Interview with Elizabeth Faye Adkins Laub

Elizabeth Faye (Adkins) Laub, known as Faye, was interviewed on June 5, 2019 by Randall J. Bunn at the Southern Utah Veterans Home in Ivins, Washington County, Utah. She related her military experiences.

RB:We have been talking a little bit, Faye, about your growing up period. You were born where?

FL:Dennison, Texas.

RB:And what year?

FL:[June 5,] 1946.

RB:1946. Your father was, I think you told me, Howard Wilson Adkins.

FL:Yes.

RB:And your mother was Idona Mangum Burke.

FL:[Yes.]

RB:Okay. And tell me a little bit about growing up in Texas.

FL:Well, I didn't really grow up in Texas ─

RB:Okay.

FL:─ because they got a divorce when I was very young.

RB:Okay.

FL:Mother moved back to Uintah Valley [Utah], where her family was.

RB:So, she was originally from Utah.

FL:Yes.

RB:What took her to ─.

FL:Well, actually [laughter] my grandfather [Squire] ─

RB:[Laughter]

FL:─ was an Indian agent out in the Four Corners area and that's where, I don't know how, but that's how they met.

RB:Okay. Interesting.

FL:Out there. And so, she was from that area, but then during the time that Mother wasn't at home, my grandfather, he went to, he was, he had come back from being stationed at Pearl Harbor [Hawaii] during the [World] War [II].

RB:Yes.

FL:And he got lung disease when he was over there. And I'm not sure, but I, it is kind of thought in the family that he worked with the Code Talkers because he did speak Navajo.

RB:Oh, okay.

FL:I'm not sure if that's true, in fact.

RB:True, but that's what the family lore was?

FL:Right.

RB:And so ─.

FL:Then when he came back, he went into the Uintah Valley. And why? I don't 00:02:00know. Up by Roosevelt [Duchesne County, Utah], at Ballard [Uintah county, Utah], actually.

RB:So, did he have Navajo background? His family?

FL:No, but he was an Indian Agent there and learned Navajo while he was.

RB:So that's how he got, and there's a lot of Navajos in the Four Corners area.

FL;Well, that was basically what he worked with, the Navajo people.

RB:Okay. So, do you believe that your father was there for some reason and he met your mother?

FL:Yes, yes.

RB:And they got married and went to Texas, 'cause you were born there.

FL:Yes, yes.

RB:And then, but they got divorced, and so she came back to Utah.

FL:Yes, Roosevelt, actually Ballard. Roosevelt was the big town, Ballard was a little tiny community.

RB:Okay.

FL:Where the farm was.

RB:Okay. Alright. And so, your growing up years were where?

FL:Well, they were there, and then Mom and Dad went back together, and my 00:03:00growing up years were everywhere. He worked pipeline construction, he worked mechanics.

RB:Oh.

FL:He was a drunk and he wouldn't stay on a job very long. He was very, very good at what he did, but he would not stay on a job very long.

RB:Oh.

FL:So, I grew up all over. In one year, I went to twelve different grade schools.

RB:Oh, my goodness! Wow!

FL:Yes.

RB:That was a bit little troublesome in making friends and keeping friends. [Laughter]

FL:Yeah. And then the year that I was supposed to learn my times tables, I was sick.

RB:Oh.

FL:So, I never really learned my times tables, which has been hell for me. [Laughter]

RB:Yeah.

FL:But anyway, and I'm not good at remembering things, so.

RB:Alright.

FL:But I did, I was in the test group for the Salk vaccine [developed by Dr. Jonas Salk for poliomyelitis, March 23, 1953].

RB:The test group for the what?

FL:Salk, polio vaccine?

RB:Oh, right! So that would have been in early 1950s?

FL:Yeah.

RB:Yeah. Tell me about that.

FL:That, I think, was, not sure, but I think it was when we lived in Mississippi.

RB:Okay.

FL:When my little brother [John] was born.

RB:So, they were testing the vaccine, and so they ─.

FL:They just gave shots. I don't know, I don't know what they were or whatever. I just know I was [given] shots.

RB:I remember in the late 1950s, maybe the early 1960s, having to go pick [up] a sugar cube.

FL:Yeah. This was before the sugar cube, because it was a shot.

RB:[Inaudible] [Laughter]

FL:Well, we were [given a] shot.

RB:You remember that! [Laughter]

FL;It was before, the year before they put out the real [oral] vaccine.

RB:Oh, interesting. Okay, so [inaudible].

FL:That was my one claim to fame!

RB:One claim to fame!

FL:[Laughter]

RB:You were part of medical science ─

FL:Yep!

RB:─ while growing up. Okay, so you were moving all around and you were born in 1946, so.

FL:And then, when they got divorced again, that's when mom went to and stayed up 00:05:00in the Uinta Basin.

RB:About how old were you when they got divorced the second time? Do you remember?

FL:Eleven or twelve.

RB:Okay, that would have been in the late 1950s, then.

FL:Yeah.

RB:So, what do you remember about the 1950s? Because you would have been about five in 1951.

FL:I loved the music.

RB:Yeah.

FL:I liked where I lived.

RB:Yeah.

FL:I loved it up there. I rode my uncle's horse all the time. I was never home. I was out all the time. I was an outside person.

RB:Okay. Did they have some acreage or something?

FL:A little bit. They had a little farm.

RB:Okay, so, what was on the farm?

FL:He had dairy cows.

RB:Okay.

FL:He had a one little donkey that he got from the reservation, that was scared to death of water.

RB:Oh, no.

FL:It was. He had a little stream that run through there, and you couldn't hardly get that donkey across there.

RB:[Laughter] Oh, that's funny!

FL:It took three men and a boy, and then some.

RB:Yeah?

FL:And then, we, he had about four or five horses.

RB:Okay. So, you learned to ride a horse early on?

FL:When I was, when I went there, eleven or twelve.

RB:Yeah, okay. That's good. Did you like doing that?

FL:Oh, I loved [to] ride horses.

RB:Did you like taking care of the horses, too?

FL:Yeah.

RB:You have to groom 'em, and feed 'em, and that kind of thing.

FL:And they had pigs.

RB:Oh?

FL:We had two. My uncle, and I, and my grandpa took them to slaughter after we got them raised. But it was Rose Red and Snow White, because one was red and one was white.

RB:[Laughter] Did they become, sort of, like pets for you?

FL:They were. It broke my heart.

RB:[Laughter] They were! You give them names and kind of developed a little attachment to 'em.

FL:He told us they were ours, then, but that was my grandpa, though.

RB:Okay.

FL:Anyway, then in the summer, we were right there at the foot of the mountains and the whole family, aunts, uncles, everybody, would go up in the high Uintas 00:07:00and we would camp for about a week.

RB;Oh, yeah. Did you like that?

FL:Oh, I loved it!

RB:Oh, gosh!

FL:The mosquitoes were that big. [Gesturing with her fingers.]

