Page 1 of 17 
 
Washington Women’s Heritage Project records, 1900-2000 
University of Washington Libraries Special Collections 
Vi Hilbert 
1981  
Cassette 1, Side 1 
 
 
Interviewer 1  00:06 
I don't think it will, because the mic is pointing this way.  
 
Winona Weber  00:10 
When you think of your mother, what do you see her doing? You know, do you think about her 
when you were a little girl? 
 
Vi Hilbert  00:18 
Well, she supplemented income by doing wool things.  
 
Winona Weber  00:25 
Wool? 
 
Vi Hilbert  00:26 
Cutting wool off sheep, the hide; she bought the whole hide and then cut the wool off the hide. 
And then she washed that and carded it and picked out all the burrs. Then she spun it and made 
socks for 50 cents a pair.  
 
Interviewer 1  00:45 
Yeah. 
 
Winona Weber  00:47 
Did she teach you to do that? Well, was your mother's people basket makers? 
 
Vi Hilbert  00:48 
No. No, I was not allowed to touch it or I don't-- didn't care to, I don't remember which. If they 
were, she didn't know anything about basketry. 
 
Winona Weber  01:00 
Oh, really? 
 
Vi Hilbert  01:04 
Page 2 of 17 
 
Because she was raised by her grandmother. Her mother was killed-- my mother's mother was 
killed so my mother was not raised as a normal child. 
 
Winona Weber  01:18 
I don't know, a lot of grandparents raised, you know, their grandchildren. Now whereabouts 
exactly is the Skagit country? 
 
Vi Hilbert  01:33 
My definition of the Skagit country is from La Conner up to Concrete, Washington. That was a 
territory I considered Skagit. 
 
Interviewer 1  01:44 
And you say you lived all around there?  
 
Vi Hilbert  01:47 
Yes.  
 
Interviewer 1  01:48 
Okay.  
 
Vi Hilbert  01:48 
Go up and down the river.  
 
Interviewer 1  01:53 
I haven't been up to La Conner in a long time. 
 
Winona Weber  01:55 
Whoops. Nick, don't do that, babe. 
 
Vi Hilbert  01:57 
Up to Baker-- Baker Lake we went up to no further than Concrete. Because [?Dad?] was in 
charge of a boat driving crew. And my mother cooked for that crew. [Inaudible] Baker. They 
went up Baker River into Baker Lake. 
 
Winona Weber  02:20 
You were an only child. 
 
Vi Hilbert  02:23 
Mm-hmm.  
 
Winona Weber  02:23 
Did that give you a chance to really develop a good relationship, you'd say, with your mother? 
 
Vi Hilbert  02:30 
[Inaudible] [?my mother and I?]. 
 
Page 3 of 17 
 
Interviewer 1  02:33 
I never had that chance. I was one of nine children. 
 
Vi Hilbert  02:36 
Oh, dear. No, I went every place they went. I was never left anyplace. 
 
Interviewer 1  02:48 
My folks never had time. 
 
Winona Weber  02:56 
Where did you start school? 
 
Vi Hilbert  02:59 
Concrete.  
 
Winona Weber  03:01 
How old were you?  
 
Vi Hilbert  03:03 
I must have been the usual age. Six, six-- 
 
Winona Weber  03:07 
About six, seven years old? Was it a mostly Indian community, or?  
 
Vi Hilbert  03:11 
No, all white.  
 
Winona Weber  03:13 
All white? 
 
Vi Hilbert  03:14 
In this school. I was the only Indian child. 
 
Winona Weber  03:16 
Oh, really? How did you like it? 
 
Vi Hilbert  03:20 
I thought it was great. I loved being in school. 
 
Interviewer 1  03:24 
Did your folks really stress education? 
 
