March 8, 2021

Arlene Crane-Curns: 93 Year Old Author Shares Her Story

At 90 years old Arlene Crane-Curns, who has lived almost a century, authored a book! In Homemade Noodles and Cars, Arlene tells the story of her family-from World War I and how it affected them. Her parents struggled to provide a home for their five children during the Great Depression. She grew up in Flint, Michigan. Arlene tells of her family's role in World War II and meeting her soon-to-be husband when he came home from the war. She and her husband, who was disabled in the war, started married life with a monthly income of $89 and had four babies in the four years that followed. That was a challenge they conquered together through love for each other.

Arlene will make you laugh and maybe shed a tear. But if you enjoy good stories from a kinder, gentler time, listen to this podcast as she recounts her memories she put in her book "Homemade Noodles and Cars". Order Arlene's book to get the secret stories she speaks of in this interview. You can get a copy of her book at:

Barns and Noble (e-book & Nook) and Amazon

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Transcript

WEBVTT

00:00:20.879 --> 00:00:25.199
Hello, this is Arthur Bush, and you're listening to Radio Free Flint.

00:00:25.839 --> 00:00:30.079
And today we have an outstanding show for you.

00:00:31.039 --> 00:00:32.960
It's a unique show.

00:00:33.359 --> 00:00:38.240
And our guest today is uh is Arlene.

00:00:39.119 --> 00:00:46.320
Arlene Crane Kearns, who is 93 years old and a published author.

00:00:47.200 --> 00:00:58.000
And Arlene wrote a book which is entitled Homemade Noodles and Cars about her life growing up in the Flint area.

00:00:58.880 --> 00:01:01.359
And she published that book just a year ago.

00:01:02.079 --> 00:01:13.840
So any without any further ado, I want to introduce you to a lady who has seen a lot of changes in in her life.

00:01:14.799 --> 00:01:35.760
And uh her memoir uh her memoir outlines those changes uh and she gives a personal history through that about her her life and and some of the the great um things that she's seen going way back to uh to the depression era.

00:01:36.560 --> 00:01:43.519
And so uh without any further ado, Arlene, uh good morning.

00:01:44.719 --> 00:01:46.319
Good morning, Arthur.

00:01:46.560 --> 00:01:48.719
Thank you for interviewing me.

00:01:49.040 --> 00:01:55.680
Well, I'm just delighted to have you, and I think first, Arlene, we should tell how we met.

00:01:59.040 --> 00:02:01.439
You want to tell the story about how we met?

00:02:03.920 --> 00:02:26.800
Well, you I visited your um Flint Free Radio Pod and I saw a post that said you could have your book, Flint-related book, on uh your list of books, and I wanted to know why mine couldn't be on there, so I contacted you and you added my book to your list and asked to interview me.

00:02:27.039 --> 00:02:31.840
Well, we're gonna publish that list, by the way, uh, and broadcast that list.

00:02:32.159 --> 00:02:42.879
And so you not only got on the list, but you also we conducted a series of personal history interviews with various people throughout the Flint community.

00:02:43.360 --> 00:02:54.319
And we wanted to, once I heard your story, I knew that we had to we had to get you on here uh to talk about your memoir and your life.

00:02:54.719 --> 00:03:01.199
And actually, we started talking about ice cream carts, and there was a post.

00:03:01.599 --> 00:03:02.960
Oh, that post, yes.

00:03:03.199 --> 00:03:05.360
My husband, yeah, my husband.

00:03:06.400 --> 00:03:07.840
Well, let's give some context.

00:03:08.080 --> 00:03:26.080
First of all, okay, Radio Free Flint posted a picture of an ice cream cart that used to be quite popular in the Flint area, uh, where the ice cream boy would go up and down the street and sell ice cream ringing the bells.

00:03:26.960 --> 00:03:33.599
And they would have hot ice inside the cart, and then all the kids would run out and get ice creams.

00:03:33.759 --> 00:03:40.080
So Arlene saw that and then started to react to this and engage me.

00:03:40.879 --> 00:03:45.120
And she told me about a story about her husband.

00:03:45.439 --> 00:03:48.319
So go ahead, which caught my attention by the way.

00:03:48.800 --> 00:04:05.840
Go ahead and my husband, uh, my husband was 12 years old in 1937, and he had uh he didn't have an ice cream card, but he had a basket that was attached to his bicycle handle, and he sold ice cream bars out of that.

00:04:06.000 --> 00:04:09.360
And he went down uh to Chevy in the Hole.

00:04:09.520 --> 00:04:16.800
Everybody knows from Flint knows where Chevy in the Hole is, and he sold ice cream bars to the sit-downers.

00:04:17.519 --> 00:04:20.959
And um it was really cold in the winter time.