RB:[Laughter]

FL:But you got fish, all, you had more fish than you ever wanted to have.

RB:Yeah.

FL:But I love trout, so that made me very good.

RB:So, did you like fishing? You, personally, or not so much?

FL:No, because I could never catch any [laughter].

RB:Oh.

FL:[Laughter] Not down here.

RB:Yeah, yeah.

FL:But I'm going fishing on the 22nd. [June 22, 2019.]

RB:Good for you!

FL:Gonna try to get ─.

RB:Where?

FL:Quail [Creek State Park, Hurricane, Washington County, Utah].

RB:Okay, very good.

FL:But, anyway, the way we'd do it, is we'd go from Grandpa down to babies, we would go up.

RB:[Yes.]

FL:And half of us would ride awhile and then the others would hike and then we would switch off.

RB:When you say ride, you were riding on a horse?

FL:[Yes.] Ride on a horse.

RB:Okay.

FL:Ride on a horse. We would take the horses up. We didn't have enough horses so we'd switch off.

RB:Okay.

FL:And it worked great. Except for grandpa, he didn't [hike], and the baby.

RB:Of course.

FL:And then we packed in on the little burro we had.

RB:Okay. You had a tent that you stayed in, or tents?

FL:Oh, we had those old-fashioned military tents.

RB:[Laughter] You guys were roughing it!

FL:Yeah, we had ground cover.

RB:Yes.

FL:Up there in the high Uintas, it rains every day.

RB:Wow, really? Yeah.

FL:And so, you wanted ground cover.

RB:Yeah, right.

FL:And we always had to build a baffle around.

RB:Yeah, right, right.

FL:But.

RB:That sounds kind of fun, actually.

FL:Oh, it was. And we took cast iron, of course.

RB:Yeah. What kind of food did you cook up there?

FL:Beans.

RB:Yeah.

FL:Fish and more fish.

RB:Of course, yeah. You do Dutch oven cooking at all?

FL:Yeah, oh yeah.

RB:That made sense.

FL:We had a Dutch oven and we had pancakes for breakfast.

RB:Oh, nice! That sounds like a really good memory.

FL:We loved it! Loved it! We did it for years.

RB:Okay.

FL:Until the whole bunch of us moved.

RB:Now, what was your grandfather's name?

FL:Well, he was my step-grandfather, Squire Mangum.

RB:Let me write this down, so Squire?

FL:Squire.

RB:McMagmon?

FL:M-A-N-G-U-M.

RB:M-A-N-G-U-M.

FL:And his ancestors came across ─.

RB:With the Mormons?

FL:[Yes.]

RB:Uh huh. Sounds like a Scottish name, or something.

FL:What's that?

RB:Sounds like a Scottish name, or something. I don't know. Maybe not. Maybe English, could be. So, you were there, which of your siblings were there? All of them?

FL:No. Just four.

RB:Oh. Not Terry [Dutton]?

FL:Not Terry.

RB:Okay. So, John [Howard Adkins], and Sally [Dawn Mundy], and Sharon [Larkin], and you would go up. Did you ─.

FL:And John was the baby.

RB:Oh, yeah, that's right. Did you get along well with your siblings?

FL:Depended on what type of day.

RB:Okay. [Laughter]

FL:The two girls did not like each other.

RB:Okay. You were born in 1946. I didn't get the birth years of your siblings. Sharon, what year was she born? About? Was she older than you?

FL:No, I'm the oldest.

RB:Okay.

FL:1950, 1951. And John's is ten years younger, so.

RB:Okay. So, Sally was born in 1951?

FL:And John in 1956.

RB:So, you were born in 1946, so he was a little tyke when you were already 00:11:00getting into your teen years.

FL:[Yes.]

RB:But when you were moving around and growing up, what kind of things did you do for fun? We're talking about in the 1950s. You said you liked music. You rode horses.

FL:Yeah.

RB:But you were living in, you said, Mississippi, and all over.

FL:We, Mom made playing cards, believe it or not.

RB:Really?

FL:'Cause she didn't have any money.

RB:Yeah.

FL:We learned to play cards really early. [Laughter]

RB:Okay. So, playing games with cards and stuff.

FL:Mom just ─ when we were in Mississippi, before we left. That's when we went back to Texas, and then Mom left dad in Texas.

RB:Okay.

FL:But mom just kept us entertained.

RB:Yeah.

FL:We played outside and walked and everything, but we played right close.

RB:Did you have a good relationship with your mom?

FL:With my mom?

RB:Yeah.

FL:Oh, my God, yes! She was my best friend. She was so good to me.

RB:Oh, that's so good.

FL:Then she died so young. It was horrible.

RB:Really? When did she die?

FL:She was buried on her fifty-sixth birthday.

RB:So, she was born in 1927. She died in the 1980s?

FL:Yes.

RB:On her, you said, her fifty ─.

FL:She was buried on her fifty-sixth birthday, so.

RB:Fifty-sixth birthday. If I do the math right, that's 77 and 6, about 1983?

FL:Yeah, that's about right. And my grandmother died like, she died, crap, when 00:13:00did she die? In 1981, between the time I enlisted and the time I went to basic. I enlisted in January or February. I had delayed entry.

RB:What was your grandmother's name?

FL:Mary Elizabeth Bridges Burke Mangum. [Laughter]

RB:So, Bridges was her maiden name?

FL:Yes.

RB:Bridges Burke Mangum. [Laughter] Okay. And she died when? You said, you were in basic.

FL:In 1981.

RB:Okay. Alright. So, you were living in St. George, you said, when you went to high school.

FL:Yes.

RB:What brought you to St. George?

FL:My grandparents lived in Washington [City, Washington County, Utah] and mom 00:14:00and my aunt followed.

RB:Oh, to Washington City, here.

FL:[Yes.]

RB:Oh, okay. So, alright. You came down to St. George. Did you like St. George?

FL:Yes, I loved it.

RB:How come?

FL:It was a little town.

RB:Yeah, it was then.

FL:It was very informal and it was just nice. The country around was nice and we had a good time.

RB:Yeah.

FL:I loved it!

RB:Now, that would have been when, that they moved to St. George? Do you remember?

FL:1961.

RB:Okay, so early 1960s. Yeah, it was still a pretty small town. I don't know the population, I'm thinking maybe ─

FL:It was.

RB:─ under 10,000 at that point, or something.

FL:How much?

RB:10,000 people?

FL:Oh, heavens!

RB:Not even that? It was much smaller?

FL:No. I think when I lived here, it was maybe 1,500 to 2,000.

RB:What part of St. George did you move to? [Inaudible]

FL:I don't know what the buildings are now. You know where the bowling place is, 00:15:00right downtown?

RB:Yes.

FL:Okay. You know the little alley that goes down?

RB:Okay, yeah.

FL:My house was right on that side of the alley, right on the street.

RB:So real close to the [St. George] Boulevard, then.

