Abstract
LaVera Wingfield shares the story of her family growing up in Cleveland and moving to Shaker Heights. She tells stories about her children growing up in the school district and the affection she has for her community. Wingfield is currently involved with the Neighbor Night program and discusses programs they are hosting within the community.
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Interviewee
Wingfield, LaVera (interviewee)
Interviewer
Dawson, Virginia (interviewer)
Project
Moreland History Project
Date
11-16-2017
Document Type
Oral History
Duration
41 minutes
Recommended Citation
"LaVera Wingfield interview, 16 November 2017" (2017). Cleveland Regional Oral History Collection. Interview 904004.
https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/crohc000/1131
Transcript
Virginia Dawson [00:00:01] This is an interview with LaVera Wingfield. The date is November 16, 2017. LaVera, welcome. And would you please say your name and spell it for me so that when it’s transcribed we can make no mistakes?
LaVera Wingfield [00:00:23] My name is LaVera Wingfield, L, A capital V, like in Victory, E, R, A, like the Equal Rights Amendment. My last name is Wingfield with a G. W, I N, G, like in girl, F, I, E, L, D.
Virginia Dawson [00:00:43] Great, that’s perfect. I think it’s recording. I can see it, so that’s really great. The first thing I’m going to ask you is when you were born. What year?
LaVera Wingfield [00:00:53] I was born 1941…. About five months before Pearl Harbor was bombed.
Virginia Dawson [00:01:03] Really?
LaVera Wingfield [00:01:03] Yes.
Virginia Dawson [00:01:04] And where were you born?
LaVera Wingfield [00:01:06] Memphis, Tennessee.
Virginia Dawson [00:01:08] Okay.
LaVera Wingfield [00:01:09] Yes.
Virginia Dawson [00:01:10] Wow. So how’d you get up here?
LaVera Wingfield [00:01:12] Well, actually, I eventually learned that I was part of the Great Migrations. Just wasn’t so great at the time I came. We had visited Cleveland when I was about 8 and I fell in love with it. And of course my favorite aunt lived here and I just love it.
Virginia Dawson [00:01:36] Well, it was your parents who brought you here then, obviously.
LaVera Wingfield [00:01:42] Well, my father was a Pullman car porter on Illinois Central Railroad. My mother was a housewife who later worked away from home, who sewed and did hair.
Virginia Dawson [00:02:01] That’s fascinating. And so did they decide they wanted to come north at some point?
LaVera Wingfield [00:02:07] Well, I didn’t ask them really. I just wanted to come. I was having some health problems at the time that could not be addressed at the location I was at, so I thought I would try another city. And I was right. My diagnosis came 10 minutes after the doctor examined me.
Virginia Dawson [00:02:33] Really? Huh. And so your parents decided to send you north, or how did that work?
LaVera Wingfield [00:02:44] Well, at that point, I was 22. I could do what I wanted to do.
Virginia Dawson [00:02:48] Oh, okay. So you just moved up here, is that it?
LaVera Wingfield [00:02:55] Well, first I visited in ’63, and in ’64 I moved. Of course, I got my first chance to experience a tornado that hadn’t been named a tornado at that point and a blizzard. There were some to follow.
Virginia Dawson [00:03:15] Wow. So where did you live when you came here?
LaVera Wingfield [00:03:20] I lived with my favorite aunt.
Virginia Dawson [00:03:22] Okay, where did she-
LaVera Wingfield [00:03:22] And then I got- She lived around the corner, on 90th Street, from the Karamu House.
Virginia Dawson [00:03:30] Okay, wow. So you lived there for how long?
LaVera Wingfield [00:03:38] I can’t recall. Several months before I got my own place.
Virginia Dawson [00:03:42] Okay, and what did you do? Did you work?
LaVera Wingfield [00:03:46] Well, yeah, I worked and I don’t see a spoon in my mouth. I had to work.
