AGING IN PLACE + WASHINGTON PARK

Mrs. Speech Interview | Transcript

 

[Mrs. Speech] “August, 17th 1936, I was born in Milwaukee and I believe that my mother being pregnant came to Washington Park for the holidays and I believe that I was one of her children she had…she was a mother of 8, and I believe that for me on down she would come to Washington Park for holidays and picnics, but her place that she wanted to have her actually family picnics would have been Reservoir Park, but because you’re living in a neighborhood with friends and neighbors that come to Washington Park for their picnic, you also came and you also brought your family for a holiday picnic if, if that was something that didn’t mess with the one that she went to in Reservoir Park cause she wanted to go to Reservoir Park, but I like, when I got old enough to choose the park that I wanted to go to and it was always Washington park because Washington park had everything a teenager would want.  When I was small it was running up and down hills, but you never seen a hill in Washington Park, but when I was young, they were hills.  They were not real hills, but they were hills because you went up and down.  Okay, then when I became a teenager, there was the canoes out there.  And you had to learn to paddle the canoe and then when you got a boyfriend, you would get in the canoes and ride with the boyfriend, and if you didn’t do that, you brought a pillow and a blanket and you watched the fireworks and then if you could maneuver a young man to go over there with you and your blanket because see, this, at this age mother is not around.  This is not when mother was in the park with you.  You were old enough to go to the park without parent or supervision because they trust you not to do that, but.  Then they also in Washington Park had the zoo.  So you would come and you, always the monkey island was always the highlight.  The elephants were the next best thing in the zoo part for me, but in the grounds of Washington Park, they had a pavilion where you could come inside and sit and do whatever.  Sometimes we would play checkers.  I learned to play chess in the pavilion with friends and, let’s see, I’m trying to think of what other activities.  There was just always if church had something here you would come, if friends had something here you would come.  Then as an adult, they had weddings, receptions are in this building now, but they had this building.  This building was not built when they had the zoo.  This was built after they moved the zoo.  So, now they have, you can rent this hall for weddings, baby showers, showers, whatever.  And now they have, on the grounds they have rented to churches so you can attend a church and whatever function that church is giving you, you are welcome to be there.  So those are the things that I remember.”

 

[Hillary]“So did you spend time around the surrounding the park or the neighborhood at all, like on Lisbon or Vliet?  Do you remember spending time in those areas?

 

[Mrs. Speech] “Vliet, there was the Wellfare building, and you could go in and find out about colleges and stuff like that and then across the street were all the stores, which was Sloan’s and Warburg’s and those kind of furniture stores.  Well, you bought your, when I was married I went in those places to buy furniture and stuff like that on 12th and Vliet there was, in that block I can remember.  But on Lisbon was the movie theater.  It was X-rated movies.  I remember, I just wanted to find out what they did that was so X-rated.  I didn’t know, I could not, I could not figure out what is X-rated? You know, we didn’t have those kind of movies in my house so I didn’t understand, but I had to be, you had to be grown, 21 to go in so I was grown when I went in to find out what they do, what do men and women do that’s X-rated?”

 

[Hillary] “So that was on Lisbon?”

 

[Mrs. Speech] “Yes, that was on Lisbon.  I think 39th or 35th, 35th and Lisbon was the theater that I went to.  There were others in the city of Milwaukee, but I didn’t really go.  I was more or less, if it was a church, and it was a church function, I was there because I felt so comfortable sitting in church."

 

[Hillary] “Where did you grow up in Milwaukee?”

 

[Mrs. Speech] “I was born 768 West Reservoir.  Across the street was Lapham Park.  So in Lapham there was a social center and the YMCA was on Walnut and the Urban League was on 9th Street and I went to 9th Street School.  Then from 9th Street School I went to Rosewood Junior High.  Then from junior high, I went to North Division and I graduated from there.  Then I went to MATC and did some college and then I switched and became a sewing machine operator.  I looked there for a job as a button hole and button maker and from there, 99 more jobs.”

