"Nursing Home Interviews" on slo.ws

Nursing Home Interviews

Growing Up in a Small Town

Margie: Grew up in a one room school... The teacher had to teach all eight grades.
Kyle: What part of the U.S. are you from?
M: Okay... Geneseo, Illinois. And that's by Rock Island and Davenport, it's about 60 miles. As a matter of fact I was just there this week. It's the first time I've ever been to a burial on Rock Island. They did manufacturing of guns there. And they have a big cemetery there for veterans only.
K: And is there anything else on the island?
M: Well it's all government stuff on the island, I remember that, so...
K: So, it's a top-secret government site?
M: Probably, some of it.
K: So you could tell me, but you'd have to kill me?
M: (laughs) Yep. Are you all from this place?
Caitlin: Yeah, we're from just a couple blocks down the road.
M: (to Ian) Have you always lived in Kansas City?
Ian: I was born here, but I've lived in Minnesota for a while, and I've lived in Kansas City from then.
Worker: Well, how often do you get to see nice looking guys?
Louis: (laughs) Lots of times.
Margie: (laughs)
W: Do you want me to push you in a little bit?
M: What?
W: Want some coffee? (louder) Some coffee?
M: No I'm fine.
W: Okay Margie, I'll see you tomorrow. Enjoy.
M: Yes okay.
W: I'll get somebody to take you back upstairs okay? I have to go home now.
M: Oh I can get myself upstairs.
M: (pointing to Louis) So now you can pick her mind...(laughs)

Paddles

Robert: So we're talking about paddles, she taught 4th grade...
Louis: Talking about what?
Ian: We're talking about corporal punishment in schools.
R: Yeah, school punishment... So, when you were in school...
L: (jumps in) I wasn't punished.
R: No? Never?
L: Never.
R: How did they punish other people, who weren't so good?
L: The only thing I remember was a small tap on the hand with a ruler... It didn't even hurt.
R: How big was your school?
L: How big?
R: Yeah, were there dozens of students?
L: Yeah, about a half dozen... in that class.
Margie: Where did you get your schooling?
L: (leans in toward M) What?
M: (almost shouting) Where did you live, when you went to school?
L: I lived in South Dakota.
M: Oh, that sounds nice! And it was small?
L: Very small town and there was a watertower.
K: Did you ever climb it?
L: Pardon?
K: Did you ever climb the watertower?
L: (laughs) Oh no, not me. Lotta people did though, you could walk around the top. When you looked up to the top the people looked to be about that (an inch) big, once you were up there... But I was a little girl.
M: And where are you from (to Kyle) have you lived here all of your life?
K: I was born in Texas and I lived here for a little...
Nurse: (puts life alert band on Penelope)
Penelope: What?
N: Keep this on okay?
P: Now what is this?
N: It's in case you need help in the night.
P: Now suppose I take a bath, or a shower. Do I keep it on? How many hours do I have to keep this on?
N: Forever.
P: I'm gonna kick the bucket (laughs) you know what that means don't you?
N: (shakes her head)
P: You don't?! (to students) You all know don't you?
K: It's a game right?
P: Kick the bucket? (laughs)
N: Kick the backet?
M: (laughs)
P: You know! Kick the bucket, that's when you die.
N: If you take a shower you need to tell someone before you take that off.
P: But who? To who do I... If I take it off who do I tell?
M: You tell the front desk.
P: Do you wear one?
M: Sure.

