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Washington Women’s Heritage Project records, 1900-2000 
University of Washington Libraries Special Collections 
Maybelle Cultee Thomas 
March 14, 1981 
Cassette 1, Side 2 
 
 
Winona Weber  00:04 
Where did you work when you worked as a welder? 
 
Maybelle Cultee Thomas  00:08 
Down there at the shipyard at Seattle.  
 
Winona Weber  00:13 
Which one was that? I'm not sure. Was it the Seattle shipyard, or...? Was it a government project, 
or...? 
 
Maybelle Cultee Thomas  00:20 
Yeah. They're building air-- I worked on a carrier.  
 
Winona Weber  00:31 
Aircraft carrier?  
 
Maybelle Cultee Thomas  00:32 
Aircraft carrier. I saw how the aircraft [inaudible] built, the cables and everything. [Inaudible.] I 
used to wonder how those airplanes could, you know, take off in such a short, little space. And 
they hook it up and the cable throws them off, just like slingshot.  
 
Winona Weber  00:55 
Oh, really? 
 
Maybelle Cultee Thomas  00:56 
Uh-huh. And then when it come to the land, they let their chains down and the cables up again 
and they hook on to it. But the trouble is they had me working down in the engine room putting 
[inaudible] and brackets up there. And there were a lot of woman electricians that worked for 
them, because I was small, you know, and I could squeeze up on in those spaces. I don't know 
how I did that with all the clothes I used to have to wear. Wear leather clothes. 
 
Winona Weber  01:41 
Oh, yeah. Protect yourself from the sparks flying around. 
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Maybelle Cultee Thomas  01:51 
And then they had me in the ammunition room. Gee, they were small. Just...  I had to lay on my 
stomach most of the time. 
 
Maybelle Cultee Thomas  02:07 
It was pretty good job, you know, I liked it. 
 
Winona Weber  02:07 
Oh.  
 
Winona Weber  02:11 
Were you building? Were you helping to build the aircraft carrier or were you mending, you 
know, doing--?  
 
Maybelle Cultee Thomas  02:19 
Building.  
 
Winona Weber  02:20 
Building. Do you know the name of the aircraft carrier that you worked on?  
 
Maybelle Cultee Thomas  02:26 
No, unh-huh.  
 
Winona Weber  02:30 
Gee, it seems like that would be a big job, building one of those things. 
 
Maybelle Cultee Thomas  02:35 
[Inaudible] the metal, real thick. 
 
Winona Weber  02:39 
 About half an inch to an inch thick? 
 
Maybelle Cultee Thomas  02:41 
Mm-hmm. 
 
Winona Weber  02:42 
What, on the hull, or...?  
 
Maybelle Cultee Thomas  02:44 
Yeah.  
 
Winona Weber  02:47 
Steel, I suppose. 
 
Maybelle Cultee Thomas  02:48 
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Uh-huh.  
 
Winona Weber  02:52 
How long did you work at that? How long were you a welder? 
 
Maybelle Cultee Thomas  02:57 
Oh, I didn't work there too long. I think about a year and-- a year and a half. 
 
Winona Weber  03:06 
Did you stay on for very long after World War II ended? 
 
Maybelle Cultee Thomas  03:10 
No. I moved back to Tacoma.  
 
Winona Weber  03:18 
What did you do in Tacoma after you came back then? 
 
Maybelle Cultee Thomas  03:26 
I don't even remember now [they laugh]. 
 
Winona Weber  03:36 
Where did you learn to bead? 
 
Maybelle Cultee Thomas  03:40 
I just [?took?] it up 
 
Winona Weber  03:45 
Just in the last few years?  
 
Maybelle Cultee Thomas  03:50 
Yeah. I do a little bit of-- [tape recorder shifting] [tape cuts]. 
 
Winona Weber  03:52 
Tell me a little bit about [inaudible] [tape recorder shifting]. Oh, I got quite a bit of tape left. 
 
Maybelle Cultee Thomas  03:55 
She used to do [inaudible] work.  
 
Winona Weber  04:03 
How bad [laughs]. 
 
Winona Weber  04:03 
Really?  
 
Maybelle Cultee Thomas  04:03 
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And the only thing I didn't learn from her was knitting. You know she used to knit the sheer lace 
with a crochet thread. Make beautiful laces. And here I can't even knit. Seemed like I've never 
interested in it, but I did crochet but... I was nine years old and I made a bonnet for my little 
brother. Just a plain bonnet. Yeah, I was proud of that [inaudible] [laughs]. 
 
Maybelle Cultee Thomas  04:35 
Yeah, then I started to crochet [inaudible], crocheting, you know, lace [inaudible] and stuff. 
 
Winona Weber  04:54 
Was your mom an easy teacher? 
 