 

[Hillary] “So being within the park as a young person and then seeing it now, are there a lot of changes you have seen within the neighborhood throughout your life?  Besides the zoo being gone?”

 

[Mrs. Speech] “To me, all of the changes on the grounds of Washington Park have been a plus for me.  This building, being the highlight for me because I can come here every day of the week and keep busy from 8:30-4:30, Monday through Friday on doing it is whatever I want to do.  And if I don’t want to do anything, I’m welcome to sit in one of these rooms and have quiet time and I can bring whatever craft or whatever things I want to do.  If I want to sit down and write a letter, or if I just want to work on something that I have formed in my head and I bring it, I can get into a room and just work on that, and then all of the things that they offer here, from crafts to religions, bible study.  They have, it’s just, music, if you want to learn to play music. I do gospel choir because they go out to nursing homes.  Everything in this building for a senior, for me, has been a plus.  The people that come in are friendly.  They’re eager to learn and join and they are good spirited people that stay here.  We don’t have too many people that come in and have to be escorted out.  It’s been the best free place that I’ve been able to be comfortable in.  Although, with Interfaith taking over, they have increased the fees on a lot of things that I like to do, which were not in existence.  That’s the only minus thing that I can think of is these fees, but the fees are not that high, but when you’re on a fixed income, your money can only go just so far each month.  There’s nobody giving you extra.  They don’t allow you to sell in here.  So you cannot come in and sell stuff, but they only want donations.  Interfaith is really in, it seems to me, for financially you help them.  Well, the people that you’re supposed to be helping…how we going to help you help us? Financially?  You’re helping me by having a place that’s warm and nice and friendly and its open to any and everything that I can think I want to do when I’m here, but in the same sense I’m supposed to become a friend, pay $35.00 to become a friend, and what do I get for my $35.00? One, one banquet, one party where you give me some refreshments for my $35.00.  That’s the only thing that I dislike about Interfaith taking over, but in the sense of having them open and work and friendly and a place to come and know that it’s going to be there for you, rain, shine or sleet unless the schools close.  Then you know you don’t come when the schools close.”

 

[Hillary] “So is socialization, it seems like it’s a pretty important part of this.  Being able to socialize with others…”

 

[Mrs. Speech] “It is, it is, it is.  It is top priority.  You do not come to the center just to be by yourself.  You shouldn’t.  Some people do, but it’s mostly social.  Interacting with others.  People that you don’t know or you never would’ve came in contact with; being able to socialize with them.  It’s a very good learning experience here because you have all different kinds of people that come and participate, so you get a large variety of people to talk with and they’re point of view.  It was, yesterday, for me, it was very enlightening when she says, “You are a bag lady,” and my response is, “Yes, but it’s a living, it’s an honest living being a bag lady.”  Honest living!  That’s my bag!  I made the bag!  There’s a bag over there, I made it here at the center.  So I am a bag lady, but a very proud bag lady!"

 

[Hillary] “So do you find yourself mainly staying within this vicinity?  Or do you utilize other services around the neighborhood, or is it primarily just the senior center?”

 

[Mrs. Speech] “I do two.  Three.  My own thing, church thing and the center thing. So I have three things.”

 

[Hillary] “So are the churches then closer to where you live currently or are they…?”

 

[Mrs. Speech] “I’m at a church where I feel they can accept me for being me and not trying to change me.  If they try to change me, I am going to leave and find another church or another center.  As long as I can be me, and people can accept me as being me.”

 

[Hillary] And then the third one is just your own personal time at your house you said?  So it’s here, it’s your home and then it’s church is where your three areas lie?”

 

[Mrs. Speech] “Yes.”

 

[Hillary] “Are you ever traveling by bus or is it primarily by car?”

 

[Mrs. Speech] “I have a To Go Pass with the transit company, which gives me a free ride for four years, so I can go anywhere in Milwaukee and now that they have extended some of the lines, made new lines, I can go anywhere I want to go in Milwaukee for free.”

