FLAGSTAFF PUBLIC LIBRARY ORAL HISTORY PROJECT
Mrs. Ethel Compton Leamon
Interview number NAU.OH.28.69

Ethel Compton leamon, who has lived most of her life in Flagstaff. Her parents, Mr. And Mrs. Charles Compton, came to Flagstaff in 1896. She and her husband started the Leamon’s Appliance Store in Flagstaff. Interview conducted by Kristine Prennace on August 16, 1976. Transcribed by Jardee Transcription, August 1999.

Outline of Subjects Covered in Taped Interview

Tape 1, Side 1

Born in Bessamer, Michigan, 1901

Parents

Clara Peterson, Utah

Charles Compton, Virginia

Worked for A L & T mill

How parents met

Father came from Virginia, “ride and tie”

Crossing river at Lee’s Ferry

Relationship developed with Indians

Came to Flagstaff in 1896

Lived at Old Town Springs, other residences

Work done by father and mother, nursed sick people

Tuberculer patients at City Park area

Baby born on kitchen table

Economic situation of family

Description of mother’s charity

Different religions in family: Mormon, Methodist

Mother’s work as practical nurse

Helped deliver babies in area

Making diapers for babies out of flour sacks

Brothers and sisters

Bill (W.L.), Ted, Orinn, Saphronia Zyon

Schooling

Emerson

Normal School, teaching certificate

Bumble Bee, Arizona, taught at in 1922-23

Lived with Martin family

Fueds between cattlemen and sheepmen

Standard, Arizona, taught at in 1924-26

Lived in cabin, described

Husband worked at mill

Ethel worked at post office and tallied lumber

Taught in one-room schoolhouse for mill families

Location of Standard, was near Snowflake (Mormon country)

Aunt Lottie Webb, Mormon woman who delivered 500 babies

Daily chores as child

Strict upbringing by parents

Little playtime, but played with neighborhood children

Neighbors

Michelbach, Black, Wilise, Lay

Church, went all day on Sundays

Family involvement

Metcalf family

First bath in bathtub

Social function of church: bazaars, pot luck dinners

Family obtaining food for year

Grew vegetables in garden

Stock in backyard: chickens, pigs, cows

Gathered fruit in Oak Creek Canyon

Traveling down canyon, two days

Transportation: wagon, sled in winter

Heavy winters

Worked at Keller’s Bakery and ice cream parlor as teenager

Worked a year to buy a saxophone

Played in bands around area

Dances for young people held in homes

Ruth Bean

Marlar Hall: story of father’s discipline when went there after a basketball game

Tape 1, Side 2

Dances for young people, continued

Marlar Hall, continued

Dances at Normal School

Other jobs held

Raising family

Worked at Leamon’s Appliance Store when husband’s health became bad

Children

Arles Ellsworth, Carol Pierce, Don

Husband

How they met

Worked at Lee Caron Motor company until went into own business

Came from Texas in 1922

Downtown area described

Family excursions downtown

Memories of Charlie Babbitt at Babbitt Brothers

Stores downtown, visited with people

Dirt roads, boardwalks

Doctors and dentists

No toothbrushes, used salt

Dressed in long underwear for winter months

Gym clothes

Front Street saloons, forbidden to go

Story of what happened when went on Front Street alone

Tate’s dime store

Personalities of town

Sandy Donahue, described

Peg Leg, described

Zane Grey, read his books and brother Orinn met him

Lee Doyle, described

Social life of community

Federated Church

Family get togethers

Garden prize from Woman’s Club, child with prettiest garden

Churches

LDS at university for students

No religious difficulties in town

City government and politics

Property tax rates

Poll tax - $2

Had to purchase own school books and supplies

Flagstaff isolated from rest of state until major roads

Took one week to get to Phoenix by wagon

Saw Teddy Roosevelt when Arizona became a state in 1914

Travel to Williams, Winslow

World War I

Brother Orinn’s letter from France on front page of Coconino Sun

Armistice Day was important

Prohibition

Bootleggers and speak easy in Winslow

Effect on Front Street

Great Depression, 1930’s

Depression in World War I, rationing of food

Shortage of clothing, shoes, and food in 1930’s

Tape 2, Side 1

World War II

Ethel established the USO in Flagstaff, detailed information

Was established for service men and families traveling and for V-12 and V-5 students in officers training at college

Family relationships

Brother Bill and Flora Hensen married, he worked as a mortician with Whipple’s Funeral Parlor

Fires

Fire department, mentioned

Police department, mentioned

John Francis, mentioned

Flooding during parents lifetime

Water in bastement of Weatherford Hotel, flooded cemetery, River de Flag

Mountain View area always under water, was ice rink in winter for children

Droughts

Reused water

Big snow storms

Epidemics

Flu epidemic, 1918

Story about Dr. Fronske, when she got flu

Ethnic groups

Mexicans

Blacks, Cady Lumber Company

Asians, June family

Indians, some came to house to be fed by mother

Tourism, mentioned

Summer Festival

East Flagstaff

First ride in a car as a teenager

Growth of college

Went to Normal School

Teachers

Eastburns, Walsh sisters

This is an interview with Mrs. Ethel Leamon, who has lived in Flagstaff most of her life. She's a member of the Compton family, and [her parents] came to Flagstaff in 1896. The interview is being conducted on August 16, 1976, at Mrs. Leamon's home, which is located at 210 North Elden in Flagstaff, by Kristine Prennance, representing the Flagstaff City-Coconino County Public Library.

KRISTINE PRENNANCE: Mrs. Leamon, when and where were you born?

ETHEL LEAMON: I was born in Bessamer, Michigan, in 1901.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: Who were your parents?

ETHEL LEAMON: My parents were Clara and Charles Compton.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: What was your mother's maiden name?

ETHEL LEAMON: Clara Peterson, and she was from Utah. My dad was Charles Compton, from Virginia. When they came here, they didn't exactly know what they were going to do, and my dad worked for the mill for a long time.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: Now, which mill was that?

ETHEL LEAMON: That was… I don't remember right now.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: AL&T?

ETHEL LEAMON: Riordans.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: Okay, your father was from Virginia and your mother was from Utah. How did they meet and get together?

ETHEL LEAMON: Well, my father came from Virginia by "ride and tie" - something you may not have heard of, not many people have. That meant that two men started out with one horse, and one man rode the horse until the other man had walked until he was exhausted. Then they would change places, and they traveled that way from Virginia to Denver. Incidentally, while my dad was there, he became acquainted with Billy the Kid. He later drove stagecoach into Albakirk [Albuquerque, New Mexico]. But that was all before he met my mother. And when he met my mother in Richfield, Utah, they moved to Flagstaff and they came here by covered wagon. They came across Lee's Ferry, and in those days it was very dangerous and difficult and they had to watch and wait until the river was low, because it could rise in those days. Strange as it sounds, the Indians who helped them across, at that time [were] still considered a bit hostile. But they helped my folks across the river and they became friends and those Indians later came to our house to visit many times. My dad would go back to Tuba and get dried fruit and bring home for the winter. And some of them remained friends of my family until they were old. One old Indian moved to Flagstaff and was known as Indian Charlie, and some pioneers will remember him. And then in his old age he often came to my mother for assistance. He would come for food or clothing, and she would gather up clothing for him and help take care of him.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: Do you remember what year that was that they came?

ETHEL LEAMON: Yes that was 1896.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: And when they came here, did they live in that house at 820 West Aspen? Did they build that them? FL: No, they lived at the Old Town Springs when they first came. And then they later moved out east of Flagstaff about three miles to a place called Fulton Springs. Then they moved to town and lived for a short time by the Federated Church. Then they built that home at 820 West Aspen. That was the home for all of us the rest of our lives, until we home.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: Was that just about, oh, turn of the century? Or a little before that?

