Other
Freige, Mern (audio interview #1 of 3)
INTERVIEW DESCRIPTION - This is the first of three interviews conducted with Mern Freige in her small Venice (California) apartment. The interviewer developed immediate rapport with Freige and the interview process was very smooth and comfortable. Freige talked freely during the interview, and was frank and honest. Although she needed little prompting, at times she found the interviewer's questions unclear and these had to be re phrased. 4/22/1980
- Date
- 2021-07-23
- Resource Type
- Creator
- Campus
- Keywords
- Handle
- Language
- Notes
- *** File: rrrmfreige1.mp3 Audio Segments and Topics: (0:00-2:50)... Freige talks about her family background, focusing on her maternal grandparents who migrated from Oklahoma to Clarendon, Texas by covered wagon in 1901. Her grandfather was a Civil War veteran who dabbled in masonry and pharmaceuticals before marrying. When they moved to Texas, he purchased a 140-acre farm on which he cultivated various crops and raised livestock. Freige's mother was raised and educated in Clarendon. She attended college in Oklahoma. She met Freige's father in Texas during a summer break from college. They married and raised eight children. (2:50-4:26)... She describes her grandparent's farm. Although her mother enjoyed living in the country, she also liked visiting town so that she could go dancing and roller skating. When Freige's parents married, her grandfather built them a small house on the farm. They lived there until her family got too large for the small farmhouse and then they moved into town. Freige remained on the farm with her grandparents and went to the same country school as her mother. (4:26-7:55)... Freige describes her grandmother as "the most precious woman that ever breathed breath." She was a selfless woman who managed to take care of her own family as well as help neighbors in need. Freige remembers her grandfather telling her stories about the time he was injured during the Civil War and nursed back to health by an Indian tribe. He was from a confederate family and recalls hearing the phrase "those damn Yankees" on more than one occasion. (7:55-8:40)... Freige knew little about her paternal grandparents. They were originally from Arkansas and migrated to California in the early 1900s. She remembers her grandfather was a very religious man. (8:40-9:54)... Her parents met in Clarendon, Texas while her mother was home from college for the summer. At the time, her father was a migrant farm worker. She provides her parents' names as well as her mother's maiden name, stating, "we were all proud of that." (9:54-11:36)... After her parents married, her grandfather built them a home on his farm. Her father worked on the farm and operated a cotton gin. Freige and her siblings were expected to work in the fields. She remembers picking various crops, including cotton, corn, and cane. When her family outgrew their farmhouse, they moved into town. Freige remained at the farm with her grandparents until she was of high-school age, at which time she moved to town and went to high school. She left school in the tenth grade and went to work at a dime store. (11:36-15:44)... Freige was born in Santa Fe Springs, California in 1913, the second of eight children. However, her birth certificate shows that she was born in Clarendon, Texas and not in California. Freige's parents moved to California around 1912 when her mother was pregnant. They moved in with her paternal grandfather who ran a post office in Santa Fe Springs. She was born in her grandfather's two-story home. They returned to Texas when Freige was a year old because her mother wanted to be near her parents. All of her siblings were born at home. Freige and her siblings were ushered off to their grandparents when her mother went into labor. All of her siblings were delivered by a physician. (15:44-17:16)... Her mother was not involved in very many activities outside the home. Her father was active in the Baptist church and served as the superintendent of the Sunday school they attended in the country. Her mother was an Episcopalian and when they moved closer to town they began attending Episcopalian services. (17:16-19:01)... Freige did not have any household responsibilities when she was a child. However, she was required to work in her grandparents' farm which included harvesting their crops and vegetable gardens, picking fruit from their orchard, and milking their cows. Her grandmother sold dairy products to the town store in exchange for staple food products. (19:01-21:59)... There were two or three families that lived near her grandparents' farm. Freige remembers playing with the neighbor children who were predominantly boys. She described herself as a tomboy, explaining that she participated in sports and the same types of physical activities as the boys. She also enjoyed playing house with her brother, during which time she pretended to cook meals on a makeshift stove and treated her doll as their child. Her grandmother made her wear dresses, but this did not restrict her activities. When she got older, she was occasionally allowed to wear overalls. (21:59-23:53)... When her parents moved to a farming