 

[Hillary] “Do you feel you are easily able to access the transportation services?”

 

[Mrs. Speech] Because I’m in my right mind and my body is able to get me from here to there one foot in front of the other, I feel blessed."

 

[Hillary] “In terms of other necessary services like grocery or health care or dental care or hair salon…”

 

[Mrs. Speech] I just bought new glasses from Meyers.  $49.00.  I just bought new lining in my teeth that was $300.00.  I bought groceries here in the Pick N’ Save truck that they brought out and so that’s why I had to leave that box here.  I have doctor appointments that I get on a bus, a transit bus, and go to my doctor appointments.  I go to Aurora, Mount Zinian and Saint Luke’s for any kind of operation.”

 

[Hillary] “Are those relatively close to your residence?”

 

[Mrs. Speech] “In the City of Milwaukee, mostly everything is accessible by transit bus.  So by having my To Go, I can get onto the bus free and go to any of them and I tell them when I come out of the doctor or the hospital, “I’ll catch the bus!”  Don’t send me home with no expensive ambulance or any of those things or a cab.  I’ll take the bus.  It’s free for me.  Just let me get out of here.  You know if your relatives don’t come and pick you up.  And my relatives; I have three sisters and a brother living.  And two of my sisters is older than I.  The other one is younger, but she’s in Seattle Washington and my brother is a year younger than me and he’s just coming back out of the hospital, so I’m about the healthiest one of all of them.  I do have on son.  He lives in Las Vegas Nevada.  He’s 50 years old now.  He hasn’t been back to Milwaukee in over 20 years, but we meet in another state.  So this year we met in Colombia, South Carolina for a family reunion."

 

[Hillary] “So do you see your family a lot?”

 

[Mrs. Speech] “I can see my family everyday if I go to their houses.  They’re not coming to mine, but I can go to their houses if I choose, all but my younger sister which is in Seattle Washington.”

 

[Hillary] “If you could choose any additional services to have your neighborhood, what would they be?  Do you feel like you are missing any services within your neighborhood?  Restaurants, options for food, what would you want in your neighborhood that you don’t have now?”

 

[Mrs. Speech] “People that rent houses in my neighborhood need to take pride in being in a house, which they don’t.  They seem to, renters seem to destroy perfectly good houses and once they board up the house, the inside is gutted out by…so it’s an eyesore in the neighborhood.  Those are the things that I would like to see change in my neighborhood; that a renter will take more responsibility for keeping up the house.”

 

[Hillary] “Are there a lot of vacancies?”

 

[Mrs. Speech] “Well, in my neighborhood, they are tearing the houses down, so there are more vacant lots.  To me that is not a bad thing because anything that goes up in that will be new.  So, new, I know some countries keep houses for hundreds and hundreds of years, buildings for hundreds and hundreds of years, but in Milwaukee it seems like if the house is 100 years old, tear it down.  Why?  Because the lack of taking care of the house.  No one owns it or the owner is absentee so they’re not putting any money into the house to keep it up and once they put a board on it, that’s an invitation to whoever wants to gut that house; that’s what they do.  So I would like to see more homes with owners.”

 

[Hillary] “With vacancies, do you feel as though there are issues of safety within your neighborhood?  Are there times that you feel unsafe?”

 

[Mrs. Speech] “Well, today I feel very unsafe with the housing that I am living in now, but I talked to the landlord and asked him was it a landlord problem or the police problem of how I feel in this location that I’m in now?  I can’t answer that question today because the problem is still in existence.  But you live it, you know? You have to live with it.”

 

[Hillary] “Again, in terms of safety, do you feel as though you have adequate lighting in your neighborhood, like street lighting?  Could it be more?  Do you feel like with it being dark earlier now…are there issues revolving around that?”

