COOPER SCHOOL ORAL HISTORY PROJECT
Sharon Faler Ackerlund & Iris Beisner Nichols
Audiotape
[This is an interview with Sharon Faler Ackerlund and Iris Beisner Nichols on May 14, 2003.
The interviewers are Philippa Nye and Edie Neeson. The transcriber is Jolene Bernhard.]
Voice A: Philippa
Voice B: Edie
Voice C: Sharon
Voice D: Iris
Voice A: This is Philippa Nye and Edie Neeson, and we are the interviewers. And we are interviewing Sharon Faler-Ackerlund and Iris Beisner Nichols. The date is the fourteenth of May and this is for the Cooper School Oral History Project.
A: Can you remember your first day at school?
D: Yes [reluctant but laughing]. Yes, I was not very happy. And I think a lot of kids weren’t either. You know, your first day of kindergarten is pretty traumatic. I remember the kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Huff. Is that who you had when you came [to Sharon]?
C: I think so.
D: Yes, and I remember when we had nap times, we each had our own little rug we would lie on. We rolled them up after naps and then put them in little cubby holes. And, you know, I had that rug up until just about 10 years ago. [group laughs] I used it! I used it in front of our washing machine. It's funny, it finally just wore out.
B: So did you bring it from home? Or did the school provide it?
D: Oh, brought it from home. We each brought our own rugs and had our names on them.
I can still see that room now [looking at floor plan]. This is the first floor.
C: This would be the basement. One more up, isn't it?
D: This is the first floor.
A: There is no basement. But the front stairwells went up to the second floor, so I don't know if you think of it as the basement.
C: Maybe. That's what it seemed like going down there.
A: Yeah, it's kind of dark in there.
D: The kindergarten room was not in the basement. So, that would have been it [pointing to the floor plan].
C: Maybe.
D: Yeah, I think so.
B: So, the northwest corner.
A: Yeah, room number ten on the plan.
D: Right.
A: And you stayed in the room all day?
C: I think we were in there all day. Do you remember [to Iris]? I don’t remember going home. Half days, you know, that didn’t start until later.
B: But they didn’t move you around?
D: No, everything was done in there. [The teacher’s] desk was up here. All these little cubby holes were here and desks -- no, I don't mean desks -- little tables were here. Isn’t that something how you start remembering?
C: I don’t remember that. Now, I came from Coe School in the middle of the kindergarten. So, I didn't start at the beginning of the year. I was very unhappy and very nervous because I didn’t know anybody. I can remember that I had a new pair of shoes. They were like a Dutch shoe -- like a clog. And I literally would kick people to keep them away from me [group laughs]. You know, because I didn’t know anybody. That lasted just a short time and then I made lots of friends.
D: During those years, you didn’t have preschool. So, every body started school when they were five. None of us had any pre-existing experience with any socializing with anyone our own age [other than immediate neighborhood kids] or projects or anything. So, that's why it was pretty traumatic for a lot of kids.
A: How many kids were there in your class?
C: You would kind of have to glance at that photo. That would kind of give you a feeling.
A: Looks like maybe forty?
D: Was there just one kindergarten class? That, I don't remember. Maybe there were forty kids in the class but it didn't seem so --
C: If there were forty, we must have had two kindergarten classes. You know, that's going back a long way.
D: But I remember Mrs. Huff was also the music teacher. I remember her leading the choir, and I can still see her conducting with such seriousness. She was a pretty woman, at least to me as a five year-old. Very pretty. She had these square jaws and I remember they got so tight, very tight, when she was directing the class. And also, she was married and she was pregnant. She was carrying a baby during that year and we just thought that was so wonderful! This teacher carrying a baby. That was pretty neat. And if she had it during that year, I don’t remember. None of our other teachers were ever pregnant.
C: I don’t recall that but Iris does.
A: I wonder if they made them go on leave or something.
C: I am surprised because I didn’t think that they could --
D: During those years. That's right.
