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MA: So going back a little bit, you, I guess, graduated from high school in 19-, what year? 1943?

MM: 1943, I think it was.

MA: And what did you do after?

MM: Then after that I went to business college. See, my sister went to business college, it was a Catholic girls' business college, but actually, it didn't make any difference if you were Catholic. And it was a really good school, it was private, more or less a private school, and they had two, two Catholic, both of them were formerly nuns, and they were running the business college. And she really liked it, and so I thought, "Well, I'll try it," and then, so I tried it, and I liked it, too. Very small, and I really enjoyed it.

MA: How many students were in the school when you went there?

MM: Really small. They rented this space from, it used to be KHQ-KGA, and they ran, it was, the station, radio station was all on that side, and then half of this side was the school.

MA: And this was all in Spokane?

MM: It was in the Radio Central building. I don't think that building is up, it might be under a different name now, but it was right in town. And 'course, she went to that school and she graduated in no time, but I was in there just fooling around. They were really, really good teachers.

MA: What types of classes did you take?

MM: What...

MA: What types of classes did you take? What did you study?

MM: Oh, they had just about everything. You know, business English, shorthand and typing, and advanced... advanced... oh, you know when you interpret what somebody else -- when you transcribe.

MA: Transcribe?

MM: Yeah, yeah. That, and they had a full bookkeeping course, and there were two formerly Catholic nuns, those ladies, and they were really, really smart. You know, they're all smart, but they were really smart. They were really nice, they were really nice nuns, you know. [Laughs] But it was a good school, and a lot of times they'd have people come and they ask you if they can borrow a few students just for a short while and all that, so you had good experience that way.

MA: Did you live at home and then --

MM: No, no... yeah, I did, that's when we were living down at the hotel, see, so it was right in town, so it wasn't too far from where I lived. So, and then my sister was going at the same time -- not the same time, but she got a job right away.

MA: And how many years did you attend this school?

MM: I think I just went couple years, because I got this job offer that, before I finished everything, she had Bookkeeping 3 and Bookkeeping 4, all that. But I kind of wanted to get out and work and everything, but she... so I didn't, I didn't actually graduate. My sister did, though, but I would have to have gone a little bit longer to graduate. But there weren't very many students, see. And most of the students were elderly women who have had jobs, and they're kind of going back to brush up. But I liked the school.

MA: And then what was this job offer that you got?

MM: Oh, the first one was, while you were going to school there, there'll be a lot of times when a person would come in and say, "Could we just borrow somebody for a couple days?" or something like that, but it was for U.S. Plywood. And U.S. Plywood was the biggest lumber companies... I don't, I don't know if it's still U.S. Plywood or not, but I worked for them, and I really liked that job. And then it was good because I got, stayed there. But then...

MA: You got to stay where?

MM: At that U.S. Plywood.

MA: Was it located outside of the city?

MM: No -- yeah, it was outside of the city, but it's not far. And I liked everybody there, really young, you know. Of course, I was young in those days, too. [Laughs] But yeah, that was, everybody was nice there.

MA: What was your job at the company?

MM: Well, they had what you call a Cardex file that I had to take care of, mostly. It's when the, the lumber is sold, and you had to keep track of every lumber that, that, plywood that's sold, and you had to keep this Cardex file up to date. It was every day, because they had to have it accurate every day, you know. And then what I really liked was the teletype. When they said they're gonna teach me how to run the teletype, I said, "Not me." 'Cause, you know, it kind of scared me, 'cause it's electrical, and I, after I got used to it, I really liked the teletype. And they had lot of different branches, U.S. Plywood did.

MA: And how long did you work for U.S. Plywood?

MM: Oh, U.S. Plywood I worked six or seven years. And then, then I went to work for American Sign & Indicator. That's the ones with the time and temperatures in the banks, all over the United States. Well, I liked that job the best, I think.

MA: What did you like about it?

MM: Oh, just everything about it. You did a little bit of everything, and oh, I think I just liked, I liked the people there. And then it was mostly typing, I got, the accounts payable department, you had to type all the checks, you know. Nowadays they don't have people hand-type 'em, but in those days, you used to type all that. So I really liked that job. I think, I think I liked that job the best. I worked there for sixteen years, so I really liked that job. But, but...

MA: During this time, were your parents still running a hotel?

MM: No. We were living up in... on Chandler Street there. It's, it's not... well, it's, you can walk to, from the house down to middle of town, and it didn't take long at all. 'Cause my sisters used to -- see, didn't have a car, so my sisters used to catch the bus, you just had to go down this street, a short street and the bus came all the time, and we went right down, right smack in the middle, heart of town. And so they used to take the bus back and forth.

MA: Did your parents sell, sell their hotel then?

MM: The what?

MA: What happened to the hotel?

MM: Oh, we sold it. But, but it's not up anymore, because right through town now, none of the hotels are up, I don't think. If they are, they're new ones that rebuilt. But neither one of 'em wanted to learn how to drive, so I had to drive 'em back and forth, but I didn't mind it.

<End Segment 12> - Copyright © 2006 Densho. All Rights Reserved.