1. Black History

Part III.

September 30, 1990 Interview

The following transcnpt was made from an interview with fake and Willie at fake's home, during the afternoon of September 30, 1990. After reviewing the initial transcripts, fake and Willie provided written corrections and additions. These com,nents appear throughout the manuscript enclosed in [brackets] and include the initials of the person that has provided the infor,nation.

1. Black History

Bob Zybach: Okay, well why don't we start with that then, and Camp Adair, and with the people that were watching you milk.

Wilma "Willie" Rohner: [WILMA] Yeah, they came up, and when the blacks they peered in the window, you know that's what scared the heck out of me. You know we didn't have the barn windows in, it was summer time. The barn windows was out and boy we'd never seen them black ones around, very often, or in Corvallis just one, I think.

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: [JAKE] Yeah, Bud Smith.

Wilma "Willie" Rohner: [WILMA] Boy, them guys poked their heads in there. Mom and Dad was out hunting farms, I think the whole time. Just Bud and I pretty much at home alone, milking and stuff. And I was about 16, so Bud was about 12 I think. Had to be, yeah.

Bob Zybach: Had you ever seen a black guy before?

Wilma "Willie" Rohner: [WILMA] Just the one in Corvallis [Bud Smith]. And when you see a lot of them it kind of scaxes you.

Bob Zybach: Especially in your own farm, huh?

Wilma "Willie" Rohner: [WILMA] Yeah, really. And then they wanted to watch us milk. And then they got in there and wanted to know how the heck we knew when to quit. We milked by hand, then. And they said, "Well how do you know when to stop? And I said, "Well when the milk quits coming." They was little bit green, they didn't know too much. They seen the pigs out there, the old sow, and she had, I don't know, a whole bunch of little pigs. And they called them, "Oh look at the sheep and all the little lambs!" and it was pig. They was really ignorant them guys, they was from the big city. And then they sucked their eggs. That's what mom got so mad at. They'd

Wilma "Willie" Rohner: come up after that, always to the hen house, and suck our eggs. We had to gather our eggs all during the day every little while, because them blacks like. . . well they worked in grocery stores is what we found out, back east. And they did that in grocery stores, suck the eggs. They taught Bud and I how to suck eggs but I didn't want to suck any. They'd take ahold of both ends and just suck em out.

Bob Zybach: What would be the reason they'd do that?

Wilma "Willie" Rohner: [WILMA] They liked them. They really liked them.

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: [JAKE]ust like stealing watermelons.

Wilma "Willie" Rohner: [WILMA] Yeah, just like stealing watermelons.

Bob Zybach: Just a way to get away with taking eggs out of the store.

Wilma "Willie" Rohner: [WILMA] Oh, they did a lot of crazy things. What else did they. . . oh, the cows chased some of them out. I remember that, Out of the pasture, and they went up over the barb wire fence. Cows scared the holy heck out of them, cause they was all city. Guys from the big city. And the cows looked pretty big.

Bob Zybach: What did you family think about them coming around there, did it bother them?

Wilma "Willie" Rohner: [WILMA] It didn't seem to bother. We trusted everybody. They went all night, marched up by there the rifle ranges singing them dirty songs. You know, how they sing that when they're marching. We learned quite a few of them goodies. There was a lot of stories about them. I can't really remember too many. I mean I should, I would if could think of them.

Bob Zybach: Did it upset you when Adair first caine in there? Was everybody upset about it being there?

Wilma "Willie" Rohner: [WILMA] Oh yeah, they didn't like the idea at first. Well, what upset me was moving from all your friends and stuff. We got strewed everywhere. I mean, some of them went to eastern Oregon, and, oh everywhere. There's quite a few around here. Stockoff, and all that, took off.

Bob Zybach: I haven't heard that name before, Stockoff Who are they?

Wilma "Willie" Rohner: [WILMA] They lived in Wells.

John Jacob "Jake" Rohner: [JAKE] They lived almost in Wells, had a farm there. Yeah, they did own it didn't they? So when Camp Adair came along and bought them out they moved to La Grande.

Wilma "Willie" Rohner: [WILMA] La Grande. Henry, and where did the other one go? That lived on