WEBVTT
00:00:01.000 --> 00:00:08.000
Ann Lazur [Lazur]: You pay so much rent, it's really like theirs. But yet
they could leave any time. Jim Barrett [Barrett]: Yeah. Lazur: Sell it to
somebody else.
00:00:08.000 --> 00:00:17.000
Barrett: Well, when they pay the rent into it then does that mean-- does
that go into what they own in the--.
00:00:17.000 --> 00:00:36.000
Lazur: I guess they keep it, you know, in escrow, escrow or something. And
then if they-- when they move out, you know, they have to maybe they'll
take up some offer like damages or something like that. Barrett: Yeah.
Lazur: Cause I know people that live there, you know, when they moved out.
00:00:36.000 --> 00:00:45.000
Barrett: Well, how about your your friends and relatives. You know, the
people that you were closest with. Have they kind of stayed in this area or
do they have they end up leaving?
00:00:45.000 --> 00:01:05.000
Lazur: Well, my sister still lives my parents farm. You know, they had
about 33 acres and they subdivided it. She still lives there. And my
brother. Well, I guess part time out there. He lives in East Liberty. And
my other brother lives in-- well, he lives fairly close. He lives around
eight.
00:01:05.000 --> 00:01:07.000
Barrett: What do your brothers do?
00:01:07.000 --> 00:01:10.000
Lazur: Well, my oldest brother, he's retired now.
00:01:10.000 --> 00:01:13.000
Barrett: What was he doing before he retired?
00:01:13.000 --> 00:01:46.000
Lazur: Worked at, um-- Bakery. And he mined before that and mined. And
then he worked for Fisher Scientific. And then he worked in that National
Biscuit. My other brother mined. And then he, during the war, he worked in
some kind of a little factory. I don't know if they made pipes and that.
Now he now he works for cemetery. My sister. She's a housewife. Barrett:
Yeah. Lazur: She worked down Homestead Mill for a while during the war,
and--.
00:01:46.000 --> 00:01:47.000
Barrett: They had women in the mill?
00:01:47.000 --> 00:01:51.000
Lazur: Oh, yeah. They had a lot of women in the mill, you know. Well,
there was a shortage of men.
00:01:51.000 --> 00:01:59.000
Barrett: Yeah, I know, right? But do you know what those women were doing?
Because when I think of them making steel, I-- It does.
00:01:59.000 --> 00:02:10.000
Lazur: I forget. My sister lived with me because we lived here and she
stayed with me. Barrett: Mhm. Lazur: And I remember going in different
shifts and I forget just what she did.
00:02:10.000 --> 00:02:36.000
Barrett: And she just worked there during the war though, and then was
laid off when the war ended or something. Lazur: Yeah. Barrett: When you
first moved to, um, Homestead. Then you were, uh, newly married. What did
you and your husband do, like on weekends? What did people do for social--?
Lazur: Well, we were only married shortly.
00:02:36.000 --> 00:02:40.000
Lazur: Like we were married in September in Pearl Harbor.
00:02:40.000 --> 00:02:41.000
Barrett: Oh.
00:02:41.000 --> 00:03:09.000
Lazur: Pearl Harbor. You know, when they bombed Pearl Harbor. I remember
that night. He got a call off the railroad and I went with them. They were
afraid of sabotage. And it was such an eerie feeling to drive there. I sat
down in the car while he checked around and see if everything's okay. And
then he was-- I guess we were only married about three years. Or was it
three years. And then he went into the service.
00:03:09.000 --> 00:03:14.000
Barrett: And where did he go then? Where did he end up going?
00:03:14.000 --> 00:03:48.000
Lazur: Oh, he started out Camp Wheeler and he was in Georgia. Oh, no, Fort
Meade first. You know, an induction center. Then Wheeler. And then he went
to Officers candidate school for a while. He didn't like that in New
Jersey. And then he wound up in green-- Green Field. He did code and that.
So one month he was sergeant. Next month he was I mean first private
sergeant. Each month he got up as far as staff sergeant.
00:03:48.000 --> 00:03:51.000
Barrett: And then was he just in until the end of the war? Lazur: No.
