PART TWO

Pullman High School

Southeast County

Women and Men at Home and Abroad

People From Both Near and Far

 

I had a very difficult time trying to figure out in what order to put all these stories.  It seemed right to put the groups of interviews done at the schools in Parts in the order they occurred, but what about the order within each Part?  Some people were unable to get to a school to be interviewed by a student.  Where should those stories fit in?  It turned out each Part fell together differently.  This one got divided into Women and Men, each in alpha order, with all the Pullman people included, both those interviewed by students and those interviewed by me.  There are also other people in Part Two, ones who live in Albion, Colton, Moscow, and Bearcreek, Montana.  (Bearcreek?  Montana?  I'll burn that bridge when we get to it.) 

 

Anyway, there are twenty-four stories in Part Two; the ones with by-lines were written by students in Craig McCormick's Sophomore Honors English Class at Pullman High School.  Many of the stories include the feelings and expressions of the students who did the interviews and wrote the stories.  When I first got their papers from Mr. McCormick, I began to wonder if we had laid too much on those young people, but as I continued to read I realized what a tremendous experience they'd had, a once in a lifetime moment.  And I believe the kids knew it too.

 

Now then: when I initially spoke to this first lady about doing an interview, she kept telling me she would bring books the kids could look at, but she seemed very hesitant about actually talking with a student.  She finally agreed to do it.  I was amazed at what came out of that meeting.

Florence Broderick  

  

These next twelve stories are about women who did amazing things, took on tremendous responsibilities, kept the home front going, moved all over the country and even to foreign lands, all to do what they needed to do to support the war effort.  I know you are going to like these ladies.  If you met them all at once, I wonder if you could pick out the one who welded ships?  Repaired airplanes?  I am awe-struck at what these women did at a time when women didn't DO these things.  They had all been raised through the Great Depression and had learned how to make do and use whatever they had on hand.  Those lessons stood them well when the nation's young men went to war.  They were able to step in and make the difference.  Listen to their stories and watch for the reaction of the students who wrote about them.

Edith Curtis

 

Alma Druffel 

Both Alma Druffel and this next lady are on the Board of Directors of Council on Aging & Human Services.  When I asked them to come in for an interview, neither blinked an eye.  In fact, Win ended up on the front page of the Daily News along side Celia Fockler (next after Win), who was wearing her welder's mask.  Win was holding up a model of an airplane and wearing a T-shirt her family had gotten for her.  The shirt showed a giant picture of the Flying Fortress, an airplane she worked on during the war.

Winnifred Elwood

Celia Fockler

This next story illustrates how the war invaded the private lives and plans of both men and women, even those still in school.  Sylvia's story includes a look at college life during the war.

Sylvia Gladhill

  

This next lady serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Council on Aging & Human Services.  I have attended the Board's meetings for well over a year now and have yet to see one fail to be run with military precision.  Alberta Hill and I reorganized Kate's paper in order to add some detail she and Alberta did not discuss.  Here is the composite version.

Alberta Hill

  

This next lady did her part in the war effort by working through the Red Cross to provide things people in war-torn countries needed, including our military men and women.

Gladys Martin

 

The Dorothy Matson story was written by a student from Colfax High School wanting to earn some community service hours for a Leadership class. Rachel  did the very first interview and deserves full marks for stepping up to the plate and taking the first swing.  Actually, she got a double on that one swing.  Dorothy also told her about her brother who passed away shortly before TRIBUTE was published.  We include his story in memory of Dale Sevier, another Whitman County soldier gone to rest.

Dorothy Matson

 

Here is some insight into the life of the occupation forces after the war ended, how teachers were drawn into the national effort to re-establish Germany, and a good look at how to ride a camel.

Esther Peterson

 

Families were terribly wrenched by the war, some having several men and/or women go into the military service.  Mary Redlin's family was one of those.  When I first talked to her about sharing her story she mentioned her mother, then began to weep.  After all these years, the pain of war is still apparent on many faces.

Mary Redlin

 

The Moscow Pullman Daily News ran an article and an editorial about our writing project.  After reading those pieces, this next lady's daughter called us and asked if we would like to interview her mother, a WAC who had gone to India during the war.  We did indeed, and she did have quite a story to tell.  Dorothy passed away not long after TRIBUTE was published.  I had the privilege of reading the following story at her Memorial Service in Pullman where her friends were touched again by her life.

Dorothy Reed

 

Looking at a recent picture of Frances Scheiler and her first five great grandchildren, it is hard to imagine what life was like for Frances during World War II.  Hers is a chaotic story, yet one that is familiar in pattern to that of many women who came of age during the first half of the 1940s.

