Kay Morrison | Interview 1 | August 27, 2015

FARRELL: Okay, this is Shanna Farrell with Kay Morrison on Thursday, August 27, 2015 in Fairfield, California, and we are doing an interview for the Rosie the Riveter Project. Kay, can you start by tell me where and when you were born, and a little bit about your early life?

MORRISON: I was born in Chico, California, November the 22, 1923. I’ll be 92 this year. And it was a wonderful town to grow up in. It was an “Our Town.” We had the city park. I had a marvelous family -- a mother and father, older brother, and a younger brother. And all my family lived in Chico. In fact, my great-grand mother was born in Paradise -- that’s just about 20 miles up 00:01:00Northeast from Chico. My great-granddaughter is seventh generation Californian. I thought you might like to know that. I went to the local schools.

And of course, you know, growing up during the Depression, it was very hard to support a family because times just were that way. And so my dad worked for the Diamond Match factory in Chico, and my mother did too. But then they laid off all the women because times were so bad. So, it got to where even they weren’t paying enough to take care of the five of us, so we packed up and moved to Long Beach, California in 1929. I was six years old. And we lived there for four years until 00:02:00I was 10. I went through the big earthquake in 1933 in Long Beach and Los Angeles. My mother was very much afraid that we would be swept away by a tidal wave. That’s what the people talked about. And so she said she just had to go back to Chico, plus the fact that my younger brother had gotten very sick with asthma when we lived in Long Beach, so he was living in Chico with my grandmother. Our home was broken due to the fact that my younger brother was not with us.

So my mother said, “We’re going to move home. We’re not going to be swept away by a tidal wave, and I’m going to be able to have my family with 00:03:00me.” So it was after the earthquake of ’33 that we moved back to Chico, and we weren’t there a year and our house burned down. We lost everything, but I guess you’d say the shirts on our back. And we did come out of that. The townspeople rallied and took up a collection and donations for us. And the house that burned down, my grandmother owned so they lost a lot too. I do think they had insurance on the house, because they could re-build or take the money. I believe they took the money and someone else then bought the property and built a new home there.

I’m trying to think of the grammar school I went to. Gosh, 00:04:00it’s so many years ago. I guess it was Salem School and it was a very, very old school. And that was from the 5th grade. And then when I went to the 6th grade -- no 7th grade, I went to Central School, which was like we have middle school here. We didn’t call it middle school, it was just in between. I went there 7th and 8th grade. And then I went to Chico High School for my high school education. When I was a junior in high school, I married my childhood sweetheart. Imagine [laughter]. I wasn’t quite 17. I was 16 and 10 months. We 00:05:00were married in September 1940. And then I continued my education. While I was going to high school, I worked as a soda fountain clerk. And then when I graduated, I went to work at JC Penney as a clerk. I was lucky to be able to have a job during high school and after because we were still in a Depression. We didn’t start to come out of it until the war, sorry to say, but that’s the way it was in 1941.

And speaking of the war, we were just devastated when we heard what had happened. We thought how can anybody come to our country, our 00:06:00soil, and do what they did to us. We just couldn’t comprehend it. My husband worked for the Bank of America. We got married. He was 20. He was out of school and he worked for the Bank of America. He had bad eyesight because when he was a very young boy him and his little friends made rubber guns and shot them off. They made the rubber guns out of old tire inner tubes, which were very thick and heavy. He was having trouble with his eyes because when they made those guns and shot them, it didn’t go off, it came back and hit him in the eye, and caused terrible eye problems. And so he was having problems and going to the eye 00:07:00doctor. After the war came in ’41, he was doctoring and the doctor told him he said, “Ray, you’ve got to get out of this banking because you’re going blind.” So he says, “What’ll I do?” He says, “Well, why don’t you go down to the Bay Area and go into defense work?”

So he came home and he asked me what I thought. “Gee,” I said, “I think that would be great. It would be an adventure for us. We’d be helping our country and helping ourselves.” So we came down to the Bay Area to Richmond. Couldn’t find a place to live. Richmond had in the town public 20,000 people.

We looked in El Cerrito, Albany, Berkeley; couldn’t find a place to live. And Oakland was like another country away because we had no freeway, but we had a road to San Francisco. So we got in the car and away we went looking for a place to live, and we found an apartment on Hayden and Fillmore over the Bank of America, which we just left in Chico [laughter]. The irony of it. We rented that two-room apartment with a Murphy bed for $32.50 a month, and my granddaughter tells me today it’s renting for 00:09:00$2,000. Unbelievable. Just can’t believe it. Well, any how we got settled.

We marched ourselves down to the big Boilermakers Union Hall. Big place. And we walked in and I said, “Oh, honey, they’re not going to hire me.” You know why? Great big sign overhead. No women or blacks wanted. Now that was February of 1942, but they hired my husband, which they were hiring because the men were being taken off to war. He was hired as a shipwright, which is a carpenter. The reason he was declared 4F because he tried to join the Air Force. He couldn’t 00:10:00pass the eye test because his eyes were so bad. Then they found out he had a heart murmur. And he said to the doctor, “Well, should I worry about it?” The doctor says, “Well, I can’t tell you about that, but I can tell you that the government, if they take you and something happens to you they have to pension off you and your family for life. So you’re better off working in defense and doing your part that way.”

So he took the ferry every night from San Francisco at the ferry building. And they had ferry boats running to Kaiser’s four yards, and my husband happened to work graveyard in Yard Two and on Assembly One. I stewed about it that they wouldn’t hire me, but that’s 00:11:00the way it was then. They never took any women until July of ’42. I went back because every time I go out in the street I’d see this big picture of Uncle Sam with is high hat and his red, white, and blue jacket pointing his finger. Go to work for Uncle Sam. You go and work in the shipyards. Go be a welder. I thought well, here I am. I want to work for him, and he don’t want me. Well, it wasn’t him per se. That was just the time.

