Oral History Program Joye Faulkner Interviewed by Kristen Cope 28 March 2014 Oral History Program Weber State University Stewart Library Ogden, Utah Joye Faulkner Interviewed by Kristen Cope 28 March 2014 Copyright © 2014 by Weber State University, Stewart Library Mission Statement The Oral History Program of the Stewart Library was created to preserve the institutional history of Weber State University and the Davis, Ogden and Weber County communities. By conducting carefully researched, recorded, and transcribed interviews, the Oral History Program creates archival oral histories intended for the widest possible use. Interviews are conducted with the goal of eliciting from each participant a full and accurate account of events. The interviews are transcribed, edited for accuracy and clarity, and reviewed by the interviewees (as available), who are encouraged to augment or correct their spoken words. The reviewed and corrected transcripts are indexed, printed, and bound with photographs and illustrative materials as available. The working files, original recording, and archival copies are housed in the University Archives. Project Description The Golden Hours Senior Center provides services to many patrons in Ogden, Utah. In 2014, the public history class conducted oral histories with several of these community members, covering topics such as World War II, education, segregation, Weber State University, Ogden City, and 25th Street during the 1940s and 1950s. These interviews add to the community history of Weber County. ____________________________________ Oral history is a method of collecting historical information through recorded interviews between a narrator with firsthand knowledge of historically significant events and a well-informed interviewer, with the goal of preserving substantive additions to the historical record. Because it is primary material, oral history is not intended to present the final, verified, or complete narrative of events. It is a spoken account. It reflects personal opinion offered by the interviewee in response to questioning, and as such it is partisan, deeply involved, and irreplaceable. ____________________________________ Rights Management This work is the property of the Weber State University, Stewart Library Oral History Program. It may be used freely by individuals for research, teaching and personal use as long as this statement of availability is included in the text. It is recommended that this oral history be cited as follows: Faulkner, Joye, an oral history by Kristen Cope, 28 March 2014, WSU Stewart Library Oral History Program, University Archives, Stewart Library, Weber State University, Ogden, UT. iii Joye Faulkner March 18, 2014 1 Abstract: The following is an oral history interview with Joye Faulkner, conducted by Kristen Cope on March 28, 2014. Joye discusses her childhood in Ogden during the Great Depression and World War II. She also discusses her career in Ogden from the 1950s to the 1970s. KC: Joye is a life-long resident of Ogden. Can you tell me when and where you were born? JF: Right here in Ogden. June 9th, 1929. KC: Can you tell me about the area you grew up in? JF: It’s close to the old Mound Fort Hill. At least that was the name of it, Mound Fort, and it was our playground. We lived on that hill. KC: Now, you found some things in the hill, right? JF: Yes, we did. That was when we weren’t old enough to realize that we dug Indian relics, arrows and things. And we weren’t old enough to realize the significance of them at the time. So, yes we did. We didn’t necessarily want to dig them, we just dug around in the sand because the sand and the clay were so wonderful to play in. KC: What do you remember that area looked like? JF: It was just lots of wildflowers, bleeding hearts, and lady slippers and all kinds of wildflowers, and wild roses, and just a wonderful place. It was perfect for sledding in the wintertime. We could sled almost to Washington Boulevard, and that would be on Grant, so that would be two full blocks 2 that we could sled. It was just a happy wonderful childhood to grow up there. KC: Could you tell me about your family? Who were your parents? JF: My mother was Lucille Taysom Faulkner and my father was Frank R. Faulkner. KC: What sort of images come to mind when you think of them? JF: Oh, they were just the most warm, loving parents. Even though everyone was dirt poor back then, we never felt poor. My dad always had a big vegetable garden and my mother canned fruits and vegetables all summer long. And if we were poor we didn’t know it. KC: And this would have been in the thirties you were in the Mound Fort area? JF: Well, my dad grew up in that area his whole life. My grandparents owned acres and acres out west into Ogden up to Washington Boulevard. Of course there were no streets, it was just open farm land. Not when I was little so much. But the Mound Fort Hill was just in the middle of a farm. That was the main thing; everyone farmed to try to make a living. KC: What did your dad do? JF: He was a brick contractor, as was his father; so many of the churches in Ogden he worked on or built on. The church on the