00:03:51.000 --> 00:04:27.000
Then he went overseas and he was over there. And then he he got captured in
Germany. He was a prisoner of war for about four months. And his brother,
he was a major in the army then. And he-- he went to look him up and he
wrote and told me, you know, he says, I guess Michael eat lots of
sauerkraut from now on just to let me know, you know? And he also censored
the mail. I know a lot of mail that I got, you know, back and forth. We had
these little what were they, V letters?
00:04:27.000 --> 00:04:40.000
Barrett: I don't know. I've never seen those. Lazur: Didn't you? No.
00:04:40.000 --> 00:04:44.000
So he was a prisoner of war four years.
00:04:44.000 --> 00:04:46.000
No. Yeah.
00:04:46.000 --> 00:04:57.000
He was-- He got captured in like December and he didn't get liberated till
April. Four months, I should say.
00:04:57.000 --> 00:05:02.000
This is all my war stuff.
00:05:02.000 --> 00:05:07.000
Lazur: These are the kind of letters we got.
00:05:07.000 --> 00:05:12.000
Barrett: And this is from your husband? Lazur: Yeah.
00:05:12.000 --> 00:05:24.000
Now see. This is what I was telling you about. See, he did the censoring
like his brother.
00:05:24.000 --> 00:05:30.000
Barrett: And this is what he worked on? So he would like go through the go
through letters and--.
00:05:30.000 --> 00:05:40.000
Lazur: Well, yeah, he-- I mean, he censored the mail at the time, you
know, but he didn't always do that. That's his--.
00:05:40.000 --> 00:05:41.000
Barrett: Huh?
00:05:41.000 --> 00:06:33.000
Lazur: This is a funny thing. I cut out when my husband was up at camp up
in Greenville. Then too, when my husband was a prisoner of war, I got all
these letters from the ham operators. This is one. This is one letter I got
when my husband was missing in action.
00:06:33.000 --> 00:06:41.000
Barrett: Mm.
00:06:41.000 --> 00:06:47.000
Then, um, was-- was uh-- uh Meade the place where--?
00:06:47.000 --> 00:06:49.000
Lazur: Yeah. The first induction center.
00:06:49.000 --> 00:06:56.000
Barrett: People were-- were from Pitt would go to then you know.
00:06:56.000 --> 00:07:30.000
Lazur: Well, this is the first letter I got. First letter after Mike was
liberated. April 13th, 1945. He said, I am well and hope this finds you and
I am on my way to the States and hope to see you all soon. Well, in the
meantime, I had a daughter. My husband left in April from Camp Greene, and
my daughter was born in June. And he was a prisoner of war that Christmas.
I know we were ready to go to church and we got this telegram and I didn't
know if to open it or what to do.
00:07:30.000 --> 00:07:34.000
And--. Barrett: That must have been bad feeling.
00:07:34.000 --> 00:07:38.000
Lazur: And then my daughter was like a year old when he came back, when he
came to the States.
00:07:38.000 --> 00:07:40.000
Barrett: And that was the first time you saw her then? Lazur: Yeah.
00:07:40.000 --> 00:07:46.000
He didn't see her. She was like-- oh, well, he came in May and she would
have been a year old in June.
00:07:46.000 --> 00:07:55.000
Barrett: What-- what-- if he went-- He seems to go so-- seems to have gone
up so fast in the army. Did he-- what kind of education did he have before
he--?
00:07:55.000 --> 00:08:12.000
Lazur: Well, see, he had-- he took up like code and telegraph and that's
what helped him. He did code and all, and he taught-- Barrett: Before he
went into the service? Lazur: Yeah, he did that. Yeah. I mean he didn't do
it, but he took it up. Barrett: Huh. Lazur: And so that's what he did.
00:08:12.000 --> 00:08:23.000
He taught.
Code. He was an instructor.
00:08:23.000 --> 00:08:32.000
Barrett: This letter from the ham radio operator. Did you get--. Did they
send these to you every once in a while? Lazur: Yeah, I got--.
00:08:32.000 --> 00:09:13.000
I was. I got quite a few of them. I don't know if I have them all or not.
Let me see if I have any more. This is a telegram we got. Let me see. Oh,
this is when he-- when he first-- after his liberation. When he came. I
don't know. Let's see.