So anyhow, in January of ’43 I went back to the union hall and low and behold the sign was gone, and I thought oh, that’s good news. So I marched myself up to the window and I told the man I said, “I want to go to work in defense. I want to work in the shipyards.” 00:12:00He looked at me and he said, “Do you belong to the union?” I thought union? I don’t know if Chico had any unions. I presume they did, but not when I worked in the fountain or when I worked for JC Penney. I didn’t belong to any union. Then he says, “Well, don’t worry, we can join you up for the union and you’ll get the job right now.” He says, “You’re going to be a welder.” Whoa boy, that sounded good. I was going to go to work for my country. And then I said, “Well, I have to go to Yard Two, and I have to work graveyard.” He looked at me. What woman wants to work graveyard? Me, because my husband. I said “I must work on Assembly One.” Fine, no problem. Now, 00:13:00you’re going to go to school for two weeks, welding school. Okay. Well, I went for two weeks and when I came out, I was called a tacker. And I don’t think I was very good at that, but I had a lot of ambition, and I was young, and I thought I have got to work to bring these boys home and end this war.

So I reported to my Leaderman and he said, “Kay, can you weld?” I said, “No.” “Great, I’m going to make a journeyman welder out of you.” Can you imagine how I felt? I was a welder. I was a tacker. Not good at that. Here I was going to be a journeyman welder. I thought oh, my goodness, my prayers are answered. I didn’t know what it was, but it sounded so good. But every night that man, my Leaderman took me under the assembly after we’d eaten lunch and taught me to 00:14:00weld vertical, and overheard, and to set my own machine. I didn’t learn those things when I was in welding school. Two weeks, what can you learn in two weeks? Welding is a trade. It takes time. And so after three months -- well, get back to the welding. Flat welding was easy, and with any training at all, anybody could weld flat. But it took a real Cracker Jack of a welder to do that vertical and overhead. And so after three months, my Leaderman said to me, “Kay, I’ve made an appointment for you to go back to the welding school to take your certified test.” It’s a test given by the government, and the Navy gives 00:15:00that test. You have to be able to pass it. You have three pieces of metal, three different ones of three each. One flat, two towed in into the bottom plate, and about 12 inches long, and one was for flat and one was for vertical. One was for overhead. They did watch you because I think some people had tried to do flat for all three. But you see, it’s a different bead, and a different rod for vertical and overhead the same rod but flat was totally different. Then they take those and bend then to a 90-degree angle. If they even crack an eighth of an inch, you do not pass. I passed. I heard a week later. I was telling the man 00:16:00next to me who was a journeyman welder I said, “Hey, I passed my certification.” Ha, he says, “Kay, you must be awfully good. It took me three times.” But not only that, I went from 90 cents an hour to $1.38 an hour, plus he and I were both journeymans. We had equal pay for equal work. Imagine, 72 years ago equal pay for equal work.

FARRELL: So there are some of these issues that I want to get into. I want to back up a little bit, and one of the questions I have is how did your house burn down when you were in 1933 or 1934 in Chico?

MORRISON: My husband was so happy that I could work because we were a team. Everything was 50, 50. I think because he had a mother and five sisters, he 00:17:00thought women were great, and that they should be treated the same as men. So I had no problem.

FARRELL: Wait, sorry. So backing up to when you were younger, you had mentioned that your house burned down. So I’m wondering why and how your house burned down?

MORRISON: We think it was the flue.

FARRELL: The flue?

MORRISON: It was an old home. The flue in the chimney.

FARRELL: Oh.

MORRISON: Yes. They thought that some way it had sparked and we had wood stoves. We cooked on wood stoves.

FARRELL: What did your family do having just moved back to Chico?

MORRISON: What did they do?

FARRELL: Okay, so yeah. After that house burned down, what did your family do for housing or?

MORRISON: What we’d do for living?

FARRELL: Yeah.

MORRISON: We went and rented a house.

FARRELL: In Chico?

MORRISON: Yes.

FARRELL: Okay. Can you tell me a little bit about -- so your parents were both working, can you tell me a little bit about each of your parents, their names, and --

MORRISON: Well, both of them I told you worked at the Diamond Match factory. Both my mom and dad, and they worked with matches.

FARRELL: Can you tell some of your memories about each of them, how they were as parents kind of thing?

MORRISON: They were wonderful parents. My father came from Greece. I was first generation on my dad’s side, but my mother’s side I was fourth generation Californian.

FARRELL: And what were their names?

MORRISON: My dad’s name was Peter Stavros.

FARRELL: Okay.

MORRISON: And in Greek, Peter is Panayiota. The name was Stavropoulos, but when they came through Ellis Island, they shortened the name.

FARRELL: And your your mother?

MORRISON: My mother’s name was Eva Hendrix, H-E-N-D-R-I-X. And the reason it wasn’t spelled H-E-N-D-R-I-C-K-S was because they -- my grandfather, his family came across the plains to California. From where, I don’t know. But my grandfather’s mother came from Ireland. Her name was O’Keefe. She married somebody here by the name of Hendricks, and that was back somewhere before the wagon train. There was a break when they came to a certain point, and half of the Hendricks went one way and half of the Hendricks went the other. There was the difference in the spelling of the names.

FARRELL: Can you tell me about each of your siblings?

MORRISON: Okay. My older brother. Yes, he was a wonderful brother. He was four years older. He was a son by my father’s first marriage, and that marriage didn’t work out because she was 16 when she had my brother. She just couldn’t manage it. Her life had just -- she couldn’t do it so she left. My dad was 21 and she left. Then he took my older brother and his self and went to live with his mother and dad on a farm, an almond orchard in Chico. When I guess he knew my mother because they were both working at the Diamond Match. They got married when my brother was three years old. The first wife left when he was six 00:21:00weeks old. Yeah, tragic. He was three years old and they got married. He could speak fluent Greek being raised with his Greek family. And so he was always there. He was my brother and I adored him. I looked up to him. Yeah.

During his school years and teen years, he would go to work for a man who owned a farm and he would run a harvester and bail hay. He worked awfully hard in the hot sun, and I’m sure he didn’t make much money, but he bought clothes for his schooling to go school when school started. When he was 19, he wanted to get married. My mother tried to talk him out of it because the young lady was a 00:22:00darling girl, had a darling family, but they were prone to tuberculosis. So my mother said, “I don’t think it’s wise.” Because I think that once they go and tried to live a married life, she’ll have problems, and she did.