00:04:21.199 --> 00:04:29.279
If anybody remembers when that sit-down strike took place, he went there two times a week on um the weekend.

00:04:29.360 --> 00:04:31.120
He went on Saturday and Sunday.

00:04:31.360 --> 00:04:33.199
That was in 1937.

00:04:33.519 --> 00:04:34.720
That's 1937.

00:04:35.040 --> 00:04:37.600
1937, yes, 1937.

00:04:37.759 --> 00:04:39.360
He was 12 years old.

00:04:39.680 --> 00:04:43.600
Yes, and so he went down to the factory, and what happened?

00:04:45.199 --> 00:05:00.560
Well, he sold right through the windows to them, but he said sometimes the National Guard would let him let a person from uh sit downers come to the gate and get a big order of them to take back into the guys.

00:05:00.959 --> 00:05:01.360
I see.

00:05:01.519 --> 00:05:07.920
The National Guard were there ordered by the governor of Michigan to try and keep nautical.

00:05:08.480 --> 00:05:08.879
That's right.

00:05:08.959 --> 00:05:16.480
I wrote about that in my book, about the battle of O Run and very, very interesting time in Flint history.

00:05:16.959 --> 00:05:22.639
So, Arlene, your uh book, how did you get the title, Homemade Noodles and Cars?

00:05:23.439 --> 00:05:29.279
You know, many people ask me that, but that is two common threads that ran through our family.

00:05:29.600 --> 00:05:35.680
For generations and generations, we handed down the uh art of making homemade noodles.

00:05:35.920 --> 00:05:41.120
I still make them, I my daughters make them, teaching the grandkids how to make them.

00:05:41.199 --> 00:05:46.319
And when we have a family get together, we always have homemade noodles on the table.

00:05:46.560 --> 00:05:53.360
Um, the cars, my husband was um in the cars, he looked cars and he was the car salesman.

00:05:54.319 --> 00:05:55.519
Where did he sell cars to?

00:05:56.000 --> 00:05:57.759
Common threads, yeah.

00:05:58.240 --> 00:06:02.639
Who was the who was the company that he worked for?

00:06:02.959 --> 00:06:03.839
What was the company?

00:06:04.160 --> 00:06:07.600
He worked for Applegate Chevrolet for about 35 years.

00:06:07.759 --> 00:06:11.040
That's where his uh career mainly was.

00:06:12.399 --> 00:06:13.120
I see.

00:06:13.759 --> 00:06:19.519
And uh your husband was uh his name was Jack Kearns, right?

00:06:20.319 --> 00:06:20.959
Yes.

00:06:21.839 --> 00:06:25.199
And when did you get married to Jack?

00:06:26.639 --> 00:06:30.639
We got married in uh 1947, right?

00:06:30.879 --> 00:06:32.240
He came home from the war.

00:06:32.319 --> 00:06:34.319
I Jack was injured in the war.

00:06:34.399 --> 00:06:35.920
I don't know if if you knew that.

00:06:36.079 --> 00:06:38.720
He lost his lady in World War II.

00:06:39.439 --> 00:06:47.519
And uh we were married in January of 1947, shortly after he came home from his rehab.

00:06:48.480 --> 00:06:54.639
And um we s we started out married life on eighty-nine dollars a month.

00:06:54.720 --> 00:06:58.560
That might surprise a lot of people, but that was our income when we got married.

00:06:58.800 --> 00:07:00.720
Eighty-nine dollars a month, well.

00:07:03.120 --> 00:07:08.240
Yeah, that was his that was his navy pension for losing his leg.

00:07:08.720 --> 00:07:09.360
I see.

00:07:09.519 --> 00:07:14.000
And and then uh you started to raise a family.

00:07:16.240 --> 00:07:17.120
I'm sorry.

00:07:17.360 --> 00:07:19.839
You ra you had children after that.

00:07:20.480 --> 00:07:23.199
Oh, we had four children in four years.

00:07:23.439 --> 00:07:24.319
We sure did.

00:07:24.399 --> 00:07:26.079
They just yeah.

00:07:26.720 --> 00:07:31.759
So there What's what were we gonna say?

00:07:33.839 --> 00:07:36.879
I say we had two boys and two girls.

00:07:37.120 --> 00:07:38.079
Okay, good.

00:07:38.560 --> 00:07:41.759
And uh so let's go back in time a little bit.

00:07:41.920 --> 00:07:51.040
So you and Jack got married in nineteen seven, and you were twenty years twenty years old.

00:07:51.439 --> 00:07:54.319
I was twenty and Jack was twenty-two.

00:07:54.800 --> 00:07:55.759
I see.

00:07:56.079 --> 00:08:01.040
So when you were born, who was the president of the United States?

00:08:04.160 --> 00:08:05.680
When I was born?

00:08:05.920 --> 00:08:08.720
Yeah, who was the president when you were born?

