An Interview with Nana and Granddad

For my Intensive Writing class, I was required to do an interview as part of a research project. I chose to interview Nana and Granddad about some of their experiences in the early 50's.

Tell me about when you and Nana/Granddad were first married. What were some of the challenges?

Nana: Granddad and I were married June 17, 1950, right after we graduated from college. Completing college was one reason Bumpa [Nana’s dad] gave permission to marry. Living together was an adjustment: not always putting myself first, adjusting to having another family.

Granddad: Getting a born-and-bred Connecticut gal across the Hudson River… to leave her family and friends to go westward to St. Louis where we were to live. Starting my job with the Ralston Purina Co. in the Personnel Dept. at $200 a month. After 22 days at my job and in our new house, being recalled into service during the Korean War.

How did the national events of the time (the aftermath of World War II, the Korean War, the beginnings of the Cold War, etc) affect your home life?

N: The Korean War started while we were on our honeymoon. Granddad was in the inactive reserves so we thought he wouldn’t be called up. Wrong! [On] October 3 we drove to Ft. Riley, KS [and] found and apartment in Manhattan, KS. Newly graduated from West Point lieutenants and their brides were our friends. By spring they started to be called to go overseas.

G: World War II had a profound effect on me in that 2 days after high school graduation I was on a train to Princeton and began college immediately. I eked out a freshman year before going into the army… basic training at Camp Hood Texas and Officer Candidate School at Fort Benning. We were targeted to go in the invasion of Japan but the dropping of the atomic bombs cancelled that. Instead we disarmed the Japanese in Korea (after 40 years of occupation) and set up a military government in Seoul, Korea.

World War II also delayed my college by 3 years, causing me to eventually graduate with the class of 1950 rather than 1948. The Korean War delayed my business career by another 2 years.

A recalled officer’s life (and his spouse’s) at Ft. Riley, KS, where I was the Battalion Adjutant and where we lived in a third-floor Gothic apartment in Manhattan and later on port… and there going to Ft. Benning, GA for advanced training before going overseas. (We lived in an old partitioned plantation house in Columbus, Georgia.)

What was it like when Dad was first born? How did your lifestyle change, if at all?

N: Granddad was in Korea when your Dad was born. I was in Connecticut living with Gonnie [Nana’s mom], Bumpa and Gram (your great great grandmother Anderson). Aunt Glo [Nana’s sister] and Dr. Bob lived close by so I went to parties with them. Gonnie and Gram were my babysitters.

G: With military orders in hand to go to Korea, we decided to have an heir… and Joan went home to Connecticut to have young Glenn… who was nicknamed “Si” for his first five years.

Tell some funny stories from when Dad was young.

N: One evening Granddad was working at the dining room table. I was changing Dad’s diaper and he got away from me. He went to Granddad. Pretty soon, Granddad’s foot felt warm in his shoe. Your dad went in Granddad’s shoe!!

G: Your dad was always inquisitive. After a hailstorm, I put up a ladder and climbed onto the roof to check damage… before I knew it a pregnant Joan called to me and pointed… your dad (about 2 years old) was climbing up the ladder to see his dad (me). A neighbor came from behind him for the dangerous rescue!

(To Nana) What were some of the challenges that arose while Granddad was fighting in the Korean War?

N: My challenges while Granddad was in Korea were very few. Not one person I knew had anyone in Korea. I tried to write Granddad every day. Gram would feed Dad and would type the letter.

How did you stay connected to your family while fighting in the Korean War?

G: Being separated by 7000 miles while I was in Korea and Joan in Connecticut, letters were our primary form of communicating.

Glenn, Junior’s arrival… the notification in Seoul, Korea that he had arrived… and General Van Fleet (commander in chief of United Nations Forces in Korea) arranging for me to take his airplane to Pusan to call Joan.

What were some of the challenges upon returning home from war?

G: Finally being reunited… seeing Glenn Jr. for the first time (he was 9 months old)… returning to our house (we rented it to friends for two years)… and returning to my job at Ralston Purina. Finally, we were a family!

How do you think beginning and raising a family now differs from when you began your family?

N: We decided we would wait a year before we started a family but Uncle Sam hurried that plan up. Drugs were hardly on the scene for us.

G: Many couples today are delaying their start-up of families… as opposewd to the war-induced speed-up. In our day, it was rare to have a 2-income family and children were not placed in day care… We did place Glenn Jr. in nursery school and he was so advanced he skipped kindergarten. Obviously drugs were not the problem then that they are today.

Do you think your family life was typical of the so-called “Baby Boom 50’s”? If so, how? If not, what was different?

N: Yes. I think our family life was typical of the times. We moved to a larger house when Uncle Todd arrived. Granddad was in a carpool (only 1 car). Great-mother and Great-father babysat when they could. We entertained more at home. There were some months when the paycheck didn’t last long enough.

Is there anything else that you’d like to add on this topic?

N: Another story about your dad. He loved to talk on the phone. He was in pre-school and called several people especially his teacher early Sunday morning while Granddad and I were asleep. We scolded him and made him call and apologize – all of them!

This page was typed up by Beth Siler on September 23, 2000.

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