In the meantime, my mother passed away. I was 15. My brother was 19. My younger brother was 13. She had a burst appendix and in 1939 there wasn’t even a sulfa drug, so there was no hope for her. So the three of us and my father tried to make it and he was working for the Diamond Match. It was an impossible situation to pay 00:23:00for a home, support three children. The family got together and decided that I should go and live with my aunt, that was my mother’s sister and her husband and my boy cousin who was six and my younger brother, he would go and live with my grandmother because my grandpa had died the year after my mother died. It was hard breaking up the family. And then my dad went in the Merchant Marines. Ships don’t go to Chico. The closest they come was Oleum over by Rodeo waterfront, and then he’d work his way to Chico to see us. That was a hard situation.

FARRELL: Is that part of the reason why you were working in high school?

MORRISON: Pardon?

FARRELL: Is that part of the reason that you worked in high school?

MORRISON: That I worked through high school? Yeah.

FARRELL: Yeah.

MORRISON: Yes, had to. Most kids did because they would -- I even cut peaches before I went and found the job at the fountain. And there was Depression. No money. Just did the best you could. I figured that I was a good worker and I had a lot to offer, and that’s why I had a job. Every young girl or boy didn’t have a job either.

FARRELL: Was it hard for you to find the job at JC Penney and cutting peaches?

MORRISON: Yes, I went and did it on my own. I didn’t know anybody, but I think they saw a person who was determined and I wouldn’t take no for an answer [laughter].

FARRELL: Your husband’s name was Ray?

MORRISON: Ray.

FARRELL: Ray. Did he start working at Bank of America right after high school?

MORRISON: Right out of high school.

FARRELL: Okay.

MORRISON: He had two scholarships; one to Chico and one to UCLA. But his family was poor too. The mother said, “No, you can’t do it. We can’t let you go because we don’t have the money.” The principal each year of the high school would take one man and one woman from the graduating class and get them a job. My husband was quite a sports person, and had a lot of integrity. So the principal chose him to take him to Bank of America and that’s how he got his job, but he worked every summer from the time he was, I believe it was 15 up at Sterling City, which is out of Chico on the fire crew. He worked, yes. Yeah, he worked on a fire truck, yeah.

FARRELL: Can you tell me a little bit more about that, what he was --

MORRISON: Well --

FARRELL: -- doing on the fire truck?

MORRISON: -- high up in the mountains a Sterling City was and it was very dry and lots of brush. And so any time they had a fire these young people got on the truck. They had experienced men the important positions for the fire, but otherwise it was high school people. High school boys. And he loved it. Yeah, said he rode on the back and held on like all get out [laughter].

FARRELL: How soon after you were married in 1940 did you move to San Francisco to --

MORRISON: In 1942.

FARRELL: 1942.

MORRISON: In February.

FARRELL: And what were you doing for work then because you had left Bank of America. Can you just, sorry --

MORRISON: No, he left Bank of America.

FARRELL: He, oh. Okay.

MORRISON: But he left it because of the eyes, and that’s why we came down to San Francisco to --

FARRELL: Okay.

MORRISON: -- defense work, but I was still working for JC Penney.

FARRELL: Oh, so you moved to San Francisco to be closer to the shipyards?

MORRISON: I moved because my --

FARRELL: Or the defense --

MORRISON: -- husband’s eyes were so bad. That seemed to be the salvation to get out of there and luckily -- unluckily too to the Bay Area and work in defense because of the war. I wanted to go to work so I could help in the war effort.

FARRELL: You had mentioned that on D-day -- so you’re 18 and it was in 1941 that you had mentioned that you were devastated. Can you tell me about that day and when you heard the news?

MORRISON: Well, we heard about it. Devastation is really, really putting it mildly because such a -- it was something you never expected on American ground that somebody could come from a foreign country and do what they did because 00:28:00we’re supposed to be adults and try to solve an issue. It was an unprovoked attack on us. It was -- I don’t think I’ve ever gotten over it. Very sad thing

FARRELL: When you decided that you wanted to it was because of that that you decided to go work in the shipyard?

MORRISON: Yes, my mission, and I’m sure every other woman too was to work hard, work fast, build those ships, and bring the troops home. That was our mission.

FARRELL: Can you tell me a little bit more about -- so you get to the Boilermaker Union, it’s 1942, you see the sign that says no women or blacks 00:29:00wanted. What did you do after that? I mean what --

MORRISON: I stewed about it. I was very upset. I could have gone back sooner, but what happened was I went back then in January of ’43 and was hired. But for those few months that I was home, my cousin from Chico came with her little baby, six months old baby, and her husband. Her husband and my husband worked together. So her and I spent our days with the baby. That passed the time, but I really was quite unsettled because what was going on around me, and you didn’t get much news. What news you got they wanted you to hear on the radio and when you went to the shows, the theaters -- called them shows then, you would have 00:30:00the newsreel time. It would be they’d have so many minutes to give you the latest news, and we’d hear about the different happens there of the war. I just felt so restless. I just thought I should be doing something.

Well, as fate would have it, her husband was able to get in the Air Force. He got in and she went home with her baby back to Chico. And so I was free then to explore going to work. That was January of ‘43 and they hired me. They had only been having women in the shipyard for about six months prior to that.

FARRELL: Can you remember at all between the period when women weren’t allowed and the period, January ’43 when you went back, when women were allowed? Can you remember was there anything that happened, or changed, or why suddenly, why 00:31:00women were allowed?

MORRISON: Sure, because the war was going on. No one knew how long it would last. I think they thought it would be -- they being the government, would last a very short time. And as it kept going on, they kept taking more men and there was no one hardly left. So that women were welcomed with open arms.

FARRELL: Okay, so can you tell me about in January 1943 you get to the shipyard, they tell you have to be part of the Boilermaker Union?