00:09:13.000 --> 00:09:26.000
Lazur: I don't know if
you'd be interested in this. I don't know if that's when they went. Here's
another one of those war prisoner
00:09:26.000 --> 00:09:36.000
Speaker3: messages. Barrett: Yeah. Mm.
00:09:36.000 --> 00:09:41.000
I didn't even know about these. I've never seen them before.
00:09:41.000 --> 00:09:55.000
Lazur: Oh. Where's the little thing I cut out from our church paper about
his brother and my husband too. Now you've gone through all this stuff
out.
00:09:55.000 --> 00:10:06.000
Barrett: This Captain John Lazer is his brother. Lazur: Yeah. Barrett:
Yeah. How old was your husband when he went in then?
00:10:06.000 --> 00:10:18.000
Lazur: Must have been about 32, I guess.
00:10:18.000 --> 00:10:21.000
Barrett: Huh?
00:10:21.000 --> 00:10:34.000
Lazur: There's a funny little thing for you. [laughter]
00:10:34.000 --> 00:10:44.000
Barrett: Yeah.
00:10:44.000 --> 00:11:08.000
Lazur: Camp _______[??]. Fort Meade, May 12th, 1942, at Fort Meade. May
23rd Camp Wheeler. Let's see. These are just. These are pictures from in
England. I don't know if you--.
00:11:08.000 --> 00:11:13.000
Barrett: Yeah.
00:11:13.000 --> 00:11:18.000
You know Westminster Ave. Who was in England?
00:11:18.000 --> 00:11:19.000
Lazur: Well, my husband.
He was.
00:11:19.000 --> 00:11:57.000
Barrett: When he was in service?
Lazur: Yeah. He first-- they went to England and Germany. See also had his
signature up here. You know, it was so funny, the first one that I saw.
00:11:57.000 --> 00:12:01.000
Barrett: I wonder if they did this so that they'd be easy to check or.
00:12:01.000 --> 00:12:20.000
Lazur: Oh, no. All the mail was censored then, you know. You wasn't
allowed to write different things. And then all different officers were--.
There's another one in my ham letters from--.
00:12:20.000 --> 00:12:46.000
Speaker3: Here's another one.
00:12:46.000 --> 00:13:03.000
Barrett: And then did women in the town who had husbands in the service,
did you ever get together? And I mean, um-- it just seems like it must have
been hard having him prisoner and everything. Did people talk to you
and--.
00:13:03.000 --> 00:13:04.000
Lazur: Oh, yeah.
There was a lot.
00:13:04.000 --> 00:13:17.000
A lot of the younger neighbors and that their husbands went, but a lot of
them that had children, you know, they didn't have to go. Barrett: Yeah.
Lazur: And, uh.
00:13:17.000 --> 00:13:19.000
Just trying to think.
00:13:19.000 --> 00:14:03.000
Well, my brother was in, my older brother, and my sister's boyfriend at the
time. He was over there. His brother. His cousin, well, his cousin never
got to go over. He was a he's a colonel now. I mean, after he got out. But
he--. This is my first Christmas card after. After he was a prisoner of
war. This is received after his capture. Now, there's a there's a different
fella here that censored it. See?
00:14:03.000 --> 00:14:07.000
Barrett: Oh, they put their names down when they did that.
00:14:07.000 --> 00:14:08.000
Lazur: Uh huh.
00:14:08.000 --> 00:14:11.000
Barrett: That looks like that one is from France. Yeah.
00:14:11.000 --> 00:14:13.000
Lazur: Yeah.
00:14:13.000 --> 00:14:36.000
Well, that's about that. Oh, I have some old army magazines. Would you be
interested in those? Let's see when this dates back.
00:14:36.000 --> 00:14:37.000
Lazur: Oh.
00:14:37.000 --> 00:14:45.000
October 5th, 25th, 1944.
00:14:45.000 --> 00:14:49.000
Barrett: So this is-- all this is probably stuff that he brought back with
him.
00:14:49.000 --> 00:15:05.000
Lazur: Yeah, they got one of those, you know, when they were in the
service that was their-- What do they call it?-- Victory News or Stars and
Stripes magazine the Army put out for them.
