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Eusebio, Mildred (audio interview #3 of 3)
INTERVIEW DESCRIPTION - This last interview session went more smoothly than the first one and was easier for both the narrator and interviewer. 11/24/1980
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- 2021-07-13
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- *** File: rrrmeusebio9.mp3 Audio Segments and Topics: (0:00-5:02)... Eusebio describes the proceedings when she and her husband divorced in 1946. Her husband was required to pay $7 a week in child support for each child, which amounted to $28. For several months after their divorce he failed to pay child support and Eusebio reported him to the courts. At that time, he was ordered to remit payment or face jail time. He paid faithfully from that point on. Her ex-husband eventually remarried a woman with four children and Eusebio thinks that he was no better raising her children than he was raising his own. She was not emotional when she obtained her divorce, indicating that she had she all her tears before she left her husband in 1943. (5:02-7:24)... Most of the men Eusebio met thought that divorced women were easy game; that they were lonesome and needed a man. She did not need a man and did not do very much dating after her divorce. After the divorce, her ex-husband continued to come to California and express an interest in reconciling with her. One of her sons tried many different strategies to get them back together because he resented the fact that his father did not live with them. (7:24-10:37)... Eusebio met her second husband in the 1950s. Born and raised on the East Coast, he moved to California to be near his family after he was discharged from the service. When he met Eusebio, he decided that they were going to get married; however, she was hesitant to marry someone who was ten years younger than her. They eventually married and had a son together around 1952. She talks about her son's education and career accomplishments. (10:37-14:58)... Eusebio discusses her husband's family background. His father owned and operated a grocery store in New Bedford, Massachusetts before the family settled in New York. At that time, they purchased a small hotel and bar. When he was discharged from the service, her husband worked as a bartender at the hotel in the evenings and went to college during the day. He majored in business and accounting. When his family moved to California, he and his father went to work for a tool and dye company and his mother went to work at Pacific Tile just to keep herself busy. (14:58-17:43)... She met her husband when his brother and her youngest daughter eloped. When Eusebio and her husband married, they created a very confusing set of family relationships. She decided to get married again because by the time she met her second husband, all of her children had moved out of the house and she was thinking, "I'm just about alone." She was thankful she married her husband because he has made her a very happy woman. (17:43-23:49)... Eusebio had not planned on having another child after she married her second husband. When she discovered she was pregnant she wanted to "jump off the end of a pier." She took maternity leave from Douglas for seven months, after which she found a baby sitter and returned to the plant. She had serious problems with her appendix while she was pregnant and was required to deliver her son by Cesarean section. At the same time, doctors removed her appendix and performed a tubal ligation so that she would not have another child. Eusebio and her husband argued over how to raise their son, indicating that her parenting style eventually won out over her husband's more permissive Portuguese style of parenting. As a result, her son turned out to be a very self-sufficient man. (She digresses regarding her husband's emotional state after he divorced his first wife.) (23:49-27:05)... Eusebio's husband learned fairly quickly that she was not going to behave like a typical Portuguese wife. Although she enjoys preparing Portuguese-style meals for her husband, they have a running disagreement over her refusal to prepare cod for him. End of tape. *** File: rrrmeusebio10.mp3 (0:00-2:19)... In 1946, Eusebio was recalled to Douglas when the company received contracts to produce spare parts for the DC-3 and to refurbish several A-26s that were mothballs. The company also gained a contract to produce fifteen cargo airplanes. She worked on the cargo airplanes for about five months and was laid off once again. A few months later, she was hired at the Santa Monica plant to produce DC-6 aircraft. After a year on this project, she was transferred back to Long Beach. (2:19-3:18)... When she returned to Douglas, there were "a few hot arguments with the veterans about why the women were working." The veterans were promised that they would resume their jobs at Douglas after the war ended and they continued to accumulate seniority while they were in the service. (3:18-5:32)... Eusebio's time at Douglas during the war and in the postwar period was counted towards her seniority at the company. There was not a retirement plan at Douglas until a few years before she quit in 1960. Even though she worked at Douglas for approximately eighteen years, she received only $22.01 per month in retirement funds. (5:32-13:43)... Eusebio describes how Douglas discriminated against women in assigning job classifications. It was difficult for women to move from a B to an A classification because the classification above an A was an aircraft mechanic and "heaven knows they would not have a woman aircraft mechanic at that