MORRISON: Had to what?

FARRELL: Be part of the Boilermaker Union?

MORRISON: That was when I was hired.

FARRELL: Right.

MORRISON: You had to belong to the union to get the job.

FARRELL: So can you tell me a little bit about joining the Boilermaker Union?

MORRISON: You know I can’t remember a darn thing about it. I can’t even remember what I paid dues. But I just knew that they signed me up and the job at 00:32:00the same time, right there. One time, one minute the next.

FARRELL: And so you never went to a union meeting?

MORRISON: Never. Never went.

FARRELL: Did you ever meet a union boss or anything?

MORRISON: No.

FARRELL: No? Interesting.

MORRISON: I don’t ever remember any coming in the shipyards, but I worked graveyard. Maybe they did on the day or swing shift, I don’t know. I never saw any movie stars either, but I did go to a launching.

FARRELL: A launching?

MORRISON: I was invited to a launching of a ship. I was working and I was standing there because I had my hood up, and I was looking at the ship. I thought ha, that’s one ship that’s going and it’s going to do its duty and bring somebody home. The man tapped me on the shoulder and he said, “Would you like to go to that launching?” I said, “Would I.” Oh, I was out of this 00:33:00world. He says, “Well, take your leathers off, and you go there those stairs, and you go up and you sit on that platform.” I thought this man has to be somebody because my Leaderman would have said, “Kay, it’s time to get back to work.” Not a word was said. I don’t remember the ship. I don’t remember the lady -- and it was a lady that christened it, and I think it was 1944. But I was in seventh heaven, I mean I couldn’t believe it. I was totally underdressed because I had on the outfit that I wore under my leathers. Everybody else had furs, dressed up to the nines. It was probably 4 o’clock in the morning, because I worked from 11:00 to 7:00, and usually, there was no launchings on the graveyard shift.

FARRELL: Were there any other journeymen or welders that were --

MORRISON: Nobody, I was the only --

FARRELL: It was just --

MORRISON: I was the only one. The only employee in the whole shipyard at that launching.

FARRELL: Did you talk to other employees that got to go to launchings at any point, or was that a rare thing?

MORRISON: That was a rare occurrence.

FARRELL: Huh.

MORRISON: Yeah, because usually, it was dignitaries or named people that were invited to come. But I think he wanted to have a more of a human touch, and the worker that had worked and helped build the ship.

FARRELL: So okay, so you joined the Boilermaker Union and you finally, you say you need to work on Yard Two on Assembly One during the graveyard shift. What was that first day of work for you like?

MORRISON: I couldn’t believe it. I was finally going to do my part. I had achieved a big milestone to get that job and get in there. I thought I was going 00:35:00to do the best job of anybody [laughter].

FARRELL: When you were going to welding school, do you remember some of the things that they were talking to you about or teaching you to do?

MORRISON: Yeah, the instructor -- remember, I wasn’t the only person. There was several people hired and they were all trying to learn to weld. So the instructor, he had a hard job because like Marian said, Marian Wynn she learned how to set her machine when she was in welding school. I did not. I did not learn to set a machine, and I could barely tack. When I reported to my Leaderman and I got to tack, oh, dear Lord, let this rod come off of this piece of steel because I didn’t know how to set the machine, and if it’s too cold it sticks 00:36:00there, if it’s too hot, it blows a hole through it.

FARRELL: Can you explain the difference between welding and tacking --

MORRISON: Yes, welding --

FARRELL: -- for future listeners?

MORRISON: For instance, one night when I was a journeyman welder I went down to the outfitting dock and I worked in a very small space and I welded overhead eight hours on my back, laying on my back. You weld like maybe it was 10 feet tacking a spot, just a spot. That’s a tacker. I worked with my husband when I was a tacker, and he would hold what we call a saddle, which is three pieces of metal; one here, one here, and one across the top. He had me tack that to the 00:37:00big plate of steel. That’s all. You don’t do any welding. And welding, when I would weld for at least six, 10 feet of welding, you got to keep that bead going, several passes also. That means you do one pass and then that’s the bead. It was like doing an O in school, when you learned to write that was as I recall. Then you had to chip it, and brush it, and mine were perfect. And then you had to do the next pass. If you had to have more than two or three, not usually.

FARRELL: Okay, so you only really did two or three a shift?

MORRISON: Usually a couple of passes.

FARRELL: You mentioned that you didn’t think that you were a good tacker. Why don’t you think that that --

MORRISON: Well, because I wasn’t accomplishing anything. I didn’t know how 00:38:00to set a machine and the rod. I thought oh, it’s going to stick because now the Leaderman set my machine. But if it isn’t just right, of course he knew. He was a marvelous welder. We were lucky to have him, and I considered myself that good because he taught me. Yeah, and I just didn’t think I was. I’d never done anything like that before, but then when I learned each night to do more, to learn more on welding with my Leaderman then when I would go to do something, oh sure, I had a lot of confidence because I was learning to weld. And then as I was learning to weld, after lunch I was also doing more welding on the steel. I just started tacking for the shipwrights.

FARRELL: During those early -- before you became a journeyman, what was it like working with your husband?

MORRISON: Working with my --

FARRELL: With your husband?

MORRISON: Well, I was so eager, I remember this because I wanted to build a ship. I was so excited. They ran out of work because I kept them busy, the shipwrights. And my husband says, “Why don’t you go over and take your break and go to the bathroom,” [laughter] to get rid of me. As I became a better welder than I didn’t work with him then because he worked more with tackers, and I went onto work on the big stuff.

FARRELL: Did he share your enthusiasm --

MORRISON: Oh, yeah.

FARRELL: -- for building the ships for the country?

MORRISON: He was really a helpmate. I was married 64 years when he died.

FARRELL: Well, I was wondering if he shared your enthusiasm for building ships 00:40:00to help the country and to bring back --

MORRISON: Oh, yes.

FARRELL: Yeah.

MORRISON: Yes, because look, what else could he do? He couldn’t serve it in the service, he tried. So he put his efforts into his work in the shipyard.

