Audio Interviews and Transcripts

Interview with Susan Hooper
by Harley Hooper

This is the interview Harley conducted with his mother, Susan Hooper. Having moved around a lot as a child, she only vaguely remembers how each area she lived in reacted to the events of the Cold War at the time. She did recall her parents discussing it, but her upbringing was more affected by her changing living arrangements than the wars the US was fighting on foreign soil. You can read a five-minute part of the interview below in the transcript typed out by Harley.

Harley: Now you grew up in a variety of different places, from a farm in Kansas to a more, um, urban environment outside of Chicago. What was it like to move around a lot growing up and live in different types of places?

Susan: Well when I was a kid I didn't like it too much I guess, moving a lot I mean. It meant I had to go to a new school, and try to make new friends every time. But now I as I look back on it, I guess it was actually a good uh, a good experience for me I think.

Harley: Really?

Susan: Yeah I really like to travel, and since I never get to anymore, I look back at moving to different places as really, really, really long vacations. (laughs) No, but it truly was pretty nice to be able to see and grow up all over because it gave me a broader view of sorts on life. I wasn't restricted to one way of living, if that makes any sense.

Harley: Yes, you mentioned that you now think that moving was a good experience for you. Was there any place you particularly enjoyed living at, and if so why?

Susan: Uh, I guess I really don't have any favorites in mind, but our home in Kansas will always be a special place for me. It's where I was born, and I think that it will always be important to me. And I have wanted to go back someday, and maybe because that never happened, um I will always look back on my days there fondly. (Pause) It's funny just now I thought of something I haven't thought about in years- my friend Judy. She lived down the road a bit from us and we became friends one day when we walked to school together, because back then we did not have the luxury of the bus to take us to school. We had to walk, no matter the weather. It could be raining, but that didn't matter, if it was a school day then we were out there walking. But anyway one day me and her walked to the store together after school and bought a candy bar. We had been looking forward to that for a while, and when it finally happened we were so happy. I don't know what just made me think of that, but to answer your question, no, no one place I lived was any better than another one really.

Harley: Was having to walk to school difficult?

Susan: No, not too bad. It was about a mile or so, and it was mostly flat, no hills or anything like that. But it wasn't all that bad, it's just what we had to do, of course I would have preferred to get a ride, but it wasn't too difficult really.

Harley: While you lived in Kansas, was the Cold War talked about much?

Susan: Well, to be honest I really don't remember because we moved when I was nine, but I do remember that my dad would watch the news in his chair and he would talk to my mother about it, but nothing really stand out I guess. He did do that pretty much every night though.

Harley: Did you notice any difference in growing up, and maybe how the war was viewed as you moved to different places.

Susan: Yeah, well like I said I don't really remember much about that from when we lived in Kansas, and I'm not sure if that's because of my memory or just since it wasn't talked about you know, but when I lived in Illinois we talked about it in school sometimes talked about what was going on in school. We had to do these drills a couple of times, maybe 3 or 4, where everyone had to practice getting under desks. We were told that this was just for safety, but I don't think we really understood why we did it. It didn't make sense to us at the time.

Harley: How did you feel back then about doing it, because you didn't know what the reason was for really?

Susan: I think just pretty confused. I mean think about it-if someone told you to practice getting under your desk, without really telling you the reason why, wouldn't you be pretty confused too?