time." Eusebio decided to leave Douglas because she was not making enough money after taxes. She also was frustrated with the fact that "supervisors expected more of the women than they did of the men." Eusebio never went to the union about these issues because she had lost faith in the leadership. After she received knee surgery because of leg problems, she decided not to return to Douglas. When she applied for unemployment, company officials refused to approve it, arguing that she left the company because of marital problems. She appealed their decision and a hearing was held on the matter. (13:43-17:37)... While Eusebio was on unemployment, she took a career aptitude test and was told that she had wasted her time in production and should have pursued a career in the medical field. She enrolled in nursing courses at Cerritos Community College. After she graduated, she went to work at Bellwood Hospital and worked as a medical surgical nurse for ten years. She digresses regarding Douglas engineers who also told her that she was wasting her time in production and should pursue an engineering degree. (17:37-24:31)... When Eusebio married her husband, he told her that in five years his career would be successful and she would not have to work any longer; however, she continued to work because it was necessary to have a two-income family. When she quit Douglas, they worried about how they would support themselves on one income given the rising costs of living. They were unable to save any money while living as a two-income family because they paid cash for everything in order to avoid going into debt like many of their friends. Her husband and her son were very supportive when she decided to go to nursing school. She describes what a typical day was like for her, indicating that her husband and her son helped with the housework while she was in school and when she went to work at the hospital. She talks about her nursing career and her son's decision to pursue lab work. She retired at the age of sixty when the arthritis in her hands made it difficult to continue working. (24:31-28:24)... Eusebio describes her social life while she was married to her second husband (Armen). After raising four children, she refused to get involved in PTA or extracurricular activities when her youngest child (Rob) started going to school. For many years, they rarely took family vacations. One year they went to Washington, DC and when her husband saw how many women travel alone, he vowed to take vacations with his family from that point on. By 1964, they had traveled all over the United States and Canada and began taking European vacations in 1970. Their social activities decreased when her husband had a heart attack. End of tape. *** File: rrrmeusebio11.mp3 (0:00-6:43)... She continues to discuss her husband's (Armen) health. Now that he has recovered from his heart problems and is exercising regularly, they will be traveling to Portugal once again. She discusses the political, educational, and cultural systems in Portugal and what she observed during her last visit to the country. (6:43-9:11)... Although Eusebio has a few girlfriends, she does not socialize with them that often explaining that she is not a "mixer." She kept in contact with a woman she worked with at Douglas who now lives in Seal Beach. Occasionally, Eusebio visits her but it is difficult for them to do anything because the woman has angina. (9:11-14:00)... Eusebio describes her methods for coping with the frustration and/or anger that she occasionally feels within her marriage. She admits that she use to have a typical Irish temper that would aggravate her allergies and cause her to break out in a rash. She cut back on the medication she took to alleviate these problems. She thinks that she is now a much more tranquil person. Armen listens to her better and their conflicts have decreased over the years. (14:00-16:50)... She talks about how the ten-year age difference in her marriage has affected their relationship. (16:50-20:17)... Eusebio's older children accepted Armen immediately and considered him their father. Armen was very close to the ages of her children when they married. Their son, Rob, was six months younger than her youngest granddaughter. Eusebio talks about the close relationship between Rob and her granddaughter. (20:17-25:18)... Eusebio enjoys retirement. She spends most days doing needlework and crafts. Even though she is home alone everyday, she never feels lonely because she has so many things to keep her busy. One pleasant aspect of retirement is the ability to sleep in most mornings. She never spends her days watching television, explaining that she does not turn the television on until 5:00 p.m. to catch the news. (25:18-30:04)... Eusebio thinks that the woman's movement is "kinda mixed up" and that the disadvantages of the ERA will outweigh the advantages. Although she appreciates traditional gender roles, she feels that women are entitled to equal rights as long as they accept certain consequences of those rights, such as the military draft. She does not agree with woman who argue against the draft, believing that they "want their cake and eat it too." Her father told her that she was just as good as any man and she never thought otherwise. She worked alongside men for most of her life and says that she never had to fight for equal pay. End of tape. *** File: rrrmeusebio12.mp3 (0:00-4:00)... Eusebio discusses her parenting style, indicating that she raised her sons and daughters in exactly the same way. She taught all of them how to cook and clean and they were responsible for these tasks when they lived at home. She also