FL:Right on Tabernacle [Street], East Tabernacle [Street] and that alley.

RB:Oh, yeah. Okay. Very good

FL:That's where it was, right there.

RB:Okay. Well, this is kind of a Mormon town and so, but you weren't Mormon.

FL:My family was.

RB:Your family on your mom's side and the Mangums.

FL:Yeah. My mom was.

RB:Did they ever take you to church or do any of that when you were ─?

FL:Oh, yeah!

RB:Okay, so you do have some Mormon connections. [Laughter]

FL:Oh, yeah!

RB:Fair enough. [Laughter]

FL:My grandfather was a bishop at one time, yeah.

RB:Oh, okay, okay. [Inaudible]

FL:But he wasn't a good man. He shouldn't have been a bishop.

RB:Alright.

FL:He was a stinker!

RB:Okay, that's what I mean. So, you are living in a Mormon town. So, you did have Mormon connections. Because otherwise you would have been an outsider.

FL:I became a non-Mormon.

RB:So, did you get baptized at some point?

FL:Oh, yeah.

RB:Okay, you did the whole thing. [Laughter]

FL:Yeah, I got baptized at like eleven or twelve.

RB:Sure, sure, okay.

FL:I wasn't enthused about it.

RB:No, that's okay. That's what you had to do around here to survive.

FL:Yeah. Well, that was when we were still up north.

RB:Oh, okay. Well, that was a small community.

FL:So that's why I was curious. It was all Mormon.

RB:So, your teen years, then, were spent in St. George. What do you remember about being a teenager? That would have been in the 1960s, early 1960s.

FL:I loved it. I thought that it was, well, okay, we used to have, we'd get together and there was one stoplight in town. Where the Big Hand Cage was and everything.

RB:No, I don't know.

FL:George's, George's Restaurant, right there on Main Street [and St. George Boulevard].

RB:Yeah, Main Street and the Boulevard.

FL:That was the only stoplight.

RB:[Laughter] Okay.

FL:And we would sit there and play music for hours. Maybe, have to get out of the road. We were right there in the middle of the road.

RB:Wow!

FL:Maybe get out of the road once every half hour or so.

RB:[Laughter]

FL:That was one of my good [memories].

RB:Really, just hanging out on the Boulevard, music. Music, like on the radio?

FL:No.

RB:Playing records?

FL:No. Jack Kelly would sing.

RB:Live music.

FL:Yes.

RB:Oh, wow! That's great!

FL:[Inaudible] He went on to be professional for a while.

RB:Okay. What kind of music?

FL:This was the beginning, you gotta remember, this was the beginning of the, what are they called?

RB:What are you talking about? The beginning of ─?

FL:The ones, the Flower Children.

RB:Yeah, yeah, okay.

FL:So, he was one of these.

RB:Hippies. That is the word you were thinking of.

FL:Yeah. This was the beginning of the hippie stage.

RB:So, this kind of music then, was not, it was past the 1950s be-bop kind of, it was getting more into ─.

FL:Kind of in-between.

RB:Rock and roll?

FL:Kind of in-between.

RB:Okay.

FL:A lot of stuff like The Pretenders, and all that.

RB:Okay, okay.

FL:The early Motown.

RB:Yeah, yeah, oh.

FL:Anyway, so ─.

RB:That was good times!

FL:It was a great time. And then, in our off times, we'd, at 20, 19, 18 cents a gallon, we'd get in some of these cars and we'd go around, and we'd go raid the 00:19:00melon patches here in Santa Clara [Washington County, Utah].

RB:[Laughter] Oh, that's great! [Laughter]

FL:Then we'd go out to the original Ivins Reservoir ─

RB:Oh, yeah.

FL:─ and swim.

RB:Yeah.

FL:The old one.

RB:Yeah.

FL:Then we'd also would go to the, oh shoot, the ones in Washington [City], the Hot Pots, they used to call it.

RB:I don't know that.

FL:It's not good anymore because the, it was bottomless for one thing.

RB:Yeah.

FL:But it got the itchy stuff in it.

RB:Oh.

FL:So, they closed it down. But it was great because it was warm.

RB:Yeah, sort of like hot springs?

FL:Yes. It was a spring.

RB:Oh, my gosh, yeah.

FL:And it was bottomless. But we loved that, used to be great.

RB:Yeah.

FL:You could go there and have fires around it and everything, but.

RB:So, your friends would go out and find stuff to do?

FL:Oh, yeah.

RB:Where were you going to school?

FL:That was, I went to, let's see, it was Woodward High.

RB:You went to Woodward High, yeah, and a ─.

FL:My first job was working at the Big Hand Café.

RB:Oh, okay. Where was that located?

FL:At George's.

RB:Right by George's.

FL:No.

RB:Yeah, yeah, I know that.

FL:Yes.

RB:Okay, great. Do you remember in the 1960s, a couple of things that were happening? Like when [President] John F. Kennedy got shot? So, you would have been about seventeen or so?

FL:Yeah.

RB:Do you remember that experience? Or is that ─?

FL:Oh, yes! I was in the courtroom getting my divorce.

RB:Okay.

FL:And they came busting in and told us about it.

RB:Oh, my gosh. Okay.

FL:It was, I remember that one well.

RB:Most people who were alive at that time know where they were when that happened. Because that, for the twentieth century, that was one of the pivotal days of our lives. It changed a lot.

FL:That, we didn't have stuff like that back then.

RB:No. And the world before and the world after Vietnam.

FL:A dramatic change.

RB:The hippie movement and all that stuff. Things changed, but part of that, I guess, I was just a little kid, but life was a little simpler. It seemed like things got complicated.

FL:Oh, it was fantastic!

RB:Yes, yes.

FL:Nobody had any money. I mean really.

RB:[Laughter]

FL:But things didn't cost very much either.

RB:Right, right.

FL:And I get so upset with kids, "I'm bored."

RB:Yeah.

FL:If they don't have something, they have no imagination anymore.

RB:Yeah. [Laughter]

FL:And we'd go for days with no money, and then just have a great time.

RB:Have a great time. So, like in the summertime, when you weren't in school, you'd leave the house and do what? Just kind of hang out, and see your friends, and go off and do stuff?

FL:Well, I started working.

RB:Oh, that's true. Yeah, yeah, you needed to work. [Laughter]

FL:And I worked graveyard, so I slept in the daytime.

RB:Okay, there you go. So, ─.

FL:But in the evenings, when I wasn't working, that's when we hung out because it was cooler.

RB:Alright.

FL:St. George in the summer!

RB:[Laughter] That's true!

FL:And not every place was air conditioned.

RB:No, that's true. So, okay, you at sixteen, you get married to Keith [Dewey Dever].

FL:Keith.

RB:And how did you meet Keith?

FL:My uncle. See my mother was the oldest and so, my uncles weren't that much 00:23:00older than me. My uncle and Keith's sister were dating.