Virginia Dawson [00:03:53] So what did you do?
LaVera Wingfield [00:03:54] Well, actually, I started out doing what was domestic work and later on I moved into the same neighborhood I was working and that was Shaker.
Virginia Dawson [00:04:10] Okay. In the same Scottsdale or where did you move?
LaVera Wingfield [00:04:17] Well, I. Later on in my life, when I moved from Cleveland to Shaker, I moved a few blocks from the house that I used to work at.
Virginia Dawson [00:04:33] Okay. And that was where?
LaVera Wingfield [00:04:35] On Onaway.
Virginia Dawson [00:04:37] Okay. Wow. Wow. So. And then after that you were still working and so-
LaVera Wingfield [00:04:47] Yes, I’m 71. I mean, I’m 76 years old. You sure you don’t want me to go through all that, the whole thing, do you?
Virginia Dawson [00:04:56] Yeah, I do.
LaVera Wingfield [00:04:57] Well, it’s going to take longer than you got time for.
Virginia Dawson [00:05:03] I gotta be sure this is working. Yeah, it’s working. Okay, keep going.
LaVera Wingfield [00:05:12] Well, I married and the marriage didn’t work out. And then I became a student at Tri-C. At that point I had two children and I got into the nursing program and I didn’t make it through there, but I learned a lot of the same things I’m using today. [crosstalk] Changed my major to dietetics. Using that every day, [crosstalk]. And so after the divorce and remarriage, we moved on over near the lake in Cleveland. I didn’t like, I never liked over there. I still don’t. So we were going to find a home to buy and we ended up on our street.
Virginia Dawson [00:06:10] On Scottsdale. Wow. So in the same house? Is that-?
LaVera Wingfield [00:06:12] I’m still there.
Virginia Dawson [00:06:14] Wow. So how long have you lived there?
LaVera Wingfield [00:06:16] Since 1976.
Virginia Dawson [00:06:18] Wow. Okay. Okay. And what was the neighborhood like when you moved in?
LaVera Wingfield [00:06:25] Well, actually the welcome wagon came that was out to welcome us into the neighborhood. That was really a made me feel good, really good. I remember that box of salt they had in the basket that they gave us and a few other things and information of course, about in the community. And so my children were going to the Moreland School and at that point I had two school-age children and a toddler. And the next year after we moved in, that’s when my youngest son was born. So at Moreland, there was no extracurricular activities for them to do that they wanted to do. So I had been soliciting money for the Cleveland Orchestra and they had put me into the Mercer neighborhood. So I asked my children what school they wanted to go to and they told me Mercer. I gave them no clues. And so they went to Mercer and I was involved there and active volunteer in classrooms and volunteered to do things to help the teacher, like, you know, making copies and things. And I gave my children the understanding that I may pop up anytime. And I actually did it. And they believed me because they knew I was going to do it and I did it. So I volunteered so I could justify being in the building, I guess. But they had a great experience there, all of them. And I think at one point I was going to PTA - I’m sorry, parent-teachers conferences - at three schools. At three schools. So at one point I had children in three schools in Shaker. Yes. So they did. Well, I loved the Shaker school system. It was so enhanced and the curriculum was so enhanced and diverse. So as a result I have. My oldest son became. He taught himself how to play the viola that he played at Mercer. And it has the same number of strings as a guitar. So I found a guitar at Goodwill for $1. The glue was all dry and it was coming apart. So I scraped that old glue off and re-glued it and clamped it. And he taught himself how to play that. And he wrote 13 songs, I mean 35 songs before he graduated high school. The second oldest was enrolled in the theater at the high school. And little did I know what he had planned to go into after he graduated until he was ready to get on the plane to go to Boston U. And I had not told him that I had been a Thespian. And he was tickled. So he went pro and he’s been pro for close to 20 years now.
Virginia Dawson [00:10:41] What’s his name?
