276 24 26018 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/a9c50926a019e25e0c56a33c1267fb03.jpg ae8872ad103033033892f8fd64a3afd6 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Summers in Saugatuck-Douglas Collection Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. Kutsche Office of Local History Description An account of the resource Collection contains images and documents digitized and collected through the project "Stories of Summer," supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant. The collection aims to document the twin lakeshore communities of Saugatuck and Douglas, Michigan, as they transformed through the state's bustling tourism industry and acceptance of minorities. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1910s-2010s Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Various Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/">Copyright Undetermined</a> Subject The topic of the resource Michigan Saugatuck (Mich.) Douglas (Mich.) Michigan, Lake Allegan County (Mich.) Beaches Sand dunes Outdoor recreation Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries. Allendale, Michigan Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Saugatuck-Douglas History Center Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Stories of Summer (Common Heritage project) Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Text Language A language of the resource English Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2018 Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-07_SD-Oxbow-18-49 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Ox-Bow School of Art and Artists' Residency Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1958-10 Title A name given to the resource Dockside Plein Air Painting Description An account of the resource Black and white photograph of a group of people painting dockside along what appears to be the water of Lake Macatawa near Holland, Michigan. Plein air painting in Macatawa, Michigan was a tradition for students attending Ox-Bow "Summer School of Painting" in Saugatuck, Michigan. In the photograph, one woman can be seen painting while seated on the dock while another stands and paints on an easel. The other three individuals can be seen painting while seated along the shore on various rocks and driftwood, while parked cars and boats can be seen in the background. Dated October 1958. Subject The topic of the resource Michigan Art school Docks Plein air painting Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Digital file contributed by Mike Van Ark for the Stories of Summer Project. Relation A related resource Stories of Summer (project) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/">Copyright Undetermined</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/f30a493a99fe4552d279d7323263c986.jpg 540c4de99081d4fb5f59583efc44c4a5 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Douglas R. Gilbert Photographs Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Gilbert, Douglas R., 1942-2023 Description An account of the resource Photographs scanned from negatives and transparencies from the Douglas R. Gilbert papers (RHC-183). Douglas R. Gilbert (b. 1942) is an American photographer from Michigan. He was born in Holland, Michigan and is the son of Russell W. and Carmen (Andree) Gilbert. Gilbert earned a B.A. in social sciences and art at Michigan State University in 1964, an M.S. in photography from the Institute of Design at Illinois Institute of Technology in 1972, and a M.S.W. from Salem State College in 1993. He is married to Barbara (McDonald) Gilbert, and has three daughters, Robyn, Rachel, and Anne. Gilbert took a serious interest in photography at the age of fourteen. In 1963 he joined the staff of Look magazine in New York as the second youngest photojournalist in the magazine's history. As a Look photographer from 1964 to 1966, he photographed folk musician Bob Dylan, the Newport Folk Festival, Simon and Garfunkel, the New York City Financial District, the children and facilities at the Manhattan School for Seriously Disturbed Children. From 1967 to 1969, Gilbert did several shoots, including that of folk singer Janis Ian for Life magazine. After moving to Chicago, Illinois in 1969 to attend the Illinois Institute of Technology, Gilbert conducted notable photo shoots of business and political figure Lenore Romney, and pursued more personal and artistic photography, focusing on urban and rural landscapes in Illinois and Michigan. He then joined the faculty of Wheaton College, where he taught from 1972 to 1982. In 1993, Gilbert graduated from Salem State College, Massachusetts, with a Masters in Social Work, and later pursued a second career as a psychotherapist. Douglas Gilbert died in June 2023. Throughout his photography career, he pursued both freelance commercial work as well as artistic work. His art photography is characterized by its classic black-and-white format, and features people, places and objects shot great attention and sensitivity. Gilbert's works are held in the permanent collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, The Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, and the Grand Valley State University Art Galleries, as well as in numerous private and institutional collections. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1960-2011 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="%E2%80%9Dhttps%3A//gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/783%E2%80%9D">Douglas R. Gilbert Papers (RHC-183)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Subject The topic of the resource Photographs Photography -- United States Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-183 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Image Type The nature or genre of the resource image/jpeg Language A language of the resource eng Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-183_A012-0325 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Gilbert, Douglas R. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1960-04 Title A name given to the resource Dockyard Woodworkers Description An account of the resource Black and white photograph of three woodworkers who appear to be building or repearing wooden stools among the steamship dockyards in Holland, Michigan as taken in April 1960. Photograph by Douglas R. Gilbert. Scanned from the negative. Subject The topic of the resource Holland (Mich.) Shipyards Black-and-white photography Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/783">Douglas R. Gilbert papers (RHC-183)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1960s Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/7ea2d50a6e2294f1cc04402375d27391.pdf 79b946522b8c54a440bead417745dac6 PDF Text Text �GRAND VALLEY STATE UNIVERSITY IN RECOGNITION OF DISTINGUISHED SERVICE AND UPON RECOMMENDATION OF THE PRESIDENT THE BOARD OF CONTROL CONFERS UPON Ahriana mcrmaat THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF HUMANE LETTERS WITH ALL THE RIGHTS AND PRIVILEGES PERTAINING THERETO GIVEN UNDER THE SEAL OF THE UNIVERSITY AT ALLENDALE, MICHIGAN THIS SEVENTH DAY OF DECEMBER, NINETEEN HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-EIGHT PRESIDENT ~~ 7Jz, /4~ CHAIRMAN, BOARD OF CONTROL �Jtt.er ttnb Abrittntt IDtrmaat DOCTOR OF HUMANE LETTERS In 1940, when the Nazi army invaded the Netherlands your life came to an abrupt and harsh change. You had been married only a year and had an infant son, yet for the next five years you became a vital part in the underground resistance movement against Nazi Germany. There are many stories of heroism in World War II, but yours is an inspiration to all those who love freedom. As leaders of the Dutch resistance you printed and distributed underground newsletters, forged ration and identification cards, and found hiding places for Jews, Allied pilots shot down in battle, and Dutch men fleeing German forced labor camps. At the beginning of the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, there were 150,000 Jews; at the end, in 1945, only 10 percent remained. The rest had been killed by German SS troops. Members of the resistance lived in constant danger, for to be apprehended meant swift execution. In 1944, when an informer told the Gestapo of your part in the resistance, you would have suffered that fate had you not learned of the betrayal in time to go into hiding. Among the several awards you have received for your bravery was the distinguished honor bestowed in 1986 by the Yad Vashem, Israel's Holocaust Martyrs and Remembrance Authority. In conferring upon you the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa, Grand Valley State University expresses its appreciation for your contribution to student understanding of the Holocaust and honors you for your courage in saving the lives of so many at the risk of losing your own. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Adriana B. and Peter N. Termaat collection Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Termaat, Adriana B. (Schuurman) Termaat, Peter N. Description An account of the resource Collection contains genealogical, personal, and family papers and photographs documenting the lives and interests of Adriana and Peter Termaat. The bulk of the materials are related to family history and genealogical research carried out by the Termaats, including research notes and materials about places in the Netherlands that were significant to the Termaat and Schuurman families, such as the city of Alkmaar. Other materials in the collection are related to the Termaats' experiences on the eve of and during the Second World War, especially the German occupation of the Netherlands and the Termaats' participation in organized resistance to the Nazis. Also included are materials that document the family's post-war life in the United States, including their public efforts to recognize, commemorate, and honor people and events significant to World War II. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1869 - 2012 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/719">Adriana B. and Peter N. Termaat collection, RHC-144</a> Subject The topic of the resource Netherlands Netherlands--History--German occupation, 1940-1945 World War, 1939-1945 World War, 1939-1945 -- Underground movements -- Netherlands Dutch Dutch Americans Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-144 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Text Image Type The nature or genre of the resource application/pdf image/jpeg Language A language of the resource eng nl Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-144_Termaat_AWD_1988-12-07-GVSU_Doctorate-ABT Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1988-12-07 Title A name given to the resource Doctor of Humane Letters diploma, Adriana Termaat Description An account of the resource Doctor of Humane letters diploma of Adriana Termaat, conferred by Grand Valley State University. Subject The topic of the resource Degrees, Academic Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/719">Adriana B. and Peter N. Termaat collection (RHC-144)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/cd7b3d910203a88ecc5d40b078e426fa.pdf 8358755d178acf918978e4f67950d823 PDF Text Text �GRAND VALLEY STATE UNIVERSITY IN RECOGNITION OF DISTINGUISHED SERVICE AND UPON RECOMMENDATION OF THE PRESIDENT THE BOARD OF CONTROL CONFERS UPON Jtttr IDtrmaat THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF HUMANE LETTERS WITH ALL THE RIGHTS AND PRIVILEGES PERTAINING THERETO GIVEN UNDER THE SEAL OF THE UNIVERSITY AT ALLENDALE, MICHIGAN THIS SEVENTH DAY OF DECEMBER, NINETEEN HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-EIGHT 17Uv(VM_ 9h. PRESIDENT ~ CHAIRMAN, BOARD OF CONTROL �Jtttr anh Ahrittntt IDtrmaat DOCTOR OF HUMANE LETTERS In 1940, when the Nazi army invaded the Netherlands your life came to an abrupt and harsh change. You had been married only a year and had an infant son, yet for the next five years you became a vital part in the underground resistance movement against Nazi Germany. There are many stories of heroism in World War II, but yours is an inspiration to all those who love freedom. As leaders of the Dutch resistance you printed and distributed underground newsletters, forged ration and identification cards, and found hiding places for Jews, Allied pilots shot down in battle, and Dutch men fleeing German forced labor camps. At the beginning of the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, there were 150,000 Jews; at the end, in 1945, only 10 percent remained. The rest had been killed by German SS troops. Members of the resistance lived in constant danger, for to be apprehended meant swift execution. In 1944, when an informer told the Gestapo of your part in the resistance, you would have suffered that fate had you not learned of the betrayal in time to go into hiding. Among the several awards you have received for your bravery was the distinguished honor bestowed in 1986 by the Y ad Vashem, Israel's Holocaust Martyrs and Remembrance Authority. In conferring upon you the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa, Grand Valley State University expresses its appreciation for your contribution to student understanding of the Holocaust and honors you for your courage in saving the lives of so many at the risk of losing your own. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Adriana B. and Peter N. Termaat collection Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Termaat, Adriana B. (Schuurman) Termaat, Peter N. Description An account of the resource Collection contains genealogical, personal, and family papers and photographs documenting the lives and interests of Adriana and Peter Termaat. The bulk of the materials are related to family history and genealogical research carried out by the Termaats, including research notes and materials about places in the Netherlands that were significant to the Termaat and Schuurman families, such as the city of Alkmaar. Other materials in the collection are related to the Termaats' experiences on the eve of and during the Second World War, especially the German occupation of the Netherlands and the Termaats' participation in organized resistance to the Nazis. Also included are materials that document the family's post-war life in the United States, including their public efforts to recognize, commemorate, and honor people and events significant to World War II. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1869 - 2012 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/719">Adriana B. and Peter N. Termaat collection, RHC-144</a> Subject The topic of the resource Netherlands Netherlands--History--German occupation, 1940-1945 World War, 1939-1945 World War, 1939-1945 -- Underground movements -- Netherlands Dutch Dutch Americans Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-144 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Text Image Type The nature or genre of the resource application/pdf image/jpeg Language A language of the resource eng nl Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-144_Termaat_AWD_1988-12-07-GVSU_Doctorate-PNT Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1988-12-07 Title A name given to the resource Doctor of Humane Letters diploma, Pieter Termaat Description An account of the resource Doctor of Humane letters diploma of Pieter Termaat, conferred by Grand Valley State University. Subject The topic of the resource Degrees, Academic Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/719">Adriana B. and Peter N. Termaat collection (RHC-144)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/4fb9b2b550b25157f88cb3c7032a8cb3.mp4 adb64cc241349e77cd9bcf018ca24522 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/b1fe04c7c1807c8a4269ec4acd6438c5.pdf 078d483afff26e00983f7b4a9a1c26ab PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veteran’s History Project Vietnam War James Doctor Interview Total Time: 1:49:30 Background  (00:12) Born in Muskegon, Michigan, in 1947  (00:27) Dad worked at Continental Motors, mom was a housewife but also worked for a floral designer  (1:00) Had two older brothers; one was involved the Korean War  (1:50) Graduated from high school in 1966  (2:30) Knew his college grades would get him drafted, so he decided to enlist o Enlisted in the first part of 1969 o June 29th was when he officially went into the service  (3:07) Didn’t know a lot about the Vietnam conflict before enlisting  (3:23) In 1965 started working at Meijer Incorporated and worked there for 44 years  (3:35) Wanted to be a police officer; attempted to get into police departments when he knew he would be drafted soon o Was not accepted initially o But got a letter telling him he was accepted after he was already in Vietnam Training  (4:30) Basic training at Ft. Knox  (4:48) Very hot while training  (5:07) Got leaves 3-4 weeks into training  (5:20) A lot of drilling, practice on gunnery, bayonet training  (6:08) A lot of emphasis on discipline; did pushups if one messed up o Mr. Doctor in particular had some problems staying in step while marching �o Had to run around the outside of the company if this happened  (6:55) Made up his mind going in that he was going to do the best he possibly could, so therefore not so hard to adjust with this attitude  (7:36) Most of the guys training with him did the best they could, some did the minimum, and there were a few that refused to conform o One committed suicide o One went AWOL  (8:22) A few of the trainees from Michigan, but mostly from all over the US  (8:45) This was the first time he associated with people who had southern accents, and this made it a bit hard to understand some guys  (9:08) 21 years old when he went in the service, older than most of the guys there, considered the “old guy”  (9:23) Basic training was 8 weeks  (9:29) Ft. Lee, Virginia, got assigned to be a small arms repair specialist o Got this assignment through military testing; had 3 choices, this was his last one, but he said it worked out  (10:15) Worked on everything from a 45 caliber pistol to a rifle o Took them apart, put them back together o He thought it was interesting; always liked mechanical stuff o Graduated w/Honors o Training lasted 8 weeks  (11:57) 30 day leave  (12:09) December 7th, flew out to Ft. Ord, California o Stayed for a few days o Flew on a commercial flight to Vietnam  (12:38) Traveled in uniform  (13:20) He said in Virginia people were supportive of the military, but warned about protesters in California, told to be careful if they went off base  (14:05) Plane kept having mechanical problems �o Landed in Hawaii, Guam, Philippines before Vietnam Vietnam  (14:48) Mr. Doctor says he’ll never forget when they opened the door of the plane, there was a horrid smell o A guy from the Air Force warned them about what to do if their plane was attacked o (15:42) Got used to the horrid smell after a week  (15:49) Either landed in Bien Hoa or Long Binh  (16:10) Went to FTA (First Team Academy. 1st Cavalry Division training for service in Vietnam) o Basic jungle training o Fired more weapons; some of which he was already familiar with o Helped them get used to the country o Pamphlets with information about customs, etc o Instructors were those who had been in the jungle already o Felt that most of the information they taught them was helpful o Had to take repelling class out of a tower  (18:25) When he got to FTA, he was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 30th Field Artillery Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division  (18:44) Went to Phuoc Vinh o Then assigned to B battery o Helicopter took them to firebase  (19:14) Fire support base was temporary/permanent o Not going to pick it up and move it o Describes the different units there o Including 4 or 5 artillery units o Guns are split up; put on separate fire support bases o He was in the battery’s rear area – about 13 or 14 of them �o Probably a couple thousand of them at the support base o “Tent City”  (21:06) They used to get hit with mortars and 122mm rockets  (21:22) Mentions a ground hugging radar unit with them that set off a siren if they saw something coming  (21:47) When he first got there, they were hit by things a couple times a week o By the time he left, they went over a month without getting attacked  (23:12) Described the attacks when he first got there as harassment o At different ends of the base o One time they hit a bunker in the ammo dump   Hit with a mortar round (24:20) When he got on the base, originally assigned as the small arms repair specialist o A few weeks later, the supply sergeant was gone, and he became a temporary supply sergeant o He ended up being the permanent supply sergeant – promoted to E5 sergeant o He arrived as an E4  (26:07) For this job, he got up early and ate breakfast o Did paperwork – had to move around sometimes to get what he needed  (27:48) Two people in the battery that sign for everything: battery commander and supply sergeant o Supply sergeant signs stuff out o Trucks and mechanical stuff to motor sergeant o They signed it out, made sure it was accounted for o Anything they needed, he assigned it to them or ordered it for them o He made sure everyone had what they were supposed to have  (29:03) A weapons inspection was also required o Mr. Doctor made sure the serial number on the gun was correct – if it wasn’t, they tried finding out who had the weapon and exchange around � (29:42) The biggest hassle was that someone would accidentally grab someone else’s M16 o A lot of paperwork involved  (30:23) Supply sergeants have to be good at trading/bartering  (31:35) Tried to get everyone what they needed; tried to not go into the jungle that often  (32:10) The only time stuff would come up missing was when they did tactical moves o When they decide they didn’t need gun support in a certain area because infantry unit was moving from one place to another o Combat move – there is a way in the military in a combat move where you can write stuff off o It happened because some things were a hassle to move  (33:42) Very little contact with Vietnamese nationals o They (civilian workers) were allowed in after security check at 8 in the morning, had to be off base by 9; then gates were closed  (34:07) Mr. Doctor employed some Montagnard people o Hired them to do some work that the Americans didn’t like to do o This included filling sandbags o They were paid 300 piasters a day o He gave them C-ration meals also o 300 piasters = 1 US dollar o They were very loyal to US troops o Lived in village – village elders were in charge where they came from o Talks about how they chew betel nut; blackened their teeth o Good with crossbows  (37:08) Says the Vietnamese treated the montagnard people like US citizens treated blacks in the 30’s and 40’s o They were more trustworthy than regular Vietnamese  (37:42) There was a Vietnamese group that opened a pizza stand � (37:55) They went to the village and bought charcoal, occasionally bought steaks  (38:12) There was a small laundry near them also o Didn’t necessarily clean their clothes properly; not everything came back  (38:40) Laundry in Song Be; a man named Mr. Loc did their laundry very well o Invited them into his house o Kids cleaned their weapons outside o They always asked him whether or not it was going to be a good night to sleep  (40:40) Says he thinks a lot of the citizens knew what was going on but were afraid of the consequences if they said too much  (41:00) There were local bars, brothels o Never got involved with prostitutes, but some people in the rear area did  (42:40) Never got involved with marijuana; always wanted to be alert  (43:00) Had “beer people” and “bong people” – Mr. Doctor was one of the “beer people”  (43:40) Talks about opening tent doors and getting hit with a giant smoke cloud from marijuana  (44:20) Could get beer for $2.45 a case o One of his jobs when he went to Long Binh or Bien Hoa was to get beer  (46:03) Drug use happened mostly on off-duty hours  (47:50) Mentions that he has facebook communications with some of the captains he worked for o Always had good relationships with them  (50:05) In the rear area there weren’t really any officers  (51:08) Supply sergeant (Mr. Doctor’s job) works for battery commander o Anyone other than the battery commander cannot tell the supply sergeant to issue any military equipment w/out the battery commander’s authorization o The 2nd Lieutenant came in, he was issuing him uniform, boots, M16 o The Lieutenant asked for a .45, Mr. Doctor could not issue him one �o The lieutenant asked who was allowed to have them, which was awkward, since the supply sergeant could have one while the lieutenant could not o The Lieutenant asked for his .45 and was very persistent o He even went to another sergeant to ask for the .45 o He ended up being a forward observer  (55:25) There was a lieutenant he worked with that wanted him to come out and visit his family after the war was over  (55:57) Helicopters would take Mr. Doctor out to different bases o Made sure the guys were getting all the supplies they were supposed to be getting o Talks about this one guy who always messed up his gun o Mr. Doctor gave him a lesson on how to do it properly – disassemble & reassemble o (56:55) Flew around on a Chinook, and some Hueys, also rode in a Loach o (57:46) They once flew back in a Chinook that had rotor problems  (1:00:06) Mentions fling on a Caribou, a relatively small transport plane. As they were coming back, the crew chief instructed them to wear seatbelts because they had lost an engine o (1:00:50) Remembers seeing fire trucks near the landing strip  (1:01:41) Says the scariest thing for him was either on the back of a 123 or 130 o Sitting on the back jumpseat, as they were bringing up the ramp, had his feet dangling o Caught the tip of his boot in the ramp o He yelled “stop!” and the ramp was stopped, and the worst thing that happened was the tip of his boot crunched o From then on he crossed his feet while sitting in an aircraft  (1:02:49) On the ground, the closest he got to being hit was when he first got there, with rockets and mortars going off o The rockets were 122’s �o Done sporadically  (1:04:20) Talks about a piece of a 122 rocket that he spray painted black and used as a paper weight  (1:04:45) He was not allowed to take it home because it was war material  (1:05:11) Talks about a time where he almost could have gotten a purple heart o Had to go out in the morning with troops, take claymore detonators out because the helicopters could accidentally set them off o Went out with troops to make sure someone didn’t put them back in o One morning they were doing this, and “Charlie” (Viet Cong or North Vietnamese) decided to drop mortars on the base o (1:06:15) Mr. Doctor accidentally cut himself with razor wire while running back o Went to a medic to have it stitched up and had a tetanus shot o Someone wanted him to fill out paperwork for a Purple Heart o He didn’t feel right about it  (1:08:06) Sometimes helped out with medical unit o Helped unload helicopters, moved casualties and injured people into hospitals o (1:09:00) Talked about white phosphorous  (1:10:00) Flew out to one of the gun platoons in Song Be, caught a ride o Took longer than he thought it should take o They landed in an area they weren’t familiar with o The crew chief says to him, “you were never here”- they were in Cambodia o Many enemy supplies captured and destroyed in Cambodia o After this, mortar attacks on their base reduced drastically  (1:11:56) He said he didn’t know a lot about the war as a bigger picture other than what he was involved in o In terms of Vietnam as a whole, he wasn’t sure where he was o Didn’t see a full map of the country until much later  (1:13:14) They started to pull out units when he was over there o Transfers in from different units � (1:13:53) Spent a little over 10 months in Vietnam Going Home  (1:14:30) Within two days of getting orders to