RB:Oh.

FL:When he [Keith Dever] came back from basic training and everything was [Utah] National Guard.

RB:Right.

FL:That's how I met him.

RB:Alright. And he was older than you, I think you said.

FL:One year.

RB:Oh, okay, so pretty close. So, you met him, and you ended up getting married.

FL:[Yes.] Mom didn't want us to get married, so we ran away.

RB:Oh.

FL:So, then she ─.

RB:Where did you get married?

FL:St. George.

RB:Okay. By the justice of the peace or something?

FL:No, by the Baptist pastor.

RB:Awe, so ─.

FL:'Cause Keith's dad was Baptist.

RB:Okay, so that's the connection. Okay, so you get married. What did your mom think when she found out you got married?

FL:Oh, she was the one who found us and told us to get back here, let us get married.

RB:Okay, I see. You said you ran away. Where did you run away to?

FL:My girlfriend's in Salt Lake [City, Salt Lake County, Utah]. [Laughter]

RB:No kidding! You went up there and you came back and she conceded. Okay.

FL:Yeah.

RB:You wanted to get married.

FL:She knew how hard-headed I was.

RB:Okay. So, what did you and Keith do? Did you find a place to live? Or how did that work out?

FL:We stayed with his parents.

RB:Oh, okay, I see. You had your first daughter, in 1966, not your daughter, your son, Vance [Dever]. So, were you pregnant at the time?

FL:Oh, no.

RB:Okay.

FL:Absolutely not.

RB:Good for you, okay. Well ─.

FL:I know everybody thought I was because I was young and got married.

RB:Young and have to get married. Okay.

FL:No, I was married for two years before I had my first one, stillbirth.

RB:Okay. Wait a second. Yeah. I'm getting confused here. So, you got married in ─

FL:1962.

RB:─ 1962, December 13, 1962.

FL:Yeah.

RB:Yeah, yeah. That's right. So, let me see, you got married. You were born in 1946, so you were sixteen and didn't have your first child until you were twenty.

FL:I had my stillbirth at eighteen.

RB:Oh, yes. Okay. Got it.

FL:November, I don't even remember the date anymore. I know it was when I was eighteen.

RB:Right. Well, tell me about that. Was that a tough experience for you? To have a stillbirth?

FL:Oh, it was bad.

RB:Yeah. How did you get through that time?

FL:Ah.

RB:The reason I ask, my daughter had a stillborn last summer. And ─.

FL:Did she know the reason?

RB:Yeah, they did genetic testing and they said your baby ─.

FL:Just wasn't formed right.

RB:Right. It didn't have skin and wasn't developing into a normal child. Anyway, nowadays they can tell you.

FL:Then it was God's blessing. And this is what I had to go through. My baby's cranial bond was not formed. In the first drip, it crushed her brain. So, she ─

RB:Yeah.

FL:─ actually, was not a functioning child when she was born.

RB:Right, and never would have been.

FL:And I was full term.

RB:Yeah. And my daughter was six months. They knew that wouldn't even get to full term, but the loss of it was devastating to her and her husband.

FL:Well, yeah! Was it their first one?

RB:No, it was their fourth. But still, they were expecting, and then all of a sudden, their expecting was a loss.

FL:[Inaudible] When you carry them full term.

RB:Yeah, I can imagine. You have a connection with this little baby

FL:Yes, so my mother's step-sisters said, "She didn't want the baby anyway."

RB:No.

FL:I thought my grandma was going to kill them!

RB:[Laughter] Rip their head off!

FL:Yeah. But it was hard. It was hard. But they told me that she would not have had any, probably no brain. Good brain function or anything. I just figured it was God's will and He was taking her back.

RB:Yeah, right, right.

FL:She didn't have to live here.

RB:And put up with a lot of ─.

FL:So that's how I worked through it.

RB:Well, good for you. And the suffering that she would have felt, was it female?

FL:Yes. We named her and everything.

RB:What was the name?

FL:Kay, K-A-Y, capitol D-E-E.

RB:Kay Dee.

FL:After her dad's initials.

RB:Oh, that's right, yeah, Keith.

FL:And she is buried right over there in the cemetery.

RB:In St. George? Downtown? Oh, okay. Now, refresh my memory. You married Keith, but you divorced Keith.

FL:Yeah, and then I remarried him.

RB:You had the kids. Okay. Keith was in the National Guard in the early 1960s.

FL:Yeah.

RB:And did he get out of the National Guard or was he doing ─?

FL:No, he came back and never went to a meeting.

RB:Oh, oops!

FL:But that, I should have known then.

RB:But you stayed with Keith until you divorced in 1976.

FL:Yeah.

RB:So, you had your three children and ─

FL:I had my kids.

RB:─ did you work also?

FL:God, all the time!

RB:Oh. What did you do?

FL:Anything and everything.

RB:Yeah. So how did you raise these kids that were close in age, and work, and survive?

FL:Well, they spent time at the babysitters'.

RB:Yeah, okay. So, and you were living in St. George?

FL:No, we were all over.

RB:All over? Why? What took you?

FL:He would just move from place to place to place to place to place.

RB:What kind of work did he do when he worked?

FL:Anything and everything. He was a diesel mechanic. I mean he could do anything.

RB:He had some skills

FL:He had a lot of skills.

RB:Yes.

FL:But when I got married, I believed in being married because my mother had been married a few times, and I believed in 'for better or worse.'

RB:Yeah.

FL:But finally, it got so worse, worse, worse, I couldn't do ─.

RB:Anymore.

FL:But that's why I stayed with him as long as I did. That, and being terrified.

RB:Really? Was he abusive to you?

FL:Huh?

RB:Was he abusive to you?

FL:Oh, yes.

RB:Oh. [Inaudible]

FL:When he started on my kids; that's when I said ─.

RB:No, enough. You protect. The mama protects her kids.

FL:I caught him by the hair of the head. He was sitting in the door of the trailer and I don't remember what set me off, but it was, I had had it.

RB:Right.

FL:I grabbed his hair of the head and beat his head against the door frame.

RB:No, kidding! Wow! You were a strong woman! [Laughter] A strong-willed woman!

FL:I had had it! When I married him, I was very timid. Wouldn't say crap if I had a mouthful.

RB:Right.

FL:And I didn't really have a father figure around when I was growing up.

RB:No, you didn't.

FL:So, I didn't know how it was supposed to be.

RB:Right.

FL:So, I put up with a lot of crap. And I was really, was very submissive and everything else. It finally got to the point where it was either take the reins or die.

RB:Yeah, right, right.

FL:There was one time I did try to die.

RB:Really? Yeah,

FL:I got [inaudible] and that didn't work, so I said, well, it's time to ─.

RB:Try something different. [Laughter]

FL:It was [inaudible]. Ever since I have been a really strong person.

RB:Yeah. Now, are you close to your sons?

FL:I am close to all three of them.

RB:All three of them. So, you did something right when you were raising them, because they ─.

