Having already talked to Theresa before about Worcester during WWII, this interview forgoes some of the typical getting to know you questions.  In addition, after the interview I discovered that something was wrong with the tape and throughout the interview small and large segments are missing as the tape skips.  Luckily I was able to get together with Mrs. Courtney again and so there is a follow up interview as well filling in some of the gaps in this transcript as a result of a faulty tape.  Both this interview and the follow up interview strive to probe deeper into aspects of Community Life during WWII.

Do you mind me asking when you were born?

Um, 1928.

Ok, and you’ve been in Worcester ever since?

Yup.

Born in Worcester, Married here. . .

Had kids here. . .

What year were you married?

(cut out), and he was part of the Navy and he had problems but they were before me but they were his problems. (Laughing)  Did you feel that tremor Saturday?

You know I didn’t, but everyone keeps telling me about it.

Because I was lying down and it was, like I say maybe 7:00 am – 

Yup.

And I was just laying there and I thought somebody was doing something upstairs.  But it was a strange feeling.  

I can imagine.  

(Large chunk of interview missing; we had been talking about how the war has been remembered)

All the names are on the monument down at the end of the street (Intersection of College Street and Southbridge Street) you know . . .all my brothers, all my neighbors.

Oh really!  All your brothers?

Yup.  And they also have the members of the Korean War – but they don’t have any names for that – it’s blank.

Oh ok, wait they have it blank?

Well no they have a plaque.

Ok, but not all the names.

Right not all the names, but all the other ones the names are all there that lived in this neighborhood.

And when did they put that up do you remember?

Oh – I don’t know, after the war.

Close to the end of the war or. . .?

Hmmm. . . 

Maybe the 60s or something?

I don’t know, the College would know.

Would they – ok, or it might even be down there if I walk down there and look.  It might say the date it was put up.

Yeah I think that it would.  It should be there.  And then there is McKeon Street.  It used to be Middle River Road but it was renamed McKeon street after the three boys who were killed.

Oh it was named right after the brothers?

Yeah, the McKeon brothers.

I didn’t even realize this.

Another huge chunk is missing.  At this point we have transitioned to Community events and Social Life - the conversation is referring to how they would go dancing or to a movie or bowling and then usually meet up at Coney Island afterwards.

 . . . You’d take off your shoes because you would dance all night – 

Right in Coney Island?  Oh wait no you would go somewhere else first and then walk there.

Yeah, yeah – and you used to be able to go through the park.  Take your shoes off and walk right through the grass because the grass was so nice and cool.  

Sounds like a lot of fun.

Yeah we had a lot of fun in our days – I liked our days.  We played lots of games.  Kick the can, walk on cans, then we would stack up cans like bowling pins and knock them all down.

Did you, just as a question, have you ever been to the East Side Improvement Center on Shrewsbury Street and then before that it was a theater?

On Shrewsbury Street?

Right, um almost right across from the Boulevard Diner and Primo’s, but on the opposite side of the street.  I was just curious if you have ever been to that theater or anything like that. . .

No I’ve never been to that theater - I can’t recall that one – On Shrewsbury Street?

Yeah, someone told me that. . 

And I’ve walked down Shrewsbury Street for years and I don’t remember that one.  

Yeah, they said it was a theater first and that might actually have been a theater before your time –I think they said . . .

. . probably. . .

. . . It was a theater early 1900s, so you probably weren’t there.

See, yes that’s it because I can’t remember that one.

But then it was a Haberdashery, full a long time and then it has turned into the East Side Improvement Center.

Shrewsbury Haberdashery?

Yeah – I was trying to get some history on the Haberdashery.  Yeah. . .

(Transitional segment cut out; interview picks up with us talking about the businesses and restaurants on Shrewsbury Street)  

Are they all relatively new?

The ones further up are all new – like the Piccadilly. . .

Ok.

. . all those big ones, those are all new.

(In the following we had moved away from Shrewsbury Street to talk about other old favorite hang outs or restaurants, but it has been cut out.  When then returned to Shrewsbury street when the interview asked a question dealing with the different immigrant populations in Worcester during WWII.)

That was the place to go for spaghetti and meatballs – the Blue Goose.

Was Shrewsbury Street always mostly Italian?

Well there were a lot of Italians. 

A lot of Italians. . .

That was Italian. . 

The Italian Section?

Yeah, and there were others, Lithuanians, Polish and Irish. . . Millbury Street and Water Street were the Polish streets - 

And did everyone just mainly get along?

Oh every body got along.

Yeah.

Yeah.  Today you have got all the Asians and everybody else who has just kinda thrown it all off.

(At this point we are cut off once again losing valuable information about the way the various ethnic groups in Worcester got along.  We now begin talking about Mrs. Courtney’s family a little and in particular she is relating a story about her sister who was in school and didn’t work.)

If we all went to work she would be there and she would take anything she wanted and my mother would say make sure you get that back before your sister notices.

So she would just take your clothes when you weren’t there?

Oh yeah, and if you went out or something and knew what you wanted to wear you’d come home and it would be gone.  And clothes would be washed and scrubbed in buckets so it wasn’t easy to wash them.  You’d have to use brown soap and boil the water on the stove.

Clothes must have been better made then because I can think of some of my shirts that if I tried to scrub them they would fall right apart.  

Oh yeah, yeah.

(The discussion has skipped ahead to games that used to be played.)

Did you ever play marbles when you were a kid?  A little bit?  Remember you used to have this big ones you called (?) and you’d play Bunnyhole. 

I never played Bunnyhole.

Oh we used to have a lot of nice games; jump rope, hopscotch – 

I’ve played those.  

Yeah.

About how old were you when you went to work?

Um, about seventeen / eighteen, I had to leave high-school after one year.

(sections missing about first jobs)

Lots of people say that the whole Rosie the Riveter idea of going to work was pioneering the way for women.  Did you feel this?

Well that’s it, there you go. . . 

Did you feel like that?

Well I just went to work and I did my share, but like I say (cut off)

So you were making more then as opposed to when you switched to work at Whitall’s?

I worked there first and then I took the job at Whitall’s – and then I worked for forty-seven and a half cents (the information is missing but this is less than her first job).  But I stayed there for about eleven years until they kinda folded up because no body from the Whitall Family stepped forward.  It was huge, we had a hospital there and the grounds were beautiful.

This was all before the highway went through right?

Oh, yeah – yeah.  That was when Southbridge Street was Southbridge Street.

(Laughter)  Well thank you very much.

Ok.

I appreciate it very much.

Alright.

And I’ll remind you but hopefully on Tuesday, I can. . 

I just hope I’ve been a help to you.

Of the almost two hour interview this is all that remains on the tape.  Memories of restaurants, dances, and working have been mysteriously “edited” from my tape.  Please view interview number #2 to learn more about the social and community aspects of Worcester during WWII.