Macalester-Groveland

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  Catherine Paulsen

  Julie M. Luker

  BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION: Catherine Paulsen is a white female born on December 22nd, 1944. She lived with her father, mother, and siblings while growing up. Her father was a trucking firm accountant, and her mother was a homemaker. She was raised Catholic. SUBJECTS DISCUSSED: Paulsen discusses her family history and life growing up in a house built by her grandfather. She shares the history of the family members that lived in this home. Paulsen recalls watching fights on TV and walking to a buffet restaurant. Paulsen talks about family pets, including a dog and a canary. Paulsen discusses her family's religious background and practices. She talks about in her early years, the children stayed home with her father while her mother and aunt attended church. Later on, the entire family began attending church together. She speaks on how as an adult, religion remains important to her, and she continues to attend church every Sunday. Paulsen talks about her neighborhood, how her neighborhood had abundant trees and diverse types of houses, each with its own unique architecture. She talks about the shared values, sense of community, and sense of safety she felt from her neighborhood, although she does share some stories where something unusual happened, such as a drunk person sleeping on their porch and a fire in Highland Park. Paulsen reflects on leisure time, that leisure time wasn't abundant and suggests that people focused on yard work, laundry, and cooking without the conveniences of today. Leisure activities mainly involved talking, with family members spending time sitting on the porch and engaging in conversation. Paulsen shares that her parents were avid readers, passing on a love for reading to the children. Paulsen recalls her school experiences during childhood. She shares that she was initially terrified of school, finding ways to leave school early. She shares some stories of the teachers that stood out to her. For local and global issues, Paulsen discusses her limited awareness of local and global issues during her childhood. She remembers a relative who was in the military during the Korean conflict. She states there wasn’t much political discussion at home and mentioned that her interest in politics developed later in life. She also briefly mentioned the impact of the fire for local issues.

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  Denise McAlpin

  Julie M. Luker

  BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION: Denise McAlpin is a Caucasian female born on October 28, 1959. She lived with her sister, and her younger brother, in the Macalester-Groveland neighborhood. Denise's father was an executive in downtown St. Paul. Her mother worked one day a week on Mondays but was primarily an at-home mom. She identifies as Catholic. SUBJECTS DISCUSSED: McAlpin describes her family dynamics and upbringing. She uniquely transitioned roles between youngest, middle, and oldest sibling in her family. McAlpin reminisces about her family pets, including a touching memory of her father surprising her with a kitten. She talks about the close bond with her elder sister. In talking about the economic status of her family, McAlpin reflects that she was always aware of her family's relative affluence compared to others in her community. She also acknowledged that there were families even wealthier than theirs, which became apparent during non-uniform school days. She discusses how her parent’s reluctance to bring up money has influenced her. She talks about how she talks about money with her child in order to emphasize financial prudence and the peace of mind that comes with being fiscally responsible. Next, McAlpin recounts her family's religious practices and their role in shaping her personal experiences and beliefs. She mentions her family’s regular church attendance, celebrating religious holidays, and participating in church events. As an adult McAlpin talks about her continued faith and collective involvement in her parish. McAlpin describes her neighborhood. She shares stories of how neighbors would help one another out during emergencies or something as simple as giving kids rides to school on cold days. She also shares stories of games played by neighborhood kids and the freedom of exploring the neighborhood on their bikes. McAlpin next describes her experiences with schooling. She shares that despite typical perception of Catholic schools she had teaching nuns that were feminists and progressive thinkers. She also mentions an English teacher that stood out in her memory. Lastly, McAlpin spoke on local and global issues such as the Vietnam War, the moon landing, the energy crisis, and UNICEF collections.

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  Carol Bisek

  Julie M. Luker

  BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION: Carol Bisek is a white female born on December 15, 1945. She is the oldest of six children. Her father owned a printing business, as well as moonlighted as a bingo number caller, whilst her mother was a stay-at-home parent. She grew up Lutheran. SUBJECTS DISCUSSED: Bisek starts by describing her family and siblings, as well as their family pet. She briefly discusses how household chores were distributed and mentions how she felt most engaged with her sister Christine. She talks about how she felt that they lived financially well, though because her mother came from an affluent family, and her father grew up on the farm, she was influenced by both of their spending habits and financial ways of thinking. She goes on to talk about how she was raised Lutheran, and how they were heavily involved in church. Bisek goes on to describe what her neighborhood looked like, and how the kids all got along together, but how Bisek and her siblings had difficulty bonding with them because they went to a school outside of that community. She briefly explains what her home looked like. Bisek mentions the value of honesty and respect. Afterwards, she touches on what leisure time looked like for her, which consisted of mostly church activities, and playing outside. She continues by listing what kinds of music and shows she ingested. She then describes her experience with schooling, and how her experience with going to St. Paul Central was quite rich; touching on how her music teacher got her involved with music, opera, and English Literature. She ends the interview by describing the local issues affecting the neighborhood, talking about how there wasn't any discrimination in the neighborhood, but how there was a lot of Jewish people living in the neighborhood, so dealing with their religious differences was foreign to them; as well as how it was a big deal when one of the neighbors' parents got divorced.