00:08:09.199 --> 00:08:09.920
I don't know.

00:08:10.000 --> 00:08:10.879
I don't have a clue.

00:08:11.040 --> 00:08:12.879
I can tell you who today's president is.

00:08:13.120 --> 00:08:13.759
Oh, okay.

00:08:14.319 --> 00:08:18.240
So I wasn't too much into politics back in 1927.

00:08:18.560 --> 00:08:21.920
Well, you were born just before the depression came, right?

00:08:22.240 --> 00:08:24.000
Depression I was.

00:08:24.240 --> 00:08:28.800
Um, but the depression, you know, that carried on for years.

00:08:28.879 --> 00:08:34.480
It wasn't just 1929 when the when the um banks crashed, the stock market.

00:08:35.039 --> 00:08:36.799
It went on for years.

00:08:37.039 --> 00:08:45.679
A lot of my memories, I know, are things that I heard people say, but but I remember a lot about about the Great Depression.

00:08:46.559 --> 00:08:49.840
You know, I the things that took place in our family.

00:08:50.720 --> 00:09:05.600
My mom trying to stretch uh a little bit of food for seven people, and my dad would walk around the railroad tracks and pick up coal that fell off the boxcars to heat our house with.

00:09:06.559 --> 00:09:15.519
When our shoes wore out, dad would cut a piece of cardboard to fit in the sole so that we could wear them a little longer.

00:09:15.759 --> 00:09:18.720
And we we I mean we had handy-down clothes.

00:09:18.879 --> 00:09:20.639
There were four girls in our family.

00:09:20.720 --> 00:09:23.200
We get to clothes down, down, down.

00:09:24.159 --> 00:09:31.759
My older sisters, I can remember, they used to trade clothes with their girlfriends just so they'd have something different to wear to school.

00:09:33.279 --> 00:09:35.679
And did your parents have a car?

00:09:36.960 --> 00:09:41.120
We did not have a car until I was 17 years old.

00:09:41.279 --> 00:09:43.759
That's a big part of my story.

00:09:44.399 --> 00:09:47.360
Um, the reason that we didn't have a car.

00:09:47.759 --> 00:09:49.679
Well, tell us that story.

00:09:50.639 --> 00:09:56.080
Well, when my mom was pregnant for me, I was uh the fifth child of five.

00:09:57.200 --> 00:10:03.519
And my dad had bought a 1926 uh Ford touring car.

00:10:04.320 --> 00:10:16.000
And they were going for a ride, they were going to go over to Bay City, and it was a November day, and it started to ice and the roads got all slick.

00:10:17.039 --> 00:10:23.200
The car slid off the road and went in the ditch, and my mother was in under the car.

00:10:23.600 --> 00:10:28.720
She was, of course, she was daddy, seven months pregnant for me.

00:10:39.759 --> 00:10:55.919
And my dad was he was so remorseful that he could have injured all the four kids in the back seat and his beloved wife and and me, that he never bought another car.

00:10:56.080 --> 00:11:00.799
He said he would never drive again and he never bought another car until I was 17 years old.

00:11:01.039 --> 00:11:01.600
How did he get?

00:11:01.919 --> 00:11:06.639
My mom had to spend the rest of her pregnancy in bed, and but I was born okay.

00:11:07.120 --> 00:11:10.000
How did she how did your dad get to work?

00:11:11.440 --> 00:11:12.639
He walked.

00:11:13.279 --> 00:11:15.759
And what what he walked from our home.

00:11:16.000 --> 00:11:16.799
What street did you?

00:11:18.960 --> 00:11:24.480
Well, we lived on um the first home you're gonna have to read my book.

00:11:24.639 --> 00:11:31.039
My parents bought their first home in 1937, so their fifth child was ten years old.

00:11:31.200 --> 00:11:31.919
That was me.

00:11:32.720 --> 00:11:35.600
I was ten when our family owned a home.

00:11:35.759 --> 00:11:37.519
We rented up until that time.

00:11:37.840 --> 00:11:38.320
I see.

00:11:38.399 --> 00:11:40.879
Well what the pressure just lingered on forever.

00:11:41.120 --> 00:11:43.440
What part of town did you live in?

00:11:44.080 --> 00:11:49.279
Well, my childhood home where I have all my memories was on Crosby Street.

00:11:49.440 --> 00:11:56.480
It runs a little two-block long street that runs up Detroit Street, not not too far from Spall Bark.

00:11:57.200 --> 00:11:57.519
Okay.

00:11:58.480 --> 00:12:06.080
And uh so you were in an accident uh before you were born, actually.

00:12:07.039 --> 00:12:07.679
Right.

00:12:08.080 --> 00:12:14.480
And uh and so uh you and Jack were married for quite some number of years.

00:12:16.960 --> 00:12:19.440
Long time, almost 62 years.

