Identifier,913037
Interviewee,Anne J. Cook
Date,3/21/14
Interviewer,John Horan II
Abstract,"Anne J. Cook, New York City native, took residence in Cleveland Heights beginning in 1951. After moving around Cleveland Heights, she and her husband finally settled in the Oxford School district where she remained for fifty years. An active resident, she was involved with the League of Women voters as their treasurer and she was the first woman trustee of Plymouth Church in Shaker Heights. Due to her husband's job as a geologist, she and her husband created the Minerological Society of Cleveland where she is still an active member. In fact, she has such a love for minerals and gems that she travels, yearly, to Tucson, Arizona for the largest mineral show in the world. Her personal collection is so vast that graduate students use it as study material. She concludes the interview by sharing that she will be going to Cincinatti, Ohio to display a slection of her minerals later on this year."
Tags,"Cleveland Heights, Great Depression, World War 2, Oberlin, music, minerals, lapidary, gems, geology, mathematics, AT&T, discrimination, gender, Shaker Heights, Oxford School, PTA, integration, Hough Riots, Cleveland Institute of Music, Plymouth Church, investing, Minerological Society of Cleveland"
Special Notes,
0,"Introductions,  Born August 2, 1928; She was born in New York City and lived there until she graduated from college at 22"
1,She was married and her husband got a job in Cleveland so she came to Cleveland and she's been here ever since - this was in 1951 when she was just 22 years old; The Depression caused her family to be very careful with money even though her father was an engineer - always had a job
2,"Her father worked for the telephone company and instead of laying them off, had them share jobs; had to be careful - but were never uncomfortable; World War 2 took place while she was in high school - she graduated in 1945; Brother was younger than she was, and her father was too old - but her father did fight in World War 1"
3,Her dad graduated from Yale in 1920 but was part of the class of 1919 because he took some years off to fight; Her dad was in the quartermaster corps living with a french family - they would hear from this family at Christmas time; 
4,"She graduated from Oberlin, she had never been this far west before she went to Oberlin; It was a good match for her because she was a top student and musical; She started with a double degree, which would have taken 6 years, but she decided part way through that she wasn't that good of a musician"
5,"She enjoyed music, but didn't feel that she was going to do something with her degree - so she graduated from the college but not the conservatory; She picked Oberlin because it was a good school and it was going to be challenging for her; Describes the process for admission had to audition and take the SATs"
6,"After she graduated she got married; met her husband at oberlin, he graduated in 1949 and she graduated in 1950; They were married in september in 1950"
7,"Her husband had finished his coursework towards his masters, all he needed was to finish was his thesis - got it in december; Once he graduated he applied to several companies around the country and Cleveland was one of those places; He took a job in Cleveland in 1951 and she's been here ever since"
8,He took a job with what started as Brush Development Company then became Clevite then became Gould; had a research center on E105th street near Bratenahl; She got a Bachelor's in Math
9,Her husband got a bachelor's in math and a master's in Geology from Columbia - ended up with a Phd in 1971 from Western Reserve
10,"She got a job with ATT long lines, but they did not treat the women mathmaticians particularly well; Describes how her and her friend were given routine jobs to do"
11,"She was in long distance, she says that at that point Att was everything local, long distance, etc; She says it was dull; Describes what she did, dealt with figures on when they would change the routings"
12,She would have to add up the distances and compare them with someone else who added up the same distances - called it arithmatic not math
13,"She worked for ATT for less than two years, she left because she was expecting her first child; The office was  downtown on the corner of 9th and Euclid - it was the Union Commerce Building became the Huntington Bldg they were on the 12th or 13th floor without air conditioning and it was uncomfortable as her pregnancy progressed"
14,"She quit in June and her son was born in August; After he was born she took care of him, after her son was three, she had a daughter who turned two when she had her third kid, who when she turned three had her fourth child"
15,"Husband started with Brush Development, and within two years it became Clevite - started out growing crystals like synthetic quartz"
16,They began making this synthetic quartz for the navy for she thinks sonar; After the war they continued to make these synthetics for civilian use; 
17,"Gould Battery wanted to buy Clevite because Clevite had good research, and they were successful in buying them - her husband kept his job throughout the process; First came to Cleveland - got an apartment on Sub-let from February to June"
18,"This apartment was on E87th between Chester and Euclid, then they moved to an apartment in Cleveland Heights; Once their son was born they moved to a house in Cleveland Heights (the apartment was in a fourth floor walk up no elevator)"
19,"As the family got bigger, they moved to a larger house in Cleveland Heights; picked cleveland heights because it had a good school system and good proximity to downtown; Her husband worked on E36th and Payne and later worked on E105th street"
20,"When she worked downtown, her and her husband drove together and he would drop her off at 30th and Euclid and would double back to 36th and Payne"
21,"She would walk the rest of the way to 9th, He had to work earlier than she did and he got off earlier so he would pick her up; Euclid was busier than it is now, but she doesn't think it was very different; Says that Cleveland State is the biggest change because it didn't exist at that point"
22,"Says that the Statdler Hotel was still there, so were the theatres - but they were movie theaters at the time; Usually saw movies on Euclid Heights and Coventry"
23,She would take her kids to the library for story hours and for getting books because Noble Road Library was in walking distance; kids went to Oxford School - most northeasterly school in Cleveland Heights
24,Kids went to Oxford School from 1957 to 1970; She was the PTA president there at a time; she learned how to run a meeting by being president
25,"Discusses integration in the 1960s, says that in Cleveland Heights happened faster than anywhere except maybe Shaker Heights; Her neighborhood saw complete turnover"
26,She says that she was the last white family on the block; she lived in that house 50 years from June 1962 - May 2012
