{"id":3811,"date":"2016-04-17T10:43:34","date_gmt":"2016-04-17T15:43:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lizzieborden.org\/WomenatWork\/?page_id=3811"},"modified":"2016-07-29T06:46:08","modified_gmt":"2016-07-29T11:46:08","slug":"olivia-terceira-abdow-edited-transcript","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/fallriverhistorical.org\/WomenatWork\/olivia-terceira-abdow-edited-transcript\/","title":{"rendered":"Olivia Raposo (Terceira) Abdow Edited Transcript"},"content":{"rendered":"

FALL RIVER HISTORICAL SOCIETY<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Women at Work: An Oral History of
\nWorking-Class Women
\nin Fall River, Massachusetts
\n<\/span><\/strong><\/span>1920-1970<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Interview with Olivia Raposo Abdow,\u00a0<\/span>n\u00e9e Terceira<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Interview with Mrs. Dolor \u201cDuke\u201d Bernard Abdow, n\u00e9e Olivia Raposo Terceira<\/span><\/p>\n

Interviewer: (JC)<\/strong>\u00a0Joseph J. Conforti, Jr.<\/span><\/p>\n

Interviewee: (OA)<\/strong> Olivia Raposo (Terceira) Abdow<\/span><\/p>\n

Additional Commentary: (JR)<\/strong> Joyce B. Rodrigues, Fall River Historical Society
\n<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0(GK)<\/strong> George D. Kelly<\/span><\/p>\n

Date of Interview: December 10, 2014<\/span><\/p>\n

Location: Catholic Memorial Home, Fall River, Massachusetts<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Summary:<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Olivia \u201cOlive\u201d Raposo (Terceira) Abdow was born in Fall River on October 26, 1928.<\/span><\/p>\n

Olive\u2019s parents were married in Fall River in 1919. Her father was born in Fall River in 1898. His parents immigrated to the United States from the island of St. Michael in the Azores. They arrived in New Bedford, Massachusetts, where they met and were married, and later moved to Fall River. Olive\u2019s mother immigrated to the United States from St. Michael in 1915.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Terceiras lived on Choate Street in a six-family triple-decker tenement house surrounded by an extended family of aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents. The neighborhood was primarily populated by first-generation Azorean-Portuguese.<\/span><\/p>\n

There were four children in the family. Olive had two older and one younger brother. Both parents worked as weavers in a cotton mill.<\/span><\/p>\n

Olive characterizes herself as a \u201cDepression baby\u201d and a \u201cworking girl.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>As a \u201cDepression baby,\u201d she\u00a0vividly describes everyday life during\u00a0the Great Depression years of the 1930s: the food, movies, dating, favorite radio programs, the presidency of FDR, the March of Dimes Foundation, and later leaving school to care for her mother who had suffered a stroke.<\/span><\/p>\n

Olive married Dolor \u201cDuke\u201d Bernard Abdow in 1948 and began a successful Fall River \u201cmixed\u201d marriage of a second-generation Portuguese-American and a second-generation Lebanese-American.<\/span><\/p>\n

As a “working girl,” Olive explains how she managed to work and care for her two sons with the help of her Lebanese in-laws. Her career took her to factories in Fall River: the Kerr Thread Mill (American Thread Company), Rondo Knit Sportswear,\u00a0Nancy Dress Company, where she worked for twenty-eight years expertly manufacturing better dresses.1<\/sup><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

She concludes this interview looking back on a life well-lived, with no regrets, but wishing she had been able to have more education.<\/span><\/p>\n

1<\/sup>The apparel industry classifies garment manufacturing in terms of price points.<\/span>
\nBudget or mass market garments<\/strong> are at the low end of the apparel spectrum with clothes that retail at a relatively low cost.<\/span>
\nModerate<\/strong> dresses<\/strong> are medium-priced merchandise, a step above budget. This is the price classification of the majority of clothing.<\/span>
\nBetter dresses<\/strong> are medium-to-higher-priced merchandise. The fabrics, styling, and craftsmanship are of better quality than lower-priced items.<\/span>
\nDesigne<\/strong>r products<\/strong> cater to the high-priced prestige or luxury market.<\/span>
\nHaute Couture <\/strong>and Made-to-Measure apparel<\/strong> is cut and sewn specifically for individual customers and costs tens of thousands of dollars.<\/span>
\nSource: http:\/\/www.apparelsearch.com\/<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Note: This interview has been slightly edited for continuity and readability; in order to preserve the integrity of the conversation, the phraseology remains that of the interviewer and interviewee. Italicized information in square brackets has been added for the purposes of clarification and context.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

OA<\/strong>: The only thing I can start off with right now is that I am a Depression baby.<\/span><\/p>\n

JC<\/strong>: What year were you born?<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: I was born [on September 1<\/em>] 1928\u2026. Okay, like I first started at, I was a Depression Baby, but I did go to work.<\/span><\/p>\n

