Esther Carter Oral History

Esther Carter Oral History

Esther Carter Oral History

Churchill County Museum Association

Churchill County Museum Asocciation

January, 27 1995

Analog Cassette Tape, Text File, MP3 Audio

English

Recording 1, 1:03:28
Recording 2, 21:06

128kbps/44100hz

CHURCHILL COUNTY MUSEUM & ARCHIVES
ORAL HISTORY PROJECT
an interview with
Esther Carter
January 27, 1995
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This interview was conducted by Anita Erquiaga; transcribed by Glenda Price; edited by Norine Arciniega; final by Pat Boden; index by Gracie Viera; supervised by Myrl Nygren, Director of Oral History Project, Churchill County Museum.
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Preface
Esther Carter lives alone in a very neat house on Front Street. One wall of her living room is covered with family pictures, and it is easy to tell from talking with her that her family is very special to her.
She keeps busy with many worthwhile activities that she is involved in. Recently she retired from teaching in the schools, but now she is tutoring adults in the Lahontan Valley Literacy Program. She is proud of the fact that she is strong and apparently healthy and attributes it to a family characteristic inherited from her father.
Esther speaks highly of her mother. Mrs. Pirtle was left a widow at a young age, and she went on to raise five well educated children who have contributed a great deal to many lives. Mr. and Mrs. Pirtle had bought a forty-acre ranch just before he was killed, and his widow continued to farm that place and finished paying for it. Esther is very proud of her mother and all that she did.
There must have been some hard times in the life of Esther Carter, but she doesn't dwell on them. She tells her story in a way that says it has been a good life. She is truly a delightful person.
Interview with Esther. Pirtle Price Carter.
This is Anita Erquiaga of the Churchill County Oral Museum History Program. Today is January 27, 1995, and I am interviewing Esther Pirtle Price Carter at her home at 315 West Front Street.
ERQUIAGA: Esther, first of all, I would like to thank you for taking the time to do this interview for the museum. I'm sure you'll have some interesting things to tell us. I'd like to start by asking you to give me your full name, your date of birth, and your place of birth.
CARTER: I'm Esther Anna Carter now to Pirtle, Price, and then Carter, and I was born a twin in 1912. Had a brother, Lester, and they named me Esther to rhyme with Lester. We were born in Illinois. Our parents were born in Illinois. We lived on a clay hillside there in Alto Pass, and Dad had gone to Valparaiso, Indiana thinking of being a teacher, but he became more interested in farming, and that's what he did.
ERQUIAGA: Now, you said you were a twin. Were you born at home or in a hospital?
CARTER: We were born at home. That was the custom in those days.
ERQUTAGA: Was it kind of unusual for twins to both live under those conditions--born at home?
CARTER: We never talked very much about that period of our life. I remember Dad was a carpenter, and he built a crib so that my brother could sleep at one end, and I could sleep at the other. My older sister, it was her job to rock us, so she would rock, but she would say, "I'm not going to rock Brother. He cries. I'm going to rock Sister."
ERQUIAGA:
CARTER:
ERQUIAGA: CARTER: ERQUTAGA:
(laughing) Well, you must have both been very strong and healthy to survive that.
It's a strain in the family. Dad was tall, strong, and my mother was strong. She had to be strong to raise the five children. Dad's name was Clint Pirtle and married Byrd [Maude] Roberson. We didn't even get the pictures about their wedding. I wish we had to have completed the family tree.
Do you know where they were born.
In Illinois. South central Illinois.
What year did you and your family come to Fallon?
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CARTER:
ERQUIAGA:
It was about in 1918. Dad had received a letter from his cousin in Fallon. Cousin had come to Fallon because she had tuberculosis, and the hot, dry weather was supposed to be good for it, so she wrote to Dad and said, "Why don't you bring the family of five and come West? You don't even have to buy school books nor paper or pencil like you have to do in Illinois." So, Mom and Dad talked it over, and Mom said, "Well, we can't do any worse than we're doing here on this clay hillside." So, they had an auction and sold off a lot of family furniture and cattle and all. Mom's dad was a train dispatcher in Wolf Lake. He made arrangements for the ticket and so Dad loaded an organ, a cow or two, and household things in a boxcar, and my twin brother went with him. Grandpa made arrangements for that to happen. They took the feed along for the cow. I don't remember how long it took them to come, but Mom's mom came with her to help with the four kids on the train. One thing I remember in preparation, we made sandwiches so we'd have plenty to eat, and Grandma came as far as Denver [Colorado], and then she went back. She had a pass because Granddad was working on the railroad. When we got to Hazen--we were all pretty tired--but when I got off of the train and into the depot, I opened the door, and there sat a squaw on the step, and it frightened me. I didn't have any idea what to expect, and that was one of the first introductions to this area.
Was that the first time you had seen an Indian?
CARTER: Oh, yes.
ERQUIAGA: Oh.
CARTER: She wasn't dressed liked the natives, but she was dressed ordinarily. I should not have been afraid of her, but they had a Model T bus, open-air touring car, that was the bus from Hazen to Fallon, and I remember how rough the roads. It was getting toward evening when we got down to the Glasscocks' six miles east of Fallon, and when we hopped out of the car, started running toward the light, they said, "Stop! There's a canal there." Well, a canal, what is a canal? To my age of only eight years I had no idea what a canal was. They said, "Oh, there's water there," so then we got back in the bus, and they took us on over. We stayed with Glasscocks for a few days until we could get located.
ERQUIAGA: Now, the Glasscocks were relatives?
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CARTER: Dad's cousin. And it was soon after that that we needed a place to stay, so we found a house in what was known as The Colony. A group of people who had organized and planned to stay in their group had built these houses, and then something had happened they had moved on. We were lucky to have a place to stay.
ERQUIAGA: Did you rent that place from someone?
CARTER: I'm sure we did. I couldn't tell you.
ERQUIAGA: You don't remember any details about the colony.
CARTER: Dad took care of that.
ERQUIAGA: I suppose that was what we refer to as the Socialist Colony?
CARTER: I think so.
ERQUIAGA: And you just don't remember much about them.
CARTER: Couldn't get interested in it. (laughing) ERQUIAGA: Well, you were young.
CARTER: Yes. More interested in playing, I think.
ERQUIAGA: Was it a farm? Do you know that much about it? Was it a farm when they were living there as a colony?
CARTER: It was mostly houses in a group, but I don't remember anything.
ERQUIAGA: And there wasn't any farming going on when you were there.
CARTER: Not that I paid any attention to.
ERQUIAGA: So, how long did you live there?
CARTER: Just long enough until we found another place to stay more permanent.
ERQUIAGA: And was that in town that you moved to?
CARTER: Yes, I think so.
ERQUIAGA: You don't remember anything about that house though.
CARTER: I think it belonged to a carpenter. Can't think of his name.
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ERQUIAGA: In your questionnaire, you mentioned that was there a housing shortage at that time because of the mining. Was that . . .
CARTER: Yes, there was a big movement out of east of town. I don't remember if it was oil or mining, and it didn't last too long.
ERQUIAGA: Would that have been when they were mining at Fairview?
CARTER: I think so.
ERQUIAGA: And Wonder, probably.
CARTER: I think so.
ERQUTAGA: Well, where did your father work?
CARTER: He worked wherever he could find a job, and one time he was gone on a road job, but he decided that was being away from the family too long, so he came back, and
then he got a job with the government up near the railroad tracks when they had the grounds there, and that's when we got really established. That's when they looked for a ranch and found a forty-acre ranch that belonged to the George Mitchells. It had a two-story, eleven-room house that was in good shape, and then in the spring we moved out there.
ERQUTAGA: And where was that located?
