Oral History Program Terri Jorgensen Interviewed by Sarah Tooker 5 April 2019 Oral History Program Weber State University Stewart Library Ogden, Utah Terri Jorgensen Interviewed by Sarah Tooker 5 April 2019 Copyright © 2022 by Weber State University, Stewart Library iii 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 Beyond Suffrage Project was initiated to examine the impact women have had on northern Utah. Weber State University explored and documented women past and present who have influenced the history of the community, the development of education, and are bringing the area forward for the next generation. The project looked at how the 19th Amendment gave women a voice and representation, and was the catalyst for the way women became involved in the progress of the local area. The project examines the 50 years (1870-1920) before the amendment, the decades to follow and how women are making history today. ____________________________________ 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: Jorgensen, Terri, an oral history by Sarah Tooker, 5 April 2019, WSU Stewart Library Oral History Program, University Archives, Stewart Library, Weber State University, Ogden, UT. Terri’s mother and siblings circa 1980’s Terri’s father and family 1982 Terri, Terri’s son, and daughter-in-law 2016 All of the males in the Jorgensen family 2018 Jorgensen Family 2018 Terri Jorgensen 5 April 2019 1 Abstract: The following is an oral history interview with Terri Jorgensen, conducted on April 5, 2019, in the Stewart Library, by Sarah Tooker. Terri discusses her life, her memories, and the impact of the 19th Amendment. Alyssa Kammerman, the video technician, is also present during this interview. ST: Okay we are here with Terri Jorgensen and the interviewer is Sarah Tooker and Alyssa Kammerman is on camera. Would you mind giving me your full name? TJ: Terri LeAnn Wheeler Jorgensen. ST: And your parents? TJ: My father’s name was Terry James Wheeler and my mom is Tonia Janeen Myers. ST: When and where were you born? TJ: I was born in Bakersfield California in 1967. What else was that? When and where? ST: It’s good. 1967 is good. Tell me about your childhood. Like your elementary school. What do you remember about elementary school? TJ: I remember kindergarten because we made applesauce. I’m not even really sure why. We made applesauce and wrote the recipe. But I know I wasn’t a good student. I had teachers tell me I was. I remember my fourth grade teacher telling my mom that I can’t even read at a second grade level and that I’m not going to be very successful if something doesn’t happen. But I don’t ever recall doing homework or things like that until I probably got into junior high and high school. 2 Otherwise, I don’t remember a whole lot of my education. I could tell you a lot of the teachers, I could tell you my friends. I could tell you more about junior high when I started playing in band. Well that was fourth and fifth grade there. You had the option to play in the beginning band. I got into playing the clarinet and after that I think that for some reason around sixth grade I realized I could read. And so between when I graduated in high school I graduated with a 3.93 ST: Oh, that’s great TJ: Oh no wait that was college. 3.56 was high school. Sorry we’re getting a little ahead there. ST: That’s still really good TJ: I had like A’s and B’s. I don’t remember having to work really hard at it afterwords. I don’t remember much parent involvement in my education or growing up because I don’t really feel like my parents were really there for us in that nature. So education, I went to school. I went to a bunch of different schools. I went to school in Taft, California. Then we moved for some strange reason to Duchesne Utah, I went there in third grade—Kemmer—I went to Kemmer School in Kemmer. It was probably a short time and then we went back to California. I do remember going to school in the snow cause I had to wear galoshes, which was exciting, because I am a California girl. We don’t wear galoshes. ST: Ya TJ: Then when I was probably a freshman in high school, I told my mom I’m going to go live with my dad. And that’s how I ended up in Utah. So, I graduated from 3 Clearfield High School in 1985. Then I started here at Weber it was Weber State College then. I was trying to go into the nursing program and it was sort of hard to go to college and live in your car. So, I actually dropped out and then I really didn’t go back to school until my youngest child was one. ST: Okay TJ: Then I went back to junior college. So that’s how. And then I graduated from Cal State Bakersfield—no Taft College in 1993. Then Cal State Bakersfield with my teaching credential in 1996. Then I got my master’s a couple of years ago in teaching education in technology. So I can actually teach an online class if I wanted to. ST: That’s good TJ: If I wanted to, I don’t want to. ST: What kind of memories do you have from high school? TJ: High school. Oh high school, I have a lot of memories. I remember all the marching band stuff. I was really into band, I mean that probably was one of