ETHEL LEAMON: No that would have been later, probably as late as 1905 that we moved up there.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: You mentioned your father worked at the mill when he first came. What other types of work did he do?

ETHEL LEAMON: He later worked for the City. The City built a park, they called it… that was where Clark Homes now stands. And it was built for tourists, and there were a few, but it was mostly occupied by health-seekers, and they were mostly tubercular people. Would you like to know how they affected our lives, those people that lived in that park?

KRISTINE PRENNACE: Yes.

ETHEL LEAMON: Well, of course they were people who came alone, never with families, often young men, with no one to take care of them. And tubercular people often develop pneumonia. And in those days, if they lived five days, they were fortunate, because without drugs that we have today, antibiotics and so on. People often died the third day here with pneumonia. So when they got the least bit sick, my dad would bring them to our home. My mother would take us all out of our beds and put us on pallets in front of the fireplace, and she would nurse them until they were well enough to go back.

Not only did we take care of tuberculars, but there's one outstanding experience in my mind of awakening in the night and hearing a new baby crying. I went downstairs and very timidly opened the door and peeked in the kitchen. My dad had brought a young couple from the park. The father had tuberculosis. They didn't have anyplace to go when this baby was born, so my dad took them home, called Dr. [Martin] Fronske, and he delivered that baby on our kitchen table. And they remained at Citizen’s (?) in Arizona – in Winslow, to be exact - and we knew them for many, many years, following that experience. We became good friends, of course.

But our home was a haven for anybody who needed help of any kind, though we were actually.... In a way, you could say we were poor people, although we were never hungry, we were never cold, and we were always covered with something made out of SOMEBODY'S old something. But I like to look back and think of how wonderful my mother was, and that she shared everything she had.

Also, another thing I like to remember about her: she never condemned anybody. We can never remember her criticizing or condemning anyone. If someone came to our house with a bit of gossip, she would say, "Well, you know, I don't have anything to say. My children aren't raised yet, and I'm not dead yet. And little do we know what WE might do. So I have no criticism to make." Of course I think it's wonderful to be raised with a mother like that.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: You mentioned before that she was a Mormon, and that your father wasn't.

ETHEL LEAMON: Right.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: What kind of problems did that create? Or did it?

ETHEL LEAMON: Well, it really didn't create any problems, because at that time there were only two faiths here: Catholic and the Protestants. So she raised us all in the Federated Church, which then was strictly Methodist. And she was a very ardent worker there. We all became members of that church, and later in my mother's life, the LDS established an institute over by the university, and of course they made contact with her, and she would go over there to their meetings and help them work. But she never left the church she had raised us in. And at ninety years old, she was still working there on the dinners. I remember the November before she passed away, right after her ninetieth birthday, she peeled a hundred pounds of potatoes all alone one afternoon for a dinner they were having at the church. One of our ministers made a movie of that, and they have it there. But the fact that we were of different faiths didn't affect us in any way. It has as we became older, because part of our family ARE LDS, and part of us remained in that church. But we've never had any conflict over religion.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: Well, we talked a little bit about your mother nursing people. You mentioned she also had another job.

ETHEL LEAMON: Well, she was a practical nurse, and when anybody needed help, she was there. I can remember one time, at breakfast time, she said, "I'm going over to some neighbors" - and the family still live here. At that time they had two children, and she said, "They're expecting a new baby there today, so I don't know when I'll be back." Dr. Fronske was there too. About noon she came home and she said, (jostling of microphone obscures comment), "Ethel you get out those flour sacks and rip them open. Then put them on the stove in a boiler and get all the print out of them and hang them on the line. When I come home, I'll hem them." This lady didn't sew, and they didn't have any means to provide for these children. My mother had already made diapers - that's what they turned out to be - for one baby, but when she came home, she said, "There are twins! So we have to get more diapers and more clothing for these children." Two years later, the same thing happened. She went back, and this mother had ANOTHER pair of twins, and she rushed home and said, "We'll have to get busy and make some more things, because there's another set of twins there, and there isn't enough clothing for them." But that's how we got clothing. You can't imagine all the things that were made out of flour sacks. I can never remember having any bloomers or petticoats that weren't made out of (chuckles) flour sacks. And I can remember sometimes some of the print was left on them! (laughter)

KRISTINE PRENNACE: Oh, goodness! So, now, you had brothers and sisters?

ETHEL LEAMON: Yes, there were three brothers: Bill [W.L.], Ted, and Orinn. And there's only one brother living now.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: Is that Orinn?

ETHEL LEAMON: Yes, Orinn is a retired attorney in Phoenix.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: And do you had any sisters?

ETHEL LEAMON: One sister, but she passed away some time ago. She was a practical nurse also, and helped around.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: What was her name?

ETHEL LEAMON: Saphronia, of all names. S-A P H R O N I A

KRISTINE PRENNACE: Did she marry?

ETHEL LEAMON: Yes, she did marry. She married Peter Zyon. The only one of that family left living is the brother, Orinn.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: Now, where did you have most of your schooling?

ETHEL LEAMON: Started in at the old Emerson School in the first grade. And you know at that time we didn't have high school. We went from eighth grade up to the normal, and we went six years and we graduated. And I graduated as a teacher, as a primary teacher. And I taught in Bumblebee. And there I taught Chester Anderson, who's a businessman in Flagstaff. Then I taught up at Standard, and I taught Charles Dryden who is a civil engineer here and has his own firm. I used to say, when I taught Charles, he was just a bit older than I was, and I taught him a lot of English, and he taught me a lot of arithmetic! (laughter)

KRISTINE PRENNACE: Now, those were mining towns, right?

ETHEL LEAMON: Bumblebee is really… There was a BIT of mining there, but it was also cattle and sheep country, feuding country.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: Were you ever aware of any feuds?

ETHEL LEAMON: Oh, yes. I lived with a family by the name of Martin. They had six children and I never was busier in my life. I had looked forward to the time when I taught school - I wouldn't work so hard, and I would have nice hands and fingernails. But with six children, I'd get up in the morning and help her get breakfast, because they had hired hands there, too. I'd rush home at noon, help her get lunch, and then I'd go home in the evening and help. And I worked all day Saturday helping her. And I had a little cabin right by their back door. One day I was standing in front of a little mirror, combing my hair and a shot went through the cabin. Fortunately it hit a leather suitcase right at my feet. That was over a little feuding over sheepmen coming in on cattlemen's ground. Actually that's as near to feuding that I ever got.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: (laughs) That's pretty good.

ETHEL LEAMON: Plus the cattle people and the sheep people were never friendly. They didn't visit until they were right there in a single family. They wouldn't even visit. That existed.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: Now, where was Bumblebee located?

ETHEL LEAMON: Where it is today, down on Black Canyon Highway.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: What’s left of it, is there much there?

ETHEL LEAMON: I haven't been back there. We often planned to, but we just don't stop and go back. It's the most ideal climate in Arizona. You never need more than a very light sweater there, all winter long. And yet you don't have humidity or intense heat or intense cold. It’s a beautiful climate.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: Now, about what time, what year, was that when you were there in Bumblebee?

ETHEL LEAMON: Well, see, I was teaching, going in September, come home in May.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: Do you know what year that was?

ETHEL LEAMON: Yes, 1922-23. I got married in '24.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: When did you teach at Standard?

ETHEL LEAMON: It started in '25 and '26, the year after I was married.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: They allowed you to teach after you were married?