LaVera Wingfile [00:10:43] His name is Russell G. Jones and he’s now the husband and father of a two year old. My youngest grandchild is two years old going on 20. So nevertheless, then we had one daughter and she is working in collections downtown. She had had a job working at a radio station and they went digital. So she got a job parking in the same garage she was parked in. So she was in accounting in that field. Accounting. But my youngest son, he had so much enrichment in Shaker schools that when he was three, he started to draw details. So getting him into Shaker school system, they just, you know, they just kept opening up vistas for him. So he became a very accomplished artist. He can draw technical drawings. He also played in the band. They needed a trombonist one time and he just picked up the trombone and started playing. The band teacher told me he said, Ms. Wingfield, I don’t know, this is unusual. So he’s more well rounded than any of my children having gifts. And of course they had a gifted, gifted and talented children program. And I remember one April we were out at Hiram in the woods. Snow was still on the ground. If anybody had told me I would have done it, I wouldn’t have believed it. But they went to camp, and camp is my thing. But eventually, my youngest son was unable to get a scholarship. He was taking AP courses and all that, but he missed some of the tests because he had fractured his foot. But lo and behold, though, eventually he took his portfolio to the Cleveland Institute of Art and they allowed him to skip the first semester. So he got it. Now, after graduating from there, he was able to take the picture and make it look like a portrait with the pencil. So, long story short, though, my hats off to the Shaker school system, and I just love it here. And this is my home, and I have been active in the community. The first bail was 25 years, and then I got away from it for a while. So I’m back. So right now I’m involved with Neighbor Night.
Virginia Dawson [00:14:16] What is that?
LaVera Wingfield [00:14:18] Neighbor Night is the last Tuesday night of the month. We meet at the building next door. Stephanie Tubbs Jones. We meet neighbors that we’ve been living in the neighborhood with so often for long years. Never got to know them. Sometimes they’re now retirees. See, when I moved in, Shaker people work two jobs sometimes, and you didn’t see them until you see them pulling out the driveway to go to their jobs. So we get a chance to know each other and find neighbors who have similar interests. And there’s still diversity here. And I just love that. I was never able to travel and go all over the world, so National Geographic became my travel agent. And of course, with me majoring in dietetics and loving to cook. So I cooked foods from around the world. And when we were. When my children were coming up, we used to have, I think we bought one of the first Litton 4 meal microwaves. And we didn’t use the word leftovers in our house. We would take the little dabs of food left, okay, and put them in that microwave, and I’d spread them all out and pretty dishes on a table, and we’d have some milk tea, and I put on some belly dancing music and we called it a smorgasbord. It was a lot of fun. It was crazy, but-
Virginia Dawson [00:16:03] So where did you shop?
LaVera Wingfield [00:16:05] We went to the old Pick ’N Pay. And I did the weekly specials right where the Walgreens is at 16400 Chagrin. That used to be a supermarket. It was called Pick ’N Pay. And I made sure that I shopped with the weekly specials and I planned my meals around that. So as a result, I didn’t have to buy certain things. I bought whatever I bought and cooked. My children would eat it. And we didn’t eat snack food back then, but they could eat all they wanted to at the table and it worked out fine. Yeah. And so all of them cook.
Virginia Dawson [00:16:59] What about church? Did you go to church?
LaVera Wingfield [00:17:02] Yeah, at the time we moved here, we went to Zion Hill Missionary Baptist Church on Kinsman where my uncle and aunt were, were officers there. And I transferred later. After the children had left home, I transferred to Providence Baptist Church.
Virginia Dawson [00:17:28] 2 to 1.
LaVera Wingfield [00:17:29] Providence Baptist Church on Kinsman. And now I’m at Calvary Hill Baptist Church on Cedar.
Virginia Dawson [00:17:42] And say that the, other one. The one before Calvary Hill again.
LaVera Wingfield [00:17:44] Providence.
Virginia Dawson [00:17:46] Providence.