CARTER: Three miles north of town off of Old River Road, and it was the spring that we moved out there. It was really exciting for us all to have plenty of room and get settled, but in August of that year when Dad was working for the government in the grounds near the railroad, he and Mr. Ascargorta were the carpenters, and they were building small irrigation boxes and he would bring home scraps of left-over lumber. One day he and Mr. Ascargorta were working near this pile of lumber. Dad saw the pile of lumber toppling toward Mr. Ascargorta, and he, being a large man, thought he was able to stop it from falling, and so he stood between it and Mr. Ascargorta, but it caught him. That was in 1923, and it got him. Both of them.
ERQUIAGA: And were trapped under this lumber?
CARTER: Yes, and Charlie Stump was there, and he told me about it later. He said my dad talked to him a little bit, but as the air came out of his lungs, that was it. That was the end of it, so it left Mom with the five
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kids on the ranch to make the payments, pay it out, and raise the five kids.
ERQUIAGA: Were both of the men killed at that time?
CARTER: Yes.
ERQUIAGA: Oh, gosh! So, how old was the oldest child that your mother had?
CARTER: I was twelve, so she must: have been about fifteen.
ERQUIAGA: Oh, my. And your mother was left then to finish paying for that ranch?
CARTER: Oh, yes. She made the last payment just a month before it was due. It was paid out, so she had to be a good manager.
ERQUIAGA: How did she get her farming done?
CARTER: She would buy a cow, and we'd milk the cow. I don't remember where we got the horses for awhile, but there was equipment on the place. Wagons and a mower that we were able to go out in the field and mow the hay.
There was a rake, and my sister loved to run the rake, and, so, with a fork, we used to pitch the hay then on the wagons, and we brought it in to where the barn was. We had a derrick that was a large limb stuck in where a tree root had been. It was rooted out in the bottom of the limb stuck in there, and we put the fork on the end with a cable onto the end of the pole, and we were able to hoist up the hay off of the wagons and pile it up. Little by little we'd get another cow, or we were given a mustang horse by the cousins from Yerington 'cause they had plenty of stock, and they even gave us a calf a time or two. People were good to us.
ERQUIAGA: And that was how your mother was able to support the family and pay for the ranch was what she raised off of the farm.
CARTER: We raised our own garden. There was fruit trees and berry bushes and a Himalaya bush, I remember, they had brought from Oregon when they had gone on a trip. Beautiful black Himalayas, and it was, oh, maybe, twenty feet long, the bush, so it was Mom's job to pick the prickly bush and can the berries, and we had many a wonderful cobbler out of those blackberries. Yes, we raised strawberries and everything, and there were apples.
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ERQUIAGA: Now, you forgot to mention about how strong your dad was when he was a young man. Would you tell me that story?
CARTER: Oh, yes. He had quite a reputation of arm wrestling with his friends there, and he was known everywhere as being very strong. Could outdo any of them, and so we were very proud of him.
ERQUIAGA: That probably had something to do with the fact that he thought he could hold that pile of lumber up because he knew he was a strong man.
CARTER: ERQUIAGA: CARTER: ERQUIAGA: CARTER:
Yes. Both of my brothers were almost six feet tall. Was your mother tall?
No, not really. And I'm the tallest one of the girls. Well, how did your mother store food for the winter?
We had a cellar right at the back door. They had built one out of blocks that they had made out of mud or with cement. It was a nice sized one, but it wasn't too clean. That's where we kept the canned food that we had, and we canned everything.
ERQUIAGA: Did you can meat?
CARTER: No, we didn't. In fact, when we first came to Fallon, my grandmother had started to buy a home west of town. I almost forgot that. It was quite a nice place, and we were out there to take care of it, and Dad was working in town. I've forgotten where he was working then, but it was quite a place, and we were there during the summertime, and all five of us kids when they were irrigating there was a ditch of water running past the house, so you can imagine. We spent our whole time right there in the ditch. Well, it wasn't too long until they had to call the doctor, and when the doctor came in the house, he asked if we kids had had the old-fashioned measles that they had had such a time with, and Mom told him yes, and he said, "Well, when I stepped in the door, I smelled that, the measles, and my recommendation is just eat vegetables, no meat," and he said, "I believe that will be the best thing for everybody," and so Dad said, "Well, if the kids can't have meat, we won't have meat," so that's why we existed on vegetables, and that made it cheaper for Mom. In fact, I didn't even know how to cook meat when I grew up.
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ERQUIAGA: I supposed she baked bread at home.
CARTER: Oh, yes.
ERQUIAGA: Lots of it?
CARTER: Oh! When we lived in town, I came home from school there was a big roaster full. The big roaster had four big loaves in it, and it was right out of the oven. You can imagine. We each had a chunk of bread to eat when we got home from school. I can still smell that. Oh, yes. We never thought of buying bread. They didn't do that in those days, did they?
ERQUIAGA: No, I guess not. Well, all of you children, then, had
to work outside and help with the irrigating.
CARTER: Oh, we knew how to work. Yes. Yeah. With a shovel and the fork and the hoe. The works.
ERQUIAGA: And you had horse-drawn equipment.
CARTER: Yes.
ERQUIAGA: You didn't have a tractor that far back?
CARTER: Oh, no. Never.
ERQUIAGA: And your mother had to work outdoors, too.
CARTER: Oh, yes.
ERQUIAGA: Besides keeping the house going.
CARTER: Some of us cooked. In fact, when we made lunches, each one took a turn. This week it was my turn. The next week it was somebody else's turn. All the way through all the work we took turns at it. She had us pretty well organized.
ERQUIAGA: Well, after the doctor told you this about the meat, did your family not go back to eating meat after that?
CARTER: I can't remember ever having meat on the table. ERQUIAGA: Oh, you were vegetarians.
CARTER: Except what we raised. We had the chickens, of course, and we had rabbits. We never bothered to buy meat 'cause that was money out of the pocket, and Mom had to watch the pennies. I know when I had a new pair of
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shoes, and they were a little bit tight, there was no way I could return them. I had to wear them out 'cause we had to watch the pennies. And we quite often had clothes to make over, and so my sister got really good at making them look like store boughten clothes.
Did you make clothes from start? Buy fabric and make clothes?
Very little.
Did you have a sewing machine?
Oh, yes. Mom had her mending. She had brought a domestic sewing machine. The one she started housekeeping with, and I think it's still running. Yes, we made all of our clothes.
Do you have it?
My daughter in Arizona has what's left of it. Yes, we learned from the ground up.
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ERQUIAGA: Did your mother ever hire any men to help her with the farm work?
CARTER: She'd never think of it.
ERQUIAGA: You were all able to do it yourself.
CARTER:
ERQUIAGA:
Well, my twin brother was twelve years old, and my younger brother was about nine when my father died, so we learned how to work early. Then the girls took the pitchfork and worked the same.
Did your mother ever remarry?
There was a man whom she met, and he was interested in her, but it didn't last long. No, it was more important to her to have the compensation from the government that she could depend on than to take a chance on .
She did get something from the government?
Oh, yes. She got an allotment for each one of us children until we reached a certain age. That was very important.
That was quite an accomplishment for her to keep her family together and pay for that ranch all by herself, though.
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CARTER:
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CARTER:
Yes, and when my sister older than I finished high school and wanted to be a teacher, she and Dad had agreed that we were to get all the education that we wanted because that's something that no one can take away from you, and so my sister, Olga, wanted to go to the University. With two years normal school training, you could go and teach, so Mom rented the ranch to some friends, and we moved to Reno for those two years.
When was that? What years?
(laughing)
Can't remember the exact time.
Yes. Anyway, we moved to Reno, and she got her two years of training and went up to Tuscarora to teach the first year. While we were living in Reno, we went to the Sparks church, and she met a young fellow, Arthur Loverage and after her first year of teaching then they were married, and they went out to be missionaries. In fact, he passed away just October of this year. They spent most of their time in Arizona.
