20. The Great Depression

Royal G. Jackson: Were there a lot of men like you who came here with the 3-C and decided to stay for one reason or another? Do you know of any others that did that?

Edward Sekermestrovich: Oh, Joe Cole; he lives in Waldport or Newport. And Albert Pochurek; he lived in Corvallis; he's dead now.

Royal G. Jackson: What about his wife? Is she still alive?

Edward Sekermestrovich: She's still alive, lives down the hill on Mulkey. I don't know the number but it's two blocks down on the left hand side. Pochurek used to work for Mac.

Royal G. Jackson: Can you think of anybody else besides the ones you've mentioned?

Edward Sekermestrovich: Woodrow Wilson, he's in Albany; he works for the plywood or veneer plant there.

Royal G. Jackson: And he's alive?

Edward Sekermestrovich: Yes. He used to be the officers' mess tent honcho. In the company picture, he was the one in the whites, the heavy set fellow, about your size. Domonic Tate lives in Indiana. Ed Genoso lives in Chicago. Paul Francis lives in Oregon City.

Royal G. Jackson: Is there anybody else you can think of?

Edward Sekermestrovich: I've heard there's a fellow who drives a city bus in Albany who was in the 3-C. He's been driving a bus ever since he left camp, they claim. But I don't think I knew him.

Royal G. Jackson: In a camp that size did you get to know pretty well everybody, or just your barracks?

Edward Sekermestrovich: No, just like my barracks, now I couldn't name half the people.

Royal G. Jackson: Do you remember Bryson McKelvey?

Edward Sekermestrovich: He was a Forest Service man. Right? He was a head honcho.

Royal G. Jackson: Terry Brown, was he there?

Edward Sekermestrovich: Yes.

Royal G. Jackson: How about Wesley Brown?

Edward Sekermestrovich: He was the head of the trucks, the mechanics, and he taught mechanics. He lived in Lewisburg on Eliot Circle years ago.

20. The Great Depression

Royal G. Jackson: Going back all the way to the start, for a few minutes, let me ask you about the Depression. You joined the 3-C's, I assume, because you needed a job?

Edward Sekermestrovich: No, I joined the C's because I was broke. [Laughter]

Royal G. Jackson: What was it like in that period? Was that a pretty desolate time for people?

Edward Sekermestrovich: Yes.

Royal G. Jackson: How do you remember that?

Edward Sekermestrovich: Well, what would you call freezing, or else going downtown stealing coal out of coal boxes, and freight cars? Yes, we had to do that.

Royal G. Jackson: Pretty tough times for everybody, then, huh?

Edward Sekermestrovich: Yes, it was. I don't know who paid the bills, I really don't -- how people ever paid rent or anything like that, I don't see that part of it. I guess you got your house free or else that guy couldn't take it away because nobody else wanted it. Nobody had the money to buy it from you or from him, so it just stood that way.

Royal G. Jackson: What was your father doing at that time?

Edward Sekermestrovich: He was a brick layer.

Royal G. Jackson: Was he out of work?

Edward Sekermestrovich: Yes, he was out of work, most of the time. There wasn't any construction then.

Royal G. Jackson: How did the family support itself then?

Edward Sekermestrovich: They did just like everybody else -- on the relief. I guess you'd call it. I went to camp and I'd send my money home.

Royal G. Jackson: You helped out by sending money back to them?

Edward Sekermestrovich: That's right. That's what you do in the first place when you join them camps; you're supposed to send the money home.

Royal G. Jackson: Did they make you do that, or just recommend it?

Edward Sekermestrovich: I think that was they way you got to join up in the first place; you was supposed to send some home.

Royal G. Jackson: Did they just give you cash at the end or a week, or month, or a check, or how did they pay you?

Edward Sekermestrovich: They give you cash.

Royal G. Jackson: But then were you supposed to send that home?

Edward Sekermestrovich: They'd send it home. You just ell them how much.

Royal G. Jackson: They just took it out of your pay check.

Edward Sekermestrovich: That's right. Just like you would for your PX coupons, it was the same way. They give you a coupon book, but when pay day comes, you paid that. And if you overdrew, well, we'll get you next month. [Laughter]