Oral History Program Mae Reeder Interviewed by Erik Stoeckle 2 March 1998 i Oral History Program Weber State University Stewart Library Ogden, Utah Mae Reeder Interviewed by Erik Stoeckle 2 March 1998 Copyright © 2014 by Weber State University, Stewart Library ii 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. Archival copies are placed in University Archives. The Stewart Library also houses the original recording so researchers can gain a sense of the interviewee's voice and intonations. Project Description The Weber State College/University Student Projects have been created by students working with several different professors on the Weber State campus. The topics are varied and based on the student's interest or task for a specific assignment. These oral history assignments were created to help Weber State students learn the value and importance of recording public history and to benefit the expansion of the Weber State oral history collections. ____________________________________ 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 All literary rights in the manuscript, including the right to publish, are reserved to the Stewart Library of Weber State University. No part of the manuscript may be published without the written permission of the University Librarian. Requests for permission to publish should be addressed to the Administration Office, Stewart Library, Weber State University, Ogden, Utah, 84408. The request should include identification of the specific item and identification of the user. It is recommended that this oral history be cited as follows: Reeder, Mae, an oral history by Erik Stoeckle, 2 March 1998, WSU Stewart Library Oral History Program, University Archives, Stewart Library, Weber State University, Ogden, UT. iii Abstract: The following is an oral history interview with Mae Reeder. The interview was conducted on March 2, 1998, by Erik Stoeckle, in Ogden, Utah. Reeder discusses her life and some experiences. ES: When were you born and were where you born? MR: I was born May 1, 1913, in Harrisville Utah. I have lived here all my life. ES: Have you traveled a lot? MR: Yes. I was on the state board of Mental Health for 11 years and we would travel all over the United States for conferences. ES: Growing up did you ever have a close friend? MR: No not really. I have had a lot of friends and done allot of things. Would you like a background? ES: Sure. MR: Well to begin with I thought was interesting my folks came from England. I have a brother and Sister and I was the only one born in here. They came over in 1912, and were on the ocean when the Titanic sunk. They got the SOS they were on the Lusitania. I don't know why my folks came over. My Aunt, mother's sister had come for the church, the LDS church but my folks never did join the church. They just came because they were here. My dad was a feisty Englishman not very big and worked at the brickyard in Harrisville. What would be interesting I think was that in those days they could make brick in the summer time but in the winter he would be out of work for four months each year. So we would have to save to get through wintertime. I was raised in a very loving family, I was happy I had a very happy childhood, but when you stop to think about it. 1 Then we moved to the north end of town the five points’ area they used to call it. We lived about to blocks above Washington. In the wintertime when they started to have cars they could not get the cars up the road they had to walk up. I used to walk to school knee deep in the snow. You don't do that anymore. Then I married my husband right out of high school it was during the Depression years. We had three children it was an interesting life. He worked when we got married in the public works as a timekeeper. He decided to be a police officer, so he joined the police force and was a detective. I was just a housewife and went to church and other organizations. I then went to work for Penny's. I had no background. Being the wife of a police officer was not easy he worked nights allot and late hours. I raised my kids practically alone because my husband was gone. When my husband was on the police force I was in the Women's auxiliary and shot allot of pistols. My husband then got into politics. We did several community projects. He worked on Gov. Hampton's campaign for governor. He was appointed deputy director for emergency services. I have been on many community service projects. Then Governor Hampton appointed me to the Board of Mental Health and I had no experience and we traveled all over. And at that time we were decentralizing mental health were it was all in Provo to get the people back into the community. I ended up with twenty-two years on the Board of Mental Health. After I resigned I thought they had had enough of me. Why I was picked up to be on the Council of Aging and have been on that until recently. I have remained active in politics. I have been a delegate to national conventions. I have had an interesting life. Right now I am on the governing board for seniors and have been down there lobbying during the session to get senior bills passed. ES: What other senior organizations do you belong to? 2 MR: For the seniors? ES: Uh huh. MR: Well every year in October we have a mock legislature and we work on bills we think will benefit seniors. And then we have what's called a mock legislature that's open to the public and sit in the chairs and pass bills to show people how bills go through. We have a good group of senior centers. We go and have lunch with them. When you are older you are inclined just to sit but when you go down to these places you socialize. ES: Did you ever have a soul mate? MR: I had a very good friend that kept me going in politics. We were very very close and have been. She moved back east in the last year to be with her daughter and I really do miss her. But um but we were able to go and she and I used to do all of are traveling together and my husband took care of her daughter while we played. But yes I miss her terribly in fact she is not much older than my oldest daughter is. I have a good family and very involved with my grandkids. I have twelve grandchildren and twenty-two great-grandchildren and one great great-grandchild. I have a couple of Granddaughters that use me to pick them up from school. While Stacy was in the lower grades they had my phone number to pick her up from school when she was not feeling well. I have been involved with my family like that. My youngest daughter and there is three years between her and my oldest daughter she had three children my oldest daughter had seven children and my son had two children. My family has been very good to me. We are a very close family. I keep busy and that I think is the reason I keep active I have a big yard that is kept for me but I piddle in the yard. ES: Do all of your children live here? 3 MR: No. Just the two girls, my son lives in Oregon to go to get his Doctorate he has been the director for the center of disabilities and is going to retire at the end of May. 4