Vi Hilbert  03:29 
No, they didn't trust it. They didn't trust any books. Because they were illiterate. They were both 
illiterate. My mother could read a little bit but my dad was completely illiterate. And if I brought 
Page 4 of 17 
 
even a little first grade book home, I would have to read it to them so that they would know that 
it didn't have anything that I shouldn't be looking at. So they were very protective in that respect. 
 
Winona Weber  04:03 
Well, there's only one of you. They didn't have anybody else to practice on. 
 
Vi Hilbert  04:13 
And my mother had had eight children and I was the only one that lived. 
 
Interviewer 1  04:15 
Oh, that's too bad. Maybe that's another reason why they were very protective. I don't blame 
them.  
 
Winona Weber  04:23 
If your-- what was I thinking of? How did-- where did your mother learn any of the reading that 
she had?  
 
Vi Hilbert  04:34 
She went to Stickney Home. This was a boarding school for Indians in the Nooksack territory. 
 
Winona Weber  04:43 
I've never heard of it. 
 
Vi Hilbert  04:47 
A little-- I think some branches or religions have, I don't know which, whether it was Methodist, 
or one of those. 
 
Winona Weber  04:59 
How old was she--  
 
Vi Hilbert  04:59 
It was a boarding school. 
 
Winona Weber  05:01 
--when she went to that?  
 
Vi Hilbert  05:02 
Well, she must have been, say, under 12 because she was married at 13. 
 
Winona Weber  05:12 
Oh, I see. 
 
Vi Hilbert  05:15 
She went to the third grade there and then her grandmother took her out.  
 
Winona Weber  05:20 
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Did she like it there, or was she unhappy?  
 
Vi Hilbert  05:22 
Yeah. Oh yes. She loved it there. 
 
Winona Weber  05:23 
Oh, really?  Gee, it's funny that she didn't learn how to read better. 
 
Vi Hilbert  05:30 
Her grandmother didn't trust and didn't believe in having somebody else raise the children, 
either.  
 
Winona Weber  05:39 
Yeah, don't blame them for that. You're-- just-- [Tape noises.] 
 
Vi Hilbert  05:54 
--the reason I'm related to so many people.  Oh, your grandmother had quite a few children. This 
was my great grandmother, [inaudible]. 
 
Winona Weber  06:04 
Great grandmother had a lot of children. I believe it. Families were huge.  How did your mother 
sell her wool socks that she made? 
 
Vi Hilbert  06:14 
She brought them to Seattle. 
 
Winona Weber  06:17 
From all the way up in La Conner? 
 
Vi Hilbert  06:19 
Mm-hmm. 
 
Winona Weber  06:19 
Oh, gee, how did she travel in those days?  
 
Vi Hilbert  06:22 
She had a Model T-- or a Model-- yeah, it was a Model T. Or she got a ride with somebody else 
if they were coming to Seattle.  
 
Winona Weber  06:33 
How long did it take you to get from La Conner to Seattle in those days? 
 
Vi Hilbert  06:36 
This was from upper, further up the river than La Connor.  
 
Winona Weber  06:40 
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Oh.  
 
Vi Hilbert  06:42 
Goodness, I don't know that I was ever there. I was in boarding school by then when she was 
doing that. So the socks that she would make before she brought them to Seattle, I don't know 
where she brought and sold those. 
 
Winona Weber  07:09 
What would she do-- did when you were when you were smaller? Before-- how old were you 
when you went away to boarding school? 
 
Vi Hilbert  07:19 
Now, let's see. That must have been when I was in about third grade.  
 
Interviewer 1  07:23 
Oh, gee. That's young. 
 
Vi Hilbert  07:25 
Mm-hmm. 
 
Winona Weber  07:28 
What did she do before you went to boarding school to bring in extra income? 
 
Vi Hilbert  07:35 
That that was all she ever did. 
 
Winona Weber  07:37 
Was just making wool socks? 
 
Vi Hilbert  07:38 
Mm-hmm. 
 
Winona Weber  07:39 
Oh, I see. 
 