JC<\/strong>: Were you born in Fall River?<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: Oh, yes. I was born [at 200<\/em>] Choate Street\u2026. See, my grandmother [Mrs.<\/em> Antonio Raposo Terceiro, Sr., n\u00e9e Maria De Jesus Ferriera Andrade<\/em>] had a little grocery store [at 198 Choate Street, Fall River<\/em>] and, of course, during the [Great<\/em>] Depression, she lost everything. But we had a wonderful bringing up, my cousins and I; we had a lot of fun together \u2026 we played games together. Today, children do not play games. That is terrible. They don\u2019t know what hide-and-seek is, you know, or jump rope. Forget it. Forget it. I don\u2019t know why the children don\u2019t play games like we used to play games. And we, um, my grandmother sat on the stoop while we played games, and, of course, when the [street<\/em>] light went on, you know what happened \u2013 we had to go home. We didn\u2019t stay outside, we had to go home. Once in a while, maybe, if she stayed a little later, or we\u2019d beg her, she would stay a little later\u2026. But we had to go home when that light went on; home everybody went. And a lot of us, our street was about the size, and, ah, I am trying to think, I\u2019m trying to visualize it now because it was so small. It was so small, but we played a lot there.<\/span><\/p>\n

JC<\/strong>: Can you describe the house you were brought up in?<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: Sure. It was a six-tenement house. It was my \u2026 aunts, and myself, me, I was brought up there. Well, my, ah, aunt [Mrs. Manuel Arruda, n\u00e9e Alexandrina Raposo Terceira<\/em>] lived on the bottom floor. We lived on the middle floor. And my Aunt Mary [Mrs. Antonio Raposo Terceira, Jr.<\/em>] lived on the top floor. And that is where we were brought up\u2026. My grandmother lived right across the yard in her little apartment\u2026.<\/span><\/p>\n

JC<\/strong>: Were your grandparents immigrants?<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: My grandfather [Antonio<\/em>] \u2026 he was brought up in [Feteiras do Sul, S\u00e3o Miguel,<\/em>] Azores. My grandmother [Maria<\/em>] grew up in [Feteiras do Sul, S\u00e3o Miguel,<\/em>] Azores, but was brought up in Hawaii. She had quite a travel, you know\u2026. [Her father, Manuel Ferreira Andrade, and his three children, went to Hawaii following the death of his wife, n\u00e9e Claudina S. Neto; Manuel was employed as a landscaper by a wealthy islander. He eventually immigrated to the United States after the death of his employer.<\/em>]<\/span><\/p>\n

JC<\/strong>: Can you tell us something about that?<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: Well, I don\u2019t know the name of the island of Hawaii that she was brought up in, but when the hurricane came [on September 21<\/em>, 1938<\/em>], my grandmother told us immediately to go home and put the windows, crack the windows [in order to equalize the air pressure inside the house with that outside to prevent storm damage<\/em>], and stay in the house, and don\u2019t go out. Because she [knew<\/em>] \u2026 we are going to have a bad storm. We all laughed because we never had anything like that, but we did get it and we got it good. Yup, and she lived there \u2026 I don\u2019t know how many years. [Mrs. Terceiro resided at 198 Choate Street for approximately seventeen years, circa 1923 \u2013 1940.<\/em>] But she came from New Bedford, [Massachusetts<\/em>]\u2026 and she married my grandfather who set up a little store.<\/span><\/p>\n

JC<\/strong>: She met your grandfather in Fall River?<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: No, New Bedford. He heard there was a young girl from Hawaii in New Bedford, so he went up and checked it out and he married her.<\/span><\/p>\n

JC<\/strong>: What did your grandfather do for a living?<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: That\u2019s what he did, he ran the little store.<\/span><\/p>\n

JC<\/strong>: A variety store.<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: A little variety store. Yeah. Yeah. [Antonio R. Terceiro Sr. is listed as a grocer in the Fall River City Directories from 1906 to 1924; the business is listed alternately as \u2018grocer\u2019 and \u2018grocer, fish market.\u2019<\/em>]<\/span><\/p>\n

JC<\/strong>: And your parents, where were they brought up?<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: My father [Jos\u00e9 \u2018Joseph\u2019 Raposo Terceira Sr.<\/em>] was brought up on Columbia Street [in Fall River<\/em>]; she [his mother<\/em>] didn\u2019t have her children yet, but he was born on Columbia Street [in 1898<\/em>]. My mother [n\u00e9e Rose Souza Farias<\/em>] was born in [1901<\/em> in Bretanha, S\u00e3o Miguel,<\/em>] Azores. And, uh, that is where she was born, in the Azores. And I went and visited \u2026 and I never saw such a beautiful island in all my life.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR<\/strong>: You are absolutely right. I went to the Azores also and it is very beautiful. And you wonder why anyone immigrated.<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: From the [Azores<\/em>], well, they were too poor.<\/span><\/p>\n

JC<\/strong>: Your parents are interesting pairing. Your father was Lebanese and your mother was Portuguese.<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: No, no.<\/span><\/p>\n

JC<\/strong>: Your husband is Lebanese. I\u2019m sorry.<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: Yes. And my mother-in-law [Mrs. Nahem \u2018Nathan\u2019 Eid Abdow, n\u00e9e Mary Doumite<\/em>] was brought up in the Convent [of the Good Shepherd<\/em>] in [Cairo<\/em>] Egypt. [She was sent there from Beirut, Lebanon, by her family to live and be educated under the care of her aunt, Sister Marie de la Nativit\u00e9, who was a nun in the order of Sisters of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepard of Angers<\/em>.] Her parents [David and Affie Doumit<\/em>] had died, and then she came to this country [to live with her aunt, Mrs. Morad, in New Bedford, and<\/em>] she got married [in Fall River in 1922<\/em>]. And my husband [Dolor \u2018Duke\u2019 Bernard Abdow<\/em>] is Lebanese, and they are a really wonderful family. Really. My in-laws \u2026 they take care of me like I\u2019m a child. They come over here to visit me, make sure I have everything and I have got no complaints.<\/span><\/p>\n