leave, he was back home in the USA o Was still wearing fatigues when he got home  (1:15:26) Brought back a NVA bush knife o Used it for splitting wood o Made in England o Not sure how it got to Vietnam  (1:16:50) Wanted to go to Australia while in Vietnam, but never took R&R because he left early because his dad needed surgery; that’s when he went home  (1:18:48) Got back to the states in the end of October of 1970  (1:19:00) Still in the military at this point, but got leave to go see his dad  (1:19:30) Assigned to Ft. Sheridan, Illinois o Said they had no real use for him and knew he would get out of the service early o Was an NCO at a transit holding detachment o Here, he processed people in who had gone AWOL, or deserted, after they turned themselves in to MP’s o He was one of the ones who would provide them with meals, uniforms, place to sleep o The company commander was also getting out of the service o Very relaxed o (1:20:47) He and the other NCO’s worked for 24 hrs on, 48 hours off o (1:21:33) they worked it out to stay there for 48 hrs – which meant they got 96 hrs off o The company commander allowed it o Went to Michigan on his off time o Said this wasn’t smart because he often didn’t sleep �o (1:23:00) Said there was an Italian place next to Ft. Sheridan that brought them food o (1:23:17) A guy that went AWOL came in who didn’t like NCO’s or taking instructions  The guy was huge  Watching a movie and it went past the time lights went off, let him watch it  Didn’t want to risk running into trouble with him o (1:25:08) He asked the guy if he wanted anything from the Italian restaurant  There was never any problems with him  (1:25:58) Most of the time he got along with everyone  (1:26:12) When in Ft. Lee, after graduating w/Honors and got automatic promotion, rank allowed him to march troops back and forth to classes o He wasn’t that much into it o A black soldier didn’t take it seriously o Filed a complaint when Mr. Doctor told him to stay in step o Said he called him a bad name o (1:28:38) Two other black soldiers testified for Mr. Doctor o The other guy got in trouble and didn’t graduate for filing a false complaint  (1:31:45) In the combat area, he thinks most of the people looked past prejudices  (1:32:14) Talked about a black guy that kept messing up wherever he went, he was into “black power,” prejudiced o Threw a grenade somewhere, injured people o A sergeant went after him with a machine gun o There was talk/controversy about it  (1:35:22) They tried to get Mr. Doctor to reenlist a couple times  (1:37:45) After he finished at Ft. Sheridan, Meijer hired him back under the GI Reemployment Bill o Retired 44 years later �o Retired in 2009  (1:38:15) He said the service taught him to be more mature, responsible, how to deal with money o Wouldn’t have been his first choice, but he believes the service taught him a lot  (1:39:23) Regrets the exposure to the Agent Orange o Nobody knew anything about it then o Had a couple friends who died from it  (1:40:31) Has some friends who were in the Korean War that call him and other Vietnam vets “Vietnam Crybabies,” for blaming diabetes, etc on Agent Orange o VA says it really was from Agent Orange  (1:41:19) Tells Korean Vets that if the Vietnam Memorial hadn’t been built, theirs wouldn’t have been built  (1:42:02) Says it’s a shame that it took our country so long to build a memorial (including for WW2 vets), but they started it  (1:42:28) At this time, the Vietnam vets were the highest educated group that had been in the military  (1:42:40) Says drug use wasn’t that bad compared to the amount of people o During the other wars, it wasn’t covered by the media so that’s why it didn’t seem as bad  (1:43:21) Mr. Doctor’s dad wanted him to join the VFW o He did o He didn’t get what he considered to be a great welcome o They acted like it wasn’t a real war, not great reception o For 6 or 7 years, paid his dues, but never went again  (1:44:45) Transferred to a different VFW  (1:44:58) Family members didn’t talk a lot about it  (1:46:56) Thought about doing the interview so future generations can know about it � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Veterans History Project Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. History Department Description An account of the resource The Library of Congress established the Veterans History Project in 2001 to collect memories, accounts, and documents of U.S. war veterans from World War II and the Korean War, Vietnam War, and conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere, and to preserve these stories for future generations. The GVSU History Department interviews are part of this work-in-progress, and may contain videos and audio recordings, transcripts and interview outlines, and related documents and photographs. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Afghan War, 2001--Personal narratives, American Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979-1981--Personal narratives, American Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American Michigan--History, Military Oral history Persian Gulf War, 1991--Personal narratives, American United States--History, Military United States. Air Force United States. Army United States. Navy Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project interviews (RHC-27)</a> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Doctor, James (Interview outline and video), 2011 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Doctor, James Description An account of the resource James Doctor is from Muskegon, Michigan. He enlisted in the Army in 1969 to avoid being drafted. He received his basic training at Ft. Knox, and AIT at Ft. Lee; where he was assigned to be a small arms repair specialist. Here, he graduated with Honors. Once he got to Vietnam he was assigned to B Battery, 1/30 Field Artillery, 1st Cavalry Division, and became its supply sergeant. He was based in his battery's rear area, but made regular flights out to the battery's forward positions, including one in Cambodia, as well as to the Saigon area to get supplies. Once he returned home, he worked at Ft. Sheridan as an NCO at a transit holding detachment until he was discharged. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James (Interviewer) Kentwood Historic Preservation Commission (Kentwood, Mich.) WKTV WKTV (Wyoming, Mich.) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Michigan--History, Military Veterans Video recordings United States. Army Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2011-07-07 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DoctorJ1140V Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project Collection, (RHC-27)</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf video/mp4 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/225cfda67045960dbe41b18a918e0868.pdf a78d4ccc47df109584763ac7887bbcbb PDF Text Text t,.il -13 Documents said to link Waldheim to crimes in war The New York Times serving "as an interpreter" at: tached to the Pusteria Division in WASHINGTON - The Justice May 1942. But in a book entitled iWaldheim's Wartime Department based one of its princi- "Kurt pal charges against President Kurt Years," published on his behalf last Waldheim of Austria, possibly September as a rebuttal to charges making him an accessory to war that he had been involved in war crimes, on captured German docu- crimes, the authors state "he was ments that point to his involvement not involved in combat operations in the deportation of 488 Yugoslav or the deportation of civilians." civilians to slave labor camps in The deportation of the Yugoslav 1942. The documents were cited in civilians in 1942 and Waldheim's support of the department's deci- purported •role in it were reported sion to bar Waldheim from the last week.in The -New York Times on the basis of Yugoslav docuUnited States last year. Knowledgeable administration ments and interviews conducted by officials said the 49 pages of docu- Bozidar Dikic, a Belgrade journal­ ments concerning the episode ist. It was not known then that the show that Waldheim, then a lieu- Justice Department had built part tenant assigned as liaison officer to of jts case against Waldheim on the the Fifth Italian Alpine Division, same incident on the basis of sepa­ nicknamed Pusteria, was informed rate documents in the possession about the roundup of the Yugoslav of the United States government. civilians - reportedly all males Waldheim has called for the re­ over the age of 14 - and their lease to his government of the doc­ transfer to the authority of "the uments reportedly incriminating higher SS and Police Fuhrer, Bel- him; the Justice Department re­ grade, for forced labor in Norway." fused. The officials said further that on The Justice Department has said the basis of the documents, assem- that it did not want to set a prece­ bled mainly from German army dent by making public "an internal, headquarters records in Belgrade pre-decisional document." The de­ from the first three weeks of May partment has also said that nearly 1942, the Justice Department con- all of the material cited in those in­ cluded that he must have facilitated ternal documents was available the deportation operation in his ca- · through other sources. pacity as liaison officer. The docuNow, in the case of the Yugoslav ments cite Waldheim by function deportations, an administration of­ ficial cited a series of captured Gerbut not by name. Last April 27, the Justice Depart- man Anny documents in the Na­ ment announced that Waldheim tiona}Archives. The documents are had been placed on a list of people available to the public on micro­ barred from entering the United film. States on the ground that he had Examination of the cited docu­ "participated in activities amount- ments shows that, while they might ing to persecution" of civilians dur- lead a prosecutor to conclude that ing his service in the Balkans from Waldheim had been an accessory 1942 to 1945. At the time, depart- to a war crime, they do not provide ment officials cited, as one of its direct evidence to that effect. charges against Waldheim, the An administration official, transfer of civilian prisoners to the speaking on condition he would not be identified, said, "In legal SS for exploitation as slave labor. Article 6 of the Charter of the In- proceedings you never have every­ temational Military Tribunal, thing" that would lead to a sure adopted by the United States, Brit- conviction. He said that the Justice ain, the Soviet Union and France Department's specialists in the his­ on Aug. 8, 1945, defined "ill-treat- tory of World War II had "looked at ment or deportation to slave labor the military practices, functions or any other purpose of civilian and responsibilities" of Waldheim population of or in occupied terri- and that "they had no doubt he tories" as a war crime. would have had to be involved" in Waldheim has acknowledged the Yugoslav deportations. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Adriana B. and Peter N. Termaat collection Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Termaat, Adriana B. (Schuurman) Termaat, Peter N. Description An account of the resource Collection contains genealogical, personal, and family papers and photographs documenting the lives and interests of Adriana and Peter Termaat. The bulk of the materials are related to family history and genealogical research carried out by the Termaats, including research notes and materials about places in the Netherlands that were significant to the Termaat and Schuurman families, such as the city of Alkmaar. Other materials in the collection are related to the Termaats' experiences on the eve of and during the Second World War, especially the German occupation of the Netherlands and the Termaats' participation in organized resistance to the Nazis. Also included are materials that document the family's post-war life in the United States, including their public efforts to recognize, commemorate, and honor people and events significant to World War II. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1869 - 2012 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/719">Adriana B. and Peter N. Termaat collection, RHC-144</a> Subject The topic of the resource Netherlands Netherlands--History--German occupation, 1940-1945 World War, 1939-1945 World War, 1939-1945 -- Underground movements -- Netherlands Dutch Dutch Americans Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-144 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Text Image Type The nature or genre of the resource application/pdf image/jpeg Language A language of the resource eng nl Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-144_Termaat_NWS_1988-02-18-Waldheim-315 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource The New York Times Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1988-02-18 Title A name given to the resource Documents said to link Waldheim to crimes in war Description An account of the resource New York Times article about President Kurt Waldheim of Austria, and his possible involvement in the deportation of 488 Yugoslav civilians to slave labor camps in 1942. Subject The topic of the resource War criminals -- Germany Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Europe Waldheim, Kurt United Nations. Secretary-General (1972-1981 : Waldheim) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/719">Adriana B. and Peter N. Termaat collection (RHC-144)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/6c7356d652095715215378a0eebab98b.jpg 9c3364fd715051a34ff45ffbbda78832 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Douglas R. Gilbert Photographs Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Gilbert, Douglas R., 1942-2023 Description An account of the resource Photographs scanned from negatives and transparencies from the Douglas R. Gilbert papers (RHC-183). Douglas R. Gilbert (b. 1942) is an American photographer from Michigan. He was born in Holland, Michigan and is the son of Russell W. and Carmen (Andree) Gilbert. Gilbert earned a B.A. in social sciences and art at Michigan State University in 1964, an M.S. in photography from the Institute of Design at Illinois Institute of Technology in 1972, and a M.S.W. from Salem State College in 1993. He is married to Barbara (McDonald) Gilbert, and has three daughters, Robyn, Rachel, and Anne. Gilbert took a serious interest in photography at the age of fourteen. In 1963 he joined the staff of Look magazine in New York as the second youngest photojournalist in the magazine's history. As a Look photographer from 1964 to 1966, he photographed folk musician Bob Dylan, the Newport Folk Festival, Simon and Garfunkel, the New York City Financial District, the children and facilities at the Manhattan School for Seriously Disturbed Children. From 1967 to 1969, Gilbert did several shoots, including that of folk singer Janis Ian for Life magazine. After moving to Chicago, Illinois in 1969 to attend the Illinois Institute of Technology, Gilbert conducted notable photo shoots of business and political figure Lenore Romney, and pursued more personal and artistic photography, focusing on urban and rural landscapes in Illinois and Michigan. He then joined the faculty of Wheaton College, where he taught from 1972 to 1982. In 1993, Gilbert graduated from Salem State College, Massachusetts, with a Masters in Social Work, and later pursued a second career as a psychotherapist. Douglas Gilbert died in June 2023. Throughout his photography career, he pursued both freelance commercial work as well as artistic work. His art photography is characterized by its classic black-and-white format, and features people, places and objects shot great attention and sensitivity. Gilbert's works are held in the permanent collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, The Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, and the Grand Valley State University Art Galleries, as well as in numerous private and institutional collections. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1960-2011 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="%E2%80%9Dhttps%3A//gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/783%E2%80%9D">Douglas R. Gilbert Papers (RHC-183)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Subject The topic of the resource Photographs Photography -- United States Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-183 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Image Type The nature or genre of the resource image/jpeg Language A language of the resource eng Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-183_M264-0026 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Gilbert, Douglas R. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1972-06/1972-08 Title A name given to the resource Doe Castle, County Donegal, Ireland Description An account of the resource Black and white photograph featuring an exterior view of Doe Castle located in the Bloody Foreland area of the County Donegal, a largely Irish-speaking region in northwestern Ireland that borders the Atlantic Ocean. Scanned from the negative. Subject The topic of the resource Doe Castle (Ireland) Donegal (Ireland : County) Black-and-white photography Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/783">Douglas R. Gilbert papers (RHC-183)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1970s Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/d58c7d28450155ad6e54e5ff20eebff6.jpg 305a7d08694a171a8ce2b8bf2b5c0b51 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Douglas R. Gilbert Photographs Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Gilbert, Douglas R., 1942-2023 Description An account of the resource Photographs scanned from negatives and transparencies from the Douglas R. Gilbert papers (RHC-183). Douglas R. Gilbert (b. 1942) is an American photographer from Michigan. He was born in Holland, Michigan and is the son of Russell W. and Carmen (Andree) Gilbert. Gilbert earned a B.A. in social sciences and art at Michigan State University in 1964, an M.S. in photography from the Institute of Design at Illinois Institute of Technology in 1972, and a M.S.W. from Salem State College in 1993. He is married to Barbara (McDonald) Gilbert, and has three daughters, Robyn, Rachel, and Anne. Gilbert took a serious interest in photography at the age of fourteen. In 1963 he joined the staff of Look magazine in New York as the second youngest photojournalist in the magazine's history. As a Look photographer from 1964 to 1966, he photographed folk musician Bob Dylan, the Newport Folk Festival, Simon and Garfunkel, the New York City Financial District, the children and facilities at the Manhattan School for Seriously Disturbed Children. From 1967 to 1969, Gilbert did several shoots, including that of folk singer Janis Ian for Life magazine. After moving to Chicago, Illinois in 1969 to attend the Illinois Institute of Technology, Gilbert conducted notable photo shoots of business and political figure Lenore Romney, and pursued more personal and artistic photography, focusing on urban and rural landscapes in Illinois and Michigan. He then joined the faculty of Wheaton College, where he taught from 1972 to 1982. In 1993, Gilbert graduated from Salem State College, Massachusetts, with a Masters in Social Work, and later pursued a second career as a psychotherapist. Douglas Gilbert died in June 2023. Throughout his photography career, he pursued both freelance commercial work as well as artistic work. His art photography is characterized by its classic black-and-white format, and features people, places and objects shot great attention and sensitivity. Gilbert's works are held in the permanent collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, The Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, and the Grand Valley State University Art Galleries, as well as in numerous private and institutional collections. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1960-2011 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="%E2%80%9Dhttps%3A//gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/783%E2%80%9D">Douglas R. Gilbert Papers (RHC-183)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Subject The topic of the resource Photographs Photography -- United States Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-183 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Image Type The nature or genre of the resource image/jpeg Language A language of the resource eng Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-183_M264-0031 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Gilbert, Douglas R. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1972-06/1972-08 Title A name given to the resource Doe Castle, County Donegal, Ireland Description An account of the resource Black and white photograph featuring an exterior view of Doe Castle located in the Bloody Foreland area of the County Donegal, a largely Irish-speaking region in northwestern Ireland that borders the Atlantic Ocean. Scanned from the negative. Subject The topic of the resource Doe Castle (Ireland) Donegal (Ireland : County) Black-and-white photography Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/783">Douglas R. Gilbert papers (RHC-183)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1970s Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/a029e6b5e47b393c07adb175a795add5.m4v f196faf55f12c02a318b5e6355b46c9d https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/d7496002b91e2a96b750903a1bdb8863.pdf 748bc6124bc8a6049a32722a576b99e6 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University Veterans’ History Project Max Doering World War II 1 hour 17 minutes 30 seconds (00:00:14) Early Life -Born in 1924 -Born in Grand Rapids MI -Father a stock broker for Paine Webber -Despite the market crash family was doing well relative to most. -One sibling, a brother. -Followed world news of the American entry into the War closely. -Learned about Pearl Harbor on the radio. -17 years old when Pearl Harbor was attacked. (00:02:40) Enlistment and Boot Camp -Didn’t want to enlist, waited to be drafted. -Friends were drafted nearly the same time. -Enlisted in the Navy as a preference to Army. -Entered the service March ’43. -Boot camp at Great Lakes in Illinois. -Regimentation: drilling, boats, knot tying, etc. -Navy began using cots instead of hammocks at time of enlistment. -Wasn’t too phased by trainings. -Boot camp lasted roughly 8 weeks. -Seven day leave after boot camp. (00:07:55) Great Lakes Hospital Corpsman Training -About a month to six weeks of training. -Assigned due to interest in medical care. -Training not in hospital itself. -Mostly first aid training. -Completed Corpsman training end of June. (00:10:35) Seattle Naval Hospital -Train trip to Seattle over several days. -Stay at Seattle Naval Hospital about a month to six weeks. -Disliked his experience and so volunteered for Marines -Worked as 1st or 2nd class pharmacist mate -One instance; burn patients from Alaska in a torpedo attack (00:13:30) Marines -Sent to San Diego Marine Corps training center. -Approximately a month to six weeks of training. -Mostly physical training. -Then put into a replacement unit to ship out. -Traveled on a Dutch ship to New Caledonia. �-Traveled in a convoy of 2 or so other ships. (00:16:50) 22nd Marines and Marshall Campaign -Shipped from New Caledonia to Marshall Islands -Approximately a platoon unit took Higgins boats to check large Japanese gun turrets. -Guns were no longer in place but evidence of their presence remained. -Cannot recall the name of islet they were on. (00:21:03) 22nd Marines and Guadalcanal -Shipped to Guadalcanal -Approximately a four/five month long stay. -Life at Guadalcanal was routine. -Attended a Red Cross USO show. -Local tribe was scarcely present. -Traded a mattress covering for a carved hatchet-like tool. -Played a lot of poker in off time. -After arrival estimates about half the men got malaria. -While he didn’t get malaria, eventually at Guam he came down with dengue fever. -They were treated with preventative medicine. -Some of the men got filariasis and were sent back to the US. -Mother sent letters every day, and occasional packages. -At this time his brother was in the Army deployed to Europe. -Weather at Guadalcanal was heavily raining, and reached 120 degrees. -Boarded troop transport ships to ship out to Guam. (00:27:00) Battle of Guam -USS Missouri accompanied their ships (as it had in the Marshall Islands) landing nearby. -USS Missouri did engage in the conflict. -Once boarded onto the ship given instructions on destination, tactics, etc. -No memory of being shown tactical maps. -Attack was an initial bombardment, and strafing. -Navy Air Corps and the Army Air Corps involved. -Approximately 1-2 weeks after the Marines arrived the Army arrived to take up garrison duty. -Proceeded in two half-track vehicles and a Japanese battery destroyed the other vehicle killing all the passengers. -Took half-track type vehicles from troop ship to the shore itself. -Observed a surprising amount of equipment dated 1918 from WWI. -Once on shore infantry moved in and they followed behind. -The 1st Division landed on section of island by the town of Agana. -His unit the 22nd Regiment and the 4th Regiment landed as the 1st Brigade. -Proceeded to the Orote Peninsula where old Marines barracks were. -There were reportedly more Japanese by the 1st Division than this location in the western area. -The 1st Division to the east, and their 1st Brigade never met up. -Estimation of light to medium casualties. -Took the role of attending first aid to the troops. -34:20 - 38:00: Carried an injured soldier on his back to the aid station under the threat of sniper fire. �-Newer Corpsmen received instruction on giving blood plasma however he did not. -Once troops pulled out volunteered to remain on Guam as a preference to returning to Guadalcanal. -Remained on Guam for about a month without event. -Took food via Jeep to a native family. (00:42:00) Okinawa -Preparation before shipping off to Okinawa: -Initially returned to Guadalcanal to prepare for landing on Okinawa. -Troops initially speculated the preparation was for Formosa. -Heard news about the fighting going on Iwo Jima. -Landed at Okinawa on April 1st 1945. -Encountered no problems with the landing itself. No Japanese opposition was present at landing area. -Went in with the 2nd wave. -Bombardment followed prior to landing. -Six divisions involved: Three Marines, and three Army. -Tactic involved Marines taking north section of island, Army taking south section. -Japanese opposition turned out to be in the southern section. -No conflict at this time however witnessed a multitude of tracer rounds and air combat at night, such as kamikaze pilots. -Recalls that a kamikaze pilot bombed the USS Franklin. [End of the first video file interview. Start of the second video file interview] -Encountered reporter Ernie Pyle the day before he was shot by Japanese snipers. -While on the north part of Okinawa witnessed a P-47 flying close by, followed soon after by two other P-47 planes. -Later discovered that a Japanese soldier had stolen the plane and was being pursued, until it was finally shot down. -Cleared out the north part of Okinawa and began to the southern part. -The Marines took the eastern half of the south part of Okinawa, while the Army took the western half of the south. -By May 1st stopped at main fortifications until late June when intense fighting took place. -Although he was at the battle for Sugar Loaf hill, his platoon wasn’t sent in. -50:20: No action on their part was taken at night, only during the day. -As Japanese civilians were increasingly used to attack soldiers, US soldiers were ordered to shoot civilians. -E.g. women tossing grenades. -No sense exactly for the amount of casualties of his particular company. -Two casualties of note: -a 44 year old married man, with a wife and 4 boys. Owner of a gas station and a garage. -a 16 year old that had lied about his age to enter service. Died the day before receiving his orders to leave for being underage. -Took the advice that it’s best not to become deeply personally attached to any one individual soldier, so their death may not be as damaging. -Used burial jars south of Naha to hole up in during attacks. �-Securing and closing up Japanese tunnels could involve flamethrowers burning foliage and tanks plowing to seal entrances. -01:00:00: June 22nd Okinawa was declared secure. That day received his long overdue orders to be sent home. -Returned to Guam, and no more than 3 days later received orders to leave for San Francisco. -Thereafter returned to Grand Rapids August 1st 1945. War ends August 10th. (01:02:00) Post War -Early September reports to Detroit receivership. -Gets orders to go to Treasure Island, the San Francisco Naval receiving station. -Ordered to return to his old unit as the US sent Marines to China to defend from the Japanese. -Ship breaks down near Pearl Harbor and he is dropped off. -Navy receivership assigns him to Navy hospital at John Rogers’s air field. -Witnessed one of the riots with local natives and the military. -Played so much poker that he won a car to use during his time on Hawaii. -After 6 months discharged to go home. (01:07:50) Misc. -Changed companies to the weapons company after returning to Guadalcanal, but before Okinawa. -They needed pharmacist’s mates and assigned him to attend a particular platoon. -Weapons company at Okinawa was placed further back. -Some weapons consisted of: 30 caliber water-cooled machine guns, 37 millimeter cannons, French 75 on half-tracks, Browning automatic rifles, flamethrowers (were not in his platoon). -Did not have mortars. -Platoon consisted of 40 men working in pairs. -Third person in the platoon (amongst the two mentioned earlier) to be killed at Okinawa was a casualty of shrapnel. (01:12:30) Post War Continued, 1946 -Returned to college, got married, had two children. -Worked for a Swiss pharmaceutical company [likely to be Novartis] for seven years. -Turned down promotion that required moving. -Became a stock broker for 48 years. -Wife was a long time high school girlfriend. -Proposed on leave and married after the War. -Views his time in the military as a neutral necessity. -During his time training for pharmaceuticals in New York worked 6 months away from wife and his infant child. