Oral History Program Clair Walker Interviewed by Marci Farr 3 September 2008 Oral History Program Weber State University Stewart Library Ogden, Utah Clair Walker Interviewed by Marci Farr 3 September 2008 Copyright © 2009 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. Archival copies are placed in Special Collections. The Stewart Library also houses the original recording so researchers can gain a sense of the interviewee's voice and intonations. Project Description The Dee School of Nursing was founded in 1910 to provide training for nurses who would staff the new Dee Memorial Hospital. The first class of eight nurses graduated from the school in 1913 and the school continued to operate until 1955, with a total of more than 700 graduates. A new nursing school and home located just east of the hospital was completed in 1917 and all nursing students were required to live in the home during their training. This oral history project was created to capture the memories of the school's alumni before their stories disappear in the same way the Dee Hospital has disappeared. The oral interviews focus on how the women became involved with the school, their experiences going through training, and how they used the training. ____________________________________ 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 Special Collections 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: Clair Walker, an oral history by Marci Farr, 3 September 2008, WSU Stewart Library Oral History Program, Special Collections, Stewart Library, Weber State University, Ogden, UT. iii Olive Campbell Walker Madsen Mother of Clair Walker Graduation Photo 1934 Olive Campbell Walker Madsen & Nurses October 1932 Operating Room October 8, 1932 Olive Campbell Walker Madsen c 2000 Abstract: This is an oral history interview with Clair Walker. It was conducted September 3, 2008 and concerns his recollections of his mother, Olive Campbell Walker, and the Dee School of Nursing. The interviewer is Marci Farr. MF: This is Marci Farr. We are interviewing Clair Walker. His mom, Olive Campbell Walker, graduated from the Dee School of Nursing in 1934. CW: It was ’34 because mom and dad got married in ’35. MF: It is September 03, 2008. We are interviewing Clair at his home in Ogden, Utah. Clair we just want to know a little bit about your mom, just tell us about her early life, where she grew up, her family, and where she was educated. CW: She the second of four children. Her mother, Marion Storey, was from North Ogden. Her dad, Delbert Campbell, was from Eden. They married and grew up in Liberty and then they took the whole family on a church mission to California. I didn’t know they could do that but my grandpa pulled it off somehow, the whole family. They came back and made their home in Clearfield. Where Lindquist’s mortuary is at in Clearfield was the Campbell farm. We have got the best plots because we sold it to them. I have still got my plot there but I have chosen cremation. But they were just a poor, hardworking family and her oldest brother made money during the war with tires and recycling. Mom decided to go to college. Her younger brother, Halvor, he became the postmaster general out in Clearfield and Sally married a big executive with Chrysler and he just recently passed and she lives in Auburn, California with her daughter now. MF: So where did she go to school? CW: Davis High. 1 MF: Why do you think she chose to become a nurse? Do you know what her reasoning was? CW: She was always a giving person. I could see where she would be happy and content helping others. MF: And the Dee School of Nursing because of convenience? Do you think because it was close in Ogden? CW: Yes. I think so. And she used to tell me the story, “I will not work in this cannery anymore for fifteen cents an hour.” So I know she was chasing the almighty dollar and a little esteem of a career. That is what she was doing. MF: That is true. Plus she was during the Depression, right? CW: Yes, right. MF: So she was growing up and trying to face that too. CW: Yes. MF: You mentioned she knew some of the doctors, they were their instructors, and they came and taught at the nurse’s home, right? They gave their lectures, do you remember if she said anything about that? CW: No I don’t know that she did. She worked for Doctor Dumke, Ezekiel Dumke for a lot of years as the scrub nurse and then when she got out of being a surgical nurse she worked as Doctor Conrad Jensen’s office gal for many years before she went on to Davis County and… MF: Before she went to the public health nurse. CW: Yes. 2 MF: When she first started nurse’s training, did she tell you much about when she first got there? Was it a shock to her, as far as the strictness of it? Do you remember her saying anything like that? CW: She said it was kind of a Gestapo type. Boot camp, you know, it was one of those. I understand she always said that it was probably still that way, very strict and structured and not too many people will get out of line. MF: You would have to be corrected. CW: Yes. MF: Yes we have heard that from a lot. CW: So the tradition continues. MF: Do you remember if she said anything like if they had a night off, if they weren’t working, what they used to do? CW: She wouldn’t ever tell me about the fun times. Only the burdens she did