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Washington Women’s Heritage Project records, 1900-2000 
University of Washington Libraries Special Collections 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton 
May 21, 1993 
Cassette 7, Side 2 
 
 
Barbara Wright  00:02 
This is side two of the second part of the interview of the last interview, clean up some loose 
ends. [Audio cuts out from 0:10 to 1:27]. In regards to what, what would they, like, say? 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  01:30 
Oh, we talk about where we were and what we did. Sometimes, it's not always, because we do 
have-- do other things. You know, we help at the VA hospitals, have a lot there volunteer. I 
don't, because I'm so far away from different places, so I haven't really got out and volunteered, 
except I'm at the Senior Center. 
 
Barbara Wright  01:54 
What do you do the Senior Center? 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  01:58 
I belong to their chorus, and we go out to nursing homes and different places to sing, and that-- 
and they're old ladies there. We've got a lady there who's 91 years old and still singing up a 
storm. She's a lovely voice.  
 
Barbara Wright  02:13 
Oh, that's right. One of the things I wanted to mention about was your certified nursing assistant? 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  02:21 
Nurses' aide, yes, uh-huh. Yeah.  
 
Barbara Wright  02:23 
So when you came up here, you started working again? 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  02:26 
So my daughter-in-law's mother, I was-- I had-- I come from doing everything and being in 
everything when we're in Texas, and I come in up here and doing nothing, and I wasn't even on 
an army base, so I didn't have no army friends about me, and I just felt so lost and frustrated. So 
we got to talking, and she said, Well, you've got that certification. Why don't you put it to use? 
And she said, You don't want to make lots of money? Because they didn't get too much money 
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for that then. So I went down and applied, and they took me on, I started the day after, went 
down on a Monday and started on a Tuesday. 
 
Barbara Wright  03:09 
What did you do there? 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  03:13 
Helped the sick people. I had-- well, I ended up with one floor, and there was 10 rooms with 
three people in each. Some had to walk-- some of them were paralyzed all the way down. Some 
had strokes. All different things, elderly people. And I enjoyed it. It's very heavy, tiring work, 
but I enjoyed doing it. 
 
Barbara Wright  03:43 
How long did you do that for? When did you quit?  
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  03:44 
About six years, five years, five or six years. And then after I left, my back gave out, and then 
the girl that was driving as a courtesy driver, like they took-- take people to shopping and to 
doctors, dentists or wherever they wanted to go, and she had-- had to go with surgery, found out 
she had cancer, so they asked me if I'd like to do that. So I took that on, and I was there for 
another three years, I guess.  
 
Barbara Wright  04:29 
So you spent three years just helping this one woman? 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  04:30 
No, that's all the women.  
 
Barbara Wright  04:30 
Oh, okay.  
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  04:31 
It's a courtesy car. 
 
Barbara Wright  04:31 
Oh, okay. Oh, I see. 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  04:34 
And they pay extra for it, but if they want to go special shopping, or down to the-- we used to 
take them down to the... Southcenter, 'cause SeaTac wasn't really up then, and I was at doctor 
appointments. We used to take them there. 
 
Barbara Wright  04:56 
So when did you finally quit this, in, like, around 1982 then, or? 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  05:07 
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Hmm. I can't remember if I still doing it when he retired or not. I think I was still on it. But it'd 
be in the '80s. Yeah, can't quite remember. 
 
Barbara Wright  05:07 
Alright. Okay, well, this is finally it-- 
 
Olive Mary Milbourne Carlton  05:11 
That's a-- okay. 
 
Barbara Wright  05:22 
We're finally gonna end this. 