community closer to town, Freige spent the summers and weekends helping on the farm. She wanted to live with her grandparents because she loved them and they needed at least one child on the farm at all times to help with farming tasks. Freige states, "I worked hard for what I got like my food and clothes." Her grandmother did not allow her to be idle when she lived with them. (23:53-24:52)... Freige talks about her sports interests. When she moved to town and started high school, she joined a co-ed basketball team and participated in various tournaments held in nearby communities. (24:52-27:20)... Freige had a 9:00 p.m. curfew when she lived with her grandparents. If she came home late her grandmother met her at the gate and "let me know about it." When she was a child her social activities revolved around community events. She occasionally stayed the night at a girlfriend's house or had slumber parties at her grandmother's home. During these slumber parties, the neighborhood boys usually terrorized them, forcing her grandparents to chase the boys away. Freige did not misbehave when she was a young girl, stating, "I had to live up to my grandmother's expectations." Discipline in her home involved verbal scolding, not corporal punishment. (27:20-28:55)... The people in the community usually gathered for holidays and organized a large picnic. She has fond memories of these occasions. She digresses regarding picking fruit at her grandmother's farm. End of tape. *** File: rrrmfreige2.mp3 (0:00-2:03)... Even though they poor, their Christmas celebrations were large family gatherings. Her mother and grandmother always prepared a big dinner for the holidays. Her family did not have a Christmas tree until she was much older. Her parents stuffed their stockings with fruit and candy and gave each child a small gift. (2:03-6:32)... For fun, Freige and her family went shopping in town or saw a movie at the .10 cent theater. They liked to go to community picnics and they occasionally drove forty miles to a lake in Texas to catch catfish. When Freige moved in with her parents, their family outings decreased. She kept herself busy playing basketball and roller skating. Her mother's favorite past time was going into town and people watching. Whenever "holy rollers" came into town, her family got in their car and drove to the services. They watched the people from their car and found it comical when they rolled around on the ground and spoke in tongues. (6:32-9:00)... Freige's parents talked it over before any family decisions were made. Her father was always busy working in the fields and away from the home for most of the day. If the children needed permission to do something, they usually went to their mother or grandmother. Her father was the one who decided that they should move closer to town so that he could better provide for the growing family. When her father was busy operating the cotton gin, Freige's brother was put in charge of their fields. She helped her brother with the farm work during the summer months. (9:00-16:15)... The country school Freige attended was divided into three rooms in which different grade levels were taught. There were approximately ten children in each classroom and the school went up to the ninth grade, at which time children went to the school in town. The country school was approximately one mile from Freige's home and she walked to school. Occasionally, she rode to school on the "short train." Her best subjects in school were geometry, reading, and arithmetic. She talks about her school antics and how she was punished. She also describes the type of clothing she wore to keep warm when she walked to school during the winters. (16:15-20:08)... Freige describes the town school she attended. She continued to play basketball when she went into the town school. She talks about how basketball was played in those days. Her uniform comprised a sweater, knee-length knickers, knee-high socks, and tennis shoes. Freige left school after she finished tenth grade because "I was dating and I thought I was too big and too smart to go to school." Her parents were disappointed that she quit school, but they realized that she was not taking her studies seriously. Freige got a job at a dime store so that she buy clothes and go to dances with boys. She also knew that her wages would help her family. When the dime store closed, Freige rushed home, changed her clothes, and then met her friends at a local dance. All of the dances held in the community were chaperoned by adults. (20:08-21:22)... Her parent's home in town did not have indoor plumbing and their water was pumped by a windmill. They had an outhouse and Freige recalls using Sears & Roebuck or Montgomery Ward catalogs for tissue. She states, "We lived a poor life, but it was a good one. I didn't lose any weight over it." (21:22-24:30)... Her mother never talked to her about menstruation or sex. Her grandmother attempted to explain it to her, but she did not take it seriously at that time. Freige's girlfriends always talked about their periods and the effects of puberty. She was extremely embarrassed the day her grandmother noticed her breasts and said to her, "Well, you're