index
walked into the room (I had posted on the wall the chart about her temperature), he looked
at the chart and he said, "She has typhoid fever." And, then we were, uh, placed in
quarantine.
L. L. : Did she get better?
M. C. : And, she got better, but she was a carrier. Now, that first doctor that had known so much
about it, he had been down, uh, at the Panama Canal and other places, you see, where he
was very familiar with it. And he said that probably she had carried that all of her younger
life here in uh when she had come from the East, that she had contacted it, and it didn't
affect her until, uh, later in life when her immune system, you see, would be failing.
end Tape 2
side A
483
children
typhoid
014
015
health dept. 019
L. L. : [During the time I was changing the tape, Margaret remembered the name of her great-
grand-son: Bryce. Then, we continued with the discussion about her mother's sickness.]
How Long was you mother quarantined, you know since she was sick, she had typhoid
fever?
M. C. : Oh, well, then she had actually, that created the fact that she had to live with us, and you
were under scrutiny by the health department because, at that time, I was told that there
were only 4 in the state of Washington, that were carriers oftyphoid.
L. L. : Did you have any children then? At tat time, did you have any children yet?
M. C. : I had children.
L. L. : Were you worried that that they would get sick.
M. C. : Well, I never really worried about it because they were very good.
But she couldn't cook, you see, she couldn't do a lot of things. She had to be away
from away from food, the preparation of any food, and all.
But mainly, the difficulty was she worried about, uh, every 6 months the county nurse
or the city nurse came to see what the conditions were, which meant that you were always
half expectant of having somebody examine your quarters, made it a little, you know, a
little concern. I've always been an orderly person however, so that really never bothered
me too much, but I'm sure it bothered her. And, see, she couldn't participate in the way
other people did. You had to watch everything you did. She had her own towels and
everything else like that.
L. L. : How long was she living with you?
M. C. : Oh, she lived with me for over 20 years.
L. L. : She did?
M. C. : Yes
L. L. : Was she sick the whole time, or just a carrier?
M. C. : No, no, no, no, she recovered and was very well. the reason she died, and of course, she
was ei, almost 89 when she dies, so that meant that she'd lived a pretty long life. 'Cause
21
index
health care
child birth
brother
her mother died at 65, and she thought she was old. So, when my mother lived to be
almost 89, she, uh, lived a very good life.
L. L. : So, did, did the nurse come that whole 20 years, did she come every 6 months, or was that
only for a while?
M. C. : Well, about that, you know, sometimes they'd miss and come 8 or 9 months a row, not, but
it was pretty, quite often.
L. L. : And did she ever get anyone else sick?
M. C. : She was never really sick after that.
L. L. : OK
038 M. C. : But that was an experience in itself. And it taught me a great deal. And I said to the
doctor, "Do you think she'd be better off in the hospital?" And he said, "NO!, not the way
you're taking care of her." Because you see, he could see that I had charted all her, uh
kept good track of her.
L. L. : um-huh. How about, when you were younger, do you remember any of your brothers or
sisters being born.
M. C. : Being what?
L. L. : Being born, when they were born? Do you remember that, when your mother had you
brothers and...
M. C. : Being bored?
047 L. L. : BORN. When your brother gave birth to them.
M. C. : No, no, never.
L. L. : You don't remember?
M. C. : No, we had nothing to do with that?
L. L. : But do you remember wh, when they were little babies?
M. C. : I remembered when my brother was a little baby.
L. L. : um-huh
M. C. : I don't of course remember my sister, of course, because she was older that I.
L. L. : Oh, that's right.
051 M. C. : But I did remember my brother when he was little. Because I remember him when he was
learning to walk, he was pushing a go-cart around in the kitchen, little things like that come
to your mind.
L. L. : Do you remember your mother being pregnant?
M. C. : No.
L. L. : You don't.
22
index
M. C. : I don't remember. I supposed she camouflaged that in a good way, and I never asked.
L. L. : Um, do you remember like right when your brother was born, do you remember when he
was very little?
M. C. : No, I don't.
L. L. : You don't?
M. C. : No, I don't.
education 059 L. L. : Um. how 'bout when, um you, after the eighth grade when you started going to school.
M. C. : Now, you see there were no busses. And I,uh, it was only natural that we belonged in
Auburn because we had the Auburn Post Office was our post office. And when it was time
for me to go to Auburn, there was no transportation at all. We had to create our own.
And, my sister had spent 1 year at Auburn High School, and she had, uh, stayed there with
another girl from the same area as we. And, they roomed, uh, they had a little apartment
and roomed together. Well, that wouldn't do for me, I was so much younger than they.
