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3 or 4 years. Now she had her, her fifth year and could have taught had she not had this
debilitating, urn, illness, and I don't know, I don't know too much about it. But it's hard,
harder on the grandmother, I think, that on anyone else in the family because the girl, uh,
she must be about 30, and she comes to her grandmother's more often than she wants to
go to, uh, any of the others. And I can understand that; she has peace and comfort,
tranquillity, et... And Helen's a good one to have. But you see, she's older, and now
that's more difficult for people like us to have, uh, a situation like that. It's very similar to
my Marilyn, you see, so.
And, but, tonight, today she was laughing about, uh, a situation that took place only
today because at St. Mark's today, they were having, uh, uh, the yearly ceremony they
have for those that are, uh, in the Collumbarium, which St. Mark's has.
L. L. : What's the Collumbarium?
M. C. : For the deceased? And, uh, so and her granddaughter, a cousin of the girl that has
schizophrenia, uh, was going to take her to this service, and she mentioned, you know, a
month ago. But she didn't come along today. And Helen said, "I didn't know what Ruthie
might be doing. So," she said," I didn't want to bother her." So she went over to the
church without her. And then, but she waited thinking that Ruthie would come and, and,
and take her. And, while she was there, Helen said, well she waited when, when it was
over with thinking Ruthie would come and take her back home. But she didn't come and
didn't come, so Helen mentioned it to the girl in the office at St. Marks Cathedral. And,
uh, this girl says, "Why, Helen, Ruthie's in Hawaii." And she had gone to Hawaii and not
told her grandmother. She'd gone, she evidently forgot it. And Helen said, "Was I
shocked?"
end Tape 7. side B
TapeS
side A
fr(Aids 004 M. C. : [Margaret is still talking about Helen] [Helen is the]same age as I, 3 weeks. Her, her
birthday was July the third and mine is July the 29th. And she used to tell me, "Now I'll be
the boss because I'm older than you are." Didn't mean a thing [Margaret laughs]. And it
still doesn't. But we laugh about our similar situations. And it is interesting.
L. L. : Urn, I was wondering about the picture on the wall.
art^rth 009 M. C. : The picture on the wall was painted by Anna B, Stone. She was the doctor's wife that
brought me into this world. Her husband, Dr. Stone, brought me into the world, that's a
better way of putting it. And they were friends of my family when he was in Black
Diamond as a doctor for the Pacific Coast Coal Company. But she wa, had graduated
from an Eastern art school, and she was quite an artist because she sold all kinds of these
through, uh, galleries.
L. L. : Did your family keep in contact with their family?
M. C. : I beg your pardon?
L. L. : Did your family keep in contact with her family?
M. C. : Oh yes, for years, but she's been dead for years. Now he came, he came to Seattle from
Black Diamond, and he, with his brother-in-law, his wife's brother, Dr. Kidd, they were
both M.D.'s started St. Luke's hospital. And St. Luke's Hospital was the original hospital
on the ground where Group Health is now on 16th. Ave. E.
L. L. : Goes back a long ways.
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Ida Culver Hse 046
fr»thds/children050
back problems/
dibaticularitis 087
M. C. : It is. And then to think that I came into this establishment here to find that the women
across the hall had a picture and I walked in and I said, "That looks like Anna B. Stone's
picture." And she said, "It is, what do you know about her?" She'd bought it at a gallery
down town. And then I saw another one, uh, around the corner down here and that was
the same picture. And that was the picture of the daffodils, and I told you how I got that.
I asked the man down here, the son when the lady died, if they sold it, I would like to buy
it, hopeful it would be my price. And he gave it to me. But his sister, his sister was a
sorority sister of Marilyn's [Margaret's daughter-in-law], and, and she knew his sister real
well. And I never did thank him for the picture, I ne, outside of when he first gave it to me.
I didn't write to him, I didn't have his name, I didn't know where he lived. But of curse
Marilyn told the sister, she lives in Yakima. Yeah, that's interesting.
