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March, Lillian (audio interview #3 of 3)
INTERVIEW DESCRIPTION - This is the final interview with Lillian March conducted in the living room of her modest Lakewood (California) home, which she and her husband bought in 1960. Once again, she was not very expansive and did seem to have some memory problems. 3/18/1980
- Date
- 2021-07-07
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- Campus
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- Notes
- SUBJECT BIO - Lillian March was a full-time homemaker before going to work at Douglas Aircraft, Long Beach. Born in South Dakota, March was the second of eight children. The family moved to Le Mars, Iowa when she was one years old. After she graduated from high school there, she attended college for one year in Sioux City, until she married in 1913. After her husband died in 1915, March attended beauty school and started to work as a beautician, continuing, even after her marriage in 1922 to a barber. When March and her husband moved to California in 1933, she became a full-time homemaker, until she went to work at Douglas. At forty eight, she was among the older women who became defense workers, and worked for only one year, resuming full-time homemaking. Even though March's assembly work was short-lived, she felt that the experience built her self-confidence and she did more after she returned home. Three interviews were conducted with March in the living room of her modest Lakewood (California) home, which she and her husband bought in 1960. She was very soft spoken, even somewhat shy. The interview seemed to make her nervous and she was always more relaxed and animated when the tape recorder was turned off. She was not accustomed to talking about her life and often commented that she felt filly relating certain anecdotes. March took a long time to gather her thoughts before responding to a question; and she sometimes became so absorbed in her thoughts that she forgot the interviewer was there. TOPICS - household finances; social life and social activities; future expectations; quitting Douglas in 1943; development of mechanical skills while at Douglas; impact of war work on her life; marital relationship; husbandreflections on her life; old age; husband's illness and death; attitude towards the changing roles for women and the women's movement; future expectations; impact of war work on her life; political beliefs; feeling
- *** File: rrrlmarch7.mp3 Audio Segments and Topics: (0:00-1:03)... March contributed the wages she received from Douglas to the household income. She and her husband pooled their money and used it to pay for their living expenses and for a down payment on their first home. (1:03-3:29)... On the weekends, March spent her time doing household chores and relaxing. In addition to visiting with family and friends, she and her her husband occasionally went out to a nightclub or to the movies. She also pursued her reading interests in her spare time. (3:29-5:43)... March notes that she was ready to quit Douglas before the war ended. Although she liked working, she also enjoyed being a housewife and felt it was time to settle down and "start promoting what we tried to do" at home. She never thought about starting a family because she was close to her nephews and her niece. One of her nephews fought overseas during the war and she use to collect the newspaper clippings that detailed his successes in the war. Like most people in her family, her nephew was very patriotic. (5:43-11:07)... March quit working at Douglas in 1943 because she was getting tired of the work as well as the long drive from Los Angeles to Long Beach every day. She was not required to go through an exit interview before she left the plant. She explains that working at Douglas built her self confidence, proving that she could do more. She comments: "...it was something else I did that I didn't think I could." She originally went to work at Douglas to contribute to the war effort and to make some money. After she left Douglas, she plunged herself into home improvement projects, stating that the skills she learned at the plant helped her to become a "full fledge mechanic." She kept her Douglas toolbox and felt really important whenever neighbors came over to borrow her tools. (11:07-13:00)... March and her husband usually discussed and/or argued about things before decisions were reached regarding their household. She was never afraid to express her feelings and opinions to her husband whether she was right or wrong. (13:00-15:45)... She discusses her lifestyle and activities after she left Douglas. She was not involved in any social clubs or church activities during that period in her life. (15:45-16:31)... She never went back to work after she quit Douglas. The only time she helped her husband in his barbering business was with his finances and bookkeeping. (16:31-17:39)... After she left Douglas, March spent a lot of time visiting her sister in Los Angeles. She is very close with her niece who lives nearby her in Lakewood. Her niece's husband happens to work in the same department at Douglas as March did during the war. March has never been back to Douglas since she left in 1943, but occasionally thinks about going on a tour of