b. 1915 at home
LaGrange, ID
Virginia Sears is the sister of Virgil Westdale, who was featured in Episode One. In this episode, Virginia tells us what it was like to live through the Great Depression, and afterward, about the discrimination she faced during World War II as a Japanese American.
b. 1927
St. Clair, MI
Chris Smith is the third generation owner of Chris-Craft, one of the oldest boat manufacturers in Michigan. His family built several award winning racing boats for the Detroit Cup, the landing boats used in Normandy during World War II, and adapted the first outboard motors.
b. 1931
Selma, NC
Betty Josephine Segal was a pleasure to chat with. In fact, we continued our conversation over dinner after the interviews, and again over tea when I hosted a book signing at the local library where she lives in Rantoul, IL. Her manner of conversation and explanation is something to be admired, and her time at the CDC as things changed provides insight into how workplaces were altered by tech.
b. 1933
Alliquippa, PA
Tito Francona is well known as a Major League Baseball player. He played alongside Hank Aaron, Yogi Berra, and many other greats. To me, he was a family friend whom I would see at functions and events. He was always kind, smiling, and curious. His was one of my first interviews, before I knew this book was about tech, so while I didn’t gather anything relevant to the final topic of the book, I did get to hear some great stories about playing ball in the middle of the century.
b. 1932
Grand Rapids, MI
Carol is my friend’s grandmother, and I was fortunate enough to meet her just before the publishing of the Stories of Elders book. She comments on some things that, today, we may not notice; like the reduced friendliness of police, or poverty. In this episode, Steve and I discuss what poverty means, what neighborliness means, and some recent laws that changed law enforcement in Carol’s lifetime.
