Ashley Riek

ALH 1101 H93

April 23, 2019

LIFE INTERVIEW of Mrs. HD

INTRODUCTION

My interviewee is a fast paced woman who has always been busy her whole life. She is my

grandma and for the duration of this paper we will refer to her as Mrs. HD. Mrs. HD has had an

eventful and full life and wildly enjoyed answering her questions for me. It was an enlightening

experience for the both of us; for her to remember and be able to relive and for me by leaning so

much I didn’t know. We held the interview at her home and talked for around two hours.

LIFE EVENTS - CHILDHOOD

Mrs. HD was born on a Tuesday, on September 7th, 1948. She grew up with one full-blooded

sister, who was born on September 5th, 1945 and who recently died on April 9th, 2018. The two

of them had grown up in tandem. They learned to dance together, they saw Elvis Presley

together, they shared clothes, and they gave birth to their first children right around the same

time. It was a huge loss to her last year when she lost her sister. She also had two younger half-

sisters from her father's side. She doesn’t know the two of them very well and had only met them

a couple of times. One was born November 10th,1954 and had since passed on March 13th,

2010. The other was born around 1958 and lives in Kansas.

Growing up her older sister had a pet mouse that Mrs. HD dug up once it had died. She then

took to school to anger her sister. In later years, they had a pet parakeet. Mrs. HD does say that
while she was a tom boy and enjoyed rough housing with her friends she did play with the

occasional paper doll. She hated tomato soup and loved to drink milk, but only because pop was

so monitored in the house. Her favorite game to play as a child was Monopoly.

Mrs. HD went to public schools throughout her schooling. She wasn’t a troubled student, but she

did have her clarinet stolen out of her locker one year. She complained about no more band class

after that. She remembered her fourth grade teacher made the class learn the polka, and that

started her love of dancing. She enjoyed math class and home economics in high school and did

not like any sort of science, history, or government. She wanted to be an opera singer growing up

and loved to dance.

Mrs. HD claims she didn’t really pay much attention to major world events growing up;

however, she does remember a “few” select things. She remembers Neil Armstrong walking on

the moon and President John Kennedy’s assassination. She remembers the the Watergate

scandal, Vietnam protests, 911, Civil right movements and quite a few other things.

LIFE EVENTS - ADULT

Mrs. HD cashiered for a while until she left, because they promised her more and never

delivered. Then after that she went to business school while simultaneously working in a night

club and raising two children. After a couple temp job stints with her business schooling she got

a job with the local Frigidaire company. She later quit that job while married to my grandfather.

She ultimately became a stay at home mother and raised my mother and her siblings with a very

active style. She was a scout leader for her son, she helped with church festivals, and at one point

was the PTA president.

She was first married at the age of 16 in high school, she married her high school sweetheart.

They ended up having two kids together and a second marriage to the same man before things

were broken off. She then met her current husband while working in a nightclub. She described

him as a gentleman and a good listener who had a solid faith foundation. They got married on

October 26th, 1973. Her husband adopted her first two children from her first marriage and then

they had my mom on February 11th, 1974. My aunt followed on August 13th, 1975.

IDENTITY

Mrs. HD knows the origin of her last name is German and that it comes from the word hug

which means heart or soul, close relative or son of. Her nickname from her husband was “Kid”.

She has always just assumed it was because she is ten years younger than him. She is a hard

worker like her mother, and she doesn’t care to be much like her father who eventually drank

himself to death. She says she has had one hangover in her life and that was enough for her. She

believes that she passed on her good work ethics to her children but not necessarily her faith,

which she would have enjoyed. The best compliment she has ever received is that she has a good

heart. She also says if she would win $1 million she would share it with her family.

THE PRESENT (minimum 150 words)

These days Mrs. HD enjoys teaching line dancing, scrapbooking (often with her oldest daughter

in tow), sewing, and working in the yard. Mrs. HD has always had an impeccable yard while I

was growing up, and she has so many old scrapbooks that you could look back all the way to

1958. These days with grandpa’s health declining she does most of everything in the house

except take out the trash. She cooks, cleans, dries, shops, does the finances, and makes all their
plans. When she finds herself wanting to do something fun, she goes dancing. She has multiple

classes a week with some of her friends and they typically do line dancing. The most important

thing she is trying for in life right now is to stay healthy for people who are dependent on her and

to make sure she has all of her ducks in a row for when she is gone. She doesn’t wish to burden

anyone with a lot to do after she is gone.

AGING (minimum 150 words)

“20’s…babies, 30’s toddlers, 40’s my mother always said ‘life begins at 40’ she was right, 50’s

looking forward to retiring, 60’s retired life is good, 70’s life is getting a bit scary. I’m not afraid

to die I’m a bit afraid to live!” Was a direct quote she said about growing older. Although if she

could go back in age she would go back to being 50. Mrs. HD says it would have been nice to

work for a bit longer before retiring to pay off a bit more debt. She is least enthusiastic about

turning 70 and even goes as far as to ask is she even ready to turn 70. Growing older wasn’t

necessarily hard for her but she does feel that learning to live with the wrinkles of old age was

difficult and she still doesn't enjoy them much. The best thing she thinks about growing older is

when someone tells her she doesn't look her age.

REFLECTION ON YOUR FAMILY HERITAGE

Her viewpoint is that her family is all caucasian. Mrs. HD doesn’t have any documentation

saying otherwise, but she knows all of her family was born in the United States and her

Grandparents were, too. When it comes to holidays her children always seem to go a little Irish,

making sure St. Patrick’s Day is always celebrated. She doesn’t remember any ethnic food that

has been passed down in our family. She did mention that pie has a place in everyone's heart in
our family. But most of all what we passed down was our love of going boating every summer

growing up.

LIFE LESSONS AND LEGACY (minimum 150 words)

Her most cherished family tradition is getting everyone together for thanksgiving and then going

shopping for black friday the next day. She feels it has become important for her, because it

always ends up being right before she goes away for half the year to Florida. Mrs. HD’s proudest

moments are when her children were born, especially when my grandpa could be in the room for

it, and again when her grandbabies were born. She hopes that her husband thinks she has been a

good partner in life and her kids think she was a good mother. Her biggest frustration is weather

her children and grandchildren will continue to succeed in life after she is gone. Some of her

favorite experiences in life were her baptism, her marriages, her children, Taking care of loved

ones, and teaching dance to a group of over 400 people. Her Favorite and most useful piece of

advice in life was to take care of her own. Mrs. HD would like to her children to remember the

good and bad about her. So that they can learn from the bad and pay forward the good. She

would also want everyone to remember that she loved them all no matter what.