Well, after those two years, did you come back to the farm?
Yes.
ERQUIAGA: Did your mother come back and run it herself?
CARTER: Yes. And then when I was ready for college, we had friends up there, and I stayed with them, the two years that I went.
ERQUIAGA: Did you ever raise any turkeys or cantaloupe, things that they raised in Fallon?
CARTER: We didn't dare take a chance on something that we didn't know too much about, so we just had the regular potatoes and beans and carrots and things that we knew.
ERQUIAGA: CARTER: And these cows that you had, did you sell the cream? Did you milk them and separate the cream?
The three of us girls took turns of milking the cows, and we had a cream separator separated the milk and used the milk and saved the cream, sold it, and divided the check between the three girls so we could start shopping on our own what things that we wanted or things that we needed. That was my first experience of financial handling.
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ERQUIAGA: That was your first job really, wasn't it, that you got paid for?
CARTER: (laughing) That's right. Yes, uh-huh. So, one thing at a time, and we worked it out. But, I admire my mother with teenagers, five of us, going through it.
ERQUIAGA: I should say! That was wonderful that she could do all of that.
CARTER: Then her mother came to visit us different times during the winter. She could get a pass, would come out and stay with us just for a break.
ERQUIAGA: Your grandfather was still working for the railroad?
CARTER: No. Tie had died.
ERQUIAGA: But, she could still get a pass.
CARTER: Yes. But, she loved it out here and wanted to be with the family, and even when she was hardly able to come, her daughter-in-law and grandson brought her out, and she came to Hazen, and we brought her home one day, and the next day she was gone. She passed away. I think it was cancer, but then her daughter-in-law took her back to Illinois.
ERQUIAGA: To be buried back there.
CARTER: Yes, uh-huh.
ERQUIAGA: Well, do you suppose that that was something she really would have wanted if she could have chosen?
CARTER: That's the way she wanted it, and being in Fallon again. We had the best visit with her that afternoon before she went.
ERQUIAGA: Well, that's something for you all to remember.
CARTER: It is. Yes, yes.
ERQUIAGA: Well, your mother never had time to work at a job away from home.
CARTER: We never thought of a thing like that. I was talking to a group of junior high kids, and all they think of is getting a job out in the public to work. But, even as I was growing up, I never thought of a thing like that.
ERQUIAGA: You didn't.
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CARTER:
ERQUIAGA:
CARTER:
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Never did. Oh, we did a little bit as we got a little bit older, my sister worked at a paper office with a friend that we had. But, then, my brothers would go out on haying jobs, and, eventually, onto road jobs.
Well, the fact that you and your sisters got money from your milking cows was a job, of course. You got paid money, and you learned to handle it.
We had three or four cows, and that came out. My oldest sister [Rosene] milked Old Red, and Old Red would kick her everytime. We let her do it. She didn't mind fighting with her. In fact, we had a goat, a buck, that was really on me. My sister was beating him on the head when I came. "Ah! Don't do that! You'll kill him!" She knew she couldn't kill him he was so ornery. She had to get rid of him, though, eventually.
Did you own a car?
Eventually. Before we got the ranch, the folks bought a Model T Ford touring car. We had to crank it, and one time when my mother was cranking it, it backfired and broke her arm.
Oh!
But she didn't go to the doctor. She just took care of it herself. Only left a little bit of a bend in it. Just so you could tell it, but it became strong enough to use.
And so she could drive the car?
Oh, yes. Uh-huh. Then she taught us how to drive.
How old were you when you learned to drive?
Right after Dad [died]. In fact, after we moved to the ranch, each one of us would meet him at the big gate when he came home from work, and he would show us how to drive from the gate down to the house, so it gave us the foundation, and the boys just picked it up naturally without thinking about it, and my twin brother, was a mechanic. He loved it. He could care less about farming, but the mechanics was his thing. My youngest brother [Noel] enjoyed the farming. In fact, he was going to pick it up and go on with it, but he was called into the service about 1942 or 1943. He
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was killed in 1945, missing in action over Yugoslavia, so then Mom stayed on the ranch a little while and knew that she couldn't run it when she was there by herself, so she sold the place and bought a little house down the street here on Front Street. She loved it.
ERQUIAGA: Where did you go to school?
CARTER: Oh, I started at the, where the Cottage Schools are. They had a large brick building with four classrooms. In fact, when we came from Illinois, we were so
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bashful. All three of us girls went into the same room. We had no idea what to expect, and I can still remember the old phonics chart, the old Beacon chart that we did our sounds with, but we weren't in there very long until they discovered my two sisters were a little bit smarter than I was, so they moved them on to another grade. And, then, my oldest sister went through until the seventh grade, and they would promote every half year, and so, finally, they decided this was no good, so they put her in a special class with another group, and they went on so she finally wound up a year ahead of Olga. That was different.
Why is it that you didn't go to the Old River School? You lived right close to it.
That was before we moved out there.
It was already closed up by the time you moved there?
Yes, the people we bought the place from had gone to school there, and they used it for the dances and the picnics and the dinners and all. It was sort of the social gathering.
ERQUIAGA: How did you get into the old high school?
CARTER: Oh, we had a bus running. An old bus that we'd roll up the canvas curtains on the side and the chains that had been used in ore holes in the sides let the cold air in our feet. (laughing) There were seats up and down the side of the bus. Yes, we went to school at Oats Park School. It's condemned until the art people [Churchill County Arts Council] got ahold of it and got it open. Yes.
ERQUIAGA: So you were able to ride the bus into town all the time to school?
CARTER: Yeah. But there was one year they wouldn't let the high school kids ride the bus, so Mom managed to get a
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ERQUIAGA: CARTER: cart and we had the horse, so my oldest sister hitched up the horse and cart and came to high school that year. (laughing)
ERQUIAGA: CARTER: ERQUIAGA: And then what did she do with that horse all day while she was in school?
CARTER: She took feed, and at noon she would feed it. She tied it up.
By the high school.
Somewhere.
Well, that was a chore, too. That would be different today, wouldn't it?
(laughing) The kids might love it. (laughing) Oh, yes, and West End was big brick building with the four rooms in it, and I went through that school, and there were trees all around in the back, and in the fall when the leaves would fall, all of the pupils would go out and help build houses and that and play out in the leaves. I can remember that.
ERQUIAGA: And I guess that was right on the outskirts of the town.
CARTER: It's about where the school is now. ERQUIAGA: But there was no town west of that, I guess.
CARTER: It was fields out in back of it, yes.
ERQUIAGA: Well, when you went to Oats Park, did you take home ec?
CARTER: Yes. I made an apron. We learned to cook--I've forgotten what it was we cooked.
ERQUIAGA:
That was required at that time, I guess. All the girls did that.
Yes. That's right. They don't do that anymore though.
I don't think so. Were there any particular teachers who influenced in your current choice of occupation?
Well, I was in sixth grade when I made up my mind that's what I wanted to do.
Be a teacher?
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CARTER: Yes. But my dad had been one, and it was teachers in the family so I wasn't surprised, but I can remember this one teacher, Miss Pippin. She was real sharp and right to the point, and I remember one day I jumped over the desk a little bit, so for ten jumps I had to jump back and forth across that desk to remember not to do that anymore.
ERQUIAGA: Oh!
