Identifier,913044
Interviewee,Dorothy Kuhn
Date,3/25/14
Interviewer,"John Horan, II"
Abstract,"Dorothy Kuhn, while not born in Cleveland, has spent nearly fifty years in Cleveland. She was born in Pennsylvania and describes what it was like picking up cans for the war effort during World War 2. She came to Cleveland after stints in California and St. Louis to become a nurse. She got her degree from the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing and was immediately hired to be on the faculty of the school. She mentions her husband and how they were active members at Grace Lutheran Church until recently when they joined St. Paul's Episcopal Church. After explaining why she and her husband left Grace, she talks about why they joined St. Paul's. Finally, she gives a brief insight into what she and her husband did for fun in Cleveland Heights, which included going to the Coventry Street Fairs and the Cedar-Lee area frequently."
Tags,"Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing, Hough Riots, Park Lane Villa, nursing, university circle, Carl Stokes, Kent State Shooting, Shaker Square, century bike runs, Cleveland Heights, Grace Lutheran Church, St. Paul's Episcopal Church, deterioration, World War 2, recycling, defense stamps, Coventy, Cedar-Lee, Coventry Street Fair, Arabica, Tommy's, Skating Club"
Special Notes,
0,"Introductions, Born January 12, 1936 in Pennsylvania; she has lived all over the country then came here to go to school and got married and live here ever since; Went to school at the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing in 1967"
1,"She graduated in 1972, she did two years of fulltime classes and then worked and finished on a part time basis; She lived in California first where she worked for a mission group doing office work when they moved to Wisconsin she moved with them; She had some friends in St. Louis"
2,She decided that she wanted to help people and became a nurse's aid and started at the nursing school in St. Louis; She worked for a mission group and she was a typist for them along with some bookeeping; She transitioned because she wanted to have hands-on experience
3,She lived in the dorm for a little while at the hospital dorms thinks it was Mather and it faced Euclid Avenue part of a quad; She ended up in Park Lane Villa for a few years - she would walk back and forth to school
4,She was at Park Lane Villa during the riots and she was working evenings and they had the whole area cordoned off and they wouldnÕt let her in without a note from the hospital she worked a double shift so she didn't need the note; She also says that there were pictures of tanks in front of Park Lane in the newspapers and she hoped her parents didn't see that
5,"She never saw one of those tanks, she was either working or sleeping; she was afraid though; She went on the faculty of the school of nursing when she graduated"
6,She backs up and talks about a sociology course she had to take at the time that Carl Stokes was running for mayor and the professor had them going door to door asking about what they felt about the Black candidate
7,"She doesn't really remember the opinons of the people, just the experience and how different people felt different things; She also remembers the Kent State shootings - they suspended classes for a time"
8,They were worried about something happening at Case Western that was similar; doesn't know of any plan to get Kent state students to CWRU; Park Lane got so bad that she was afraid to go and do her laundry
9,"She ended up close to Shaker Square; When she was looking for a place, she ended up in Wade Park Manor (now Judson Manor) and she asked if they had space, and they told her that they do not take transients"
10,She says that they could probably tell by looking at her that she wasn't acceptable
11,"She wasn't involved in any of the community associations in Shaker Square; she went to the Skating Club as a guest, but she did not go while she lived in Shaker Square - it was later; She went to the colony theater and describes it going from one theater to several theaters"
12,She has not been in there for years and years so she doesn't know what it is now; She learned how to ride a multi-speed bicycle in the parking lot
13,"She used to do 100 mile century rides, that were organized; Had people take the luggage and provided food at stops; one of the most memorable was from Columbus to Portsmouth, tries to remember the name"
14,It was a really hot day and people were lying on the street; the next day the weather changed and it got very cold but people sent their warm clothes back
15,"It was her first one, and it was so bad that the support teams turned around - so proud that they finished many people did not finish"
16,"Talks about the training methods for the 100 mile runs, says that isn't a race just enjoy doing it; have some runs from Cleveland, but mostly away from Cleveland"
17,Talks about another run in Finley - it was hot and the water was terrible so they brought water from Cleveland
18,Did another run from Zainsville to Marietta called the Red Flannel Ride; She has all kinds of patches and she kept them when they downsized to move to Judson - it was fun; She doesn't ride outside at all
19,They cross-country skied and hiked and camped; They would camp all over the country from Seattle to Maine; sometimes they would drive sometimes they would fly - started out with a three dollar tube tent describes it
20,"Then they got a regular tent, She had a lot of really nice trips with her husband; had a lot of fun going on these adventures; back to the career - faculty at Frances Payne Bolton School - clinical isntructer"
21,"She had classroom responsibilites that included labs and lectures; It wasn't uncommon for people to make the jump from student to faculty immediately, didn't hurt that she had experience in St. Louis"
22,"Original nursing programs were diploma progams from hospitals, not degreed - if a degree was needed she needed to go to a degree issuing institution - a school; She applied for the job, but they were hard up for faculty and she did not have trouble"