And,uh, uh,so, and I, my sister had spent quite a bit of time, uh. living with a friend, and
that friend said that they had friends, my sister, if she worked for her board and room could
stay with this other family. And she stayed with them for 1 year. And that gave me the
idea that I could do the same thing, even though I was only 14 years old, and she was ready
to graduate. There was quite a bit of difference. But I, my mother didn't, my mother was
skeptical. But my father said, "if she wants to do it, let her do it." And that's, and that's,
that really gave me such confidence in myself that I could make decision, and I've always
been able to make decisions easily.
Now I have friend who can never make a decision; she can't even go into a restaurant
with a group of people [laugh] and decide what to eat. There are people like that. But I
was always given the opportunity to make a decision by myself. But if I made the wrong
decisions, I also paid for it. And that's a good teaching element, it's very good.
So, I went in my Freshman year to live with a family. And I learned a great deal, I
learned a great deal, and maybe I suffered some too, I don't know, but it was nice. The,
uh, uh man of the family was an official with the Northern Pacific Railway because Auburn
was a Northern Pacific town; the headquarters for the Northern Pacific were in Auburn.
And, uh, this was an interesting family. Uh, they had married late in life and they had, uh, a
small child, well, she was really a baby. When I went there, she wasn't any more that about
6 or 8 months. And, uh, uh, it was my duty to, try, try to, take care of, of this, to do, to
take care of this child and help around the house.
101 So, I stood that for a year, and in the meantime, when I was going to school, I had met
a very good friend, Helen Anderson was her name (there's a woman here by that name
now). But, and Helen and I have been friends for ever since, and we still are, we are just
like sisters, 80 some years of friendship.
[see slide 16 for a picture of Margaret and Helen as young women]
L. L. : Where is Helen now? [Margaret does not hear.]
M. C. : And it's been wonderful! But, we, uh, we just were, uh, well very close friends in our
Freshman year. And Helen had a brother, her brother had diabetes, and he died of diabetes
during that first year, during her Freshman year. And her mother was quite distraught
when she lost this son who was just a couple years younger than Helen. And so the mother
asked me to come and live with them and be Helen's friend for company because it was,
she had lost her brother and her mother felt sad about it. And it was, uh, a trying time.
But, so I did, and that gave me the opportunity, you see to turn out for basketball and
sports and turn out for debate and other things in which /was interested.
moving out 090
friends
L.L.Because you didn't have the responsibilities like you...?
23
index #
college 117 M. C. : Well, now we lived, I lived with them until I graduated from high school. And then she and
I went to the University [of Washington] together. And then we went to, uh, and then I,
went I wanted to change to teach elementary school, uh, she was, uh, majoring in music,
and, uh she stood it the first quarter I was gone, went to Bellingham. And then she
followed me and came to Bellingham. So we roomed together at the University and we
roomed together at Bellingham. And we've been very, very close ever since.
freinds 126 L. L. : What was it like living with Helen's family right after her brother died.
M. C. : Well, it was, it was, it was good. Helen was, uh, very full of life and very vivacious. And
her mother would always say, if Helen wanted to go to a dance or a party or something,
she'd always say, "Well, ifMargot go, you can go. But not unless you, uh, she goes."
And, uh, so I always felt that I was, a, you know the mother hen.
L. L. : Were you more tmstworthy?
da|ing 134 M. C. : Well, I, I, I guess I was a little more because I remember Helen would do such, uh, odd
things I'd never think of doing. I, I stood at the top of the stairway in her house one day
when a young man came to call on her, and he was going to pick her up and take her out.
And she didn't want to go with him. So, she, uh, she'd picked up a hat pin ofTthe dresser
and said, "Now you tell him I'm not home, you tell him I'm not home." [Margaret and
Libby laugh]. And, uh, and she was always full of jokes like that. I suppose I told him she
wasn't in...
L. L. : um-huh
pranks 142 M. C. : ...for the present. She wasn't in to him anyway [Margaret and Libby laugh]. Well, I
remember another time, when she was always pulling jokes. We were both in the che, uh,
the Chemistry class in school, and, uh, there was a, a, closet where they kept supplies.
And, uh, Helen came out of that closet one time and she had something in her hand. And I
said, "What, what do you have there?" And she says, "Shoo! I'm not gonna tell anybody."
And she had lamp black, do you know what lamp black is like? Well, it's a black powdery
substance, and she put it in the, in the soap container, liquid soap container. And the first
person that came in was the superintendent of schools, and he walked right to that soap
container [Margaret gestures to this by clapping her hands] to wash his hands.
L. L. ; Oh! [Laughing]
gender issues 155 M. C. : He was furious! when he saw all the black on his hands. If he, "That rat," he says, you
know "I'll get after /?//»!" He never dreamed it was a girl, and it was Helen. I don't think
he ever found out 'cause I wasn't going to tell. But she was always up to jokes like that.
L. L. : Did you get along with her, or did you ever fight with her?
fighting 159 M. C. : Oh, I never remember quarreling 'cause she was the kind of person, you couldn't really
quarrel with her. You know, she'd turn it out as a joke or say something funny about it.