ETHEL LEAMON: Uh-huh. When we moved up to Standard, my husband went there to work for John Zalaha [phonetic spelling], whom so many people remember. He was owner of the mill there, and my husband contracted lumber out of there, in large coalman turcks to the shipping plant at Snowflake. One day Mr. Zalaha came up to the cabin. And in those days, incidentally, how we lived was something else. We had a little two-room cabin, and we cut a log into four pieces and made the bed posts, put the springs on there and the mattress, and that was our bedroom furniture - living room also. We had some little calico curtains strung on baling wire at the windows. In the kitchen we had a little homemade table and an old stove we found somewhere, and set IT up on logs with tin under it. We only paid six dollars a month rent. Our lights were Coleman lanterns. We made good money, and that's where we got the little start we had in life. I hadn't been there very long when Mr. Zalaha came up to the cabin and he said, "I need someone to work in the post office in the store." I said, "Well, I don't know a thing about a post office." And he said, "Well, I'll teach you." And I worked there a little while, and then one morning he said, "Oh! I have to have you down at the lumber dock to tally lumber." And I said, "Tally lumber? I don't know how to tally lumber." And he said, "Well, I'll teach you." So I went down and for four months I tallied all the trucks out - that is, keeping a record of every piece of lumber that went on the truck, and they were paid according to board feet.

Then the mill grew, and he said, "Well, we have to move you around again. I have to build a school, and I want you to be the teacher." So I taught fourteen children, everything from kindergarten through eighth grade and first year of high school there. And we loved it all; we loved the life we lived there.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: What was it like teaching in a one-room schoolhouse with all those grades?

ETHEL LEAMON: It was very difficult, because when you have some children who are VERY bright and want to learn fast, and then you have the slower group, and you're handling it all together… I can never remember a disciplinary problem. The children were good while you were having classes with each group, you know. We didn't have any problems. It was hard for the teacher, very hard.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: You would group children according to ability, not necessarily by age?

ETHEL LEAMON: No, grade.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: Oh, by grades.

ETHEL LEAMON: I had one little boy, the little Salajar [phonetic spelling] boy, four years old, and he was the only little boy in the camp that didn't have anybody to play with when school was in session. So one day his mother said "Would you take him up to school?" And I thought, "Oh, this WILL be a task!" And by the end of that year, that little four-year-old boy was reading third-grade readers. He learned phonics and so on as he listened to the other children read - he learned so fast.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: That's amazing! Now, where is Standard located exactly? Is it still there?

ETHEL LEAMON: No, it isn't there anymore. The mill burned down while we were there. It's out of Snowflake. I don't remember the miles. Probably fifteen miles north, up in that forest, from Snowflake. It's close to Pine, which is still there - Mormon country. That was all Mormon country there. And I had the pleasure of meeting a lady known as Aunt Lottie Webb, who was a Mormon lady, who had delivered over 500 babies all by herself in that area. In fact, she later came to stay with me in Winslow when my son Don was born.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: Did she deliver him?

ETHEL LEAMON: No, she just stayed with us. No, he was delivered in the hospital, but she stayed with us. But my, those people had interesting lives. And that part of the country, too, everybody helped everybody else. Very different living than what we do today, because we have neighbors you don't know anymore, you know. I really liked the old days the best. I'm glad I lived then.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: Well that kind of brings us around. Tell me a little bit about your daily chores. Let's get that on tape.

ETHEL LEAMON: Well, we really had daily chores. From the time we got up in the morning, we were on a schedule. We had to do chores before we went to school, and of course we ran to school because we lived out the foot of the Observatory Hill and went to Emerson. And by the time we got the work done that was required of us in the morning, we'd have to run to school. I remember one morning I was probably a third of the way to school when my dad got out and called me back, and he said, "Young lady, you didn't hang up your nightgown!" So that's how strict we were raised in those days.

We helped with everything there was to be done, so we didn't have a lot of time to play. I can't remember that we had more than an hour, or so, a day, to play. And we were confined to our own block. We were never allowed to go out of the block. We were never allowed to go in other people's yards unless we were invited to, and yet we did get out in the street and play kick the can and hide and go seek. In the winter we coasted and such. There were enough children in that block that we all had plenty of company. The Michelbach family, with THEIR twelve children, lived in the block below us. And then an old family by the name of Blacks who were pioneers here, part of that family lived up in that area. The Willises. Later the Lays moved up in that block, in the Waldhaus home. So we always had plenty to play WITH, the little bit of time we had to play. But then we were in church a lot in those days - not only on Sundays. Sunday was really a observed. We only did certain things on Sunday, besides go to church. And I can't remember that we were ever even allowed to have a picnic or such on Sunday. Because then we'd go back in the afternoon and back at night. I remember sleeping on the benches when I was a little girl on Sunday night, because I just couldn't quite last the whole day.

That was another interesting thing. The first family in the parsonage at the Methodist church that I remember were the Metcalfs. It was in that house that I had my first bath in a bathtub, because as I say, we didn't have electricity, running water, telephones, or such, until I was in my early teens, before we started to get those things. Then we always had different programs for every holiday; there would be programs at the church. There would be dinners. Even in those days we had what's known today as potluck dinners. The women's society really helped support the church VERY much, so they were ALWAYS busy having dinners and bazaars and whatever to earn money. Of course it became part of our life, too. We even always had a big Christmas program at the church. I think every family in the church, with all their children, would be there Christmas Eve. We never had anything at home on Christmas Eve, until we had been to the church and had a nice program.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: You talked about your job with the fruit. Why don’t we talk about that?

ETHEL LEAMON: As I said, we had to raise everything we had to eat, or get it in this community, except staples. I can remember in the fall my mother would be sure that we had 800 pounds of flour, 200 pounds of sugar in the pantry. Very little coffee - coffee was a luxury, even in those days. So other than those few staples, salt and pepper and stuff, we had to raise it or get it somewhere. So we did have a big garden, and we were most fortunate in most years, however, we knew we'd have that June frost and we would have the August frost. So we would cover. But we raised and canned most of everything that we had to eat. We even raised cucumbers and tomatoes in those days. We also had some fruit. And that's up on the lot at 820 West Aspen. So, it can still be done, if people want to do it. Of course we did work with the soil. We knew the soil here isn't good enough to raise all that unless you replenish it every year, which we did - because we had all the stock in the back yard. We didn't have to go far for everything it took to replenish soil. In the back yard we had cows, from which all our milk and butter came. We had pigs, from which not only our meat, but all our lard came, which was packed in crock jars for winter. And then of course the chickens. That's the only eggs we ever saw was the ones from our own chickens. We had squirrels. We seldom… and rabbits, but we could seldom ever eat a squirrel, because they were such pets.

For fruit we'd go to Oak Creek in the fall. And I'd miss the first week of school every year, because I was the youngest in the family, couldn't be left. And we would go with a team and wagon. It took us one day to go to the top of Oak Creek, and we'd stay at a ranch, known as Loy’s (?) Ranch. And the next day we'd go down into the canyon, gather fruit, and can it, and come back and be ready for winter. We also brought fresh fruit back with us then. So that's how we lived.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: Did you have a buckboard or something that you'd take down or did you have a car then?

ETHEL LEAMON: No, no. Didn’t even know what a car was. Everything was done with a wagon. At one time we had a buggy that we were real proud of. We got to go to town occasionally, went to church and so on. But most of it, everything we piled into a wagon. In the winter we had a big sled, and we'd go places with the team; the sled which was great fun. And in those days we ALWAYS had heavy winters. I can remember one winter in my life that we didn't have a heavy snowstorm. We had such heavy snows you couldn't see across the street, often. And it would cover up ALL the fences in those days. Everybody had high fences.