CARTER:
ERQUIAGA:
CARTER:
Then our penmanship teacher was P.T. Marshall, so we called her Potato Tomato Marshall, and the kids teased her no end. Oh, yes, Laura Mills was my eighth-grade teacher. An excellent teacher, but very firm, and one of her projects was when you got into that grade, we had so many magpies everywhere, and they were a nuisance to the farmer, so we'd go down to the river, it was a contest of who could bring in the most magpie. I think my sister won a time or two, and they even paid them to bring them in, but I don't think you ever see a magpie around anymore. She went down to the river--the river wasn't too far away--and found nest after nest. And speaking of the river reminded me of the folks from whom we bought the ranch in the first place told us of the time when they would take the horse and swim the river to milk the cow on the other side, and they'd have to hold the bucket of milk up out of the water as they came home with the bucket of milk. I thought that was interesting.
I should say. Did you ever have to do that when you were there?
Oh, no. We had our fences up by then.
ERQUIAGA: So your cows didn't go as far, and by then Lahontan Dam had been completed, so the river probably didn't overflow as much as it did earlier.
CARTER:
It was pretty well under control. In fact, they were getting it under control when we moved out there. I remember one time when I went over to the pasture, I saw a bird flopping on its side, and it turned out to be a killdeer that had a nest near by, and you could hardly find the nest it was so well camouflaged, so that was an interesting experience.
Did you have gophers in your field?
Oh, yes! Gophers everywhere.
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ERQUTAGA: Did you trap them?
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CARTER: No, we didn't bother, but the Indians would come along and drown them out, and they'd have a feast of them then. They say they would even roast them in the
hides.
ERQUIAGA: Hmmm. Well, later the T.C.I.D. would give a bounty. They didn't do that at your time?
CARTER: Hum-um. Hadn't got started yet. We'd have been glad to have gotten them.
ERQUIAGA: Gotten a little pin money?
CARTER: You're right.
ERQUTAGA: Well, what did you kids do for entertainment when you were young? Or did you have time?
CARTER: (laughing) Well, of an evening in the summertime it was so pleasant out there, and sometimes we'd have company. Neighbors would come over, and we'd play Kick the Can or any kind of a game like that. One game that stands out in my thinking was when one person would go out and hide and then give them time, and the rest of them would come out and hunt them, and then whoever could get back to the base before . . . if that one could get back to the base, they wouldn't have to be it any more. Well, it was my turn to be it, so I was down in the bush by the milk house, and I was well hidden, and here came the crowd, and they were singing, "The moon is shining, the stars are bright. There are no bears in the woods tonight." The closer they got to the milk house, my twin brother said, "She's down there in those bushes," and they said, "Toss a stick in there, and see if she is." (laughing) So, it must have been a two-by-four. He tossed it in. I got it on the jaw. I had to go to the doctor and have my face lanced, and I still have the scar, but they ran back before I could ever get out. (laughing) I'll never forget that one.
ERQUIAGA: Did you have a radio or a phonograph?
CARTER: Not until my brother made arrangements to get one, and he tinkered with it, and it was so exciting to be able to have that radio. But when my grandmother came, it annoyed her ears, and she wouldn't even let us put one of her scarves on that old radio. We did have a phonograph. Eventually got a hold of one. And we had the organ we had brought from Illinois. My sister, Olga, was interested in it, and she learned how to play.
16
ERQUIAGA: Did you have bicycles?
CARTER: We had a scooter. We built a scooter with the wheels, so we had two of the scooters when we lived in town on Stillwater Avenue we had a lot of fun. We built a frame in the front so we could hold on to it, and the rollers would let us scoot on down the sidewalk. That was a lot of fun.
ERQUIAGA: Did you ride horses for entertainment?
CARTER: When we were out on the ranch, yes.
ERQUIAGA: Were you a pretty good horse woman?
CARTER: (laughing) I rode. Let's put it that way. ERQUIAGA: Well, that was something.
CARTER: This Mustang the folks had given us, Dolly, she was a smart one. Real smart. We each had to take turns riding her.
ERQUIAGA: Did you ever get thrown from her?
CARTER: No. No. She had been broke. She was a cow horse, and she got too old for the folks in Yerington, so they thought it would be a good project for us kids, and we certainly enjoyed her.
ERQUIAGA: Did you ever go to the movie theater?
CARTER: No. No, we couldn't afford that. Never ate out. Never. We just ate at home. Had company whenever.
ERQUIAGA: Who were some of your neighbors around there?
CARTER: The Zauggs, the Erbs, the Baffords and the Mitchells. Mrs. Mitchell, the one that owned the place, had a hospital in town. She really helped Mom through a lot of hard times.
ERQUTAGA: Where did she have her hospital?
CARTER: Down on Broadway. It was in her home.
ERQUIAGA: Oh.
CARTER: She was an excellent worker, but I can remember her rubbing in between her shoulders and hurting. She must
have had cancer, so she didn't last too long.
ERQUTAGA: CARTER: ERQUIAGA: CARTER:
ERQUIAGA:
CARTER:
17
Well, did you do special things for Christmas?
Whatever we could manage we did, yes.
Did you have a tree?
My memory of a tree was when we went out and got a tumbleweed and decorated it. No, those weren't important things in our book.
How about when Santa Claus used to come downtown, though, and give the children candy. Did you ever get to go there?
Well, when we were in town one time, I can remember that we were very--that's when we moved in off of the ranch--things were very short that winter, and I can remember some of the townspeople brought a doll for each one of us and brought us some treats of some kind. Mom always made things special, and we cooked extra things to make it special. Any other families were around why we always had a . . .
For your Christmas dinner, you mean?
Yes. Oh, yes.
You' had certain traditions.
Oh, yes. More than gifts. In fact, relatives from Illinois would send us gifts like material to sew up, and that was more important to my thinking. No, we planned on Christmas, but I don't remember that it was that important. You don't do things when you just don't have the money.
Right. Well, were things any different when you were a teenager? For entertainment did you do anything different? Did you ever go to the school football games or anything like that?
Well, my brothers played football, so, yes, we did and went to the school dances and the movies.
ERQUIAGA: CARTER: ERQUIAGA: CARTER:
ERQUIAGA:
CARTER:
ERQUIAGA: By that time you went to an occasional movie, did you?
CARTER: Yes. Well, we got the place paid off and in better shape then, but we'd pick a time. And, then, when we were living in Reno, we could go get a loaf of bread for a nickel and a bottle of milk for a nickel, so each one of us would go down to the store, and each one would get a loaf of bread and a bottle of milk, and
then we'd all go to the show. Ten cents to go to the show.
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ERQUIAGA:
CARTER:
Mmmm. Well, when you moved to Reno for your sister to go to the University, how did you get there? Did your mother drive you up there or one of your brothers?
My brother got a Ford coupe that had had to have isinglasses, and he did a lot of the running around. That was his big thing. Driving. He took my sister up, but, of course, Mom got her situated and established. In fact, the friends who encouraged us to go to Reno were running the hotel--it's still there--on Virginia Street, and Olga and I stayed there overnight while Mom was getting things organized and getting ready to move us up there. The boys were helping her move and my older sister. So that we didn't have to have the car full of people, we stayed up there that night. I remember walking down Virginia Street scared. (laughing) New experience.
I guess. That would be.
But, then the high school was right across the street from the house where we lived, so it was very handy, except my twin brother would stay in bed until after the first bell rang, and he'd get over there before the second bell rang. (laughing) He played football though. He was a star, and when they called for a class reunion, he was a year behind me because somehow it didn't work out that we were together, so when they got in touch with the ones to come to the reunion, they didn't know me. They just knew him because he played football. (laughing) I didn't count at all. No.
You came back and finished high school here in Fallon?
I was in my senior year when we moved to Reno, so I graduated from the Reno school, so I don't have a class reunion down here.
ERQUIAGA: CARTER:
ERQUIAGA: CARTER:
ERQUIAGA: And then you went on to the University?
CARTER: For the two years, and then I taught up at Dunphy near Battle Mountain. It was a little country school. Five pupils.
ERQUIAGA: What was that like? Five pupils was it, and all in one room?