C: There were a lot of controls. These were the years , the war years, when we were little.
D: [19]42 is when we started kindergarten. Is that right? Yes.
C: We had the green shades at home -- so, we must have had them at school, too -- to darken the houses.
D: Oh, I'm sure they did.
B: Did Pearl Harbor happen while you were already in school or was this after Pearl Harbor?
D: It would have been after Pearl Harbor.
B: So, the war had started and the U.S. was in the war.
D: Right. I remember -- now, this doesn’t have anything to do with Cooper -- but when we'd drive down where Boeing Field is, the whole thing was covered with camouflage of a village of trees and cars. And it just fascinated me then. It was up there a long time, even after the war.
C: Do you remember the hot-air balloons -- helium balloons, whatever they were -- the big balloons [to Iris]? And they were out south of the school on Delridge somewhere? The military would use them to go up if a plane were coming through and try to intercept to block the enemy pilot’s vision. As kids, we can remember that. That’s what [Leon] and I were talking about.
[“Barrage balloons, tethered by long cables, were used during World War II as a defense against air attack. Fifty-four balloons of the 303rd Balloon Barrage Battalion protected the Boeing Plant at Boeing Field. By most accounts, the balloons in locations around the world interfered with at least as many friendly aircraft as enemy aircraft.” www.historylink.org. Apparently it was the cables which interfered with the low flying spy planes as they could not detect the cable and would lose wings, whatever. London used the barrage balloons also. IN from her husband’s memory of studying the era.]
D: I don’t remember that.
A: They actually had pumped-up balloons?
C: They were kind of like the great big balloons that float around during Seafair. Those great, great big balloons of that type. The reason that they had them was to go up and, again, to camouflage an area.
B: Was there rationing?
C: Oh, yes.
A: Do you remember that affecting you?
D: No, I just remember that it was everyday life.
C: I remember it was so exciting if Dad came home with sugar. It was so exciting because they had the rations and -- Oh, look, they have sugar! I can remember the margarine and having to knead the margarine to put the color in it. So, instead of this white stuff, it became orange-y stuff.
D: A few years ago in some quiz program, they brought that out, and they asked this young woman what it was. She didn’t have the slightest idea what it was. But, man, did I feel old [laughing]! Yes, I can remember standing in the kitchen and Mother would let us [knead margarine].
C: I can remember hearing there was bubble gum at the local store -- I think it was Walker’s store -- which would be down Delridge just south of the school. Going down and standing in line to buy bubble gum because we just never got gum. Word passed around and then everybody stood in line. Then was just this big line of little kids.
D: Can you show me where that was? Like how far down Delridge?
[Groups looks at map.]
A: It wasn't where the yellow building is now, that used to be the teriyaki place two or three blocks south [at the corner of Delridge and Hudson Streets]?
C: Might be. It’s a little square building that still looks like a store. It has apartments on the east side of the street.
A: Yes, that one just closed up.
D: See, Sharon lived down in here [south of Cooper] and we lived --
A: Just south of the golf course?
D: Just north of it.
C: The kids came from all over basically.
D: I used be able to -- and oftentimes did -- go home for lunch and then come back [to school]. Because our house was just right there. Boy, did I eat a lot of Campbell’s soups [for lunch]!
A: So, you were around Yancy?
D: No, I was just east of Yancy.
B: Do you remember your address?
D: Four Oh Two Seven [4027]... 25th Avenue Southwest.
C: And mine was Fifty Sixty-three [5063] 26th Southwest.
D: And our phone number was Avalon Oh Oh Eight Four [0084]. In our area, there were three places where we could buy groceries. There was one on 26th -- hmm, I can’t think of his name. Anyway, the other two were down on Delridge. There was [Gus’ grocery store]. He was Greek. Jack, the butcher, was right next door. And then on the other side of the grocery store was the drug store and old, grouchy George. Remember [to Sharon]?
C: Yes, I didn’t go there often but he was grumpy.