Frances Scheiler

 

Our attention now turns to some of the retired warriors living in and around Pullman.  I met this first gentleman late in the interview process and at the same time got acquainted with Company E of the Washington State National Guard.  There is a story about that Unit in Part Seven of this book.   Like many of the people interviewed for TRIBUTE, Lester said he has never talked to his children about his wartime travels.  Perhaps this short story will open that line of communication.

Lester Bishop

 

Lewis Elwood served in the Military Police.  He stood closer to General Douglas MacArthur than most men or women would ever dream of doing.

Lewis Elwood

Next is a story that could be told of many Whitman County men during the war years, men who stayed home to raise food to feed the military machine and in that process had to deal with all the problems incumbent in rationing and shortages.  As this book was going to press, Norm lost his life-long companion, Rose.   She did get to read this story and was pleased by it and proud of her husband.

Norm Hatley

A couple of weeks after I asked the Senior Center folks to help out on this writing project, a man walked by me and kind of off-handedly said, "I was on a PBM in the Pacific," and kept on walking.   I thought, "Hmmm.  Next time maybe I'll get his name."  Well, we got more than his name, as Matt will tell you.

Bob Hemphill

 

Gil Low started to shake his head "No" when I first asked him to sit for an interview.  But then when I asked if he would just talk about how the Navy had changed since he first enlisted, he agreed to do that.  And  he even asked me if I wanted him to wear his uniform.  I thought, "I can't wear clothes I bought last year.  How could he wear his uniform?"  When I asked him about it he said, "Why, of course I can wear my uniform!"  And he did.  Fit great, looked sharp, and got a lot of attention both at the school and at the Senior Center when he showed up for lunch the day of the interviews in full dress blues.

Gilbert Low

 

Where were you when Pearl Harbor was bombed?  Here is a story about a man who remembers very well where he was.  He was in Hawaii at Pearl Harbor December 7, 1941.

Robert Ohnemus

 

Well, we finally caught up with Roger Spencer and sat down with him in Craig McCormick's classroom.  I had told the kids I would start the interview, just to kind of get things rolling, and at some point I would ask David Kahn to come sit down and finish it up.  The students had been instructed to have some questions ready, but  I had noticed a blank sheet of paper in front of David, so I was a bit apprehensive.  But, not to worry.  Roger took off telling his story, being well rehearsed from his stint with the journalism class.  Then David moved front and center.  I wish we could reproduce the entire one hour conversation he had with Roger Spencer, but the following will give you an idea of how it went.

Roger Spencer

 

When Stanley Holloway and I talked about an appointment to interview him, he told me, "Come at three.  We have tea at three.  You'll like that."  That invitation, and his wife Margaret's charming British Empire accent, gave me a hint that I was in for a treat.  I had the best cup of tea ever, poured from a pot wearing a tea cozy, and a great conversation with the tea-brewer and a man you may have seen on TV.

Stanley Holloway

 

George Scott was one the first people I interviewed.  In fact it was because he couldn't get to the general interviews at the school that I decided to jump in and participate at the really tough level, that is, listening and writing.  George told his story with a twinkle in his eyes that only left when he would tell me a story, then add, "But, don't put that in the book." 

 

It was as I talked with George that I began to realize we were stirring up memories that we of later generations need to know about.  They are, however, memories of events that once again take a toll in the telling, a toll  on the lives of those who first lived through those events sixty years ago.  Thanks George, for teaching me much more than your story.

George Scott

Here is a story that is a bit different.  It tells of a man who, like many, made their contribution to America's strength by continuing in a significant career during the war years.  Horace Telford is a scientist who devoted his life to the research and development of a product that was important in the control of insects and disease during World War II.  He is in his early 90s now, in amazingly good health, his mind sharp and clear.  He lives in Pullman and is a regular participant at Monday and Friday noon meals at the Senior Center.

Horace Telford

Well, I guess it's about time to deal with Bearcreek, Montana.  Jaime von Baeyer had enjoyed a wonderful town reunion in Bearcreek.  She got to listen to a lot of stories and learned about her family and their life during the Depression and War-time decades.  She asked if she could submit a story about her family, specifically her grandfather, Voyo, who had served as a fighter pilot in Europe.  Sure you could, Jaime!   After all, you are a Whitman County resident, and that's what this book is about!

Voyo Jovanovich

 

This last story from the Pullman area is about two people who served in the military, Fran Fleener and her husband Sam.  It also contains a quick glimpse back at one of the pioneering families who arrived in Whitman County via the Oregon Trail and took up farming on land between Pullman and Palouse

Fran and Sam Fleener

 

That pretty well covers the people we interviewed who now live in Pullman and the surrounding area, plus Bearcreek.  We next headed for LaCrosse where we had more students ready to meet with World War II generation men and women.