00:12:19.679 --> 00:12:29.039
He passed away in 2008, and at that time we were married just a couple of months shy of um 62 years.

00:12:29.360 --> 00:12:31.440
And how did you meet Jack?

00:12:33.120 --> 00:12:35.759
Well, it was really straight my sister.

00:12:37.440 --> 00:12:38.080
You did what?

00:12:38.320 --> 00:12:43.600
We were downtown shopping one Saturday and we stopped in at the Flint Athletic Club to have lunch.

00:12:43.679 --> 00:13:02.240
That was on Harrison Street, and um uh Jack was in a booth all by himself, and and my sister knew him, and she stopped and uh he had his crutches in the booth there.

00:13:02.399 --> 00:13:04.960
She didn't know that he had lost a leg.

00:13:06.159 --> 00:13:06.720
Yeah.

00:13:07.120 --> 00:13:08.399
But that's how I met him.

00:13:08.480 --> 00:13:10.480
She introduced me to him.

00:13:10.960 --> 00:13:15.120
And and that would have been in what year, if you remember?

00:13:15.519 --> 00:13:17.679
That was the summer of 1946.

00:13:17.840 --> 00:13:20.000
We were married about six months later.

00:13:20.320 --> 00:13:21.039
Ah, I see.

00:13:21.120 --> 00:13:24.559
So I hear would you like to hear about our first date?

00:13:24.799 --> 00:13:26.000
Yeah, sure.

00:13:35.200 --> 00:13:35.840
Yes.

00:13:36.240 --> 00:13:43.039
And I didn't know how to swim, but I had a real cute bathing suit, but I I didn't think I was gonna get it wet.

00:13:43.279 --> 00:13:57.600
Well, when we got out in the water deep enough, Jack picked me up, threw me over his head, and I came up sputtering like a a wet duck and asking for air, and he said, Oh, I'm so sorry.

00:13:57.759 --> 00:14:00.639
He said, I thought everybody knew how to swim.

00:14:02.240 --> 00:14:04.720
I wonder I ever went out with him again.

00:14:05.440 --> 00:14:06.559
Ah, I see.

00:14:06.879 --> 00:14:11.200
So what kinds of things did you do when you went out with on dates?

00:14:11.440 --> 00:14:12.399
Uh we danced.

00:14:12.480 --> 00:14:14.159
We we both loved to dance.

00:14:14.879 --> 00:14:15.919
We danced all of our lives.

00:14:16.159 --> 00:14:17.200
Where did you dance at?

00:14:17.840 --> 00:14:21.120
Where I mean when you first met him, where did you go dancing?

00:14:22.320 --> 00:14:26.559
Uh on Friday nights we danced at uh the Flint Athletic Club.

00:14:26.639 --> 00:14:30.240
The restaurant was on the street level and downstairs they had the club.

00:14:30.480 --> 00:14:33.279
Where where was the Knickerbockers?

00:14:33.440 --> 00:14:35.600
I think that was on uh North Saginaw Street.

00:14:35.840 --> 00:14:37.279
Knickerbockers, yeah.

00:14:37.519 --> 00:14:40.080
And wasn't that where yes.

00:14:40.320 --> 00:14:42.799
Where was North Saginaw, I think.

00:14:43.120 --> 00:14:44.960
Okay, yep, it was way out there.

00:14:45.200 --> 00:14:48.639
Where was the uh athletic club at?

00:14:49.679 --> 00:14:51.600
That was on Harrison Street.

00:14:51.919 --> 00:14:52.240
Okay.

00:14:54.399 --> 00:14:58.879
And so you and Jack went out dancing, and what was your favorite dance?

00:15:00.320 --> 00:15:01.679
We did all of them.

00:15:02.000 --> 00:15:05.360
Jack was a good dancer, even with the lay-off, believe it or not.

00:15:05.600 --> 00:15:08.559
We took lessons and we learned how to do all the dances.

00:15:08.799 --> 00:15:14.240
So I I mean, I I don't know all the dances what their names are, so what why don't you tell?

00:15:14.559 --> 00:15:20.480
Oh Well, I don't know if I know the names of them if you turn.

00:15:20.960 --> 00:15:21.519
Oh, I see.

00:15:21.600 --> 00:15:23.120
You l how did you learn these dances?

00:15:25.679 --> 00:15:26.480
Oh, I see.

00:15:27.279 --> 00:15:40.320
You learn dancing in school or uh or or how do you where did you did you practice at home or what with your sisters or oh no, I didn't dance till I was older.

00:15:40.399 --> 00:15:54.159
I don't remember dancing in uh the only dancing we ever did in school, and I hated it was in gym class when they would uh have the boys come in maybe once a week and they would line you up and pair you off with a partner.

00:15:54.639 --> 00:15:55.200
I see.