Maybelle Cultee Thomas  04:56 
Yeah. That's what I liked about her so much. She was always-- you know, she was good-natured. 
 
Winona Weber  05:10 
Was she pretty strict with you when you were growing up? 
 
Maybelle Cultee Thomas  05:13 
No, not too strict. But when I was-- started going out dancing I couldn't go by myself [inaudible]. 
She had a friend -- I'll never forget her -- her name was Gertie [inaudible]. Oh, she died a couple 
years ago. Anyway, she used to trust me with her. Gertie used to take me all [inaudible] with 
them dances. They used to have a great big dance hall there at Fife. We call it Century Ballroom.  
 
Winona Weber  05:51 
Century Ballroom?  
 
Maybelle Cultee Thomas  05:54 
Mm-hmm. 
 
Winona Weber  05:54 
[Inaudible.] 
 
Maybelle Cultee Thomas  05:54 
[?Gee, that was a big thing?].  
 
Winona Weber  06:00 
So you were kind of with a chaperone.  
 
Maybelle Cultee Thomas  06:04 
Yeah, and then when I'd go to them bone games, I used to go with [inaudible]. Oh, yeah [laughs]. 
 
Winona Weber  06:15 
Yeah. 
 
Maybelle Cultee Thomas  06:16 
She used to let me go with her. 
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Maybelle Cultee Thomas  06:18 
You know, they used to have all kinds of things going in Puyallup them days. They used to have 
dances at [inaudible] Park. Ever hear of [inaudible] Park? They had a park there at-- between 
Sumner and Puyallup-- oh, Orting and Puyall-- oh, Alderton. [?Go?] towards Alderton. Great big 
park. They had a dance hall there, [?and open?], you know... Bone games, card games, and 
everything in there. 
 
Winona Weber  07:04 
Was it sort of an Indian gathering place mostly? 
 
Maybelle Cultee Thomas  07:06 
Yeah. 
 
Winona Weber  07:07 
Oh, I see. 
 
Maybelle Cultee Thomas  07:13 
That's where they-- once in a while they'd get a fight and get to fighting in there. But, I'd say 
nowadays, the kids don't even have fun anymore. When they go to dances, they all just stay 
around outside and drink and never hardly ever see them dancing. Down in Taholah, too, they 
used to have dances all the time. They used to have that-- remember that old gymnasium we used 
to have down the old school? 
 
Winona Weber  07:53 
Yeah, the old gym. Yeah, I remember dances [crosstalk]. 
 
Maybelle Cultee Thomas  07:56 
Mm-hmm. [Inaudible.] Somebody was always putting up a dance and even they used to have 
dances in somebody else's house and they never raised Cain like they do now. 
 
Winona Weber  08:11 
I've been to a few of those dances [laughs]. Pretty rowdy.  
 
Maybelle Cultee Thomas  08:17 
Yeah, they used to have, or used to do a lot of the square dances. Even Leonard Young used to 
call out this-- the dances. Bennie Charley and all them old guys.  
 
Winona Weber  08:39 
Oh, yeah. Gee, it sounds like fun.  
 
Maybelle Cultee Thomas  08:43 
Yeah. Freda and [inaudible]. I remember Freda and Bennie out there dancing. Her sister and her 
old man. 
 
Winona Weber  08:56 
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Did you [?live?] down to Taholah when you were married to Henry-- what was his name? 
 
Maybelle Cultee Thomas  09:01 
Yeah, we lived down there for a while.  
 
Winona Weber  09:03 
Yeah, Henry, Henry Mowitch.  
 
Maybelle Cultee Thomas  09:08 
Yeah, we lived down here for a while.  
 
Winona Weber  09:11 
How did you meet Henry?  
 
Maybelle Cultee Thomas  09:14 
I knew him since I was a little girl.  
 
Winona Weber  09:16 
Oh. 
 
Maybelle Cultee Thomas  09:19 
He's related to my stepdad. 
 
Winona Weber  09:24 
Oh, I see. Did your mother go to those dances?  
 
Maybelle Cultee Thomas  09:32 
Yeah.  
 
Winona Weber  09:33 
Oh, I see. 
 
Maybelle Cultee Thomas  09:35 
They used to go to dances quite often when her and Pete started going together and after they got 
married and had a few kids [inaudible] she quit.  
 
Winona Weber  09:45 
Oh, really? Too much trouble, or...?  
 
Maybelle Cultee Thomas  09:48 
No, just too much bother, I guess. He was the first one I had. And then he was sick and then 
[inaudible] and then [?Baldy?]. 
 
Winona Weber  10:00 
Oh, man, I got a cold and I'm having trouble talking.  
 
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Maybelle Cultee Thomas  10:12 
Yeah my throat's gets a funny sometimes. 
 