LaVera Wingfield [00:17:47] Yeah.
Virginia Dawson [00:17:50] Providence Baptist Church.
LaVera Wingfield [00:17:51] Yeah. They all Missionary Baptist Church. So nevertheless, I feel that I’ve been truly blessed. None of my children, whoever arrested I had one that got expelled. He had an in home suspension. He never wanted to do that again because I worked this behind off. I had a list on the refrigerator and he was complaining about. I’d be so glad that I can go back to school so I can get some rest. [crosstalk] So nevertheless, though, generally my experiences here have been purely positive. And if they weren’t, they became positive because I found something good out of it. If it was for no other reason than for me to understand humanity better and of course, myself.
Virginia Dawson [00:18:58] So what about police? Did you feel as though your neighborhood got enough police protection?
LaVera Wingfield [00:19:05] The only thing I can comment about that is that if something were to happen at my house, I can bank on the police being there in less than three minutes. [cell phone rings]
Virginia Dawson [00:19:21] What is that? It’s wrecking our thing. [recording stops and restarts] We are resuming the interview with LaVera Wingfield. And so I can’t remember where we left off exactly, but I think I was asking you about whether you got adequate police protection.
LaVera Wingfield [00:19:50] Yes. Not a lot of visibility as we would like, but if something were to happen, you can bank on them being there in less than three minutes. And that’s remarkable.
Virginia Dawson [00:20:04] That is. So basically you felt like you got good service from the city. I mean, did you feel neglected by the city? Anyway.
LaVera Wingfield [00:20:18] I- It depends on what level your expectations are. [crosstalk] See if I have a gate-
Virginia Dawson [00:20:25] Say a few things about that.
LaVera Wingfield [00:20:28] I have a gate on my backyard, so they can’t drive up into my backyard and get my garbage. So that’s one service that I declined. Generally they are. If you stay connected with what is available, what is going on, what changes have been made and all that, you can basically get what you need from the community. The same goes for the school system. And I feel that I got a private school education for my children out of public school system. And nevertheless, I do need to point out, though we had been, and this is slightly changing the subject because I’m backtracking a tiny bit, but we had been in our new house for three months and my husband got laid off. My mother always taught me where you stay, your rent, your insurance and your utility bills, and then what’s left, you buy food with it. So that’s the kind of budget I grew up on. But we always had food. Okay. But nevertheless, when I got to the food pie, there was no money left. And the principal at the time at Moreland was Ms. Delores Groves. She’s now a doctor. I came to the school and I spoke with her and told her of our dilemma. She got busy right away. Next day they put flyers out that same evening, sent home that they were going to have a sock hop the next day. In order to get in the sock hop, they had to have a non perishable item, food item. So they had a sock hop. And maybe a day or two later I opened the door, six boxes. Six, you know those boxes those bananas come in, those wide box with six of those, they couldn’t all get on the stoop they were all. And not just non perishable items, but chickens and hams. There’s very few times in my life I’ve been speechless. To fast forward for a minute, I was unable to contact Mrs. Groves. When I got. I wanted to send her a dozen roses and thank her. About two years ago, a friend of mine, longtime friend of mine who happens to be her cousin, she was at her funeral and that’s when I told her. She said, you giving me my roses now? And she had me to repeat so her husband could hear it. And she said, you’ve given me my roses now. But the teachers, there was no food pantry in the communities back then. So I never forgot. And then I forgot to tell my children until a few years ago. And when I told them, they said, why didn’t you tell us? We need to do remember to tell our children about hardships when we have them, because that’s the real, real world, you know. So nevertheless, being active now with neighbor nights, I’m just, I just have a great time there. The, the fall activities we’ve planned. See, we can break off in groups about a concern and brainstorm. So we have some fall activities planned and whatever kind of issues may be going on that affect us in the community, it’s far more effective than a community association because there’s not so much legal stuff, laid back, casual. So at neighbor night last Christmas, I think it was slightly after Christmas when we had it, we had long tables full of food from different cultures. We even had a couple that taught us how to play dreidels. Is that the way you pronounce it?
