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TI: Let's talk about your siblings now. So I know you have sisters, so why don't you go down the order of your siblings, like the oldest to the youngest. Describe that.

VW: Okay, well, Lucile was born about 1912, as far as I remember. And she was five years older, and I remember, too, that my grandmother was pretty strict, too, from my mother's side. And I remember my dad saying that, when I wanted to hold Lucile as a baby, my grandmother wouldn't allow me to do that. Now, that could have caused some problems later on.

TI: Now, let me back up a little bit. So Lucile was the oldest?

VW: Yes.

TI: And so she was born 1912.

VW: Yeah.

TI: But you mentioned having you hold her? I mean, it'd be...

VW: No, when my father wanted to hold...

TI: I see, when your father wanted to hold, okay.

VW: ...his daughter, baby, my grandmother wouldn't allow him to do that. I don't know why, maybe she thought he might drop her or something. I have no idea why, but she was also pretty hard to get along with, too. [Laughs]

TI: Okay. So Lucile was born 1912, after Lucile, who was next?

VW: Then Virginia was the next one. And she was the, she's three years older than I am. And so it was two years later that she was born. And, well, I think during that time, my father had to go to Denver for some reason, and I don't know why. But maybe it affected the, the stability of my sister Virginia, as being kind of, a little bit afraid of things. I know that we had an outdoor toilet, and she'd have to go out to go to the bathroom, and if it was dark, one of us, mainly me, would have to, I would have to go out and wait outside while she did her business in the outhouse, and then we'd go back in. But, and maybe it had something to do with my dad leaving and going to Denver for some reason or other, maybe to work, I don't know.

TI: So that was one of, growing up, a memory you had that when Virginia needed to use the outdoor outhouse, you would go out there. And I imagine in the wintertime, at dark, it's pretty cold out there.

VW: Oh, yeah. Oh, it was very cold, very, very cold. Sometimes zero outside, and we'd have to stand out there, outside, I would, and wait for her. And, of course, it wasn't warm inside the back house, either.

TI: Okay, good. So you have Lucile, 1912, Virginia born 1915, and after Virginia, who was after...

VW: Then Elinore. Elinore was fifteen months, about, older than I am. And she was born on... we're all born on the farm. I think Elinore wasn't, wasn't born where we lived. I think we happened to be in another, in another rented house or something at that time. And then I came along, but I was born in the... I think I was born in the Marsh, what we called the Marsh. It was an old house, and we were farming and raising peppermint. And I was born then. So my mother had her hands full. 'Cause after I was born, then four years later, my brother was born. And he... let's see. I remember we were all born at home.

TI: Okay, and your brother's name was?

VW: Leonard.

TI: Okay, so let me just recap. So you have Lucile, 1912, Virginia, 1915, Elinore, about 1916, Virgil, you were born 1918, and then Leonard was born 1922.

VW: 1922.

<End Segment 6> - Copyright © 2010 Densho. All Rights Reserved.