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Veterans History Project Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. History Department Description An account of the resource The Library of Congress established the Veterans History Project in 2001 to collect memories, accounts, and documents of U.S. war veterans from World War II and the Korean War, Vietnam War, and conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere, and to preserve these stories for future generations. The GVSU History Department interviews are part of this work-in-progress, and may contain videos and audio recordings, transcripts and interview outlines, and related documents and photographs. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1914- Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Afghan War, 2001--Personal narratives, American Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979-1981--Personal narratives, American Korean War, 1950-1953--Personal narratives, American Michigan--History, Military Oral history Persian Gulf War, 1991--Personal narratives, American United States--History, Military United States. Air Force United States. Army United States. Navy Veterans Video recordings Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Personal narratives, American World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27 Language A language of the resource eng Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project interviews (RHC-27)</a> Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-27_DoeringM1859V Title A name given to the resource Doering, Max H (Interview outline and video), 2015 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2015-07-28 Description An account of the resource Max Doering was born in 1924 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. After Pearl Harbor he was drafted into the Navy in 1942 and had boot camp at Great Lakes in Illinois. After training as a hospital Corpsman, he volunteered to serve with the Marines and was placed in the 22nd Marine Regiment. He participated in the invasions of the Marianas and Okinawa. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Doering, Max H. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) United States--History, Military Veterans Video recordings World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American United States. Navy Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Moving Image Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/455">Veterans History Project collection, (RHC-27)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries. Allendale, Michigan Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/x-m4v application/pdf https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/db0915e7f0efafbd32cf46ad0f311159.mp3 1631d646f1a8a411ebfebafa550ccf53 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Christmastide Scripture Text Luke 2:1-20, John 3:1-10, 16-17 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-20021229 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2002-12-29 Title A name given to the resource Does Love Talk Change Anything? Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on December 29, 2002 entitled "Does Love Talk Change Anything?", on the occasion of Christmastide, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Luke 2:1-20, John 3:1-10, 16-17. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/79f4d4cf6e9eac31c99d49817bbea245.jpg 1bc5bcce1ccdf04f2935f5782dadf330 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Summers in Saugatuck-Douglas Collection Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. Kutsche Office of Local History Description An account of the resource Collection contains images and documents digitized and collected through the project "Stories of Summer," supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant. The collection aims to document the twin lakeshore communities of Saugatuck and Douglas, Michigan, as they transformed through the state's bustling tourism industry and acceptance of minorities. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1910s-2010s Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Various Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/">Copyright Undetermined</a> Subject The topic of the resource Michigan Saugatuck (Mich.) Douglas (Mich.) Michigan, Lake Allegan County (Mich.) Beaches Sand dunes Outdoor recreation Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries. Allendale, Michigan Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Saugatuck-Douglas History Center Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Stories of Summer (Common Heritage project) Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Text Language A language of the resource English Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2018 Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-07_SD-Slides_img140 Title A name given to the resource Dogs Description An account of the resource A photo that depicts a man smoking while petting two young dogs. Next to him, a younger boy eats what appears to be a hotdog. The shadow of the photo taker is visible in the bottom right corner, and the water and docks are in the background. Subject The topic of the resource Michigan Saugatuck (Mich.) Allegan County (Mich.) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Digital file collected by the Kutsche Office of History as part of the Stories of Summer Project. Relation A related resource Stories of Summer (project) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/">Copyright Undetermined</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/6453f621db0a0b2d5c25080d42573fb3.jpg c430a1b9033f33a936b365937d260b86 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Grand Valley State University Photographs Subject The topic of the resource Aerial photographs Universities and colleges Michigan Grand Rapids (Mich.) Allendale (Mich.) Building Facilities Dormitories Students Events 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s Description An account of the resource People, places, and events of Grand Valley State University from its founding in 1960 as a 4-year college in western Michigan. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource News & Information Services. University Communications Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/41">News &amp; Information Services. University Photographs. (GV012-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017-03-03 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-NC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright - Non-Commercial Use Permitted</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpg Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource image Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV012-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1960s-2000s Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Local Subject Subject headings specific to a particular image collection 1970s Source <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/41">University photographs, GV012-01</a> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV012-01_UAPhotos_000257 Title A name given to the resource Dogsled race at Winter Carnival Description An account of the resource Dogsled race at Winter Carnival on the Allendale campus. Subject The topic of the resource Grand Valley State University Michigan Allendale (Mich.) Universities and colleges Students Events Winter carnivals Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-NC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright - Non-Commercial Use Permitted</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives black and white photo https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/9fc804887e0ce9ceccf0764b88de4cad.jpg 883612ec21c58d1735baddcb48fdc6d7 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Grand Valley State University Photographs Subject The topic of the resource Aerial photographs Universities and colleges Michigan Grand Rapids (Mich.) Allendale (Mich.) Building Facilities Dormitories Students Events 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s Description An account of the resource People, places, and events of Grand Valley State University from its founding in 1960 as a 4-year college in western Michigan. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource News & Information Services. University Communications Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/41">News &amp; Information Services. University Photographs. (GV012-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017-03-03 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-NC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright - Non-Commercial Use Permitted</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpg Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource image Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV012-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1960s-2000s Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Local Subject Subject headings specific to a particular image collection 1970s Source <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/41">University photographs, GV012-01</a> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV012-01_UAPhotos_000866 Title A name given to the resource Dogsled race during Winter Carnival Description An account of the resource Dogsled race during Winter Carnival 1973. Subject The topic of the resource Grand Valley State University Michigan Allendale (Mich.) Universities and colleges Students Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-NC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright - Non-Commercial Use Permitted</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives black and white photo https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/26b234e1b76328c516933a7555943d7c.jpg 8f5f82b23be4dcd40a0285cd15fc86d5 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Grand Valley State University Photographs Subject The topic of the resource Aerial photographs Universities and colleges Michigan Grand Rapids (Mich.) Allendale (Mich.) Building Facilities Dormitories Students Events 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s Description An account of the resource People, places, and events of Grand Valley State University from its founding in 1960 as a 4-year college in western Michigan. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource News & Information Services. University Communications Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/41">News &amp; Information Services. University Photographs. (GV012-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017-03-03 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-NC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright - Non-Commercial Use Permitted</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpg Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource image Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV012-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1960s-2000s Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Local Subject Subject headings specific to a particular image collection 1960s Source <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/41">University photographs, GV012-01</a> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV012-01_UAPhotos_000871 Title A name given to the resource Dogsled race during Winter Carnival Description An account of the resource Dogsled race during Winter Carnival. Subject The topic of the resource Grand Valley State University Michigan Allendale (Mich.) Universities and colleges Students Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-NC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright - Non-Commercial Use Permitted</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives black and white photo https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/944be5d9d5b24b7a826ff449d3b1fffb.pdf 7645257c4b9ecb261a34ba25a5fcc804 PDF Text Text Growing Community: Oceana’s Agricultural History Project A project supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant Project Director: Melanie Shell-Weiss, GVSU Liberal Studies Department Ralph Dold Interview Interviewed by Walter Urick & Kimberly McKee June 18, 2016 Transcript KM: We're all set. WU: My name is Walter Urick and I'm here with Dr. Kim McKee. We're here today on this June 18th, 2016, in the city of Hart Community Center at Hart, Michigan, for the purposes of obtaining the oral history of the Ralph Dold family. And obviously, Ralph is present today. And this oral history is being collected as part of the Growing Community Project, which is supported in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Program. Ralph, I want to thank you for taking the time to visit with Dr. Kim and myself today. We're both interested to learn more about your family history, your experiences living and working in Oceana County. And so, we'll start out with some easy questions and we'll work from there. First, when and where were you born? RD: I was born in Detroit in 1931. WU: The exact date of your birth is? RD: November 13th, Friday. That's what started the… [laughter]. 1 �Growing Community: Oceana’s Agricultural History Project A project supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant Project Director: Melanie Shell-Weiss, GVSU Liberal Studies Department WU: [Laughter] Friday, the 13th. Well, tell me a little bit about your parents, their names? RD: I had real good parents. Frank Xavier didn't like that middle name. Frank was my father and Magdalena was my mother. They both came from Illinois. Father was a carpenter and of course, from [?] farming. He grew up on a farm and my mother grew up on a farm. My dad was a first-generation immigrant and my mother about the second generation. WU: From, what...? RD: Germany. WU: All right. RD: There's a clutch of Dolds in Freiburg, Germany. WU: Really, the Black Forest area? RD: [Laughter] Yeah. WU: Very familiar with it. RD: My [?] owns the brewery. WU: We have relatives in the Black Forest. So, your dad and mom were first generation Americans? RD: My dad was first generation, my mother the second generation. WU: Now, apparently you were born in Detroit. RD: Born in Detroit, East Side. WU: And your dad was a carpenter? RD: Yeah. Except at that time there wasn't much building going on because we had a phenomenon: The Depression. WU: Right. What about your mom? Was she working outside the house? RD: No, she never did that part. Dad thought that was not proper. Figured if you had to have your wife work, you were a poor excuse for a man. [Laughter] WU: Did you have any siblings? RD: Yeah, I have a sister who is still alive and two brothers. One brother died last year. Ninety-four. My sister is ninety-three now and still going strong. So, we're long livers. And one brother died of a heart attack fifteen years ago, so. WU: Well… RD: Detroit, that was a nice place when we lived there. I mean, it turned into a high crime area later, but... and now it's turning into a brownfield, about everything was torn down. WU: Well, I want to talk about your childhood or try to get you to talk about your childhood a little bit. Were you raised in Detroit? 2 �Growing Community: Oceana’s Agricultural History Project A project supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant Project Director: Melanie Shell-Weiss, GVSU Liberal Studies Department RD: Yeah, up until nineteen forty-six I lived in Detroit. WU: So that would have made you fifteen years old or thereabouts. RD: Yeah, that's right. WU: Let's just briefly go through that period of your life. RD: You know, I can remember, like I said, it was the Depression. I can remember things about like four or five years old. You start remembering things and I remember that it was awful hard to find money. Of course, unemployment and market collapse didn't mean much to a five-year-old, you know. WU: Were you're living in a group home of sorts or a single family…? RD: No, it was a… we had our own home. It was a red… of course, houses were close together. You know, I could reach out like this and touch my house in the neighbor's house. [Laughter] WU: But it was a single-family home? RD: Yeah, single family. WU: And east side of Detroit. RD: Yeah, and I went to school at Stevens Elementary School, which has recently been torn down, and they must have ran that right under the ground because it was old when I was going there. So, they got their full use out of that building. WU: So basically, at least through an educational standpoint, you were a city kid up until age fifteen or so. RD: Yeah, that's right. WU: Did you have any reason to go into the countryside during the summers and so forth? RD: My dad was tired of the city and, you know, the neighborhood was going to pot already anyway. And so, I figured, you know, it would be better out in the country, be better for me. And well my brother was already gone from home by then. Yeah, and so we moved out to White Lake area, which is west of Pontiac. WU: Okay, White Lake, west of Pontiac, not the White Lake that I’m thinking of. RD: No, not this one. I think there's probably a couple more. I went to Huron Valley School [?] consolidation. And it was in the process of consolidating with all the usual complaints and what have you. I have a history of going through consolidations. When I got work in New York, they were going through a consolidation, the same complaints. And when I got here, they were consolidating. Same complaints. [Laughter] WU: Before you moved out of Detroit, just since we’re doing sort of an oral family history, are there any special childhood memories that you had that you'd like to share with us or with whoever might be reading or listening to this years from now? RD: Well, like I say, the Depression was going on. Our playground was the alley and we had our own games: Duck on the Rock, you played with tin cans, and Tippee, that you played with broomsticks. And 3 �Growing Community: Oceana’s Agricultural History Project A project supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant Project Director: Melanie Shell-Weiss, GVSU Liberal Studies Department then one of the things was trying to kill rats [laughter], the sport of kings. So, they had big garbage containers. There was a four-family flat next door, and they had a big garbage container, and you dump the garbage in the top and then they shoveled it out the other end onto a garbage... city garbage truck. So we would throw a match in the top and get stuff burning and the rats that were in there had to make a break for it. And then we threw rocks at them. [Laughter] WU: So those are some of your vivid childhood memories. RD: [Laughter] Kind of a warped childhood. WU: But so, you finished… what, you must have been about a sophomore in high school when you left Detroit? RD: I was a... finished half of the ninth grade because Detroit went... they ended one half the grade in the spring. And the second half, you know, they had… WU: And then you had a November 13th birthday, which put you in a little different category, I guess. RD: So, when I got out to Milford, I finished the ninth grade at Milford and then tenth played football. And it wasn't very active in the social life because we lived about nine, ten miles from Milford. WU: But you were living on what... was this a home or was it a farm? RD: We had... it was about like an acre of land and we built a house there. I helped my dad build. He was a carpenter, so. WU: So, you build your own home or your dad did? RD: Yeah. WU: With help from you and your brother or whomever. RD: Yeah, and so that was a good experience for me. Yeah. WU: Did you have any… RD: We had some chickens. WU: ...animals? That’s what I was alluding to. RD: But nothing very... much bigger than that. WU: You didn't have a cow… RD: No, no. WU: ...or a horse or anything like that? RD: We did have a big garden. We grew just a lot of stuff. WU: And basically, for home consumption? RD: Yeah, basically for home consumption. WU: Like what do you remember? 4 �Growing Community: Oceana’s Agricultural History Project A project supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant Project Director: Melanie Shell-Weiss, GVSU Liberal Studies Department RD: Potatoes, of course. And I used to keep cabbage at the root cellar. One of the things, and this kind of goes back to the German background. One of the things my folks always had on hand was honey. Bought a sixty pound can of honey every year. So, Germans like honey. WU: Did you get into the bee business or anything at all? RD: No, we could buy it. And, of course, the other thing we always made was sauerkraut, you know, so... I still make sauerkraut once in a while. WU: So, those are some of your childhood memories of living at home? RD: Of course, White Lake, because we were on the lake we spent a lot of time in the water. WU: And you're talking about swimming and…? RD: Swimming and fishing. But swimming a lot, four hours a day swimming or something. WU: During the summer months. RD: Yeah. WU: So, you graduate from high school in what year, Ralph? RD: [Nineteen] forty-nine. WU: And at that point? RD: I started at Michigan State that fall. WU: Okay, and you went to Michigan State for any particular? RD: Crops and soils. Went there for four years WU: What caused you to pick that? RD: Well, I was interested in growing things. We had the garden and I guess I just and I had won a scholarship; I was in the FFA in high school. WU: So, in high school you were active in the FFA. You were active in trying to grow crops like the natives and whatnot. RD: So, I majored in Crops and Soils and it was pretty uneventful for four years, I guess, just doing what everybody does. I had fairly good grades - three-point-four average, I think. WU: And you graduated what year, you said? RD: Graduated in [nineteen] fifty-three. Graduated in June, went active in the service and... WU: So right out of Michigan State, you end up in the service. What branch of the service? RD: After basic, I was an officer ROTC. WU: You were in ROTC at State, correct? RD: Yeah. 5 �Growing Community: Oceana’s Agricultural History Project A project supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant Project Director: Melanie Shell-Weiss, GVSU Liberal Studies Department WU: Okay, and so now you're in what branch of the service? RD: Army. And so, I went through basic in the officer’s course for a few months and went to Germany. And I was ammunition supply officer for a Berlin command and I didn't do very much because we were within the city, you couldn't shoot anything very big without disturbing people. And so, like I say, it was pretty easy, a little bit of small arms and grenades and a few things like that. But mostly we just sat on it and… WU: ...had it ready to go if you needed it. RD: Well, yeah, we wouldn't have lasted long if the flap went up because we were surrounded [laughter]. They could’ve put up a division against every platoon, we wouldn't have been there very long. WU: So, your service, is this a couple of years or? RD: Two years, yeah. And then got out of service, went to work in New York for the Cooperative Extension Service. KM: In New York City or? RD: Oh, Chenango County, New York. KM: Could you spell that? RD: C-h-e-n-a-n-g-o. KM: Okay. RD: The pill works [?], Norwich Coracle Company [?]. Truckloads of Aspirins. [?] WU: Tell me, help me understand, what part of the state of New York that was? RD: That would be Southcentral. WU: Largest town that I might be familiar with? RD: Binghamton is just a little south of us. KM: Okay. RD: Syracuse was quite a ways north of us. Hamilton was just a little ways north. KM: Okay. WU: Well, that helps. So, now you are working for the state of New York? RD: It's a combination thing, a combination of Chenango County and the state; a good deal like they have it set up here. WU: So, it's the extension service? RD: Cooperative Extension Service. Actually, I was hired by Cornell, somebody at Cornell. 6 �Growing Community: Oceana’s Agricultural History Project A project supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant Project Director: Melanie Shell-Weiss, GVSU Liberal Studies Department WU: So like Michigan State is sort of the college that keeps our programs going here. Cornell University was doing the same thing in the state of New York, is that a fair…? RD: Yeah, it's their agricultural college. And I was there a couple of years and I kind of wanted to get back to Michigan and I had a chance to come to work in Hart. WU: Well, now let’s wait because I've lost track of the Michigan connection. In fact, I'm not so sure we've made it yet. RD: Just the fact that I was from there. I was from there. I was from Michigan. WU: Oh, Michigan. I was thinking of Hart. KM: So, what year did you come back to Michigan? RD: I came here in nineteen fifty-seven and that's why I think I'm a relatively recent arrival. Why am I having anything to do with the history? [Laughter] RD: But so, I arrived here, Bill McClain, you probably remember... WU: Oh yes. RD: ...County Agent. I was a 4-H Agent here for - I can’t even remember - until sometime in the nineteen sixties. And I don't know if I was ever really very good as a 4-H agent. I don't know that I really did a super good job. WU: Before we go much further, I want to make sure I understand the transition. True, you grew up in Michigan? RD: Yeah. WU: But you had no connections with Hart, Michigan? RD: Not up until I arrived. WU: Or Oceana County, is that true? RD: Yep. WU: So, then you're working in New York, you're gaining experience working with the agriculture community. RD: Yeah, 4-H. WU: And Bill McClain, who was… was he the County Extension Agent at that time? RD: He was the County Extension Agent. WU: How did you even find out that there was an opening? RD: Michigan State had a locator service. 