We also had boardwalks, and I can remember even in those days we had an ordinance. And within six hours after the time snow stopped falling, we had to have our walks all shoveled and open, so that people could get through, and that's more than Flagstaff does today! We don't enforce that ordinance yet today.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: (inaudible) did you also work at Keller's Bakery?

ETHEL LEAMON: Yes. When I graduated from the eighth grade, I decided I'd like to go to work, and I walked into Keller's Bakery one day and as few of you people left will know that Mr. and Mrs. Keller were the parents of Katherine Rucker here. I asked if they would consider hiring me to work in the bakery. And by the way, we wrapped several hundred loaves of bread by hand. Every evening it was baked there in the kitchen. And when we weren't waiting on people at the fountain or selling high-grade candies that were sold there then, we spent our time wrapping bread. And it was an old-fashioned ice cream parlor, too, with the cute little round chairs and tables. We had the same clientele almost every day from the people that worked downtown, at a certain time of the day were in there for ice cream. It was one, the happiest times of all my life, was working for the Kellers. As far as salary was concerned, we worked for a dollar a day in those days.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: And you mentioned buying a saxophone.

ETHEL LEAMON: Oh, yes. I had learned to play the piano a little bit, when I started playing it by ear. And then I had a yen for a saxophone. Of course it was almost a physical impossibility for my family to buy me a saxophone. And in those days, they were very high, and I remember I bought a Conn saxophone, and it was over $300. So I worked almost a year to save the money to pay for that saxophone. And then it brought me some of the joys of my life, because....

Incidentally, I never had a lesson on it. There was a boy at Normal then - university now - who played the saxophone, and he taught me the scale. And I just took it from there and I played in the college band, the city band, and also a little outside dance band that gave me a lot of pleasure during my lifetime.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: Where did you play with the small band?

ETHEL LEAMON: Well, we played for dances here, and then we'd get to go to Grand Canyon once in a while. That was the only way we could ever get out of town. And the lady who played the piano was our neighbor, and she was always the chaperon of the group, so my family let me go and I got around and did places. I remember we went a few outlying towns, Winslow and Williams, to play for dances. It was great fun!

KRISTINE PRENNACE: Where were most of the dances held here in town?

ETHEL LEAMON: Well, the dances we went to as a group were in the homes. Each Saturday night we could dance until ten o’clock and the parents would take turns [hosting]. But the place we had the most fun was at the home of Ruth Bean. Who is still here, a citizen here. And Ruth was the only child in that family, and she was younger than me, but she had a cousin who's home just wasn't big enough for us to dance in, so Ruth’s mother would say, "Well, all you kids come up to my house. You're always welcome." So I can remember for MONTHS we'd go up there to a phonograph, an old Edison phonograph and somebody would take turns bringing a few little refreshments. And then later there was also a place here called Marlar (?) Hall, which was a public, dance hall. And that was strictly forbidden to me.

But one night after a basketball game, even in those days Winslow and Flagstaff were rivals when it came to football and basketball. Winslow played basketball up here, and we beat them. So my closest friend had originally lived in Winslow. Her mother said, "Now, you can invite the team and some of your friends over to our house tonight for a dance." And my mother was visiting in San Diego at the time, and....

[END TAPE 1, SIDE 1; BEGIN TAPE 1, SIDE 2]

ETHEL LEAMON: When we got over there, there were more young people than there was room for us. So some of them said, "Let's go down to Marlar Hall." Well, I knew it was forbidden for me, but I thought, "Well, as long as I'm with a chaperon" - who was our neighbor - "I can go." So we went down there, and we were just having the best time, and really nothing wrong ever happened there, that I can remember. But it was public, and that was forbidden. And I was dancing with Harold Cameron, I remember - he was a local boy, and you may have heard of that family, too - and I looked up at the door, and there stood my dad. And he marched from the front door to back of the hall where we were dancing, and took me by the ear and marched me out the front door, and I was housebound for one month! In those days, that's how we were raised - you minded or else! But our family always put us on our honor, and really, we didn't DO things to GET in trouble, and I didn't think I was gonna get in trouble THAT night, because I was with a chaperon. But I learned! (laughter) That's an outstanding memory in my life, too!

KRISTINE PRENNACE: Now, where was Marlar Hall? Was that right downtown?

ETHEL LEAMON: That's where the Harper Building is today, where the city hall has it now, where Harpers later built THEIR store, and now it has become city hall property. But that's where it was.

Then the other dances we went to, of course, were at the university, which in those days, there were many. I often hear from students, whom I meet, and my grandchildren, who attended the university, their they wished they would have the things there that they hear we older ones tell about it, at the university which they don’t have today; for instance dances. There's just not the right kind of places for young people to go here. We really don’t have it.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: Okay.

ETHEL LEAMON: Where are now?

KRISTINE PRENNACE: Now, did you ever work, besides school teaching and some of the other jobs you mentioned that you had? Any other jobs?

ETHEL LEAMON: You mean in my married life?

KRISTINE PRENNACE: Uh-huh.

ETHEL LEAMON: No. After we were married, I taught that one-year at Standard and then we came back to Flagstaff. A couple of years later, our oldest daughter was born. The next year, our second daughter was born. Seven years later, our son Don, who is with me a the store. We always felt that a mother belonged at home. So there were many, many times that to have another salary would have solved many problems, but my husband felt like I did that the mother belonged at home. And so I never worked until we bought the store in 1957. I'd go in a little bit each day, just to arrange things, more or less, and help out in that respect. And then my husband wasn't well when we bought the store, and he rapidly lost his health, and I started working more and more, but I've never worked for anybody else in my married life. But I've worked at this store now almost twenty-five years.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: Let me go ahead and get your other children’s names.

ETHEL LEAMON: Our oldest daughter is Arles Ellsworth, and they have three daughters. The next is Carol Pierce. She has three sons. And then Don has one little boy.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: We kind of skipped over your husband.

ETHEL LEAMON: We sure did! Let's see, where was… After I had taught school the first year and I came home for the summer, I attended an Odd Fellow Lodge dance, with Bill Kayless [phonetic spelling], who was quite the Beau Brummell of Flagstaff at that time… When we got to the door, we said, "Whom do we pay?" And this young man, said, "No one. This is a lodge dance, and you don't pay." So later in the evening, he came over and asked me if he might dance with me. I said, "Yes." Well, to make a long story short, I never went with anybody else afterwards. We were married… Well, I had to teach one year after I met him and was engaged to him. I had to go back to Bumblebee and teach the second year, because I had promised my family I would teach two years before I ever considered getting married. And then he was associated with the Lee Caron Motor Company at that time, and he worked for him for several years until we went into business for ourselves. And then we moved to Winslow where two of our children were born. We lived there several years, and we came back here and went into business here, and we've been… had this store for twenty-four or twenty-five years.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: The Lee motor company he worked for?

ETHEL LEAMON: Lee Caron Motor Company. That was a Chevrolet agency, and it was over where the Lee Hutchison Building is now, across the tracks.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: They just sold cars there.

ETHEL LEAMON: Yeah.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: Okay. Now, where did your husband come from originally?

ETHEL LEAMON: My husband came from Texas. If I had to do it over again I’d pick that same person. I liked Southern ways; I liked their politeness, their consideration. I liked the way they treated ladies. He kept that all through our married life. I always say he was one man in a million. He was never known to anger, no matter what the problem. He was so gentle with his children, and yet they respected him so highly. If I had it to do over again, I'd pick that same man from Texas. (laughs)

KRISTINE PRENNACE: When did he come to the Flagstaff area?

