Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation
Oral History Project
______________________________________________________________________________
1. Interviewee: Andrea Olenik
2. Interviewer: Gloria Menke
3. Date of Interview: September 5, 2016
4. Location: Home of Andrea Olenik near Hardin, Montana.
Introduction
This interview highlights the life experiences of Andrea Olenik, who was 95 years old at the time of the interview. The oral history covers her formative years growing up in Montana, marriage in 1939, and raising three children on a farm near Hardin, Montana. Andrea’s history covers nearly ten decades and provides a valuable understanding of the important role women have played in Montana’s agricultural and ranching history.
Interview
[00:00:00] Gloria Menke: This is Gloria Menke. I'm here today to interview Andrea Olenik at her home near Hardin, Montana. It is September 5, 2016.
[00:00:24] Andrea Olenik: Did you think we'd still be living? [Laughter]
[00:00:26] Gloria Menke: This history is being recorded on behalf of the oral history project From the Ground Up: Montana Women and Agriculture. It is sponsored by the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation. Okay, I'm going to ask you what your name is.
[00:00:48] Andrea Olenik: I have to write my name?
[00:00:50] Gloria Menke: No, just say it.
[00:00:53] Andrea Olenik: My name is Andrea M. Olenik.
[00:00:58] Gloria Menke: Okay, what was your name at birth?
[00:01:02] Andrea Olenik: That's what it was.
[00:01:05] Gloria Menke: No, name at birth.
[00:01:08] Andrea Olenik: Name at birth?
[00:01:11] Gloria Menke: Kallen, right?
[00:01:12] Andrea Olenik: Yeah, I guess. Should I shut up? [Laughter]
[00:01:20] Gloria Menke: No, just go ahead.
[00:01:22] Andrea Olenik: Date of birth: 1/21/1921.
[00:01:25] Gloria Menke: Right, place of birth?
[00:01:25] Andrea Olenik: Hardin, Big Horn County, Montana, USA.
[00:01:38] Gloria Menke: Name of the family ranch? You didn't have a name, right?
[00:01:45] Andrea Olenik: Labor Farm.
[00:01:51] Gloria Menke: Really?
[00:01:51] Andrea Olenik: No. [Laughter]
[00:01:53] Gloria Menke: Tell me about yourself. How old are you?
[00:01:59] Andrea Olenik: I am 95.
[00:02:02] Gloria Menke: And where are you living?
[00:02:02] Andrea Olenik: North of Hardin, Montana.
[00:02:10] Gloria Menke: Tell me about your life today.
[00:02:14] Andrea Olenik: Really?
[00:02:18] Gloria Menke: Yeah, what's it like out here today?
[00:02:22] Andrea Olenik: I'm still living in my home and doing my own work, but I'm thinking about quitting that.
[00:02:33] Gloria Menke: Okay. [Laughter]
[00:02:35] Andrea Olenik: I gotta' get help.
[00:02:37] Gloria Menke: I suppose.
[00:02:41] Andrea Olenik: Anything more?
[00:02:43] Gloria Menke: It says, "Tell me about your life today." You sort of did. What is your ethnic background?
[00:02:54] Andrea Olenik: You mean my parents? I would say Netherlands, but I don't know exactly what I should say.
[00:03:06] Gloria Menke: Probably Netherlands, or Dutch.
[00:03:11] Andrea Olenik: Because both my parents came from there. Yeah.
[00:03:17] Gloria Menke: Okay, this has to be about your parents. What's your parents' names and places of birth? We did that already. There's your parents' names and dates of birth. There's your mother's name. Go ahead and say that.
[00:03:47] Andrea Olenik: Dorothea Stephanie Kessels of the Netherlands.
[00:04:00] Gloria Menke: And your dad’s name was?
[00:04:05] Andrea Olenik: John Andrew Marie Kallen.
[00:04:22] Gloria Menke: And his place of birth?
[00:04:22] Andrea Olenik: The Netherlands.
[00:04:25] Gloria Menke: Where did they farm or ranch?
[00:04:31] Andrea Olenik: In the Netherlands, my dad did. My mother didn't farm. They had a cheese factory and shipping. They were into shipping and doing very good over there.
[00:04:48] Gloria Menke: When they came over here where did they farm or ranch?
[00:04:57] Andrea Olenik: My dad started near Harlowton then gradually moved here. My mother lived up there, they were on dry land farming.
[00:05:10] Gloria Menke: Okay.
[00:05:12] Andrea Olenik: My granddad hated it. They wished they'd stayed in Holland. I'd tell you their names if I had that box of stuff, I could answer all that.
[00:05:40] Gloria Menke: Okay, we'll go here then. Where were you in birth order?
[00:05:47] Andrea Olenik: Middle child. What does that mean anyway? They talk about the middle child like they have an advantage or something, I don't know.
[00:05:59] Gloria Menke: I don't know, but you were the middle child. Describe your siblings.
[00:06:10] Andrea Olenik: My sister was a farmer. That's what she liked and that's all she did.