 

[Mrs. Speech] “You know, the lighting has very little to do with people.  People that are street people, they like the dark.  People that are going to not stay in their house and go and do things that are against the law, they love the dark.  I don’t know how…I’m not going to be out there so I have all my lights on in my house!  I just, my dad, when I was living at home he would say, “Daughter, son, be home before dark.” And that’s how I live today.  Be home before dark.  And all my lights are on!  So I don’t know about the neighborhood.  I try not to ever be out there.”

 

[James] “Do you know why he told you that in particular?”

 

[Mrs. Speech] “Why my dad told me that?”

 

[James] “Yeah”

 

[Mrs. Speech] “He had 8 children.  Five daughters and three sons and all of us had to come home and be home before he went to bed.  So I don’t know, I don’t know really his reasoning, but when you got eight children and they’re growing up, you need to know where they are.  We didn’t have TV or radios saying, “Do you know where your daughter is?” No it’s, “Do you know where your children is?  It’s ten-o-clock!  Do you know where your children are?”  Well, you know in my day, if you weren’t home before dark and he had to come out there to look for you, I mean, that was a whooping all the way if he ever found you out there!  You got whooped all the way home, but they don’t, you know, you don’t do that now, but you knew that when he said, see Mother could say what she wanted to say.  And you could kind of figure out, you know, get around her, but when dad said something, I mean, that was iron clad.  You did what he said or you suffer the consequences.  And his consequences was nothing like mamas.  My dad didn’t play.  No…he would be under the jail today.  The kind of whoopings that he gave, he would be under the jail.  He wouldn’t be in the jail, he would be under the jail.  So, I don’t know, but you just knew to fear and if he said be home before dark, then be home before dark.  You didn’t question it.  You ask him…, “Grown folks is talking, shut up!”  Yeah, boom! You over there somewhere.  No, you didn’t, you didn’t join in on any adult conversations.  These young kids three years old and they telling you what to do! No, uhuh! No three year old was going to tell my dad what to do.  No way.  No, uhuh.  It just didn’t exist.

 

[Hillary] “So do you think that mentality carried through to your generation?”

 

[Mrs. Speech] “It carried through to me and the way I brought my child up, but my child doesn’t have a child, but if he had a child today, he could not bring his child up the way my dad brought me up.  No way.  The rules have changed and they haven’t changed for the better.  No, no.  You’re going to tell me not to spank my child and my child can call you up and tell you that I put a scar on him and you put me in jail?  Then where’s my child going?  Who’s going to take care of my child?

 

[Hillary] “So do you think greater discipline would help?  Or greater parent intervention?”

[Mrs. Speech] “No, no.  I believe the law do not step in on parents taking the lead of how they want to raise their children.  Brutality is brutality, I believe, but spanking, no, that’s not brutality.”

 

[Hillary] “Do you have any questions, James?”

 

[James] “I did want to ask you, besides the social aspect of this building, what else draws you here from home?  Is there any other place that you go to socialize or is this the main hub for that, for you?”

 

[Mrs. Speech] "I told you earlier the three.  I socialize at home doing home things.  You invite people in your yard and in your home.  You do those.  Then you do the church.  Like I was in Madison for a Sunday program at two-o-clock.  We drove five women in a car drove to Madison for the service because our pastor couldn’t attend.  He had something else to do so he sent representatives.  That’s church.  And then I come here.  Yesterday I was gospel choir.  I spoke to a young lady this morning that she’s putting her husband in a nursing home and she has talked to the activity person that we as a gospel choir from Washington Park can go and sing on a Tuesday.  I told you it has to be a Tuesday we can go sing gospel music for this nursing home that she’s putting her husband in.  So, those are the things."