27,She says that the neighborhood was well kept and remained to be throughout her 50 years there; Says that Cleveland Heights had housing inspections
28,Describes what the housing inspections would look for; Because the houses were well kept it made the neighborhood more attractive; She was a member of the League of Women voters for about 50 years
29,"Says that joining the League was something to do; Describes what the League is, a group of largely women who take stands on issues not individuals; "
30,She thought it was a useful organization and remains so; she was the treasurer because she could keep the books well; She was involved until she moved out in 2012;
31,Says the group's focus hasn't changed much in the last 50 years; still have candidate's night where candidates are invited to make their pitch
32,They still study issues and decide whether or not to take a stand on it; She wasn't really on about the freeway issue; 
33,"Mentions the Hough Riots, she says that she was not working and her husband did not have to drive through hough to get to work, so they could avoid the situation, except her husband was taking courses at CWRU which was close to Hough and saw some of the graduate students taking turns being watch guards"
34,"She says that she wasn't afraid of the riots, and she did not worry about her husband much either; Did take her kids to see movies in Coventry and Cedar Lee"
35,"Went to concerts at the Art Museum, Institute of Music, and at Severance; Liked the Institute and the Art Museum were more favorable because they were free; Says that all of her kids took music lessons at the institute; her son took up the french horn and studied with one of the orchestra members; lists what her other kids played"
36,After all of her kids got past the basics they all studied with orchestra members through the Institute of Music; They also took theory lessons to understand the basics of music
37,"They all still sing, and one of her kids still plays the instrament they learned as a child; Talks about the changes that University Circle underwent"
38,"Active with Plymouth Church - Coventry, South of Shaker Blvd. United Church of Christ; Originally a congregational church and her husband was brought up in a congregational church in suburban Boston"
39,"She had grown up in a Dutch Reformed Church that was present in NYC and Holland, Michigan and nowhere else; she was happy to go to the congregational church which combined with two other churches to form the United Church of Christ"
40,"They joined in 1954, after going for one year, and she is still an active member; The church had a great many outreach programs, she was involved with a packing program at the hunger center at the Episcopal church on 86th and Euclid, as well as, another hunger center in Shaker Heights, serves Shaker and Warrensville Heights"
41,She found these programs through her church; Her kids grew up in the church and the church had their own music program with a fulltime minister of music; She sang in the choir for over 50 years and finally retired about 2years ago
42,"She was the first woman trustee of the foundatin fund of the church, describes what the fund is"
43,She says that the five trustees were always men; gives the breakdown of what the trustees usually comprised of; her husband was vice president of the church council
44,"The president suggested that they should get women on the board, and her husband suggested her; They took his advice and asked her to be on the board; she was supposed to serve a 5 year term, but it ended up being longer"
45,She explains why she served two terms as a trustee; Unlike working for ATT she did not feel that she was discriminated against because she was a woman on this board
46,"She says by the time she left another trustee was a woman, and the treasurer was a woman - a majority of women; she was a board member and later a president of the northeast Ohio member of a non-profit that was supposed to teach people how to invest"
47,"She says that they had quite a number of classes around, she and her husband taught a number of these classes on the Eastside, but there were a number on the Westside and Akron; "
48,Founding member of the Minerological Society of Cleveland; calls it a prententious name for a not pretentious group - only about 12 or 14 members; says there are a number of gem/mineral/lapidary clubs around the country; there are regions that the country is divided in for these clubs
49,"For example there is the midwestern region federation - there are seven total; Her husband was a mineralogist and wanted to get involved with one of the federation, but they were all lapidary - fasten a stone or make a cabischion smooth"
50,She says that they were intersted in minerals and the clubs that were a part of the federation were not very interested. So she and her husband along with another club formed a the Minerological Society; Describes what Lapidary means - changing the surface of a hard mineral
51,"They made the stones to put in to jewelry; Describes what the society did - had montly meetings and programming; used to be slide programming, now it is dvds"
52,"They also exhibit their stones in various places; before her husband died, they had a show at Judson Manor (not Judson Park), describes what happened around this show; gives the official definition of what a crystal is"
53,Continues to tell the story about the show at Judson Park - says her husband was a voluteer at the Natural History Museum
54,"Her husband gave a talk at Judson Manor, and they held an exhibit in the lobby of the Manor; "
55,Describes another show that the Parma Lapidary Club puts on and she says that the Minerological Society always has a few cases at that show; Says that her collection is still being studied by John Turner and his graduate students
56,"She acquired her large personal collection by purchase at first at local shows then they would go to national shows at Detriot; Says that since 1979 they have gone to the largest mineral show in the world in Tucson, Az in February"
57,"People come from all over the world to go to this show; biggest thing that hits Tucson all year, bigger than spring training - spring training won't start until that is over because all of the motels are taken"
58,"They have gone ever since 1979 - she missed 3 years in all of that time - they were going to go every other year, but in 1982 they decided to go because of a sale of plane tickets - so they started to go every year; the only other time she missed was in 2010 because of a stroke she suffered"
59,Two years ago she also missed because she broke her arm due to a car accident; This year she went and met her oldest daughter at the airport
60,She has a two bedroom apartment at Judson and she uses one of those bedrooms as a computer and collection room - where she keeps all of her minerals; Getting ready to take things to the Cincinatti show in May
61,She has things that she has loaned out to the Minerological Soceity and then she will take a personal case as well; She says that she will hitch a ride because she doesn't drive freeways any longer
62,Thanks and END OF INTERVIEW