ETHEL LEAMON: In 1922.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: So he hadn't been here long.

ETHEL LEAMON: No.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: Why don't we go ahead and start talking about the Flagstaff area in particular, and maybe you can describe what you remember of the downtown area.

ETHEL LEAMON: The downtown was so very much like it is today, except the side where Babbitts' rebuilt. There were different businesses there, of course. But as I remember it hasn't changed TOO much. Some things have been torn down, and some more added. But the thing I remember, it was so seldom that we got to go to town. We couldn't cross that bridge at Emerson School without permission. And when we went, we went as a family.

Of course Babbitts' Trading Company, as it was known then, was the highlight of shopping. As you went inside the door on a Saturday evening, Mr. Charlie Babbitt, one of the original brothers, would be standing there. He was the most LIKEABLE person, such a happy person. He was always so sweet to children. He always had a barrel of candy, and when you went in the store, he invited you to have a handful of it. Oh, I remember there were candy kisses and jellybeans and such things as that.

And then the entire family would go from one department of the store to another, getting our needs for the week. Or, it wasn't only a shopping spree, it was a visiting evening, because we'd go downtown in the team and wagon and hitch them to a post in front of the store, and go in and visit with everybody. We didn't stay long, because we all had to be home early Saturday night to get ready for Sunday morning. But the Keller’s Bakery was there. The banks have changed around. I remember one little furniture store, and it was the Finely Store. And incidentally, that man's son has recently been here trying to find data on his father. After he left, I found a poem among my mother's collections that I would like to have him have, but I have no idea where to contact him. That building was San Finely Furniture, was where the Switzer [phonetic spelling] Hardware Store is today. Then there was a family by the name of Hermans who had a little clothing store. I remember getting one of my first coats there because prit near everything we had was handmade or homemade out of somebody else's, you know.

But of course we always walked. If we ran out of something at home that we had to have from the store, it was nothing for us to go that mile, running there and back to get it. I liked it like it was.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: Now, the streets weren't paved, were they?

ETHEL LEAMON: No. No, we had board sidewalks, like I told you, and no paving, and it was muddy. In the winter it was pretty rough too, but we usually had snow on the ground all winter, which was much better than now, because the snows we had in those days didn't melt off, you know they were deep. And we had snow practically all the time on the winter. We didn't have clothing in those days to cope with it, either. I can remember how we were dressed. It's really funny when you see the pictures or think back about it. But in spite of it all, we never got sick. We were healthy, we had very little sickness in Flagstaff, as I remember, among ANY family. So it was a healthy situation for everybody.

We only had one doctor here at that time, before Dr. Fronske came. We had one dentist. And few of us ever got in his chair, I can tell you. Can you imagine? We didn't even have toothbrushes in those days! We cleaned our teeth with a little salt on a piece of gauze, if our mother could make us! (laughs) And so we look back at these old pictures and know how we looked, with the things we had to do with. (laughs)

KRISTINE PRENNACE: You mentioned the dressing for the snow. Did you have boots?

ETHEL LEAMON: Not always. I can remember when I first had a pair. And now I look back at them, and how horrible they were. Well, actually, they were like some men wear today, those big old rubber boots with buckles. I can't remember ever having seen anything that was pretty in the line of footwear in those days. We wore long underwear all the time, in fact when I started going up to the Normal School, I still had to wear long underwear. Cotton stockings and I'd go down in the basement and roll the underwear up above my knees. (laughs)

KRISTINE PRENNACE: And you always had to wear a dress, I imagine.

ETHEL LEAMON: Oh, yes, a dress. We didn't know anything else. And bloomers, the undergarments, were nothing but great big bloomers. And that's what our gym clothes were, too, when we got to take P.E. We had a navy blouse, with the big navy collar, long sleeves, and great big full bloomers and stockings. I can't remember that we had tennis shoes, but we must have had tennis shoes for P.E. Some of our pictures don't show tennis shoes on our feet.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: Maybe they were light leather or something.

ETHEL LEAMON: I actually don't remember what we had for P.E. shoes.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: What was Front Street like?

ETHEL LEAMON: That was FORBIDDEN territory! It was all saloons. We were always forbidden, if we DID get to go to town, even when we were quite large, that we couldn't go around Front Street. But I DO remember one time, tasting forbidden fruit. Hope Metcalf, the minister's daughter, whom I spoke of a while ago, and I were - our families were having dinner together, and we needed something, and so they sent Hope and myself running down to Babbitts' to get it. When we got there, I can't remember how we happened to decide, or which one of us decided we'd go across the block and go onto Front Street. At that time, Sandy Donahue, who was quite a character, but at the same time he was a good man too, he gave us each an orange. At that time, we only saw an orange and banana in our Christmas stocking once a year. And when we went back to the Methodist parsonage where our families were having dinner together, with an orange, we got into trouble! And of course we had to tell the truth, that we had gone around on Front Street and happened to run into Sandy and he had given us the orange.

But then the next change I remember on Front Street, there was a family here by the name of Tate, who had had a bar on Front Street, they converted it into a dime store. And then if our parents or our older brothers were with us, and took us by the hand, we COULD go into that dime store occasionally. But it’s just a street that we have never gotten over onto very much even today. And now, of course, there they have the lovely curio shops and so on. But I know even my girlfriends and I who were raised together, we just think of Santa Fe as. or Front Street as it was called – and it was just forbidden territory. Besides the Normal School and the college area, I was at least fifteen years old before I was ever over on THAT side of town, because we just weren't allowed to roam around in those days and get acquainted like you do today.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: Not many people remember Sandy Donahue, so I'd like to see if I can get anymore information.

ETHEL LEAMON: I remember that he was a very typical Irishman. I remember he was heavy set, had an oval, very jovial face, a happy nature. And I guess he was known to be quite a drunkard, but at the same time he was quite a humanitarian, too. And he LOVED children. If I remember correctly, he was never married - I don't believe he was, here. Didn't have a family, but he did like children and liked to do things for children.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: Did you ever hear of Peg Leg, or know anything about him?

ETHEL LEAMON: Oh, yes! I have seen Peg Leg many times. I was small, but I do remember him. I remember he was always dirty - his clothing was always dirty and baggy. I do remember having heard he was quite a notorious character. But other than that, I don't remember anything.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: Just saw him around the town.

ETHEL LEAMON: But very distinctly I remember him. We didn't have many characters around that were notorious. You know, we really didn't. The cowboys were all nice and friendly, and behaved when they came to town - that is, on THIS side of town! (laughter)

KRISTINE PRENNACE: Never knew what happened on Front Street?

ETHEL LEAMON: No, no. Of course, we never crossed the tracks into forbidden territory, too.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: Now, what was just across the tracks?

ETHEL LEAMON: Well, of course the depot has always been there. But then the notorious places were across the tracks, even in those days.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: Do you remember any other personalities. You’ve talked about Peg Leg and Sandy, anyone else that sticks out in your mind as being kind of a character?

ETHEL LEAMON: No. No, I don't at the moment.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: Did you ever-meet Zane Grey?

ETHEL LEAMON: No, I didn't, but my brother Orin did, I'm sure. He was an attorney here – Orinn was a young attorney then, and I know he did. But of course we read every one of his stories. And we had that set of volumes in our home. As you know, he dwelled on Mormon people. As they were made into films and the films came to town, those were a few times that we got to go to the theater. And the old theater was called the Costigan Theater(?). It was where the present theater is. It would be so packed that we would sit in the aisles. And I can remember the price of a ticket was ten cents. But those were the only shows we got to go to. I loved his stories, but my mother would become incensed because she said, "He has written things about the Mormon people that aren't true." And of course you know prit near all those I have read DID pertain to the Mormon people. But at the same time, I can remember I just loved to read those books.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: Did you know Lee Doyle at all?

