Part 1-An Interview with Grandma Marilyn Ruesch Schneider

 

Part 1 of an Interview that Caleb Harrision did with Grandma Marilyn Schneider

• What is your full name? Marilyn Merle Ruesch Schneider.
• Why did your parents select this name for you? Because my mom wanted it.
• Did you have a nickname? No.
• When and where were you born? In Akron Ohio 1933
• How did your family come to live there? My dad taught there.
• Were there other family members in the area? No.
• What was the house like? How many rooms? Bathrooms? Did it have electricity? Indoor plumbing? Telephones? We had to use an Ice box instead of a fridge but our stove was pretty much the same except we had to light it with a match.
•  Were there any special items in the house that you remember? Same as above.
•  What is your earliest childhood memory? When my brother was born, I was a year and a half.
• Describe the personalities of your family members. My mother was nice and so was my brother, but my father was kind of a grouch.
• What kind of games did you play growing up? Kick the can…hop scotch…marbles and of course dolls with my friend Ann, I had to walk two miles to her house to do it! I also played a real fun game with the boys on my street, it went like this… we would go to one of the abandoned lots where the grass grew really tall and burrow through it creating tunnels. Then we would create bases and try to spy on other’s bases.
• What was your favorite toy and why? Our tin can phones. 
•  What was your favorite thing to do for fun (movies, beach, etc.)? Well some of my favorites were to go down in the sewers and go on the roller coaster at the beach.
• Did you have family chores? What were they? Which was your least favorite? I hated to clean toilets when I was a kid.
•  Did you receive an allowance? How much? Did you save your money or spend it? I had to work for any money I wanted.
• What was school like for you as a child? What were your best and worst subjects? All of my subjects were easy for me, and if you got good grades you got set out to recess early…that created a lot of tension between students.
• Where did you attend grade school? High school? College? Los Angles,  Salt Lake , BYU, Provo and UCLA.
• What school activities and sports did you participate in? I wasn’t into sports much but I was in a debating club.