JC<\/strong>: Was there any difficulty in marrying someone of another nationality?<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: Well, at the time, at the beginning, you get that in everything and everyone, I think. Because when my husband said he wanted to get married, and my mother- in-law found out I was Portuguese, she didn\u2019t like the idea too well. But I am going to tell you, she brought up my two sons [Steven Dolor Abdow and Keith Bernard Abdow<\/em>] while I went to work, because I am a working girl. I worked in the shop, one shop \u2026 was twenty-eight years \u2013 that\u2019s not counting the others. [One of the \u2018others\u2019 was the Kerr Thread Mill (American Thread Company), Martine Street, Fall River.<\/em>] And my mother-in-law took care of my children while I went to work. So really, they are wonderful people \u2026 and as you meet them and get to know them, you realize what wonderful people they are.<\/span><\/p>\n

JC<\/strong>: Do you want to talk about your working life?<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: Well, I used to get up in the morning at seven [o\u2019clock<\/em>], get my baby dressed, put him in the car, and my husband would bring me down to work. We\u2019d leave my baby down with my mother in-law, because at the time, for a while [after I was married<\/em>], I lived [at 40 North Breault Street<\/em>] in Westport [Massachusetts<\/em>] for a few months, so I would leave the baby with her [at the Abdow residence at 182 Quequechan Street, Fall River<\/em>]. But afterwards, my father worked at the Luther Mill [Luther Manufacturing Company, 240 Hartwell Street, Fall River<\/em>]. He was a weaver \u2026 so he would get out at three [o\u2019clock<\/em>], so he would pick me up, and the baby, and home we would come. There was always a way that you could have someone help you take care of your child. Really.<\/span><\/p>\n

JC<\/strong>: Now you worked in the same shop for twenty-eight years?<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: That\u2019s right.<\/span><\/p>\n

JC<\/strong>: Which shop was that?<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: Nancy Dress [Company, 473-475 Pleasant Street, Fall River<\/em>].<\/span><\/p>\n

JC<\/strong>: And which mill was that in?<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: That\u2019s, oh, it was [the old Durfee Mills<\/em>] at the corner, way down the bottom of the Avenue, way down the bottom\u2026. Plymouth [Avenue<\/em>], right down where the statue is. [\u2018The Hiker,\u2019 Spanish-American War Veteran Memorial by Theodora Ruggles Kitson, dedicated in 1938.<\/em>] We got the hurricane there one time, too \u2026 Hurricane Carol [August 31, 1954<\/em>] blew the windows all right into, into the shop.<\/span><\/p>\n

JC<\/strong>: What was your job?<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: My job was making dresses.<\/span><\/p>\n

JC<\/strong>: So you were on \u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: The better dress.<\/span><\/p>\n

JC<\/strong>: So, you were on a sewing machine?<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: Yes, and it was the better dress. It wasn\u2019t the, the cheap quality. We worked on the better dresses and made more money. We got more money by working on the better dress.<\/span><\/p>\n

JC<\/strong>: Can you describe what the mill was like?<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: The mill was like? Sometimes, one time my girlfriend said, \u2018We have a nice carpet down the bottom there.\u2019 We go down the bottom, and it was the \u2026 it was a cardboard \u2026 they didn\u2019t take care of the, they should have taken better care of the quality of the \u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

JC<\/strong>: The work place?<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: Yes, they should have taken care. We never had hot or cold water. When I went to another shop after years, I went to another shop and it had hot water! I couldn\u2019t believe it! I couldn\u2019t believe it had hot water.<\/span><\/p>\n

JC<\/strong>: Did you need permission to go to the bathroom?<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: No, we had a very good boss. His name was [Abraham<\/em>] Ira Tepper; it was Jewish. He came from New York to begin himself, and he was a very good boss. That, I will say that for him. But, uh, the mill\u2019s run down, that\u2019s the way it stood.<\/span><\/p>\n

JC<\/strong>: You didn\u2019t feel as though you were being overworked?<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: Well, we were overworked because we wanted to make money.<\/span><\/p>\n

JC<\/strong>: The more you did, the more you made.<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: That\u2019s it.<\/span><\/p>\n

JC<\/strong>: Okay.<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: That\u2019s \u2026 what they called piecework. And we worked hard, and we wanted to make the money, and we made, we made quite a bit of money at the time. [Mrs. Abdow told her son, Steven, that, when the piecework Standard Rates were being set, the women purposely went slower so that it would be easier to beat the standard allowable time in order to make more money on piecework.<\/em>]<\/span><\/p>\n

JC<\/strong>: You were working forty hours a week?<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: Ah, no, thirty-seven hours.<\/span><\/p>\n

JC<\/strong>: Thirty-seven hours?<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: Yes, it was something like that. I can\u2019t even think of it now.<\/span><\/p>\n

JC<\/strong>: Was there a union then?<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: Oh, yes, the ILG [International Ladies Garment Workers Union,<\/em> Local No. 178 (ILGWU)<\/em>] and you had the medical coverage; if you needed anything, you\u2019d stop by there. I know I had trouble with some kind of a \u2013 I don\u2019t know how to explain it \u2013 some kind of a bug, and they gave me shots for it, and I got rid of it. But they would take care of you. They were very good at the ILG[WU<\/em>]. It\u2019s too bad that it\u2019s closed now. I said that just this week, when we went by it. I says, \u2018Too bad that place closed down.\u2019 [ILGWU Union Health Center, 304 South Main Street, Room 1, opened in Fall River in 1944. The center moved to Garment Workers Square, 38 Third Street, Fall River, in 1951.<\/em>]<\/span><\/p>\n

