Other
Lowe, Eva (audio interview #3 of 3)
INTERVIEW DESCRIPTION - This is the final interview with Eva Low recorded in her home in San Gabriel. Lowe was considerably more relaxed and her responsive, demonstrating a candidness and expansiveness absent in the first two interviews. 9/29/1980
- Date
- 2021-04-23
- Resource Type
- Creator
- Campus
- Keywords
- Handle
- Language
- Notes
- *** File: rrrelowe7.mp3 Audio Segments and Topics: (0:00-3:25)... Lowe continues to discuss postwar layoffs at Douglas. The day after she was laid off, she did not set her alarm clock and relaxed for most of the day. However, she says, "I just was like a chicken with its head cut off. I didn't know what I was going to do." She was not worried about finding another job and expected that Douglas would eventually call her back to work. She spent the next two weeks "on vacation" working around the house and thinking about whether she really wanted to go back to Douglas. (3:25-5:00)... When Lowe was called back to Douglas, personnel told her that if she did not want to accept a position in the plant they would arrange for her to collect unemployment. She had more than three years of seniority and did not think Douglas was going to rehire her on a temporary basis. Lowe declined the position, stating, "It wasn't a woman's job in my estimation. I'd rather work and hear myself talk." She was tired of the noise in the plant and could not bear the long drive any longer. (5:00-7:20)... She reiterates how she got a job as a range cook at a high school cafeteria. She worked five days a week from 6:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. for eight years. It took her awhile to adjust to these hours after working the graveyard shift at Douglas. She was not accustomed to going to bed early in the evening and did not like it. Even though she did not have to work on the weekends, she was unemployed during the summer when school was not in session. She believes her pay decreased by half when she became a cafeteria cook. (7:20-16:31)... She credits Douglas for giving her the opportunity to purchase her first home. Between 1945-53, she spent the summers building houses. She discusses the circumstances that led her to these ventures, stating, "Working at Douglas helped me a lot because I didn't know the things I could do." She describes the type of work she completed during the construction of her homes. She finished her current home in 1953. In the mean time, Lowe quit her winter job at the high school and began working as a cafeteria cook for Temple City Medical Group. (16:31-21:28)... Lowe worked as a cafeteria cook at Temple City Medical Group for seven years. In addition to preparing meals for the small hospital staff and patients, she occasionally did miscellaneous nursing tasks. Encouraged by the nurses at the hospital, Lowe enrolled in a nursing program at Pasadena City College and graduated in 1961 when she was in her fifties. While in college, she interned at St. Luke's Medical Hospital where she was hired after she graduated from college. Lowe describes her nursing responsibilities at the hospital. She retired from nursing in 1973 when she was sixty-five years old, stating, "I was tired. I'd worked ever since I was twenty-five and I worked steady too." (21:28-26:35)... In the postwar years, Lowe continued to lead an active social life. She always had a boyfriend and her favorite activity was dancing. She does not go dancing anymore because of the way dance halls have changed, but says that if she was younger she'd go to the discos. Many of her close girlfriends have passed away. The time she spent with her girlfriends when she was younger revolved around shopping or dancing, indicating that it was more fun to go out with the girls because they could "pick and choose [dance partners] easier." Lowe lost track of the friends she made at Douglas because many of them lived in Long Beach and they were too busy to visit each other. End of tape *** File: rrrelowe8.mp3 (0:00-1:34)... Although Lowe thought about remarrying on several occasions, she enjoyed her freedom and never regretted her decision to stay single, stating, "I thought I'd go it alone. I could support myself and I liked to work." (1:34-5:45)... She talks about bleaching her hair blonde when she was fifty years old. She agrees with the stereotype that blondes have more fun, indicating that she got a lot more attention from men after she dyed her hair. She never regretted her decision and says that she will continue to bleach her hair "until they put me in the ground." (5:45-8:55)... Lowe experienced moderate menopausal symptoms, which she attributes to her