Vi Hilbert  07:42 
I remember her doing housework for people, and washing to the farm people. Lots of times she 
helped out the help with the cooking if the mother was sick, or something. And she was an 
excellent cook, so she could have, you know, had a restaurant if she wanted to. 
 
Winona Weber  08:12 
Where was your first boarding school? 
 
Vi Hilbert  08:14 
At Tulalip. 
 
Page 7 of 17 
 
Winona Weber  08:18 
How did you like being sent to boarding school? 
 
Vi Hilbert  08:22 
I loved it. Had somebody to play with, I wasn't all by myself anymore. 
 
Winona Weber  08:27 
Oh, I see. Yeah, you would be kind of isolated up there. 
 
Vi Hilbert  08:32 
I got [inaudible] from my folks, but I had been told if I cried when they were taking me there, 
that they'd never come see me, so I didn't cry.  
 
Winona Weber  08:42 
Aww.  
 
Vi Hilbert  08:47 
Just the way the ball was going to bounce and no point in fussing about it. 
 
Winona Weber  08:53 
Oh, I see. Yeah, I understand.  Well you got to go home summers and, what, Christmas? Didn't 
you? 
 
Vi Hilbert  09:03 
No, they didn't bother about holidays. You just stayed in school. It was kind of fun, anyhow. 
They did-- they had plays and so forth. If the parents could, why, they came to the programs 
during the holidays, but my folks never could afford to-- they didn't always have a car. Seldom 
had a car, really. 
 
Winona Weber  09:37 
Did your parents-- was English your primary language at home? 
 
Vi Hilbert  09:48 
I guess you say so. They talked to each other a lot in our language. But I think that my mother 
spoke to my dad mostly in English for my benefit, so that I would know English. 
 
Interviewer 1  10:10 
Did they discourage you from speaking your language at all? 
 
Vi Hilbert  10:15 
Well it did-- I think it had been stressed to-- that the Indian people were to forget their language 
and I think that they were mindful of this. It wasn't-- they didn't harp about that in our family so 
it's not something that seemed, well, it's bad if I talk my language. There was never that feeling. 
But I think that English was easy for my mother. And she sort of took pride in knowing English 
well. 
 
Page 8 of 17 
 
Winona Weber  10:45 
She spoke [inaudible]. You were 18 when you got married. 
 
Vi Hilbert  11:00 
Yeah, right out of high school. I just graduated from high school and came to Taholah with 
Percy's two sisters. Or, with one sister. 
 
Winona Weber  11:12 
How did you end up at Franklin High School in Portland, Oregon? 
 
Vi Hilbert  11:15 
I went there from Chemawa, the boarding school in Oregon. I went to work as a domestic in 
Portland go to school. 
 
Winona Weber  11:26 
Oh, didn't they have a great high-- the higher grades at Chemawa?  
 
Vi Hilbert  11:30 
Oh, yes then there-- yes. But I figured I wasn't getting an education.  
 
Winona Weber  11:35 
Oh, you don't think the education in Chemawa would have very much quality? 
 
Vi Hilbert  11:39 
No. Unh-uh. Unh-uh. Well, it was lots of fun and fun and games, but I just didn't feel I was 
getting an education. And besides that I thought that that kind of segregation was not healthy. 
What you have to learn how to get out and mix, compete. 
 
Winona Weber  11:59 
Yeah, I understand that.  
 
Interviewer 1  12:03 
So you came up to Taholah? 
 
Vi Hilbert  12:04 
Well, I went from Chemawa to Portland and worked my way [inaudible] junior and senior years 
of high school. And then Percy's sister Oma was going to Reed College and she lived near me 
while she attended Reed College. So we visited with each other. We were, you know, both of us-
- she earned $5 and I earned $10 a month so we would-- we were company for each other. I 
would go to the library with her at  Reed College and take advantage of the campus library and 
so forth. And so when school was out, she said I'm gonna go down to Taholah and visit my 
brother down there. She said, "Why don't you come along? You don't have to go home right 
away." I was reluctant to go home, for some reason. And I would just have to go out and pick 
berries-- 
 
Interviewer 1  12:04 
Page 9 of 17 
 
Aww.  
 
