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Identifier
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wwu:31151
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Title
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Betty Russell interview [transcript]
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Date
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2003-11-20
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Description
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Interview by James Hillegas as part of the Bellingham Centennial Oral History Project.
Betty (b. 1924) discusses her childhood in Bellingham living in both Park Street and Smith Road houses. She focuses mainly on traditions particular to her immediate family such as Christmas, religion, and weekend activities. One of her occasional getaways was going with the family to a beach on the Lummi Indian Reservation. She mentions her relationship and experiences with her father who was a logger and later a longshoreman. In addressing the Longshore Labor Strike in the 1930s, she illustrates the reaction of the community and its direct effect on her family. Betty reminisces about first being an independent seamstress at 14 years old, volunteering as a receptionist at Graham Airport, and attending the old Sehome School to learn to be a sheet metal mechanic. During World War II she worked at Boeing in Seattle becoming one of the first women workers on the floor of the Boeing plant as a mechanic mostly building B-17s. She also recounts both her family's and the community's reaction to the bombing of Pearl Harbor and further discusses serving in the hydrographic office of the Navy in Washington D. C. Here, she remarks about differences between the east coast and west coast. Interview length: Two 60 minute cassette tapes.
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Digital Collection
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Bellingham Centennial Oral History Project Records, Washington Women's History Consortium Collection
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Type of resource
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Text
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Object custodian
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Center for Pacific Northwest Studies
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Related Collection
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Bellingham Centennial Oral History Project Records
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Local Identifier
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bcohp_russellb20031120transcript
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Text preview (might not show all results)
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Betty Russell Interview 1 Collection Name: Bellingham Centennial Oral History Project records Repository: Center for Pacific Northwest Studies, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA 98225. Interview Title: Interview with Betty Russell. Interview Date: 2003 November 20 Interviewer: James Hill