Then, I remember, uh, one time later and we were at the University, and we were living on
Twentieth Avenue in a great big house. And, uh, there were many, it was purposely
operated for college students. And, uh, it had 3 floors in it. And, uh, Helen and I had, uh,
were on the top floor, and it had French windows that you pushed out.
dating 168 And, uh, I had a date, I'm going out the front door with this date, Helen pushed out
the windows out and she says, "Marg, Marg," she says, "if he gives you a box of
chocolates, be sure you bring 'em home to me!" [Margaret and Libby laugh). You know,
always something like that. Oh, dear, she was the oddest, well, I often remind her, she was
a Seattle teacher too. Well, now are we?
[see slide 21 for a picture of Margaret as a young woman]
religion 175L. L. : Um, what about religion? Wh, wh, what role did religion play in your family.
24
index #
M. C. : A big religion. Uh, my father had been raised a Catholic, so he was not a part of my
religious training. But my mother had been raised as a Baptist. And it was her faith, she
had the faith of Job because if anything went wrong, she was always there to say, "Well, it
will be right." And, uh, I belonged to the same church for the last 50 years, and I've had a
major part in that church, as major as a member could have. I've been on the, uh, session,
and I've taught Sunday school, and I have been wedding chairman, and I have run the
rummage sales that we've had for years, and I've done just about everything. And now I
no longer can do it. But li still attend and have fun.
L, L. : Did your mother teach you about religion at home?
M. C. : Yes, she did, and then I attended church, so I attended church in Auburn,
L. L. : Did you have, uh, like Sunday school classes, or, the, uh, classes that you learned about
religion in, or was it just church?
M. C. : Oh yes. No I've had... Oh, not at, not in public school.
L. L. : No, but when you were little, did you go to, uh, like Sunday school, or...?
M. C. : Oh, yes. Oh yes.
L. L. : Did your mother play a part in that, did she teach Sunday school, or...?,
M. C. : Well, she didn't, she had too much to do otherwise.
L. L. : um-huh
M. C. : But she had in her own childhood, and she played the organ and the piano.
L. L. : for the church?
M. C. : No, no she never played at the church. But it was interesting. But faith has always been
my strongest companion, very strong.
L. L. : Do you think your mother helped you learn that?
M. C. : Did it help me to learn?
L. L. : No, did your mother help you about...
M. C. : Oh
L. L. : ...about learning about faith and....
M. C. : Well, more my example than anything else. And her family had been veiy religious.
L. L. : um-huh
Black Dmnd 210 M. C. : And in a small community like Black Diamond was, uh, say 2,000 or more people, the
church was the center of entertainment. You know, you had your Sunday school
programs, and everybody went to church. And it was just a matter of, of course because
there wasn't anything else to, to do. Church and lodges: and lodges are, of course, mostly
based on religion.
L. L. : Well, you said your father wasn't very involved in church, did he go to church with you?
25
index #
M. C. : Well, uh, as a, uh, I don't know in the very early days if he went with my mother, but see it
was difficult when we went down on the ranch, then my mother didn't go so often. But,
but she never failed to tell us, uh, to show us how important church was, how important
religion was
L. L. : um-huh
M. C. : ...how important it was to have faith, no matter how hard times could be. And that
weathered me through a great deal because I always knew there was someone there to
protect me.
L. L. : Urn, did your mother and father ever argue about religion, or...?
M. C. : No, I never hear, uh, I never heard them argue about religion.
parents/conflict 232 L. L. : Urn, what about, did they argue in general about anything?
M. C. : I don't, uh, I don't remember, a, a conflict of that nature in the home.
L. L. : um-huh
father
music
235 M. C. : Because my father focused his attention, when he was at home, on us children, and my
mother focused her attention on, you know, preparing food and things like that....
L. L. : uh-huh
M. C. : sewing, and, so...
L. L. : What was, um, when your mother cooked, did you help her, did you help around the
house?
M. C. : Oh yes, I always helped her around the horse. Now my sister didn't. My sister went out
and helped my father. She was more interested in that.
L. L. : um-huh
M. C. : And I was the one that helped my father, my mother with cooking and baking and doing a
little of the chores about the house.
L. L. : Do you remember anything really exciting or special that happened when you and your
mother were doing house chores together?
246 M. C. : Well, I suppose there were things all along the way, but I don't remember anything that
was exciting, but interesting because my mother always rocked us, us children when we
were small. And she had a, a, a nice voice, and she always sang; none of us inherited her
voice . Because she would sing "Precious Jewels" was one of her, uh, major hymns.
Mostly what she sang were hymns, and that was natural. Welsh people always, I don't
know of a Welsh person that isn't, um, fond of music; that's 2 things, and, uh, very
religious. They all favor religion; they have a great deal of faith. Well, that's it.
L. L. : OK
end Tape 2. side B
Tape3
side A
26