spoke to all of her children about sex and worried equally when they went out on dates. She goes into detail about the parenting styles of her own children, explaining that two of her children often diverge from traditional gender roles. (4:00-12:13)... She talks about her oldest son who died from a genetic aneurysm in the 1970s. Around the time of her son's death, her entire family lived in close proximity to each other and they were always together celebrating family events and the holidays. She does not see her family as often as before because her older children moved out of the Los Angeles area. Eusebio is somewhat relieved that she does not have as much interaction with her family because she got tired of all the noise that the children made. The most common occasion for a family gathering is Christmas; however, only a few family members come by for dessert and do not spend the entire day at her home. (12:13-18:06)... Eusebio began going through menopause in her fifties. She received estrogen injections for about ten years, at which time a new physician prescribed Premarin. She stopped having periods in the late 1960s and began experiencing periodic hemorrhaging. She eventually had a hysterectomy and was told that she had endometriosis in her uterine walls. She continued to take premerin after her hysterectomy because her doctor told her that it would reduce her chances of developing osteoporosis. (18:06-24:21)... Overall, she is in relatively good health. When she got a hysterectomy, her doctor noticed that she had some gall bladder stones. She did not have any problems with her gall bladder until 1974 when she began to experience a sharp pain in her back. At that time, her gall bladder was removed and 134 stones were discovered. (24:21-28:11)... When Eusebio went to work at Douglas "we were all hyped up for the war effort." Although she wanted to contribute to the war effort, she also went to work out of necessity having just left her husband. Eusebio talks about her work ethic and personal obligation to producing airplanes. She pushed her crew to do their jobs accurately so that she would not feel responsible if one of her aircraft malfunctioned and resulted in deaths. During the last few years at Douglas, her crew worked on the vertical stabilizer of the 133 cargo master which involved production on subassemblies, elevator flaps, and rudder flaps. Towards the end of her career, she noticed that people were not as conscientious as she was about making high quality airplanes, which was "one of the reasons I wanted to get out of aircraft because I didn't want that responsibility any longer." (28:11-30:49)... Had she not gone to work at Douglas during the war, Eusebio would have ended up in a factory setting. Whether or not she worked in aircraft, her strong work ethic would have remained the same. She learned how to be a good worker from her parents who taught her how to do things right. She remembers Douglas as "one of the good things in my life." She enjoyed working with the people at the plant. When she turned forty-five, her co-workers from all around the plant threw her a big party and gave her a beautiful vase filled with forty-five roses. Normally, these types of celebrations were not allowed at Douglas, but they bent the rules so that her co-workers could honor her. End of tape.
- SUBJECT BIO - Mildred Eusebio's entrance into the labor force began with her first defense job at Willow Run (Michigan) in 1942. She worked there for one year before moving to California and getting a job at Douglas Aircraft. Born in Gardena, the third of five children, Eusebio was raised in Pontiac, Michigan from the age of six, when the family moved there. She married just out of high school, and except for a stint picking apples in 1942, was a full-time homemaker, raising her four children. Eusebio's husband was an alcoholic, and within a few weeks of her starting work at Willow Run, she decided to leave him. She saved her money, and almost one year to the date, moved to California with her four children and got a job at Douglas. After a brief layoff in 1945, she was recalled and worked at Douglas until 1960, when ill health forced her to quit. By this time, she had married again and had another child. When she was able to return to work again, she went through an LVN training program and worked as an LVN for nine years, until she retired in 1970. Eusebio was interviewed by Cindy Cleary on three separate occasions in her home, a very well maintained older tract home where she lived with her second husband. Although she was recovering from surgery at the time of the interviews, she was more than willing to accommodate the project. She seemed comfortable with the interview process and openly discussed even those aspects of her life that were painful for her. At times there was some confusion about details, particularly dates and places. TOPICS - divorce from first husband; second husband and his family background; children; marital relationship; pregnancy with fifth child and delivery; family life; parenting styles; gender roles; and cultural differences bpostwar production at Long Beach and Santa Monica plants; seniority and retirement plan at Douglas; gender discrimination at Douglas; veterans' attitudes towards women at Douglas; job classifications; nursing schoohusband's health problems; friends; marital relationship; family relationships; retirement; and attitude towards ERA and the woman's movement;parenting style; children; family life; menopause; health problems; postwar production at Douglas; and reflections on impact of war work;
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