7 �Growing Community: Oceana’s Agricultural History Project A project supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant Project Director: Melanie Shell-Weiss, GVSU Liberal Studies Department WU: I see. So, that's how you heard that there's a possibility in Oceana County for a 4-H agent. You obviously applied; this is how you showed up in Oceana County. Was that a quick summation of it? RD: Yeah, that’s about right. WU: Now, were you single or married at that time? RD: I was single at that time. WU: Okay, and the year was nineteen fifty-seven that you showed up? RD: Right. WU: A year I remember well. That's the year I graduated from Hart High School. RD: So anyway, Bill McClain was the County Extension Agent. Bob Hopkins, who you probably remember… WU: …very well. RD: ...was District Horticultural Agent. And Barbara Culver was the Home Agent. WU: Barbara Culver, okay. RD: I fixed that, I married her! [Laughter] RD: And we didn't quite make it to our forty-fifth anniversary before she died. WU: Well now help so I understand her background. The builder Culvers, is that…? RD: No connection that I know of. WU: No connection. Okay, well I know enough about your background that it made me wonder: is that how you got into electricity? But that’s another subject. RD: No, that’s different... WU: Yeah, let's not go there yet. [Laughter] WU: Alright, so we have you in Hart. You're working with Bill McClain and you're working with the 4-H folks. RD: Right. WU: And in that situation, at least help us understand, what 4-H was doing at that time and how it was working with agriculture? RD: Well, and at that time there were a lot of 4-H clubs that were Dairy clubs. We had a lot of small dairies at that time and they've sort of faded, you know. But anyway, so we had...well, the kids had all kinds of projects from rabbits and gerbils up to cows, you know, and a big thing was trying to develop 8 �Growing Community: Oceana’s Agricultural History Project A project supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant Project Director: Melanie Shell-Weiss, GVSU Liberal Studies Department leadership in the kids. And we had some bookkeeping projects; when they had like a cow, how much they put in and how much they got and so forth. WU: Yeah, keep track of everything…what you fed them... RD: Yeah, a little basic economics. WU: Okay. RD: And I went on, I can't even remember just exactly when I quit, but Charlie Halbert hired me for Farm Bureau services, selling farm supplies but a commission if I sold buildings. Pole buildings were getting big then because farms, like I say, the small farms were fading out of the picture and the big [?] were coming in, they needed big machinery and expensive machinery. So, we got to have big open buildings to store that stuff in and handle it. That’s where pole buildings came in. WU: Okay, so at this point you’re in Oceana County and we talked a little bit about the 4-H program. I know 4-H and the county fair was one big… RD: Oh, yeah. WU: Just briefly describe how 4-H and the county fair sort of work together and what the kids were trying to accomplish at that stage? RD: The kids, of course, it was a lot of exhibits, still is. You know, probably most of the exhibits are 4-H. Of course, like I said, the kids had projects and the county fair was the culmination. You know, if you had the grand champion or so forth, a feather in your hat and so forth. But that hasn't changed much, I guess, it’s still about the same thing. WU: Well, now do you remember the year that you started to work with Charlie and Farm Bureau? RD: It must have been about [nineteen] sixty-one. WU: Okay, now were you married at that time? RD: Yeah, by then I was, I think. WU: You had married Betty by then? RD: Been married about a year. That was another thing, being a 4-H agent and being married was kind of a conflict because we had to be out for meetings on so many evenings. WU: Never home, indeed. RD: Well, and that didn't go over very good. So, Barb didn't like that idea. I didn't either. WU: Excuse me, it's Barb. Did I call her Betty? RD: Barbara. WU: It’s Barbara, yes. So then, I can say that I went to work with Charlie at Farm Bureau. And it wasn't very long before I stopped selling just about everything except buildings, the first year or two I sold a few buildings. And before we got done, well, first of all, I had three crews running. Before long, we were building - I don't know how many by then - and that was keeping me busy, but it was fun work. 9 �Growing Community: Oceana’s Agricultural History Project A project supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant Project Director: Melanie Shell-Weiss, GVSU Liberal Studies Department WU: Was the Farm Bureau doing that? Or was this Buildings Plus? RD: No, they didn't exist yet. WU: Okay. RD: Yeah, and then Harry Lynch came to work for me - you remember Harry. WU: Very well. RD: Okay, so there were two salesmen and he was well acquainted up around Custer so we could get our business up there. And like I said, the first year it was one or two buildings. Before long it was a hundred and fifty. WU: Where is it? I am being called to start another interview. RD: Yeah, go right ahead. KM: I’m going to finish... WU: ...and she's going to take you through the rest of your oral history and get a chance to work with you on some of those issues. So, excuse me, I'm very pleased that you're willing to share all this. RD: So, like I said, we had a lot of pole buildings going. Harry Lynch came to work for me. And then by that time, we had five building crews going and one of the crew leaders sprung off and became our third salesman. KM: So, around what year was this? RD: Well, it went up until about all through the [nineteen] seventies. And we had some big projects: the bowling alley out north of town was one [laughter]. Like I said, big buildings and the city maintenance garage and so forth. That's a big one, but a lot of them were just... a lot of thirty-six-point-forty-eights because they would hold a Friday cherry shaker. KM: Oh, okay. RD: So, we built a lot of farm buildings and a few commercials. So, this went on, had a little debate with the building inspector on one, and then we had a big hassle with the electrical inspector. We had a hog house going, a big one, and just before the pigs are due to arrive, he came in and said, you're not meeting the electrical code. The Michigan legislature accepted the bill - the agricultural bill - from the building, from the electrical bill. I said, “we don't have to have that.” They says you do. Well, the owner was getting peeved, he says, if that building ain't ready by the time the pigs get here, I'm going to put half of them in your basement and the other half in the electrical inspector’s basement.” [Laughter] So, okay, we complied with the law. Even though we weren't supposed to, we did it real quick. That bill cost us about thirty-five hundred bucks. So, after the dust had settled, I called down to the State and found out I was right. We didn’t have to send the supervisors a bill for thirty-five hundred. KM: Did they ever pay you back? 10 �Growing Community: Oceana’s Agricultural History Project A project supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant Project Director: Melanie Shell-Weiss, GVSU Liberal Studies Department RD: They said, “we won't pay.” Pretty soon I got a call from a prosecuting attorney. I go up there with all my books and he says, “don't even open your book.” He says, “you're right.” But the supervisor still wouldn't pay. I said, “you will pay!” They said, “okay, we'll see you in court.” So, I sued the county. [Laughter] KM: Did you win? RD: I collected, but not the full amount; that attorney caved in. So anyway, the building business went on and in nineteen eighty we could begin to see Farm Bureau Services was making some bad decisions, big mistakes. This company is teetering. So, we had one fellow in our crowd there, Les Sieber [?], who was good with legal things. He went and we started to set up a corporation called “Buildings Plus.” KM: Okay. RD: And thought we'd have that on the shelf if Farm Bureau collapsed. We never got it on the shelf; Farm Bureau collapsed. They just wanted to get rid of the building business, they wanted to get rid of everything. So when we opened the doors of Buildings Plus, we had a hundred thousand dollars’ worth of sales! They just gave it to us. So, Buildings Plus went on pretty good and went on quite successfully. KM: And so, you only had the one partner? RD: Oh, there were ten of us. KM: There's ten of you? RD: ...in the corporation. Les Siebert [?] shot himself, not because the corporation, I know he had bad family problems. We had one of the members die, and so forth. We’d have them over [?], they would get paid off if they retired or quit or whatever. KM: Sure. RD: And this went on until Charlie, as manager - the manager before - he retired, got paid back and I took over as manager. KM: So, do you remember what year that was? RD: It was nineteen eighty-seven and I stayed manager for about seven years and retired. KM: Okay. RD: Yeah, and the company then, I don't know, some bad decisions were made or whatever. They collapsed. Not because I left [laughter], but the company collapsed and this just left me all alone. Oh, I should go back a little bit. The electrical business. KM: Yes. RB: Okay, after that practice with the electrical on that hog house, that kind of t’d [ticked] me off and I said because, “this guy is going to have us have to have a license to screw in a bulb; by God, I’ll become an electrician.” KM: So what year did you become an electrician? 11 �Growing Community: Oceana’s Agricultural History Project A project supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant Project Director: Melanie Shell-Weiss, GVSU Liberal Studies Department RD: Well, it takes time. So, we fudged a few figures because I’ve done some electrical work. And I don't know, it must have been sometime in the [nineteen] seventies, I went down and took an exam to be… the Journeyman’s exam, which I passed. And then I waited two years and then I was eligible for the Masters, which I did. And we were doing pretty good electrical business before long. We had two electrical crews working, the buildings we built and others, I mean... KM: So how many building crews did you have at that time? So, you had the two electrical crews and? RD: Two electricals and I think about five buildings. We went up, at maximum, I think we had about fiftytwo employees then. KM: Okay. RD: Because we had a bookkeeper because, of course, computers arose, which I'm not much of a bookkeeper to start with and with a computer, forget it, you know? [Laughter] But she was good. So okay, we went through several before we got one that was really good. And we had a receptionist and had some people at the counter because we also did retail sales. And so, I went over the electrical business, so that's kind of fun. I enjoyed that. KM: Okay. RD: So, after I retired, I still got a little electrical work. Let’s see, Barb died. That was eleven years ago. Yeah, about eleven and a half years ago, and, you know, the first while after she died, that house was awful empty. So, I did a lot of work. If I remember right, I did about thirteen thousand dollars’ worth of electrical work just on the side. KM: Oh, wow. RD: And I wasn't trying to do, you know, just whatever came along. But anyway, so I stayed in that until about... I ran out of gas, so I just got to where unfortunately I'm not as strong as I used to be. I’m slow; I can't charge people for working like that. So, I don't do much of anything anymore. KM: So, then you retired and you said nineteen ninety-four from Builders Plus? RD: No, no. About two thousand two, I think. KM: Two thousand and two, okay. And then that's when you started the electrical? RD: Well yeah, we've been doing electrical for about... KM: Well, I mean… RD: Buildings Plus had electric crews. KM: Sure, but you had been working and doing stuff at Buildings Plus until two thousand two. RD: Yep. KM: And then you started to take on more electrical. RD: I just did electrical on my own. Buildings Plus was still doing electrical at that time, they were still operating under my license. 12 �Growing Community: Oceana’s Agricultural History Project A project supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant Project Director: Melanie Shell-Weiss, GVSU Liberal Studies Department KM: Okay. RD: Which last January I let all my licenses go. I didn't want to pay the bill for them because I can't do the work. KM: Sure. RD: And I'm kind of proud of the fact that a lot of the people that we started at Buildings Plus went on to do electrical work, including the line superintendent for the city hired. Oh, you know, and a lot of the people that we got started in the building business went on. I feel good about that. We got people started out on good things, you know. KM: That's great. RD: So that's about it. KM: Well, let's go back in time because we talked a lot about what you did in terms of work, but you got married? RD: Yep. KM: And so, when you first arrived in Oceana County, what was it like? What was it like to be in Hart, at that time? RD: Oh, it was a lot different and it was different socially. We had many more migrants then because cherries were picked by hand and they were all thought of - the term “Latino” hadn’t become involved they were Mexican. Probably most of them were. And they had the Mexican fiesta downtown. Of course, downtown was a different looking place due to several fires. Some buildings disappeared, some were rebuilt. Some got the top floors knocked off. You know, they were… so the landscape changed a little bit. And, like I say, the small farmers who were good fellows and all that, nice people, but dairy is very time consuming. You're stuck fourteen hours a day if you can do the chores in two hours and that's got to be oppressive. And so, the small dairies went out and the dairies that remained were big enough to where they could have many people. You didn't have to be there all the time. And then the shift came to… we always had asparagus, it was always big stuff and of course, there’s a lot more now and the tree fruits, of course, but then we started in with the truck crops like carrots, squash, pickles... cucumbers. People always laugh, they aren’t pickles until you pickle them. [Laughter] RD: So, yeah, we had a lot more of the farm crops. I mean, like corn, especially corn. KM: Okay. RD: We had, well, some very fortunate years where the corn belt had a terrible drought and we didn’t. And so, and of course, I always was familiar with cherries and like I say the “tree foods” were always big. But, yeah, Hart changed a lot, like working at Farm Bureau still had the old feed mill. People brought in grain and had it ground and mixed and so forth. Well, one of our electric projects was rewiring that and we pulled the old feed mill out and junked it. 13 �Growing Community: Oceana’s Agricultural History Project A project supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant Project Director: Melanie Shell-Weiss, GVSU Liberal Studies Department KM: Okay. RD: It no longer, I mean, nobody does that anymore. KM: What year was that? RD: I can’t tell you for sure. KM: Decade? RD: Huh? KM: What decade? RD: Oh, it must have been probably early middle [nineteen] eighties, maybe? KM: Okay. RD: No, wait a minute. Yeah, it would have been about the middle [nineteen] eighties. KM: So, when you first moved here before you got married, did you live in sort of downtown Hart or were you further out? RD: I rented a room over here for about, oh, six to eight months. And then I built a garage to live in until I could build a house; that didn't work out too good. I couldn't get a well, so we jacked it up and moved it and got a well where we moved it to. And that was the house that Barbara and I started; it was real small. KM: So where did you move the house? RD: Over to the west side of town. KM: The west side of town? RD: Originally it was on the east side. KM: Okay. RD: Yeah, you know this business about you're supposed to be able to be the guy that divides the water with the… you know, goes along with… the stick dips when he goes [?]. KM: Yes. RD: We had two of them, one who was sort of an amateur with the stick and one [?] who was supposed to be super at it. They laid out this van [?] of water. They drilled six holes, three holes up. None of them had water. I had a hole three hundred and eighty feet deep and no well. I paid half price at that time. KM: Sure. RD: So, it was still darned expensive to find out there wasn't water there. So anyway, we moved it over and they got a good well there, so they're still going. And I say that was the house that Barbara and I had when we got married. It wasn’t very big. And so we went along pretty good. We adopted a baby. 14 �Growing Community: Oceana’s Agricultural History Project A project supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant Project Director: Melanie Shell-Weiss, GVSU Liberal Studies Department KM: Okay. RD: That was okay. The adoption agency said it was pretty small, so by the time we said we're going to adopt a second one, they said you’ve got to have more room. So, we built the house we’ve got now. KM: Okay, and where is that still on the west side? RD: South of town on top of the hill. And I pulled off some of the guys from my crews and got the thing framed in and we did a lot of work ourselves. Of course, we hired the plasterer. We hired some work, we hired a lot of the work. Fortunately, we had some money on hand and could finance the thing. Still kept the small house. KM: So what year did you move to the second house? RD: Well, it must have been about fifty years ago. That would make it when? Sometime in the [nineteen] sixties. KM: Yes. RD: Because the first baby we adopted is fifty-one now. KM: Okay. RD: And that went on. Then we adopted another one who he lives here in Hart and adopted a girl. And if we were to be sure we could get another girl, we would have tried adopting a fifth one. But the agency says, you know, enough already. KM: What agency did you go through? RD: Catholic Social Services. KM: Okay. RD: You could guess by my mother's maiden name or first name, Magdalena. KM: Yes. RD: Who else? [Laughter] RD: So that, of course, kids went through the whole school system here at Hart and I think they all got a pretty good education. I think Hart’s got a good system here, yeah. But, I say there's been a lot of change in Hart and I think, you know, one of the things kind of impressed me. Like I say, the little farmers went out and of course, land became so valuable, farmers had access to credit now. And most of them knew how to do what [?]. I'm really impressed by what some of the young farmers are doing. I mean, this is computerized and controlled by satellites. You know, we are a long way from what I know about. And yeah, they go across the field in the fertilizer, putting on more or less fertilizer because the satellite up there is telling it what to do. So, like I say, this is kind of beyond my scope. KM: So, do you have any memories besides the ones you've shared about living at Hart? 15 �Growing Community: Oceana’s Agricultural History Project A project supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant Project Director: Melanie Shell-Weiss, GVSU Liberal Studies Department RD: Oh, I have to think about that a little bit. Well, I knew a lot of interesting people. You know, when you were doing building work, you met people. Oh, I knew Walter, here, you're from fixing his sprinkler system, which was an annual occasion, it seemed like. [Laughter] And his garage door operator. You know, you just met a lot of... went to a lot of interesting places. KM: Okay. RD: And some are more interesting because they were pleasant and some are more interesting because they were unpleasant. KM: Sure. RD: Yeah, you know, some of the places you did work, you put your boots on to go in. KM: So, you mentioned one of your children still lives in Hart? RD: Yeah, Gregory, my youngest boy. KM: Okay. RD: He lives in Hart. He works on a farm and he has worked in industry, too, but he likes to work on a farm. And my daughter lives in Whitehall, so that's not too dreadfully far away. But she did six years in the Air Force before. And my second oldest son did four years in Germany. Unfortunately, the oldest boy wanted desperately to get into the Coast Guard, but he could only see with one eye, he was blind in one eye and they wouldn’t take him. And the youngest boy, would have tried to get into the service, but he has had seizures and they won’t let him in. They’re pretty picky. KM: So, do you think one of the reasons why they wanted to go into the service was because you were in the service? RD: I think it was just expected that people did about then. You know, I mean they had the draft; it was Vietnam and we still had the draft running. KM: Sure. RD: So, you joined, I think maybe Mark was drafted. I can't remember. KM: Okay. RD: Anyway, you know, I went in ROTC and if I hadn't, I'd have been drafted. KM: So, and I forgot to ask you this earlier when you were talking about your parents, since your dad was first generation and your mom was second generation German, did you grow up speaking any German? RD: I wish I had; they both spoke German whenever they wanted to talk about something they didn't want us to know. [Laughter] But I should’ve learned German then. KM: Okay. RD: My uncle spoke German; I should have. I couldn't recognize things in German when I got to Germany. But Germany is like here, there's a lot of difference between South Germany and North Germany. You know, just like Georgia… 16 �Growing Community: Oceana’s Agricultural History Project A project supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant Project Director: Melanie Shell-Weiss, GVSU Liberal Studies Department KM: Sure. RD: ...and New England. KM: Okay. RD: Where did you come from? Are you…? KM: So I'm adopted. I was adopted from South Korea. RD: Oh, okay. KM: Yep, and I grew up in western New York actually. So, I grew up in Rochester. RD: Oh, yeah. Rochester is in the Lake Plains region. KM: Yes. RD: That's the fruit growing region for New York. KM: Yes, it is. RD: That's kind of an interesting background. You ought to put something… [laughter]. KM: So, did any of your children get into building then? You mentioned your one son did a little bit. RD: He worked with us at Buildings Plus for a little while. KM: Oh, okay. RD: He didn't get along the best… he isn’t a person that works good with other people. But we were building at that time a big structural steel building and he was good at that because he wasn't afraid of heights. KM: Oh wow, okay. RD: So, you know, he could get up there. And I had a couple of people that were very good at heights, you know. One guy, whether it was three feet off the ground or thirty - it was all the same. You could walk around then, so, you know. And it's kind of sad. He comes to our church now and he's got Alzheimer's disease and you think, boy, how able he was and now, you know, it's kind of sad. KM: And so, what do you think of Hart today? RD: I think Hart’s doing good. You know, the buildings are up. Well, they're having a little trouble keeping some of them occupied. But, you know, the town is in good shape. We don't have a slum. Well, we don’t have a slum area or anything like that. They keep the streets up nice, the town looks good, and I think Hart's doing very well. And which is pretty hard to do in small town USA because your businesses can't compete with the big box stores. So, it's just hard to keep a business going in Hart, supermarkets, that type of thing - food. 17 �Growing Community: Oceana’s Agricultural History Project A project supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant Project Director: Melanie Shell-Weiss, GVSU Liberal Studies Department But we had a very good clothing store here, Powers [?], and they had to shut down; they couldn't compete. I really hated to see them go because they were really helpful. And well, we’ve got one hardware store left in town. We had two or three. Of course, again, the same thing - how do they compete? KM: Yeah. RD: But I think Hart is keeping the town looking good and reasonably prosperous for a small town. I think they're doing good. KM: Okay, so remember that this interview will be saved for a long time. RD: Oh, okay. KM: So, when someone listens to this tape fifty plus years from now, what would you like them to know about your life and community? RD: I don't know; I don’t know what they'll be interested in then. KM: Well, what do you think is... from all of your fifty some odd years living in Hart, what do you think is something that you want people to remember? RD: I think I’d like them to remember some of the people here that I think were so good. Some of the people in our church that I always thought were so remarkable. One of the farm families out here, Helen Gilliland, and I think everybody ought to remember her. She was such a remarkable woman; not that she had years of college, but, boy, she was intelligent. I don't know, I guess, I think some of the people that built things up here or some of the farmers that established. I think Greiner Farms out here that started processing their own fruit and have grown very large. Todd Greiner out here… around here, when you say Greiner, that doesn't narrow it down very far - there’s a lot of them. KM: Okay. RD: But anyway, Todd Greiner did the same thing, build up a very successful business. Yeah, I think they ought to remember people like that and how much they did. I suppose you ought to remember some of the politicals. Yeah, we've had, I think, some outstanding mayors and some not so outstanding. KM: So, can you give me an example of maybe an outstanding mayor? RD: So, I’m trying to think. I think Harry Lynch did well, the guy that was a salesman for us. I think, I can't pick out… of course, I'm not in the city. KM: Sure. RD: But I think, you know, I can't pick a particular one, but I think they've done a good job with the town. KM: Okay. RD: And then, of course, you also have city managers. And I think the one we’ve got now - oh, I ought to know his name. I'm getting old, I don't remember a thing like that. 18 �Growing Community: Oceana’s Agricultural History Project A project supported by a National Endowment for the Humanities Common Heritage Grant Project Director: Melanie Shell-Weiss, GVSU Liberal Studies Department KM: That’s okay. RD: We had some that I thought were really poor, but hey, I wasn't paying their wages so I guess I shouldn't say too much. [Laughter] KM: So, do you have any advice to a young person who may be listening to this tape? RD: I guess my ID's are pretty outdated, but I think people ought to look for getting into a job that produces a tangible result. Everybody is producing printouts and pictures and games, but I think we ought to go back. We ought to have some engineers and we ought to have tradesmen. KM: Okay. RD: Boy, it is hard to find people who can take the blueprint and build something out of it. I mean, you know, polymer sheet metal workers, mechanical contractors; the ones that are here do very well. KM: Yes. RD: But it's hard to find people to do that. And kids aren't interested in it. They want to do things that are to do with computers and what have you. So, I think… well, I guess what I thought is they ought to look into the trades. KM: Okay, and then is there anything else that you'd like to share that I have not asked you? RD: I think we've covered an awful lot. [Laughter] I think you’ve got it. KM: Alrighty, well, thank you so much for your time and for sharing your memories with me. 19 � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/abf077a2a53c54c7afd9dce147755bed.mp3 fefc2059101959bdad91a7bd497128d7 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Oceana County Migrant Labor History Collection Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Shell-Weiss, Melanie Description An account of the resource Collection contains images and documents digitized and collected through the project "Growing Community: A Century of Migration in Oceana County." This project was a collaboration between El Centro Hispano de Oceana, the Oceana County Historical and Genealogical Society, and Grand Valley State University funded by a Common Heritage grant from the United States National Endowment for the Humanities. The materials in this collection document the history of communities in Hart, Shelby, and Walkerville and explore themes of migration, labor, religion, family, belonging, national and cultural identities, regional, national, and international connections, and citizenship. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Oceana County (Mich.) Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Grand Valley State University. Kutsche Office of Local History Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource El Centro Hispano de Oceana; Oceana County Historical and Genealogical Society Relation A related resource Growing Community (NEH Common Heritage project) Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-06 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf image/jpeg audio/mp3 Type The nature or genre of the resource Text Image Sound recording Language A language of the resource eng spa Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016 Subject The topic of the resource Oceana County (Mich.) Hart (Mich.) Shelby (Mich.) Farms Farmers Migrant agricultural laborers Hispanic Americans Account books Diaries Oral history Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context DC-06_Dold_Ralph Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Dold, Ralph Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2016-06-18 Title A name given to the resource Dold, Ralph (audio interview and transcript) Description An account of the resource Oral history interview with Ralph Dold. Interviewed by Kimberly McKee on June 18, 2016 in Hart, Michigan. English language. Ralph Dold was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1931 as the son of first and second generation German immigrants. His childhood was spent in Detroit during the Great Depression before moving to Milford, Michigan for high school. Ralph later attended Michigan State University and majored in “Crops & Soils” after being a member of the Future Farmers of America while in high school. After graduating from college and serving in the army, he relocated to Hart, Michigan in 1957 where he served as the 4-H Agent and later worked for Farm Bureau Services. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource McKee, Kimberly (interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Oceana County (Mich.) Detroit (Mich.) Hart (Mich.) Farms Farmers Future Farmers of America Michigan State University Audio recordings Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Growing Community (NEH Common Heritage) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/52c4d6dccdb2835a34ce9da886c493dd.jpg da573163bd039131867745557c8afb14 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Robert H. Merrill photographs Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Merrill, Robert H., 1881-1955 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1909/1950 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Robert H. Merrill papers (RHC-222) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-222 Description An account of the resource Photographs, negatives, and lantern slides digitized from the papers of engineer and archaeologist Robert H. Merrill. A Grand Rapids native, Merrill held an accomplished career as a civil engineer. He founded the company Spooner & Merrill, which held offices in Grand Rapids and Chicago. From 1919-1921, Merrill lived in China, working as Assistant Principal Engineer on a reconstruction of the Grand Canal - the oldest and longest canal system in the world. Merrill became fascinated by archaeology, and among other projects, he traveled to the Uxmal Pyramids in Yucatan, Mexico, with a research expedition from Tulane University. Merrill's photo collection includes images of his travels and projects, friends and family. Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Merrill_NE_70_1928_009 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1928-05 Title A name given to the resource Don Fernando Hotel Description An account of the resource Black and white photograph of eight people in front of the Don Fernando Hotel in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Subject The topic of the resource Santa Fe (N.M.) Hotels Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Robert H. Merrill papers (RHC-222) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpg Language A language of the resource eng Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Merrill, Robert H., 1881-1955 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/e313a19f60aee76edbb3bcf02449ca18.jpg b86a9f4c5c9ef5841fabb300df0ed2c2 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Grand Valley State University Photographs Subject The topic of the resource Aerial photographs Universities and colleges Michigan Grand Rapids (Mich.) Allendale (Mich.) Building Facilities Dormitories Students Events 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s Description An account of the resource People, places, and events of Grand Valley State University from its founding in 1960 as a 4-year college in western Michigan. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource News & Information Services. University Communications Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/41">News &amp; Information Services. University Photographs. (GV012-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017-03-03 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-NC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright - Non-Commercial Use Permitted</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpg Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource image Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV012-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1960s-2000s Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Local Subject Subject headings specific to a particular image collection 1990s Source <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/41">University photographs, GV012-01</a> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV012-01_UAPhotos_001176 Title A name given to the resource Don Williams leading march on Martin Luther King Day Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University Description An account of the resource Don Williams, Dean of Minority Affairs, leading march on Martin Luther King Day. Subject The topic of the resource Grand Valley State University Michigan Allendale (Mich.) Universities and colleges Events Students Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-NC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright - Non-Commercial Use Permitted</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives color photo https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/798484f43902b2a3553c6d6a1fd93932.mp3 6be54b6c1f0aadba134be223020b7cde Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event Midweek Lenten Service Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-19970305 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1997-03-05 Title A name given to the resource Don't Cry For Me! Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on March 5, 1997 entitled "Don't Cry For Me!", on the occasion of Midweek Lenten Service, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/4fd1af0029a540177eab5147df4fdfdc.mp3 0ef7fb8819cb54b7acf7df98094910f3 https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/1ce834ef0a96085368bd7d4f3c563bfb.pdf c63925665e3f00b70f05ff28ce113808 PDF Text Text Don’t Do It For God’s Sake A Response to 9-11 Jeremiah 29:4-13; Ephesians 3:14-21 Richard A. Rhem Christ Community Church Spring Lake, Michigan September 16, 2001 Transcription of the spoken sermon Defenseless under the night Our world in stupor lies; Yet, dotted everywhere, Ironic points of light Flash out wherever the just Exchange their messages: May I, composed like them Of Eros and of dust, Beleaguered by the same Negation and despair, Show an affirming flame. W. H. Auden I am aware that this week, while I was away, good things were happening in this community. I always tell Peter Theune that when I am not here, it's up to him, and he with the team, has had created for this community and the broader community a significant week. Part of the celebration were the four candles behind me that were symbols of those sites of devastation, and this morning we lighted, as well, the paschal candle as a sign of our remembrance of those who moved from life through death into eternal life. I want to express my appreciation to the team for the fine way that all of you in significant numbers have been here. The lines of W. H. Auden's poem that so powerfully catch the mood and spirit of our day were written September 1, 1939. Auden attended the theater and I believe the Yorktown section of New York City that was heavily populated with German people. He attended the theater and, in the midst of the showing, as was the custom at that time, there was a newsreel that showed the Nazi invasion of Poland, and when that news came on, the theater erupted in shouts of triumph and applause. W. H. Auden left the theater thoroughly shaken at what he had just experienced, that eruption of emotion and elation at the forthcoming devastation that was wreaked by Hitler and his troops on the European © Grand Valley State University   �Don’t Do It For God’s Sake Richard A. Rhem Page 2   continent. It so shook him concerning human nature, that he began a spiritual pilgrimage that led him eventually to Christian faith. Indeed. We, too, are in a time when suddenly we become aware of that potential for evil that is part and parcel of our human condition. The sermon subject this morning is titled, "Don't Do It For God's Sake." It was intended to be a word spoken particularly to parents and to this community about being serious about the nurture and the traditioning of our children, for this is opening Sunday and I am well aware of the fact that parents today face tremendous tensions and pressures. There is such a competition for the time and the energy of our children and our youth. So many good things to do, so many difficult choices to make, and the sermon was going to be,"Don't do it for God's sake," for God doesn't need our children to be nurtured, but do it for our sake. Do it for the sake of our children and our youth, and for the sake of their future. I was going to put in a good word, not in the typical fashion of church where it is for God's honor and God's glory and God's demand and God's requirement -I was simply going to say to you, "Don't do it for God's sake. Do it for your sake. And for the sake of your children." And then, of course, everything changed and I was in touch with the office throughout the week and we made obviously some liturgical alterations, but I thought that title can stand, with a bit of a different twist. I would still speak to you this morning for just a few moments under the title, "Don't Do It For God's Sake." Don't do what for God's sake? Don't build human community for God's sake. Do it for our sake and for the sake of the future of humanity. Don't be serious about religious faith and vision that moves toward love and peace for God's sake, but for our own sake, for the sake of the world, for the sake of the possibility of a human and humane future. Were you shocked at the darkness that erupted this week? Really, on reflection, you ought not to have been. For if we are traditioned in the biblical story which arises out of Israel's faith and finds expression in the faith through Jesus Christ our Lord, then you would know that what has happened is that which is always possible and always potentially on the horizon of the human situation. Whether you take the story in Genesis 3 of the Fall, or whether, as I have suggested, we write some new story that is more consistent with our knowledge of the human situation, it doesn't really matter. It doesn't matter the story we tell. It is the fact, the message, the reality to which the biblical story points, and our human experience has confirmed. The great church father and theologian, St. Augustine, created the doctrine of Original Sin, and Original Sin was simply an attempt to express that which is commonly true, that all of us are tainted with that inward corruption that makes us always potentially on the threshold of some fresh expression of the darkness. This is not a problem of a particular ethnic group or racial group or religious tradition. This is the human condition. We are © Grand Valley State University �Don’t Do It For God’s Sake Richard A. Rhem Page 3   born in sin, says the Psalmist, the human heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, says the prophet. And in those early stories of Genesis, God repents that he's ever created this human creature, given the darkness that emerges from his behavior. No, we need not be shocked at what we have experienced, nor can we separate ourselves from it, for it is the universal human condition. You may say, "Ah, but this was something special. This was something different," and I would say, "Dear friends, just look at our own history." I have not time this morning to document it all for you, but let me simply remind you of Crusades in which Christian forces put the Muslim to the sword until the blood ran thick in the streets of Jerusalem. I have only to mention the word Inquisition to remind you of that demand to deny one's native faith in order to confess Jesus or to be burned at the stake. I have only to remind you that in the experience of some of us who are older here, in our own lifetime, this world has seen the annihilation of six million Jews perpetrated by a darkness that emerged amidst a people most cultured, most educated and most Christianized in Western civilization. It is not a matter of Islam. It is not a matter of Christianity or Judaism. It is a human manifestation of darkness that is ever hovering in the wings the moment there are those who become so obsessed with hate, anger, that they are willing to perpetrate the holocaust of devastation. We might ask the question, "What drives people to that kind of hatred?" I think we have to distinguish here between the leadership of those who follow and are recruited into this cruel business, leaders with calculating brilliance and full resource, implementing this attack with devastating efficiency. Those who realize a potential within all of us to become evil incarnate, and then they, in their wake, gathering others who have nothing to lose, who need a cause, who need some call to nobility with some promise of eternal reward, and wherever there is a world where there are masses of such people, there is a potential for demonic leadership to manipulate them and to move them to the kind of darkness that we have experienced in this week past. It ought not to shock us, but it ought to cause us to raise the question - What is there in our world that would create the context for that kind of hatred, anger, and violence? I could play for you the tape of the sermon of July 1 of this past summer, "Beyond Nation, Ethnicity and Creed," in which I suggested at that time that it was not really wise for us to be seeking to build a missile defense system against some nuclear bomb of a rogue nation, but that we might better sit down with those rogue nations and ask them, "What are your fears? What are your hopes and your dreams? How can we, the world's one super power, with seemingly limitless resource and giftedness, what can we do in order to bring you into a global community in which we can dwell together in peace and harmony? © Grand Valley State University �Don’t Do It For God’s Sake Richard A. Rhem Page 4   It is incumbent upon us at a time like this to search our own souls and not miss the symbolic value of the targets that were struck. The World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the symbols of our wealth and of our military might by which in self-serving interest, we perpetuate a world in which we can continue to enjoy the ascendency. Those are the questions that we need to ask ourselves. And how are we to respond? With great care. We are not different than any other people. We stand in solidarity with the world's darkness; we carry within us in our own hearts the seeds of potential violence, but we have been nurtured in a tradition that has taught us that the only hope of the world is the breaking of the cycle of violence. Hate begets hate. Violence begets violence. And if we haven't learned the lesson by now, then certainly it is time for us to think again. We have heard calls for retaliation and revenge. We all, being human, feel the anger. We experience the emotion of needing to respond. Not so long ago, I saw the film, Pearl Harbor, and reliving that day of infamy, I remembered as I saw the Japanese pilots climbing into their Zero planes on the aircraft carrier, I remembered as a child at school how with our doodling we would make pictures, war pictures, tanks and planes, how the P-38s and our Mustangs would shoot down those Japanese Zeroes, and as I saw in the film and relived again the emotion I felt as a child, I hated the Japs! The enemy was demonized. And even now, we can so easily fall into that trap, the consequence of which would simply escalate the cycle of violence one more time. And in this world, with the technology and the weaponry that is available in this world, if we don't break the cycle of violence, we will destroy ourselves. The rhetoric has to cease. Tell me how a Christian television evangelist named Jerry Falwell, speaking on the TV evangelist program of Pat Robertson, can point the finger at liberal civil rights groups and abortionists and gay and lesbian people and say that all such are partially responsible for this devastation? Don't they know that it was the anti-Semitic, hateful, anti-Jewish rhetoric of a Martin Luther, no less, that flowered into the Holocaust? Don't we realize, at least in the Christian Church that, unless we are touched by the gospel and the grace of God so that we do not react naturally, we will become the instruments and the agents of that movement that will cut out the possibility of a human and humane future? Don't we know, don't we really know that it is finally, only in the acknowledgment of our own involvement in the human situation and the responsible response to that situation by which the world can be changed? A friend called me last evening, and I said to him, "If you were preaching tomorrow, what would you preach?" He said, "I'd preach on anger." And then he said to me, "I am just amazed at how little the gospel has really sunk into us." And he spoke of a friend with whom he enjoys a conversation, cultured, educated, Christian, intelligent, who said, "We should round all the Islamic people up and © Grand Valley State University �Don’t Do It For God’s Sake Richard A. Rhem Page 5   ship them out," reminding me of what we did during the wake of Pearl Harbor when we incarcerated Japanese Americans, doing a terrible injustice. Dear friends, we do not have the luxury of responding according to our own animal nature. The cycle of violence must stop here. Not that we do not take responsible action to root out that which threatens not only this nation, but the whole of civilization. But, it is the function of good religion to enable us to transcend those native responses and that is why we need a community like this. That really is what our struggle has been all about. That is why we need to do it, not for God's sake, but for our own sake. We cannot bring shalom to the earth, we cannot bring in the kingdom of God universal, but this we can do - we can love one another. We can act with compassion. We can seek justice. We can love mercy, and we can walk humbly with God, arm in arm together. That is why we need each other. That is why we need a faith community that will lift us, enable us, who are part and parcel of the human scene, who in solidarity with all of those across the globe would enable us to transcend our anger, and to be spared the violence that will simply keep the trauma moving toward the darkness and final doom. One of the great things about the biblical tradition is the prophetic voice that called upon the people of Israel to be self-critical. The prophets called Israel to awareness of sin and corruption in their society. They were relentless in their critique of the self-satisfied religious and political institutions. Jeremiah's famous temple sermon in the seventh chapter condemned the presumption of a hollow religious practice that failed to do justice and love mercy. At the Temple, he cried out, Do not trust in these deceptive words, "This is the Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord." Jeremiah excoriated the people of Judah for their lack of compassion and mercy and justice, and the judgment that he promised came sure as his word, and Babylon moved in and Jerusalem was devastated and the exiles were moved off into Babylon and there there were voices of unrest. There were other voices there counseling the exiles not to settle down, for surely they would soon be delivered. But, Jeremiah wrote a letter saying, do not listen to these voices. You will be there for a long time. Settle in. Build houses, plant gardens, and pray for Babylon's welfare. And then, beautifully, this prophet whose stern warning had been unheeded but whose word had become reality gave this wonderful word of hope and comfort: I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans of good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah's God was the Lord of history who moved the nations in direct, determining fashion. I no longer can conceive of God as the one who controls the movement of history in such direct fashion, but I do believe that the grain of the © Grand Valley State University �Don’t Do It For God’s Sake Richard A. Rhem Page 6   universe moved by the Creator Spirit beckons to life and a hopeful future realized in loving community. It is to that beckoning Spirit that I point you, to respond to the lure of love believing God's intention is to give us a future and a hope. Television coverage this past week has been full of stories of heroism, of kindness and gentleness, of the compassion of so many who have given of themselves and some giving their lives in their effort to save others. Such dark times reveal not only the worst, but the best of the human spirit. And in those stories we see the hope and possibility of a future of human well-being. We cannot effect the kingdom of God nor the condition of universal shalom by ourselves. But, we can ensure that its small beginning is tasted here concretely ,in this loving community as we embrace one another, care one for another, and together create here a free and gracious place for all who would abide in love and peace. We do it not for God's sake, but for our own sake, and the sake of a human and humane future - surely the Divine intention. © Grand Valley State University � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Richard A. Rhem Collection Description An account of the resource Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar. Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Religion Interfaith worship Sermons Sound Recordings Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Rhem, Richard A. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Kaufman Interfaith Institute Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Language A language of the resource English Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1981-2014 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 text/pdf Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Event After 9-11, Pentecost XV Scripture Text Jeremiah 29:4-13, Ephesians 3:14-21 Location The location of the interview Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context KII-01_RA-0-20010916 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2001-09-16 Title A name given to the resource Don't Do It For God's Sake Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Richard A. Rhem Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Clergy--Michigan Reformed Church in America Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.) Sermons Relation A related resource Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/ Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Description An account of the resource A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on September 16, 2001 entitled "Don't Do It For God's Sake", on the occasion of After 9-11, Pentecost XV, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Jeremiah 29:4-13, Ephesians 3:14-21. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives Divine Intention Human community Non-violence https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/efb17100d6dbe7c8aead118230005288.mp4 b2630dda90fb4fc8385e1e33475d20fe https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/796f4f4eb5159d98e805ae26dd794852.pdf 34586e5f0c539316dab09b0d9ce6cec0 PDF Text Text Grand Valley State University All American Girls Professional Baseball League Veterans History Project Interviewee’s Name: Terry Donahue Length of Interview: (51:37) Date of Interview: August 4, 2010 at the Reunion of the Professional Girls Baseball League Interviewed by: James Smither Transcribed by: Lindsey Thatcher, March 28, 2011 Interviewer: “Let’s begin with your full name and then when and where were you born? My full name is Theresa, T-H-E-R-E-S-A Donahue. I was born in [Millaville or Melaval] Saskatchewan, Canada. I was born on a farm, my father farmed. And that’s where I grew up. Interviewer: “And in what year, when was your birthday?” 1925. Interviewer: “Okay, born in 1925?” 