ETHEL LEAMON: Very well. Yes, we knew him very well - his entire family. Lets see now, where Babbitt's New Whistle Stop is, their home was on that corner, and it was such a beautiful home; one of the prettiest in town at that time. He wasn't what you would call a friendly person. He was quite retiring, very quiet, and I can never remember a conversation with him, only just pass the time of day and ask about his family. But I do remember him [as a guide?], you know, for the Zane Grey groups, and which he did for many other groups in his lifetime.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: Was that the only type of work he did, or did he have another job?

ETHEL LEAMON: I really don't remember him in any other capacity. But I was young then when he was doing that, so it's very possible. He undoubtedly did SOMETHING else before. There are people here who will know about him before that time.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: Let me see.... What about the social life of the community? Do you remember much?

ETHEL LEAMON: Well, as I said, ours was really contained with the church. And then families getting together and doing things – especially for their children. But most of our social life was in the church.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: Maybe this isn't the spot, but you did mention before getting a garden prize from the Woman's Club?

ETHEL LEAMON: Yes. Very early, I can't remember, I don't think I could have been more than ten when it first started - the Woman's Club, of which my mother was a charter member, by the way - gave garden prizes each year to the young people who had the prettiest garden. And the ladies would be the judges. Year after year, I would win first prize. As I told you, we had to work to raise what we ate. I DID raise things that people say you can't raise here today. And then I remember that prize would be five dollars, which was a huge sum in those days.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: Now, we talked about the Federated Church, but you also briefly mentioned the LDS coming into town. Not many people remember that. Why don't we talk about that for a minute?

ETHEL LEAMON: I'm not sure that I remember just what you want, but I do remember when they came. I don't remember what TIME they came, either - in our teens, I'm sure - and that they established an institute over by what is now the university. I'm quite sure they had a very small attendance that grew very fast. Of course today it's unbelievable how they have grown and prospered and how many churches they have.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: Did most of the Mormon population come from students that would go to school?

ETHEL LEAMON: Right, in the beginning, uh-huh.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: Were they looked upon favorably by the community?

ETHEL LEAMON: Yes.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: There wasn't any problems?

ETHEL LEAMON: No. I can't remember Flagstaff ever having those kind of problems. It seems to me all groups have gotten along beautifully, really - and mixed and so on. Like when you stop and think of the Federated Church we were Methodists. And we’re all Protestant denominations and just how many groups attend that church today of different denominations I don't know. But I think that's a great way to live, that you can get along like that, 'cause I don't think we should ever fight over religion in the first place.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: Now, maybe you can remember something about the city politics.

ETHEL LEAMON: Very little. Speaking of politics, in going through my mother's things the other day, I found an interesting thing, a tax notice that was my dad's. The property tax on our home in those days was $20.36. (chuckles) I can also remember that everybody in town, every property owner in town, paid a poll tax of two dollars a year, which I still think everybody should pay today. I don't think we'd have the big expenses from the county that we have, if all people paid the poll tax. I have discussed this with different supervisors, and they think that's against our personal liberties. But no one ever doubted that we could pay it in those days. And of course we had to buy our books, our pencils, our paper - nothing was ever furnished to us in those days. It was much more difficult for parents to send children to school than it is today.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: Do you think that many didn't go to school because of that?

ETHEL LEAMON: No. No, I'm sure there weren't any children who didn't go to school then. And when I first started going up to what is now the university, our tuition was five dollars a semester. Our books cost about ten per semester.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: I guess five dollars was hard to come by.

ETHEL LEAMON: Yes, it was hard, in reality, as whatever today.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: Okay, do you remember was Flagstaff kind of isolated from Phoenix and the southern part of the state?

ETHEL LEAMON: Oh, very definitely. I can remember one year we went in the team and wagon, it took us a week to go to Phoenix. The roads were narrow, in places dangerous. And of course horses could only travel so far a day, and we’d camp at night. Incidentally, one time we went down was when Arizona made it’s statehood, and I had the privilege of seeing President Teddy Roosevelt on the old Capitol of Arizona's steps when I was a child in 1914.

Other than that, I can only remember one other time that we ever got to Phoenix. If people went, they usually went on the train, you know, which was a long, roundabout course, and expensive, too. So as far as going back and forth, until automobiles came, there wasn't much of it.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: Did you used to go to some of the outlying areas around Flagstaff?

ETHEL LEAMON: Very little. Very little.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: Was Williams always pretty small?

ETHEL LEAMON: Yes.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: And what was Winslow like? Was that different?

ETHEL LEAMON: Kind of. I was in high school the first time I ever got to go to Winslow. As I remember, it too was very much like it is today, and we lived there later in our married life. Of course, all these towns grow, but I mean the downtown part itself, to me doesn't change all that much.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: Well, when you were growing up, was it about the same size population as Flagstaff?

ETHEL LEAMON: Yes, we were close. Of course they may have had a larger population because they had a roundhouse there for the Santa Fe, and that brought lots of people in. They were highly paid people, too, to be Santa Fe engineers especially. And so in one sense, I think they had more sooner than Flagstaff did.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: Do you remember anything about World War I?

ETHEL LEAMON: Yes, very much. I had two brothers who were in the front line trenches in France in World War I, Bill and Orinn. Just recently I've been reading letters that they sent home from France. And going through some old papers, there was one that my brother Orinn had sent home that was published on the front page of the Coconino Sun in those days, that was very interesting, about the life in France.

And I remember the day of Armistice Day very distinctly. I was out on my back porch. I was washing on a washboard, and the whistles and the bells just started to blow and clang, and my dad came out on the porch and he said, "You stop that washing right now! Anything as important as this, we have to celebrate!" And everybody got together and went downtown. Fortunately, my brothers both came back unharmed.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: What about the Prohibition period? Do you remember much about that?

ETHEL LEAMON: Yes. I can remember that it was quite exciting, because we were always hearing about somebody that was bootlegging - you know, getting caught. That was the first we ever heard of speakeasies. I can remember we were in Winslow then, and one night my husband and some of our friends started out, we went to a school dance, and when we got there, the school dance was so crowded there wasn't room to dance, and somebody said, "Let's go find a speakeasy." On Front Street in Winslow, which Front Street there was just like our Front Street here - we found a speakeasy, and that was my first experience at a speakeasy. It wasn't very exciting. We had a taste of forbidden fruit and left I remember. (laughs)

KRISTINE PRENNACE: Well, did it affect our Front Street; did the bars close?

ETHEL LEAMON: I really don't remember, but I remember of hearing the grown people talk about so-and-so getting caught for having a still and bootlegging and so on. But other than that… And I know it went on for quite a number of years - I remember that. But I don't remember them it impressing us much. We weren't involved in it, like teenagers might have been, or would be today. But that was just a little before I became a teenager.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: What about the Depression? How did that affect your family?

ETHEL LEAMON: During World War I? Which depression do you mean, because I've lived through a few!

KRISTINE PRENNACE: Yeah! I was talking about the Great Depression, the one in the 1929s.