Virginia Dawson [00:25:47] Yeah, I think so.
LaVera Wingfield [00:25:49] Yeah. Okay. It was a lot of fun. It was such a- And me majoring in foods. And I can tell how people cook their food, what kind of influence they have from what geographical region. So I was able to pinpoint one girl who cooked some coconut kale. And I said, you must be from South Carolina. She said, how did you know? So it really, really brings us together. But unfortunately, everybody does not have that same mindset. But then that’s not. It wouldn’t be realistic anyway. Yeah. So. But we have a great time.
Virginia Dawson [00:26:28] Wow. Well, I wanted to ask you. I remember you brought once to a meeting, the mezuzahs, and I wanted you to. Who was. Who did you buy your house from? Was it a Jewish family?
LaVera Wingfield [00:26:42] Yes.
Virginia Dawson [00:26:43] Okay.
LaVera Wingfield [00:26:45] Apparently, the patriarch had been either hospitalized or something for past. It could have been a rest home, past the statute of limitations. So the children, not so young children, got together and put the house up for sale. And it was being rented at that point. So it was our Jewish family. So in 2006, I had new doors put on, and the guy who was supposed to be the handyman wasn’t so handy, but something told him to say, do you want me to take these off the door before I take them? You know, before I get rid of them? And I said, yeah. I had no idea what they were. I had heard of them, but I had never seen what they actually looked like. They had been painted over.
Virginia Dawson [00:27:41] Some azuzas because that be on the table.
LaVera Wingfield [00:27:43] It was a mezuzah. I opened one up, and it was all written in Hebrew. The piece of parchment in there was rolled up. It was all written in Hebrew. And until I started with the Obama campaign. At the campaign headquarters, I saw a young man and he was leading a group, and I asked him if he would translate that for me. So he took a break from his group and went on his laptop and translated it. I broke down and cried. It was so similar to my own values that I was raised with. And it addresses how to raise your children, you know, what teach them and that kind of thing. So I saved them. And until recently, I was. I had saved. They were too saved. I couldn’t find them. So I found them. I’m going to submit a picture of it, but I want to keep them. There was one on the back door and one on the front door. I treasured that. So nevertheless, for this particular entity, I would like to see the Jewish community make a contribution. Because they were here before we got here, and that’s part of the history.
Virginia Dawson [00:29:19] Sure, of course.
LaVera Wingfield [00:29:21] So we’re still there at the same address, and I have no intentions of leaving.
Virginia Dawson [00:29:30] And you moved there in what year?
LaVera Wingfield [00:29:33] 1976. In January. January 22nd. We had a long moving van.
Virginia Dawson [00:29:42] And you moved from.
LaVera Wingfield [00:29:45] From Eddy Road. Eddy Road, Yeah. The moving van broke down. It was in the middle of the winter. The moving van broke down with part of it out in the street. I vowed then that I would never move again. I never have. We had to call all the way to Arizona, and then they sent another truck to tow that truck, but we had to unload it first. I thought I would never move. I said, uh-
Virginia Dawson [00:30:16] When did you retire?
LaVera Wingfield [00:30:17] I haven’t retired yet.
Virginia Dawson [00:30:22] Oh.
LaVera Wingfield [00:30:23] I work harder now than I did really when I was 35.
Virginia Dawson [00:30:29] Wow. And in what?
LaVera Wingfield [00:30:33] Well, I have some. I’m redoing the house and upgrading and downsizing. Yeah, that takes some doing.
Virginia Dawson [00:30:44] Oh, yeah.
LaVera Wingfield [00:30:45] But then I have hobbies.
Virginia Dawson [00:30:47] Oh, wow.