00:15:05.000 --> 00:15:14.000
Barrett: Can you remember what the town was like during the war? I mean,
were people, uh, you know, like, get the paper each day to see what's
happening and things like that, or did life pretty much go on?
00:15:14.000 --> 00:15:20.000
Lazur: We waited for the mail every day. And. And.
00:15:20.000 --> 00:15:21.000
You heard different
00:15:21.000 --> 00:15:27.000
things, you know. Listen to the news. And remember when they had what, that
victory day.
00:15:27.000 --> 00:15:29.000
Barrett: Can you remember that? Did they have a parade?
00:15:29.000 --> 00:15:37.000
Lazur: Whistles were blowing. Well, right around here, whistles were
blowing all the horns and everybody was shouting and all that.
00:15:37.000 --> 00:15:51.000
Barrett: That was something to be happy about I guess. It's over. Do you
have any pictures of Homestead? What it was like or-- or--.
00:15:51.000 --> 00:15:58.000
Lazur: At the time. I have pictures, but I mean, you couldn't see-- I
mean, just pictures of like people.
00:15:58.000 --> 00:16:02.000
Barrett: What about your family pictures? Do you have anything like that?
00:16:02.000 --> 00:16:05.000
Lazur: Oh, yeah. Family pictures. Yeah.
00:16:05.000 --> 00:16:07.000
I have a lot of pictures.
00:16:07.000 --> 00:16:13.000
Oh, these are the ones I wanted to--. This is my husband's first car. Way
back remember that?
00:16:13.000 --> 00:16:17.000
Barrett: Yeah. This was like before you were married then?
00:16:17.000 --> 00:17:08.000
Lazur: Oh, yeah. Before I even knew him. That was-- Let me see. I'll tell
you. His cousin sent me this, Mike, this-- had this made up for you. 1931.
Hey, those were the days. Irene, his cousins. Now, these are--. These are
pictures taken in Germany. I guess his brother took them.
00:17:08.000 --> 00:17:12.000
Barrett: Where would this picture have been taken? The one with the car.
Do you think.
00:17:12.000 --> 00:18:09.000
Lazur: That was taken in--. We had some people that live in-- that would
be where Monroeville is. Murrysville, you know where Murrysville is? These
people lived on the farm and this girl visited us last year and she, her
folks had a farm on this hill and that was their barn. So this summer when
she was out here, we had a trailer way out there and we went up there. But
she wanted to go up this old road that wound up through the woods and that.
And here it was, you know, all the trees were falling. We couldn't get
there, but we went around. I remember we went through somebody's house and
we got up at the top where their farm used to be. But it's like a plant of
homes up there now. And she took pictures of--. It's right where that
swimming pool is. And, you know, like you go up to Murrysville, I don't
know how, but it's of course none of that was there then. It was just plain
farm. She's living in New York now.
00:18:09.000 --> 00:18:23.000
Barrett: What did you do? Well, I mean, the the war happened right after
you got married. But what did you you and your husband do, like on
weekends? You know, how did people socialize and what kind of things did
they go to?
00:18:23.000 --> 00:18:44.000
Lazur: You mean when--? Well, when he was in the service, he would just
come home. Like maybe he'd have a--. Well, when he was at up at Greenfield
he could have a lot of weekends and we visited up there and uh--. Well, I
would go visit my parents and my brother would drive our car and we'd go
out there, you know. And the kids were small.
00:18:44.000 --> 00:18:47.000
Barrett: Yeah, but you didn't go out a lot because--.
00:18:47.000 --> 00:18:58.000
Lazur: No, I was by myself. Barrett: Yeah. Lazur: Of course I had the
baby, you know. Of course I lived with his parents. I had babysitters. But
still, where you going to go? Barrett: Yeah. Lazur: Maybe occasional movie
or down to town.
00:18:58.000 --> 00:19:22.000
Barrett: How about after he came home? Uh, because I talked with, um-- Uh,
well, like, when I talked with Miss-- Miss Lesko, who's a lot older than
you are, she can remember different circles[??] and dances and things like
that. Was that, let's say in the late 40s, when the fellows came home after
the Second World War, was all that kind of stuff still going on in
Homestead, you know. Could you go to such things?
