Nancy from Callahan Court Memory Care in Roseburg, Oregon

Nancy's Family

Interviewer: Nancy, where are you from? 

Nancy: Los Angeles, California. 

Interviewer: You grew up in Los Angeles, California, too?

Nancy: Yes.

Interviewer: Okay, where else have you lived?

Nancy: I have lived in Australia, and I have lived back in California.

Interviewer: Tell me about your history with your family. Where did your mother or father come from and what did they do? 

Nancy: My mom and dad were born in California. They both had good jobs and my dad worked in an air conditioning business, but he was also a performer his entire life. 

Interviewer: Is that where you get your musical talents from?

Nancy: The only place I get my musical talents from laughs.

Interviewer: Your father.

Nancy: Yes, my father.

Interviewer: What about any siblings? Do you have a sibling?

Nancy: I have an older brother.

Interviewer: Yeah?

Nancy: He’s two years older than I am. I’m 78, so he’ll be 81 in September, actually.

Interviewer: Were you guys close growing up?

Nancy: All the time.

Interviewer: That’s good. Did you like living in California or growing up in California?

Nancy: Yes.

Nancy’s Values and Philosophy

Interviewer: What values did your parents stress about the most?

Nancy: Just love and kindness, and how to get along, be nice to each other and to others, and be kind and loving. 

Interviewer: How old were you when you left your parents' home?

Nancy: I continued to live with them because I was close to the university and I attended there. So I was about 24 when I finally left, because I had to finish college, and it took six years to get through it, take the courses I needed to take in order to get my degree. 

Interviewer: What did you take in college?

Nancy: All the basics.

Interviewer: Did you like college?

Nancy: Oh, I loved it, yeah.

Interviewer: You liked school?

Nancy: Uh-huh!

Interviewer: You enjoyed it?

Nancy: Yes.

Interviewer: Do you have a… or did you have a personal philosophy throughout your life?

Nancy: Be the best that I could and keep love and kindness towards others, important.

Interviewer: What about your older brother? How old was he when he moved out? Were you still living in your parents' home when he moved out, or did you also leave at the same time he left?

Nancy: He left when he was 18 and joined the service.

Interviewer: What service did your brother go into?

Nancy: He went into the Navy because that was during the draft era, the Vietnam War. He liked the Navy, it served him well and he served them well. All the good things that they taught him improved him as a person. 

Nancy's Career

Interviewer: How old were you when you started working?

Nancy: I started working, actually, in high school. I always saved my money to help pay bills, when needed, like buying a car.

Interviewer: What was your first ever job and how did you get it?

Nancy: My first job was working at a restaurant that my girlfriend worked at, and she was very close to the owner.

Interviewer: So you guys worked together? 

Nancy: Yeah.

Interviewer: You guys had the same shifts?

Nancy: Yes. And then I went into a summer job

Interviewer: Oh, how long did you work there?

Nancy: I worked all the way from part in high school into college, part-time. 

Interviewer: What job did you work the longest?

Nancy: Teaching. 

Interviewer: Where?

Nancy: In California.

Interviewer: You were teaching there the longest?

Nancy: Yes. 

Interviewer: Describe what you did as a teacher.

Nancy: I taught elementary school, junior high, and high school. 

Interviewer: So you had to deal with high school kids, too? How was that? 

Nancy: Okay, because I thought junior high was my best grade.

Interviewer: Really?

Nancy: And I worked with high school kids, too, which was fine because they were all good. 

Interviewer: Yeah. Were there any, like, naughty kids that you had to try to teach? 

Nancy: No.

Interviewer: They were all nice?

Nancy: Yeah.

Interviewer: Behaved?

Nancy: Oh yeah.

Interviewer: That’s good. Was there any dislikes about your work?

Nancy: Never!

Interviewer: You loved everything about it?

Nancy: Yes.

Interviewer: Did you ever change jobs, or did you just stay as a teacher?

Nancy: I was always a teacher.

