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Studer, Helen (audio interview #2 of 4)
INTERVIEW DESCRIPTION - Studer remained nervous in this second interview, and continued to leaf through photographs and asked repeatedly that the recorder be turned off. Despite this, she was open and direct and spoke wt. little prompting. 6/11/1980
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- 2021-05-24
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- SUBJECT BIO - Helen Studer was older than many of the other defense workers who came out of the home to do war work. Although she had worked out of the home for short spells after she married, these were always part-time or temporary jobs. Born in Kansas in 1898, Studer was raised first by her grandfather and eventually adopted by an older couple. After high school, she went into nurses' training and then to business school, and worked until she married in 1918. Her three children were born between 1918 and 1928. The family was hit hard by the Depression, beginning with the farm depression in the early 1920s, and for a while lived in a tent in a city park in Colorado. They were beckoned west by the promise of war good paying war jobs, and she went to work at the newly opened Douglas Aircraft plant in Long beach in 1942. Studer's primary identification was always as a housewife and mother, and she made a direct connection between her war work and the well being of her son, who was in the service. When the war ended, she was forty seven years old and tired and was ready to return to full-time homemaking. She kept all the tools she had used on her Douglas job and regularly used them for home repairs. After almost forty years, she was still proud to ply her mechanical skills. The four interviews with Studer, totaling six hours, were conducted by Cindy Cleary in Studer's bright kitchen in the small and compact home that she shared with her husband from 1948 until his death in 1972. At the time of the interview, she was already much less robust looking than she appeared in the 1978 photograph, but she seemed to be in good health and spirits. However, by 1981, when her oral history was reviewed with her, she was frail and bedridden and was enraged at the humiliation of being helpless and dying a slow, painful death. She died a few months later. TOPICS - marriage; husband; farm life; family life; pregnancy; birth control; domestic responsibilities; motherhood; and social activities;social activities; social relationships; domestic responsibilities; farm life; the Depression; early work experiences; children; and husband;family life; childcare; the Depression; social relationships; gender roles; marital relationship; husband; work experiences; children; WWII; and migration to California during WWII;
- *** File: rrrhstuder3.mp3 Audio Segments and Topics: (0:00-4:36)... Studer married in 1918. She and her husband purchased a 160-acre farm in Wathena, Kansas where he cultivated wheat and corn and raised some livestock. They lived in a two-story farm house that included a kitchen, a living room, and two bedrooms. (4:36-6:13)... The home in which she lived with her husband in Kansas faced east. Their non-potable water came from a cistern located just outside their front door. She describes an incident involving a snake that lived in the cistern. (6:13-7:23)... Studer recalls the time when she was almost struck by lightning while she was seven months pregnant. (7:23-8:40)... She did not have any expectations about marriage other than knowing that it was the socially acceptable thing to do. She was an "ignorant twenty-year-old" when she married in 1918. They had planned to marry sooner but her husband was eligible for the draft during WWI. He was deferred on three occasions because he was a wheat farmer and the country needed grain for the war effort. They married in November 1918 shortly after the armistice was signed. (8:40-11:24)... Before acquiring their farm, Studer and her husband lived in a two-bedroom house located on his brother's farm. At the time, she was recuperating from the flu; the epidemic had swept the city in 1918. Even though she had a washing machine, she washed their clothes the old-fashioned way, by boiling and soaking them. The washing machine was used to rinse the clothes and then her husband hung them outside on a clothes line. (11:24-14:35)... The farmers in the community helped each other plow, plant, and harvest crops. It was the wife's responsibility to feed the farmers during the days that neighboring farmers helped her husband. The farm wives assisted each other in preparing meals. Studer gave birth to a daughter in November 1919, a year after she married. A year later, they moved from their first farm and rented another farm with an eight-room farm house. Her husband continued to raise wheat, corn, and livestock. Her second child, a son, was born fifteen months following her first child. She did not have any information on birth control and didn't use any during her marriage. (14:35-21:05)... She did not experience any difficulty during her full-term pregnancies. All three of her children were born at home with the assistance of a midwife and a physician. Her third child, a daughter, was born in 1928, eight years after her second child. While breast feeding her daughter, Studer developed an abscess on her breast. The doctor inserted a tube into her breast to release the fluid. She had at least three miscarriages prior to giving birth to her third child; another miscarriage in 1929; and an ectopic pregnancy in 1934. (21:05-21:56)... Studer and her family lived in Wathena, Kansas, which had been occupied previously by Indians, was named for an Indian chief. The town was approximately seven miles from St. Joseph, Missouri, but the distance decreased once a paved road was constructed. (21:56-25:11)... Studer's life changed once she began having children. Since they lived in the country, and had no nearby medical care if her children hurt themselves or became sick., home remedies were a key factor of survival. She was known as "Dr. Studer" in the neighborhood because of her knowledge of how to cure ailments. She enjoyed being a mother and loved making her children's clothes. (25:11-27:52)... Studer describes her weekly routine of