my saving graces for my education. But I was also like a class clown, not meaning to be, but ended up, you know. I liked taking language classes, I took three years of German, I remember my German class and going on field trips with that. I joined the swim team when I was a senior which was fun and made me wish why didn’t I start sooner because I had so much fun. I think when you finally get to high school you sort of find your close, close friends. And so you know you still can keep in contact with those people still. Yeah, high school I remember doing a lot 4 of band things marching concerts. I remember one of my favorite class was chemistry because we learned how to make beads with the chemicals and Bunsen burner. So science was something that had to keep me entertained. I loved the German class and I did really well in English which is sort of a shock with as little I knew in fourth grade. But I never really sat down and realized that until as I’ve gotten older because I’m like, “Wow, how did I do that?” Because I really don’t know if it was a teacher. I do remember a teacher who influenced me, I think in fifth grade. She was very supportive and gave me lots of, “You can do this.” I think it was the year I realized I could read and read at level. High school we just did a lot of fun things I remember hanging out with my friends, going to basketball games, football games, getting put into band closets and getting in trouble with the band teacher. We used to for peoples’ birthdays—we all knew each other’s lockers. We would put a birthday cake in their locker and fill it up with cardboard and popcorn and then pull the cardboard out. There would be a mess. I got to know the custodians really well because they would come and get me out of class to clean it up. In a way, I had a kidding type of personality you know that kind of personality I think it was high school that brought it out. I think that music was probably one of my biggest things that brought me out of whatever kind of shell I might have been in. It’s funny you’re asking these questions I’ve never thought of music or band as being an influence on me. I think it really was. ST: That’s good. 5 ST: Did you continue into that in college? TJ: Band? Music? Not really, because by the time I went to college, I had two kids. Actually, five kids by the time I went to college. Three of them were from my husband’s first marriage and I had my two. They are about a three years, and three years, and three months apart. So, by the time I went back to college I went back to college when my youngest was one. So that’s when I started junior college, and by then you’re a re-entry student. So you don’t get to do all of the fun, I did actually join a sorority when I got to Cal State Bakersfield. It was part of my scholarship. I got a scholarship from them for about $1,500 back in 1993. It’s probably good now a days it would hardly get you anything but some books. So I joined Alpha Gama Sigma when I was in college, we did some fun things. I did continue to take some German in college and I then I took some Spanish, because you know, living in California, I don’t know when I ever thought I was going to us German. I do remember some German, but now that I use Spanish more than I use German, it’s now the third language I recognize. Yeah it’s funny, I have a minor in Spanish. I took that much Spanish in college in the four-year university, that I have am minor in it. In California, they have what they call the “B” class, which is the bilingual cultural linguistic. You know, it’s the whole entire thing, it means I can actually teach in English or Spanish if I want to. ST: That sounds like it’s a really good thing 6 TJ: The languages was another thing—language and music. Which arts seem to be something that’s a forte for me. I’ve learned that I have an artistic ability and creative things. So I don’t know, something about the arts and science seem to be something that really interest me. Did that answer your question? ST: Tell me about your time at Weber State. TJ: Weber State. I started the nursing program and I went to institute. Is that what it’s called, institute? ST: Yeah. TJ: I did that. I had a lot of fun with that. We did a lot of activities and stuff like that. I had started my first quarter, but I couldn’t keep my grades up because I was living on my own, in my car. So I would go to work, I worked at JB’s and it’s not there anymore in Clearfield. I worked there at night, I would get up in the morning, and come to Weber State, go to my gymnastics class, take a shower, and then go to my other class. But then eventually, I would go to the gym and take a shower to be clean for work. So after that I ended up dropping out. Because I think I failed out of all of my classes because I wasn’t even smart enough to know to drop them or anything it was. When you’re living in the backseat of your car in October, and you’re worried. You’re worried about if you’re going to freeze to death at night. You don’t really worry about calling the college and saying, “Hey, I’m going to drop these classes.” So, I decided I needed to be