1925. Interviewer: “Ah, same as my mother?” Okay. Interviewer: “What was your early childhood like?” I had wonderful parents; we had a happy home life. My, both my parents were very sports minded people. And I can honestly say that I can never remember not playing with a ball. My, in fact I remember as a very young child my Dad playing in a game, you know with his men. But I was very fortunate. I had one brother (01:00), 14 months younger than I was. He was very athletic and very good. So I had all of that on my side. Interviewer: “So as a young child you were playing baseball with who? Just your dad and your brother or did you have a team that you played with?” Oh no, my mother I can remember going out in the yard with my Dad and brother and my mother and Dad would knock us a balls and playing catch and so on. And of course as I got older I would play with the boys, my brother was very good and I tagged along. Interviewer: “So you were in a farm community?” Yes. �Interviewer: “Okay so when you were a kid where did you play baseball, where did you play?” Well at school, at school. And then my brother would go with a bunch of boys and I tagged a long and would play with them, so I have been involved a long time. (02:00) Interviewer: “You went to high school I take it?” Yes. Interviewer: “Okay, how was your high school experience?” Oh listen, I played on a girl’s team. And we had we used to have what you would call sports days and we would play at competition from other schools and so… Interviewer: “Was this baseball or was this softball?” This was softball. Interviewer: “Softball.” Softball, yeah. Interviewer: “What position were you playing?” Then I pitched and played the infield and that was in the school league and then I would play with my brother and his friends. Interviewer: “Do you remember Pearl Harbor?” Yes I can remember my dad and my mother talking about Pearl Harbor. Interviewer: “Did you have a radio?” Yes. Interviewer: “That’s probably where they heard it?” No television then. Interviewer: “Right.” But we did have a radio (03:00) and we played marbles and ping pong and you know and mother was always very, a doer. �Interviewer: “Your dad was a farmer?” Yes. Interviewer: “Oh okay. Did you have to do chores?” Yes, when I came home from school I had to milk my cow and I had to do the dishes. And you know after school you would come home and head out maybe in the mornings gather the eggs, you know? I wouldn’t trade that life for anything growing up; I wouldn’t want to go back to it. Interviewer: “How did you first hear about the All American Girls Professional Baseball League?” Well I was scouted from the city team to go in to and play with their league; they had a very good league in the city. Interviewer: “How did they know about you?” (03:59) Well one of the sports days the two teams from Regina and Moosejaw was playing an exhibition game, and just before their game we were playing in the finals. And I was pitching and the manager of the Moosejaw Royals saw me there and then I remember him contacting my dad saying that I would like your daughter to come in for a try out, I was 15 years old. So my mother said, no way you are going to school. Well my dad saw to it that I went in for my try out. And I made it. So then some arrangements were made that I would have to finish school and then when school was finished I could go into the city and play ball for the rest of that season. So school started. Interviewer: “Was this baseball, or was this softball?” (05:00) This was all softball, all softball. Interviewer: “Okay, was it a paid team?” No. Interviewer: “So you were just playing for fun.” And it was a very good league. Interviewer: “Okay.” �Very good league and that is where I was scouted by the All Americans. Interviewer: “Okay, so they, somebody from their organization saw you play?” In 1954 our Moosejaw Royal team won the Western Canadian Championship. And there was a scout there I think that it was Mr. Bishop and he asked me if I would be interested in coming down next spring for a tryout with the All American Girls and I think it was in Pascagoula, Mississippi. I said “Yes I would”. And of course I could hardly wait to tell my parents, because my mother was not happy. Interviewer: “What year was this?” This was in 1954. Interviewer: “’54?” No, ’46 I mean. Interviewer: “No, oh okay yeah.” (06:00) Yeah I went into Moosejaw in 1946, and I played 4 years there and in 1945 we won the western title. Then they asked me to come down in the spring of 1946 to come down to Pascagoula for a tryout. And mother wasn’t too happy but this is where the chaperones came in. I think mother thought that maybe I wouldn’t make it. But anyway I came down I remember on that train getting into Chicago and then going with this group from there to Pascagoula and that was how I was scouted. Interviewer: “What was you’re, you are coming from Canada, had you been to the United States before?” Never. Interviewer: “Okay, and then you went into the south?” Yeah, to Pascagoula. Interviewer: “What was that experience like?” My god, well somebody is, well they sort of talked different and I (07:00) was so excited about having the chance to make this league where I could play ball every day. I can remember telling my dad once my dream was if I could play ball every day that would be my dream come true. So I was so excited, that was 1946 when they were adding two new teams to the league. They were adding Peoria and Muskegon so they needed some new gals. �Interviewer: “Now you were used to playing softball?” Yes. Interviewer: “What kind of ball were you playing with your new position?” It was softball, fast pitched. Interviewer: “Okay, well I mean when you were getting into the Professional Baseball though?” It was fast pitched. Interviewer: “Right, but the ball was…?” 12 inch. Interviewer: “Okay” It started with 12 inch. Interviewer: “Okay, so the transition was not that big of a thing for you because you already had…” Yes, that’s right. It was the same size ball as we were playing with in Canada. (08:00) Interviewer: “But it changed later on though.” Yes. Interviewer: “We will talk about that a little later on. So a scout sees you playing in the softball league and now they have offered you this professional job, and you are going to be playing in the south.” They offered me to come down for a try out. Interviewer: “Right and you passed the try out.” Yes, I came down I passed. And I’ll never forget that day. There was it seemed to me like hundreds of girls there all trying and I didn’t know anybody. I remember I remember managers and people up there with their big pencil and paper and they would call your name and you would go out and they called my name and I remember I ran out to short stop. And they knocked me grounders and they got your flies and you had to go, and I was really on that day I was picking them up, but I got a dirty bounce and it cut my eye there. So the chaperone came out and �a nurse and they (09:00) said we have to have you get some stitches and I said “I’m not going anyplace until I’m finished,” I said “put a band aid on it and I’m going back out”. And I did, I was lucky because I did very well that day. And so, then allocation came and this huge room I had never seen a room this large and all of these girls in it, and we are all trying to make the league. And I can remember sitting there and trying to listen for my name. It wasn’t coming and I thought oh my gosh, I tell you when I heard my name I was the happiest girl in that whole building, because that meant I made the league. So that I will never forget and even talking about it I kind of get goose pimples because I was so excited and there were girls crying because they didn’t make it or they were being traded or so on and so forth, but I was happy. (10:00) Interviewer: “So let’s go back over the story, and let’s talk about it” Well I got to Pascagoula and we worked very hard for two weeks I remember it was so hot and coming from Canada you know it was cold there in April and I got down there and I worked very very hard, then came allocation day and I had never seen a room that big in my life and all of these girls there are all trying to make the league and so anyway they sent me out to short stop and all of the managers, there was one knocking balls as hard as he could, making you run for it and all of this. And I did really well, but I had a dirty bounce and it cut my eye, on my head (11:00) and took me off, the nurse and the chaperone says I think you might need some stitches. I said put a band-aid on it, I’m going back out and I’m going to finish. And I often thought, maybe they thought there is a gutsy kid. You know? I don’t know, but anyway I heard my name and I can tell you I was so excited. I was so happy I could hardly wait to tell my dad and my mother. So I made it. And then they told me I was going to be with the Peoria Red Wings I was pleased because that was a brand new team we were adding. So we were sort of, you know there were a few veterans on it, but I made this Peoria. Great team, great group of gals so… Interviewer: “How was your first season? You were a rookie. ” I was a rookie. Interviewer: “So did you play very much?” I did, really, for, I filled in a lot of places. You know there were only 15 girls to a team (12:00), and so you know if a girl was hurt or wasn’t feeling well I went in. And I can tell you one time, our catcher, our regular catcher broke her finger and our manager Leo Schrall came to me and said, “Terry have you ever caught?”, I said “Leo, I’ve never caught”. He said “Well you’re going in”. I said “Okay I’ll do the best I can”, he hands me this great big mitt and I said “Leo I can’t use that mitt”, I wouldn’t catch the ball it had this big great fat bit. He said “Well, what are you going to do?” I said “I’ll use my infield glove”. Well I’ll tell you I never forget that day, that day went 19 innings and it was April 19, 1948. I’ll never forget it because the next day was my birthday and my knees were mighty sore from catching. And the game was called at midnight �because the next day (13:00) was Sunday and we couldn’t play into a Sunday. That was my first experience of catching and I ended up liking the position very well and I did finally get a good glove. But my hand was mighty sore, with the infield glove but I loved that glove, I still have it. Interviewer: “You had mentioned earlier about playing utility, could you explain what that meant?” Well that meant, I could play any of the positions and fill in whenever a girl was not well or somebody was hurt. But I never pitched, and I never played first base. Interviewer: “Where did you stay your first season?” I stayed with a couple in Peoria, Mr. and Mrs. Turnball. I tell you I can’t tell you how good it, I can tell you I ended up calling them my United States parents, and I stayed with them all the time I played in Peoria. And I saw them until the day they died and passed away. They were just like family to me. (14:07) Interviewer: “What was the experience of being away from home I mean you had a good family life and suddenly you were out in the middle of nowhere so to speak… ” Oh, I had a wonderful happy life. But I was playing the game of my dream. And I, you know we were playing every day and if we weren’t playing we were out practicing, I loved it, I loved it. So I often think you know, some of the girls got homesick. I never got homesick because I knew I was playing, I was where I wanted to be. And I sent mother and dad the daily paper so they saw and read all the games. Interviewer: “That’s wonderful. You were making pretty good money for someone your age for one thing.” Yes, I should say so, and for that time. Interviewer: “So did you send money home, or how did you do that?” No, I built my little bank account in Peoria. I had my first contact for 50 dollars which was a lot of money in those days. I think a lot of us were making more money than our poor fathers, you know. (15:09) Interviewer: “What was your social life like the first year?” Well it was, you know there were a lot of nice guys watching our games and wanting to go out. I remember you know it was very tempting but we had to get the okay by the chaperone. And sometimes I wasn’t too happy with “You know, I don’t think you better Terry”, or you �know…well anyway yeah it was, I got to tell you the people of Peoria were wonderful. They would have us for lunch, the directors were, you know they would have a boat and take us up the, I forget the name of the place in Peoria but they were all so nice to us. You know, it was a good social life. We would play. (16:04) Interviewer: “Did you think, you made it very clear about how excited you were about playing professional baseball,” Oh absolutely. Interviewer: “and I realize this was a tough question because it was a long time ago, but were you thinking, you know this is what I’m going to be doing for my professional career 10 years from now, 5 years…?” You know, I never thought about it ever ending, I never thought about maybe someday I could never play this game. I was living; I guess for the moment, I don’t know I was so happy. But I never thought about that ending. I thought it was just go on and on and on. Interviewer: “When you got back home from your first season, was there any discussion with your parents about your future and what you were going to be doing?” When I got, after the first season I went back home and I took my dad a cap and they had the newspapers and dad and I would sit and talk for hours and they were on the farm (17:05). And after I got home and visited with them and saw family and friends I went into Moosejaw and got a job and then worked in there until the next spring and then I would come back down to the states. Interviewer: “Now, I want to get back. Where did you work?” I worked at a department store. Interviewer: “Did they know that you were a baseball player?” Yes and the manager was very proud, very supportive. Interviewer: “So there was a certain amount of publicity then about the team and you say that your parents, your father was reading the newspaper. Was there article about your team and things like that?” Yes, in the newspaper. Interviewer: “Okay, so you were kind of a local celebrity.” Yes, I guess you could put it that way. And Dad was very proud. �Interviewer: “So how did you know you were going to be playing another year, did they send you a later?” We would sign another contract. Interviewer: “Okay, so a contract was sent to you.” Exactly. (18:00) Interviewer: “Okay, now this time you could sign it on your own because you were 18?” Yeah you know, there was no question then. Even mother was approving. Interviewer: “So, what was the second season like?” Oh gosh, I could hardly wait to get back down, you know. It was just wonderful. I wasn’t a rookie anymore, and so there were rookies coming in. And I’ll tell you when they rookies came in I was the first one there to greet them because I was a rookie and I knew. The thing was that it was a new team that first year I played. So it wasn’t like going into a team where there were veterans, and you know there were…so the girls were really very nice. But I was always the first one there to greet a new girl coming in. (19:00) Interviewer: “What was the uniform like?” Oh my, well playing in those dresses and skirts was something else. Especially for sliding, but Mr. Rigby wanted us to look like young ladies, and play ball like men; and that’s exactly what we did. I’m going to tell you that because Peoria was the first year, the people thought that they would go out and get a good laugh and see this novelty of these women playing in skirts. We had a full house well they weren’t laughing when they saw how well we played, and I can say this because my landlady and landlord had never seen a game, I don’t think. They came out to have a good laugh, and they never missed a game after that. So, we won them over. Interviewer: “You mentioned about the dress and all of that, how difficult was it to play in that?” (20:00) Well, it was kind of a full skirt. I think it bothered the pitchers more than any of us. They would wind up and the pitchers and it was sort of pen over there skirt because it was so full. And actually we got used to it and it wasn’t so bad. �Interviewer: “Well some of them said that they made alterations because I remember one of you made a wonderful statement and said ‘I reached down to get the ball and all I got was dress’” Yes, well it was very full and it did bother the pitchers. Interviewer: “Did you make any alterations or anything like that?” I didn’t on mine. Interviewer: “Okay, so” And you know they gave us the satin shorts to where under the, but and then they gave us pads for sliding but they shifted and no one every used them that I know of. (21:00) Interviewer: “Oh okay. Wow. Okay.” But we did have the strawberries. And thank goodness for the chaperones, they were wonderful. Interviewer: “So you had a few strawberries yourself?” Oh, yes. Interviewer: “Oh my gosh, my gosh.” But you know, I don’t think anybody really minded. The chaperones were great and they. Interviewer: “They were responsible for cleaning the wound?” They were wonderful women, yeah. Interviewer: “I heard that it stung quite a bit though when they put that… ” Oh yeah, when they would put that stuff on it, it would sting. Interviewer: “Oh my gosh.” Interviewer: “Let’s get back to the second season.” Okay. Interviewer: “Did you stay in the same house with those two people that you said were so wonderful, did you stay in the same house the second year?” Yes. �Interviewer: “So they knew you were coming back.” Oh yes, I stayed all four years there. Yeah, and then I was just part of the family. You know you had to pay for our room (22:03) and go out for our meals. Well it got so they wouldn’t even take my money for my room. They were just terrific. They had no children, and they just took me over. They were wonderful, wonderful people. Interviewer: “Now you were staying by yourself or did you have a roommate?” I stayed, I had a roommate and she was traded, and then I stayed quite awhile by myself and then another girl came to town and needed a place and she came and stayed there also with me, and they liked her too. So, I think that most of the girls had wonderful places to stay and the people were so nice. Interviewer: “So the end of your second season, you come back home again, and you are working in the same place” Yes, yes, my boss was so good, he said “Terry anytime you want to come here again the doors open” Interviewer: “That’s wonderful.” So he was wonderful (23:00). So being a Canadian, to keep in shape I played girls hockey. So when I came down in the spring I was in shape. My legs were in good shape and I was ready to go. So that was a good advantage for me. Like the California and Florida girls they were in shape they played all winter. But I played girls hockey and kept in shape. Interviewer: “Tell us about your manager, how was your manager?” Our first manager was Johnny Gottselig, he was a famous hockey player. I don’t know if he was the first, maybe he was. Then we had several others and then we had Louis Schrall and he was from the university there. So we had good managers. They taught us a lot, you know Leo taught us the sliding. Interviewer: “I was going to ask that, because you came from a baseball background, you already knew how to play, but you never played professionally, formally, and some of the girls said that there were things that they taught you that either you had a bad habit from before, didn’t realize it was a bad habit, was there things that they taught you that you thought ‘Oh I should do it this way.’?” (24:16) I can’t recall anything. But when I played in Moosejaw and there was an excellent league and there was excellent coaching. I think that that was to our advantage too. We had very good coaching in Moosejaw. �Interviewer: “Now did your manager treat you like a woman, or did he treat you like a baseball player?” Oh, he was tough, you know. I think you treated us like a baseball player. I mean, he didn’t baby us, and we could take it. I mean we had to read the rules and we would get on that bus and he would question us. So I think you know he was, I think he was treating us more like a baseball player, which was great. (25:00) Interviewer: “How were the road trips?” Oh gosh. We would finish a ball game and shower and get on that old bus. And if we lost, we it was very quiet, and if we won we would still for a hundred miles. You know, I never ever heard anybody complain about the road trips. But I, you know we couldn’t wear slacks, we would get on the bus we would get in our jeans and traveling all night, but if we stopped we had to get out of those jeans and put on a skirt. We not even, I can remember several nights we’d stop and we would have to get on our skirt. And Mr. Rigley wanted us to look like ladies, and we did. Interviewer: “You were very young of course, the fact that you were doing a road trip all night. The next day, what was your day like? In other words you were on the bus all night you arrived and it’s the town you are going to be playing. Walk us through what you had to do, you went to sleep? Or you… ” (26:11) Well yes, we would get into a hotel. Like if we were traveling form Peoria to Muskegon, which is a long ways, we would get into the hotel and get a couple winks of sleep and sometimes he would get us out there earlier before a game for more running and so on, and sometimes we would have to go out for a work out in the morning. It all depended on how things were going. If we weren’t winning we would have to get out there and practice. But those bus trips and we look back on them now and they were fun. Interviewer: “Yeah, you had mentioned about the fans the first year, they come out kind of laughing and you proved them wrong. How were the road trips, in terms of the road trips going to other towns how were the fans?” (27:03) They were great too, I’m sure the same thing happened there. We always had good crowds. I think that it was 1948 we drew a million people, the league. And then in 1947 we trained in Havana, Cuba. Interviewer: “Tells about that.” �That was exciting. Interviewer: “Well you had never been out of the, well I was going to say that you had never been out of the country, but you are from Canada!” So we get into Cuba and we trained there. Oh it was hot. And we trained there very hard for two weeks and this was before Castro. I can remember one day they told us to bring sandwiches into the hotel because we were not going to practice or go out the next day because the army was walking down the streets. I can remember it was scary. Anyway the Brooklyn Dodgers were training there at the same time we were (28:00) and we outdrew them. They came over and they said “What is going on over here?”, and when they saw how well we played they couldn’t believe it. Dottie Kamenshek, was the first baseman for Rockford Beeches. They said if she had been a man they would have offered her $50,000 on the spot. In those days that was a lot, but that was a fun time. Interviewer: “You played against Cuban teams?” No, we played, we played, well we were playing against, you know our league. Interviewer: “Just like you would if you were in the states, okay.” Yeah. Interviewer: “I know a couple girls got recruited out of Cuba” Yes, yes. And we had a couple on the Peoria Red Wings. And they were fun, fun gals and in fact I think we have one Cuban woman here. Interviewer: “I think we have done her interview already” (29:00) Yeah and she’s very funny. Interviewer: “Yeah, so your trip to Cuba, you come back. Now you are in your third season, now isn’t it about this time that the ball changed? ” Yes, in 1948 we went to side arm. So it wasn’t side arm, some of the girls were still going the windmill; side arm came out in 1948. Then a couple more years and the overhead took over. Interviewer: “How about you, how was that transition for you?” Well I tell you; at that point I was doing more catching. I was talking about 1949, it was overhead, almost completely overhead by then. And I was doing more catching. And in the 1950, I signed my contract for 1950, and I did not sign it because by that time they had lengthened the �bases (30:00). Every two years they would lengthen the bases and make the ball smaller. And they changed the size of the ball 6 times, from the 12 inch to the…I think it was 194-, I didn’t sign the 1950 contract. As it was I had an opportunity to go into Chicago and I was offered a contract to play fast pitched in Chicago. Because I was doing more catching, I thought that’s what I would do would go into Chicago and play professional there in the fast pitched because I was afraid my arm wasn’t strong enough. And it was a hard decision to make, but a lot of the girls came in. I know in 1950 in Chicago, we had several, I was on the team, and Sophie Curry, and Joanne Wenners. There was a lot of us on the team. (30:51) Interviewer: “This is outside of the league?” Yes. So that’s why I didn’t sign the 1950 contract, because of the distance and I didn’t feel my arm was strong enough. And I had the opportunity to go into the city. But it was a hard decision, because you know it was such a good league. Interviewer: “This is a paid, this is also a professional team? I didn’t even know about this.” Yes Interviewer: “And it’s outside of the All American Girls Professional Baseball League?” Yes. Yes. Interviewer: “It was a fast pitched, professional women’s team.” Yes, well you know by 1950 the boys were coming back from service and people had more money and there were more things to do. So, I believe the, the attendance wasn’t as big as it used to be, so that was my decision. I think it was the right one, for the simple reason that I didn’t think my arm was strong enough and I was doing more catching. But it was a tough decision. (32:02) Interviewer: “How long did you stay with the fast pitched?” Two years, and then, but in Chicago you could get a job and play because we didn’t play outside the Chicago area. I got my job, and I was playing at night. And I liked my job so well that I finally just quit playing and so I played there, I worked there 38 years and then I retired. Interviewer: “I have to know, what, with the enthusiasm you had for playing baseball, what job could possibly replace?” �Well I think I finally realized that the time has come. I was Canadian, and it was….I thought I might play longer in the Chicago area. I got my job, and I was doing well there. And then in the contract if you were hurt, you were responsible, and I thought now well maybe it was time to make the change. It was hard. (33:04) Interviewer: “What job did you take?” I worked with an interior design firm, was a very very good one. We hired architects and designers and I was in the business end of it. I liked my job, I was there 38 years. Interviewer: “Where did you get the training to do something like that?” I went to night school because I never had the opportunity to go to college. And I got my job, went to night school and it all worked out, I was very fortunate because I love the people I worked with. But I got to tell you that I couldn’t go to ball game that first year, because I wanted to be out there. It was hard. Interviewer: “Did the, did your coworkers know you were a baseball player?” (33:58) No, I never talked about. Nobody knew that I had played professional ball. If I had told them they probably thought that I was crazy, so let me tell you, when that movie started all hell broke loose. Oh, phone was ringing, they wanted to interview, television and radio. It was incredible but very exciting. Interviewer: “What was your reaction to that?” Well we were excited, but I can tell you there was 50 of us girls, met all the stars and starlets in a hotel in [Muskogee]. We had to tell them about our experiences and help them throw a ball and so on. And of course Madonna threw just like a girl, and oh we thought, and we got very upset to think that they had a Madonna in that movie, because we didn’t have a Madonna in our League, and we told them so. And they said that they had her under their thumb and she had a very small part. Well anyway, it ended up that we got to like Madonna, she was a pretty good gal, a hard worker. (35:12) Interviewer: “Well the combination of her and Rosie O’Donnell, really made that part of the movie. They were perfect with each other and for each other.” Oh absolutely, Rosie O’Donnell had the best ability. She could throw and catch. �Interviewer: “Well someone told me that she actually knew how to play baseball.” Oh she did, but Madonna, forget it. Oh, anyway it was pretty exciting because we got to beat them all. Interviewer: “I want you to think about this for a moment, you have gone years and years working in a place that you love to work, baseball is way behind you, suddenly this movie comes out, did you think what is all of this hoopla about? Or did you just think well, I guess people think this a pretty big deal.” Well we were I know I was very excited to think (36:02) that this movie was going to tell our story, which is something we love doing. We didn’t know how it was going to come out. We were very worried until we saw it, but when we saw it we were very pleased. Because it wasn’t a documentary as you know, it was a… Interviewer: “A Hollywood movie” A Hollywood