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  Jane Anderson

  Julie M. Luker

  BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION: Jane Anderson Caucasian female born May 23rd, 1957. Her father was a mechanical engineer. Her mother was a stay-at-home mom. She had two older sisters, one older brother, and one younger sister. SUBJECTS DISCUSSED: The close relationships her family had with her neighbors on Stanford Avenue. The neighborhood composition of their house on Princeton Avenue. Anderson tells stories of the various pets she had growing up and how they became meals. Anderson describes how her family was economically comfortable, but still lived frugally. She talks about her experience in Catholic school and early confirmations. She still describes herself as a believer, but not Catholic; she describes some discomfort around clergy growing up. She goes on to describe the neighborhood, how everyone would watch out for each other and stores she would visit after school. She describes the values held by her neighbors. Anderson describes her time in school and some disconnection she felt at the time. She also speaks on the relationships she has maintained to this day. Lastly, Anderson talks about global issues of the time. She describes history happening on TV: the Kennedy funeral and spacecraft launches. She also describes some fears at the time: the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Doomsday Clock, and abductions

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  Marilyn Sobiech

  Julie M. Luker

  BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION: Marilyn Sobiech is a Caucasian and Native American female born on April 13th, 1946. She grew up as an only child with her adoptive parents in the Macalester-Groveland neighborhood. Her religious affiliation is Catholic. SUBJECTS DISCUSSED: Sobiech recounts her upbringing in the Macalester-Groveland neighborhood as an only child with a lot of friends. She recalls the neighborhood being a quiet, idyllic, Catholic neighborhood with a lot of young kids her age to play with. She remembers the city switching from street cars to buses and was adamant about the extent to which children traveled via bicycles and on foot to get where they needed to go most of the time. Sobiech notes that while the neighborhood she grew up in politically skewed slightly Republican, her parents were Democrats and she remembers her mother was involved in volunteering with elections. She attributes the mix of political ideologies to the socioeconomic status of most of the residents in the area being more middle class or upper class in certain blocks near the river. Sobiech recalls that her neighborhood was tight knit, safe, and parents kept a close eye on the kids, if you got into trouble somewhere out in town, there was a good chance your parents would be made aware of it by another member of the community. Sobiech proudly explained that she was a tomboy growing up, so when discussing leisure activities, she mentioned that her father was an avid fisherman and she would routinely join him to go fishing. She would gleefully join her father for a number of outdoor activities including hunting and ice fishing together. Sobiech fondly recalls her father bringing her for toboggan rides near the Highland Park water tower in the winters. She mentions that in her neighborhood there were over 100 kids and boys and girls often played together in large groups. The children would play baseball and during the winter a local hangout spot that was popular amongst the young kids was a wood stove warming shack that Groveland had. Sobiech said she preferred to play with the boys during a lot of activities because she argues that they were more fun and she took a strong interest in the organized sports that they were able to arrange. While discussing organized sports, Sobiech recalls how difficult it was for girls to compete in organized sports at the time, due to a lack of funding or established girls-only league. Sobiech remembers that her mother and other mothers made the effort to organize sports opportunities for the girls to participate in since girls’ sports were not popular and had yet to be established in schools and other institutions at the time. When discussing more topics in entertainment and technology she divulged that her family had the first TV on their end of the block. She mentioned that aside from most households having house phones or transistor radios, the technology boom didn’t really happen until she was an adult with children already. She recalls walking to school because of how close her family lived in proximity to most of her schools. Since she lived so close to school she was required to walk home for lunch and return to school afterward. Sobiech recalls her mother being involved in her Girl Scout troop and Sobiech enjoyed participating in the Girl Scouts. Prominent local and global events that stood out to her was donating to an organization that helped underprivileged children and acknowledges a sort of irony that every generation has a group of underprivileged children to feed in regard to the donating to assist with alleviating the effects of tragedies in the wake of wars, economic instability, and natural disasters. As a child, Sobiech does not remember politics or news being discussed at length or at all for that matter. Sobiech mentions the first political event that struck her was when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. Another event that stands out in her memory was her opportunity to share Girl Scout cookies with Eleanor Roosevelt during a visit to Minnesota. She still is uncertain of the reason for Eleanor’s visit to St. Paul but remains proud that she was able to give this historical figure a box of Girl Scout Cookies. Sobiech also shared her thoughts on how the political climate in America today has become so much more polarized than she remembers politics being when she was growing up. Sobiech recalls her father’s skepticism about unions and his firm opinion that they were corrupt and irresponsible with other people’s money.