JR<\/strong>: Yes, that was down in back of the City Hall.<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: That\u2019s right.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR<\/strong>: I remember, I think I remember the doctor there was Mrs. Radovsky [Dr. Anna C. Radovsky, n\u00e9e Anna Pearl Cort, the wife of Dr. Everett Simon Radovsky<\/em>].<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: Yes, yes.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR<\/strong>: Do you remember her?<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: Yes, I had her for my examination, and I\u2019d go to her again. They were pleasant, and they were very thoughtful, you know, and if you needed \u2013 I was allergic to something \u2013 I don\u2019t know what it was, they made me go every week. I got sick of it at the end, I stopped going, but …<\/span><\/p>\n

JC<\/strong>: They provided a lot of services.<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: Yes, but the ILG[WU<\/em>] was very good. I mean, I enjoyed working for them, and I \u2026 I even had my tonsils removed from them. And I was a big girl by then.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR<\/strong>: So did you get a pension from the ILG[WU<\/em>]?<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: Yes, but what happened was, that I, uh, left the ILG[WU<\/em>]. When I left \u2026 the other shop closed down, so I got less money. So, by the time I went to get my, uh, pension, there was a loss there, there was a loss on my pension.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR<\/strong>: Quite a bit?<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: Yes, yes, quite a bit. And I don\u2019t think it was a fair deal, but who am I? I am just, just a worker like anyone else. Some people got more, some people got less. Well, I was one of them, I got less\u2026. There was a shop there that opened up for a while [Rondo Knit Sportswear, 240 Hartwell Street, Fall River<\/em>]. I worked there for a while over there, and it brought down my pension right down. Right down, it went right down. [Mrs. Abdow\u2019s pension was $90 – $96 monthly, just enough to initially prevent her from qualifying for MassHealth Insurance; according to her son, Steven, it took her family several years to acquire that benefit for her.<\/em>]<\/span><\/p>\n

JC<\/strong>: Mrs. Abdow, we are talking about your working years. We are talking about 1950s and 1960s. When did you retire?<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: Well, I retired [in 1990<\/em>] \u2026 and I was glad, because I didn\u2019t have to drive to work anymore. Yes, I worked up until that time.<\/span><\/p>\n

JC<\/strong>: Now, you said that you\u2019re a child of the Depression.<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: Yes, I am.<\/span><\/p>\n

JC<\/strong>: Would you share with us some of your Depression stories? What it was like for you and your family?<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: See, like my mother went to work right away [after she married<\/em>]. She got married [in Fall River on January 25, 1920<\/em>], and she went to work. She eloped. She eloped, so she stood here and she went to work.<\/span><\/p>\n

JC<\/strong>: Where did she work?<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: She worked at the Har-Lee [Manufacturing Company, 425 Pleasant Street, Fall River<\/em>].<\/span><\/p>\n

JC<\/strong>: Oh, okay.<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: She worked at the Har-Lee, pressing all day. So, you know that is no easy one there. And my father worked at the Luther Mill [Luther Manufacturing Company<\/em>] \u2026 he had to get up at five [o\u2019clock<\/em>] to walk to the Luther Mill [a distance of approximately two miles<\/em>] and she had to get up at seven [o\u2019clock<\/em>] to go to the Har-Lee, to get the trolley, because, at that time, we still had trolleys. I think we did at that time. [The last trolley run of the Eastern Massachusetts Streetcar Company in Fall River was made on September 20, 1936.<\/em>]<\/span><\/p>\n

JC<\/strong>: You sure?<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: And she would get on the trolley and go to work at the Har-Lee. She would come home at four [o\u2019clock<\/em>]. My father was already peeling the potatoes for supper. And we had, we never went without. We had a good, good upbringing.<\/span><\/p>\n

JC<\/strong>: How many children now?<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: Just four \u2013 my three brothers [Jo\u00e3o \u2018John\u2019 Raposo Terceira; George Raposo Terceira; and Jos\u00e9 \u2018Joseph\u2019 Raposo Terceira, Jr.<\/em>] and myself. And my mother kept on working until my older brother was sixteen [in 1936<\/em>] and then she says, \u201cWell, I, I give up. I\u2019m not working anymore.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

JC<\/strong>: So they were working throughout the 1930s, during the Depression. So they were lucky in that way.<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: Yes.<\/span><\/p>\n

JC<\/strong>: Because Fall River was really suffering in the 1930s.<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: That\u2019s it, that\u2019s why I say in a way, in the long run, I am a Depression baby because, uh, I got away from that. I played outside with my grandmother watching us. And there was my mother, walking to work, sometimes she would walk, sometimes she\u2019d walk to work so she\u2019d have a dime for a cup of coffee. Yup.<\/span><\/p>\n

JC<\/strong>: Was a different time.<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: Yup, it was a different time. For a cup of coffee she would walk. I will take a, I will get a coffee today, [she\u2019d say<\/em>]. So she\u2019d get a cup of coffee.<\/span><\/p>\n

JC<\/strong>: Did you feel in any way deprived, because of \u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: No, we were all happy, we all played together outside. You know there was nothing. Today\u2019s kids don\u2019t play games. They don\u2019t play like we used to play\u2026.<\/span><\/p>\n