LaVera Wingfield [00:30:48] Yeah, I make jewelry, pottery. I’m going back to my pottery, too. I still have all my equipment, and I used to make floral designs, but I had to evict them because they wouldn’t pay no rent.
Virginia Dawson [00:31:05] That’s cool. Well, this has been great, I think. Let’s see what it’s- Quarter of 12. We have it till- Have the room till 12, but I’ve kind of run out of questions. But do you have stuff you’d like to add?
LaVera Wingfield [00:31:19] Now, you- It can be- You ask me questions that I’ll have because I like to talk.
Virginia Dawson [00:31:28] I think you’ve covered my questions. Let me see. Let me just check to see if there’s anything that I should.
LaVera Wingfield [00:31:35] So, in essence, I’m really preparing my retirement home.
Virginia Dawson [00:31:38] I see.
LaVera Wingfield [00:31:39] Because I have no intention of leaving until I can’t. Somebody takes me out there on a gurney.
Virginia Dawson [00:31:45] Yeah, we covered. Oh. What do you think of the car dealerships? They’re kind of gone, aren’t they?
LaVera Wingfield [00:31:51] Did they ever. You mean it’s reincarnation?
Virginia Dawson [00:31:54] Yeah. Or did they bother you when they were there?
LaVera Wingfield [00:31:59] The car dealership, you know, on Lee Road.
Virginia Dawson [00:32:02] But you’re far from Lee Road. What about connections to the neighbors behind you that are in Cleveland? Do you have any, you know, do you know them? Are they?
LaVera Wingfield [00:32:16] I wish.
Virginia Dawson [00:32:17] Really? Huh. Is there a big like fence behind that?
LaVera Wingfield [00:32:24] Well, one of the houses. Because they straddle the property. The property, what you call it. They’re not directly back to back. They. Anyway, I see what you mean.
Virginia Dawson [00:32:43] They’re like. They’re not directly behind you. They’re a little to the side.
LaVera Wingfield [00:32:46] Yeah. So it’s like my lot is part of two lots on the next street.
Virginia Dawson [00:32:54] Yeah, I get it.
LaVera Wingfield [00:32:56] I- One of the houses, a HUD house, and people move in and out of that. These people, I don’t know them, but we did have the. Was blessed to be able to see the former tenant’s house was on fire and he was in their sleep. And we called the police, I mean the fire department. But the tenants that have been there since, we don’t know them. And I went around to meet them one day because I had concern about their butternut tree which lifted my garage floor up so I could offer to have it cut down. Because they didn’t. They had to cut down it re.
Virginia Dawson [00:33:42] Yeah.
LaVera Wingfield [00:33:43] So I was parked two doors from the house and there was a pit bull and he went crazy. So I don’t go near there. So hopefully they get mail cause I won’t be going.
Virginia Dawson [00:33:59] Wow.
LaVera Wingfield [00:34:00] Yeah. Huge.
Virginia Dawson [00:34:02] That’s tough. That’s scary.
LaVera Wingfield [00:34:04] It’s really scary. I’m terrified of dogs.
Virginia Dawson [00:34:09] But also pit bulls. I mean, you know, they’re not just dogs, they’re attack dogs.
LaVera Wingfield [00:34:15] But I got bitten by a dog when I was nine months pregnant with my oldest son and the dog knew me. It was next door, just came up without provocation, bit me and I just don’t trust dogs.
Virginia Dawson [00:34:37] Yeah man. Well, let’s see. The other thing they had on the list was Chelton Road. You have, you know, the Chelton Park. Do you have any observations about that?
LaVera Wingfield [00:34:50] I really. We. When I was a member of Moreland on the Move, we made it possible for them to put that park there.
Virginia Dawson [00:35:00] Okay.
LaVera Wingfield [00:35:00] And it’s been upgraded since.
Virginia Dawson [00:35:02] And you’re pleased with it I would assume?
LaVera Wingfield [00:35:05] Yes, because it’s become a hub for the neighborhood now.