Winona Weber  10:17 
My mind just goes blank every once in a while. I start to say something and I forgot what I was 
gonna say. 
 
Maybelle Cultee Thomas  10:44 
[Inaudible] going to have that dinner down at the beach. 
 
Winona Weber  10:47 
[Inaudible.] 
 
Maybelle Cultee Thomas  10:52 
Johnny went down quite a while ago to build a fire. 
 
Winona Weber  10:56 
Oh, really? 
 
Maybelle Cultee Thomas  10:57 
Kind of cold out, isn't it?  
 
Winona Weber  10:58 
Yeah, it's kind of chilly out. 
 
Maybelle Cultee Thomas  11:13 
[Inaudible] [?dug?] quite a bit of this year. Went around... He was writing a book all about 
Indians of different reservations.  
 
Winona Weber  11:23 
Yeah. 
 
Maybelle Cultee Thomas  11:24 
He had a real good book about it and then he just gave it to a professor over at Bellingham 
[laughs].  
 
Winona Weber  11:33 
Aww, really? Gee.  
 
Maybelle Cultee Thomas  11:37 
He should have kept it and had it made into a book. 
 
Winona Weber  11:43 
That would have been really interesting. 
 
Maybelle Cultee Thomas  11:44 
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I think that's what that professor did.  
 
Winona Weber  11:46 
Might have, yeah. 
 
Winona Weber  11:51 
Who was the-- when you were growing up, you grew up right there in the Squaxin Island area, 
right?  
 
Maybelle Cultee Thomas  12:05 
No, up in Puyallup.  
 
Winona Weber  12:08 
Puyallup.  
 
Maybelle Cultee Thomas  12:10 
Just summertime I'd go down there, down at Squaxin Island. 
 
Winona Weber  12:15 
Uh-huh? And visit with your grandmother?  
 
Maybelle Cultee Thomas  12:17 
Yeah.  
 
Winona Weber  12:19 
What was it like it at your grandmother's? 
 
Maybelle Cultee Thomas  12:22 
Oh. They had a-- well, they built their own house, you know? And it wasn't anything fancy.  
 
Winona Weber  12:34 
Yeah.  
 
Maybelle Cultee Thomas  12:35 
[Inaudible] she kept her [inaudible]. You keep your house clean! 
 
Winona Weber  12:40 
[Laughs] Oh, really? 
 
Maybelle Cultee Thomas  12:43 
And the wooden floors. But boy, she'd scrub it and had everything clean. 
 
Winona Weber  12:54 
I wonder what she'd think of some people's houses nowadays. 
 
Maybelle Cultee Thomas  12:59 
Page 9 of 10 
 
Yeah. 
 
Winona Weber  13:02 
Cleanliness was really important to her.  
 
Maybelle Cultee Thomas  13:04 
They used to have a spring down below there, 'cause we lived on the hillside. And we'd go down 
there and she'd have a great big, you know, those iron boards, whatever you call it. Warm water 
and we'd go down there and wash, wash tubs [laughs]. She let us wash handkerchiefs and socks, 
you know, little tub, and little bit of washer board. [Laughs] And we [?thought that was?] a lot of 
fun helping her. 
 
Winona Weber  13:40 
[Laughs] When you were little? 
 
Maybelle Cultee Thomas  13:41 
Uh-huh. 
 
13:43 
No, that's alright. 
 
Winona Weber  13:44 
[Telephone rings] Oh!  
 
Winona Weber  13:47 
Yeah [they laugh]. 
 
Maybelle Cultee Thomas  13:47 
--about two years old. No, she was older than that. Three... Oh, she was about five. And my 
grandmother-- or my-- my mother was down, 'cause she was living in [?Mowachaht?] then. 
She'd come across and she'd ask me if she couldn't take Shirley home [inaudible]. Keep her all 
week and sometimes she'd bring her back in a weekend, because I was working as a waitress 
then, and then sometimes she'd forget to bring her back and I'd have to go over there and see-- 
see [inaudible] [laughs] Shirley.  
 
Maybelle Cultee Thomas  13:47 
[Inaudible]-- [Tape cuts.] 
 
Maybelle Cultee Thomas  13:50 
[?I said?] gee, you raise all your own kids and I said, you still want to take Shirley home. And 
Shirley used to like to go there because her mom-- grand-- I mean, her your grandma used to 
give her bananas and all of the things she liked, you know? 
 
Maybelle Cultee Thomas  15:10 
And then my mother got a stroke, too. 
 
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Maybelle Cultee Thomas  15:12 
Mm-hmm. That was quite a few years ago, [inaudible] now. 
 
Winona Weber  15:12 
Oh, really? 
 
Winona Weber  15:20 
[Telephone rings] Oh, there's the phone again. 
 