for her sons. I am sure she got in to a little trouble. MF: She probably had some fun times. CW: Perfectly normal. MF: Did she say anything about the curfew, if they had to be in at a certain time? CW: I think it was rather early like eight, nine o’clock. MF: It wasn’t till midnight or one. CW: I don’t think so. She did tell me the story that she was living on 27th and Jefferson in those apartments right there and that is when they had the old street car up 27th street. And she could hitch a ride up there for like a dime or 3 something, whatever it was. And she said that dad proposed to her out there on the porch. MF: Oh. CW: She came out one morning, “What is he doing here?” You know? And it went on and on and that is how father came into the picture. MF: Now at that time were they required to attend church? Do you remember if she said anything or if it was a choice? CW: She didn’t say. MF: Do you remember, her saying anything, about when she had her capping and pinning ceremony? Did she say where it took place? CW: No she was just very proud of that picture that was printed in the paper. And that so few had made it through the course. She was very proud to prove to her dad that she could… MF: That she could do it. CW: He never really encouraged her all the way through until after. MF: Until she was done. CW: “That is my daughter, there.” You know, and then he was a proud papa. MF: Yes. CW: But Grandpa Campbell probably didn’t give her a lot of help. MF: She had to do it to prove herself, her worth, which obviously… CW: Yes, and she did and rubbed it in his nose. MF: Did she talk much about when she was on shifts? Did she ever say much about what training took place? 4 CW: I know that she had the real lousy shifts, the worse possible, graveyard, whatever you want to call it. But she didn’t go into too much detail other than once she got into being chosen as a surgical nurse. And then she said her life really opened up. MF: It made a big difference. CW: Yes. And she would tell me that she was chosen over all the others because she could get that left-handed equipment into Dumke’s hands because he was a southpaw. Those doctors had tempers. If you throw something or give the wrong scalpel out it goes. They are just that way. MF: Was the surgical floor her favorite? CW: Yes it was. She liked that. She had two or three real good friends. I know one she often spoken about was Lucy Smith Spong. We went out to visit them quite a bit. They lived out in Harrisville. It was a neat experience because her husband Bob had model trains downstairs and three little boys love that kind of thing. And then the two nurses would sit upstairs and tell stories. We would hear them laughing up there. They were having a good time. MF: Did she say anything while they were in training if they received any payment at all for their time? CW: She never mentioned anything of that. MF: Did she know any of the Dee family members? CW: She never brought that out if she did. I am sure she knew them. MF: I am sure Elizabeth would probably be the prominent one because she was so good with the nurses. 5 CW: Now didn’t they start that in the late 20’s? MF: They started it in 1910 was when the school was built. They had groundbreaking in July of 1910 in December they were ready to go. CW: That is where I came to this planet. MF: Tell us about after she graduated where she went. You said she was a surgical nurse, right? CW: Yes a surgical nurse. I don’t know how many years, I think probably three or four and then she went to work for Conrad Jensen. MF: And that is what she did until she went to Davis County School… CW: To Davis County and she retired in ’76. MF: She loved doing that though. CW: She did. As a matter of fact, I went to her retirement, I took a half a day off work and went down there, and they had it in the Farmington Courthouse. Her best friend and boss was Doctor Keith Barnes who pretty much ran Kaysville at that time. Ever heard of Barnes Bank? MF: Yes. CW: He was an excellent boss. She had the ultimate respect for him. When they couldn’t get me a babysitter she would take me out there. So I would be maybe playing at Sunset school, the only kid out in the playground, wouldn’t that raise a red flag? “What is he doing out there? He doesn’t know a soul. He is having a good time.” But you know she had a lot of leeway and she could take care of her family that way. She spoke very highly of Keith Barnes. But getting back to her retirement, the place was packed. They had a better turnout than some of the 6 commissioners that were retiring out there. And to walk in and see three hundred people for my mom was a pretty cool day. MF: It meant that her training, and that is what we come back to is where she was trained and how it was, even though it was like a Gestapo Nazi camp, you know what, it served her well as far as what she decided to do for her life. CW: It has. And years later she would tell stories that maybe she would have a flat tire out on the road or something and somebody would stop, well I remember you Olive, you were my school nurse and fix ; those kinds of stories, you do something and it comes back to you. MF: It comes back to you. That makes a difference. CW: That was really neat. MF: I think we have got our questions so we are good. We appreciate you letting us come. 7