Virginia Dawson [00:35:10] Really?
LaVera Wingfield [00:35:11] Yes. The neighbor night uses it in the summer to have their meetings. It’s been. The city put some surveillance cameras there and they painted my picture on the mural on the wall. I will be submitting a picture, a copy of it. [crosstalk] I was out. If anybody had told me I would have been out in 90 degree weather painting in the hot sun. I would have laughed at them. But I did it. They wanted the residents to come and so there I was. And when I finished, I had actually given them my son’s picture who had grown up in Moreland one, who is the actor. And I gave him his first headshot and he told me, he said, oh, this is going to be easy. So when I finished painting, helping with the painting, he said, pose, I’m going to take your picture. He took my picture with my mask under my chin and my earrings were off because I didn’t want to get paint on them. And I’m thinking they were going. When I went to neighbor night, Kamla said, LaVera, I want you to sign some papers. I said, okay. She said, it’s about the mural. I said, okay, so when do you have to have them back? She said, I gotta have them back tonight. I said, I can’t get them to New York. But she said, this is not for your son, this is for you. She showed me a picture of it. I was humbled. It was another of the rare times I was speechless. But so we, there are a lot of things, we are planning things in the neighbor night to keep that park active and attended by well meaning people who want to be a part of the community. Positive things, in other words. In fact, I really would like to see another little free library there if I have to sponsor it.
Virginia Dawson [00:37:27] A little what?
LaVera Wingfield [00:37:29] Little free library.
Virginia Dawson [00:37:30] Oh, you mean like a book exchange. Nice.
LaVera Wingfield [00:37:34] Yeah, Because I have enough books that if the law would allow, if my house caught fire, it would be permissible to let it burn until it burned down. It would burn for four days. I’m donating books and I’m constantly buying them. So I’m going to be donating a lot of books because I love. I get some freaky jollies from turning pages and reading.
Virginia Dawson [00:38:06] Well, I noticed you have a sign in your yard about loving the Shaker library. What is it?
LaVera Wingfield [00:38:12] Oh, yeah, well. Well, I think one of the activities that came out, one of the neighbor nights was because one of the board members is in that group, called for a chat on her patio about some input about some ideas for the library. So she gave us those signs later because I’m definitely going to support the library. Whatever I vote for, I’m always going to vote for Tri-C and the library. And I have been known to vote for only that. But it’s the pulse of the community. And so we-
Virginia Dawson [00:39:01] You say the pulse. The pulse.
LaVera Wingfield [00:39:06] It’s the pulse. Beat the heart of it and that’s even better. But because there’s so much. I’m an information freak and this is an age of information. So I load my physical hard drive down. Yeah, I love learning.
Virginia Dawson [00:39:32] That’s great. That’s great.
LaVera Wingfield [00:39:33] So I’ve taught myself a number of crafts that actually become a fine art. And once I attain the skill of the particular technique and make one piece, I’m done with it. I lose interest in it, so I go to another. But I can teach somebody else how to do it. So I once had a doctor. I told him that, and he told me, he said I should teach it. So if I had, if I needed, I need to do about 125 more things before I die. And I’ll probably need to live to be that old in order to accomplish them.
Virginia Dawson [00:40:25] The earrings you have on, did you make those?
LaVera Wingfield [00:40:27] No, I bought them from a lady because I used to be in a lot of shows, and they actually came from Thailand, and I just loved them. And when I can no longer buy them, which I won’t buy anymore from her, so I’ll make me a dye and I’ll desolder them and make me a dye and make them. Make another pair. [crosstalk] Yeah. I have three sizes, but this is my favorite size.
Virginia Dawson [00:41:01] Looks great. Well, I think we should wrap it up. This has been really so fascinating. I’ve enjoyed it so much.
LaVera Wingfield [00:41:09] Thank you.
Virginia Dawson [00:41:11] So let’s see. Let’s see if I can.
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