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Russell Lindberg: But the type of activity is not the same today. Nobody
seems to enjoy getting out in groups. When we were younger-- You talking to
younger generations? We used to go to Kennywood to dances. We used to go to
Northside dances and all the dances. Because you could afford it, what they
charged.
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Nora Faires: Do you think people get along as well as they used to in the
community? You sort-- of community.
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Anna Mae Lindberg:: In our community I think they do. What do you think?
R.Lindberg: In a way, uh.
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A.Lindberg: They're more standoffish, you know.
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R.Lindberg: But they-- they recognize common ground. If it can be
presented. Now, you'd be amazed at the amount of calls she gets and the
amount of people who recognize that this article that she had is their way
of life. Except they were, they didn't want to express it, didn't want to
come out in the open to say it, but they all went through it.
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A.Lindberg: You'd be surprised how many people just kind of jumped on the
bandwagon. Uh, when-- When I was ready to admit where I came from and what
happened to all of us. People, that we were poor and like, they didn't,
read the poem not too long ago, that we were poor, we didn't know it, you
know, and that kind of thing. And people are just kind of willing to admit
that. Now or never. It sort of was something you did before.
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Faires: Why do you think that's true? Because it's something I wonder
about, too, and trying to get people to talk about the past, because I
think they have a lot to offer.
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R.Lindberg: They have a wealth of knowledge in everything they do, but
maybe they think nobody's interested in it.
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A.Lindberg: I think that's it. They can't believe that a person your age
would be interested in these things that are commonplace. [unintelligible]
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A.Lindberg: I mean, it's really strange. R.Lindberg: Like the other day I
had another classmate.
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R.Lindberg: He come in to me. He was on the team I was in, and just like I
said, I can't stand somebody who doesn't appreciate what was done for him.
So this fellow committed to me and he wanted. I see what he wanted, his
references, to get more business for his business. And I told him that he
said he was going to Chicago in 2 or 3 weeks. And I said, Well, why don't
you stop in and see your old-- your old buddy? And the first thing he said
to me, he says, Who does he work for? Not where is he? What has that got to
do with? Just call him up and tell him you're in town. Because I'm sure
you'll have a good time when you get together. But people are afraid to be
friendly like they used to be. Like, I can't figure it out. A.Lindberg: Are
people willing to talk to you when you interview them?
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Faires: Well, I'm just starting. I think people generally have been kind
of interested, but you have.
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R.Lindberg: You have to get them open first.
Faires: Yeah, and I. I wanted to get back to what you were saying about
people not really recognizing that other people have an interest in what
they're doing or that people are concerned. And I remember I was wondering
if you would recall the statement you made when you saw the Homestead book
in the bookstore. Something about that, they were writing about you.
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A.Lindberg: Oh, you mean like-- I think I finished up my story by saying
that when I went back to school, uh, that I was doing pretty well in
school. But no wonder, because when I got there, I found out they were
studying about me, which was really true, you know, and-- and I think that
history department that republished that book found it-- were very
surprised at the amount of interest that it generated. And even among the
young people, they were really interested in that book. Faires: How about
your children, your-- your daughter. A.Lindberg: Yes.
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Faires: And other, other, uh, children of friends of yours? A.Lindberg:
Well, I remember when Lauren was in high school.
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A.Lindberg: And she was a great library person, and she came home from the
Homestead library one time, and she was telling me about this book that she
had run across in browsing. And she says, you know, that's all about
Homestead. And it's probably about when you were young and all that. And I
can remember her making that statement, but she didn't bring the book home
and I didn't make any effort to get it. But on thinking about that, like
the book that I did and that was like maybe eight years later, was the book
she was talking about that she had picked out of the library and was
browsing through. And remembered enough to come home and tell me about it.
R.Lindberg: Well, I don't think enough people appreciate what--
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R.Lindberg: In the summertime to give their kids jobs so they can get them
through school. Very few people understand the overall picture of how that
everybody is working for a common cause to make money for the company. But
the company is also raising families. It is part of the community. It has
to be.
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Faires: Do you think that lots of people feel that way in Homestead?