Mound Fort Hill, he was bishop up there, and helped build that. A bigger crew came in, but he helped every day of his life to build that church on top of that hill. KC: Was there anything there before the church? Do you remember? JF: Not on top of that hill, no. 3 KC: You mentioned earlier that he had done some WPA projects? JF: Yes, at one point he had helped build El Monte Golf Course. There were no jobs. He was making $4 a day to work on that. He didn’t dare tell any of his relatives and his brother in-laws that he was making that much money, because that was just almost an exorbitant sum of money to make back then. KC: You also mentioned people coming to your Mom’s door, right? JF: Well, people were so poor and Ogden was a major railroad hub. And so the bums or the hobos, we called them a little of both, would jump off the trains and go to any houses they could find to get something to eat. My mother would always, she wouldn’t let them in the house, but she would set them in a chair outside and bring food to them. And I remember the Indians coming to my Grandmother’s door for food, too. There were still Indians around here then. That would have been in the early thirties. KC: Were they Shoshone? Do you remember which tribes? JF: I don’t. I just always assumed they were Navajo, but I think there were several different tribes in here at the time. There were Indian Wars, as you know. I should know what tribes there were, but I can’t tell you at the moment. I’ll have to check into that. KC: Let’s get back to you, how would you describe yourself as a child? JF: Really happy. I just had a wonderful, happy, childhood. There was no television. We would gather around the radio when the president of the United States spoke, or when Marian Anderson sang the national anthem 4 and things. In the thirties and forties there was another singer who was wonderful; her name was Kate Smith and she was the “Darling of America.” She had a radio show every Saturday night, and she always sang “God Bless America.” She gave hope, faith and patriotism to our country. It was one of the highlights of the week in a country of poverty and want. We didn’t know we were missing anything; we had the radio. KC: What was your relationship like with your siblings? JF: Oh, we had a very loving relationship. We just played together and with all the kids in the neighborhood. My grandmother owned one of the nicest houses in the neighborhood and that’s where we would all gather and play night games. Hide and seek, kick the can, and all those things. Everyone had canned milk at the time too, and we would make, we all wore leather shoes then too. There were no tennis shoes. We would pound milk cans onto our shoes and walk all over on milk cans all day. We would build stilts. I spent most of my childhood on stilts. I don’t think I could do that now, but I’d like to try (laughs). KC: Did you ever get into any trouble? JF: The most serious trouble we ever got into was, you know the Weber River and the Ogden River met down on 12th Street at about where Wall Avenue would be now. And Mother was frightened of water. She grew up on the Snake River and had been warned by her mother to stay away. But we would go down there and swim and then of course we would have to dry off before we went home. That’s probably one of the biggest problems we 5 got in. We played outside all day long. Except for the chores we had to do, we were outside playing all the time. We just would go in for lunch, then we’d be right back out playing. KC: Now what about when you got into school and a teen? Where did your family live when you were a teen? JF: Well my grandmother owned all that property, so my Dad bought a lot from her that was just a block up. He built a bigger home for us, so I grew up there. KC: What are some of your vivid memories of school? JF: Well, Mound Fort Elementary and Junior High School were right on the corner of Washington Boulevard and 12th Street so it was so easy for us. We always ran home from school for lunch, because it was so close to school. I don’t remember them having a lunch program back then, maybe they did, but we always just took a lunch or went home. And it was a wonderful school. My father went to Mound Fort School when he was a child, and to Weber High School out on 12th Street. KC: And you went to Ogden High? JF: I did. Ogden High when I went to school was only the 11th and 12th grades. We went to Mound Fort through then 10th grade and then we went to Ogden High the 11th and 12th. KC: You mentioned earlier going to dances on 25th Street. Can you tell me about that? 6 JF: Well, mostly we roller skated at the Berthana Roller Rink which became a ballroom later. When I was around twelve or so, we went there to roller skate. And it was wonderful, it was fun. They played the organ and they had streamers hanging down and it was so much fun. And then, I was thinking about this the other day, it seems like there was an ice pond up by The Greenery. KC: Oh? JF: Yeah, I think there was an ice pond right next to that, and we skated up there too. But later on the White City Ballroom, they had the big bands in, because there was no