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  Mary Olson

  Julie M. Luker

  BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION: Mary Olson is a Caucasian female born on May 26, 1957. She is one of five children. Her father was an artist but worked at the depot as well. She grew up Catholic. SUBJECTS DISCUSSED: Olson begins by describing what her family looked like, and how she was close to all of her family members - as well as mentioning the pets that she had. She describes her family's economic status, explaining how her mother was able to stretch the dollar to the limit, and how they didn't have an extravagant childhood, but they still had everything they needed. She briefly discusses her religious upbringing, and how religion wasn't really forced on her or her siblings. Olson goes on to describe what her neighborhood looked like, and how there are a lot of kids around, and how it didn't feel unsafe. She talks about how the best part of growing up in her neighborhood was the security of knowing her neighbors, and how there was a nice variety of ages in the community. She mentions the value of certain expectations of children, as well as respect. Afterwards, she touches on the activities that were done for leisure time, such as going to a cabin and visiting museums. She mentions that schooling was a favorable experience for her. Olson briefly discusses how because her mother was Italian, she was able to grow up with a bigger cultural variety of meals. She ends the interview by describing the local issues affecting the neighborhood, mostly talking about desegregation, being against the war in Vietnam, involvement with health concerning vaccines and health checkups, as well as practicing drills, and Kennedy's death.

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  Timothy (Tim) Scanlan

  Julie M. Luker

  BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION: Timothy (Tim) Scanlan is a Caucasian male born on September 15, 1946. He is the third out of seven kids. Both of his parents worked. He grew up Catholic. SUBJECTS DISCUSSED: Scanlan starts by describing how he came from a big family, and talks about how they were all close knit, as well as what family pets they had. He mentions how it seemed like they were financially getting by, but that his parents probably had a depression-era mentality when it came to conversations about money. He briefly discusses his religious upbringing, and how it was important in their family. He goes on to describe his experience with growing up in the neighborhood, and how everyone knew each other and would have huge neighborhood nights. Scanlan mentions the value of loyalty. Afterwards, he touches on the television shows that he watched when he was growing up, as well as how schooling was very positive. He ends the interview by describing the local issues affecting the neighborhood, such as how they grew up in a time of economic boom, the Vietnam war, Kennedy’s, and Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination, and growing up with people that were different from him.

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  Tom Barrett

  Julie M. Luker

  BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION: Tom Barrett, Caucasian male born on February 28th, 1957. He is one of 5 children. Two older sisters, one older brother and one younger brother. His father worked and his mother was a stay-at-home mom. They grew up in the Mac-Groveland area. He is Cathotic. SUBJECTS DISCUSSED: Barrett recounts his upbringing, his paper route, household chores. He expresses that he was amazed how his family was able to get by on a limited income, but he never felt the pinch of a limited income growing up. He felt like he was able to participate in everything. Barrett shares his time as an alter boy. He tells a story of how the school kids figured out a way of signaling to warn others if the priest hearing the confessions was in a good mood or not. As an adult, Barrett tells about how he prayed for his friend with cancer, promising to be a better Catholic. Barrett shares his memories of the neighborhood and playing sports. He goes on to share the values held by the close knit community, where everyone knows each other. He mentions values held by his father and how his father was respected in the community. Barrett recounts the John F Kennedy assassination, and how that affected him in first grade. Lastly, Barrett makes note of things he remembers from his childhood that are not longer around today.

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  Tom O'Connell

  Julie M. Luker

  BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION: Tom O'Connell is a white male born on January 7, 1947. He is the second out of 10 children. His father was a city attorney. They grew up in the Mac Groveland area, 1497 Fairmount. He grew up Catholic. SUBJECTS DISCUSSED: O'Connell discussed his upbringing in the Quonset huts as well as the neighborhood they later moved to. With a family of 11 or 12 heads, money was a little limited, so O'Connell and his siblings would spend their days playing outside, and he ended up developing a habit of watching his spending money pretty closely. He goes on to describe his religious upbringing and its effect on the neighborhood, noting how the kids in the neighborhood were either Catholic or Protestant, and that the two groups didn't interact with each other. O'Connell briefly mentions how school was for him. He goes on to explain how his house looked - as well as the Quonset Huts - and what it was like to live in the neighborhood, which was peaceful. He notes how kids his age played a lot of sports, and goes on to describe how sports influenced his and his siblings' lives as they were growing up, especially in the summertime. O'Connell explains how the Vietnam War had a considerable effect on the community, and connects it to his own experiences as he was active in the Navy. He ends the interview discussing the issues that exist in that neighborhood in the present day, especially noting how there was a rivalry between Minneapolis and St. Paul.