getting some little knots there aren't you, sis?" Freige's undergarments consisted of sateen bloomers with elastic around the chest and legs. She outgrew these bloomers when her breasts started growing. She consulted a girlfriend about better undergarments and she showed Freige how to make a bra modeled after one in the Sears & Roebuck catalog. She dressed privately so that her grandmother would not discover that she was wearing a bra. (24:30-27:01)... Freige describes the first day she started menstruating. She protected herself by fastening material into her undergarments with a piece of elastic. When she told her girlfriends that she started her period, talked about it and giggled. The boys never teased the girls about their periods; however, they constantly harassed them about their breasts. Freige remembers the time when her boyfriend put his arm around her and his hand touched her breast. He exclaimed, "Oh, I found them. I found them!" End of tape. *** File: rrrmfreige3.mp3 (0:00-4:42)... Freige wanted to work after she left school. She started at the American Dime Store around 1923-24. She used her earnings to purchase clothing, which eased the burden on her parents. She recalls that Black and Mexican farmhands who worked in the community frequented the dime store and it was difficult for her to communicate with the Mexicans. She worked at the dime store for about two years, after which she went to work at a cattle ranch cooking beans and cornbread for cowboys. She worked there for about two weeks. She became acquainted with the cowboys who rode cattle through the town and decided to marry one when she was eighteen years old. (4:42-6:31)... The wealthy people living in town were bankers and cattle ranchers. Freige provides the names of the various ranchers who lived in her community. She went to school with their children and recalls that most of them were no different than her. Some of them, however, felt superior and refused to socialize with Freige and her friends. (6:31-9:29)... Freige was hired as a cook at the Row Cattle Ranch for two weeks. She met the ranch owners at a rodeo when she was rounding up cattle. While working as a cook, she lived in a house on the ranch with the other employees. She enjoyed working on the ranch because it gave her an opportunity to ride horses and run cattle. Women were never allowed to rope cattle. She talks about the rodeo festivities held in the community over the Fourth of July weekend. (9:29-12:02)... After Freige left the cattle ranch, she tried to get a job as a waitress in another town, but was told that she was too young and inexperienced. She returned home and spent her days visiting with friends and neighbors or sitting around the house crocheting. Once in a while, a cowboy came come by and took her for a ride or she met a girlfriend in town for a movie. (12:02-15:29)... Freige was eighteen and her boyfriend (Sidney Geddes) was forty-two when they married in 1931. He was a foreman of a cattle ranch located seventeen miles outside Clarendon. She was not attracted to young cowboys because they were immature. Although her family liked Sidney, they were surprised when she eloped. They crossed the county line into Hollis, Oklahoma in order to avoid the three-day waiting period for a marriage license. She got pregnant almost immediately and gave birth to a girl a little over nine months after they married. She delivered her daughter in her parent's home with her mother and grandmother by her side. Her husband died when their daughter was nine years old. (15:29-19:40)... Throughout her pregnancy, Freige continued to ride horses and help the cowboys on the cattle ranch where she lived with her husband. She could not tolerate the smell of food while she was pregnant and preferred to spend most of her time outside. While on the ranch, she also raised chickens, ducks, and geese. She describes the ranch on which they lived. The ranch was not the safest place for her daughter (Ramona) to grow up because it was near a lake and there was always something for her to get into. Freige worried about her all the time. (19:40-23:45)... Freige and her family moved to a cattle ranch twenty-five miles outside Childress, Texas when her daughter was a little over a year old. Whenever a cattle drive came in, Freige was responsible for preparing meals for the cowboys. During branding times, she also prepared meals at a ranch located fourteen miles away. When Ramona was of school age, she was sent to her great-grandmother's in Clarendon so that she could go to school. Freige missed her daughter and decided to move to Childress so that her daughter could come home and go to school there. Freige describes how she spent her time during the week while her daughter was in school. On the weekends, Freige and her daughter returned to the ranch to be with her husband. (23:45-27:44)... During the summers, Freige and her daughter spent all of their time at the ranch. Freige went from one ranch to another preparing meals for cowboys. She discusses her cooking experiences, indicating that she once cooked for sixty cowboys at one time. She recalls the time a cyclone hit Childress and damaged her daughter's