JC<\/strong>: Just one question \u2026 you mentioned no hot water at the factory, or mill. Was your home a cold water flat?<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: A cold water flat? It was a cold water flat. And my mother get the tub out from hanging on the door, and bring it out on the, and it was only once a week. She\u2019d bring out the tub and we would all take a bath. And then my brothers got old enough to go to the [Fall River<\/em>] Boys Club [at<\/em> 374 Anawan Street<\/em>] \u2013 <\/em>I thanked the Boys Club many times \u2013 so they could go swimming, but I had to use the tub. I had to use the tub.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR<\/strong>: How did you heat the house? I remember my grandmother had coal.<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: Yes.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR<\/strong>: Did you have coal?<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: Yes, my grandmother had coal for \u2026 there was coal in the house. There was, uh, let me see, there was a, ah, a closet on the back of the stove and there was a chimney. You had the \u2026 you \u2026 opened the door and you would get the bale coal and you\u2019d dump it in the stove. And that was what kept the house warm. And then the oil came out. When the oil came out, my father right away changed to oil, because he didn\u2019t want that, said he doesn\u2019t want that [coal<\/em>] in the house. So, he got the oil.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR<\/strong>: Did it heat the house better?<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: The house was always warm. It was warm; it wasn\u2019t cold.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR<\/strong>: I\u2019m kind of curious because you are making me think about my grandmother now. How about washing clothes? Because washing machines \u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: My mother had the laundry. She went to work, she couldn\u2019t be doing laundry, so she got the laundry [done<\/em>]; it was $1 a week to do the laundry.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR<\/strong>: They picked it up in the house? And they brought?<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: And she\u2019d hang it out in the clothes line, on the clothes line, that is what she did. [So-called \u2018wet wash\u2019 laundry was laundered commercially and returned to the customer wet, to be home dried<\/em>.] And she would say, \u2018Don\u2019t put the heavier clothes, put the lighter clothes, so we can \u2026 get it a little more clothes on the clothes line.\u2019 But she always had her clothes line. Everybody in that house has a clothes line. Everybody. Yeah.<\/span><\/p>\n

JC<\/strong>: Did your parents talk about politics very much?<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: Ah, my father would say to my mother, \u2018Rose, you know, maybe we should vote for this guy.\u2019 And they\u2019d be talking about it. And she looked at it and she would say, \u2018No, I don\u2019t like that guy. I want the other guy.\u2019 My grandmother voted, you know. She went to, she voted with the shawl over her shoulders. And she went to vote. And my aunts [Maria Raposo Terceira; Mrs. George W. Desmarais, n\u00e9e Regina Raposo Terceira; Mrs. Manuel Arruda n\u00e9e Alexandrina Raposo Terceira; Mrs. Antone Mello, n\u00e9e Adelina Raposo Terceira; and Mrs. Joseph Oliveira Silvia, n\u00e9e Herondina Raposo Terceira<\/em>] would tell her to vote for this guy. And she would say \u2018Ah, no, I heard him over the radio, I don\u2019t like him. I want, I\u2019m choosing the one I want.\u2019 She was very independent. Yeah.<\/span><\/p>\n

JC<\/strong>: How about presidents?<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: President [Franklin Delano<\/em>] Roosevelt was our guiding light \u2013 really.<\/span><\/p>\n

JC<\/strong>: Tell us why.<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: Why? Do you remember sitting around the radio and listening to that radio when he were saying the war [World War II<\/em>] was broken out? We were all, all of us didn\u2019t know what to do or say. He, he was a wonderful president. And, you know, Mrs. Roosevelt [n\u00e9e Anna Eleanor Roosevelt<\/em>] was a wonderful woman, too. She was a very brilliant woman, yeah, she was a very brilliant woman. But Roosevelt \u2026 started the March of Dimes. Do you remember the March of Dimes? March of Dimes put a dime in the little thing there. My father got us a card each so that we could put \u2013 get a dollar in there. Thank God, for the March of Dimes. I think there would be many more crippled people around. [The March of Dimes Foundation was founded by President Roosevelt in 1938 as the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, to combat polio<\/em>.]<\/span><\/p>\n

JC<\/strong>: Did you know he was crippled? [Roosevelt was stricken with poliomyelitis while vacationing at his summer home on Campobello Island, Canada, in August, 1921<\/em>.]<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: Yes, we knew that; we knew that right from the beginning.\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

JC<\/strong>: Yes.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR<\/strong>: So I am going to go back a little bit.<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: Go ahead.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR<\/strong>: To your house.<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: It had an aerial, there was no antennas. It was an aerial in the house, right? Because I remember my uncle putting one up for us. The aerial.<\/span><\/p>\n

JC<\/strong>: For the radio?<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: Yeah.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR<\/strong>: When did you get the radio? That was pretty advanced.<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: Well, that\u2019s when we got it. It was a small one, but we got a good reception from it. And, uh, we always, we always put on the radio at night. We heard \u201cthe Shadow knows\u201d [The Shadow, a widely popular radio detective series, aired from 1930 \u2013 1954<\/em>], Mr. and Mrs. Brent [Mr. & Mrs. North, a popular radio mystery series, aired from 1942 \u2013 1954<\/em>]. Should I go on?<\/span><\/p>\n

JR<\/strong>: Yeah, go on.<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: And of course, Kate Smith, [Kathryn Elizabeth Smith, a beloved American contralto singer, known as \u2018The First Lady of Radio\u2019<\/em>] she was our angel. That we loved. Kate Smith.<\/span><\/p>\n

JC<\/strong>: Was your family very religious?<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: My father wanted us to go to church, hear Mass, and we went to Catholic School.<\/span><\/p>\n