ETHEL LEAMON: World War I was actually a depression to us, because of food the scarcity of food and rationing of food. I can remember we literally lived on cornmeal in one form or another and potatoes and things. That's my outstanding memory of it. Also, the next depression, in ’39 (sic) was it, it was a food problem. I can remember cornmeal was the outstanding thing on our memory then. We had it one way or another so many times a day. And of course we always had potatoes. We had very little meat, very little staples. And clothing was such a problem, too. Raising a family during that time was really a nightmare when it came to shoes and such. I don't remember how many times these little rubber half-soles that we glued onto our children's shoes would be pulled off, and another pair put on. So yes, I can't remember depressions as having been pleasant. Neither can I remember having really suffered in any way. We didn't have what we'd had before, or since, but we all got along. I can remember that everybody shared more, and when it came to clothing we would trade around with what our children couldn't wear, somebody else's could, and likewise clothing came to us that other people's children couldn't wear. In one way, I think it was good for us. Sometimes I wonder if that's what we need today, is a depression and we all start out at the bottom and work up with less, and learn to do with less.

[END TAPE 1, SIDE 2; BEGIN TAPE 2, SIDE 1]

KRISTINE PRENNACE: Why don't I ask you about World War II, if you remember much about that.

ETHEL LEAMON: Yes. If I remember correctly, Pearl Harbor Day was on a Sunday, December 7. And I remember I was washing dishes in the kitchen when on the radio I heard the news that the Japanese were bombing Pearl Harbor. And I can remember how we all got on the phone and called all our relatives and friends to ask them, "Have you heard? Have you heard?" World War II was quite a memory to me. I had several nephews; lost one nephew in World War II. And I can remember we had hard times then, too. But not as far as being denied money or prosperity, because World War II really made the United States prosperous. That is, as far as employment, and all over things that were needed for world supply, war supplies.

But because we didn't happen to have any sons in our family who were old enough to go to war - although I had several nephews - I did have an opportunity to serve in another way at home. At that time at the university we had a V-12 and a V-5 (?) unit, and they were all just fine, intelligent young men who had been picked for training, and they were sent here for special training. And because there was no place in Flagstaff for these young people to go, except the show, for entertainment, I had the opportunity of establishing the USO here. It was strictly on a voluntary basis, and it was located where Berger Photo, Dr. Raymond's office - the first part of that block, over toward the depot. The Harpers had just moved out of it into their new furniture building. It fortunately was vacant. I went to Los Angeles and talked to the head of the USO people and they agreed that they would give us some money for some furnishings. That is, materials to make curtains, and a few little needed things - but the rest we had to gather up from volunteers in Flagstaff.

Before it was over, we had a real comfortable lounge there. We had a piano and a jukebox, and we had couches, we had a kitchen, and we didn't have regular [baths?], but we had rooms where both the boys and the girls and the children could come and clean up and rest. We had blankets where they could sleep, if necessary. It was a particular service to young married couples, and especially those with babies who would come in to Flagstaff during the day, and couldn't get a bus north until midnight that night. It was a blessing to so many young people, and also those boys of the V-12 and the V-5 units. All the furnishings, except the curtains and such as that, we gathered up from local people. Every lady’s organization in town took a week serving, strictly all volunteer. They also furnished the refreshments that week.

I think I had been operating as the chairman for probably a year when my friend Thelma Williams lost her son over Germany. One day she called and asked me if she might help down there. She had hoped that somehow she might meet someone who was in Bobby Joe's unit, and get some information. (something falls, obscuring comment) ______ reported missing. So I asked the board to appoint her as co-chairman, and she and I operated that USO for three years on a volunteer basis. We weren't paid, and often somebody would call and say - who was signed up to serve - "I can't go." And my husband and my children were just wonderful about it, because then that meant I would have to rush down and take that shift. So I said that was the way we tried to help during World War II, since we didn't have any family that we could send into service. But it was the most rewarding service.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: Now, this is a little out of line but, I want to ask you about it before we go on. Now, is Mr. Whipple related to you at all?

ETHEL LEAMON: Mr. Whipple was the stepfather of my sister-in-law.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: That was Flora Compton?

ETHEL LEAMON: Yes.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: Okay, so you're related THAT way. (

ETHEL LEAMON: Yes.)

KRISTINE PRENNACE:But your brother then worked for him?

ETHEL LEAMON: Yes. My brother was foreman for Cambell Frances? Sheep Company, the biggest sheep outfit in Arizona at that time, for many years. But after my brother Bill and my present sister-in-law, Flora Compton, were married, she didn't like the idea of going back and forth over wherever the sheep went, that's where they had to go, of course, summer and winter. [She] wanted to settle down and raise a family. So then my brother left Cambell Frances Sheep Company and learned to be a mortician, and he was associated with Flora's stepfather, who was the mortician here from pioneer days - from the beginning on he was the mortician. My brother was a mortician until about fifteen years before he passed away.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: Okay, I just wanted to get that connection straightened out. Now, we can talk about… do you remember any fires or anything like that?

ETHEL LEAMON: I can remember different times we had pretty good-sized fires at each mill. Offhand, I don't remember any others.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: Was there a fire department that you can remember?

ETHEL LEAMON: Yes, we had a little tiny fire department drawn by horses. And I don't remember when we got the other fire department either.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: Do you remember anything about the police department? Was there one?

ETHEL LEAMON: I remember the sheriff's office, because as far back as I can remember, the men who happened to be sheriffs were personal friends of our family. I don't remember city police. You know, we didn't have much trouble. We didn't have the need for things that a growing population would need. It was a rare occasion if we ever heard about anybody being in trouble here. I can remember there used to be cattle rustling and we'd hear about that. I can remember an occasional time when a ranch might be burglarized and the occupants were away - VERY rarely. But as far as trouble, as I look back, I don't remember.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: You mentioned knowing some of the sheriffs. Did you know John Francis?

ETHEL LEAMON: Very well.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: Was he an older man when you knew him?

ETHEL LEAMON: Yes. In fact, his grandson Johnny and my son Don grew up together.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: (inaudible) What about flooding or lots of water?

ETHEL LEAMON: No. Before my time I can remember my family talking about a flood that covered all downtown Flagstaff, and over to the cemetery. At that time they lost a little boy, two weeks old. And when they took that little body over to the cemetery, the water was up to the horses' bellies then. And it was downtown in the Weatherford Hotel basement in different times - I can remember them talking about that. River de Flag, you know, along by Emerson School, used to run over occasionally and give a little trouble, when I was a child. But this was before my time when I heard my folks talk about it. Then out in the area that we called Mortgage Flats now [interviewer's notes say Mountain View area (Tr.)], you know, out north of Flagstaff, that was ALWAYS underwater. In fact, that was our skating rink in the winter. There was always a lake there in the wintertime. That's where we ice skated. But it's been many, many years since that happened. However, old-timers do predict it can happen again, heaven forbid, because it would ruin so many homes if it happened today. But that was just as common as winter came in those days. But like I said, the snows were so heavy then, that we don’t have today. And that water came off the mountain would run down there and stand there.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: Now what about droughts or water shortage years? Do you remember any of those?

ETHEL LEAMON: Yes. When I was very tiny we were… (microphone jostled, obscuring comment) some of the people (jostle) that carried the water in barrels, talk about water shortage. You won't believe this, but it’s sad but it’s true the bath water was used for bathing not only one, but several. Then it was used for washing the clothes, then it was used for scrubbing the floors, and then it went to the garden. Water wasn't wasted. But that's how scarce water was, and very high in those days.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: How did you water your gardens?

ETHEL LEAMON: With the wastewater. But the time I'm talking about, when we had the gardens that I was involved in, by that time we had water piped in, and we didn't have any problems.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: Okay. We talked a lot about the big snows. Can you think of anything else about that?

