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Please Note: This is an actual student example
used by permission. I have changed the
names to respect privacy. Deborah Hastings, English 102, 8:30 class Interview with Roberta Baker April 18, 2008 Roberta
Baker Roberta Baker was born in 1921 in
South Carolina. She was the only girl in a family of six boys, but she loved
her brothers dearly. Now, one may think that being the only girl she would be
treated delicately or might even be a bit spoiled. However, Roberta assures
me that she was the independent one; it was her youngest brother Paul who
everyone spoiled because he was the “sweet baby.” When she was a young child,
Roberta’s father worked for many years with the railroad. It seems he was a
union organizer, beloved by the men for protecting them and fighting for
their rights but not so adored by railroad management who used to harass him
regularly. The pressure mounted over the years and the family finally decided
to leave South Carolina and move to Wenatchee, Washington where they worked
in the apple orchards. Roberta learned to pick and pack
apples along with the best of them. As with most folks who work with food
crops, she got to eat her fill of apples. She never tired of their sweet,
fresh taste or the smell of apples on her hands. Sadly, a few years after
their arrival her father fell seriously ill with pneumonia; he passed away
just before she entered high school. Her older brothers and mother worked
hard to make ends meet and keep the family together. It was very difficult to
be so young and in a new place without her father to guide and support her. Roberta
met and became smitten with her future husband, Julius Baker, just before he
joined the Marines. Julius served at Guadalcanal, which Roberta described as
very dangerous posting. While waiting for her sweetheart to return to her
safely, Roberta worked in San Diego at a dry-shred cabbage packing plant.
She loved her work there, the boss was funny and kind, and the work was
important to the war effort. The workers filled 5-gallon cans with dry-shredded
cabbage that were sent overseas to be reconstituted in various recipes for
the men and women in the armed forces. Roberta says that cabbage is
exceptionally high in nutrients, vitamins and minerals, while being low in
fat, which makes it a great food choice for feeding the armed forces. She has
many fond memories of her time at the cabbage packing plant including
visiting with the other women and learning lots of new things. Due to
some serious health issues Roberta lost two babies, and was only able to have
one child before having her tubes tied. Her doctor felt that the surgery was
necessary as her life would have been at risk had she endured another
pregnancy. Alice, their daughter, was a very cherished child. So, for many
years while Julius worked at the Bunker Hill mine in Kellogg, Idaho—a job he
adored, Roberta was completely engaged in “keeping a happy home” and raising
their daughter Alice. Some of Roberta’s favorite family
activities were camping, fishing and hunting. When she and her husband were
young and hearty, they tent camped. As they grew older and had more money,
they slowly upgraded their equipment until in her words “we were just as
comfy when camping as we were at home.” A favorite story she shared with me
was the year that she bagged a really big elk while her husband went
empty-handed all season. She says she loved to remind him of the year she got
a big one and he missed out. This
paragraph is especially for Roberta, at whose specific request I am taking
literary license to add a bit of “extra spice” to her story. On one very
notable hunting trip the Baker family encountered one of the Northwest
region’s legendary creatures, the illusive Sasquatch. It happened as the
family was lolling about camp playing a bit of Canasta— Roberta was winning
as usual, when out of the dense green forest loped a giant, bushy and very
impressive Big Foot. The Bakers were so surprised that their Canasta cards
flew out of their hands and ended up scattered about the table. Roberta, Alice, and her husband backed up
slowly in order to avoid exciting the burly visitor. The huge creature
wandered about camp, sniffing and touching various objects while they watched
in amazement. As the Sasquatch left their campsite it picked up a Canasta
card and ambled slowly out of camp where he or she, it was rather hard to
tell with all that fur, quickly disappeared into the pine forest. The Bakers
never mentioned the incident to anyone as they were concerned people would
think they were crazy or worse – sensationalists. The Bakers loved to travel and
explore new places. On one of their trips to Mexico, Roberta bought an
adorable little purse that looks just like a small, furry brown and white
dog. Packed away for a few years and recently rediscovered, I got to meet
Poncho as he sat on a blanket in Roberta’s lap at the Royal Plaza Retirement
Community. I have to say he was quite well behaved and sat without incident
for our entire interview. His leash lay across Roberta’s arm, but he never
pulled or tugged at it, even when I petted him. Roberta says he enjoys visitors immensely,
but really needs to retire soon. So, in the not too far distant future, it is
likely that Poncho will go live with one of her “lovely grandchildren.” Roberta was funny, sweet and interesting.
It was a joy to spend time chatting with Roberta learning about her life
history. |