CARTER: Yes. An Irish boy, big 230-pound kid in the eighth grade and his sister, Theresa, and Bob Mahoney and then
19
two little Japanese girls and an Indian boy. They all worked around there, and that's the size of it.
ERQUIAGA: Dunphy was a mine, I think, was it?
CARTER: More farming, and then was a little store right over not far from it, and there were lots of ranchers in through there.
ERQUIAGA: Well, you were going to school during the Depression years to college. I was wondering what your memories are of the Depression years.
CARTER: My first paycheck was during the worst of the Depression, so it made no impression because I was able to buy a car.
ERQUIAGA: Oh! Now this was after you had finished the University?
CARTER: Yes. I got a little school at North Truckee right out of Sparks. My first school.
ERQUIAGA: So, you really didn't see much difference from Depression times to before that.
CARTER: No.
ERQUTAGA: Because your family didn't have much to begin with.
CARTER: That's right. I was used to it. Had sixteen pupils there at North Truckee. In fact, my daughter married into the family of some of those kids.
ERQUIAGA: Some of those that you taught?
CARTER: Yes. The Diandas.
ERQUIAGA: I'm forgetting here. Was your first teaching job at Dunphy?
CARTER: North Truckee.
ERQUIAGA: And that's when you bought the car.
CARTER: Yes.
ERQUIAGA: And how long did you teach there?
CARTER: About three years.
ERQUIAGA: Oh, and that's where you bought your car. Those were
20
pretty good years.
CARTER: Yes.
ERQUIAGA: And then you went to Dunphy?
CARTER: Right. And then I got married.
ERQUIAGA: What year was that?
CARTER: 1937. Price was my name. Then I had three children. ERQUIAGA: And what was your husband's first name?
CARTER: Ed. Had a fine family back east, but he didn't pan out very well. After about nine years we had to leave him.
I was a single mom then with the three kids.
ERQUIAGA: Tell me about your children. Boys, girls?
CARTER: The oldest one was a girl, Pat, and Edna and then Clint.
ERQUIAGA: And did you teach after they were born while they were small?
CARTER: Well, I came home to Mom.
ERQUIAGA: After you'd divorced you came home?
CARTER: Yes. And she said, "Well, I was waiting for you," 'cause she could see what we were up against. There was no future when he spent all his money drinking. Good worker and had talent and all, but the kids are glad that I . . .
ERQUIAGA: So, then, did you teach here in Fallon?
CARTER: Yes. Eventually. Mom thought we could make a living on the ranch. She bought a tractor and we put in a berry patch up on the hill, sandy place, and then we had a strawberry patch down below, but it was too hard on my legs. I couldn't handle it, so the more I thought of it I couldn't see any future with that. She wasn't very happy with me, but that's when I went . . . I started teaching remedial work in the upper grades to start with. Then I went to the lower grades. I had first grade for fifteen years.
ERQUIAGA: So, your children went to school right here in Fallon. CARTER: Yes.
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ERQUIAGA: Did they all finish school here?
CARTER: Yes. Yes. The oldest one went to Northwest Nazarene College in Napa, Idaho, and then Edna went one year, and she said, "Mother, I can make more money going to a business school, and I can make far more money than I can to go and teach." She'd have made an excellent teacher. Well, she did. She got out into the money, but it didn't work. She's still a good worker, though.
ERQUTAGA: Where do they live now your children?
CARTER:
ERQUTAGA: CARTER: ERQUIAGA: CARTER:
ERQUIAGA: CARTER: ERQUIAGA:
CARTER: ERQUIAGA: CARTER:
Pat is teaching in a Christian school in Prescott, Arizona. She taught in Santa Anna for several years in a private Christian school. She enjoys that so much. And I get down there to see them once in a while.
Do you have grandchildren?
Oh, yes.
How many?
Well, I married Clarence Carter in 1960, and he had two boys, and I had two girls, and they got married, and so we just keep on having on great-grand kids now. I've lost track.
They didn't marry each other?
No.
They married other . I see. You combined your families.
Oh, yes.
So, between the two, you have a lot of grandchildren.
And they got along so well. We enjoy them still. Ray lives in Las Cruces, New Mexico, and I'm going down to visit him as soon as we can get organized, if the weather clears up. Merwyn lives in San Jose [California]. He's with Bell Telephone. He's had a family of three kids. Ray had two kids.
ERQUIAGA: CARTER: ERQUIAGA:
Did you Yes.
What kind of work did he do?
meet Clarence Carter here in Fallon?
22
CARTER: He was a carpenter. He lived a half a mile down the road, and he went to the same church as we did, and his wife wasn't a bit well. After she passed away, he just couldn't handle it. So we were married in 1960, and we were married for twenty-five years. The highlight is he became a Gideon. Worked with the Gideon, and I've enjoyed working in that area still.
ERQUIAGA: Your church has always been very important to you and your family.
CARTER: Yes, I told them at church the other night that when my kids were growing up during the teen years when they're so hard to handle that's when we went to church and the folks put their arms around them and just kept them so busy they didn't have time to be monkey business. And then I was the chaperone for them most of time because I was single, so I knew what was going on.
ERQUIAGA: Did your mother have that kind of help when she was raising you as teenagers? Did she go to a church?
CARTER: She said she didn't have clothes to dress. She went to the Methodist Church later on. But, she kept us busy enough on the ranch, and she kept her eye on us enough to know what was going on. Yeah. Remarkable.
ERQUIAGA: I was going to ask you, what are your memories of World War II? You already mentioned that your brother was killed.
CARTER: My uncle--I'm going back to World War I. ERQUIAGA: Oh, okay.
CARTER: (laughing) I'm trying to get organized here. Uncle Irvie, Dad's brother, went over to Europe. Just got over there when it was declared, but I can still see him standing tall, and I pattern myself after him. You know, as a teacher, I tried to stand tall. When my brother, Noel, after he decided to take care of the farm, and the neighbors managed to get him into the service. Selective service, so they turned his name in, and then he got his training and went over to Yugoslavia and was about ready to come home on furlough. They were on a plane that was sort of an old one, number thirteen, and it went down over Yugoslavia just before he was to come home, so we lost him.
ERQUIAGA: Had he been married?
CARTER: No.
23
ERQUIAGA: He didn't have any children then. Had your husband, Clarence, been in the service when he was younger?
CARTER: No.
ERQUIAGA: He didn't go.
CARTER: He was from Kansas.
ERQUIAGA: How did he come out to Fallon?
CARTER: I think looking for work. He heard there was jobs out here. He had the two boys.
ERQUIAGA: What are the things that were of interest to you and your husband in your retirement years? What did you do?
CARTER: He loved to travel and drive. He could drive all day long and still go further. So, we went to Kansas a good many times. We drove to Alaska several times. He kept pretty busy with his carpenter work, and I was teaching, so we didn't get too much time off, but after we retired, he liked to go down to the Tecopa Hot Springs. That was good for his arthritis. He had it really bad.
ERQUIAGA: Where was that?
CARTER: Seventy miles out of Las Vegas. And that was a sort of a senior citizens' retreat. In fact, one of the ladies said, "I can't think of a place people our age can come and enjoy and do as many things as we can here at Tecopa and it costs as little as it does." 'Cause the parking of the trailer houses wasn't too expensive. They had hot springs there. The Indians had given it to the public to be no charge, so you could come and go as you pleased, and they had a special pool for the ones who were handicapped. My husband had an ostomy operation, and so he had to go in there after the operation.
ERQUIAGA: I see. Did you go there very often?
CARTER: Well, in the wintertime.
ERQUIAGA: You'd go and spend the winter?
CARTER: Well, a few months. We pulled out in a foot of snow one January to go down. Made a lot of friends down there, too.
24
ERQUIAGA: So, how long have you lived here in this house?