movie, I remember going to Rockford and to see the movie for the first time with all of the girls there and we had tears, we were really excited. And except for that movie nobody would have known about it. When that came out, and the people at work couldn’t believe it, that I had played professional. So it was pretty exciting, oh goodness gracious. You know we were being interviewed, we weren’t talkers and we would never, it was incredible. People just wanted, I said well if you want an interview come to my apartment because we were running around like crazy, we all were. (37:13) Interviewer: “What is your reaction now that several years have passed since that movie? It hasn’t, it’s still being shown on television, and people still talk about it. I teach at the University, I get kids 20 years old as soon as I say ‘League of their Own’, they say ‘Oh yeah, I love that movie’ they may have seen it when they were a little kid. When I tell my students that I am doing a documentary about it them…oh my goodness, they think I am…see you have kind of rubbed off on me, your fame has rubbed off on me a little bit, they think that is the coolest thing.” I got to tell you a funny story. One day I had gone to mass that Sunday and I fainted and they hauled me off to the closest hospital and this at home in Chicago. Of course, they were checking me, they had me they were going for the heart and I can remember one day laying there and this little Puerto Rican nurse came in (38:09). And she said “Oh you are watching a movie”, happened to be A League of their Own, and I was laying there and I thought this is great I’ll get to see our movie. She comes in and I say “I’m watching a movie”, and she says “Oh what is it about?” and said “Oh it’s about the women playing ball in the ‘40’s, and I said I was one of those women and I tried to help Madonna throw a ball. Well I saw the look on her face, she turned around and went out so fast and pretty soon another nurse came in. She said “Oh you are watching a movie” and I said “Yeah”. So I told her the same thing. They thought I was crazy. �Then two doctors came in, and they thought well there is nothing wrong with this woman, that’s all they had. That was so funny. Interviewer: “Once again I want to get back to what is your reaction to all of this?” (39:04) We were overwhelmed, we were overwhelmed, really. We couldn’t believe that we were getting all of this attention. Because anytime you mention that movie people go crazy. I think we were really overwhelmed and so excited. Interviewer: “How is it now? It’s been several years and you have had a chance to realize that this whole country, if not parts of this world think that this is an amazing period of time and what you did was really extraordinary” Well even now I don’t think that it’s changed much since the first time it came out. You mentioned to somebody that you’ve played and you know they will see my ring and I might be paying a bill or doing something. “Oh, that’s a pretty ring”, you know and we’ll get talking and I’ll say “Have you heard of A League of Their Own?” and you tell them that you’ve played they just get so excited. It’s incredible. (40:02) Interviewer: “What do you think about that?” Well, you know what I can say, what I think, I think I was very fortunate to have had the opportunity to be able to play professional baseball with the All American League. I think that we were at the right place at the right time. I feel very fortunate. And to have played with such a great group of women, great group of women. I think that I’m glad Mr. Wrigley included the Canadians, and I think that we did prove that women can play professional ball as well as men; we can’t hit the ball as hard or as far but we can make all of those same plays and sometimes better, I’ve seen maybe a few. But, it is. I think we are very fortunate. Interviewer: “One of the things that is really impressive to me, is the number of you that have gone on beyond that period of time and have done, some of you became PhD’s, some of you worked, where does those few years fit into your idea of your life? It’s only a small part, but where does that fit in terms of your life?” (41:16) I think that playing in the All American taught me a lot. You know you are team player, you are team worker. You get along with people. I think that it did a lot for me and for all of us. I think it fit in very well. Interviewer: “Why did you come to the first reunion, why did you come to the reunion?” �Let me tell you, the very first reunion was 1982, in a Holiday Inn just east of Michigan Avenue in Chicago. And that I will never forget. We had to have name tags because some of us got heavier, some of us lost our baby fat, and that was a wonderful reunion. And every reunion was wonderful; but that very first one where we hadn’t seen one another for years and years was a great reunion. You know, I don’t say one was better than another, I think they are all great. It was so wonderful to see the gals you played, and it is just amazing how sometimes you can remember a play. I remember when I threw you out or something, so it’s been great. (42:35) Interviewer: “You have a family?” I never married. But I do have family which I love dearly and I’m going to be with them September 1, I’m going to celebrate my 85th birthday. They are having a big party. Interviewer: “How did your family react to the movie and all of the because before that they knew you were a baseball player, but not a big movie star?” (43:00) No, well my mother and dad of course on the farm, they never went to movies. By this time, when the movie came out my dad had passed away but my mother was living closer to my brother and his family and when that movie came out they gave all of my family a free ticket to go see this movie. And mother could hardly wait. When the movie was over she walked out with my nephew and she looked at him and said “I thought Terry played in a nice league”, because she mentioned Tom Hanks, so that was funny. So they were all very proud and very excited about it. Interviewer: “This is a big question, maybe you have thought about it, maybe you haven’t thought about it, I don’t know. But where do you think the All American Girls Professional Baseball League fits into the whole scheme of history, of American history?” (44:00) I think that it was an important thing at that time, because of the war I think that we did help people have a place to go and watch us play. I hope that it can continue. I think there are some young gals that are trying to get a team, I know I talked to them yesterday and I’m going to go and see them. But I hope it continues because I think there is a part. Interviewer: “What do you say to young people, when little girls come up to you and start talking to you?” Listen if you have the ability, and the desire and the love for the game, go for it, go for it. �Interviewer: “Any particular moments that you played that really stick out, what are the stories you tell while you are here at the reunion?” (45:01) I’ll tell you there is such a great group; we had such a great time but after one season there was three of us Canadians going back home. So we decided to go buy a car. We got $25 each and we bought this car for $75. And we took off for Canada. No, before we went on our last road trip we took the car into the mechanic, and said we just bought this car, we’re going to drive it to Canada when we got off our road trip. Just check it over, but we don’t want you to do anything to this car because we don’t want a big bill. So, we go off and come back from the road trip and we go back to the mechanics. “We fixed your car, it’s all ready to go”. We said “We told you not to do anything”. We said “Well how much is the bill?” he said “$2.50”. He put a new switch or something, you know. So anyway we took off for Canada. He said, “You will make it you don’t go more than 30 miles a day”. Well that was a fantastic trip. So that was one, you know, that was after the season. But, you know it was just things like this. You see them at the reunion and now we laugh about it. You know? (46:25) Interviewer: “Right, right. Any particular moments of the game that particularly stands out? Either a home run or did you catch something or is there anything you can remember?” You know, you hear this…there is no crying in baseball. I remember one night I was catching and a gal laid down a bunt, and I got the bunt and threw it to the first and it went miles over the first baseman. Do you think I had a tear? Yes I did. That was one. But I think catching the 19 innings, there were a lot of good moments. Peoria had never won a championship, but I can tell you we had a great team. Great team. Interviewer: “Who were the real challenges? What teams really gave you the biggest trouble?” (47:14) I think those 4 teams that started that always had good teams, like Rockford, Kenosha, Racine, and South Bend. They had good teams; I think they were the tough ones. Interviewer: “You know we are from Grand Rapids, all of us are from Grand Rapids.” Are you? Grand Rapids? I remember Grand Rapids. They were good too, the Chicks, oh yeah. Connie Wisniewski, the pitcher, oh she was good. She was one that went into Chicago later. But they were all good teams, they were all good. �Interviewer: “Well I want to just thank you so much.” You are all from Grand Rapids? Interviewer: “Yeah” (48:01) You never saw us play then, you are too young. Interviewer: “Too young for that I think yeah, yeah.” I remember Bill Allington who coached the Rockford Peaches had a movie and as far as I know that is the only one there is but one of the girls played it once at one of the reunions it was fun to see it… Interviewer: “Do you remember who it was that played it?” You know I can’t remember. Interviewer: “Because we are trying to find as much as we can for the film.” As far as I know Bill Allington was the coach of the Rockford Peaches, and I think it was the Rockford Peaches playing the Peoria Red Wings. I might be wrong about playing the Peoria Red Wings but there was, he had made a home movie at that time. I don’ think it was the whole game but I wonder who would know about it. Interviewer: “I’m going to start asking. But you said it was Bill Allington?” Yeah, oh he was the manager, of the Rockford Peaches. Interviewer: “Yeah” (49:07) Yeah. Interviewer: “We heard that there is a film of a whole game somewhere?” Well that could have been a whole game too. I can’t say yes or no, all I know that there was one, someplace along the way I saw clips of it, I’ll have to ask. Interviewer: “I’ve seen one which is a news feature at the time, so it wasn’t the whole game. But it was news, you know how the people would come out there and they would interview?” No, that wasn’t this. This was… �Interviewer: “This was a home movie, he…yeah” And there weren’t too many at the time. That would be a good one to get. Interviewer: “Yeah, absolutely.” I’ll certainly ask around too. Interviewer: “Please, I would really appreciate that. Did you go to the ball game yesterday?” Yes I was. Interviewer: “Tell us about that. What was that like.” Oh listen, the Chicago White Sox won. (50:00) Interviewer: “How was the baseball game?” Oh it was great but I tell you it was really hot out there. We left after the 6th inning. It just was so hot. Interviewer: “You guys were honored and brought out.” Oh, they were wonderful; we were honored and came out onto the field. They had a very good crowd, yeah. Interviewer: “Lots of applause.” Oh yes, all of these things are happening to us old gals, that’s what is keeping us young. Interviewer: “That’s wonderful. Just a quick question about, you said that it was difficult for you to even go to a game after you…” Yeah. Interviewer: “When did that change eventually? Did you go to ball games regularly after?” Yeah, after that I went there and I wanted to be out in it. And it was really hard. But I was going, I started night school, I was working, and I had made the decision that that was the proper thing to do. And as I look back I think I made the right decisions. Because even that league in the Chicago league, the boys were coming back from the service and the crowds weren’t so good either. Interviewer: “Well it worked out for you.” �It worked out, no complaints. And here we are. Interviewer: “You look beautiful, you do, you do.” Oh, thank you. Interviewer: “Thank you so much. It was a pleasure.” Thank you. And you are all from Grand Rapids? Interviewer: “Yup.” (51:37) �� Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource All-American Girls Professional Baseball League Interviews Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. History Department Description An account of the resource The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League was started by Philip Wrigley, owner of the Chicago Cubs, during World War II to fill the void left by the departure of most of the best male baseball players for military service. Players were recruited from across the country, and the league was successful enough to be able to continue on after the war. The league had teams based in Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana and Michigan, and operated between 1943 and 1954. The 1954 season ended with only the Fort Wayne, South Bend, Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, and Rockford teams remaining. The League gave over 600 women athletes the opportunity to play professional baseball. Many of the players went on to successful careers, and the league itself provided an important precedent for later efforts to promote women's sports. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/484">All-American Girls Professional Baseball League Collection, (RHC-58)</a> Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Subject The topic of the resource Sports for women World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American All-American Girls Professional Baseball League--Personal narratives Oral history Baseball players--Minnesota Baseball players--Indiana Baseball players--Wisconsin Baseball players--Michigan Baseball players--Illinois Baseball for women--United States Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University Libraries, Special Collections and University Archives, 1 Campus Drive, Allendale, MI, 49401 Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-58 Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource video/mp4 application/pdf Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Language A language of the resource eng Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017-10-02 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James Boring, Frank Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-58_TDonahue Title A name given to the resource Donahue, Terry (Interview transcript and video), 2010 Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Donahue, Terry Description An account of the resource Terry Donahue was born in 1925 in a farming community in Saskatchewan, and grew up playing baseball with her family and friends, and softball at school. At the age of fifteen, she was recruited onto the Moosejaw Royals, a women's softball team, and was spotted by American scouts from there and went to the All American Girls Professional Baseball League in 1946. She played four seasons for the Peoria Redwings, starting as a utility player and winding up as a catcher. She left the league in 1950 for a softball league in Chicago, and stayed there to work for an interior design firm. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Smither, James (Interviewer) Subject The topic of the resource Oral history Veterans History Project (U.S.) Video recordings All-American Girls Professional Baseball League--Personal narratives Baseball for women--United States Baseball Sports for women World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American Baseball players--Illinois Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Moving Image Text Relation A related resource Veterans History Project (U.S.) Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2010-08-06 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/484">All-American Girls Professional Baseball League Collection, (RHC-55)</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource application/pdf video/mp4 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/8bcddbc48ba0b9a88ed0ab81905850ca.pdf eb09fe4d2359e5506753cc80f15264d3 PDF Text Text Speaking Out Western Michigan’s Civil Rights Histories Interviewee: Donald Cullen Interviewers: Ian Baert and Heather Taylor Supervising Faculty: Melanie Shell-Weiss Location: Grand Valley State University Special Collections Date: 2/26/2012 Biography and Description Donald Cullen grew up near Royal Oak, Michigan. After being in the 4th Marine division on Iwo Jima, he was stationed in Hawaii before returning to Michigan. Donald now lives in Whitehall, Michigan, near his daughters. His love for the game of golf is as great now as it was back in high school. He discusses war. Transcript CULLEN: Well compared to the, the P-8 that’s a big ship you know. BAERT: Um hm CULLEN: It’ll hold a couple thousand men. Well, you know you’re bobbin up and down like this, you know that it’s stationary, and (pauses) a guy gets crushed in there. BAERT: Oh Really BENEDICT: (Interrupts) after he comes… CULLEN: Next that sticks in my mind more than anything… (Daughter Interrupts again) BENEDICT: After he comes, after he comes home BAERT: Yea? BENEDICT: Uh, makes it through everything over there, and then that’s what happened to him CULLEN: And then when we get aboard the P-8, and the guy says, “What do you, (stutters), what do you want to eat? Swiss steak or something else you know? (Daughter and narrator laugh). After eatin’ rations for a month (everyone laughs more), you know? He says, “I don’t care.” They even had ice cream with that meal, uh so, it was uh… (Interrupted) BENEDICT: Didn’t you want spam Dad? (Everyone laughs) CULLEN: You know I’ll tell you one thing, I never, (stutters), I never minded spam. BENEDICT: Uh hm CULLEN: I didn’t always, (stutter), I mean compare to some of the other things we had I think. But it was, I was in an outfit that has a lot of guys from Detroit. That’s where I was from, Detroit, and it was, I don’t Page 1 �know, about 50% guys from right, (stutters), right around the Detroit area. I went to one, (paused) reunion they had, like you know just the guys in our outfit that was from around Detroit there. BAERT: Um hm CULLEN: And I never went to anymore that was it. (Chuckles) BAERT: Yea BENEDICT: Tell Ian when you went down to sign up dad. This is a good story. When you went down to sign up. CULLEN: I (stutters) I don’t know what you’re talking about. BENEDICT: Well, well… CULLEN: I know when I went down there BENEDICT: Yea, and you told me that you were gonna sign up for the army CULLEN: Oh, oh yea I wanted to go in the airborne, hmm, cause I had a, my brother was in the airborne, And, the guy says, “No.” he says, “We got our quota, we take the first 500 men.” that day for the army, and so he says, “We got Navy, Coast Guard, or Marine Core.” And I said, “Oh, I’ll take the Marine Core.” (Chuckles) And that was uh, (paused), the guys never thought nothing of it, it was, but uh I didn’t want that Navy, they was, (daughter chuckling in the background), I was reading about it in the paper all the time. Those ships were getting sunk right out of New York Harbor. I says, “I want, I want dry land.” (Everyone laughs). BENEDICT: And Charley. Bill’s dad, he went down and he wanted to be in the Navy, cause he loved that water. Oh no, no, he couldn’t, they put him in the infancy 2:35 – 2:40 BAERT: Oh, I never knew… (Interrupted) CULLEN: (interrupts) Well uh…… BENEDICT: They do? BAERT: So you grew up around Detroit CULLEN: Yep I was uh, in uh, I was uh drafted. BAERT: Uh hm CULLEN: and uh, I was a draft warden for 62 out of Plymouth, MI. That was just, not too far from here. (Waiter comes takes drink orders, etc.) BAERT: That’s where all of my roommates are at, right around from Detroit, like uh. CULLEN: You, (stutters), you are? BAERT: My roommates are right around from Detroit. Livonia… Page 2 �CULLEN: Yep, that’s where I was BAERT: Yep, and… CULLEN: Livonia BAERT: uh Royal Oak, they have that big theater there. CULLEN: That’s where I was born, Royal Oak BAERT: Oh really? Yep, that’s where one of my roommates is from and he lives two blocks from the theater down there, so its uh, that’s why I was just curious though. CULLEN: Royal Oak Township. BAERT: Yep, it’s uh, it’s a nice area. CULLEN: I, I don’t even know what it’s like. BAERT: Oh Really? CULLEN: I was move away from there when I was just a little 3:36 – 3:42???? BAERT: Um, so you were, so you were drafted, uh we were talking about um, your childhood, um like, did you have any, like dreams jobs when you were younger? CULLEN: No BAERT: No CULLEN: Uh I, I think uh why I went in uh engineer outfit is uh I’d worked as a carpenter’s helper, you know, roofing houses, and I think that’s why they, why I went in a engineers. BAERT: Uh hm But I never had no, I wasn’t a carpenter I was just a, haul the lumber and nail em’. BAERT: Yea BENEDICT: Well wouldn’t you say caddying was a dream job for yea? CULLEN: (laughing) Oh, I, I caddied for a long time. BAERT: Yea? BENEDICT: (laughing) Oh Yea BAERT: I was going to do that for a ser too. I (stuttered) looked into that, that would have been a fun job. I love golf so, that would have been nice, but… CULLEN: Wouldn’t it? I think uh, well the, the guys around, I ….4:38 – 4:40 With a fella, well we was in school all the time, and uh, boy we played every golf course around this time of the year. You know, when they was closed up, and we knew they would be open (laughing) BAERT: Yea (laughing) Page 3 �CULLEN: We’d go out to Birmingham, or Oakland Hills, (laughing) drive right up the club, There was no other cars around BENEDICT: Just like they were members (laughing) CULLEN: Yea with an old 36’ Ford (laughing) BAERT: Yea (laughing) CULLEN: Henry, this guy that hung around us all the time. He had uh, he worked at Cadillac’s BAERT: Yea? CULLEN: And he drove the cars off the assembly line out into the parking lot there, you know, wherever they need them. (Laughing) And there he had to get into that old 36’ Ford, he had to drive it (5:17 - 5:23) and they don’t have no brakes you know them old 36’ Fords, mechanical brakes, and they never worked (everyone laughs). It was (paused) Henry he went into uh, he went into the Army after the war, and maybe he was little younger than me, I don’t know, and he went over in Korea. He was playing polo all the time, riding horses. I guess he had a good time doing that (laughing). BAERT: Yea definitely CULLEN: He was uh, we caddied together and played golf together all the time. He was a nice buddy. I watched hockey, not watched it, I mean I listened to it. We’d play table tennis, you know, in a garage with a (laughing) a little (6:26-6:30) we was always bumping our head on that thing. Anyway, that’s when Detroit won the first 3 games against Toronto. What was it 1942? (Laughing) Well I thought maybe you knew the hockey… BENEDICT: Dad, I was still a star in heaven (laughing) CULLEN: Detroit wins the first 3 games just blowing Toronto out. They lose the next four. BAERT: Oh, wow CULLEN: I think 1942 BENEDICT: So we come to be Red Wing’s Fans from way back. BAERT: Do you have any Siblings? Did you have any brothers or sisters? CULLEN: Yea there was five of us, and my oldest sister, she’s gone, and so is my older brother. And my younger sister, she uh not doing good, her minds going, like mine is too. Donna told me to, 7:27 – 7:35 I, I drive over here I thought she told me to meet her over here. BENEDICT: I said, I see him at the casway and I said to Bill, well there goes dad, (laughter). Good thing it’s a small town. We can track him down (laughs). CULLEN: I pulled in over here this morning I thought it was at 9:00. Page 4 �BAERT: Ah CULLEN: The cop was across the street waiting, boy I had to be careful I didn’t do anything wrong. He was just waiting for someone to pull a boner, and he was going to nail them. I don’t mind the police being on alert like that cause I, I usually drive I think slow enough. I don’t, I don’t speed too much. But uh, you know most the time when I’m driving, every once in a while I’ll look and if I see a speed limit sign, I’ll look at the speedometer, you know the speedometer, I’m going exactly what that reads up there. Now is that just, I don’t BENEDICT: That’s talent, that’s skill (laughter) CULLEN: But honestly I’ll, if it says 25 I’ll be maybe doing 26 or 27, but right in there BAERT: Yea, that’s what I usually do too, so. BENEDICT: Dad has also a younger brother. BAERT: Oh ok CULLEN: Yep, Jack he’s a. Does he? Jack was a brickplayer. That longed for me to… BENEDICT: (interrupts) 8:59 CULLEN: He uh, we worked together for a while trimming trees for the city of Detroit, well that was, we enjoyed that I think both of us. We had nice foreman. I think having a good ser means a lot to a job. It makes the day go by so much faster. I gotta tell you this story with this foreman we had. He’s great big guy. Big teeth, just a big smile on his face all of the time. We’re trimming on this street you know, I knock down a branch or maybe about this big, and (estimates size) just about covered all the way across the road. And there’s, oh about this much snow I’d say (estimates again), fresh snow. This UPS guy he’s coming along, and he’s got a delivery, he’s pushing this branch along. This big ol’ foreman we got he said, “Can’t you read that sign, it says do not enter.” “Road closed.” And he’s getting pushed backwards and he’s got feet about like that (laughs). He’s a great big guy. He loses his temper, the first time I ever seen him lose his temper. He says. “Goddamn you!” He says, “Stop it!” (Laughs)I never seen Harvey, Harvey Brinks was a 10:27, never seen him get like that, but there he, he got pushed off edge by 15, 20 feet backwards. The guy couldn’t get across that, Harvey’s feet was there. He couldn’t get away. It ticked me, you know, I was, having a bird’s eye view I was up the tree watching it. Oh, that Harvey was a… Then we, we went over on another Street, Boston Blvd, maybe you know that. Well, that was the wealthiest street in Detroit, you know way back. Henry Ford lived there, and the whole haul of General Motor people. Everybody that had money lived on Boston Street. The trees hadn’t been trimmed in about 20 years, since the WPA had been there. They were way up there; they had trees up there about 80 feet somewhere, Elm trees, big ones. We’d be up there climbing around. Harvey was up and say, “Coffee!” (Laugh) He’d just like to see us come sailing down out of some trees. It was his way of having a good day. He was uh, really uh, good foreman. I liked him a lot. He had a, had a brother that was into racing. (Stammers a little) Page 5 �His brother in law bought this Lincoln, or (paused), I think it was Lincoln. And that was the fastest thing, you know for the track, riding on the track PAULINE: Oh ok CULLEN: Like what they’re doing today. I, I see that on television every once in a while. They had a big crack up yesterday. Did you happen to see that or anything? BAERT: I saw it on ESPN, yea CULLEN: I was watching that… BENEDICT: Oh is that a NASCAR or? CULLEN: Yea about 3 or 4 of them right together coming into, they only had about a half a, not even half a lap to go. BAERT: Yea the quarter turn, cause uh, the 11th place guy at, right before the crash ended up winning the race. CULLEN: (laughing) Yep! BAERT: Which is weird so (laughing) CULLEN: you know there was a car there I was watching, he was, I think he had the most speed. But boy they kept him pinned in back there. BENEDICT: Well I think they use that as a strategy don’t they? To kind of widdle people out. BAERT: What did your parents do? CULLEN: What? BAERT: What did you parents do for work? CULLEN: Oh I don’t