the plant. (17:39-18:40)... After the war, March and her husband spent more time traveling and visiting friends and relatives. (18:40-23:52)... March and her husband moved to Lakewood in the 1960s. They purchased a home near South Street where he opened a barber shop. When he fell ill with emphysema they moved to another home in Lakewood and he entered the Veteran's Hospital where he died. March's brother moved in with her to help her during her husband's illness. He lived with her until he died around 1978 and she has been alone ever since. She relies on her neighbors and her niece and nephew to take her places and to do her grocery shopping. She also is a recipient of the Meals on Wheels program. Although she still has a lot of girlfriends who are elderly like her, she mainly socializes with women in her neighborhood who are younger and keep her up to date on the latest trends. (23:52-24:25)... She never thought about going back to work after she left Douglas because she had started working at a very early age and felt it was about time for her to stop. (24:25-26:44)... March did not experience any problems when she went through menopause. Physically, she thinks she is a weak person and people close to her do not think she should be living alone. However, her doctor feels that she is in good condition for her age. She has a difficult time accepting age, stating, "I don't want to be old [but] if you can't accept being old at eighty-four, something is wrong with you." (Note: there is some discrepancy with regard to her birth date; it is not clear if she was born in 1894 or 1896). End of tape. *** File: rrrlmarch8.mp3 (0:00-1:17)... When March is feeling down or unwell, she lays on the couch, turns on some background noise and reads. Over the past two years, she has cut down on her activities quite a bit. When she was younger, she went shopping or did other types of activities to pick herself up when she was feeling down. (1:17-3:09)... She discusses the happiest and most fulfilling times in her life. (3:09-6:18)... The unhappiest time in March's life was when her husband fell ill with emphysema and was admitted to Veteran's Hospital. He was treated during the week and came home on the weekend. This was the first time that March lived alone and it was difficult for her to adjust. She talks about her husband's illness and how she prepared for his death, indicating that she had to learn how to be on her own and make all the decisions. She spent a lot of time feeling sorry for herself and "waiting for the day the news would come" that her husband had died. (6:18-7:29)... March has no idea what she would do differently if she had a chance to live her life over again. She thinks that she would have improved a lot of things in her life, but has always considered herself to be independent to a certain extent. (7:29-9:41)... She discusses her attitudes towards the changing roles for women and the women's movement. Overall, she believes that modern women are far more independent and intelligent than the women of her generation. However, she also believes that some women "go too far" in their attempts to gain more rights for women. (9:41-11:14)... March does not think that she has too much of a future ahead of her considering her age. She has outlived her siblings and believes that there is some reason why she is still alive. However, she is ready to go when it is her time and has prepared for her death by making all of the necessary arrangements. (11:14-12:36)... Upon reflecting on her work at Douglas, March indicates that she was introduced to a lot of different people when she worked at the plant and it was during the war that she learned what patriotism was and what it was not. Even after she left Douglas, she bragged about her war work, telling people "I really liked it. I didn't think I could but I did. It was the war effort and I figured maybe I was helping somebody as well as myself." (12:36-14:20)... She talks about her political beliefs. Although she always followed politics, she was not knowledgeable about McCarthyism and the related events that occurred in the 1950s. (14:20-16:36)... March discusses the kinds of expectations she would have had for a daughter or a granddaughter, indicating that many of her thoughts are influenced by her niece's and her sisters-in-law's lifestyles. (16:36-18:48)... March discusses how she feels about living alone. (18:48-20:48)... Whenever she thinks about things she would like to do in the future it involves going on a shopping spree or possibly visiting her hometown of Sioux City, Iowa. She really has no desire to travel anywhere else. She mentions how her neighbors and mail carrier check up on her to make sure she is still alive and kicking. (20:48-23:12)... March notes that she has taken care of her burial plans. Even though she does not have any children, she knows that her niece and nephews will miss her when she dies because she has been a part of their lives since they were born. She also discusses her disappointment at having to stop driving in the 1970s because she started to get shaky and have problems in traffic. She missed driving, but was grateful that her brother was around because he drove them everywhere. End of tape.
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