television and the big bands would have to travel. They would go to Salt Lake and some of them would come up to the White City Ballroom that was just off 25th Street as I recall, between 24th and 25th. That was fun and of course we had a lot of dances at high school. And dances, until the war started in 1941 and then we couldn’t have parades or gatherings. Because of the fear they’d bomb or terrorize, so most of the things we had at school were conducted in the gymnasium at the school. KC: What do you remember about the wartime in Ogden? JF: I remember like it was yesterday. We had gone to church and come home and were getting ready to have dinner when my dad turned the radio on. I don’t know if he had had some warning from somebody, but they announced that the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor, December 7th 1941. We had just moved into this new home at that time and it was very 7 frightening, because my parents, of course, were familiar with the First World War and their parents. But war was just a foreign thing to us and we were all really frightened. KC: Were your brothers old enough to enlist? JF: No, my brothers weren’t, but my uncles all were. All of my mother’s brothers went to the war. But I went to the USO down 25th street where we served coffee and donuts and pop and things, because the soldiers would come into the Ogden depot down 25th Street and get off the train and they would entertain them and feed them and so forth. KC: Did you know there were POWs in town? JF: Oh, absolutely. In fact, they did a lot of the labor in Ogden. They paid them, I don’t know, maybe something like 80 cents a day, or something. And they would have to thin beets, they’d be guarded. We had German prisoners and then the Italian prisoners were very friendly. And Japanese, yes they would go, they would take them out to pick cherries and peaches and apples. KC: I knew you would know about that. I just learned it though. I was surprised. JF: Well, in fact, gasoline was rationed and it was very common when we were, I think I was twelve when the war started and sixteen when the war ended and we always hitchhiked up to Patio. It was common, everyone did. And it was a safer place and people would stop and pick us up and take us up to Patio. On their way down some of the Italians who lived in Ogden would pick up these prisoners to take them out of camp, because 8 they were Italians. And on occasion they would stop and pick us up. And they would ask if we wanted to come to a spaghetti dinner that they were having with a dance. And of course my father just hit the roof. There’s no way, no way we could go do that. And we’d go in groups, we were perfectly safe. It was a safer world then. KC: Did you get into any trouble as a teenager? JF: Not anything real. We were raised to be obedient and we worked. It was a time in life, everyone worked. That was when we hung our wash out on the line and it had to be folded, and it had to be ironed, and no dish washers, I guess a few people had dish washers, we did later. But we had a big family so we spent a lot of time in the dish pan too, and we listened to Frank Sinatra on the radio while we were doing dishes. KC: When did you start your first job? JF: My first job was picking cherries right along with the prisoners. They really needed labor then, and so a truck would come to Weber High School and everybody that lived in the area would go up there and this flat bed truck would take us to North Ogden to pick cherries. KC: How old were you? JF: I think I was probably like thirteen or fourteen. And they encouraged people. We didn’t make enormous money, but we made some money, so much a pound, we maybe made a dollar a day or something, I don’t know, but it was fun and we would sing on the back of this truck. And there was one girl who could yodel. And she tried to teach us all to yodel, none of us 9 could, but she would yodel on the back of this truck. We just had so much fun. KC: When did you start at the dairy? How old were you when you started that job? JF: I was about twenty-two when I started working at Weber Central Diary. I started out wrapping butter and then they moved me into the lab, which I loved. Then I went to Weber College and took a Bacteriology Class. I worked for a man named Ray Collins who was the Bacteriologist and he set the standard for the dairy products during his career there. I know his brother, Ted Collins, worked for the Standard Examiner, he was a photographer and reporter, was well known. I know he died, he lived to be about 96, so Ray Collins could still be alive. I don’t know. But he was amazing. He just he taught me so much. I loved working there. And then from there I went over and ran the lab at Paramount Dairy. KC: And you did a class up at Weber, you said? JF: Yes, I did. It was fun. It was a Bacteriology class. We typed our own blood; it was great. KC: Cool. So, when did you start beauty school? JF: When my second baby was young, only about a year old, we were having marital problems and ended up getting a divorce. And women just didn’t make any good money back then, but I had a friend that had a beauty shop in her home, and