Illinois Two - Text
Subject is white female, retired insurance company employee. Born and raised on family farm in Delavan, Illinois; lived in Bloomington and Frankfort, Illinois for short periods; college educated as speech therapist. Lived and worked in Aurora, IL most of adult life. Married to Illinois subject #1. Recorded by Paul Meier, 1999. Running time 00:02:29.
TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH
I was born in Delavan, Illinois - rather in the country close to Delavan, Illinois, Um, born in a farmhouse, um, the doctor was there, um, my father was a farmer, he was a tenant farmer, eh- farmed about 180 acres and we had sort of a - a struggle to make ends meet usually. I went to grade school and high school in Delavan, Illinois and then went on to Illinois State University in Normal. I majored in, uh, speech therapy, we called it at that time, and, uh, worked as a public school speech therapist for nine and a half years after graduating from Illinois State. Um, I'm al- I've also been a piano teacher at a couple different times and have played organ for church, a couple different, uh, towns and most recently worked as a clerical person at Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. Did that for quite a few years and recently have retired from that position. Um, I enjoy sewing, and reading, and traveling, and cooking, and being with friends uh~[I] have one child and one grandchild that I enjoy a great deal. In central Illinois it's pretty flat, very few hills or valleys, um, a few drainage ditches going through the farm country um, lot of - this time of year in the summer there's a lot of, ah, corn fields that get quite tall with green corn uh, wheat, beans, oats are raised in that area um some cattle - milk cows and, uh, beef cattle as well, um little- little towns- lot of farms- dotting the countryside.