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Stangeland, Addie (audio interview #4 of 5)
INTERVIEW DESCRIPTION - This is the fourth of five interviews with Addie Stangeland conducted in the bedroom of her daughter's home, where she living. The interview was frequently disturbed by movements of the family in the background. Stangeland was comfortable with the interview process, although she had a hearing problem and questions often had to be repeated. She spoke freely and enjoyed the time with the interviewer. A portion of the interview was mistakenly taped over and so a fifth interview was scheduled to retrieve the lost information. 7/24/1980
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- 2021-03-31
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- SUBJECT BIO - Addie Stangeland went to work at Douglas as a spot welder in 1942. Born and raised in southern California, Stangeland completed the eleventh grad in San Bernardino. She began working for clothiers doing alterations until she moved to Oklahoma with her husband in 1928. After ten years there, as a farm wife, she divorced her "ne'er to well" husband and moved to California with her two children. Stangeland was forced to put her two children in an orphanage until she was able to get back on her feet and get more stable, lucrative work. Douglas employment offered her this opportunity. After the war, she worked as a sail maker for four years until she was laid off and sought re-employment at Douglas. She continued to work at Douglas after her second marriage in 1958 until her retirement in 1967, after which she worked for two years as a companion. By then, her husband who was a beach concessionaire, had died. TOPICS - re-hiring at Douglas; wages; relationship with leadman; 1952 strike; attitude towards union; minorities; expectations for retirement; effect of work on physical condition; health problems; menopause; temperance andattitude towards woman's movement and ERA; gender roles; changing roles of women; reflections on life; future expectations; impact of work at Douglas on her life; second marriage and marital relationship; living ar
- *** File: rrrastangeland11.mp3 Audio Segments and Topics: (0:00-2:41)... After Stangeland was laid off from her upholstery position in 1950, she re-applied at Douglas. She was laid off from her job on a Friday and returned to work at Douglas the following Monday. Another woman she worked with during the war also was re-hired and she and Stangeland were the only two women working the swing shift in the spot welding department. (2:41-6:06)... Her starting wage at Douglas in 1942 was .65 cents per hour; she was earning $1 per hour when she was laid off in 1946. She made the same amount at the upholstery shop, but was not eligible for pay raises. However, she felt her pay there was satisfactory considering that she had free transportation and got to go on boat trips on a regular basis. Her wages increased to $1.25 per hour when she was re-hired at Douglas in 1950. Although she lost her seniority, she was the "top woman just underneath the lead" in her department. This mention of the leadman prompts a discussion of her friendship with him. (6:06-11:05)... When Douglas employees went on strike in 1952, she refused to participate and took a four-week vacation instead. She made ends meet by doing odd jobs and working at her sister's plumbing company. She returned to the plant a week before the strike ended because she needed the money. Very few people criticized her decision to go back to work during the strike, but some people did call her a scab. She rejoined the union when she returned to Douglas, but encountered problems with her shop steward because he would not recommend her for raises or a job promotion. She discusses the changes in the union that occurred after the strike. (11:05-12:53)... The majority of women hired during the postwar period had not worked during the war. Like Stangeland, some of these women went to work because they needed the money; however, in her view, most of them seemed to be looking for contacts outside the home. (12:53-14:51)... Stangeland describes the changes in the work ethic at Douglas during the postwar period. The plant also underwent changes; and security and company rules were much more lax. Additionally, there seemed to be a distinct social division between the younger and older women in the plant. (14:51-19:43)... There were a large number of Latinos employed at the plant when she returned in 1950. After the 1952 strike, more African Americans were hired and their numbers increased during the 1960s. Although Blacks worked in her department, they did not stay for too long before they asked to be transferred into other departments. She does not recall any racial problems in the plant, except for some "dissension" among Blacks during the Watts riots. In fact, she recounts how her co-workers threw a baby shower for a Black woman in their department. Stangeland notes that there was little time to visit during work hours. When she did talk to co-workers, their conversations revolved around their personal lives. (19:43-21:53)... Stangeland was looking forward to retirement because her work was taking a toll on her physical well-being. She also wanted time to develop a social life. She spent most of her time outside of work with her sister, who died in 1972. After she retired and moved to Long Beach, her social activities increased when she joined a senior citizen group. (21:53-25:26)... Although Stangeland thinks that she is in overall good health, she has problems with arthritis and high blood pressure for which she takes medication. While she was employed at Douglas, she developed arthritis in her arm. She went to a doctor three years before she retired. He suggested that she leave work early on a disability release, but she refused and decided to endure the pain until she was ready to