Interviewer: Always a teacher. Was that always what you wanted to do?

Nancy: Yes. 

Nancy's Instruments

Interviewer: So growing up, what was your very first instrument that you learned?

Nancy: Piano.

Interviewer: Piano? Did you like playing the piano?

Nancy: I liked it until I got bored of it, and my teacher, he was old. He knew a lot and was very good.

Interviewer: What was the second instrument that you learned? Were you self-taught in it or lessons?

Nancy: I was not self-taught. I had lessons playing the oboe. That was my main instrument that I went through lessons with.

Interviewer: Is that your, out of all the instruments that you played, what was your most favorite?

Nancy: The harp. I bought a Celtic harp, which could stand about five feet tall. It's not an orchestral harp. I loved that instrument. Then I wanted to play the banjo, I always wanted to play the banjo. That’s a different kind of music, a different style, and was not in the orchestra or the band. But I always wanted to play country music on the banjo. So I bought a banjo and took lessons.

Interviewer: What was your most favorite instrument to teach your kids? 

Nancy: I don’t have a favorite. It was all fun. 

Interviewer: All of it? 

Nancy: All of it.

Nancy's Time in Australia

Interviewer: How old were you when you moved to Australia?

Nancy: Around 25.

Interviewer: 25? Did you like it in Australia?

Nancy: Well, yes. I lived with an Australian family, and I learned part of that culture.

Interviewer: What was their culture like?

Nancy: It was different from ours, but the important part was that it was like family.

Interviewer: Yeah, nice and kind?

Nancy: Yes.

Interviewer: Did they have any kids of their own? 

Nancy: Three.

Interviewer: Three kids? Were you close with them?

Nancy: Oh, yes.

Interviewer: Were they your age or younger?

Nancy: No, very young. They were children.

Interviewer: How long did you live in Australia? 

Nancy: Two years. 

Interviewer: Two years? What was your favorite thing about that place? 

Nancy: The countryside. 

Interviewer: You liked the countryside? 

Nancy: Yeah.

Interviewer: Was it hot there? How was the weather?

Nancy: It was hot where I went.

Interviewer: Yeah.

Nancy: I mean, they had rain and that kind of stuff, but no hurricanes or earthquakes or anything.

Interviewer: Did they have any family traditions that you got into while you were staying with them? 

Nancy: In Australia, they had some family traditions that I became a part of because I became a part of their family. 

Interviewer: Well, what type of traditions were they? 

Nancy: They were more family-oriented. They liked to get together and go on camping trips, and go to their beach house, that they liked to go to, and I was always included because I was a part of the family. 

Nancy's Thanksgiving Poem

Interviewer: Did you have a memorable moment in your life? What was your best memory that you can remember? 

Nancy: First and foremost, everything was good.

Interviewer: Yeah? What was the funniest thing that ever happened or that you experienced? 

Nancy: When I was in the fourth grade, it was during Thanksgiving. We had sat and learned everything related to Thanksgiving, vocabulary, spelling, and math. It was all tied into Thanksgiving. In fourth grade, I had to write a poem. I’ve never forgotten the poem that I wrote either. 

Interviewer: Yeah.

Nancy: And we had to write a poem about Thanksgiving. So I’ll just tell you my poem. 

Interviewer: Okay.

Nancy: It was the best I knew how to write. 

"My grandpa is very funny, 

By the turkey he sat money. 

So big and plump and fat for all of us to eat at

There is going to be a crowd

72 and all to make my grandpa proud."

…That was my Thanksgiving poem in the fourth grade.

Interviewer: Haha! Did your grandpa ever read that poem?

Nancy: No, but I said it at the Thanksgiving table.

Interviewer: Yeah? 

Nancy: So the whole family could hear it.

Interviewer: What did they think about it? 

Nancy: They thought it was precious.

Interviewer: Yeah!

Transcription and Audio Edit by Grace Johnson and Samantha Alcaraz