JC<\/strong>: You did?<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: The Espirito Santo [Parochial School, Alden Street, corner of Everett Street, Fall River<\/em>]. We went to that school. As a matter of fact there was word that my grandfather helped build that church [Espirito Santo Portuguese Roman Catholic Church, Alden Street, corner of Everett Street<\/em>.] Not that he helped build it, but he got in with other \u2026 how I will say it, other men, together, so they could build the church there [in 1904<\/em>]. Because way down the end of the road. It is way down the end. So, and we also had two islands down there. And they are gone. They took the two islands away.<\/span><\/p>\n

JC<\/strong>: You mean in the river?<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: Yes. We had two islands down there. Because we had, we had the last house, and I used to look out the window and we could see the two islands.<\/span><\/p>\n

JC<\/strong>: I don\u2019t know, or remember that.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR<\/strong>: I don\u2019t remember that. That is a surprise.<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: Yes, two islands where the Bigbury [Stadium, on Front Street at the end of Wordell Street, in Fall River, was<\/em>], well if you go further down, and there were two islands there.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR<\/strong>: They must have filled it in.<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: They did, they did, because someone told me after a while, they said no, they filled them in. I said, ‘That\u2019s not right.’<\/span><\/p>\n

JR<\/strong>: I\u2019d love to hear you tell me about your mother and her cooking.<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: Oh, her cooking was delicious. My mother was a good cook, she was a good cook. She made sweet rice [arroz doce, a traditional Azorean dessert<\/em>], soup [caldine<\/em>], of course, I didn\u2019t like soup, so she would get after me. And my father said, \u2018Rose, leave that girl alone, because if she don\u2019t like it, don\u2019t make her eat it.\u2019 Because I don\u2019t like Portuguese soup [sopa de couvres<\/em>].<\/em> I don\u2019t like Portuguese soup. But she was a very, very, good cook. But she would get a pan like this and make a big pan of soup. But she wasn\u2019t to cook a lot during the week because she had to go to work the next day. But on the Saturday and Sunday she would \u2026 sometimes say, \u201cJoe, I think I am going to start some stew.\u201d She would make beautiful stew [ensopedo<\/em>]. \u201cSo I am going to start it tonight so we can have it tomorrow. So I won\u2019t have to make it tomorrow.\u201d She would think ahead of time. Try it.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR<\/strong>: Did she teach you to cook?<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: Ah, yes, she did. Because when she took a stroke, I took over the house. So I, I did cook a lot, but I don\u2019t want to cook anymore. I don\u2019t want to cook anymore.<\/span><\/p>\n

JC<\/strong>: You were the oldest child?<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: No, my brother Joe.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR<\/strong>: But, you were the only girl?<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: Yes. I had to do everything. I had to take over.<\/span><\/p>\n

JC<\/strong>: You went to Espirito Santo School.<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: Yes, as far as sixth grade. Because my father bought a little house [at 40 North Breault Street<\/em>] in Westport, [Massachusetts<\/em>] so we moved out there [circa 1941<\/em>]. But somehow or other my mother took sick [She suffered a stroke, then called a \u2018shock\u2019<\/em>]; she didn\u2019t like it. We went [to<\/em>] Westport but all I went was as far as the sixth grade [in Fall River<\/em>].<\/span><\/p>\n

JC<\/strong>: Do you have any memories of the teachers there? What about Espirito Santo School?<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: Espirito Santo, well \u2026 the real memory that I have of Espirito Santo was of Miss [Mary<\/em>] Cabral. I guess you\u2019ve heard of her? [Miss Cabral taught kindergarten at Espirito Santo School for fifty-three years, from 1925 \u2013 1978.<\/em>]<\/span><\/p>\n

JR<\/strong>: I didn\u2019t, to tell you the truth.<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: Well, Miss Cabral taught us how to receive our First Communion. She really, really, was an angel \u2013 really an angel; we all loved her. She was a lay teacher, she wasn\u2019t um, a \u2026 nun. [First Holy Communion is a Catholic tradition denoting an individual\u2019s first reception of the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist<\/em>.]<\/span><\/p>\n

JC<\/strong>: Some of them are nuns.<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: Some of them were nuns [Franciscan Missionaries of Mary<\/em>], some of them I wish they weren\u2019t nuns, but they were nuns.<\/span><\/p>\n

JC<\/strong>: Tell us why?<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: Sometimes, let\u2019s face it, they have favorites. So sometimes when their child doesn\u2019t get the right answer; it doesn\u2019t work out too well. So that was it. But I stood there until the sixth grade. And, like I said, [I was there<\/em>] until the sixth grade and then we moved, like I said to, uh, Westport. And my mother took sick\u2026.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR<\/strong>: I can see, I can see that your generation wanted to make sure your children went on to school and graduated.<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: We really did. We really believed in schooling, as much as we could give \u2026 they [her sons<\/em>] did well. They both went to [Bishop<\/em>] Connolly [High School, 373 Elsbree Street, Fall River<\/em>], both of them; I made sure they went to Connolly.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR<\/strong>: Very good.<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: As a matter of fact, my oldest boy [Steven<\/em>] was the first one to receive a diploma. [The Class of 1970 was the first graduating class from Bishop Connolly High School; diplomas were awarded alphabetically, hence Steven Dolor Abdow was the first graduate awarded a diploma<\/em>.]<\/span><\/p>\n

JR<\/strong>: Very good.<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: He was the first one to receive a diploma. I said, \u2018Good for you, Steve \u2026.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