ETHEL LEAMON: We always enjoyed them. I can never remember that they bothered us. You know, life moved so slowly in those days that snows didn't really hamper us. Everybody got out and shoveled and made fun over it. It didn't really bother us. We always had plenty of wood to keep us warm, and plenty of food, and somehow SOMETHING to keep us warm. We looked forward to them, I can not remember that we disliked winter weather in any way.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: And illness or epidemic?

ETHEL LEAMON: The first epidemic I remember was the flu in 1918, and I remember how VERY serious it was. I remember one - my sister at that time was a practical nurse, and my mother also, and Dr. Fronske came – just before that time - and I remember how VERY, very hard he worked, as he always has. In fact, if there ever was a Christian on earth, it's Dr. Fronske. There was no end to his efforts. He went from one family to another. And we had it in our home, and I happened to have had it. During that time I can remember my mother made me a new fall and winter dress. It was red serge trimmed in red velvet, with a tam to match. And I got up and went to church before Dr. Fronske thought I should be up, and he came up to me and said, "Young lady, you get out of here and get home! You haven't any business out of the house, and you could still expose somebody else." Well, that's a very definite memory I have of the flu epidemic.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: Now, what about other ethnic groups? Did you have much contact with the Mexican-American community?

ETHEL LEAMON: No, we didn't. I can remember there were a few Mexican children in school. At that time there were only two Negro families here, and they lived on this side of town. I later taught two of the children of each of those families when I was a student teacher at the college. But there was no problem whatsoever. They certainly kept their place, and they were no trouble in any way, and people liked them, and we didn't have any problem.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: The first problems I can remember over that was when Cady Lumber Company came here and imported so many colored people from Louisiana. I can't say that we had troubles then. We did get a few colored young men who were maybe a little out of place on the streets. As much as… to US in fact, we always thought if you went down the street with a baby buggy or something, someone would step aside so you could get through and so on. And I can remember encountering young men that wouldn't move so you could pass through or something. But as far as real trouble, I don't remember that we had any.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: What about Oriental families?

ETHEL LEAMON: Well, yes, the Oriental family I remember is still here, and very, VERY dear friends of ours, the Junes. Right across from the depot, the June family had a laundry. I can remember, though I wasn't crossing the track, that when I was on this side I could look over there and see the June children's parents working on washboards there. You know, they'd have all the doors open because they didn't have any way of cooling it off and it was warm work. But we were raised with all those children and loved them dearly, and they're some of our dearest friends today. And the Chinese people here, I think they're ALL friends of ours. They've been good customers of ours, and we try to return the business where we can with them, and some of our dearest friends are Oriental people.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: Were there any Indian families in town that you can remember?

ETHEL LEAMON: No, I don't remember Indian families living here. Like I told you, I remember the Indian people that came to our home. But I was grown before I had a memory of Indian families living here. There were never any problems with those either.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: You mentioned off tape when you would come in from school and see the Indians sitting around the store.

ETHEL LEAMON: Yes. Those were the Indians that my family contacted on the reservation. When they came to Flagstaff and didn't have any place to go, they would come to our house. It was nothing rare for us to come home from school at noon for lunch and as I told you. In the large kitchen there was a stove corner-wise, and in the back my dad had made little stools, so we would sit down and take off our boots and overshoes and so on, and leave them there to dry and be warm for the next day, and pegs above to hang the wet things to dry. Well, it was just a habit of theirs that when they came, that's where they wanted to go. They'd get in this little corner back of the stove, and my mother would feed them. They'd stay a little while, and then they'd leave. But again, everything was friendly.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: Do you know of any other families in town that had much contact with the Indians?

ETHEL LEAMON: You mean in the early days, or later?

KRISTINE PRENNACE: Well, when you were young?

ETHEL LEAMON: No.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: Your family was one of the few.

ETHEL LEAMON: Well, there may have been, but I don't happen to remember. But there might have been. But like I told you, there was never a more hospitable person on earth than my mother. If anyone needed a place to come and be fed or get warm or sleep or anything she could provide, that's where they came - which to me is beautiful. I think to me she was a saint on earth.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: Okay, let's see, what about tourism? Do you remember any as a child?

ETHEL LEAMON: Mostly that, and the City Park where… In that sense, you couldn't call that tourism, either, because those people were really health-seekers. But no, I was in my late teens before I remembered tourism really starting. And then it's not one of the things that I remember that impressed me like most things do.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: It was just kind of there.

ETHEL LEAMON: Come and go, uh-huh.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: I don't know, do you remember when the Summer Festival started? You’ve always been interested in music.

ETHEL LEAMON: Not when… because all these years that I have worked six days a week an average of ten hours a day, I didn't get to enjoy those things. When it came to enjoyment, it had to be in the evenings, and I haven't been active in it. My son Don and his wife have been active since they were very young in the Summer Festival and Symphony.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: What about East Flagstaff? What was out there?

ETHEL LEAMON: Oh! as I remember East Flagstaff when I was a child, we'd think of it like The Grapes of Wrath, you know. (laughs) And look what it's turned out to be! There was just an occasional little house. Now, that was immediately East Flagstaff, and as you went out a little further, of course, there were ranches and farms, like the Greenlaw property, which is expensive today, business wise and so on. But we didn't get around much. You know, we didn't have cars, and you didn't go very far in a team and wagon, and you didn't go anywhere that wasn't necessary. I can never remember of us just getting in and going for a pleasure trip, except to Lake Mary for an ice cream social. We would make homemade ice cream and pack it in ice and go out to Lake Mary and eat it and turn around and come home, and it took us all day. But as far as getting out places, out of town, we didn't.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: I can remember the first time I got out of town in a car, too. I was probably sixteen or seventeen, and I mentioned the Michelbach family who lived on the corner below - bought a Model "T" Ford open. And then down the block lived the Black family, and after Sunday school, Matthew Black and Joe Michelbach came up to our home, which was a block above, and my friend Grace Wensel (?) [phonetic spelling] was there, and they asked us if we'd like to go for a ride. Well, of course we had to ask my dad. Grace didn't have a father then, and he said, "You may go and be back in one hour." So we rode out to the pump house in this Model "T" Ford, and the boys brought us a banana and a Hershey bar, and we thought we were the belles of the town, I want you to know! My first automobile ride! (laughs)

KRISTINE PRENNACE: We talked quite a bit about the university. Is there anything else you can think of particularly well?

ETHEL LEAMON: Oh, from the beginning, you mean? (

KRISTINE PRENNACE: Uh-huh.)

ETHEL LEAMON: Well, when it was a normal school, of course I enjoyed it very much, because that's where I went. There was just Old Main for classrooms, and there were three dormitories. There was a boys' dormitory and two girls' dormitories, and the old dining room. I can remember I went there six years as a day student. Again, part of my social life, we town girls enjoyed Campbell Hall, because we had some friends who lived there, some out-of-town girls. Lady Beckwith [phonetic spelling] was the matron, and she was just MOST gracious to us. She was strict, but we did go up there and have happy social times - especially at holidays. And then I always have fond memories of everything at school - except when I took algebra! (laughs) And incidentally, Dr. Lacy Eastburn and his wife each were teachers of mine when I was a student at the high school. And as you’ve heard, he later became president of the university.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: Oh, there was someone else - you were talking about personalities - did you know the Ashursts?

ETHEL LEAMON: No, I didn't, but I remember my parents talking of the Ashursts. But going back to the Normal…, also the Ray Babbitt children's mother was also a teacher of mine in Normal, and a very loveable person, too - she and her sister. The Walsh girls. The Walsh sisters, they were.

KRISTINE PRENNACE: Okay, I can't think of anything specifically to ask you. Do you want to add anything?

ETHEL LEAMON: [No.]

KRISTINE PRENNACE:[END OF INTERVIEW]