Vi Hilbert  12:04 
Earn some money. So I thought, oh, that sounds like real fun to go to Taholah. I'd never been 
there before. One of Oma's cousins who was from Bay Center was gonna be going down there, 
too.  
 
Interviewer 1  12:04 
Oh, I see.  
 
Vi Hilbert  12:47 
And then another one of Oma's sisters, Adele, was going [?to be there, too?]. Be a bunch of us. 
And we'd just go down and have a ball. So that's how I went to Taholah. And just stayed there. 
 
Interviewer 1  13:34 
What did you think of Taholah?  
 
Vi Hilbert  13:35 
I loved it.  
 
Winona Weber  13:36 
Really?  
 
Interviewer 1  13:37 
Well, it's a beautiful place, I just-- I like it, too. But I never know how sometimes people who are 
from outside of Taholah are gonna react to Taholah. 
 
Vi Hilbert  13:46 
Yeah, I liked it. 
 
Interviewer 1  13:50 
And you married Percy in 1936.  
 
Vi Hilbert  13:57 
Mm-hmm. 
 
Interviewer 1  13:57 
When was Lois born? 
 
Vi Hilbert  13:59 
In '38.  
 
Interviewer 1  14:05 
Was your mother around when Lois was born?  
 
Vi Hilbert  14:07 
Page 10 of 17 
 
Yes. My mother wasn't-- my mother was still alive. 
 
Interviewer 1  14:13 
Was she down at Taholah?  
 
Vi Hilbert  14:14 
Oh no, no, no. She came to Taholah once to visit me. 
 
Winona Weber  14:18 
Oh really? She had just-- it kind of doesn't sound like most, you know-- 
 
Vi Hilbert  14:24 
They didn't have the wherewithal. 
 
Winona Weber  14:26 
Oh, yeah.  
 
Vi Hilbert  14:30 
Train's going by. 
 
Interviewer 1  14:34 
You said you were a-- you ran a grocery store in Taholah. 
 
Winona Weber  14:41 
Where was the store? 
 
Vi Hilbert  14:42 
It was just down the street from where my house was; I don't know what's there now. 
 
Winona Weber  14:49 
Was it on the river, or?  
 
Vi Hilbert  14:51 
Yes, uh-huh. It was a combination grocery store and restaurant. And I had gas pump, and oil. 
Everything for the fishermen. And just a counter for those barstools for my customers. A pinball 
machine and a jukebox. A place for people to just come and sit and chat. 
 
Winona Weber  15:21 
Your husband was a logger. Was he gone? Was-- did he go out and stay--  
 
Vi Hilbert  15:29 
No. Mm-mm.  
 
Winona Weber  15:29 
--the logging camp? He came home every night? 
 
Page 11 of 17 
 
Vi Hilbert  15:31 
Mm-hmm.  
 
Winona Weber  15:32 
Gee, how do you manage that? 
 
Vi Hilbert  15:35 
I think there was the-- some kind of a jitney or something that took him out, and took loggers 
out. He would drive to a certain place and then they would get on this. And because there were 
so many-- so much logging going on right there, not very far away from the village. Then when 
logging camps were closed down, why, he fished somebody's fishing grounds for them. 
 
Winona Weber  16:05 
Was he a Quinault Indian?  
 
Vi Hilbert  16:06 
Yes.  
 
Winona Weber  16:08 
Oh. I was just wondering why he didn't have his own fishing ground. 
 
Vi Hilbert  16:11 
I don't think everybody down there had their own. We had a share, or we're paying to fish 
somebody's. 
 