FL:My kids are very close to me.

RB:[Inaudible] Yeah. That's wonderful, then. So, you did something really good raising these kids.

FL:Yeah, I mean, because they had a hell of a life. They really did.

RB:Sounds like it.

FL:They could have held it against me, but they never did.

RB:Wow! That's nice! Now, so, let's kind of fast forward. You divorce him in 1976 and you are on your own for about five years or so.

FL:Yeah.

RB:What got you into the [United States] Air Force [Reserve]?

FL:Because when I married Rick ─ even when I was young, I wanted to go in the military.

RB:Oh.

FL:But then I got married and I couldn't get in at that time. That was the way the laws were.

RB:Right.

FL:And so, when I married Rick [Laub], I went down and talked to ─.

RB:The recruiter?

FL:Yes. [Laughter] My mind just went ─.

RB:I know.

FL:Anyway, when I talked to him, he told me that I could do it.

RB:So even at age 35?

FL:My kids were old enough.

RB:You were that age, [born in 1946]. You were still eligible to enlist in the reserves.

FL:Yeah, I joined at [age] 34.

RB:Oh, so you were getting pretty close. Okay.

FL:Yes, I joined at thirty-four and was thirty-five when I went into basic.

RB:Okay. And you were, let me see, so your oldest was about fifteen.

FL:Yeah, the boy was. Did he give Rick hell! [Laughter]

RB:Okay. So that is what you said. So, okay, you went through basic training where?

FL:Lackland [Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas].

RB:Lackland, along with everybody else in the Air Force.

FL:Yeah, and then training at, what's at Wichita Falls?

RB:Sheppard [Air Force Base, Wichita Falls, Texas].

FL:Sheppard.

RB:And what was your ─?

FL:Water and waste.

RB:Water and waste?

FL:Yes, I [was] in civil engineering.

RB:Civil engineering, I was gonna say that. Okay. How did you end up in that?

FL:Uh, I ─

RB:They assigned you?

FL:Yeah, they assigned me.

RB:Okay.

FL:And it had to do with my testing.

RB:So, okay, you went there for, was it about eight weeks for basic training, then? Ten weeks?

FL:[Inaudible] I don't remember if it was eight or twelve.

RB:Okay, then from there you shipped off to Wichita Falls for tech school. How long was that? Do you remember?

FL:Oh, that was the eight or twelve weeks.

RB:Okay.

FL:Tech school.

RB:Okay.

FL:Basic was normal basic.

RB:Okay, whatever that was. So ─.

FL:And my dad was there in Wichita Falls.

RB:Oh, he did?

FL:And my uncle.

RB:Well, that worked out, I guess. Did you have a relationship with your dad, still?

FL:Yeah, at that time.

RB:At that time, yeah.

FL:Yeah, I, when my son, my oldest son was a year old, I was pregnant, well, he wasn't a year old, 'cause I was pregnant with the second one.

RB:Right.

FL:My dad and I made back up.

RB:Oh, okay.

FL:And then, when my kids, I don't remember, when they had the big tornado that came through Wichita Falls and tore it up ─

RB:Okay.

FL:─ anyway, I went back down there and ─.

[INTERRUPTION]

RB:We're back on with Faye Laub. So, you were telling me about the relationship with your father.

FL:Yes.

RB: It kind of soured.

FL:We didn't have a good relationship for years.

RB:Yeah,

FL:But when one son was less than a year -- my oldest son. I don't even remember how come ─

RB:Yeah.

FL:─ we got back together. I don't remember, but we did.

RB:Oh.

FL:And then, he was still drinking and we used to fight a lot, and I don't remember, let's see, my oldest was probably, right after, right after I left Rick the first time. I think I went back to Wichita Falls.

RB:Oh, I see.

FL:And, anyway ─.

RB:So, if Vince was born in 1966, and you divorced in 1976 ─

FL:Yeah.

RB:─ so he was about ten? Keith, no Vince.

FL:Ten, maybe ten or twelve.

RB:Okay.

FL:Anyway, my dad was, I was bartending, and I was also working at the paper, was doing two jobs.

RB:Wow! Okay.

FL:And my dad didn't like the guy I was going with, so he got drunk and showed his ass and I told him to get out. He left, and he side-swiped cars all the way home.

RB:This is your dad?

FL:Yeah.

RB:[Laughter]

FL:So, they put him right in jail and I left him there. I didn't tell his, my uncle got mad at me, because I didn't tell him he was in jail.

RB:[Laughter]

FL:But he was in jail.

RB:Right. He got himself in, he can get himself out. [Laughter]

FL:That's it. After that, he decided that he had better straighten his butt up, 00:37:00because I had had it.

RB:Right.

FL:I told him, "Either you straighten yourself up, or forget your kids and forget me, your grandkids."

RB:Yes.

FL:I had had it with him. I had had so many drunks in my life at that point, that I was done.

RB:Who needs it?

FL:Anyway, that's ─.

RB:Okay. So, you are in tech school in Wichita Falls, which is where your father is living and where were the kids, when you were in tech school? [Inaudible]

FL:With Rick in Mississippi, in Biloxi.

RB:In Mississippi, okay. [Laughter]

FL: And that was another disaster.

RB:Oh, [laughter], dear.

FL:And then I hit back home and I'm in, like I say, I was in that weekend, the mobility weekend.

RB:Right.

FL:And I jumped off this thing, this loading dock ─.

RB:Where was that, by the way?

FL:Biloxi, at Kessler.

RB:Biloxi, okay. You are doing your reserve duty. Civil engineering squadron, or something.

FL:Yes.

RB:Okay. So, you jump off the truck.

FL:Off the loading dock.

RB:Off the loading dock. Not good. So that kind of affected the rest of [your service]?

FL:I went with my knees twisted and tore them up.

RB:Oh, no.

FL:And I just got my article thirteen [Non-judicial Punishment under the Uniform Code of Military Justice] out of that, because I damaged government property, myself. Yeah.

RB:Well, it is not [inaudible].

FL:They said I should have just let the stuff ─.

RB:That's ridiculous, yeah.

FL:Anyway, that's the military for you.

RB:You made a decision to try and prevent this thing from falling.

FL:Yes.

RB:Not like you intentionally wrecked your knees.

FL:Right.

RB:Yeah, right, but they wanted to punish you, theoretically for doing something stupid.

FL:Yeah.

RB:In their opinion.

FL:Well, they didn't.

RB:They didn't, okay.

FL:But that was what they suggested to me. Anyway, so they took me to the emergency room after they kept hollering at me, "Are you okay?" "Are you okay?" 00:39:00I couldn't talk. All I was seeing was stars. Oh, it hurt so bad! I absolutely lost my breath and could not talk. I never hurt so bad in my life.

RB:Oh, my gosh!

FL:Anyway, so, they took me to the emergency room, did some testing and couldn't figure out what it was.

RB:Right.