JC<\/strong>: You left school\u2026. Did you stay home to take care of your mother?<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: Yes. I stood home. [She terminated her formal education during her Sophomore year in high school.<\/em>] And then after a while, the doctor says to my father, \u2018Well, you know, Joe, your wife \u2026 seems to be doing good. Maybe she can stay alone for a while.\u2019 So he says, \u2018My daughter is not going to work, she has to take care of her mother.\u2019 I says \u2018No, Dad, I\u2019m not taking care of Momma. I am going to show Momma how to do some things that I know she can do, and I will come at night and do it when I come home from work.\u2019 I didn\u2019t want to be without work.<\/span><\/p>\n

JC<\/strong>: So what was your first job?<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: My first job was sewing on the machine. That was my first job.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR<\/strong>: Now were you already married when you started working?<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: No, I got married afterward [on June 18, 1949<\/em>]. I got married after.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR<\/strong>: How did you meet your husband?<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: If I told you, you won\u2019t believe me.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR<\/strong>: Oh, yes we will.<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: I met him [Dolor \u2018Duke\u2019 Bernard Abdow<\/em>] on the telephone.<\/span><\/p>\n

JC<\/strong>: How did that happen?<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: Well, I was babysitting my godchild [Dorothy<\/em> \u2018Dolly\u2019 Ann Terceira<\/em>] because her grandmother [Mrs. Jos\u00e9 \u2018Joseph\u2019 M. Perreira, n\u00e9e Maria Alfredo<\/em>] was sick in the hospital, and my sister-in-law [Mrs. George Raposo Terceira, n\u00e9e Alice Perreira<\/em>] wanted to be with her mother. So I was taking care of her. So the phone rings, I pick up the telephone and I says, \u2018Hello?\u2019 He says, \u201cHi, Hank, how about us seeing each other tonight?\u2019 Hank [Henry Assad<\/em>] was his cousin. I said \u2018I think you have the wrong number.\u2019 And we started, that\u2019s it.<\/span><\/p>\n

JC<\/strong>: How old were you?<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: I would say about eighteen or nineteen, about that. \u2018Cause I got married at twenty, and he was twenty himself.<\/span><\/p>\n

JC<\/strong>: Where did he take you on your first date?<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: On my first date, my first date, of course, where else? Mark You\u2019s [Chinese Restaurant, 1236 Pleasant Street, Fall River<\/em>]. Where do you think?<\/span><\/p>\n

JC<\/strong>: Did he make a good impression?<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: Well, I thought he was rich.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR<\/strong>: And did you walk to Mark You?<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: Yeah, because, first of all we took, we took the bus to, uh, the Durfee [Theatre, 28 North Main Street, Fall River<\/em>]. We saw a nice movie.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR<\/strong>: Oh, you went to the movies?<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: That was something. I got all dressed up for that, and I went. I wasn\u2019t even dressed up for that \u2013 my sister-in-law [Alice PerreiraTerceira<\/em>] called me up and she says \u2018Olive are you keeping that date or not?\u2019 I said, \u2018Are you kidding? I don\u2019t even know the guy.\u2019 So \u2026 so she says, \u2018Go out and see if he\u2019s there.\u2019 So, I looked out the window \u2013 and I lived [at 1433<\/em>] Pleasant Street, [Fall River<\/em>] for a while \u2013 and I looked out the window, and there he is at the corner. I come back to the phone; I says, \u2018The poor guy is at the corner waiting for me.\u2019 And that is how I met my husband.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR<\/strong>: Did he come to the house and meet your parents?<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: No, not in those days you didn\u2019t do that. No, he came, I say about a month or so after. I says, \u2018Hey Ma, I am meeting this guy I went to school with.\u2019 I lied. I says, \u2018I went to school with. So I am going to go to the movie with him.\u2019 Well, she says, \u2018You be careful and be home by ten o\u2019clock.\u2019 You imagine? We had to be home by ten o\u2019clock? We still had curfews and yup, especially with girls. Sometimes I hated being a girl. My brothers go swimming to the sandbars. Did you ever hear of the sandbars? I couldn\u2019t go, I was a girl. The boys would go. The boys could go swimming to sandbars. I, I couldn\u2019t go. [The sand bar, on the north shore at the outlet of South Watuppa Pond in Fall River, was considered the best place for fresh water bathing on the lake<\/em>.]<\/span><\/p>\n

JR<\/strong>: How about girlfriends, hanging out with girlfriends?<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: Um, I had my cousins. We were all like friends. Yeah. Yeah.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR<\/strong>: You went to the movies?<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: Yes, yes, that\u2019s what we spent our\u2026 and then the Strand [Theatre, 1363 Pleasant Street, Fall River<\/em>] is close to where I lived. So I would say, \u2018I am going to a movie today.\u2019 So that was alright, she would take it, you know? But to say it about go out with different fellas on dates just wasn\u2019t called for. You couldn\u2019t go.<\/span><\/p>\n

JC<\/strong>: Your husband had a good job?<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: He worked as a repairman for, uh, how can I say it\u2026. He did, he did have a good job \u2026 he did washers and dryers. But commercial ones, not the regular ones, it had to be the commercial ones. And he had a lot of little jobs on the side. They\u2019d call him up and say, \u2018Duke, my machine is out,\u2019 and he would go up.<\/span><\/p>\n

JC<\/strong>: So he was working for someone else?<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: He worked at Hoyt [Dryer Corporation, Westport, Massachusetts<\/em>]. That was his regular job. But he worked for himself, really, towards the end. He was working for himself.<\/span><\/p>\n