Winona Weber  16:22 
I didn't know that. When did you get interested in, as you have here, preserving the language? 
But in writing it and teaching it? 
 
Vi Hilbert  16:48 
Well, that didn't come until much later, you know. But all the time I was away from my people, 
well I, in the back of my mind, felt hungry for these things that I grew up with. And I knew that 
they were important. I wished that I could be you know, with it to hear it, and be with, you know, 
around it, rather than among these strangers who didn't know our customs and everything. So I 
guess I felt a need for it when I was away. So I knew it that it was important. 
 
Winona Weber  17:28 
Was-- you said they-- the Quinaults didn't have your customs. What were some of the 
differences? They kind of lump all of us Coastal Indians into one big gob of people. What are 
some of the differences that you noticed between the Quinaults and...? 
 
Vi Hilbert  17:56 
Well, I guess, I wasn't related to anybody in Quinault when I was there. I have some relatives 
down there now. But I guess this was one of the main differences. Almost every place I go up in 
this part of the country I find many relatives, as you probably do down there.  [Inaudible]. What 
Page 12 of 17 
 
were some of the things that I found different? Well, they had no longhouse. Winter ceremonial 
dancing there. They had the Shaker church. But they had none of the winter ceremonial dancing.  
 
Winona Weber  18:37 
That one-- 
 
Vi Hilbert  18:38 
The spirit power that they have among [inaudible]. 
 
Winona Weber  18:41 
Did you-- were-- yeah, the Shakers were really strong early at Taholah. Were your people still 
in-- still had their longhouses when you were a small girl ? 
 
Vi Hilbert  18:54 
Oh, yes. Oh, yes. I grew up attending many of those gatherings. 
 
Winona Weber  19:01 
Did you have a-- I guess it would be called a naming ceremony.  
 
Vi Hilbert  19:07 
I was named when I was just a tiny infant. But I was told this.  
 
Winona Weber  19:14 
I see.  
 
Vi Hilbert  19:15 
So, of course I have no recollection of it, but it was a name that I don't choose to carry now 
because I understood as-- after I was grown, that someone else wanted the name. My mother said 
they don't really, you know, have a right to the name, because you were given this name. But and 
she said "Well," she said, "Your grandmother gave you a name; your [?Samish?] grandmother 
gave you a name that you really should use." So I gave myself that name at a naming ceremony. 
I mean, I validated it in '76 at a naming ceremony. So I use that name.  
 
Winona Weber  19:59 
Is this the one--? 
 
Vi Hilbert  20:00 
That's taqʷšəblu, uh-huh. The other one was [?əstaniə?]. 
 
Winona Weber  20:04 
Yeah, taqʷšəblu. 
 
Interviewer 1  20:09 
Yeah. Was it a custom among your people to just have one naming ceremony when the child was 
very small? 
 
Page 13 of 17 
 
Vi Hilbert  20:18 
Well, it didn't have to be really a-- 
 
Interviewer 1  20:21 
[Inaudible] to give them a name, a permanent name. 
 
Vi Hilbert  20:22 
Yes, yes. Yes, they sometimes, I understand, gave one when you were born and then one later 
on. But that wasn't explained to me, exactly, how many of these things were done. It was that the 
name-- name-- the party that was put up for this [?əstaniə?] name was done by some VIP, a 
chief. But my mother didn't dwell on this. It wasn't really too important, I guess. 
 
Interviewer 1  21:01 
Your mother was-- was she ever involved in the Shaker religion?  
 
Vi Hilbert  21:05 
Oh, yes, she was one of the first Shakers. 
 
Interviewer 2  21:09 
I've never been to a winter ceremonial. I've been to a lot of shakes, but I've never been-been to a 
winter ceremonial.  
 
Winona Weber  21:20 
Do you-- I hear a lot of the old Shakers talking about how the early Shakers had the power, you 
know, had so much power. And they were-- they-- a lot the time, their power was spent 
combating the old Indian doctors, you know, taking away-- we call it a Tamanawas. 
 