able to survive before I can go 7 back to college. I still wanted to go back to college, I just knew I wasn’t ready to do it right then. I think all students that after they leave high school and they enter into college they go, “Oh, why didn’t I take a year or two off because I’m exhausted.” I mean even though you’re used to going to school all of the time, it’s different. It’s all on you. It’s not on your teachers anymore, you’re responsible, you know darn that responsibility thing. When all have to grow up and be responsible. I think that’s what happened, but I loved the science and the nursing and I wanted to maybe be a nurse as I’ve grew older. I realized I don’t really care much for because I don’t think I could give him a shot at this point. I could probably do it but I’d have my eyes closed and hope I hit the right spot. But for some reason that’s like hurting somebody even though I know I’m helping them. It would feel like I’m hurting him. Even though he’s been through so many surgeries and I’ve had to play nurse that I should have a minor in nursing at this point too. ST: I understand you don’t like the blood and stuff anymore, but what made you focus on education and being a teacher instead of with kids and stuff? I understand the music, but why not an artist or something like that or an anthropologist? TJ: Oh, I would have loved to be an anthropologist. I just knew there was nothing I just knew I needed to find a career that was need and not one that I wanted because I still have to be able to support myself. When I was a kid, my grandfather told me—my grandparents raised me for quite a while. And every other weekend, they had the visitation for my father since he didn’t. My 8 grandfather used to tell me, “You need to be able to take care of yourself. You need be able to, you need to get a career. You need to never need to depend on a man to take care of you. You need to do something with your life to where you can support yourself.” My grandfather imbedded that into me so many times when I’m thinking about getting like a job I’m like, “I would love to do anthropology, but the job would not what kind of careers are in anthropology are out there. But one of my main reasons for going into teaching was I would volunteer in my son’s classroom because my husband, at that point, had a really good job in California in the oil field. I hadn’t thought of going to college yet, when he went to kindergarten I volunteered, and I did a lot of art and lots of tutoring and arts and crafts with them and stuff like that. I really felt like I had a really good rapport with them, especially the naught children. I think I thought, “You know, maybe… well wouldn’t education my schedule would fall with my children? I love working with kids I think I feel like this is my area that would be really good for me.” Is to be a mentor to this guy because education may not have been important to my parents and my family, but it was to me and my grandparents. I think that’s probably why I thought I won’t have to worry about babysitting in the summer and things like that. So I went into education because, you know, I really want to make a difference in somebody’s life so that they can make a better decision like I did. Just because you were born into a bad situation or poor situation doesn’t necessarily mean that 9 you get to make the same choices your family made. You can make your own choices and be something different. When I was a kid my mom—we lived off of welfare and we would go down and get the welfare food. It was unsalted crackers and Velveeta gross cheese. I thought it was gross, I guess people love it. I would tell my mom, I said, “You know what? When I grow up I’m not going to be like you. I’m not going to be like you, I don’t ever want to have to live off of unsalted crackers and slimy cheese.” I remember telling my mom, I think it really annoyed her because to her it was like, “Well this is just how our life is.” I didn’t want to live like that, so I had made a goal. That was probably when I was below eight, I was six or seven. I had already decided I was going to be something other than just a mom I didn’t want to be just a mom. Actually, I probably never thought about being a mom until I found out I was pregnant then it was, “Oh you’re going to be a mom.” ST: What other memories do you have of your grandparents? TJ: My grandmother’s always had some kind of business, so it was just natural for me to see women in charge. ST: How do you think women receiving the right to vote shaped or influenced history, your community or you personally? TJ: The women in my family have always been independent. But if women had not secured the right to vote, my grandmothers wouldn’t have had so much freedom. It also put into motion freedom for all. It isn’t just women’s suffrage, it is all groups suffrage. 10 ST: So, based on your life experience, what advice would you give to women today and the future generations? TJ: My advice is to always feel comfortable with yourself and make sure you can take care of yourself because you should never rely on someone to take care of you.