FARRELL: Were a lot of people that you worked with very patriotic, and do you remember having conversations with them about that?

MORRISON: I think most of the people were. And I know that people have said, “Well, did you make a lot of friendships?” Not really because we weren’t there to visit. We were there to work to get a job done. Yes, we had the comradeship. Hello, how are you today? Get your hood on and weld. And well, we’re leaving. Goodbye, I’ll see you tomorrow. That was it.

FARRELL: Can you explain the difference to me between a journeyman welder and a welder?

MORRISON: Okay, a welder is when they have been in the yard and they have 00:41:00learned to do a little more welding than the tacking and they can weld most things they’re asked to do. But a certified welder can weld anything, anywhere, any place that the welders cannot.

FARRELL: Okay. And so what was it like getting your certification for the test?

MORRISON: Oh, what was the test?

FARRELL: Or yeah, you had to take a test to get certified?

MORRISON: I told you we had three plates. Three specimens; one for flat, vertical, and overhead. It took me eight hours to do those three specimens. I was confident that I would pass because I was that good because of my Leaderman. 00:42:00I set my own machine. As the war wound down, and there became less work to do I didn’t just work on Assembly One. I progressed on the assemblies wherever they needed a certified welder. When I get there the Leaderman would say, “Hi Kate, great you’re here. Can I set your machine?” Don’t touch. I set my machine. I carried my line at least 25, 50 feet of line, that’s wire inside of a rubber hose like, I carried that on my arm, and to my job, and then plugged my stinger in.

FARRELL: So you worked, just trying to clarify, so you worked in the shipyards for two and a half years?

MORRISON: Yes.

FARRELL: How long were you tacking for, and how long were you a journeyman welder for?

MORRISON: Not too long.

FARRELL: Okay.

MORRISON: When I reported to my Leaderman, he took me under the -- I told you 00:43:00the assembly for three months. So in three months, I became a journeyman welder.

FARRELL: Okay.

MORRISON: I made all that good money and did all that good work.

FARRELL: Were you working with a lot of other women?

MORRISON: Yes.

FARRELL: Do you remember, can you tell me about some of them that you may have --

MORRISON: Well, some --

FARRELL: -- come in contact with?

MORRISON: -- I don’t think were as enthused as I was because there was a lot of women that were much older. I was just 20. And well, that was pretty young to me at the time and they weren’t per se as worked up I think as I was. I think they had so many other things on their mind; their home, their children, and the work.

FARRELL: Was there ever any pushback that women received because they were 00:44:00women. I mean you came at a time when women were just allowed to work in the shipyards. Was there ever any resistance to that while you were on the job or --

MORRISON: No.

FARRELL: -- were people generally supportive?

MORRISON: Yeah, in fact, when you had your leathers on nobody knew if you were a man or woman. You had that hood on [laughter].

FARRELL: Do you remember any other workplace diversity, were there a lot of African Americans or --

MORRISON: Yes. Yes, there were. They came in ’43 also.

FARRELL: Okay, so same year, same time?

MORRISON: Yes.

FARRELL: Do you remember Port Chicago happening?

MORRISON: I do, but I don’t remember a lot about it. We did feel it in Berkeley, but not as much as they did in Penole and El Cerrandy.

FARRELL: And on that note, speaking of workplace safety, did you feel safe on 00:45:00the job, or do you remember any workplace accidents that had happened?

MORRISON: To an extent. What was the question?

FARRELL: Oh, any accidents? Do you remember?

MORRISON: Well, yes, there was accidents. I didn’t see anything bad. I can’t say that I did, but remember there was big cranes. As I recall, there was at least two on my assembly because they were picking up the big plates of steel. In fact, one night I was asked to weld the pads on this big plate of steel and it was, I think it was at least 12 pads. It took me most of the night, and I had to make several passes, four sides. Then the crane would come and pick it up by 00:46:00that. I thought oh, Lord, but I knew that I was that good so didn’t have to worry about that falling. I was confident. But the assembly where we worked, it wasn’t solid. Only solid if a big plate of steel was on it. You had to be careful walking on top of that assembly because they had the two by fours and they’d be even bigger running the length of the assembly. You could fall through that because you could stand up underneath, but I never really saw anybody hurt on my assembly. But there was causalities, and I’m sure fatalities. Had to be.

FARRELL: Did you have protective gear and --

MORRISON: No.

FARRELL: No?

MORRISON: Just my regular clothes that I wore over that my leathers, which consisted of coveralls that hooked, leathers that hooked. A leather jacket and gloves up to here. And then my bandana, my little black welder’s cap, and then on top of that my hood. That was it.

FARRELL: Did you ever, I mean was there any lasting, nothing -- you never got hurt --

MORRISON: No.

FARRELL: -- or there was no lasting injuries or anything?

MORRISON: No, thank God.

FARRELL: So you moved from San Francisco to Berkeley during the period of time?

MORRISON: Yes, we were.

MORRISON: See, we took the ferry back and forth to work every night, and I was scared to death we were going to be bombed, the Bay Bridge and everything was black. Everything was blacked out. I was scared to death. So when we found a place to live in Berkeley through another person as I recall, they had moved out and told us about it because housing was really at a minimum. We moved to Berkeley and we lived there in ’44. We lived there for two years.

And then, I 00:49:00had my first child in July of 1946, my son. So we had saved our money, we bought war bonds. That was a great thing to do. That’s another thing Uncle Sam did, buy war bonds. Buy a bond a day. Buy a bond for victory. Yeah. So we, every payday we each bought a bond, and we were able to buy our first house which was on the other side of San Pablo on Hearst Avenue -- yeah, Hearst. Old Victorian. We bought that for $7.500 cash, and six years later we sold it for, it was either $12,500 or $13,500. Today they’re selling for $900,000. [laughter] We sold too soon, yeah.

FARRELL: Do you remember how much you would spend from each paycheck on a war bond?

MORRISON: We bought one a month, and we bought a $25 bond, and they cost you $18.75. But you see, I made big money. That was very little considering only one -- well, not one a payday, we got paid every two weeks. I think it was one a month.

