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Morgan Trego

28 April 2021

Senior Citizen Interview

The senior citizen that is being interviewed is Sonnie Huguenut. She is 74 years

old. I know Sonnie because she is my grandma. Her gender is a female. Her racial and

ethnic background is caucasion. Her socioeconomic status is middle class. She grew up

in Southwest Ohio and is currently living in Dayton, Ohio. The education she has is high

school and some college. She worked for NCR for 25 years. Her living circumstances

are retired, married, adult children, and grandchildren.

The first topic we talked about was life satisfaction. Sonnie is pretty satisfied with

her life today. Life was not better or worse than she expected; it is just very different.

The happiest period of Sonnie’s life was being a grandma for many reasons. Watching

her kids' parents has been very rewarding. Loving the grandkids is so much fun. At the

same time she has also had her unhappiness period. This is when loved ones get ill or

pass away, this has left a big hole on her heart. She said God lets this happen this way

for a reason. Sonnie is looking forward to the next decade. She loves seeing her family

growing and when her journey is finished, her hope is that her family and savior will say

‘well done’. For the future her plans are to take care of her husband as long as she can.

She wants to see as many of her grandkids graduate as she can. She hopes to go to

the pool this summer and go shopping and go to church without a mask. She also wants

to take a vacation next winter somewhere warm.

The second topic we talked about was cognitive development in adulthood. The

intellectual activities Sonnie likes to do is reading and listening to smart people. She
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enjoys these things because she likes new ideas and understanding how things work.

As a young adult doing these activities she does not feel she is better or worse at them

now. She just has more time to do these activities now. Sonnie has thought about taking

some college courses right now in her life but she has never followed through. She likes

to do spontaneous things. She doesn't like to have a heavy schedule. She said she

would pick some different courses if she was to take a college course right now or in her

future. She even mentioned taking classes to start her own business.

The third topic we talked about was gender role and society. When Sonnie was

young she said men were supposed to work and earn the money. Women were

supposed to take care of the husband, the household, and the children. Now in today's

world both males and females are expected to contribute equally. It is hardly ever equal

but that is what she thinks the expectation is. There are so many ways that the changes

of roles for men and women have affected Sonnie’s life. She owns a car with a loan.

She has a mortgage. She has always had a good paying job. She has had a pension

and her own healthcare benefits. She said her husband sees the household and their

children as both of their responsibility and the finances also as a shared responsibility.

Most of these changes are beneficial for men and women. In the old days Sonnie said,

wives could be left destitute. Her husband is very loving and would have made sure that

she would have everything that she needs. The changes have helped both of them

because they both have contributed.

The fourth topic we talked about was menopause. Menopause began at the age

of 51 years old. She got symptoms like hot flashes and discomfort a little bit.

Menopause did not cause a serious disruption of her life or emotional stability. Sonnie’s
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attitude about menopause is definitely different now from when she was younger. Even

though Sonnie can not have kids anymore she has her grandchildren that she really

enjoys. She also said she doesn't want to give birth any more. Sonnie wishes her health

was better.

The fifth topic we talked about was adolescence then and now. Sonnie attended

high school and she also wanted to attend high school. In high school Sonnie took the

college prep courses. The homework she got in high school was reading, writing, math

skills, and projects. Most of the adolescents in her neighborhood did go to high school.

But the kids who had farms missed quite a bit during planting and harvest. These kids

always made up all their work. There were also a few German Baptists in her

neighborhood and they required their kids to quit school at 16. The only work Sonnie did

when she was in school was at home for her family. She would also babysit once in a

while. She lived in a farm community so there wasn’t opportunity for other employment.

She would just help her family. Sonnie did not have to contribute to her family income

because she did not have a job outside of helping her family. Sonnie had to get along

with her parents when she was a teenager and she did not have a choice. Her parents

were very strict. They had all kinds of rules. When Sonnie was a teenager they had to

dress. They were not allowed to wear slacks or denim to school. They wore dresses

and skirts and either flats or saddle Oxfords for shoes. The only tennis shoes were keds

and they would wear them once in a while. They mostly wore Bobby socks. They were

not allowed to wear their good school clothes if they were not in school. They would

only have five outfits for school. Teenages then did have fashion fades that they went

through. Sonnie was allowed to date at the age of 16. Things she did when she was
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with her boyfriend and her friends were a lot of the same things. They would go bowling,

roller skating, ice skating, school basketball games, family gatherings, movies, and

cruising the main drag in Greenville Ohio. The most nagging thing for Sonnie as a

teenager was trying to keep her grades up and keep her family happy so she would stay

out of trouble. What Sonnie wanted to do with her adult life was go to high school and

become a high school teacher. She knew for sure she was going to get married and

have children. The biggest difference between teenagers today and teenagers then is

that society has changed.

The sixth topic we talked about was retirement. Sonnie worked for a business

collector for NCR. She was downsized in 2002 and then retired a few months later. After

that she worked a little bit. It was part time. She looked forward to retiring. Sonnie did

not plan well for retirement, it came too early financially. With retiring Sonnie was glad to

get rid of stress from downsizing.Moving to Florida also made it easier. Sonnie was very

grateful to be retired.

The seventh topic we talked about was cognitive functioning.Sonnie does not

really have a hard time remembering things or to do things. She does sometimes have

a hard time remembering things that happened a long time ago. Every once in a while

she will find herself feeling sad. The main thing she does to help her with remembering

things is getting good sleep.

The eighth thing we talked about was marital satisfaction. Sonnie has been

married for 55 years.Sonnie has kept her marriage interesting by picking a godly man.

They both put god first and love each other very much. Her attitude about marriage has

not really changed over the years. Marriage is a vow taken before God to love, honor,
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and cherish each other. Sonnie and her husband have never considered divorce. They

would always work through their problems. The key to a successful marriage is to love

God first.

When interviewing Sonnie she did not repeat herself or ask the same question

over again. She did not have trouble finding words she wanted to say, finishing her

sentences, or naming people or things. In the next few years I think Sonnie will start to

begin to forget things as she gets older. This is just something that happens when you

get older. I also feel she will need some help to complete some task that will need to be

done. What was the biggest take away that you learned from your teenage years? This

was the main question that came to my head.