retire. (25:26-27:09)... When she started menstruating more frequently in the late 1940s, Stangeland went to a doctor and received two radiation treatments. After this treatment, she stopped menstruating and did not experience anymore menopausal symptoms. (27:09-29:51)... She recalls the Temperance and Suffrage movements of the early 1900s. Her mother organized meetings at home to discuss suffrage with other women. Her parents also discussed these political issues at the dinner table. Her father supported suffrage and a woman's right to work outside the home. He encouraged Stangeland and her sister to pursue a career because he thought "every woman should have her own money and she should keep it." Listening to their father's ideas about women helped her brothers in their own marriages. End of tape. *** File: rrrastangeland12.mp3 (0:00-2:29)... Even though Stangeland supports the women's movement, she advocates more of a separatist viewpoint rather than promoting women competing with men in male-dominated areas like sports. However, she also believes that women should have equal opportunities to pursue jobs that are traditionally held by men. She feels that she is capable of doing mechanical work, such as car maintenance and home repairs. (2:29-4:56)... Stangeland notes that women are more outgoing now than when she was growing up, commenting: "we were more or less kind of kept down." However, she was oblivious to this condition and did whatever she wanted when she was a young girl, including participating in activities with boys. Women also have more opportunities available to them today whereas the only jobs for women in her generation were sewing and clerical work. Although she never wanted to be stuck in an office, she pursued sewing opportunities because she enjoyed the work and meeting new people. Working in this field also taught her to be more conservative in terms of re-using and salvaging materials. (4:56-6:04)... Stangeland discusses her expectations for her granddaughter, hoping that she would pursue a career that did not require her to do as much manual labor as Stangeland had to do in her own career. (6:04-6:41)... She talks about her views regarding the ERA. (6:41-8:11)... Even during the difficult times, Stangeland notes that she maintained a positive outlook on life. The happiest times in her life were childhood, motherhood, and retirement. She also was happy during her first marriage before she and her husband began having problems. (8:11-10:25)... Stangeland discusses her expectations for the future. She has a religious outlook on life and her inevitable death. (10:25-11:34)... Stangeland notes that her years at Douglas were the happiest and most productive in her life. The job enabled her to "give my children more and I did by making more" money. (11:34-12:36)... When asked if there was anything she would like to add, Stangeland mentions the difficulty she had coping with her son's decision to join the military. However, she would never have discouraged him because "our loyalty is to our country and then to our families." (12:36-14:40)... Note: the tape is turned off and then turned back on during this segment. Stangeland decided to re-marry when her children's interests began to diverge from her own. She remarried in 1958. She talks about her marital problems and describes how her husband's behavior negatively affected their marriage. (14:40-18:29)... Stangeland talks about her marital problems and recounts how her husband's feud with the city council and the mayor of Seal Beach resulted in her being targeted. As a result, she decided to sell her home in Seal Beach. Even though her husband tried to persuade her to invest all of her money in his property, she purchased a home in Garden Grove instead, with the intentions of giving it to her son. She made her husband sign an agreement denying his rights to the property. After this incident, her husband began drinking heavily. She comments that it was a rude awakening to realize that "that not one (first husband) but two men were out to take everything from me." (18:29-22:50)... When Stangeland purchased a new car, she warned her husband not to drive it because he did not have insurance. However, whenever she went to work with her carpool partners, he took her car out. She recalls the day she received a telephone call at work from her sister notifying her that her husband had been in an accident. After his death, Stangeland and his five sons had to go through the ordeal of settling his estate. Even though he did not leave anything to her in his will, she was entitled to half of his assets according to California law. However, she settled for only $10,000, which she felt was an equitable arrangement considering "he had lived in my house [and] taken up my life for those five years and all he was after was what he could get out of me." (22:50-25:02)... When her son decided to marry, Stangeland moved out of their home in Garden Grove and into an apartment in Long Beach. She lived there until 1967, continuing to work the day shift at Douglas. She retired from the plant when she was sixty-five years old. Some of the younger women she worked with were looking forward to her leaving because she had more seniority than them. However, the last four years of her employment were good because "I was no longer working for advancement. I was up there as high as I could get [and] I was working to the end for retirement." (25:02-30:04)... Stangeland did not have any problems readjusting to single life after her husband's death. She anticipated that they were headed for a divorce and began to make financial preparations prior to his death. Her sister also was a widow and they began spending more time together. Stangeland discusses their trip to Alaska in 1965 and a tour she took with her sister-in-law through eastern Canada. End of tape.
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