L. L. : Urn, you mentioned the people around the Ida Culver House, how have you enjoyed it
here?
M. C. : Yes, I have enjoyed it. Uh, I'd enjoy any place I'd be because I'm easily satisfied. And I
can always find count, counterparts, people who do associate, those that I love. And, I,
I'm, I'm, I, I'm happy where I am. I'm luck I'm here because I'm very fortunate to have
somebody to look in on me. My family's ve, very attentive. They call all the time if they
don't come. And they make arrangements, uh, for me to do certain things or go certain
places or do things. There, if I wanted to be only, I could say, "Well, give ma a day once in
a while when I could do just what I want to do." Now they'll call up and say would I like
to go here or go there or someplace, but, but what I really would like to do would be to go
visit some of my friends once in a while, but I know that isn't, uh, as convenient because,
uh, or if I asked them on a certain day, I know that their schedule is so full because, when I
even hear them talking about it, it [laugh] makes me feel sorry that they can't find some
leisure time someplace. But he's been very successful through his own efforts.
L. L. : Don has been?
M. C. : And, uh, so consequently, they go here today and maybe they're in California tomorrow,
and, but he's had a business life like that where he'd fly to New York maybe twice in one
week. That type of thing. And she always, almost always goes with him, or frequently
goes with Nm, not always, but most of the time. And they know what each other are
doing, and they bo, they both like the outdoors. And they both like to walk. And they all
swim. It's a good thing. Uh, they have many things in common. And they have a lot of
friends, and they're friends have dated back to college days when. And that's one thing
about them both going to the same college, university, uh, uh, and being alumni of the same
place.
L. L. : Do you sometimes feel they don't have enough time for you?
M. C. : No, because I know that they'd squeeze it out someplace if I, I ever needed them because
I've needed them twice here in an emergency 3 times. Once with my back when I had back
trouble. I stooped over one Sunday to pick up my shoes to go to church, and I couldn't
raise myself I, I was in such extreme pain. And, uh, another time when I had dibaticularitis
so bad, and I thought I'd bleed to death.
L. L. ; What's that?
M. C. : Uh, well it's uh, where your, actually you're kid, your colon has, uh, little polyps, little hu,
hu, little areas where the fills up with, uh, oh, say, that's why popcorn and peanuts, that
type of food is very apt to start something of that nature. And, and you really could have
continuous bleeding. And, uh, then when I had cancer, and th, th, they came right away
and Don stayed at the, uh, in the emergency room with me for hours because they, you go
to an emergency and you just lay there [laugh]. Course you haven't had much because
you're so young, but in emergencies I've, uh, taken people to emergency many, many,
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index #
many times when they'd, you'd sit there for 4 to 6 hours, maybe. Don said the worst
trouble was sitting with you was that, uh, any, in any time there was reading material they
had in the room was years old. Well, now what else?
L. L. : What about living here, you said that some of your...
M. C. : What was that?
friends/death 105 L. L. : When, since you've been living here in the Ida Culver House, you said that some of your
friends have passed away, does that kind of scare you?
M. C. : Well, it lets me know that I'm near the end of the line.
L. L, : It doesn't scare you though?
M. C. : No, it doesn't scare me, no. I know until my time comes I better be pr, be prepared.
That's the best example you could give.
frcfiids/poems 112 And I kind of make light of it with my friends, like I did with those, I to, I showed you
those little, uh, uh, ditties that I'm always making [Margaret looks for her poems]. I, I
gave you one of those didn't I? Yes. Well.
[see photo copy 6 which is a copy ofMagaret's poem "Our Freindship which she wrote for
her freinds]
L. L. : [Libby says something inaudible]
M. C. : I, I, I, have some others here that [laugh] are what you might call unpublished, [laugh]. A
lot of them. I'm always writing them. Well anyway, so much of that.
L. L. : Well, that's probably it for right now.
end Tape 8. side A
end of interyiew
84