use, oils or watercolors? 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  07:45 
Watercolors. 
 
Barbara Wright  07:46 
Okay, was it on paper or canvas? 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  07:48 
Paper.  
 
Barbara Wright  07:49 
As a teenager? Do you remember wearing any sort of the clothing worn at all, or hairstyles that 
you had? 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  08:23 
That's one thing I always got into trouble with, because I never worried about my hair, and I 
would always get in trouble with it. I used to get-- I don't know if it was in my teens, I guess. 
Getting permanents, and they were short, like what I'm wearing right now, only more curly. 
[Inaudible]. But then, I'd have that in certain months every year, and I'd let it grow all year, and 
that would last me a whole year, and I'd wind up with down to my shoulders. We only got 
permanent ones, that's all you needed it too. I don't know if you ever saw those old fashioned 
ones. I don't know if I could ever do it, but I had to sit there for about eight hours to get a perm in 
them. I had very thick hair, extremely thick, and it would take-- they only had all these rollers. It 
was up on a big [inaudible] with all these rollers, and I'd have to go through it about three times 
to get all my hair done. It was all electric. Yeah, it was electric rollers. Oh it was terr-- it was 
agony. Then you had to get it dried after that.  
 
Barbara Wright  09:32 
How so was it agony? Just because it was pulling on your scalp? 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  09:36 
Well, yeah, you were hanging up here on these gadgets up here, you couldn't move because it 
pulled, you know? Torture machines [laughs]. I can't believe we did it.  
 
Barbara Wright  09:53 
What sort of advice do you remember getting from your parents at all? 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  10:00 
Do the best you can. Keep at it. It's what I've done. I do [?remember?], you know, not drilling 
anything into us. They just talk to us sensibly, like a one to one. I never felt that they talked 
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down to me at all. And there's once every meal, we sit around the table at mealtime and we talk. 
And whatever was-- if something was bothering, it would come out at the dinner table. That's 
one thing we did, and I'm sorry that ever left us. We don't do that anymore. 
 
Barbara Wright  10:49 
What would the family seating arrangement be at the table?  
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  10:52 
Mom, Dad, my sister, and me. 
 
Barbara Wright  10:55 
Was it a long table, or was it more square? 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  10:57 
No, it was long.  
 
Barbara Wright  10:58 
Do you remember your parents ever asking you for advice or what you thought about 
something?  
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  11:05 
Oh, yes, they'd always ask my opinion about something, and then we talk about it. I don't really 
know, I can't think of any definite. 
 
Barbara Wright  11:24 
That was all I have for this week.  
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  11:25 
Good. 
 
Barbara Wright  11:25 
So-- [tape cuts off]. 