00:15:55.360 --> 00:15:57.360
And I I didn't want I hated that.

00:15:57.600 --> 00:15:59.840
And then what school did you go to?

00:16:01.600 --> 00:16:06.080
Well, I went to several because depression years we moved a lot.

00:16:06.240 --> 00:16:08.320
When you're renting, you move a lot.

00:16:08.879 --> 00:16:26.639
I went to um Durant for kindergarten one and two, I went to Doyle for three and four, Dort for five and six, Longfellow for junior high, and I graduated from Northern in uh 1945.

00:16:27.039 --> 00:16:33.600
Now you might not know that back in when I graduated, they had two graduating classes.

00:16:33.919 --> 00:16:40.320
They had a class that graduated in February, which I did, and a second one in June.

00:16:41.200 --> 00:16:47.360
We all got our diplomas in June at Atwood Stadium.

00:16:48.000 --> 00:16:51.679
Well, and why why did they have two classes?

00:16:52.639 --> 00:16:55.679
I don't know, but it was uh 12A and 12B.

00:16:56.799 --> 00:16:57.120
Okay.

00:16:57.440 --> 00:17:00.480
I I don't know how long that continued either.

00:17:00.879 --> 00:17:07.759
So, Arlene, uh what do you remember about grow growing up in Flint as a kid?

00:17:08.640 --> 00:17:12.960
I remember that I had a wonderful uh home life.

00:17:13.200 --> 00:17:16.000
It was like living in a cocoon of love.

00:17:16.480 --> 00:17:26.480
Um we were raised in church, we were in church every Sunday, and um Jesus is still the center of my life.

00:17:27.200 --> 00:17:33.119
And um I the neighborhood that my childhood home, there was a ton of kids there.

00:17:33.279 --> 00:17:49.920
There were um twelve girls my age, and we got along famously, we did so many things, we played all the childhood games together and other I got my first job when I was uh 14 years old.

00:17:50.079 --> 00:17:56.960
I went to work at the Palace Theater and um I earned 35 cents an hour.

00:17:57.519 --> 00:17:57.920
Wow.

00:17:58.160 --> 00:18:02.240
And I fell in love with I fell in love with the movies when I was working there.

00:18:02.559 --> 00:18:05.759
Who what was your favorite movie when you were growing up?

00:18:06.559 --> 00:18:08.559
Oh, probably Farm with the Wind.

00:18:08.640 --> 00:18:10.960
I remember taking my mother to see that.

00:18:11.920 --> 00:18:12.799
I see.

00:18:13.200 --> 00:18:14.240
Fabulous.

00:18:14.640 --> 00:18:18.799
And what was it that was so unique about the Palace Theater at that time?

00:18:20.240 --> 00:18:32.640
Well, um, it was just a fun place to work, but I I think it was the movies that I was so thrilled with, and I was don't forget I I was a depression era kid.

00:18:32.880 --> 00:18:38.880
I was so happy to be earning some money, even though it was 35 cents.

00:18:39.839 --> 00:18:49.119
I got uh my first paycheck was seven dollars, and I went and put on a black cashmere coat and layaway that was forty dollars.

00:18:49.440 --> 00:18:52.160
Where did you what store what store is that?

00:18:53.759 --> 00:18:54.720
What store?

00:18:54.960 --> 00:18:55.279
Yeah.

00:18:55.519 --> 00:19:00.960
I think I bought that at Learner's Lerner's uh ladies shop.

00:19:01.200 --> 00:19:02.079
That was downtown.

00:19:02.240 --> 00:19:08.160
It was in the same block as uh Smith Regiment's and Cresge's and most stores.

00:19:09.359 --> 00:19:09.759
All right.

00:19:10.240 --> 00:19:15.759
But I paid I paid the I got that coat on a layaway on my 35 cents an hour job.

00:19:15.920 --> 00:19:26.079
From there I went to work my junior year in high school, I worked at um Cresge's Dollar Store, and I got 50 cents an hour there.

00:19:26.400 --> 00:19:32.160
My senior year in high school, I worked at Citizens Bank, the downtown location.

00:19:32.720 --> 00:19:33.279
Yes.

00:19:33.519 --> 00:19:36.000
And the one with the weather ball on top.

00:19:36.160 --> 00:19:36.480
Uh-huh.

00:19:36.640 --> 00:19:42.640
I worked there in my 12th grade and senior high school at it, and I got a dollar an hour there.

00:19:43.519 --> 00:19:44.160
Wow.

00:19:44.400 --> 00:19:48.720
And did you go off to college or what what what did you do after you graduated?

00:19:49.279 --> 00:19:50.559
Right out of high school.

00:19:50.799 --> 00:19:54.640
Um, that was the Warriors, you know, World War II.