Vi Hilbert  21:42 
Tamanawas. Tamanawas. Uh-huh. 
 
Winona Weber  21:44 
What did you-- what do you call it? 
 
Vi Hilbert  21:46 
Skalalitude. 
 
Interviewer 1  21:46 
Skalalitude. Yeah, ours is the Tamanawas. And the Shakers would shake over someone that had 
been given one, you know, because it made them sick or something. Did you-- did you have a 
chance to take part in in shakes when you were young? 
 
Vi Hilbert  22:11 
Oh, I was taken to all of them. And always wanted to join-- see, both my parents were Shakers. 
My mother first, and then she browbeat my dad into joining against his will. He used to be a 
drinker and he resisted for a long time. And she would pray for him every meal; we'd sit at the 
table and before we would eat, she always blessed the food, you know, but before she would 
Page 14 of 17 
 
bless the food she would pray for Dad out loud in our language. And he would sit there and 
suffer through all this, you know, being prayed for and she was quite the-- a dramatic person and 
she just was-- even just the three of us, she would, you know, carry on and carry on about the-- 
how she, you know, hoped for the salvation of his soul and just make a big production out of this 
prayer trying to save him from evil, so he would turn his face from these things and become-- 
and give his mind to the Lord and become a Shaker with her. 
 
Interviewer 1  23:29 
Oh, I see. Were you-- well, your parent-- well, after your-- both your parents became, you know, 
converted to the Shaker religion, were you able to go on going to the winter ceremonials and that 
type of thing? 
 
Vi Hilbert  23:48 
Oh, yes. Oh, yes. Some Shakers [crosstalk] some-- some of them did. But you see, my dad had 
received his skalalitude, his Tamanawas, in 1903, or 1910, somewhere in that area. He never 
practiced it, but it came to him way before he was ever a Shaker.  
 
Interviewer 1  24:09 
Yeah.  
 
Vi Hilbert  24:10 
So, he had his spirit power with him all of this time, really. He comes from a long line of doctors. 
This was what was his preference, really. 
 
Interviewer 1  24:25 
Was-- when you say doctors, would they would that fall-- would they fall into what some people 
call shamans? 
 
Vi Hilbert  24:33 
Yes, uh-huh. [Inaudible] medicine man, shamans. 
 
Interviewer 1  24:36 
Yeah.  
 
Vi Hilbert  24:37 
[Crosstalk] shaman. Because "medicine man" reminds me of a person standing around, yelling 
these incomprehensible things and shaking, you know. That never made any sense to me when I 
knew what the Indian doctors were really like.  
 
Winona Weber  24:55 
Was there-- your-- how old was your father when he got his-- oh, I can't remember how to say 
that. 
 
Vi Hilbert  25:04 
His spirit power?  
 
Page 15 of 17 
 
Interviewer 1  25:05 
Yes.  
 
Vi Hilbert  25:07 
It was about in 19-- what, between-- somewhere around 1903 or 1910, in that area there 
somewhere. So he was-- he was born approximately 1876.  
 
Interviewer 1  25:25 
Oh. So he was older [crosstalk]-- 
 
Vi Hilbert  25:28 
Much older than [inaudible]. 
 
Interviewer 1  25:29 
--a grown man. We thought that-- well, they talk about my-- some of my great uncles going out 
and fasting, you know, when they were young boys, getting a Tamanawas if they were going to.  
 
Winona Weber  25:53 
Was there any-- was there-- when a young-- did they have that tradition of a young man going 
out-- 
 
Vi Hilbert  26:02 
To quest?  
 
Winona Weber  26:03 
Yeah. 
 
Vi Hilbert  26:03 
Oh, yes.  
 
Winona Weber  26:05 
Did they have any corresponding things for young girls?  
 
Vi Hilbert  26:11 
Oh, yes.  
 