she had two children and she was just making money hand over fist. And I thought, well, maybe that would be a good 10 thing to for me to go into. Hollywood Beauty School was just coming into Ogden at the time, so I went with a friend and signed up to go to cosmetology school. And it was wonderful and I really, really liked it. I opened my first shop with a friend out on 9th Street and Washington, and we were in that shop until, I think three more years, I remarried and then I had a salon in my home for several years. And then, finally I opened a large salon and boutique shop on 36th and Washington. And I was there for, well, altogether I was in the beauty business for about twenty years, I guess. And then I went into real estate. KC: When you first started your salon on 9th street, did a lot of your friends have jobs too? A lot of your women friends? JF: Well, while I was getting ready to open the shop, I worked at Safeway too as a checker. And a lot of my friends worked at Hillfield. And down at the army depot. I think that was still open at that time. KC: Was it difficult to be a mom and run your own beauty shop? JF: It was, but the wonderful part was I had an apartment, my father had built a four-plex that was only a half a block from where my shop was. And I had a wonderful woman who was from the Marriott family, Helen Marriott. She was so wonderful. She would rock my baby and talk to him, and play with him, and read to him, and that was just three doors from where my shop was. So I felt really pretty good about that and he was happy there with her. KC: Where was the salon that you had in your home? 11 JF: Well, I eventually bought a house over on Jefferson just off 12th Street. And I was really lucky, because all of my customers went with me from beauty school right into my salon. They stayed with me for twenty years. We’d add new ones, but they stayed with me. KC: Did you have other women working in your salon with you? JF: Yeah, the one 9th street I think we had, six or seven booths in that one. It was fun. It was amazing that we did as well as we did, because to go straight from beauty school and take all your clientele with you and have them stay with you. And then of course we had a lot of customers come in from the neighborhood there, because there really wasn’t much of a salon out there. I had lifelong friends from that little salon out on 9th. KC: Can you tell me about the salon on 36th street? JF: Oh, yes. I had a fifteen operator salon, and then a boutique shop with it that we sold all kinds of sweaters, gifts, bags, and things. It was fun. KC: I heard the 36th Street salon was pretty swank. JF: It really was nice. My sister, who was in the furniture business, she was a designer, when she came she said, “This is like something from New York.” It was. It was a nice shop and we had lots of nice, important people in the Ogden area who were customers. KC: That was the one that was above Lion’s Den right? JF: Yes, it was over the Lion’s Den, which was wonderful because we would call down and order, they had marvelous big salads then. We would call 12 down and order salads and they would bring them up to us and we’d have a room where we’d go in and just nibble on our salads all day long. KC: At that point, were you involved with the auto body shop? Were you working at the auto body shop too? Or was that after you had that shop? JF: Yes. I sold that shop, and then my husband owned a body parts place. I ran his office. At that time it wasn’t computerized yet, and computers were just really coming into their own, so my son helped me and we computerized his office and I worked out of that office. KC: How did you get involved in real estate? JF: I just decided I was really tired and I wanted to do something different. So, I went to Weber College and took real estate classes. And I just loved it. It was like having your finger on the pulse of the nation, because real estate drives everything. If real estate isn’t selling it affects carpenters, plumbers, brick masons, electricians, bankers, it’s the whole, everything. It’s driven by real estate. KC: So throughout your career, what would you say your biggest struggles were? JF: Well, it was being a single mother. With children, trying to give your children all that they needed and keeping an income coming in and taking care. I had wonderful children, though. I ended up having four sons, and they were wonderful. I never had any major problem with them. I’m amazed when I look back how good they were. I loved them, but I was a little bit strict; I think that you need to be. I think children need ground rules 13 and they need structure so they know when dinner is and when bed time is. And I loved being a mother. KC: What have been some of your passions, causes, or projects that have been the focal point of you life? JF: I think probably children and families. I worry about the children in today’s world. I just think they’re getting too much sugar. I think women are very busy today and they have so much responsibility and it’s hard for today’s women to be all, to wear all the hats they have to wear. KC: Thank you for sharing your experiences.