00:19:22.000 --> 00:19:39.000
Lazur: That it was more or less like today? They had movies and kennywood
and roller skating out in the park and bars and things like that. But, uh,
they had this Slovak club. But I mean, there was no gymnastics or anything
like that, then.
00:19:39.000 --> 00:19:46.000
Barrett: Did these younger guys, say like your husband, for example, did
he become active in that kind of thing or was it mostly--.
00:19:46.000 --> 00:19:55.000
Lazur: No. See, her husband? Well, he must be about 85 now. He's a lot
older. Uh huh.
00:19:55.000 --> 00:20:05.000
Barrett: Because, um, she, the way she described it to me, you know, with,
with, uh, like eight different halls, you know, one for each different, uh,
uh, nationality down--.
00:20:05.000 --> 00:20:15.000
Lazur: They still have the Russian club and they have a Slovak club and
they have an Irish club in Homestead. But some of them are new and some
have relocated, you know.
00:20:15.000 --> 00:20:20.000
Barrett: And you think that they're probably not as active as they were at
one time and when--.
00:20:20.000 --> 00:20:40.000
Lazur: Oh, I don't I don't think there's active they have the Homestead
Owls and and things like that and I don't think they-- they used to have
dances and things. You could go there like dance and go there and eat and
that, but that was a little bit before I moved to Homestead.
00:20:40.000 --> 00:20:48.000
Barrett: Where did your daughter have to play? I mean, what-- what kind of
things did she have to do when she was young?
00:20:48.000 --> 00:21:07.000
Lazur: Well, let me see. They had, uh--. Not too much. They might have had
a playground at the schools. And I know she went to dancing school for a
while. And movies. That's about all. Went to town.
00:21:07.000 --> 00:21:10.000
Barrett: I guess that's not that much different than now.
00:21:10.000 --> 00:21:18.000
Lazur: That really didn't-- we didn't really didn't do too much of
anything.
00:21:18.000 --> 00:21:21.000
Barrett: I want to--.
00:21:21.000 --> 00:21:36.000
See how I'm doing here. Can you remember things like, um, any kind of
community festivals or anything like that that used to happen in
Homestead?
00:21:36.000 --> 00:21:46.000
Lazur: Yeah, they would have a carnival would come in and of course, it
was the football games and I guess baseball games at Westfield.
00:21:46.000 --> 00:21:47.000
Barrett: Were those--
00:21:47.000 --> 00:21:48.000
Lazur: Football, yeah.
00:21:48.000 --> 00:21:50.000
Barrett: Fellows that worked in the mill?
00:21:50.000 --> 00:21:53.000
Lazur: Well, no, there was the school kids, you know. Barrett: Oh, yeah.
00:21:53.000 --> 00:22:15.000
Lazur: Kids, you know, high school kids and, uh--. They say at one time,
Homestead Park. They had a-- they had-- I don't remember this, but they had
a park there and roller skating and all that. Barrett: Somebody else has
told me about that. Lazur: Yeah, but, uh, at one time that was just like
all farmland too, before it got built up.
00:22:15.000 --> 00:22:24.000
Barrett: Can you remember any of the societies and towns-- Excuse me.
Having picnics or anything like that that people-- a lot of people went to
or.
00:22:24.000 --> 00:23:02.000
Lazur: We had picnics out where I lived, you know, but in Homestead, well,
they would have like the school picnics and maybe the different churches,
you know, would have a get together like once a year. The Slovaks would
have a picnic and Kennywood and our church would have a picnic and they'd
have-- they have programs set up for the evening where they did the native
dances and bring your lunch, and then they'd have a program in the evening,
you know. And then all different ones, seniors and priests would talk and
then different people would dance and sing, and then they'd have races for
the kids and stuff. It was an all day affair. Once a year. Annual.
00:23:02.000 --> 00:23:05.000
Barrett: Was that pretty well attended? I mean, did a lot of people go to
it still?
00:23:05.000 --> 00:23:07.000
Lazur: Oh yeah, there was-- a lot of them went. Yeah.
00:23:07.000 --> 00:23:12.000
Barrett: Because now it seems like, uh, well, I guess they are still even
having some of them, but yeah.