[00:06:23] Gloria Menke: What about your brother Bud? What did he do?
[00:06:28] Andrea Olenik: He stayed on the farm and then he took some, what do you call it, through the mail...some education through the mail and he got a job in California and he went to California.
[00:06:48] Gloria Menke: Okay, so what did John do?
[00:06:51] Andrea Olenik: He went into the service. He hated the farm. He lived in Spokane and worked at Kaiser Aluminum. Ted was a big farmer. That's all of them isn't it?
[00:07:24] Gloria Menke: Okay, we are talking about your parents. It says, “How would you describe their parenting style?”
[00:07:33] Andrea Olenik: They made their kids behave for one thing, compared to today. Maybe a little too strict, but I think they were pretty good parents.
[00:07:53] Gloria Menke: What were your parents’ view point on education?
[00:08:02] Andrea Olenik: I wanted to go to college and we couldn't afford it in those days. They wanted us to get educated, but there was no way we could've done it.
[00:08:27] Gloria Menke: What were their viewpoints on conservation and agriculture? Do you know?
[00:08:35] Andrea Olenik: They did, like all the farmers did, tried to take care of their farms. We didn't hear all this conservation stuff back then. They weren't the biggest farmers, but they made a living.
[00:09:01] Gloria Menke: How did the division of labor work between your parents?
[00:09:08] Andrea Olenik: My mother never worked in the fields like I did. She never drove a car. Housewife and a farmer! [Laughter]
[00:09:37] Gloria Menke: Who disciplined the children?
[00:09:39] Andrea Olenik: They both did.
[00:09:47] Gloria Menke: What are some of your fond memories about your mother and your dad?
[00:09:59] Andrea Olenik: Whenever they didn't want us to know what they were talking about they talked Dutch. We never learned it. My dad liked to go to town and have a few drinks. I don't know, she just stayed home, you know.
[00:10:30] Gloria Menke: What were some of your fond memories with your family? I would guess that means your brothers and sisters. With the family you grew up with, your brothers and sisters.
[00:10:46] Andrea Olenik: We had a lot of fun swimming in the river and everything.
[00:10:56] Gloria Menke: Did you ride horses?
[00:10:58] Andrea Olenik: Yeah, you think back, I don't know.
[00:11:03] Gloria Menke: Did you ride horses and everything?
[00:11:06] Andrea Olenik: Oh Yeah, we rode horses. We didn't have television and that stuff. We made our own fun.
[00:11:20] Gloria Menke: Tell me what you know about your grandparents.
[00:11:26] Andrea Olenik: Well to be truthful, I never met them. My grandparents would be my mother’s mother.
[00:11:41] Gloria Menke: Right.
[00:11:44] Andrea Olenik: I didn't know my dad's mother, she was in Holland. She never came. Only my dad and his brother John came to America, of their family. I don't know. Mom always kept us entertained here, as kids. She got us through high school. We always had to walk a couple of miles.
[00:12:24] Gloria Menke: Were your grandparents homesteaders?
[00:12:27] Andrea Olenik: Were they homesteaders?
[00:12:27] Gloria Menke: Right.
[00:12:29] Andrea Olenik: My dad was.
[00:12:33] Gloria Menke: And he homesteaded near…?
[00:12:41] Andrea Olenik: I think it's Fergus County over there.
[00:12:47] Gloria Menke: Harlowton, I thought you said.
[00:12:51] Andrea Olenik: Yes, near Harlowton, in that area.
[00:12:59] Gloria Menke: Did they have a name for their farm or ranch?
[00:13:04] Andrea Olenik: No. They were just plain folks.
[00:13:15] Gloria Menke: You don't remember their names or places of birth?
[00:13:21] Andrea Olenik: Grandparents? Naturally, in the Netherlands. That's all I can say.
[00:13:42] Gloria Menke: You said your father's parents stayed in the Netherlands?
[00:13:52] Andrea Olenik: Yes.
[00:13:54] Gloria Menke: And your mother's parents came here?
[00:13:56] Andrea Olenik: Yes, the whole family came to Valier, talked about Valier a lot. My mother sang in the choir at St. Patrick's in Helena. How she got there, I don't know. That's where my dad met her.
[00:14:38] Gloria Menke: Okay, let's start with your childhood. What date were you born?
[00:14:46] Andrea Olenik: 21st of January. Is that all you need?
[00:14:52] Gloria Menke: Of 1921?
[00:14:53] Andrea Olenik: Yes.
[00:14:55] Gloria Menke: Where were you born?
[00:14:56] Andrea Olenik: Hardin, Montana.
[00:14:58] Gloria Menke: In the old hospital?
[00:15:00] Andrea Olenik: Yeah, the old, old hospital. [Laughter]
[00:15:15] Gloria Menke: Did you grow up in Hardin?
[00:15:18] Andrea Olenik: Yes, that's my hometown.
[00:15:30] Gloria Menke: How many siblings did you have?
[00:15:31] Andrea Olenik: Four.
[00:15:35] Gloria Menke: What were their names as children? What were the names of your siblings?