FARRELL: Okay.

MORRISON: My husband bought one a month.

FARRELL: Oh, yeah, that was smart [laughter]. So in that period of time, how did you see both San Francisco and then Berkeley change?

MORRISON: Oh, a big, big change. San Francisco was always rather crowded, but not like it is now. And people were friendlier I think because of our common 00:51:00cause. And I think about San Francisco now, but we had beautiful department stores. Even Richmond was a beautiful, little town with nice department stores, nice restaurants, nice theaters. Now, it’s a different story because you have so many people, and each person thinks differently how they should take care of things.

FARRELL: When you were working in the shipyards and during the war when you had free time, how did you like to spend it?

MORRISON: My girlfriend and I got all dressed up and we went downtown to San Francisco and we shopped. Now my husband was a golfer. He went golfing. That was great because each of us had our own time away also from each other, but what 00:52:00the funny thing is you had the time to go shopping.

MORRISON: So you couldn’t buy anything because everything was rationed. You had to have the ration, the coupon to buy it. You had the money, but we had a big time just getting dressed up. We were really -- it was a dirty job welding, not so much on the assembly as it was on the ship. It was more dangerous on the ship because you were falling over each other.

FARRELL: You mentioned that you didn’t get to see any celebrities. Do you remember when they would come to the shipyards? No?

MORRISON: No.

FARRELL: You just had kind of --

MORRISON: When they came, I was sleeping.

FARRELL: Oh, I see.

MORRISON: I worked from 11:00 to 7:00, and they had the dayshift, a swing shift, and the graveyard. And I worked the graveyard.

FARRELL: And you worked the graveyard all two and a half years?

MORRISON: All the time I worked there I worked graveyard.

FARRELL: How many days a week were you working?

MORRISON: Six.

FARRELL: Six, okay.

MORRISON: I never worked any overtime. My job was too hard. I needed the one day. They never asked me as I recall, but yard two built the ship that’s known for the four days, 15 hours and 29 minutes, the Robert E. Perry. Yard Two built that. They launched it in November of 1942.

FARRELL: Yeah, what was it like seeing ships that you had worked on in the yard?

MORRISON: Like I said, when I went to that launching I was looking up at that ship. You’d think I’d built the whole ship myself [laughter]. That’s how good I felt about it.

FARRELL: [laughter].

MORRISON: Yeah.

FARRELL: Did your husband work in the shipyards the entire two and a half years that you were there?

MORRISON: And after.

FARRELL: Oh, okay.

MORRISON: When I was done then his work was done also because they weren’t doing anymore. But he did go work at Todd Shipyard. They had work. He worked at Bethlehem Steel, and Moore’s, and then there was no more work. No more.

FARRELL: Yeah, why did you leave? If you liked the job --

MORRISON: Why’d I leave?

FARRELL: -- and you felt fulfilling?

MORRISON: Why’d I leave the shipyard? Well, they told me I was through. Our work was done. There was no more to do for me.

FARRELL: Were you surprised to hear that?

MORRISON: No, we knew it was for the duration.

FARRELL: Okay, and so when you finally heard there was no more work, how did that make you feel?

MORRISON: Well, I wanted to keep welding. That’s for sure. Not only that it was enjoyable and at that point, the troops were coming home. So my mission was through, but I also made good money. I was sort of at loose ends and I went to the unemployment office. You had to report once a week for six weeks then before you got your first check. Now they get it right away. Well, I reported to the same woman for six weeks, and at the six week time to get the check she says, “I got a job for you, Kay.” Oh, my, I was going to go welding again. She handed me the paper. I said, “What, waitress?” Now there’s nothing wrong 00:56:00with being a waitress, but did I know about carrying dishes on my arm? I knew to put the rod in the stinger. I says, “I’m a journeyman welder.” She says, “Well, we hardly have enough jobs for the men let alone you women.” I felt like a second class citizen by that woman. Women should not talk to each other like that. I was very hurt.

FARRELL: Yeah, especially after putting so much time in.

MORRISON: Yeah, I thought she could have been kinder and said, “Kay, I do have a job. It isn’t welding, I’m sorry. This is what it is. I wish I could do more for you.” I would have thought the world of that woman. As it was, I thought that hey, she’s what I fought for.

FARRELL: Did you end up waitressing?

MORRISON: No. So I went home, and we tried to have a baby and I got my son in July of ’46.

FARRELL: Okay. How did you feel when you got the news? Can you tell me about the day you got the news that the war had ended?

MORRISON: I was just out of my wits with joy. My goodness, it’s over. This horrible thing is over. And a lot of the young boys didn’t come home. Just like Marian’s brother, remember. But my brother, my oldest brother was in the service. My younger brother couldn’t get in because he had asthma. But my older brother was in Patton’s 3rd Army, and he chased Rommel across the desert and he came home. Yeah.

FARRELL: Do you remember talking to him at all when he came home and hearing about the experiences?

MORRISON: You know, most of the men, just like us women what we did we never talked about until now. My brother wanted to forget, but I do remember him telling me about his helmet. He washed out of it, he ate out of it, he cooked 00:58:00out of it; can’t believe it.

FARRELL: Yeah.

MORRISON: It as very hard for those men. Oh, the men all over went through a lot and we also had women that were in the war. Look at our airplanes that we built here. They were flown by women overseas so the men could fly them in the wars.

FARRELL: And you heard about that much later, or did you know that women were working?

MORRISON: No, I knew it then.

FARRELL: Okay.

MORRISON: Yeah, I tried to keep on it. All of it.

FARRELL: What was the general feeling about -- at that time about women flying planes and -- and working in the armed forces?

MORRISON: I was amazed. I didn’t even -- well, I knew about flying because of Amelia Earhart. Thank you [receives something from young child]. But I was amazed that those women could fly those planes over that body of water and 00:59:00deliver them, and come back and do it again. I had a lot of admiration for those ladies.

FARRELL: So after the war was over, can you tell me about how things changed for you?