00:23:12.000 --> 00:23:22.000
Lazur: They still have them. Yeah they still have them. Like, you know
they have Irish Day and they have Slovak Day and our church, usually in
June or July they have a picnic.
00:23:22.000 --> 00:23:31.000
Barrett: But older people that I talked to, um, uh-- I think, you know,
they-- they feel like a lot of it is really declined and it used to be a
good thing.
00:23:31.000 --> 00:23:59.000
Lazur: I think it's sort of dead because I know the kids up here. Mother,
what is there to do? I'm so bored. Nothing to do. Barrett: Yeah. Lazur: And
there wasn't a whole lot to do. You know, if you don't drive up here. And I
remember when we were young, we'd think nothing of packing a basket and
going to South Park, having a picnic for the day or go to Crooked Creek or.
Barrett: Yeah. Lazur: Or we'd go up to the Geneva on the lake and spend a
week up there. Now it seems like we don't do anything. Barrett: Yeah.
00:23:59.000 --> 00:24:02.000
And the kids, you know, think there was much either.
00:24:02.000 --> 00:24:03.000
Lazur: No, I don't know.
00:24:03.000 --> 00:24:25.000
They seem to be--. Their life is a little different. They don't--. When we
talk about the olden days, I have this lady friend here and we talk about
when we got an orange, it was a treat. And my mother went to town once a
year, brought us a bag of candy, would be down the bus stop waiting for
her. We could hardly wait till she'd go home and they say, Oh, shut up,
Mother. I can believe that.
00:24:25.000 --> 00:24:28.000
Barrett: Yeah. Things have really changed a lot, I guess.
00:24:28.000 --> 00:24:37.000
Lazur: Yeah. They all living too fast, you know? Everything's so
different. They just want to be on a go all the time and--.
00:24:37.000 --> 00:24:41.000
Barrett: Well, do you think that, um. Uh--.
00:24:41.000 --> 00:24:52.000
Lazur: Well, they had gone a lot more when we were kids. It was
depression. I remember the Depression where I'd come home for lunch. Maybe
we'd just have coffee and bread, you know, and, yeah, that was our lunch.
00:24:52.000 --> 00:24:56.000
Barrett: What--
What was-- What was the depression like for your family? Can you remember
it at all?
00:24:56.000 --> 00:25:15.000
Lazur: Oh, yeah. It was real--. I mean, it was tough. I remember us going
down like they had like a community hall and we would go down there and
they would give us, like, rations. Maybe a pint of milk and some sardines
and flour and sugar maybe once a week. Barrett: Yeah. Lazur: Well, even
during the war they used to give us, remember we had--
00:25:15.000 --> 00:25:26.000
We had points. We'd have to save up our points to get a ham and different
things and you would get two and they would give you cheese like and
powdered milk mostly.
00:25:26.000 --> 00:25:35.000
Barrett: You know who that who that was during the Depression that was
given out that food. Like what kind of group or was that local government?
00:25:35.000 --> 00:25:43.000
Lazur: Guess local government must have been. Barrett: Yeah. Lazur:
Because we had to go like to the burough buildings to get this stuff, you
know.
00:25:43.000 --> 00:25:49.000
Barrett: And was your dad out of work at all during the Depression or did
he manage to work all the time?
00:25:49.000 --> 00:26:02.000
Lazur: Well, I guess they were during the Depression. Well, no, a lot of
people lost their jobs. And I don't remember during the Depression. I guess
he worked partially because I had to have the coal.
00:26:02.000 --> 00:26:04.000
Barrett: Uh huh.
00:26:04.000 --> 00:26:07.000
But you were you would have been too young to know.
00:26:07.000 --> 00:26:13.000
Lazur: I was around about 12 years old, I think, when Depression first
started. 10 or 12 years old.
00:26:13.000 --> 00:26:18.000
Barrett: Did you work at all during the, uh, during the Depression? Like
when--. Lazur: Oh yeah, went to work
00:26:18.000 --> 00:26:22.000
when I was about 15. So it was like 2019, 29 when I went to work.
00:26:22.000 --> 00:26:24.000
Barrett: And what was the first thing you did then when you--?