00:19:55.279 --> 00:19:57.039
And you could get a job.

00:19:57.279 --> 00:19:59.839
I went to I hired in at AC Spark.

00:20:00.319 --> 00:20:05.920
Plug department as uh secretary to the personnel director, Mark Bailthorpe.

00:20:06.640 --> 00:20:07.279
Wow.

00:20:07.759 --> 00:20:08.559
That's a pretty good job.

00:20:08.799 --> 00:20:10.160
All men were gone.

00:20:10.400 --> 00:20:12.240
That's a pretty good job.

00:20:13.039 --> 00:20:16.160
It was a very good job right out of high school.

00:20:16.400 --> 00:20:18.480
And how long did you stay with AC?

00:20:19.920 --> 00:20:22.319
Well, I I might moved on.

00:20:22.480 --> 00:20:26.720
I I left there, I worked there maybe a year.

00:20:27.039 --> 00:20:28.880
But you'll have to read my book.

00:20:29.119 --> 00:20:32.880
I left under unusual circumstances that I won't say here.

00:20:33.759 --> 00:20:40.880
Okay, you're gonna you're gonna keep a mystery so we can get get our mitts on that book, right?

00:20:42.000 --> 00:20:46.079
There's a lot of mystery and lots of good stories in my book.

00:20:47.200 --> 00:20:48.240
Hundred years of them.

00:20:48.480 --> 00:20:50.000
I'm sure they are.

00:21:01.119 --> 00:21:07.759
So so uh Arlene, you worked out what was downtown like when you were a teenager?

00:21:08.640 --> 00:21:11.039
Oh, downtown was fabulous.

00:21:11.359 --> 00:21:12.960
Downtown had everything.

00:21:13.039 --> 00:21:17.200
I don't care what you needed, they had a store there for to fit that need.

00:21:17.599 --> 00:21:23.119
I mean, they had men's shops, ladies' shops, hardware, theaters, things.

00:21:23.599 --> 00:21:26.160
What was your favorite places to go?

00:21:26.960 --> 00:21:27.839
I'm sorry?

00:21:28.079 --> 00:21:30.559
What were your favorite places to visit?

00:21:32.000 --> 00:21:32.799
Downtown?

00:21:33.039 --> 00:21:33.680
Yes.

00:21:34.559 --> 00:21:35.440
The bulb.

00:21:36.480 --> 00:21:38.160
The lady shop, the bulb.

00:21:38.480 --> 00:21:41.279
That was my favorite place to buy clothes.

00:21:41.599 --> 00:21:43.519
Alright, any others?

00:21:44.079 --> 00:21:47.200
Oh, there were tons of good lady shops down there.

00:21:47.599 --> 00:21:52.079
They had Ma's Brothers, they had I got my wedding gown of Goodman.

00:21:52.400 --> 00:22:00.400
My just just uh getting my wedding gown is a story in itself because we got married soon after the war.

00:22:00.720 --> 00:22:04.160
You couldn't find a wedding gown anywhere.

00:22:04.480 --> 00:22:10.400
They just there weren't, well, with all the guys coming home, everybody was getting married.

00:22:10.720 --> 00:22:16.400
And um women were making their wedding gowns out of uh some parachutes.

00:22:18.000 --> 00:22:21.119
But I finally found one at Goodman's.

00:22:21.680 --> 00:22:23.759
I left my name all over town.

00:22:23.920 --> 00:22:26.559
If you get a gown, please call me.

00:22:26.799 --> 00:22:32.000
Well they called me and they got two dresses in, and one of them was in my size.

00:22:32.400 --> 00:22:41.039
And I went down and tried it on, it fit me perfectly, and of course I bought it, and it cost eighty dollars.

00:22:42.799 --> 00:22:44.160
How how did you pay for it?

00:22:44.240 --> 00:22:46.240
I mean, where did you get the money for that?

00:22:46.480 --> 00:22:49.200
Uh I was working then, so that wasn't a problem.

00:22:49.440 --> 00:22:50.160
Oh, I see.

00:22:50.319 --> 00:22:52.319
I had money then to pay for it.

00:22:53.519 --> 00:23:02.480
And uh and so you you love downtown, it sounds like I work downtown?

00:23:02.720 --> 00:23:05.039
I say you loved it, it sounds like.

00:23:05.440 --> 00:23:07.759
Oh, I love downtown, yes, of course.

00:23:07.839 --> 00:23:09.599
It was a bustling place.

00:23:09.920 --> 00:23:13.680
I mean it was an it was an event to go downtown.

00:23:14.000 --> 00:23:18.960
The women wore hats, dresses, and high heel shoes.

00:23:19.200 --> 00:23:22.079
You you dressed up to go downtown Flint.

00:23:23.440 --> 00:23:25.200
That was a swinging place.