[00:15:48] Andrea Olenik: Dorothea Kallen, Eugene 'Bud' Kallen, John Andrew Colin, and Theodore Joseph Colin.
[00:16:17] Gloria Menke: You were the middle sibling. Tell me about your childhood.
[00:16:29] Andrea Olenik: I thought I already did. Back when I was born everybody was poor. I learned that more now. We didn't have much, but we always had a big garden and our own produce and fruit trees, and hogs and beef and all that. That's how we kept going, how I grew so healthy. Childhood, just plain playing as kids do. We spent a lot of time in that river.
[00:17:27] Gloria Menke: That's the Big Horn River?
[00:17:28] Andrea Olenik: Yeah. My mom would yell at us to come home. It's a wonder half of us didn't drown.
[00:17:42] Gloria Menke: It asks here if you took time to plays as kids.
[00:17:53] Andrea Olenik: We worked hard, but yes we had time to play. We worked hard because we milked as many as seventeen cows back then. We all had to milk cows. Of course, we sold the cream. Yes, we had to help with everything.
[00:18:18] Gloria Menke: Did you make butter?
[00:18:19] Andrea Olenik: Yes, oh did I make butter! I sat down in the basement with one of those glass ones and I was churning so hard that it hit the concrete and broke the glass. We even had one of those big ones.
[00:18:45] Gloria Menke: Those wooden churns? Wooden?
[00:18:47] Andrea Olenik: Yes.
[00:18:49] Gloria Menke: They had the up and down plunger?
[00:18:51] Andrea Olenik: Yeah. Jeannie has my two butter churns right now. Do you have one of those glass ones from way back?
[00:19:03] Gloria Menke: I do. As a kid what was your job around the house besides making butter?
[00:19:13] Andrea Olenik: We had to keep our rooms, we didn't each have a room either. You know, do what you do in your room, make the bed and all that, wash dishes. In those days you had to sweep the floor two or three times a day. We did what needed to be done in the house.
[00:19:48] Gloria Menke: Did you work in the fields as a kid?
[00:19:53] Andrea Olenik: As a kid, no. I learned when I got married.
[00:19:56] Gloria Menke: Did you have any hobbies when you were a kid?
[00:20:02] Andrea Olenik: Hobbies...I loved to cut pictures out of Mom's movie magazines of the beautiful ladies, you know. I was always making scrapbooks out of those kinds of pictures. Paper dolls, and all that kind of stuff. Do you want some coffee?
[00:20:34] Gloria Menke: No I'm good. Do you need some coffee?
[00:20:39] Andrea Olenik: My mouth is awful dry.
[00:20:40] Gloria Menke: I'll go get you some coffee. Was there anything that happened in your childhood that was kind of challenging?
[00:21:11] Andrea Olenik: Well it seems like every day was a challenge back then. We'd get hurt by riding horseback and stuff like that, but we'd handle it ourselves. If it was real bad you'd have to go to the doctor, but you didn't run to the doctor all the time, you couldn't. My brother Bud got hurt by falling off a horse, or something. Dorothy kind of took care of it. You knew how to doctor up when things happened. I think Dorothy should have been a nurse. I think she wanted to. Well, a team of horses ran away with my dad one time. I could see it yet. He was dragging this team of horses. He got them stuck. They headed for the corral and they stopped. You did everything with horses back then. Is that enough? I don't know, I'm not good at that challenge business.
[00:22:48] Gloria Menke: Where did you go to school?
[00:22:52] Andrea Olenik: Community out north of Hardin. I went there for eight years.
[00:23:01] Gloria Menke: Through the eighth grade, and then?
[00:23:05] Andrea Olenik: High school in Hardin.
[00:23:10] Gloria Menke: What were your favorite classes?
[00:23:15] Andrea Olenik: I never was good at figures. I hated arithmetic. My favorite classes.... I don't even remember them all.
[00:23:39] Gloria Menke: Oh well.
[00:23:41] Andrea Olenik: Art. Yeah.
[00:23:45] Gloria Menke: Were there any extracurricular activities that you did in school?
[00:23:57] Andrea Olenik: I sang during our graduation with a quartet. As far as sports or anything, we couldn't do that. There's no way we could have got there. That would be music probably.
[00:24:36] Gloria Menke: After you graduated from high school what did you do?
[00:24:39] Andrea Olenik: Got married.
[00:24:42] Gloria Menke: Right away?
[00:24:44] Andrea Olenik: Well I graduated in May and got married on June the 12th.
[00:24:50] Gloria Menke: Okay. [Laughter]
[00:24:52] Andrea Olenik: I didn't have to. Jeannie was born a year later.
[00:25:00] Gloria Menke: Okay, so after high school you got married to John and started farming.
[00:25:10] Andrea Olenik: Oh boy! I even drove a team of horses in the fields. I could put on a harness. I could put the harness on the horses. Of course there was always cows to milk. I did whatever he needed me to do. Then we came around tractors and I learned quite a bit about tractors. I helped in the cornfields and the beet fields. Yeah, we all did.