FL:So, they slapped me in a hip to toe cast for eleven months.

RB:Eleven months? That's pretty traumatic. [Laughter]

FL:Yeah.

RB:You couldn't do anything then.

FL:Oh, yes, I could!

RB:Really?

FL:Yeah, Rick and I ended up splittin' up during that, because all he wanted to do was go to the damn bar. And I said, "[No], this is not happenin'." So, when I finally got my disability came through, and I didn't think it was ever going to come through. I was going to live in a trailer with my kids, and he was staying at his uncle's house trying to get drunk every night. Had no money. I said, "I 00:40:00don't need this shit, anyway."

RB:[Laughter]

FL:So, I got an old Cadillac.

RB:Right.

FL:I took one of his checks and I went to Wal-Mart and got what I needed.

RB:Right.

FL:By the way, we were without heat. This was in the winter, and we were without heat.

RB:Oh, no!

FL:Because we didn't have any money for heat.

RB:Right.

FL:Yeah, so he was real helpful. He was a sucker.

RB:[Laughter]

FL:Anyway, so I packed that up, packed my kids up, and with that cast on I drove to St. George.

RB:[Laughter] Wow! You had some determination. You were getting out, one way or the other, and cast or no. So, when did you injure your leg? Your knee? In 1985? 00:41:00When you got out?

FL:1981.

RB:So, shortly after you got out of basic training and tech school?

FL:It was my first mobility weekend.

RB:It was your first mobility weekend [that] you injured [yourself], but you stayed in for another five years, four years.

FL:I almost did my full enlistment, just a few months from my full enlistment.

RB:But you were ─

FL:With no meniscus in that left knee.

RB:Oh, my goodness.

FL:I went on world-wide duty. When they couldn't figure it out, they took the cast off and put me back on world-wide duty.

RB:[Laughter] Thanks a lot!

FL:Then I, okay, so this went on 'till 1983.

RB:[Yes.]

FL:And I told, I had transferred to Hill [Air Force Base, Ogden, Weber County, Utah] by that time, when I came back here.

RB:Okay, right.

FL:So, I still kept going to my, I didn't at first when the cast was on, but when they finally got ─, I got the cast off, well, I actually had to go back 00:42:00to Mississippi.

RB:Oh, okay, so you drove here with the cast ─

FL:With my kids.

RB:─ with your kids because your mother was here. Correct?

FL:No.

RB:No? Why did you come back here?

FL:Was my mother here?

RB:Why St. George? Just because you knew family?

FL:Their grandparents were here.

RB:Oh, that's, okay. So, then you had to go back to the unit in Mississippi?

FL:No, for a while, yeah, and they took the cast off, put me back on world-wide duty.

RB:Yep.

FL:And I went to Crete, [Greece] for my two-week annual tour.

RB:Oh, okay, alright.

FL:Come back from that, and then I transferred to Kessler [Air Force Base, Biloxi, Mississippi]. That's when I transferred to Kessler.

RB:But were you separated from your ─.

FL:Yes, from Rick. Yes.

RB:So, you took the kids back to Mississippi?

FL:No.

RB:They stayed here [in St. George].

FL:They stayed here.

RB:You go back there. You go to Crete for the two-week tour and stuff.

FL:Yeah.

RB:But then you come back to St. George?

FL:Yes.

RB:Okay.

FL:And then I was going to my meetings in Hill [Air Force Base] right from here, up to Hill. Oh, no. Yeah.

RB:Okay. And they were once a month.

FL:Yes.

RB:Okay, but still, that is a long weekend. [Laughter] Okay. But you do it.

FL:Yes. So, I was still with my knee not working right. Finally, I told the sergeant. I said there is still something wrong. It's not working right. He had the guts to call me a malingerer.

RB:Oh, come on.

FL:That's when all hell broke loose.

RB:Really? Yeah.

FL:He was just about due for retirement. And I told him "You son-of-a-bitch!" That's exactly what I told him.

RB:Wow! Okay.

FL:I didn't hold any punches. By then I had had it.

RB:Yeah. You had had it. Oh, dear!

FL:"You son-of-a-bitch. I'll have your pension and I'll have your stripes."

RB:Right.

FL:"If you say one more thing like that to me." And I came home from that drill and I went to the congressman's office here.

RB:Right.

FL:I want you to know, with less than two weeks, they had a civilian doctor come on Hill and had to come up there and he opened up my knee and found out what was wrong.

RB:What was the problem?

FL:I had no meniscus.

RB:Okay.

FL:I had torn my meniscus completely out. If they had known it at the time I did it, they might have been able to save it.

RB:Yeah.

FL:Well, maybe not, because you have to figure how many years ago that was.

RB:Yeah, that's true.

FL:So, anyway, he said, you have no meniscus. He cleaned everything out.

RB:Sure, okay.

FL:And closed it back up. And I still, that was in 1983.

RB:Right.

FL:I was retired out in 1986.

RB:So, three more years, so you are in pain with no meniscus? Are you just can't function?

FL:It was not so much in pain, as it was unreliable.

RB:Yes.

FL:I never knew when it would go out on me.

RB:Oh, I see.

FL:But it is not any better now with the artificial one.

RB:Yeah.

FL:It does it all the time.

RB:Really? So, for the rest of the three years then, you doing ─

FL:I'm doing my meetings.

RB:Meetings, weekly duty with the reserve up at Hill ─.

FL:And working as a waitress.

RB:Here in St. George? Where? Or all over at different places?

FL:I'm trying to think. I worked, I was actually in Washington [City], not Washington, in Hurricane.

RB:Oh, Hurricane, yeah.

FL:And I, it's not there now.

RB:Oh, okay.

FL:It was an old restaurant there.

RB:Okay. So, you worked there ─

FL:It was connected to a motel.

RB:─ and you were living in Hurricane?

FL:Yeah.

RB:And so, you go up; what kind of work were you doing during that? You go up for training?

FL:Yeah.

RB:What did they, tell me about that reserve duty on a weekend, tours that you do each month; what kind of work did you do?

FL:Golly, not a hell of a lot. [Laughter] I mean, there just wasn't a lot to do.

This is my daughter, Kerry Ann.

UV:Hi!

RB:Come in, please. That is nice.

UV:It is her birthday.

RB:It is, yes, my interview. My name is Randy Bunn and I am working with the [Dixie State] University. I volunteer and I am recording oral history interviews of veterans here. So, your mom is telling me about her life's story.

UV:Oh, boy!

RB:[Laughter]

FL:That's what I said! [Laughter] He's recording it.

RB:Recording it for posterity. We were talking, she is in the military now, 1983, 1984, 1985.

FL:When I was still going, but my knee was still bad after they opened it, looked at it and told me what was the matter with it.

UV:[Inaudible]

RB:She was in the Air Force Reserve from 1981 to 1985.

FL:1986.