chores and domestic responsibilities while living in Kansas. On Sundays, the family went to church and entertained visitors in the evenings. Studer and her husband played cards with friends once a week and attended the annual chili cook-offs organized by the community. End of tape. *** File: rrrhstuder4.mp3 (0:00-1:59)... Studer continues a discussion regarding her social activities while living in Kansas. She also describes an incident involving the loss of her wedding ring. (1:59-7:04)... Studer was close friends with her neighbors, one of whom she considered a sister. She enjoyed playing bridge with her girlfriends. The women in the community also exchanged sewing patterns and Studer describes a shoe pattern that she used to make shoes for her children. She digresses regarding her canning responsibilities in the summer and her son's preference for eating raw vegetables. (7:04-10:18)... Studer and her girlfriends frequently gathered for quilting parties during the winter. She also was a member of the Altar Society and one of the activities for women in this Catholic organization was quilting. Studer was not a member of any other clubs in the community. In addition to quilting, she made all of the clothing for herself and her children. (10:18-13:09)... During the early years of the Depression, Studer worked in Wathena, Kansas grading apples at a fruit packing house. Her starting wage was twenty-five cents an hour and gradually dropped to ten cents an hour as the Depression wore on. At the time, her husband was working in the oil industry and was gone for three to four weeks at a time. When Studer went to work, her children were cared for by "Grandma Clark" (a neighbor). Studer contributed all her wages to her husband's life insurance policy. (13:09-22:33)... Just before the stock market crashed in 1929, Studer's husband switched from cultivating wheat and corn to raising hogs because the market price for wheat and corn was extremely low. When the market crashed, they lost everything except for some "broken down furniture, three kids, and a Model T Ford." Early in 1930, they packed up the family and hit the road in search of better opportunities on the west coast. They stopped in Golden, Colorado and her husband found work with the city fixing water pipes. They lived in a 16' x 16' tent in a city park. In the fall, they returned to the road once again and headed towards California. Along the way, they met quite a few people who warned them that livestock in California was rampant with hoof and mouth disease. They went as far as Canyon City, Colorado, where they earned decent wages picking apples. Fearful of conditions in California, they returned to Wathena, Kansas. They took over the mortgage of her foster parents' home, which was on the verge of foreclosure. Studer's husband found work with an oil company as a traveling maintenance worker. (22:33-30:01)... Studer was the main disciplinarian and decisionmaker in the family, particularly when her husband began working as a maintenance worker and was away from home several weeks at a time. When her husband was home, he was not very patient with their children and eventually deferred all decisions to her. However, he assisted Studer with household chores and always picked up after himself. She discusses a couple of incidents when she and her husband disciplined their children. *** File: rrrhstuder5.mp3 (0:00-5:55)... Studer talks about her neighbor and friend, Grandma Clark, who lived with Studer immediately after she gave birth to all three of her children. Grandma Clark frequently assisted Studer with household chores and cared for Studer's children when she worked at the apple packinghouse. When Studer's first two children were toddlers, she hired women to help her with household and childcare responsibilities. Studer digresses regarding conditions during the Depression, indicating that she sewed for neighbors in exchange for food and vegetables. (5:55-7:29)... She continues to describe the household and childcare responsibilities of the women she employed when her children were small. (7:29-16:01)... Although Studer did not anticipate working outside the home after she married, she assumed that marriage was based on equality. Her husband was a traditionalist and believed that a wife's activities should revolve around home and family. During the early years of marriage, Studer's husband attempted to restrict her activities. She left him on one occasion and refused to reconcile unless he agreed to open a joint banking account and allow her to drive to town whenever she wanted. From that point on, Studer managed their finances. When Studer went to work for the apple packinghouse during the Depression, her husband was against the idea because he felt it would interfere with her childcare responsibilities. He eventually accepted the idea when Studer made it clear that their children were being well taken care of by Grandma Clark. She enjoyed working at the packinghouse because it provided her with an outlet to socialize with friends. (16:01-20:52)... Studer continues her discussion regarding her husband's reaction to her work at the apple packinghouse. When they moved to California, he preferred that she did not work at Douglas Aircraft but they needed the money. She digresses regarding her desire that her children have a musical education and her daughter's talents on the piano. (20:52-26:32)... Shortly after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Studer's husband lost his job with the oil company. They began corresponding with relatives in Long Beach, California and Bremerton, Washington about opportunities in the shipbuilding and aircraft industries. In July 1942, they loaded their belongings onto their Model A Ford and drove to California. Studer's older daughter stayed in Missouri where she was employed at a packinghouse, and her son quit high school and enlisted in the air force. When they arrived in California, they rented a small home and Studer joined a bridge club. In 1948, Studer and her husband sold their home in Kansas and purchased a home in Long Beach. (26:32-30:02)... Studer talks about her experiences driving from Kansas to California in the summer of 1942. End of tape.
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