Narrative Assignment

My name is Charles Timpy, and I chose my grandma Dorothy. I chose her because she seems to have had an interesting life, having been raised during The Great Depression, and I felt like I could really learn something from her. Also being the oldest person in my family, I felt that with age comes wisdom.

My first questions were about her early life, and what it was like.

1. Where did you spend the first few years of your childhood?
Until I was about 5 or 6 years old, I lived with my parents, brother, and sister in a fairly small (compared to todays) house, in the countryside of Oklahoma. It was around that age that we moved to Union, Oregon.
2. What was it like there?
In Oklahoma? It was nice. It was quiet and there weren’t many neighbors, so I would usually end up taking care of my siblings or playing with them. When we moved to Union there were more people nearby, so I got to play with kids my own age.
3. What was it like moving to Oregon?
It wasn’t so bad, although it took a week or two. But I’m here now, so I think we got here just fine.
4. What was it like growing up in The Great Depression?
Well, honestly I didn’t know at the time that we were poor, because everybody was. So having nothing to compare it to, it was just normal, because I hadn't experienced a lifestyle outside of the way that I had been living.

    Another set of questions I asked was about her early teens-20’s
5. When and where did you meet my grandpa?
I met your grandpa at a school assembly. Well, I didn’t actually MEET him there, but I saw him in the stands, and I thought he was handsome. Then, one day after school, he offered to walk me home and it kind of took off from there. I was a freshman, and he was a junior.
6. How old were you when you had my dad?
I was about 30 years old when I had him, and had moved to California after he was born.
7. What career did you have in mind when you were in high school?
I wanted to become a journalist. Luckily for me, that wasn’t very difficult, and that’s what I’d become.
8. What plans or dreams did you have in high school?
No, not really. I mean, outside of career thoughts, I didn’t really think at all about my future.
9. Do you regret anything in life?
Oh, no. You should never regret anything in life. Or you’ll have to live with those actions until you die, and so on from there.

And from there, I learned a few things about my ancestors, and where they came from. “Your great great grandpa, my grandpa, came here from Wales, and my grandma from Ireland. They both met in New York, when he was working at a deli. They got married and moved to Oklahoma. Your great great’s on your grandpa’s side, however, were from Oklahoma. Your grandpa’s grandma was a Native American (Cherokee) and her husband was from Britain, I believe. Both of our families, oddly enough, moved to Oregon together, and were actually quite close (If you can call 10 miles apart close neighbors)”

         “How have things changed since I was a young girl? Oh, where do I start.. More cars, more radios, rock and roll music, civil rights protests, WWII, Nuclear bombs, televisions, more cars, more electricity, more cars, Vietnam, Gulf War, Reagan, Nixon.. The list could go on and on. But mostly, it’s the times. The times have changed, and with them, the people. Maybe for better, maybe for worse. But, watching the news anymore, and seeing the youth out in public, it certainly makes me skeptical of a positive outcome. But until then, we shall have to wait and see.”

         From this brief interview with my grandma, I have certainly learned a lot. Many of us take for granted the wisdom of our elders. We don’t always realize that they were our age once, and that they actually had a life before we came along, and before our parents cam along as well. We take for granted that they have so much experience in dealing with a lot of problems that we have, and that they can help us. But usually by the time we realize that, they’re long gone. From this interview, I learned that my grandma had a very interesting life, and that I can learn