CARTER: Since 1986. In fact, we bought several houses along the line here, so that when he got to the place where he no longer worked, he would have projects to work on, so he remodeled this house, and we had the one next door my daughter lived in for a while. In fact, we had four along here.
ERQUIAGA: And was it one of those that your mother lived in?
CARTER: No, she was on further down.
ERQUIAGA: And when did she die?
CARTER: In 1972, I believe.
ERQUIAGA: Do you belong to any organizations?
CARTER: Besides the Gideons, [American Association of] University Women, and the Church of the Nazarene.
ERQUIAGA: Oh. How about the retired teachers? You mentioned that the other day.
CARTER: Oh, yes. Right. We still go out to lunch. And then I work at the Literacy. I was going to get out of it,
but they have so many people lined up that are . . I should have gone out to talk to Jeff today, but I'll have to do it next week.
ERQUIAGA: Well, you certainly keep busy. Do you drive around still?
CARTER: Oh, yes. My daughter, Edna, in Reno worked for a company, and she rounded up a Cadillac for me, so that's what I drive.
ERQUIAGA: Well, that's good. You're independent.
CARTER: Very.
ERQUIAGA: You can do what you want.
CARTER: And they ask me how am I doing, I say, "I do as I please."
ERQUIAGA: That's great. You seem to be very healthy.
CARTER: Oh, the Lord's been good. So good.
ERQUIAGA: Now, you mention that you and your husband helped place
25
the cross that's up on Rattlesnake Hill.
CARTER: Oh, yes. Vera Harrigan and her husband got it started, and then she needed a committee to work with it, so we worked with her on that, and we were out there when the helicopters tried to get it placed up on the hill. Because it was so big and heavy, they tried to do that, but the helicopter blew so much dirt down in there, they had to get other equipment to get it in.
ERQUIAGA: Oh.
CARTER: Chaplain Huffman took his trailer house and went up there to stay with it until they got it settled in. He was on the committee, too.
ERQUIAGA: Well, that was really quite a big project.
CARTER: It was exciting.
ERQUIAGA: And after they got it placed up on the hill, did you have to manually dig the hole for it?
CARTER: We had already had it dug.
ERQUIAGA: With equipment?
CARTER: I think so. We didn't go up for that part.
ERQUIAGA: Do you go to the sunrise services that they have up there?
CARTER: The older. I get I'm getting to the place where I just won't hardly go any place by myself, and I just have a good excuse.
ERQUIAGA: But, you can look up there and see it.
CARTER: Not as well from where I live now as in another location around. I'd have to go out there almost to see it.
ERQUIAGA: I can see it when I drive out north to my home.
CARTER: Oh, yes.
ERQUIAGA: I'll think about you now when I see it.
CARTER: Yes.
ERQUIAGA: Well, is there anything else? You've had such an exciting life. Is there anything else you'd like to
CARTER:
ERQUIAGA: CARTER: ERQUIAGA: CARTER:
26
tell me about?
It just goes on and on. I mean, I've just had more opportunities that are unbelievable. I even tutored youngsters during school and at different times, and then when I retired, I had a chance to go to Australia. I have a nephew who lives down there, and we spent a week down there. I had a wonderful time. Well, he lives at New Zealand, but we made the rounds. And then I have a friend in Reno. She was the State retired teachers' president. Got really well acquainted with her. She wanted to go to Russia. That's the last place I wanted to go. I thought of it as a dark continent, but she was not able to go by herself because of her eyes, and so I thought, "Well, it'll be an experience," so I went. I'm glad I did. It was really amazing.
I'll bet that was an interesting experience.
We went from Moscow and Leningrad and then down to Yalta. It was fabulous. An experience we had there.
How long were you there?
Just on a tour.
With a group.
The Vantage Tour Group. Excellent. We had good service, good eating. Yes, I think I've had many opportunities that I've enjoyed.
ERQUTAGA: CARTER:
ERQUIAGA: Well, when I came in, you showed me your family tree that you've made for your children. That looks like it took a lot of time to get all of that information together.
CARTER:
A little at a time. That is the original. I had to go down to Jeff's and have copies made. The nephew in New Zealand wanted a copy. I've sent it to nieces in Alaska and my sister in Alaska and then one in Yuma, Arizona. Just as far away from each other as we can get. (laughing)
But you keep in touch with all those relatives.
I phone my sister in Alaska and her husband. Then the ones in--Olga, who is retired in Phoenix, she called me the other day, and then her daughter lives in Yuma, and when we were over there this last summer to her son's wedding, she showed us the puppets she had been shown
ERQUIAGA: CARTER:
ERQUIAGA:
CARTER:
27
how to make. Beautiful puppets. My daughter's son who lives in Santa Anna works for Douglas-McDonald, he and his wife are into puppets. I try to go down once a year. They have three little tots just as cute as they can be. It's so much fun to see them. The things that they pull. He had a grandpa puppet, and he was wishing that he had a grandma puppet, and I said, "Well, I'll make one for you," and the more I thought of it, the less I thought of it. My right hand tries to go to sleep, and it doesn't work right, so I thought of this niece down there in Yuma, and I wrote to her and said, "Would you make a grandma puppet?" I should show you the letter she wrote. She gave me a piece of the white hair that she has and the material that she's made a dress out of and white apron and glasses she has on it and it's a nice big one, but she said, "Whenever we make these puppets, we get so attached to them we just want to keep them." So, she got it finished and sent it over to Jordan, and Jordan is so excited now he's writing a play, and he's going to send me a tape of it so I'll be able to play it and see the picture of it and all. So, it's kind of an interesting family. Then I have another niece that teaches kindergarten there at Ehrenberg in Arizona. Have an excuse to go see them.
You have a lot of teachers in your family. It's in the genes, I guess.
Yes, we do. One in Prescott teaches there. Doing an excellent job. They gave her a sixth grade nobody else could handle last year, so she took some of them that did all work took them to Washington, D.C. Oh, yes, I went with her to Washington, D.C., one year.
When we were growing up in the big two-story house there on the ranch, one afternoon somebody went upstairs, and they said, "There's an animal up here." We checked it out, and it was running here and there. Turned out to be a weasel, and how it got in the house, we'll never know. (laughing) But when we lived there on Old River Road, Clarence and I in his house when we were married one afternoon I looked out in the pasture right up close to the house there, and I saw like a wave was coming toward the house. Just a big wave! Wave of what? And I stood there and watched and after awhile they came close enough, and it was a whole family of skunks. Baby skunks.
ERQUIAGA: Oh, gosh!
CARTER: Running toward the house, (laughing) so we all got out
there and directed them toward the canal.
28
ERQUIAGA: What did you do about the weasel that you found in the house?
CARTER: We finally got it out. I don't remember how.
ERQUIAGA: You didn't have to kill it. Both of your sisters are still living?
CARTER: Yes.
ERQUIAGA: And both of your brothers have died. When you were talking about your teachers at Oats Park, you didn't mention Elnora Toft. Was she one of your teachers?
CARTER: Yes.
ERQUIAGA: And then she moved on to different things, and then, eventually, didn't she marry your brother?
CARTER: She went into the WACS. Into the service, and when she came out after her age limit and got better acquainted with my brother, and they decided to get married.
ERQUIAGA: And did they live here in Fallon?
CARTER: Scheelite.
ERQUIAGA: Oh.
CARTER: She taught out there.
ERQUIAGA: Oh, I see. And was he working out there?
CARTER: He was working at the mine in the mechanics.
ERQUIAGA: Well, that was kind of an interesting turn in your life.
CARTER: Yes. (laughing)
ERQUIAGA: In their lives anyway.
CARTER: Yes, it was.
ERQUIAGA: Do you have a particular philosophy that you live your life by as you go along each day?