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R.Lindberg: They feel that way, but they don't know. They don't know it
exists. They-- they realize it. But it does happen that way.
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A.Lindberg: I think he's right. I think that's a hidden component. I think
that nobody will talk about it because it's probably not the thing to say.
R.Lindberg: Not the thing to say, but it's true. A.Lindberg: Until it comes
out and then they're willing to agree, you know, if somebody else is
willing to say it.
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R.Lindberg: I just had this family. She gave me a name. Now they have--
they have 2 or 3 kids. Their one kid is a foreman in the Homestead mill.
Now, when they were growing up, they thought their kid would never get in
the mill. A.Lindberg: We didn't-- Oh, no.
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R.Lindberg: Their-- their one child is ended up being a foreman in the
mill. Now he in turn, is raising his own family in the steel mill, this was
the second generation down the.
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A.Lindberg: It just seems like for so many years it wasn't-- it isn't-- it
wasn't a fashionable thing to do.
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R.Lindberg: Would you believe that he--? Faires: What do you mean?
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A.Lindberg: He was all right.
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R.Lindberg: You believe that the average wage scale on the plant around
here and in US Steel plant around here is anywhere between 12 and 15,000 a
year for a laborer? Digest that for a while.
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Faires: Do you have anything else to say about growing up in this area?
Any special things you remember or-- R.Lindberg: Well-- Faires: Things
about moving to this house?
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R.Lindberg: No. She can tell you that, that was-- A.Lindberg: I was trying
to find pictures of this house when we moved in here.
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A.Lindberg: I couldn't find them.
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R.Lindberg: We were looking for houses for a long time until finally this
place had all kinds of trees all around it. And we saw it and-- Through my
old coach. I called him up and I says, Will you check something out for me?
He did. And he says, Well, you can have it because he was a friend of the
bank and we could get it, but we bid on it. And, uh. Our society is so
intertwined with everybody that if you, uh, let me say it, it isn't like
Watergate. It's just that the family ties, the church ties, the business
ties, your school ties. If you are aware that these avenues are available
for you, everything will help you. It's not cheating. It's not stealing.
It's the fact that these are there if you take advantage of them.
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Faires: You keep in touch with many of the friends you grew up with?
A.Lindberg: No, I can't say that you'd call it keeping in touch, but we
know where each other is. And we'll see each other on the street or we'll
see people in church. We don't make any conscious effort to keep in touch,
but we still keep in touch. Faires: Socialize. R.Lindberg: Two guys come up
and say, You remember me?
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R.Lindberg: One owns three theaters in Oakland, New Kensington. The other
is a dentist in New Kensington. I recognize their face. Couldn't catch
their name. I haven't seen him for 30 years. 25 years. And right aways, so
I knew the face.
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A.Lindberg: That's keeping in touch. You know, in a way, it's keeping in
touch when you recognize somebody you haven't seen for 25 years. There's
something about that person that you remembered. You wouldn't-- they didn't
tell. They didn't say their name. He eventually remembered who they were.
But you have to actually form, collaborate more generally--
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R.Lindberg: Am I-- this fellow who met the other day, you know, talk to
me. And I told him about the dinner and we showed up. He says, Damn it. He
says, If I'd have known that, I'd have gotten at least 15 of our, you know,
the old bunch together. I says, Well, why not make it next year? I says,
Get the word around. I says, We'll all be there then. But you do keep in
touch indirectly through some channel.
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A.Lindberg: Yeah. In that if you want to find the person, you know where
they are.
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Faires: Well, thank you very much. I think it's been really, really good.
A.Lindberg: I hope it's of value.
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R.Lindberg: Another man who could give you a good steering on this
thing--
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R.Lindberg: Well, I tell you, it's like. Like our age group. When you look
at it, you start to remember, you know. What happened. Where is this man?
What he's doing? We're getting the age group where there's not too many
left around this area because they're all moving out, going on pension and
going south. You go down to this Retired Person's Club, down in ____[??],
walking through down there-- A.Lindberg: They're extremely active there in
Homestead.
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R.Lindberg: There were officers, I know-- A.Lindberg: Association of
Retired Persons. Faires: Mhm. [unintelligible]