RB:That's right, 1986. Starting out in Mississippi, and then moving to St. George, and then going up to Hill Air Force Base for her monthly meetings.

UV:You weren't in in 1986.

FL:[What?]

UV:You weren't still in in 1986.

FL:Yes, I was. I just looked at my discharge.

UV:But you weren't still married. You were out before then.

FL:That's what they got on my ─.

RB:[Laughter] Well, this is her story and she's sticking to it!

UV:[Laughter] I'll be quiet.

RB:So, my question was, you go up and, I wasn't in the reserves, so I don't know how that all works. I know that you go once a month for a weekend. Two days?

FL:Yeah.

RB:And then two weeks in the summer, or.

FL:Yeah.

RB:So where did you do your two-week tours in that period? Do you remember?

FL:I don't. I think we just stayed right there.

RB:Okay. You didn't go to Crete or some other place around the world?

FL:No. That was just once.

RB:Okay. [Laughter] So you did that, and what was your rank? What was the highest rank you ever got?

FL:I never got past airman.

RB:Airman, okay, yeah. So how many other women were in the unit? Very many at that time? We are talking in the early 1980s.

FL:No.

RB:That was kind of unusual.

FL:I'm trying to think. If there were any others in my unit.

RB:Plus, you are older. You came in when you were thirty-four, thirty-five, so you are in your mid to late thirties, and so you are with a bunch of young guys, I would imagine.

FL:Some of 'em. But you've got to remember, in the reserves you got all ages.

RB:Yeah, that's, you run the gamut, but ─.

FL:There was a lot of young bucks, too. [Laughter]

RB: [Laughter] Okay. Did you like, you told me before that you were in, what was it, water, waste water?

FL:Water and waste.

RB:Water and waste.

FL:Environmental Support.

RB:Did you like the subject matter of what you did?

FL:Yeah, I did.

RB:Okay. What kind of things did they have you learn?

FL:Oh, you go out and there is no potable water; how to make water potable.

RB:Okay, right.

FL:And how to take care of waste and stuff so that it's not hurting the environment.

RB:Sanitary, safe and all kinds of things?

FL:Just all kinds of stuff like that.

RB:Things that you would do ─.

FL:Setting up the drag line [latrines].

RB:So that was my question. You were learning how to deploy and take care of that ─

FL:Right.

RB:─ part of a base that they would set up someplace, which is very important.

FL:Yes.

RB:The environmental, the sewage, the drinking water, and everything else. If you don't have that, you can't function.

FL:No, that's right.

RB:So, you were part of that.

FL:It was very, very interesting.

RB:Okay.

FL:Like a dummy, I did not keep it up in my [civilian life] because I was fighting with the military so much and everything, I did not try to get a civilian job in it.

RB:Okay, understand.

FL:'Cause that would have been a great job.

RB:Yeah. That's important knowledge and skill level to be able to transport into a civilian type of job.

FL:Yes, water and waste plants here.

RB:Yes, exactly. So, you did that and then finally in 1986, you said, you finished the term of your enlistment.

FL:Well, no, I was given a medical ─.

RB:Okay, before that happened.

FL:I was trying to think. I was looking at the papers the other day. Two to three months before the enlistment was up, which was in 1986.

RB:Alright. And were you sad about that?

FL:No.

RB:You were done. You were ready to move on.

FL:I had had so much crap and I knew, physically, I could not do it because they had done nothing with the knee.

RB:Yes, that's right.

FL:I did not have anything done to that knee after they found out what was the matter, until about 2006 or 2008.

RB:Wow! Okay, so you're living with this unstable knee for your adult life.

FL:For twenty-five years.

RB:Right, oh, my goodness. And you're, you said you were a waitress. [Staff member at Southern Utah Veteran's Home].

UV:I am so sorry. I got caught up in a little bit of drama with somebody else. So that is okay. Who are these people?

UV:Your daughters?

[INTERRUPTION]

RB:This is Randy Bunn again, and we are with Faye Laub and it is June 12, 2019. Last we met you mentioned to me that you separated from the Air Force Reserve, 00:52:00but you still had problems with your knee. And it didn't get resolved for some time. So, tell me after you left the Air Force, I think it was in 1986, what kind of, where did you go? You came back to St. George?

FL:Well, I actually, for a short time, and then I ended up back in Texas. Texas is where my dad lived.

RB:Oh, that's right.

FL:And I went back into fast food management.

RB:[Yes.]

FL:And, I'm trying to remember details. I went into fast food management and then ─.

RB:And that was in what town again?

FL:Wichita Falls.

RB:Wichita Falls. And your two children were with you as well.

FL:Pardon?

RB:Your children were ─.

FL:No, they were grown up.

RB:They were grown up. That makes sense, because they were from the 1960s. Yeah, so this is in the late 1980's.

FL:They were grown up and on their own.

RB:Okay.

FL:They each went their own way. My daughter got married, and that's why I went 00:53:00to Texas.

RB:Okay. Did you ever marry again?

FL:[Laughter] Yeah.

RB:Okay.

FL:Yeah, I married Richard Burdell again, that's when I married him the second time.

RB:Yes, okay.

FL:I ended up in Arkansas and Mississippi. Then we split up again in Mississippi.

RB:Right.

FL:And that's when I came back to Utah.

RB:Oh, okay.

FL:And I did waitressing, and I did fast food management again here.

RB:Was that hard on your knees?

FL:Oh, yeah.

RB:Doing that, but you just had to do it. And that's what you know how to do.

FL:Oh, yeah, I wasn't trained for anything else.

RB:Right.

FL:I was trained for stuff where I stood, so that's what I did.

RB:Yeah.

FL:Sometimes I worked for two places at once.

RB:Oh, goodness, yeah.

FL:But, ─.

RB:Did you have one of your children here in St. George? At the time?

FL:My daughter.

RB:Your daughter. Is that the one I met last week?

FL:Yes.

RB:Yeah, okay. And so, in the 1990s, and finally to the 2000s, you were living St. George all this time?

FL:Yes. I married Clark Laub here.

RB:Oh, right.

FL:In 19-, I can't remember if it was 1998 or 1999. One or the other.

RB:Okay. Right.

FL:It was January 2.

RB:Okay.

FL:And we were married for fourteen years when he died.

RB:Oh, okay. Was that a good relationship for you?

FL:Oh, terrific!

RB:Oh, that's nice.

FL:He was a great person. He died from Alzheimer's.

RB:Oh, okay, so you kind of saw that decline in him?

FL:Oh, it was hard.

RB:I can imagine.

FL:He was a great man and it was really hard.

RB:Well, when did you finally quit working?

FL:When I was married to him.

RB:Okay.

FL:We had our own pilot car business and we worked that up until the time he 00:55:00couldn't drive much anymore.

RB:What's a pilot car business?

FL:Okay. Pilot car is when you get the big loads on the highway, the big truck loads.

RB:Right.

FL:And you have the cars before and after with their lights flashing and everything.