CARTER: I just do the best I can and trust the Lord.
ERQUIAGA: Is this something that was instilled in you by your mother?
29
CARTER: I think that's a . . . She never talked about it. She lived it, I think.
ERQUIAGA: Her example taught you.
CARTER: Right.
ERQUIAGA: And do you find that your children maintain this quality in their lives?
CARTER: I think so. Yes.
ERQUIAGA: All from watching the previous generation.
CARTER: I enjoy going to my daughter's there in Chino Valley in her school in the private school and watching her teach. Very much the way I do. Although she teaches almost like tutoring. Individually. She's an excellent teacher, and she does a lot of paperwork. More than you can imagine. They're expecting more and more all the time.
ERQUTAGA: CARTER: That seems to be the way. Well, your last years of teaching were when? More or less.
(laughing) I have to have my pencil. They teased me the other day about not telling them the exact date. Oh, I can't remember.
ERQUIAGA: Did you see quite a difference in the students and in the teaching methods by that time from when you first started?
CARTER: Well, after I retired, I never stopped. I continued substituting until this year. For no particular reason. In fact, Judy Pratt over at the junior high said, "Well, why did you quit substituting?" And I said, "Well, I just have too many other things to do," and I'm finding at my age, if I do one major thing a day that's about as far as I get. I get too tired if I try to do more than that. Although I try to keep up my exercise. I think that helps to keep limber and keep going.
ERQUIAGA: What do you do for exercise? Do you walk?
CARTER: Yes, and I bought a treadmill.
ERQUIAGA: Oh.
CARTER: I thought it would be cheaper than a doctor bill, and I got lazy about using it, and my back got in a shape
30
that it was coming apart, so I got back on it.
ERQUIAGA: So, what advice would you have for people today to keep as healthy as you are?
CARTER:
ERQUIAGA:
CARTER:
ERQUIAGA:
CARTER: ERQUIAGA: CARTER: ERQUTAGA: CARTER:
My daughter found a book of Fit for Life that shows how the combination of foods is what causes the gas, the problems and all, and so our living on vegetables as I grew up is really the secret even of keeping from having cancer I'm finding.
Did you continue to eat that way after you were married when you were raising your children?
No, because my husband, Clarence, had a deep freeze full of meat, and I told him I didn't know how to cook meat. (laughing) But I can cook it if I have to, and I've got a recipe for tomato soup that calls for celery, potatoes, and tomato soup. You can add other things if you want to, and then Mrs. Dash's seasoning gives it the flavor that you need, and then I freeze it. Make a big batch. Oh, it has a lot of carrots in it, and then I freeze a batch, then all I have to do is thaw it out. So easy to handle when you live by yourself. And then, of a morning, just eat nothing but fruit till at noon and I eat a light lunch. So I follow that pretty well, and I'm sure that's why I'm feeling better.
Do you have a doctor that you go to occasionally for a checkup?
Just a checkup.
Does he think you're doing very well?
They seem to.
I'm sure they will.
The other day I was in Safeway, and a fellow with a white beard came up, almost put his arm around me, and I said, "I don't know you." He said, "I'm Dr. Ridenour." (laughing) He wanted to know how I was, and I said, "I'm fine." But, I got aggravated with him. I didn't think he was giving me enough attention, so I went over to Dr. [Janice] Spann, and I'm satisfied. But, I never go unless I have to.
ERQUIAGA: No. But, I'm sure they're impressed with how well you're doing.
31
CARTER: I try to figure it out myself before I get . . . And then my daughter there in Arizona got a hold of some vitamins. I used to catch cold so easily, but these vitamins just keep it warded off. I'm so lucky. I mean, just so lucky in many ways.
ERQUIAGA: Well, that's wonderful. If there's nothing else that you would like to talk about, we will end this interview.
CARTER: Nice to meet you.
ERQUIAGA: This is Anita Erquiaga of the Churchill County Museum Oral History Program. Today is February 7, 1995. I have come back to Esther Carter's home to ask a few more questions about some things I missed when interviewed her here on February 3, 1995.
ERQUIAGA: Well, Esther, once again, I thank you, and we'll see if we can get a few of these questions answered that I didn't ask you last week when I was here. I'd like to go back to when your father was killed. Who was it that he worked for?
CARTER: He was working for the government, the Bureau of Reclamation.
ERQUIAGA: And did you say they were making irrigation boxes?
CARTER: Dad was a carpenter, and he was making the little irrigation boxes that were needed in the canals and in the irrigation part of it.
ERQUIAGA: And they were placed on the different farms to be used later?
CARTER: On the canals or wherever, yes.
ERQUIAGA: How old was your father when he was killed?
CARTER: I believe he was about forty.
ERQUIAGA: And Mr. Ascargota who was working with him, do you know who his family is?
CARTER: Yes. They've lived here. There was Mary Richards. I knew her. She worked in the store [Sprouse Reitz], and Julia Cislini worked in the school lunch project. I knew her very well.
ERQUIAGA: And they're still living here?
32
CARTER: Yes, they are.
ERQUIAGA: And then you mentioned that your family moved to Reno for a couple of years. Your mother leased the ranch. What years were you living in Reno?
CARTER: My sister, Olga, just older than I had graduated from the local high school and was ready for her schooling in Reno, University of Nevada, was 1929, and we were up there for a couple of years.
ERQUIAGA: And you graduated from Reno High School?
CARTER: Yes, I did. That was my last year of high school, so I had the opportunity . . . The high school was right across the street from where we lived, and I graduated that year from Reno High School?
ERQUIAGA: Is that where the Reno High School is now?
CARTER: No. It was on West Street at that time, and it grew so big they had moved it down below the river. It is not new any longer. I don't know what the setup is of it now. It was a much smaller school, but my brother, Les, played football. He was pretty well known then. He was a year behind me in school.
ERQUIAGA: And, then your family all came back to Fallon to live?
CARTER: When I had one more year in University, they left me with friends, and I finished up there when they came back to the ranch to carry on.
ERQUIAGA: And your brother came back and worked here?
CARTER: Yes.
ERQUIAGA: Well, when did your mother sell the ranch and move into town?
CARTER: The best I can remember was in 1965. Around there. ERQUIAGA: And who did she sell it to?
CARTER: To Roy Zaugg.
ERQUIAGA: And he still owns it?
CARTER: I believe so.
ERQUIAGA: Well, you were telling me also that you three girls would milk the cows and sell the cream, and that money
33
was yours so you could learn how to spend your money. About how much money did you get for that?
CARTER: I think it averaged about five dollars apiece. We were able to get the catalog and do our shopping, pick out whatever we chose.
ERQUIAGA: And how often did you get that?
CARTER: Maybe about once a month.
ERQUIAGA: At that time, could you buy quite a bit with five dollars?
CARTER: I don't remember very much except a box of Coty dusting powder that stands out in my memory as being very special, and there were little bits of jewelry here and there that we picked out.
ERQUIAGA: Well, that was a good way to learn.
CARTER: Yes.
ERQUIAGA: We talked about what your oldest daughter is doing now and where she lives, but we didn't get around to the other two children. Would you like to tell me about them, where they are now and what they do?
CARTER: Edna was born in 1941, and she decided not to ever teach, although she would have been an excellent one. I wish she had. She went for the business section of it and said she could make more money than her sister could in the length of time. We sent her to Sacramento to a business school where she took her training. She went right to work, and, of course, she did make pretty
good money, but the money . . she came from the side
of the family that money didn't stay in your hands for very long, so she used it and enjoyed it and used it, and she was married then and had a little boy named Tom Paul. He's married now and has two little girls living in Illinois. Edna owned the Gadabout Travel Agency for awhile there in Reno. She just loved to travel just like my mother did, and handled it very well, but the cooperation she got was not suitable, and so she lost it, but she's back working in a travel agency there in Reno. Gives her a chance to travel without it costing too much to.