00:26:24.000 --> 00:26:28.000
Lazur: I did housework. Anything you can get.
00:26:28.000 --> 00:26:29.000
Barrett: Out there?
00:26:29.000 --> 00:26:35.000
Lazur: No, I went into Coraopolis Heights where the rich people were.
00:26:35.000 --> 00:26:36.000
Barrett: Yeah.
00:26:36.000 --> 00:26:38.000
To, to do like cooking and stuff like that?
00:26:38.000 --> 00:26:55.000
Lazur: It is now real near the, uh-- where the airport is. That used to be
a-- that used to be a bell farm out there. I remember we used to walk there
to get certified milk and then, then it became an airport. We lived--. I
worked right near there.
00:26:55.000 --> 00:26:58.000
Barrett: How did how did you get all the way out there?
00:26:58.000 --> 00:27:05.000
Lazur: Well, I had a sister that worked for these people. So I also, in
the neighborhood, she got me a job out there.
00:27:05.000 --> 00:27:07.000
Barrett: How long did you do that?
00:27:07.000 --> 00:27:20.000
Lazur: For a number of years. And then I got a job in the city. Then I
cooked. Then after that, and I got a job with the Navy Department During
the war. Barrett: Yeah. Lazur: Before the war now.
00:27:20.000 --> 00:27:29.000
Barrett: How does. I mean, you-- you had that kind of job because--
because it was the depression, you know, and you needed something to do, or
you couldn't find a--.
00:27:29.000 --> 00:27:39.000
Lazur: There was a shortage of men and women. So I took a civil service
test, and I guess I made a pass. Probably just a passing grade.
00:27:39.000 --> 00:27:41.000
Barrett: Well, it must have been pretty hard to-- to-- uh. Lazur: Well,
yeah.
00:27:41.000 --> 00:27:47.000
I mean, yeah, it was hard to, you know, to get people to work because we
had to replace the men and that, you know?
00:27:47.000 --> 00:27:51.000
Barrett: Yeah.
00:27:51.000 --> 00:28:03.000
Can you remember things like production drives and things like that, you
know? Did they ever have signs in factories or anything like that, you
know, to increase production for the war effort.
00:28:03.000 --> 00:28:17.000
Lazur: And I guess mine wasn't. Well, mine was like a little foundry where
I worked. You know, they had the foundry where they made their own-- um--
fittings and that the brass and stuff, they melted down and make the
fittings and that.
00:28:17.000 --> 00:28:28.000
Barrett: What was it like for older guys say that have been working in
that, you know, that were working there with you and had been working there
for a long time to all of a sudden start working with women? I mean, was
there ever any kind of trouble or anything?
00:28:28.000 --> 00:28:57.000
Lazur: No, like where I worked, they had an office and they had men and
women in it and they had the foundry and they had the shipping department.
And of course, we had our-- there was a front office like I remember I was
with this one man that was the head of the Naval Department, and I was like
his helper. And oh, I guess they were used to it. I mean, there was quite a
few, uh-- well, mostly men in the foundry, but in the packing places where
they packed all was all girls.
00:28:57.000 --> 00:29:00.000
Barrett: Yeah. So certain jobs they'd like, all men. Lazur: Yeah, and then
the
00:29:00.000 --> 00:29:10.000
older men got to stay, you know, it was just the younger men that--
Barrett: Yeah. Lazur: Are the ones that maybe were for if and couldn't or
physically handicapped. Maybe they could work there.
00:29:10.000 --> 00:29:18.000
Barrett: Because so many women started working. I just was wondering if
there was any, uh, you know, if some of the men resented the fact that they
were coming in.
00:29:18.000 --> 00:29:19.000
But. Lazur: Oh, no, I
00:29:19.000 --> 00:29:20.000
don't think.
00:29:20.000 --> 00:29:21.000
Barrett: It's was just necessity.
00:29:21.000 --> 00:29:31.000
Lazur: Yeah, just necessity. Did you want to see family pictures?
00:29:31.000 --> 00:29:34.000
Barrett: Yeah, I would like to look at them, if you don't mind.
00:29:34.000 --> 00:30:34.000
Speaker3: I have a lot of them.