Winona Weber  26:13 
What was it like? 
 
Vi Hilbert  26:13 
Well, it was just as strenuous or more strenuous than for a man. His first cousin had to go out and 
quest in the wintertime. And she very elegantly describes it in one of the tapes I have. 
 
Interviewer 1  26:35 
Oh, gee, I'd like to listen to that tape sometime. That would be fantastic.  
 
Page 16 of 17 
 
Winona Weber  26:39 
No, I wasn't sure whether they had it-- I thought they would, you know, for young girls, just like 
they would for boys. But I wasn't sure. Did your mother do that?  
 
Vi Hilbert  26:53 
No, my mother didn't ever have to do that. And I suppose because she was raised in the manner 
that she was raised. Now, her grandmother was a dancer herself. 
 
Winona Weber  27:04 
Is that sort of a natural gift? Does one-- does a person have a natural gift, say, of dancing? Like, 
well, they talked about Shakers, and some people can shake and--  
 
Vi Hilbert  27:22 
Receive a stronger power than others. 
 
Winona Weber  27:24 
Yeah, than others. And I was wondering, was the dancing something where a person received a 
power?  
 
Vi Hilbert  27:31 
Oh, yes. Oh, yes. Uh-huh. That the-- see, I've been told that the Shakers who had skalalitudes 
would-- When they became Shakers, their power would be converted to Shakerism. And it would 
help them [inaudible]. 
 
Winona Weber  28:02 
Do you think it's-- it might because-- be because they were already sort of spiritually inclined?  
 
Vi Hilbert  28:10 
Oh, yes.  
 
Winona Weber  28:11 
Their early training with this?  
 
Vi Hilbert  28:22 
[Inaudible]. 
 
Interviewer 1  28:22 
Yeah. How long would a shake go on that your mother would participate in? Was it an all-night 
deal? Or would they stop and then wait till the next day? 
 
Vi Hilbert  28:37 
You know, I-- my mother brought pillow and blankets for me and put me to sleep underneath the 
bench. So I was never ever really aware of how long the shaker dance went on. It just-- shaking 
floor just rocked me to sleep. 
 
Interviewer 1  28:57 
Page 17 of 17 
 
I could imagine. Was that a common thing for the parents to bring their kids? 
 
Vi Hilbert  29:04 
Oh, yes. Mm-hmm.  
 
Winona Weber  29:04 
Gee, it seems like it would be awfully noisy.  
 
Vi Hilbert  29:07 
You get used to it. 
 
Interviewer 1  29:09 
Yeah. I can see where the vibrations of the floor would put you to sleep. 
 
Vi Hilbert  29:14 
And some kids were allowed to go outside and run around and play. I was never. You'd come in, 
you'd sit here, and you listen and you watch. And that was very, very strictly enforced. And I 
could never go run around. And then when I got sleep either [crosstalk] was put down to sleep. 
 
Interviewer 1  29:17 
I understand that you were supposed to sort of be respectful of what was going on. 
 
Vi Hilbert  29:45 
I wish more of that training was prevalent to our young people. 
 
Interviewer 1  29:50 
Yeah. I've noticed a lot of difference just in-- between my generation and, say, Nicole's. I was 
always forced on me, "Sit down, be quiet, don't bother your elders when they're talking." You 
know, and I've noticed-- 
 
Vi Hilbert  30:08 
Respectful. 
 
Interviewer 1  30:09 
Yeah. And I've noticed just since-- just in my generations that they don't do that with their 
children anymore, it seems like. They're not told, "Sit down, and be quiet," you know. "If you 
want to say something, wait until I stop." I wonder why. 
 
Vi Hilbert  30:29 
It's the parents' fault; somewhere along the line, it hasn't been passed on. Let's hope they will turn 
that around. It's hard on young people. 
 
Interviewer 1  30:42 
Let me just stop this thing. Ah. [Tape noises]. 