school. (27:44-28:14)... Her daughter was nine years old when they moved to California. Freige decided to move when she heard that there were job opportunities in the aircraft industry. At the time, her brother and sister were both living in California. End of tape. *** File: rrrmfreige4.mp3 (0:00-2:32)... She thinks her husband died of liver cancer because he drank and smoked heavily. After he died, Freige and her daughter moved to California. When she got to California she was "scared to death." They stayed with her brother in Ocean Park for about two weeks. She got a job at a W.T. Grants dime store in Santa Monica. She also applied for waitressing work, but was too afraid she would make a mistake and decided not to accept the job. She was hired the same day she applied for work at Douglas Aircraft. (2:32-3:00)... Freige and her husband did not use any birth control during their marriage. She states, "I had to be careful about what I did and what I didn't do." (3:00-6:22)... Freige paid someone $25 to drive her and her daughter to California. They arrived in Los Angeles with only $20 in their pockets. The buses and streetcars were not running at the time because there was a blackout. They hitched a ride to her sister's apartment where they stayed for a few days. They made their way to Ocean Park and Freige called her brother on a pay telephone, which was a first. It was crowded at her brother's apartment, so after a couple of weeks, she decided to rent a room from a woman who lived across the street. Her rent was $60a month and she earned .60 cents an hour at Douglas. They lived there for five years, during which time her daughter attended John Muir Grammar School. (6:22-8:24)... Note: although the interview ends at 8:24 the track continues without sound for another 3 minutes. Freige's brother was already employed at Douglas when she applied for a job there. After she was hired, she was sent to a two-week training school. While in training, her leadman told her that she was a genius because she was so proficient at riveting. She had previous experience using hand tools and frequently repaired and built things while living on cattle ranches. End of tape.
- SUBJECT BIO - Mern Freige went to work as an assembler at Doug's, Long Beach in 1942, after moving to Los Angeles one year earlier. Although she was born in southern California, in 1913, when she was one year old the family moved to Texas. She began working on her family's small farm in her teens, and then began working on a ranch as cook. She married a ranch hand ten years her senior, when she was eighteen, and spent the next ten years cooking for the cowboys wherever her husband was working. She left him and came to California in 1941 and worked as a clerk for one year before getting a job as a riveter at Douglas, Santa Monica. After being laid off from Douglas, she held a string of jobs, returning to work for Douglas again from 1950-1953 and 1954-1956. After that, she returned to working as a cook, first in her third husband's bar-cafe and then at ranches, convalescent hospitals and bars, until 1978. Freige was interviewed by on three separate occasions in her apartment in Venice by Cindy Cleary. They developed good rapport, and Freige talked freely during the interview. She did not seem intimidated, though at times she had difficulty understanding the questions. TOPICS - family history and background; housing and living arrangements; farm life; parents; family life; childhood; chores; recreational activities; siblings; community activities; and schooling;holiday celebrations; family life; family activities; schooling; clothing; housing; social activities; dating; puberty; and menstruation;work in dime store; work as a cook on a cattle ranch; community rodeo; riding horses and rounding up cattle; husband; marriage; pregnancy; life on a cattle ranch; daughter; social life; cooking for cattle ranchers;husband's death; birth control; move to California; navigating through Los Angeles; living arrangements; early work experiences in Los Angeles; wages; living expenses; and training school at Douglas Aircraft;
- Rights Note
- This repository item may be used for classroom presentations, unpublished papers, and other educational, research, or scholarly use. Other uses, especially publication in any form, such as in dissertations, theses, articles, or web pages are not permitted without the express written permission of the individual collection's copyright holder(s). Please contact the CSULB Library Administration should you require permission to publish or distribute any content from this collection or if you need additional information or assistance in using these materials: https://www.csulb.edu/university-library/form/questionssuggestions-the-digital-repository-group
Relationships
- In Collection:
Items
| Thumbnail | File information | Actions |
|---|---|---|
|
5658365800427727-rrrmfreige1.mp3 Public
|
Download |
|
|
4349561709119526-rrrmfreige2.mp3 Public
|
Download |
|
|
2732162674573292-rrrmfreige3.mp3 Public
|
Download |
|
|
4337603716645065-rrrmfreige4.mp3 Public
|
Download |
|
|
2266900966754392-rrrmfreige1.jpg Public
|
Download |
|
|
0867906890959353-rrrmfreige2.jpg Public
|
Download |