00:23:25.599 --> 00:23:28.160
How did you everybody was downtown.

00:23:28.720 --> 00:23:30.240
How did you get there?

00:23:31.920 --> 00:23:32.799
Um bus.

00:23:34.160 --> 00:23:34.480
Okay.

00:23:35.119 --> 00:23:39.039
Did they still have the old streetcars on rails and all that down there?

00:23:40.079 --> 00:23:41.599
Oh sure they did.

00:23:42.880 --> 00:23:43.200
Okay.

00:23:45.839 --> 00:23:49.920
The trolleys they used to hook up on the electrical wires.

00:23:50.240 --> 00:23:50.880
Right.

00:23:51.519 --> 00:23:53.759
And the kids used to pull those down.

00:23:54.000 --> 00:23:57.599
And did you go to the lunch counter there at Creske's?

00:23:59.359 --> 00:24:03.920
Well, I did, but um not a not a lot.

00:24:04.079 --> 00:24:08.319
Uh I used to like to eat at Mary Lee's uh candy shop.

00:24:08.400 --> 00:24:10.079
They had a lunch counter in there.

00:24:10.319 --> 00:24:15.920
And also there was a Cupies on Harrison Street, the old Cupies.

00:24:16.880 --> 00:24:18.799
And uh used to go in there a lot.

00:24:19.119 --> 00:24:20.559
Which is now Halo Burger's.

00:24:21.920 --> 00:24:24.240
Uh yeah, it's Halo Burger now.

00:24:24.640 --> 00:24:29.599
And there was uh another place called the Home Dairy that was on the side street down there.

00:24:29.680 --> 00:24:35.359
I think that might have been I don't think it was Curley Street, it must have been First Street.

00:24:35.839 --> 00:24:41.759
Home Dairy that had and it was a cafeteria where you could just, you know, take a choose.

00:24:42.160 --> 00:24:44.400
Right, home dairy had a dairy counter.

00:24:44.640 --> 00:24:59.759
Uh and so so uh you raised your family, and over the p period of years that you raised your family, you were you became a snowbird.

00:25:01.039 --> 00:25:01.680
We did.

00:25:02.240 --> 00:25:03.839
Well tell us about it.

00:25:04.720 --> 00:25:13.279
Well, we we kept a home down in Florida for many years, like 35 years, but I I could never give up Michigan.

00:25:14.000 --> 00:25:23.200
We thought we would give up and just go to one house one time, and I was so homesick for Michigan we only went about three months without having two homes.

00:25:23.359 --> 00:25:26.000
I had to have my place in Michigan.

00:25:26.400 --> 00:25:27.920
And you went to my home.

00:25:28.160 --> 00:25:30.559
You went to the Lakeland area, is that right?

00:25:32.160 --> 00:25:35.519
We lived in uh Lakeland and Port Richie.

00:25:35.920 --> 00:25:36.079
Okay.

00:25:36.319 --> 00:25:36.960
Both areas.

00:25:37.279 --> 00:25:39.039
That's in Tampa Bay area there.

00:25:39.759 --> 00:25:42.400
Uh just north of Tam north of uh St.

00:25:42.640 --> 00:25:43.599
Pete, Tampa.

00:25:44.319 --> 00:25:48.480
Now were you were you Tiger fans?

00:25:48.720 --> 00:25:50.079
Were you baseball fans?

00:25:50.319 --> 00:25:57.200
We lived uh not far from the stadium down there in Florida where they did all their summer uh practice.

00:25:57.440 --> 00:26:02.799
Um or w well winter practice, I should say, because we were down there the winter too.

00:26:02.960 --> 00:26:05.920
Uh yeah, we were not far from the stadium at all.

00:26:06.240 --> 00:26:08.480
Do you have any baseball stories for us?

00:26:09.279 --> 00:26:09.599
No.

00:26:11.119 --> 00:26:11.680
All right.

00:26:12.000 --> 00:26:13.599
Watched it on TV.

00:26:14.000 --> 00:26:19.680
So so when you were living in Lakeland, you had some interesting neighbors during that period of time.

00:26:20.000 --> 00:26:23.599
Tell us about who they might have been.

00:26:24.240 --> 00:26:38.559
Well, the house across the street from us changed hands, and we were really surprised to find out that our new neighbors were George Jones, the country music icon, and his wife Nancy.

00:26:38.640 --> 00:26:40.400
Nancy was his fourth wife.

00:26:40.720 --> 00:26:44.640
He was divorced from uh Annie then.

00:26:45.039 --> 00:26:45.599
Oh wow.

00:26:46.000 --> 00:26:49.200
And did he ever inter they were interesting neighbors?

00:26:49.440 --> 00:26:50.559
Very down to earth.

00:26:50.640 --> 00:26:51.920
You you couldn't have but love them.