 

[Hillary] “Do you think that’s similar with other seniors?  Is that a similar schedule to other seniors?  I guess, I’ve just talked to a few other seniors here and it seems as though they have their home life and then they have the life here, and then they maybe have one other major component within their life.  The people I talked to, one of them had a business.  That was his main…”

 

[Mrs. Speech] “I refuse to work.  I am past 70 years old.  I am 79 years old and I have refused to do anything that I feel is work, job related.  I don’t want to do any of it.  The government said when you’re 70 years old you’re supposed to spend that money on you.  Isn’t that what he said?  When you’re 70 years old, all the money you’ve saved, when you get 70, you have to start spending it.  Well, I’m 79, I’m spending everything.  I’m not working.  I’m spending all, I’m spending all the social security money that I get each month because when I die, who’s going to get the money? I can’t give it away, I can’t leave it to anyone.  It, it’s the end of it so every month they send me a check, I splurge on me first.  Then I pay my bills, but because I am past 70, no business.  I don’t even want to sell nothing.  I don’t. I’d rather give it as a gift.  You can have it.  I can’t take it with me.  It’s, I mean, my house is cluttered.  They say, “Take your clutter and throw it away,” and I say “It will be antique.”  Or what’s this other…vintage!  Why am I going to throw it out if I can give it to someone else to wear and use? I’m keeping it in my house until I die.  It’ll be vintage and antique.  I’m not giving nothing away.  Nothing.  I mean, you know, there’s things stashed around myself with because I feel that this makes me comfortable, and you say it’s clutter?  Well it’s my clutter.  Each piece in your home, each piece you brought in.  It didn’t fly in.  You actually purchased it and brought it in and you’re just going to say that that’s clutter, that I should give it away, get rid of the clutter?  No, this is my…I like it.  It was nice.  Somebody gave it to me.  It has some memories.  Give it away? Why?  Throw away my sons picture when he was a baby.  That don’t sound right.  Or my mother’s picture or she gave, my mother gave me their, my aunt…No.  These are all the things I want to surround me until my last days.  I don’t really feel that it’s clutter if you can walk a straight path without stubbing your toe.  It’s mine.  I want it to surround me until I die."

 

[Hillary] “So I take it that kind of space is more comfortable to you than you sitting…”

 

[Mrs. Speech] “Oh definitely.  I’m going home.  I’m only here to socialize.  I’m going home to live.  That’s where I live.  I live home.  That’s my home.  I don’t own it, but everything in it is mine.  I own everything in it.  But I’m going home.  When I am leaving here, I am going home.  No, this is not my home."

 

“So this is just your space to be with friends.”

 

[Mrs. Speech] “Just so that I don’t have to sit there in my house and talk to the walls.  The TV doesn’t talk back.  It talks all kinds of mess, but it doesn’t talk back to me on my conversation levels.  So here I can talk to people on my social level."

 

[Hillary] “So in talking with other people that come here, is that their same reason for coming here as well?”

 

[Mrs. Speech] “If you come back, you’re coming back for a reason.  Your first time you come you’re just really coming to see what it’s about, but if you come back it’s because you found something that you think you could enjoy and if you continue to come year after year, you know exactly what you’re going to find and you can enjoy leaving your house to get here or turning down the invitation from a relative and say, “Oh, I can’t.   I got to go to the center.  I must be there.  I’m in the contest.  I’m the, I got to be there because I’m in the style show.   I got to, I got to finish my… All those “I got to do.””  Okay, okay.  The doctor says, “Can you come to my office on Thursday?”  I say, “Oh no, I cannot come to your office on Thursday.  I have to be at the center on Thursday!  Can you make that appointment some other day?” Oh I just love it!"

 

[Hillary] “Oh, that’s funny!”

 

[Mrs. Speech] “No, it’s true!  No, I could…See I had to be here.  This is a day I have to here because I would not be in quilting class, but I came here especially to talk to you.  I didn’t have to do that.  I got all kinds of projects at home started that I could have been doing, but it was a good excuse to get up and get dressed and get out of the house and now when I leave here I can go home and take a nap and then be busy on doing all the other stuff I do.”

 

[Hillary] “Well, I don’t think we have any other questions right now.  Would we be able to, if in the future…I’m sure we’re going to come up with more questions; more things that we need to look at.  Would you…”

 

[Mrs. Speech] “Well, I’m around. I don’t mind.  I don’t mind.  I like talking." 40:22/44.44