23,She worked at the school as a regular faculty for about 8 years then she went to the hospital and did staff development - oreintation classes and workshops; she was then interim director for a while
24,"She wanted to do more hands-on again so she went to Cleveland State to get a refresher course; she then returned to the hospital on a PRN basis which means ""as needed"" she did that for several years before she retired; She lived in Shaker Square for a few years and then she moved to the north side of Shaker Square for a couple more years; when she got married they moved next door to a bigger apartment"
25,"They stated there for a few years and decided to buy a house in Cleveland Heights, couldn't afford to live in Shaker Heights; did not have kids"
26,"Her husband was an accountant who worked for the Cleveland Clinic; They focused on Grace Lutheran church, they both sang on the choir and played in the bell choir, her husband was active in the governance of the church"
27,"They did support for the church and its members - would help the choir director who had parkinson's; They were members for about 26 years and they recently joined St. Paul's Episcopal; She was there for the 100th anniversary of Grace Lutheran, which was in the 1990s"
28,It started downtown and some of the original members mortgaged their own homes to build the building in Cleveland Heights
29,"She thinks originally the people went to German speaking churches, and they were Lutheran; says it was a huge thriving church in its heyday; She thinks it was still in its heyday when they first started going, but the neighborhood deteriorated and the members moved out into the suburbs calls it white flight"
30,"Says that a lot of the neighborhood residents were African Americans but the church was very WASP-y, which is why she thinks the church declined; They could walk to church and her husband did do that on occasion"
31,"They decided to leave because first, they were not involved in loving the building because they were not original families, she says they felt like the money was going into maintaining the old building and there was no money left for the mission; Did not have the people or the money for programming which caused more money and people to leave"
32,They moved to St. Paul because it's close to Judson and because so many people in Judson are members there (jokingly call it St. Paul's West); also an associate rector was an interim at Grace Lutheran
33,"They started going in the fall of 2013 and joined a Februrary 2014; her husband was in the Vietnam War but she did not know him at the time; She was aware of the war and the protests, but she was not into it at the time; tries to keep up with stuff now"
34,She was very involved with World War 2; she collected tin cans from neighbors and her prize was a pink pearl eraser; describes how she collected these cans
35,She is not aware of what they did with the cans other than to recycle them in some way; They also bought defense stamps to put them into a book and they would turn them in to make them a bond; all of the students bought these stamps and everyone was involved
36,"Before she moved into town when she was a kid, they had linoleum floor in the kitchen and that's where she was when she heard about Pearl Harbor, she did not know what it meant - too young but she remembers it vividly; had air raid exercises where they would turn off lights - had a warden who would get after people"
37,"Larry's Creek, Pennslyvania is where she grew up, and it is very close to Jersey Shore, which is not the Jersey Shore, NJ instead its in Pennsylvania - explains why it is called Jersey Shore "
38,She also recalls victory in Japan day - she was in a church camp in the summer time - her parents came with the car and they were listening to the radio and that's when she heard
39,"She doesn't remember exactly how she would acquire the cans, but they got them and they deposited them in the basement of the school"
40,Wasn't involved with integration efforts either in Cleveland Heights or Shaker
41,"She does remember that in Cleveland Heights they were not allowed to put for sale signs in the lawns, now people can; she says they picked the house on Washington because it had a median and there were trees on the median"
42,"they were on a curve in the road which separated them from the neighbors around them; she saw an ad in the paper, and she went up by herself and fell in love - location was tops for her"
43,"She went to Coventry often and she would go down to Cedar-Lee frequently; they also had Lopez y Gonzalez at the end of their street which they were regulars at on fridays; they would go down to Tommy's, and another place that burned"
44,"She remembers that there were fires down there, but she doesn't remember much about it; the arabica used to be on Euclid Hts and Coventry; would also go down to the street fair and it was a lot of fun - good food and activities"
45,Describes one of the crafts they did at the street fair; also had Gazpatcho for the first time and she loved it
46,"She never saw any of the trouble around the street fair because they stopped going down, she says the reincarnation was never the same; Recalls the Kosher Chicken Market"
47,"She never got a chicken from there, but she did think it was strange but so was a lot that went on around Coventry; says that hippies used to hang out down there, but in later years it lost its flavor they looked alike and like her"
48,Says that this happened over the last couple of decades - it was more of a transition; revisits her memories on the Skating Club for a buffet for Easter 
49,"Describes the inside of the Skating Club, and what people did when they were there"
50,While she worked for the hospital she never saw anyone being treated as a result of the riots; in fact she wouldn't have known the riots were going on without the newspapers and media and word of mouth
51,"Talks about Cleveland Heights integration; says that there was an African American family that lived in their neighborhood before she got there and were still there when she moved out; There was vandalism committed towards her neighbors, but it wasn't too bad"
52,Thanks and END OF INTERVIEW