00:26:52.079 --> 00:26:53.519
They were wonderful, sweet people.

00:26:53.759 --> 00:26:55.839
And did he ever play music for you?

00:26:57.279 --> 00:27:01.039
Uh no, but uh music.

00:27:01.119 --> 00:27:06.640
We used to talk out in the yard and they gave us a Christmas present every uh Christmas.

00:27:06.960 --> 00:27:12.160
Uh some unique gifts that uh no that were nice.

00:27:12.480 --> 00:27:17.680
He was on his fourth wave uh uh you said to me, what were your grandparents like?

00:27:19.359 --> 00:27:24.400
My grandparents well m you're talking about maternal or paternal.

00:27:24.720 --> 00:27:28.720
Well, whatever I I I don't know one of them.

00:27:29.039 --> 00:27:41.759
I probably would tell you about my uh maternal grandparents because uh they got a divorce back in nineteen seventeen and and that that didn't occur very often back there.

00:27:42.160 --> 00:27:46.319
Uh seemed like the women would just stay in the marriage.

00:27:47.039 --> 00:27:52.720
But uh they had a unique situation and my grandmother filed for divorce.

00:27:53.359 --> 00:28:10.319
But I I thought you would get a kick out of this because uh my grandpa had to pay the costs, of course, and the attorney's fee was fifty dollars for the divorce, and the court costs were eleven dollars.

00:28:11.440 --> 00:28:12.079
Wow.

00:28:14.799 --> 00:28:18.559
That probably was a lot of money in those days, eleven bucks.

00:28:18.799 --> 00:28:20.319
Um maybe it was.

00:28:20.400 --> 00:28:23.519
It just sounds so strange when you see it today, though.

00:28:23.839 --> 00:28:24.240
Yeah.

00:28:24.400 --> 00:28:28.559
What was the price of a gallon of gas if you remember when we were a kid?

00:28:29.039 --> 00:28:32.640
Uh I can remember when it was ten cents a gallon myself.

00:28:33.039 --> 00:28:33.599
Wow.

00:28:34.720 --> 00:28:35.599
So yeah.

00:28:36.000 --> 00:28:41.839
So you you also met some some interesting people besides George Jones.

00:28:42.000 --> 00:28:44.559
You met some famous people in your life.

00:28:45.279 --> 00:28:45.759
I do.

00:28:46.079 --> 00:28:47.279
Would you like to hear about?

00:28:47.440 --> 00:28:48.960
Yeah, for sure.

00:28:50.720 --> 00:28:51.200
Yes.

00:28:51.519 --> 00:28:54.160
Would you like to hear about President Roosevelt?

00:28:54.480 --> 00:28:55.359
Eddie Grable?

00:28:55.759 --> 00:28:56.319
Yeah, sure.

00:28:56.400 --> 00:28:56.720
Go ahead.

00:28:57.279 --> 00:28:58.160
I'm all ears.

00:28:58.319 --> 00:28:59.839
Any of them at all.

00:29:00.880 --> 00:29:04.400
Okay, um, well, they might the stories might be too long.

00:29:04.720 --> 00:29:06.960
Well, start with Bob Hope.

00:29:07.680 --> 00:29:08.799
Start with Bob Hope.

00:29:09.039 --> 00:29:13.359
When my husband was in the Navy, he was stationed aboard the USS Augusta.

00:29:13.599 --> 00:29:13.839
Yes.

00:29:14.000 --> 00:29:16.720
And that is the presidential flagship.

00:29:17.119 --> 00:29:20.720
When the president, then this would be President Franklin D.

00:29:20.799 --> 00:29:23.039
Roosevelt, World War II.

00:29:23.839 --> 00:29:30.000
When the president was aboard a Navy vessel of any kind, it was the Augusta.

00:29:30.640 --> 00:29:41.119
And they had um uh state room all ready for him in preparation all the time for in case he made a visit.

00:29:41.519 --> 00:29:49.759
He had a big brass bed that was bolted to the floor so it wouldn't shift when the boat did, or ship, I should say.

00:29:51.119 --> 00:29:56.319
And um so Jack was um Jack was a cook.

00:29:56.559 --> 00:30:05.680
He was a cook and he was also um uh in charge of the 40 millimeter guns.

00:30:05.759 --> 00:30:08.880
When they went in battle, they just dropped everything and went to the guns.

00:30:09.039 --> 00:30:12.319
But anyway, they were he was out with his buddies on leave.

00:30:12.559 --> 00:30:26.400
They were in Norfolk, and um when they came back two o'clock in the morning, they were hungry, and Jack went to the galley and fixed everybody steak, eggs, and hash brown.

00:30:27.279 --> 00:30:38.079
Well, the president was on board and he smelled the aroma of that meal coming through the ventilation system, and he got hungry.

00:30:38.799 --> 00:30:53.359