MORRISON: Well, it was a letdown, of course. No more hubbub. No more rushing to get these things done to get the war ended. We went into a sort of a recession. And then we had to come back. Everything got quiet. Had to come back out of that.

FARRELL: Can you tell me a little bit more about the recession and what you experienced in that period of time?

MORRISON: Well, yeah, because there wasn’t that many jobs and my husband, I think being a man was able to get a job. Where this woman, a woman, any woman 01:00:00had a family she couldn’t get a job. I mean that was wrong. It was just totally wrong because she’d worked in the shipyard, she’d given her all, and she was head of her household. The war’s over, you got no job. She had no job. So what did she do, she probably went to work as a waitress or a fry cook. Thank God she could get a job. Those were difficult things to witness.

FARRELL: So were you after the war ends you were raising your son, and your husband was working?

MORRISON: My husband was working, yes. He was quite an athlete. He not only golfed, he played football, baseball, and basketball and so there was a bar 01:01:00restaurant in Albany on Solano Avenue that wanted him to play ball for them for their team. I can’t even remember the name of it now. And so he said he didn’t have a job at the time. It was between when he was through at the shipyards, those others he had worked at. I forget the last one. And so he said, “I have to have a job. I’ve got to concentrate on looking for a job since my wife is pregnant.” That’s when we were going to have our child. “Ray, we’ll get you a job. Will you play ball for us?” He played softball and hardball. He said yes, if they could do that. Well, they got him a job at the -- it was called the Troy Manhattan Laundry in Berkeley on Dwight, and I forget the street, but it was on Dwight Way and halfway between Shattuck and San Pablo. He 01:02:00went to work there. He went up through the ranks, and he was a general -- superintendent.

FARRELL: Oh, wow.

MORRISON: Yes.

FARRELL: Okay. So you were living in Berkeley, after there was less work in the shipyards, what did you experience in Berkeley immediately after the war? Were people leaving? Were they staying?

MORRISON: No, I don’t think people were leaving. No, I don’t remember any. Some of the people that worked in the shipyards did go back home, but I think a lot of them came back because I think there was more to be offered here in California, than their home state.

FARRELL: One thing that I’ve heard has come out of World War II was plastics. 01:03:00The invention of plastic. Plastic. That was something that was kind of invented during World War II for the war effort, and that’s why we now use plastic for everything. Do you remember any changes in technology or new innovations?

MORRISON: Oh, my, gosh, everything changed. And it seemed like it just came overnight. We were one of the first ones in our neighborhood to have a television. And my husband won it through a program at work. It was about yay big [laughter], maybe 5 x 7? It was tiny and people would walk by outside of our house in Berkeley and look in through the window and look at the TV [laughter]. I wanted to invite them in, but [laughter]. Oh, my gosh, that was something.

FARRELL: Do you remember anything else aside from the TV that came out of that?

MORRISON: Well, I remember that we bought our first car, brand new car a 1946 01:04:00Mercury and we were able to buy it with money we had saved. We were in our house. We had bought our home. And that was when the first cars were built in ’46, because prior to that it was the war effort. And they got right immediately into civilian things, building and new washing machines, all technology was all different. A bigger TVs, by gosh, pretty soon everybody could have a TV. Now they got one in every room.

FARRELL: So I want to talk a little bit about your volunteering work and the National Park Service. How did you hear about the park and --

MORRISON: Okay, before that you want to hear what I went on to do?

FARRELL: Yes.

MORRISON: All right. When my son was, I think about five years old I hit that restlessness stage again. And I was having trouble. I think that I was depressed. I knew I had to do something. I had to help myself. And so I was going to the doctor. He was an internist, and he said, “You know there’s nothing wrong with you, but you have to have busy hands to have a busy mind. You should go and get a job.” Well, see my son was five. But I had an aunt that lived in Berkeley that she would take care of him. So I went to the Bank of America, which was about three blocks from the house, or maybe five at the most 01:06:00on San Pablo Avenue. It was called West Berkeley Branch Bank of America. And I applied for a job. They said, “We have a teller’s job, and we have a bookkeeper, safe deposit clerk job. Which one do you want?” I said, “Well, can I go home and ask my husband? He’s worked in the bank.” So yeah, let us know tomorrow. So I went home and I said, “What do you think, Whitey?” I always called him Whitey because he had white hair. And he says, “Start at the bottom. Learn the bottom jobs and work your way up if you can.” I said, “Okay.” So I went back and told them I wanted the safe deposit and bookkeeper that was level entry, the lowest ones started. They were kind of surprised because he thought that I’d be a real good teller. In back of my mind was well, if I learn that job I can learn to be a teller too later, which 01:07:00did happen. I spent 30 years at the Bank of America. Of course, moving around to all different branches. I learned every job. I retired as manager from Rockridge Center at 51st and Broadway. Yes.

FARRELL: Wow.

MORRISON: So that’s a success story in itself.

FARRELL: Do you feel like your experiences working in World War II helped you stay with a place for 30 years and move your way up through the ranks?

MORRISON: I think not only that, I think before even the war the jobs that I did. I think anything that you do if you set your mind to it and you got to be interested in it also will -- hey, you can do anything you want.

FARRELL: So then the National Park opened in 1996. Do you remember when that 01:08:00opened? Were you aware of it when it opened?

MORRISON: It wasn’t because everybody said to me -- everybody be other Rosie’s. Well, Kay, how come you didn’t come in the year 2000 when they made the big picture of all the Rosie’s? I said, “I didn’t know about it,” I said. But prior to that, and I’m not sure the date, but some woman called me on the phone and asked if I was so and so. I said, “Yes.” She said, “Well, I am going to be writing a book, and I would like to get your input, and I want you to tell me how bad you were treated by the men.” I said, “I am not going to lie to anybody.” I said, “I was not mistreated by anybody.” She slammed 01:09:00the phone down, never heard from her again. Now if she had something to do, I don’t think so. But maybe she knew about that that they were going to have the meeting of all the Rosie’s. And the gal said, “Well, Kay, there were other Rosie’s. Well, Kay you had the newspaper.” I said, “Yes, but I don’t remember anything about it in the newspaper.” Oh, because I lived in Berkeley. I could have gone there to Richmond and become a part of it. I didn’t know anything. And how I became a part was through Marian Wynn.