ERQUIAGA: And how about your son? His name was Clint, I believe you said?
CARTER: Yes. He was born in 1942. He went to school here in
34
Fallon and was a big help there on the ranch with Mom and us helping to do the little chores around. Always on hand, and then he went into the service, and he was stationed in Korea, and being away from home, he was a lonely kid, so he met this Korean girl, and she was so anxious to get to this country that they finally got married, and they had a beautiful little girl, Alisa. She is about twenty-six years old now and is a stewardess on an airplane, lives in Seattle, but the girl had so many problems, paranoid schizophrenia, and with her mind working in the way it did, when they were living in Kodiak, he was a policeman. Was doing very well, and Edna lived there at the time after she and Paul were married, and they were enjoying each other a lot, but this girl in her schizophrenia mind was very jealous of Clint, and one day when he came home--she was also jealous of the little girl, and he always had brought home candy for the little daughter, and this particular time things didn't go her way, and she took the gun and shot him, and that was the end of him.
ERQUIAGA: She shot your son, Clint, you mean?
CARTER: Yes.
ERQUTAGA: This was his wife that did that?
CARTER: Yes. Right.
ERQUIAGA: Oh, my.
CARTER: And they only held her in jail a short time. They said, "Lack of evidence." And it was pretty hard to take.
ERQUIAGA: Well, yes, it would be.
CARTER: Yes. But, the little girl has been with us a lot and
different ones of the family and we're close.
ERQUIAGA: How old is the granddaughter now?
CARTER: Twenty-six.
ERQUTAGA: And where does she live?
CARTER: In Seattle.
ERQUIAGA: Oh.
CARTER: She's married.
35
ERQUIAGA: Did you ever count up how many grandchildren you have?
CARTER: I have a bunch with Clarence's side as well. I lost track. I can write them all down for you.
ERQUIAGA: Do you want to tell me anything about Clarence's children? Where they live?
CARTER: Yes. He had the two boys. Merwyn was the oldest one and Ray. Their mother was not well, and when she passed away about 1958, he lived on the road home, and we would wave, and we met him in church occasionally. Eventually, he was just so lonely, that we decided, well, we might as well put our families together, and they got along so well. Had a good time. Merwyn got married to a girl from Reno. Lovely girl. They had three children. One is back in Washington, D.C. One is in San Jose, and the youngest one is a court reporter. Then we have Ray. Ray was the youngest one. Same age as Pat, and he was in the business field. He was in the State Farm Insurance. He went just as high as he could possibly go. They always called him Moneybags Carter. He always had money when the rest of the kids didn't where their money was coming for entertainment when the young people were gadding around. Ray has been very close. Very special. In fact, this week, Thursday, he'll have an operation on his foot. Tarsal Tunnel, they call it. It's quite painful, and then he'll have the other one done later. I told him I'll come down and help him out in April when that is done. He's invited me to come down and visit him, and I hadn't had the invite before so I'm looking forward to it.
ERQUIAGA: Oh. That'll be nice.
CARTER: Mighty fine fellow.
ERQUIAGA: Well, it sound like you have a nice big family.
CARTER: He has two children, a boy and a girl. The girl is gone into the business field, and she's gone to the top.
ERQUIAGA: Oh.
CARTER: She's married, too. But, Jerry is in the service still making a career of it. That's his picture up there. It's a pleasure to keep in touch with all of them and then the grandkids.
ERQUIAGA: Right. Well, now, I understand you've taken on a new
CARTER: 36
project since you've retired from teaching school all together.
Yes, I took the literacy training in order to help older people learn to pass the GED test. I worked with one lady for a while, and then I thought, "Well, I have enough else to do," and so I worked myself out of it, but when I came back and talked to them, they said, "We are just overloaded. Come on and help," so here we go again. I go Mondays and Fridays to help this lady who has three children and is expecting another one soon and doesn't know her times tables.
ERQUTAGA: Can she read?
ERQUIAGA:
CARTER:
Reads pretty well, uh-huh, but has trouble with the spelling.
Do you find it very different to teach these adults than it was to teach children?
It's just a review.
About the same, in other words.
Yes. I just can spot their weaknesses quite easily.
Are they more serious about learning?
As a rule. The first one just wanted to be entertained, but this one, I believe, is real serious
about it. She's planning to take her GED.
Well, that sounds like it's certainly a worthwhile project to be helping with. You'll do a lot of good there, too.
I enjoy . .
Well, I think that took care of the questions that I . . . oh, you have something you'd like to add?
Did I tell you that I teach the junior Sunday school class?
CARTER: ERQUIAGA:
CARTER: ERQUIAGA: CARTER: ERQUIAGA: CARTER:
CARTER: ERQUIAGA:
ERQUIAGA: I don't believe you did.
CARTER: Okay. They were so hard to handle at first because they were all mouth, and they were turned loose, so I could not possibly teach them, so when I eventually introduced the puppets, the puppets taught them how to listen, and I have worked with them for quite a long
37
time because at the end of the Sunday school period, fifteen minutes of the last part of the period, if we had time we'd play puppets, so it's taken us a long time for them to learn to do what they're told, and Sunday evening we put on the puppet show in the church evening service, and everybody took their little part, and they just played it and just worked it out and their voices on the tape were marvelous, and I said to my daughter when I talked to her, "I was so proud of those little people 'cause they have come such a long way." Unbelievable.
ERQUIAGA: Now, this is local . . . local kids.
CARTER: Yes. Right. In the Nazarene Church.
ERQUIAGA: Well, that was something that you thought of that method of teaching them. You certainly enjoy working with these kids evidently.
CARTER: My grandson, Pat's boy, has gotten involved with the puppets. He and his wife put programs on in different places around down in California with their puppets, and they have a real nice variety of them. The grandpa and the grandma puppet now, and they write their own plays and do their own music for it.
ERQUIAGA: I think maybe you told me about that the other day. The grandma puppet. (laughing) Well, that's certainly interesting. You're not sitting around doing nothing and wasting your time.
CARTER: Oh, life gets more exciting all the time.
ERQUIAGA: That's wonderful. It's good that you're healthy.
Well, let's wind it up then, and we'll get this back to the Museum. I certainly thank you, once again, for everything.
CARTER: It's my pleasure. In fact, I tell them that I'm in the Museum now.
ERQUIAGA: Oh, that's good (laughing)
James (Jim) Allison
Index
Birth .. 1 30
Carter, Clarence 21-24,
Carter, Merwyn 21, 35
Carter, Ray 21, 35
Emigration 2
Entertainment 15-18
Farm life 5-11, 14-15, 27-28,
32-33
Glasscock family 2-3
Grandchildren 27, 33-34, 35, 37
Grandmother 2, 6, 10, 15
Indians 2, 15
Loverage, Olga Pirtle 9, 15, 26-27
Marriages 20, 21
Mr. Ascargorta 4, 31
Oats Park School 12
Old River neighbors 16, 32
Pirtle, Clint 1-2, 4, 6, 31
Pirtle, Lester 1, 11, 32
Pirtle, Maude Byrd Roberson 1, 2, 4-5, 6, 8, 11,
12, 13, 20, 24
Pirtle, Noel 11-12, 22
Price, Clint 20, 22, 33-34
Price, Ed 20
Price, Edna 20-21, 22, 33
Price, Pat 20-21, 22, 29, 31
Reno experiences 17-18, 32
Schooling 12-14, 18, 32
Socialist Colony 3
Special interests 22, 24-25, 36-37
Teachers 14, 28
Teaching experiences 18-20, 36-37
Travel experiences 26
West End School 13

Anita Erquiaga

Esther Carter

315 West Front Street