know (laughter). My mother she was a worker, my dad was an outman. Then he had a pool hall over in Highland Park. I, I never, I think I, I didn’t spend I don’t think 3 hours in that pool hall. I, I never, I rather play table tennis more than pool. BAERT: Yea CULLEN: Look it there’s the dog tag I got. BENEDICT: Yea this is um, Dad’s dog tag. BAERT: Oh this is awesome! BENEDICT: Yep, isn’t that great that we found, we were, um looking for, uh the toy box um grandma, she had a toy box for all of us grandchildren you know, and um Jenna now that she has a child. She said, “Oh can you find grandma’s toy box?” So dad and I were down in the basement looking around. We found his (sea bag 14:02 – 14:05). BAERT: Oh Really? Wow. Page 6 �BENEDICT: And I said, “Look it dad.” And it was his I.D. and, um his dog tag was in it, and we had cleaned out a couple other boxes and I said, “And what’s this?” and I pulled this great big piece of metal out of his (sea bag) about this long (gestures), all the cleaning and looking was over when I found that, that uh gun barrel. (Laughing) CULLEN: Oh (laughing). My brother Jack had sent into the army, and he got an old rifle and uh then he bought an extra gun barrel, because they didn’t recommend that gun barrel that was on there. That it may not be useful, so then Jack bought an extra barrel, and he gave it to me. Well, it’s a, I don’t know if you know rifles or not, but there are some that have 3 grooves and some of them got 4. Well the 4 groove it shoots a little straighter, it puts a little more spin on it. BENEDICT: So he has me looking, and I’m not (stutters), I don’t know what I’m looking for. He says, “Hold it up to the light hunny. I can’t see it real good. Is that a 3 groove or a 4 groove?” Well what on Earth am I looking for? (Daughter laughs) So I have this barrel… (Interrupted) CULLEN: Riflemen’s the only ones that have any, uh knowledge of that. You know most people pick up a rifle and they don’t know… (Background noise, multiple people talking) BENEDICT: Dad knew he had it but didn’t know where it was, well they it laid at the bottom of the, of a (sea bag). CULLEN: Did you look at that close Donna? BENEDICT: Yea I looked at it close. CULLEN: No but there’s something on there I bet you didn’t notice. See that little “C” over there? BENEDICT: Uh hm CULLEN: That’s what denomination we are. See I was baptized Catholic BENEDICT: Oh, ok MR BENEDICT: Show Ian CULLEN: And type “O” blood. That’s when I went in 1943. PAULINE: That’s pretty nice. BENEDICT: Isn’t that something to put that on there? BAERT: It is. BENEDICT: Yea DAVE: See that was, when I went in, in the 80’s that was uh, you’re religion was a big (16:02 – 16:06 BENEDICT: Oh yes GUY 1: I bet you it isn’t anymore. PAULINE: It might be. Page 7 �BENEDICT: But you, but you look at, um the cemetery, um you know Arlington National they all have record if you are Christian, or whether you are Jewish or… CULLEN: What other questions you got? BAERT: Well I was just looking at, uh like, well we already talked about like, if you had any like, where you saw yourself in 10 years and stuff like that. Did you play any sports when you were younger, when you were a kid? You remember playing sports with your friends or anything like that? CULLEN: Well we played sports, uh all, like um when I got out of the service we went my brother; my brother took over my grandmother’s house right down pretty close to the ball park. BAERT: Oh ok CULLEN: On Balt and Temple. It was right on ….street 17:11. There was my older brother Gordon, and Jack and I and then there was Cullen family across the road (laughing). BAERT: Yea? BENEDICT: No relation CULLEN: (Laughing) Yea no relation, two boys, and then Henry and Mrs. Lawrence would come over. That’s it. But uh I always ched around with Henry. He had blond hair and his brother had black hair, Chet. Anyways, we had almost a softball team right there, the three of us with two across the road, and Henry and Lawrence, they’d come. We’d play softball almost every night. BAERT: Oh right? CULLEN: At Naple Field, and we had a short right field fence and, well the street run there, the way the ball diamond was outlaid. I played short right field there. We was playing black guys. You know they, they loved to play ball. Anyways, there was one hit out there to me and I caught it, and I threw it into, Lawrence was catching. He tagged a guy out. The guy couldn’t make it from third base (laughter). Well it was a short right field wall and all; you know it never went out very far. You only got a single if you hit it over the fence; you know at a certain so many posts down. Then it was a double and then there was an entrance way down there and I think if you had it past that it was a homer. BAERT: Oh yea? (Laughs) CULLEN: Isn’t that something? BAERT: Yea CULLEN: The way we had it figured single, double, and then a homer (laughs). But uh, it was the bat boy for the tigers, well Lawrence our catcher he uh went with his sister who was Lawrence’s girlfriend, isn’t that something? (Laughs) BAERT: Yea BENEDICT: Did it get you into the games? Page 8 �CULLEN: uh they never got me into the games. Lawrence’s did, but I mean they called him Tarzan, all the girls were on there, cause he had long black hair. The only one, you know, that had long hair. I don’t think I’ve ever had long hair in my lifetime except when I was a real little guy BENEDICT: How’d you like Stevie’s hair yesterday? Did that remind you of Christopher or what? (Laughs) CULLEN: I use to cut the boys hair but, then they got so big and they wanted long hair, so I hung up the clippers. BENEDICT: And my mom, Christopher had beautiful curly hair and he didn’t want to have his hair cut you know, and mom didn’t want him to get his hair cut. Here’s dad clipping the other boy’s hair and poor Christopher, you know he would run and hide (laughs). Well now he has a son and Stevie showed up, and it was the spitting image. I couldn’t believe it, it was my baby brother right there his child with long hair, and he’s a hockey player. I said… (Waitress comes and clears table) I said I didn’t know if I should call him Justin Bieber or not. He had the bangs all over. (laughs) but tell, yea, tell him, I want you to tell Ian the story about, um when you guys were cadian and the cadies could play on Mondays. CULLEN: Monday mornings. Henry 20:46 and I, we’d be the first ones out there. We’d play 18 holes before there’d be, uh footprints of anybody else on the course. BAERT: Wow CULLEN: We’d play 18 holes and there wouldn’t be no other caddies out there yet. Now, that’s going around a pretty good time. BENEDICT: What was the name of the course, um Forest… CULLEN: Forest Lake BENEDICT: Forest Lake, and um a friend of mine, son, was getting married and they would come down there. And so they were going to hold the reception at Forest Lake Country Club. So I said to dad, “Do you know where Forest Lake Country Club is?” I got to tell you a story about Forest Lake, but anyhow. Really, it’s very ritzy place now, but what did you say that the course was um private then went public? CULLEN: Yep, during the wartime cause people didn’t have gas to travel very far. Everybody had a ticket right on your windshield. You know, when you went into the gas station. You had service men in there, they’d come out. Well you had to show your card, and then they’d punch it too so you couldn’t get more gas then what you were allowed. You were only allowed so much gas a week. I don’t think this country really realized how much the United States dedicated to that war. I mean everybody it wasn’t just… BAERT: That’s what we were talking about the difference between, um like, a limited war and like a full war went. That entire economy, everything was dedicated to the war effort compared to like now where it’s hardly ever, hardly at all. Was there anything else besides gasoline that everyone struggled at, that was rationalized? 22:47-22:49 CULLEN: Oh I, I think, uh meat too, I think you had to have, uh food stamps. It was I think everything, but everybody was into it. I mean I don’t care, the whole family everybody would do certain things. Page 9 �BENEDICT: Uh hm, or gave up certain things, yep. CULLEN: My sister Joel, that’s, uh older then I am, she was, she worked in the factory. She worked on the B29’s and I didn’t even know they were making the B29’s. Isn’t that something? Marge she worked in the factory too. That was my oldest sister. She was 9 years older than I was. MR. BENEDICT: So did you get drafted Don? CULLEN: Yes MR. BENEDICT: where’d you go to base? CULLEN: San Diego MR. BENEDICT: Oh yea, Camp Pendleton? CULLEN: What? MR. BENEDICT: Camp Pendleton? CULLEN: No San Diego Base. MR. BENEDICT: Oh really? CULLEN: And then you, up north a ways was Camp Pendleton. I was at the rifle range, uh I think I was there for a week, or two week, I forget now. But uh, you had to go through the rifle range and that was, you know, when you were in boot camp. But that San Diego boot camp, that (24:19 – 24:22) I bet you is a mile. I never seen such a thing and the navy was down at the end of it. The Navy uh, I think they had a boot camp down there at the end of that; but sometimes well I don’t know how many platoons they had but… (Waitress comes to table gain bringing something) I don’t know how many platoons they had… MR. BENEDICT: You want to eat yet? CULLEN: What? MR. BENEDICT: Are you ready to eat? CULLEN: Well uh I was going to eat with Sherrill afterwards, but I don’t, I don’t turn away food very well. (Laughter) I don’t, I don’t eat a lot but whatever I take and put on my plate I eat. BENEDICT: Now how much did you weight when you entered the core? CULLEN: you’re asking questions I don’t know. BENEDICT: How much do you weigh now? CULLEN: well I’m losing weight now, but I was 157 pound for 30, 40 years. I didn’t have to get on the scale to know how much I weighed, I weighed the same. (Background noise, joking around, and laughter) Page 10 �[After returning from the buffet area] CULLEN: Are you familiar with Muskegon? PAULINE: A little, I have been here years ago. I haven’t been around here in a long time CULLEN: What do they call it? The steak and agger. PAULINE: Oh? CULLEN: We went there at 9 o’clock in the morning and honestly it’s all, I don’t know how much bigger it is than this here place, maybe two or three times bigger. Almost all the seats were taken. BAERT: Oh really? Wow. CULLEN: At 9 o’clock in the morning. For breakfast. PAULINE: It must be a good place then. CULLEN: Oh, you know what? I said Bill, I think, I said, in fact I must be a big man, big eater because everybody, everybody, honestly the biggest servings you have ever seen. Really I have never seen anything like that! [Chuckles from group in the background] CULLEN: but uh, I talked with a fella that he wants to know about when I caddied. He is with Michigan, what is it? I don’t know what Bobby is with. What is the topper? What does he have to do with? The Michigan golf association or something? BENEDICT: GAM? Golf? Yeah the golf association of Michigan CULLEN: He was down there at the steak and agger. BENEDICT: When? CULLEN: Yesterday Morning. But he left at 9 o’clock. We just missed him. BENEDICT: And he’s been um he’s been battling severe cancer. He has been at the U of M. CULLEN: he is getting where he can drive a car. But he called me up every once in a while [in laughter]. One time I told him lets go over and play Lincoln fields. He says where’s that Don? I say it’s like in golf cars. He said it reminds me of the fields around our house growing up as a young kid. I says it got the nickname Lincoln fields. Oh he laughed! He has never got over that. BENEDICT: And his other friend didn’t particularly care for that. CULLEN: oh no. the guy we played golf with all the time Ken, he didn’t think that was funny at all. [Laughter from others]. Bill: One time I asked him how his golf game was, and he said a lot better than his dad’s game was! Page 11 �BAERT: you said you used to play softball with African-Americans in the area? And stuff like that? Were they treated [cut off] CULLEN: we didn’t have any uniforms, we just played every night. In the ser time. Not on the weekends. And it was um, I think I enjoyed playing that softball more than any sport. I think I liked it more than golf. PAULINE: we played it all the time all day long when I was a kid. CULLEN: Softball? Oh it gets into you doesn’t it? PAULINE: I didn’t really have a mitt for the longest time, I finally asked for a mitt for my birthday. I had one with no pocket in it, the pocket was coming off, and it was the only thing I had to keep my hand protected. CULLEN: I had an old black mitt, and you know, I punched holes in it and sowed it and put a string, a shoe lace across there, to hold my fingers together. I think afterward I see others they put leather on and around that up there at the top you know? And sowed their fingers together. But I did before they did I think. But that old glove... we used to play the ford republic. Have you heard of the ford republic? BAERT: I think I have heard of it. CULLEN: well Henry Ford had a place for wayward kids and uh, they had a big, what is it, a big farm. They had all kinds of things there. We used to play them. We used to go and play the Ford republic there and in softball, or baseball. I was pitching one time, I threw, I was the pitcher, I threw nine curve balls and struck out three guys. In nine pitches, they never touched the ball. Against the ford republic. But somebody stole my glove down there. Yeah that black one I had the black lace around it. So I went down there the next day and told em, I told the coach I said somebody stole my glove yesterday. He said he thinks he knew who just gone done it. And he went and looked in these guys locker and it wasn’t there, went in the next one and there it was. He knew the guys that were stealers. [Laughter in the background] CULLEN: and the coach he, I said someone stole my glove and he said, I think I can find it. And I couldn’t believe it. BAERT: do you remember, like how, when you were a kid, how civil rights were coming up? Or not really? CULLEN: nope, there were no, blacks, it was something to see a black person. You just didn’t see em around our house. BAERT: that was just one thing that we talked about. Um did you notice how society was starting to change more technological more uh emphasis on education at all? Did you ever notice that when you were a kid? How things were changing? CULLEN: no, not too much. I was... I would play hard and go right home to bed. Page 12 �BAERT: yeah this ser I worked in a factory, that’s exactly what I did too. I would work a twelve hour shift, id workout then I was... CULLEN: you would wanna go to bed! BAERT: haha exactly! PAULINE: He may have seen a difference in vehicles over the years being from Detroit. BAERT: before the war, did you have any presumptions or did you have any feelings about the war before3 you entered? CULLEN: oh I don’t think so. BAERT: you don’t think so? Was it, well it was all around you, but was it, was your family really focused on it at all with stamps or anything like that? CULLEN: I remember hearing President Roosevelt when he declared war on Japan. BENEDICT: but your brother was already in the service before wasn’t he? CULLEN: no. BENEDICT: oh he wasn’t? CULLEN: oh, he went in before I did but not very long before I did. BENEDICT: oh ok. CULLEN: I think I got discharged before he did. Couple, maybe two or three weeks but our division was the first one to break up too when the war ended; of the Marine divisions. BAERT: um, how were you treated when you came back? CULLEN: um pretty good, pretty good id say. BAERT: Pretty good? That was the one difference between each war when people came back, and how they were treated. CULLEN: I think everyone was treated the same, I think you got three hundred dollars. BAERT: oh really? CULLEN: Must turn out payment. Uh, I don’t think people got any more or any less, it was three hundred dollars and everyone got the same. BENEDICT: yeah, but think how the Vietnam vets were treated dad. Think about the Vietnam vets were treated when they came back. BAERT: yeah they were harassed and different things like that for a long time. Page 13 �CULLEN: oh... I don’t think we had any of that. BAERT: Oh, did you earn any service medals or any ribbons or anything like that? CULLEN: no. BAERT: No? CULLEN: oh, I got some citation for the unit citation; you know the citation everyone in our outfit got one. BAERT: oh ok. Um well after the war what kinda like jobs did you have, and uh like where you decided to settle down? CULLEN: it was pretty hard for me, I’d take, one year I think I had 6 or 7 jobs. BAERT: On the west side of the state? Over here? CULLEN: around Michigan, around Detroit. [Chuckles] I think I worked for the city the longest; I worked there a couple years. About 3 years. BENEDICT: and then how did you come up here dad? CULLEN: How’d I come up here? Well my mother had, lived just out here, on silver crick road. And uh, I used to come up here. I seen and ended up playing golf at white lake, I used to play at white lake. MR. BENEDICT: That’s where he met his wife BAERT: oh ok CULLEN: I got to meet her, and next thing we got married. It was uh Nina was now Max peach, this is a story from Max peach she is an old timer out there. But Nina beat all the men down there one Sunday morning; her golf score was lower than any of the men [chuckles]. And Max, he never forgets a thing. He knows just how far he hit the ball on number 8! At white lake. [Laughter in the background] CULLEN: I even forgot that. BENEDICT: it was amazing that we are living out there and being out there. Having that be our golf course and that’s where they met. PAULINE: that’s pretty neat. BENEDICT: then Jenna, our daughter, met her husband there; he was the assistant pro at the golf course and met Eric at White lake. PAULINE: so how did the men take getting beat by a woman, did they handle it very well? [Laughter breaks out] Page 14 �CULLEN: Ma that tickled max peach more than anybody. BAERT: when you were raising your kids, you rose them on the west side right? CULLEN: they all went to Montigue. BAERT: how do you think that was different for them from you, growing up in Detroit? CULLEN: ohh I think they have way more to offer the kids this day, but uh I think like the, I told Donna the other day I took two hours of typing in ah, I never monkied with a type writer sense, and the key board, I still remembered it. BENEDICT: I showed him my cell phone, the texting, and he knows that they were the same way the type writer was? And I said yeah. And he rattled off the order of the keys. BAERT: oh yeah? CULLEN: and I haven’t picked up a type writer in… I have not been around one sense I was in school, in 9th grade. END OF INTERVIEW Page 15 � https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/b3b4bd04e3de773a30524bc505bd2c3f.mp3 30d68b880445b5734a29f13467703995 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Speaking Out: Western Michigan Civil Rights Oral Histories Subject The topic of the resource Civil rights--Michigan--History Personal narratives Oral histories African Americans--Personal narratives Gays--Personal narratives Lesbians--Personal narratives Bisexual people--Personal narratives Transgender people--Personal narratives Veterans--Personal narratives Women--Personal narratives People with disabilities--Personal narratives Muslims--United States--Personal narratives Hispanic Americans--Personal narratives Homophobia Discrimination Islamophobia Stereotypes (Social psychology)--Upper Penninsula (Mich.) Description An account of the resource Collection of oral history recordings documenting the history of civil rights and social justice advocacy in Western Michigan. The collection was created by faculty and students as a project of the LIB 201 (formerly US 201): "Diversity in the U.S." course from 2011-2012. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Grand Valley State University. Brooks College of Interdisciplinary Studies Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Speaking Out: Western Michigan Civil Rights Oral History Project (GV248-01) Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017-05-02 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV248-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1930-2011 Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV248-01_Cullen_Donald Title A name given to the resource Donald Cullen audio interview and transcript Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Cullen, Donald Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Baert, Ian Taylor, Heather Description An account of the resource Donald Cullen grew up near Royal Oak, Michigan. After being in the 4th Marine division on Iwo Jima, he was stationed in Hawaii before returning to Michigan. Donald now lives in Whitehall, Michigan, near his daughters. His love for the game of golf is as great now as it was back in high school. He discusses war. Subject The topic of the resource Civil rights--Michigan--History Veterans--Personal narratives Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Sound Text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource audio/mp3 application/pdf Relation A related resource Speaking Out: Western Michigan Civil Rights Oral History Project Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2012-02-26 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/2f42d45b15bfdd0c185b42ad8e54126c.jpg e8fca34b3e322e76b283ec2952c80023 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Grand Valley State University Photographs Subject The topic of the resource Aerial photographs Universities and colleges Michigan Grand Rapids (Mich.) Allendale (Mich.) Building Facilities Dormitories Students Events 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s Description An account of the resource People, places, and events of Grand Valley State University from its founding in 1960 as a 4-year college in western Michigan. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource News & Information Services. University Communications Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/41">News &amp; Information Services. University Photographs. (GV012-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017-03-03 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-NC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright - Non-Commercial Use Permitted</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpg Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource image Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV012-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1960s-2000s Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Local Subject Subject headings specific to a particular image collection 1990s Source <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/41">University photographs, GV012-01</a> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV012-01_UAPhotos_000494 Title A name given to the resource Donation of a million dollars to Annis Water Resources Institute Description An account of the resource Donation of a million dollars to Annis Water Resources Institute. Subject The topic of the resource Grand Valley State University Michigan Allendale (Mich.) Universities and colleges College administrators Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-NC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright - Non-Commercial Use Permitted</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives color photo https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/6f592567c169ccea5463cf0f1fec5cd3.jpg 0e7837d2b309939bac0006b66d073c47 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Robert H. Merrill photographs Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Merrill, Robert H., 1881-1955 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1909/1950 Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Robert H. Merrill papers (RHC-222) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context RHC-222 Description An account of the resource Photographs, negatives, and lantern slides digitized from the papers of engineer and archaeologist Robert H. Merrill. A Grand Rapids native, Merrill held an accomplished career as a civil engineer. He founded the company Spooner & Merrill, which held offices in Grand Rapids and Chicago. From 1919-1921, Merrill lived in China, working as Assistant Principal Engineer on a reconstruction of the Grand Canal - the oldest and longest canal system in the world. Merrill became fascinated by archaeology, and among other projects, he traveled to the Uxmal Pyramids in Yucatan, Mexico, with a research expedition from Tulane University. Merrill's photo collection includes images of his travels and projects, friends and family. Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Merrill_LS00094 Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource circa 1918-1919 Title A name given to the resource Donkey at grinding mill Description An account of the resource Black and white lantern slide of the interior of a grain mill, with a donkey tethered to the millstone. Subject The topic of the resource Lantern slides China Farming Grain--Milling Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Robert H. Merrill papers (RHC-222) Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource In Copyright Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpg Language A language of the resource eng Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Merrill, Robert H., 1881-1955 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/3fe6da1021f13aa9b1ea292ba4aae2ea.jpg 4de062dbd37c75b7956f0637f6cc6ba9 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Grand Valley State University Photographs Subject The topic of the resource Aerial photographs Universities and colleges Michigan Grand Rapids (Mich.) Allendale (Mich.) Building Facilities Dormitories Students Events 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s Description An account of the resource People, places, and events of Grand Valley State University from its founding in 1960 as a 4-year college in western Michigan. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource News & Information Services. University Communications Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/41">News &amp; Information Services. University Photographs. (GV012-01)</a> Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2017-03-03 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-NC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright - Non-Commercial Use Permitted</a> Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpg Language A language of the resource eng Type The nature or genre of the resource image Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV012-01 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant 1960s-2000s Still Image A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials. Local Subject Subject headings specific to a particular image collection 1970s Source <a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/41">University photographs, GV012-01</a> Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context GV012-01_UAPhotos_000862 Title A name given to the resource Donkey basketball during Winter Carnival Description An account of the resource Donkey basketball during Winter Carnival in January 1973. Subject The topic of the resource Students Events Grand Valley State University Michigan Allendale (Mich.) Universities and colleges Language A language of the resource eng Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-NC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright - Non-Commercial Use Permitted</a> Type The nature or genre of the resource Image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource image/jpeg Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1973-01 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives black and white photo