D: Gail [Schmitz-Crandall] used to get Green River sodas and I would get root beer floats.
C: We had Turner’s Drug Store up by us. Up Delridge.
A: Sounds like there were a lot of storefronts that aren’t there anymore.
D: Of course, they were very small. Very small. The one -- I can't think of his name -- he was Italian. That area, Youngstown, sometimes was called “Little Italy” because there were a lot of Italians that lived there because a lot of Italians worked at the steel mill. There were Seraphina’s. There were Bertoldi’s. There were Guntoli’s [also Scatina’s, Valentinetti’s]. Anyway, so I grew up learning to love Italian food. They were mostly congregated in here, kind of along in here [indicating area just south of steel mill between Avalon and the school]. A lot of them lived up on the hillside and the men worked at the steel mill [Bethlehem Steel Mill].
When we first moved to Seattle, we lived on Broadway. My father heard about work at the steel mill, so that's why we moved there [to West Seattle, Youngstown]. Shortly after that, they [sthe steel mill] went on strike and my father went to work at the shipyards. After the strike, most of the men came back to the steel mill, but my father didn't. He stayed at the shipyards.
C: My dad worked at the shipyards also.
D: My father retired from there. So, there were a lot of little, what you'd call 'Mom and Pop' grocery stores. And they were pretty small.
A: Do you think most people worked in the neighborhood who lived there? Did most people work at the steel mill or in the docks? Or did people actually commute?
D: I don’t remember that. It just seemed like an awful lot of them worked at the steel mill and the shipyards.
C: Seems like it was a blue-collar kind of area. The shipyard really provided a lot of jobs. In those days the women typically didn’t work; they were at home raising a family. I don’t recall knowing anyone that was, quote, a professional dad. Do you [to Iris]?
D: No, I really can’t. I can remember two of the families, girls that were in our class, their mothers worked only because -- did Beverly’s dad die?
C: Uh-huh.
D: And Rose, did her father die?
C: I don’t know. I know Beverly’s dad passed away.
D: So, Rose’s mother worked at the steel mill down on West Marginal Way. But, I forget --where did Beverly’s mother work?
C: Like the Bon Marche or something. She worked in a store.
D: Those are the only two I can remember whose -- well, Betty...
C: Betty, who?
D: Peasley.
C: Oh, I don't know what her dad did.
D: I don’t ever remember seeing him.
C: In general terms, it was a blue-collar are/neighborhood.
A: Both of your families came to this area because of the jobs at the mill?
D: Yes.
A: What was the neighborhood around the school like? Were there a lot of houses? Was it pretty empty? Was the golf course there at the time?
C: Oh yes, the golf course was there.
D: We played there.
C: It was my backyard.
D: The golf course and Camp Long. Those were our backyards, that's where we played.
C: During school, now, we'd go across the street and play at the playfield. And I don’t recall adults there. When they rang the bell, we’d go back across the street. And we’d play in hills, and running, just over that whole thing.
A: So there was no one supervising you during breaks?
C: No, it’s not like today. Kids can’t go run and play. We had a great time. We had forts and camps and everything.
D: Down along the golf course, the bushes, the woods -- of course, there was Longfellow Creek. We played along the creek, now that I think of it.
C: Of course. We walked across it. Beyond this way, on 26th Southwest, there were all these --what do you call them? Buildings, low-income...
D: Oh, projects.
C: Yes, project houses.
A: Along Delridge?
C: No, it was along 26th.
D: They were all over.
C: And there was a whole cluster of them there, now torn down.
A: It wasn’t war housing? It was actually built as low-income housing?
D: Wasn't it [initially] for the war [to Sharon]? And then it turned into low-income? Because I can remember the one kitty-corner from our house, when it closed and then nobody lived there anymore. [It stood empty for a long time before finally being torn down.]
C: There was quite a large cluster of them. There you had a blend of people. You had Black and a variety of people. Otherwise, we really didn’t have any people of color to speak of, in our class at least.