FARRELL: Can you tell me about how you met her and how you got involved?

MORRISON: Yes. It came in the newspaper in the Fairfield Republic that I don’t think it was the front page but maybe inside one of the more closer to the front 01:10:00pages. It showed a picture of the two; Mirian, Mary Wynn, Mary Sousa, and Priscilla in her yard, and talked about Rosie’s. I read it and I thought gee, they haven’t done anything more than I have. I wonder how come they’re being written about. Well, my daughter read it too and she said, “Did you see that in the paper, mom?” I said, “I did.” She says, “Well, we’re going to do something about it.” So she called Mirian Wynn.

FARRELL: Did she know Marian?

MORRISON: No, but she got her number from the -- because her name was in the paper. And she called her and Janet says to Marian, “Well, how come my mother wasn’t in there? She’s a Rosie.” Marian says “Oh, well, I don’t know why she isn’t.” But she says, “I’m on the other line a long distance call. Will you give me your phone number and I’ll call you back.” My daughter says, “Are you sure you will?” And because she didn’t know if she 01:11:00was trying to get rid of her. She says, “Yes, I will call you back.” So that’s when Marian and her talked. And my daughter says, “Well, I want my mother to be involved in with you other Rosie’s.” So she invited us to her home. I mean she’s such an outgoing and lovely person to invite somebody into her home she don’t even know. And so she took me to the park, and I’ve been going -- that’s been since 2012.

FARRELL: Okay. Can you tell me about the first time you went to the park and saw the museum and everything?

MORRISON: Well, when I first went it was not at the museum where it is now at by the water. It was at 21st and McDonald, and it was a building on the corner. There was no people coming to see Rosie’s. As I remember cubicles where the 01:12:00rangers sat and some of the volunteers, but I can’t believe that I saw too many people. Then Marian took me into the room where we Rosie’s were and there was a tiny, little room full of papers and stuff. We sat there and we addressed envelopes, stuffed envelopes, put stamps on them, did anything that the ranger, head ranger was, our boss, immediate boss Elizabeth Tucker asked us to do. That’s what we did. But then when we went to where we are at the museum now at 1414 South Harbor Way. We do everything, I mean as Rosie’s. We are, all of us 01:13:00our docents by the way us Rosie’s because we took the class for it. Same as the other volunteers but we do our Rosie thing.

FARRELL: You went to the White House recently?

MORRISON: I did.

FARRELL: Can you tell me about that?

MORRISON: Oh, what a thrill. Oh, if I live to be 100 I’ll never be any happier or more pleased, you know, that I could go where history was made and where a lot of women reside. Oh, yeah. We got to meet Nancy Pelosi, we got to meet Sally Jewell, who’s Secretary of the Interior, and we met several women representatives from Sacramento. I believe one is Matsui. She took over for her husband when he died, and I can’t remember the other woman’s name. And of 01:14:00course, meeting Vice President Biden. Oh, he’s such a sweet man. He’s had such awful, awful things happen to him. And then of course, the President surprised us. Oh, boy, when he knocked on that door -- we didn’t know he was coming, you know, the day before he just got home from Afghanistan. Just the day before, and here he came.

FARRELL: What was it like meeting the President?

MORRISON: Oh, I got to give him a kiss. Oh, it’s like hugging and kissing my grandson. I was just thrilled. He’s such a warm person too. He’s, both Vice President Biden and Obama have wonderful families. They generate that and show it to others, and I felt like I’d known him forever. They treated us just 01:15:00wonderful. I’ve heard people say, “Well, they should.” Well, that’s not true. We don’t always fall over ourselves to treat someone nice, but they did us. They were thankful that we had done a mission for our country and were successful.

FARRELL: When you do things like that, when you go to the White House, or you go to a school, or you meet with other veterans, what has that been like for you or what has that meant to you to be involved?

MORRISON: It means that I can tell my story, and keep it perpetrated because many things from World War II and the Jewish people, what was done to them that’s been tried to put under the rug, it all happened. It’s absolutely 01:16:00true. What we did is absolutely true, and we would like to keep that going. And also to know that you can do something for your country. You might not think it’s much, but everything counts. Also to let young people know what is happening, and what they can do. Like President Kennedy says, “Don’t ask what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.” And I think that’s true today. And that gives me heart to go and tell the young people and the older people. They love to hear it too.

FARRELL: So when you go to schools and you talk to children, what are the points that you want to get across? What do you want to make sure that they’re taking away from your story?

MORRISON: Well, I want to make sure that they respect each other, and love each 01:17:00other, and help each other, and go home and tell their folks too. Keep it a loving family. If you have a loving family, you have a loving country.

FARRELL: When you tell your story, what are some of the main points that you make?

MORRISON: Oh, my main point was that I had a mission and that was utmost in my mind every day that I went to work, work hard, get that ship built, get the troops home, but also get the cargo to them that they need so they can do their job to come home. Yeah. And I feel we were successful.

FARRELL: What were some of the biggest lessons that you learned while working in 01:18:00the shipyards?

MORRISON: Get along together. Although we didn’t have to because everybody had their mission it was, I hope it was to end the war which was my mission. And I’m sure it was. And to get along. And to respect the other person’s point of view also.

FARRELL: What are you hoping that future generations learn from the Rosie the Riveter story?

MORRISON: I hope they learn that war is a terrible thing, and to try and exhaust every possible thing that you can to avoid it. And as I say, to be united and respect each other and love each other.

FARRELL: Is there anything else that you want to say about that period of time or anything else that you want to add?

MORRISON: Well, I can’t think of anything. I know that I’d been very blessed because as I stated in the beginning, I’ll be 92 this year. I’ve seen a lot, I’ve done a lot, and I’m sure that God willing there’s a lot more I can see and that I can be of help to my fellow man.

FARRELL: Well, thank you very much.

MORRISON: Thank you.

[End of interview]