Summers

Margie: I had a summer home in Longville, Minnesota.
Kyle: So you went up there during summers?
M: I had a cabin on the lake, and it was connected to three lakes.
Caitlin: What kinds of things did you and your children do when you went up to the cabin?
M: We fished and enjoyed ourselves. (laughs)
C: Did you always catch more fish than they did?
M: Did I catch more fish, yes... many of them. (laughs)
C: Did you have girls or boys?
M: I had two girls, and I took them out the day after school and brought them back the day before school.
C: So you were there for the whole summer then?
M: The whole summer, yes, and my husband had a small plane and he would fly out there.
K: Was it one of those that could land on the water?
M: No, but there was an airport half a mile away.
C: My grandfather used to fly planes.
K: Did you ever get scared in the plane?
M: No I never got scared in the airplane, but I did get scared once when we had a tornado go through. It was up at the cabin. Thank heavens it missed our cabin.
K: What did you do when you found out the weather was getting bad?
M: Okay, we had a big fireplace in the center of the cabin. And they said get as close to the fireplace as you can. It may take the building off but they probably weren't gonna find us.
C: Were you and your two girls really scared?
M: No we weren't because it was far enough away that it missed our place completely. But we had neighbors about a half an hour away and it hit their property... (to P) Now you keep that on night and day.
P: Even in the shower?
M: Well you take it off for showers. But you keep it on at night, in case you fall.
P: Well I think you press it if you need help.
M: Yes.
(C and R prepare to exit)
C: Well I need to leave as well.
M: Well come back again, we'll think up some more stories. (laughs)
C: I know that'd be great!

Schooling

Louis: I didn't go to college. I married a superintendent of school, so I never went to college. I put him through school.
M: I went to business college to be able to get a job. For almost two years, after that I got a job in Rock Island... so way back when an education and school had importance.
K: If you were teachers today, what would you do to help keep a classroom in order? We heard you (P) say you used a paddle, what would you recommend that for today?
P: I would use a paddle but they don't allow it.
Ian: But do you think schools and kids could use a little more discipline?
P: Well, if I were younger, and I still had a grandchild to discipline I would have a paddle. And I would introduce 'em to it, if they were really naughty...I used to too...I taught school! And uh, I had to use it once, that was all, they were really good kids. That was a little country school, I think there were just about 10 or 15 pupils, in Missouri.
M: At country school did you teach all eight grades?
P: Well we didn't have that many pulis... I could but...
M: I didn't either, but the teacher had to be prepared.
P: Oh yeah, I had to be prepared, I could have taught it. But there wasn't anybody in the 8th grade. I had two in three in 1st grade. And I had the same for 3rd grade, 4th grade, 5th grade, and 6th grade. And four or five in 8th grade and that was all of them. That was my first year of teaching, I taught in a real country school in Missouri.
Ian: That paddle definitely kept them in line, just the idea of it.
P: Oh yes! (laughs) I really didn't have to use it at all.
I: I think you said you used it once.
P: Yes, I think that that's the way I used it, once. And they knew that I knew how to use it.

Country Life

Kyle: Did you guys grow up in the city or in the country?
Margie: The country.
K: And what did you like about the country?
M: The nice fresh air, and all the fresh uh, vegetables and everything. My family had a big garden and we had, um, dairy cows and I used to be able to ride teh horses to wherever when we were getting hay or something like that. Since I was an only child, so my dad fixed me a seat between the horses so he could pick the corn, you know? (laughs)
Louis: How far did you have to walk to school?
M: Oh about a mile.
L: What?
M: About a mile.
L: Did you go everyday in winter?
M: Oh yes. If it was cold enough, my dad would pull out the sleigh and take me to school in the snow.
K: Well you must have felt like royalty.
M: (laughs) Well I tell ya we had a big, heavy, robe made out of skins. That would cover me up and keep me warm. Yeah it was a much different life than the city life. I had chores to do when I got home. Kids now a days don't have chores to do, all they do is get into mischief.
K: What would be a good way to keep a child now a days on good behavior?
M: A job.
K: Even if it's a little kid?
M: Sure! They can stack up the dishes on the table and jobs like that; they can have something to do. (laughs) WHen I was in grade school I had a chore to wash and dry all of the dishes in my house before supper.
K: What happened if you didn't have them done?
M: You didn't. (laughs) There was no "I'm not gonna do it". Yeah the kids aren't busy enough now a days.