RB:Oh.

FL:Those are pilot cars.

RB:So, he had a service that would provide that for companies.

FL:He had [it] when we got married. And then I went into it with him.

RB:Okay, good.

FL:And we did for, I'm trying to think how many years he was able to do it. He was able to do it, we were married fourteen years, so he was able to do it for about ten after we got married. Ten or eleven, about ten.

RB:So, when he quit working, then you quit working as well?

FL:No, I worked for a year or two afterwards.

RB:Oh, did you?

FL:But he would be in the car with me.

RB:Yeah, okay. So, you would actually do the driving?

FL:Oh, yeah. I had my own car before.

RB:Yeah, I know, but I mean you would go together and you would drive.

FL:I would drive and he would just be a passenger.

RB:With you?

FL:That way we were still together.

RB:Absolutely. So, he passed away when?

FL:In 2011.

RB:Okay.

FL:August 23, 2011.

RB:So, you were, and what was his name again?

FL:Clark Laub.

RB:Clark Laub, okay. And so, you are on your own again after that.

FL:Yep.

RB:So, what did you do? What did you do in the last eight years?

FL:Oh, basically, just lived off whatever.

RB:[Yes.]

FL:Because I had my disability which wasn't as good as it is now, when I started ─

RB:Right.

FL:─ living on my own.

RB:Right.

FL:And I had his social security because mine was so small.

RB:Yeah, that's right.

FL:Because the jobs I had worked ─

RB:Yeah, no.

FL:─ waitressing and stuff, you don't make any money.

RB:Right, so you stepped up to his full social security.

FL:I reverted to his, yes.

RB:Good. So, between the two then, you had enough to get by?

FL:Barely. Because I still had bills from when [before we were together] and I lost his pension when he died.

RB:Oh. Yeah because he hadn't made arrangements to have ─.

FL:No, it was just, excuse me.

RB:Alright.

[INTERRUPTION]

RB:So, we are back again.

FL:[Laughter]

RB:So, you trying to get by on social security and disability.

FL:[Yes.]

RB:And you had bills to pay.

FL:It was rough. It was really rough. My oldest son kicked in for me and he bought me a, just in the last few years, he bought a fifth-wheel.

RB:Oh.

FL:So, I had a place to live.

RB:[Yes.]

FL:And he bought me a car. [Laughter]

RB:Oh, good. And where did you park the fifth-wheel, then?

FL:In Leeds [Washington County, Utah].

RB:Okay.

FL:Leeds RV Park. Very nice. I don't know if you have ever been there. It is a very nice wooded park.

RB:Oh, excellent. Leeds is kind of a nice little community near Silver Reef [Washington County, Utah].

FL:Yep.

RB:Very good.

FL:But I liked Leeds really well.

RB:Yeah.

FL:And then I just decided that, well, in the meantime, before that, I had fallen down my sister's stairs. My knee gave out on me, the bad one ─

RB:Right.

FL:─ that they had replaced, gone in and done revision and it was still junk.

RB:Yeah.

FL:It still collapses with me all the time. Anyway, I was going down her stairs and she didn't have a safety rail because they were working in her apartment. She had a, it was a basement apartment.

RB:Right.

FL:And they had taken the safety rail off to get stuff done down the stairwell. Well, my knee buckled and I went down about seven or eight stairs.

RB:Oh, no!

FL:Hitting my head against the wall.

RB:Did you get a concussion, suffer a concussion?

FL:No, not really. I broke my ankle ─

RB:Oh.

FL:─ in three places.

RB:Not good. That's hard.

FL:And I think I kinda broke the other foot a little bit, but we didn't know that then. It bothers me now. But for two months I was off my feet.

RB:Oh, gosh, yeah. That's kinda hard when you are living on your own.

FL:Yeah. Luckily, I had, the VA [Veterans Administration] was giving me a housekeeper ─.

RB:Yeah.

FL:─ came in two or three days a week.

RB:Yeah. Very good.

FL:And they did a lot for me.

RB:Good.

FL:And the, what was it, not the VFW [Veterans of Foreign Wars], the Vietnam 01:00:00Vets ─

RB:Oh, right.

FL:─ let me borrow a scooter. That was the first time I had a scooter.

RB:Oh, good.

FL:'Cause they had one they could loan me and they loaned it to me so I could get around in my apartment a little bit.

RB:Yeah.

FL:'Cause I was not allowed on my foot at all.

RB:Right, right.

FL:Because of my weight.

RB:Okay.

FL:And so.

RB:So, when did you leave Leeds?

FL:I left Leeds when I decided to go back to Arkansas to help my ex-husband [Richard Burdell] with his mother ''cause she had dementia and he had no idea. I had just gone through it with my husband [Clark Laub], so I told him, I'll tell you, we are really good friends now. We just can't be married.

RB:Right. That's good.

FL:Yes. So, I went back to help him because he has PTSD [Post Traumatic Stress 01:01:00Disorder]. He was a Gulf War Vet.

RB:Oh, I see. Yeah.

FL:He has PTSD and some health problems.

RB:Right, right.

FL:And a.

RB:Okay. So how long were you back in Arkansas then?

FL:I was there about six or eight months. Then I went to Illinois where my son lives.

RB:Oh.

FL:And I stayed there about a year and then I went to Minnesota.

RB:What was in Minnesota?

FL:My sister.

RB:Oh, very good.

FL:A widow.

RB:Sure.

FL:But that one didn't work. She is a hermit and I'm not. [Laughter]

RB:Uh, oh. [Laughter]

FL:I lived by myself. She lived by herself. We were in the same building; one end of the corridor was me and the other end was her.

RB:Sure. Yeah. Okay. Then you came back here when?

FL:I came back here on March 9, I had to stop and think.

RB:Of this year?

FL:[Yes.]

RB:So just recently. So, you were just in Minnesota for the winter?

FL:I had my hip replaced on February 1, [2019] and as soon as they would let me go, I flew down here and they picked me up at the airport and ─.

RB:Had you already made arrangements to move in here?

FL:[Yes.]

RB:Wow! That worked out well, then.

FL:The social worker up there worked with the social worker down here and got me in.

RB:Alright. Well, anything else you want to share about your life in general? Any philosophies that you kind of picked up?

FL:It's been tough at times. I came from a poor background, but my mother did the best she could.

RB:Yeah.

FL:She was a single parent and like a dummy, I got married too young. But I wouldn't have my children.

RB:That's right. Sounds like you have a wonderful relationship with your children.

FL:I do, I have a very good relationship with my children.

RB:And that's worth its weight in gold. And you are a very outgoing and, from what I can tell, you are kind of a happy person.

FL:Oh, yeah. I don't allow myself to get depressed.

RB:And that tells me a lot about the kind of attitude you have about life. So that's good, even though you have had a lot of tough breaks in your life, you have been able to kind of keep on going.

FL:And I intend to keep on going. [Laughter]

RB:Alright!

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