active lifestyle. To cope with hot flashes at night, she started sleeping naked. In many ways, she was relieved when she started going through menopause because she did not have to worry menstruation and pregnancy. (8:55-10:43)... She discusses her health problems with arthritis, cataracts, and glaucoma. (10:43-12:50)... Lowe maintains an active lifestyle even in retirement, spending her time working around the house and occasionally visiting family. She enjoys being at home because she was constantly busy before she retired and was always coming and going. She likes living alone, stating, "I'm not so old that I couldn't get a man if I wanted, but I don't want to be bothered. I'm too independent." (12:50-13:39)... She does not think much of senior citizen activities; in fact, describes them as stupid! She says that she'd rather sit home and knit. She loathes the term "senior citizen" and would rather be called an old woman. (13:39-15:54)... Lowe occasionally visits her family. She talks about an upcoming visit from her brother. Her daughter and her granddaughter live within driving distance and are available if ever she needs anything. (15:54-17:21)... She does not miss work, stating, "I feel like I've done my duty." She thought about volunteering at the hospital after she retired, but decided that she had too much she wanted to do in her life, most of which she probably will not accomplish by the time she dies. (17:21-19:40)... Lowe talks about the future and the inevitability of death. She already made plans to donate her body to UCLA for medical research. However, if that arrangement does not come to pass, she instructed her children to have her body cremated without a memorial service. She would rather have people give her flowers while she is alive and thinks that all the money people spend on funeral flowers could be used to help the poor. (19:40-21:30)... Lowe thinks that the happiest time in her life was when she gave birth to her son because he completed her family unit. (21:30-23:30)... Lowe remained friendly with her ex-husband after she moved out of his home. She saw her ex-husband and his new wife on a regular basis at family functions and so forth. After her ex-husband died, she lost contact with his new wife. Lowe continued to stay in contact with her in-laws over the years. (23:30-25:07)... She believes that the most unhappiest times in her life were her mother's death and when she broke up with boyfriends. Lowe took care of her mother up until the day she died. (25:07-28:11)... Lowe talks about her views on the women's movement, ERA, and abortion. Although she supports equal pay and women's rights, she does not understand the struggle for liberation, stating, "I've been liberated all my life. If they are not liberated that's their own fault." However, she would vote for the ERA because she says, "I'm a woman and I believe women should stand together." End of tape.
- SUBJECT BIO - Eva Lowe was working as a waitress before she went to work at Douglas in 1942. Born in Indiana, the second of two children, Lowe came to Los Angeles with her family when she was five. She married when she was seventeen and was a full-time homemaker, taking care of her two children, until her divorce in 1939. She then began to work as a waitress. After she was laid off in1945, Lowe first returned to food service work for five years and then became an LVN (Licensed Vocational Nurse). She worked as an LVN until her retirement in 1973. Three interviews where conducted with Lowe at her compact, one bedroom home in the Los Angeles suburb of San Gabriel. Her bleached blonde hair, pulled back into a pony tail, made her appear much younger than her years. Despite Lowe's casualness and the rapport that she developed with the interviewer, she remained a reluctant participant throughout. Nervous and uncomfortable, Lowe's answers tended to be very brief. She repeatedly asked that the tape recorder be turned off to ask the interviewer a question, collect her thoughts, or simply relax. TOPICS - postwar layoffs and recall at Douglas; work as cafeteria cook; wages; home construction; mechanical and carpentry skills; impact of war work on her life; nursing college; nursing responsibilities; and social lifeattitudes towards remarriage; social attitudes; menopause; health problems; retirement; family life; future prospects; ideas about death; and views on women's movement, ERA, and abortion;
- 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 |
|---|---|---|
|
7167865897105794-rrrelowe7.mp3 Public
|
Download |
|
|
9275059239365886-rrrelowe8.mp3 Public
|
Download |
|
|
5226394430940494-rrrelowe1.jpg Public
|
Download |