War

(Louis joins the table)
Louis: You wanna know how to discipline a kid? ... you press down right here (clavicle). Get the kid out in the hall. Alright, then you act like you're talking to the kid. And you're not hitting the kid, you just press down right there... Because a principal told me that.
Kyle: And were you a teacher?
L: No! I did secretarial work for four years, and then helped out my husband.
Ian: And when you were in school is that how you were disciplined?
L: A friend of mine who was a principal, she used to say that that worked in the Chicago school system. She's retired by now so it wouldn't work now...
I: Do you remember what dorm you lived in?
L: I lived at home. It was a long time ago, in the 40s, ancient history. While I was going there the war broke out. Everybody was all interested in the war.
K: Did anybody leave school because of the war?
L: I knew three or four guys who got killed in the war.
K: Did you know them from school or from home?
L: (pauses) Did you ever hear about the Lutheran School Association?
K: (pauses) The LSA?
L: Yeah! We used to have meetings, and I wasn't a daggum Lutheran but I used to go to the meetings. And I remember in fact on Pearl Harbor day, I was sitting at my desk. And we went to Northwestern and he ultimately got killed--and two other guys that I worked with they got killed too--but the businessman always taught us he said, "War is hell". I spent the war writing letters. I wrote hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of letters. I didn't meet my husband till after the war. He was in the army, he was in the war. He knew a bit about Germans, he was studying German at the time, and then he ultimately went to England. He graduated from the university.

School

Iris and Penelope.
Penelope: I just had to point at the paddle up by the board, and that as all I had to do!
You know what I told her? If you touch those nice children with the paddle, I'll call the police.
P: I had good kids.
Robert: What did you teach?
P: 4th grade, yes I enjoyed the children at that age.
Caitlin: How long did you teach?
P: Well before I was married I taught for 4 or 5 years, then I married. Raised, had a family. Then when they get into school the school said e ant you too, so I taught schol for many years. I enjoyed the children at that age. Course e had the paddle and I introduced them to it the first day of school, hung it up by the blackboard.
Ian: Did you ever have to use it?
P: Very seldom.
R: hat about, do you remember the 1st time you had to use it?
P: Well I used it, I had a paddle at home and I used on my own children... I was good at it. (laughs) Where are you from?
R: I'm from St. Louis, Missouri.
P: Oh you are! I spent a lot of time in Kansas City.
Ian: I'm actually from Kansas City.
P: Oh you are! Well that's nice... YOu boys from Kansas City? Or Missouri, or someplace?
C: I'm actually from southern California.
K: I'm from Minneaplois, Minnesota.
P: Oh, I have a remembrances from up there. I crossed the Mississippi River. I went for to the University of Missouri. Taught school in Missouri. And one year in Colorado, I liked that.
R: Did you ever have students that the paddle didn't work for?
P: No!
I: It always worked huh?
P: I hung it on the wall, where they could all see it too. If I took it down, I used it.
K: Did you ever have to warn? Or was there, did you have anything that you did before you used the paddle.
P: Oh yes. I introduced it to them the first day of school, and I reminded them of it from time to time, and they knew what it was... I remember one little boy, I taught 4th grade. And this little boy, I don't gave him about three licks, real hard ones too! He was good the rest of the year!
R: Do you remember what it was for?
P: I can't remember what he did... but he was a little rascal, best looking little fella you ever did see, I hated to do it... but I knew if I didn't, I'd have problems with him. But I didn't have anymore with him... Where are you from?
R: St. Louis.
P: Oh, I've been there several times, went to Columbia school, got my masters degree. It's so much larger than it used to be... What's that?

R: (to Iris) How was your school?
Iris: Very good. Yes, and they didn't do any punishment and if they did they'd call the police.
R: And where was it?
Iris: Right here in Chicago, I went to high school here too.
R: So what akind of punishment did they do?
Iris: Yeah time outs, the thing is they'd send you down to the principals office, she would talk to you and then they'd send you home. They weren't allowed to punish you. (talking to P) She's very forgetful now, she don't remember anything, it's too bad.
P: What?
M: Well I tell ya, it's nice if you fall. Cause you push, you push the button and somebody comes to see what's going on.
P: Where are you from?
Ian: I'm from Kansas City, Missouri.
P: I've lived in Kansas City. Where are you?
K: In Minnesota? It's a suburb of Minneapolis St. Paul.
Ian: So where area you from again?
Iris: Who me? I'm from Chicago! I've lived here all my life. I was born here.