JC<\/strong>: So, when you were bringing up your children, things were much better than when you were being brought up.<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: Of course, [my son, Keith,<\/em>] had to walk to school. [Bishop<\/em>] Connolly [High School<\/em>] was right up the street. We lived [at 886<\/em>] New Boston Road, [Fall River<\/em>] \u2026 so all [he<\/em>] had to do is walk up the street to get to Connolly.<\/span><\/p>\n

JC<\/strong>: Why did you send them to Connolly?<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: Because I, I wanted them to have a good education.<\/span><\/p>\n

JC<\/strong>: Ok.<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: I wanted them to have, uh, and they did. They were taught at first by the Jesuits [Society of Jesuits, Brothers of Christian Instruction<\/em>]. And you couldn\u2019t ask for any better than the Jesuits for a teacher.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR<\/strong>: I\u2019m going to just jump back a little bit. Because you mentioned [President<\/em>] Franklin Roosevelt and you mentioned listening to the radio when the war broke out. Can you tell us about the war years? And who went into the war in your family?<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: Well, see, in my family [two of<\/em>] my brothers went; both of them were discharged. My oldest brother [John, United States Navy, enlisted May 11, 1942<\/em>] got discharged honorably [on September 18, 1942<\/em>] because \u2026 he had something let go in his stomach and they had to send him home. And they told him if you sign this paper \u2013 that\u2019s why when I see this about the veterans getting short-changed, I say my brother got short-changed \u2013 if he signed the paper, we will give you a discharge now and you can go home. So he was so sick, he couldn\u2019t even walk. I was the one that took care of him; I took care of him and my mother.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR<\/strong>: That\u2019s a lot of responsibility.<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: You know, but gradually he got on his feet. Then my other brother [George<\/em>] went in [United States Army, enlisted March 12, 1943<\/em>] and my mother is sitting on the porch and sees the Red Cross coming up and says, \u2018Oh no, something else happened. It has to be George because John is already discharged.\u2019 So the woman got out, they knew each other. My brother George was in the Army and she says, \u2018Don\u2019t get nervous, Mrs. Teixeira. There\u2019s nothing wrong with your son; he\u2019s all right.\u2019 You know why he got discharged? He was a sleep walker. [Discharged June 10, 1943<\/em>.]<\/span><\/p>\n

JR<\/strong>: Oh, jeez.<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: He was a sleep walker.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR<\/strong>: Oh, no!<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: Oh, yes, and he was since he was small, and my father had the lock on the top of the door so he wouldn\u2019t leave the house.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR<\/strong>: Well, that\u2019s interesting.<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: And the lady said, \u2018Don\u2019t get discouraged because there is a lot of them that we had to discharge for being a sleep walker. We can\u2019t have them in the army. They can take a gun and shoot someone. Shoot a friend.\u2019 So my mother, you know what she told her? \u2018You know something? You don\u2019t want them, I want them, send him home.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

JR<\/strong>: How about your husband? Did he get called up?<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: Ah, no, he was just too, he just, uh, my mother in-law wouldn\u2019t sign the paper for him to go because he used to work [as a spinner<\/em>] in the mills, all kind of hours. He loved it, he loved working in the mills. All kind of hours because she wanted, she\u2019d use his money to live on.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR<\/strong>: Sure, you had to support your family.<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: Yeah. So.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR<\/strong>: They always ask you if you have someone dependent on you before they send you through the service \u2026 I heard you drove a car? You were driving?<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: Well, I drove, but not for too long. I hated driving a car. I didn\u2019t like driving a car. I don\u2019t know why, I just didn\u2019t like it.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR<\/strong>: Who taught you?<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: Uh, I think my husband taught me. Yeah, if anything, it was on the street in Westport up and down the road. And that was it. And I drove for a while. Then of course when he died I got sick and all, so that was it.<\/span><\/p>\n

JC<\/strong>: How long ago did he die?<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: My husband, he [died in 2000<\/em>].<\/span><\/p>\n

JC<\/strong>: How did that change your life?<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: It didn\u2019t change my life, because what I did was, I started to think what is going to happen to me now that Duke is gone. I didn\u2019t want to lose him but I lost him like anybody else loses their loved ones. And then I said, I know what I am going to do \u2026 and then I went to live at, um…<\/span><\/p>\n

JR<\/strong>: In the apartments.<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: The [Academy Building<\/em>] Apartments, [102 South Main Street, Fall River<\/em>] that\u2019s where I went to live, and that\u2019s where I have been living until I came here [Catholic Memorial Home, 2446 Highland Avenue, Fall River<\/em>]. I woke up one morning and here I am. I don\u2019t know what happened to me \u2026 they said I was very fresh. Can you imagine that? I can\u2019t imagine it. Yeah. So life is strange.<\/span><\/p>\n

JC<\/strong>: Do you have any grandchildren?<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: I have \u2026 [Four grandchildren: Nathan Steven Abdow; Tamara (Abdow) Carpernter; Timothy Abdow; Stacia Abdow; and four great-grandchildren: Aisha Abdow; Devon Abdow; Dakota Morgan Abdow, and Riley Abdow<\/em>.]<\/span><\/p>\n

JC<\/strong>: Do they visit you?<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: Oh yeah. They all come and see Vo [a diminutive of Vov\u00f3, which is the familiar form of Av\u00f3, or grandmother in Azorean Portuguese<\/em>.] They call me Vo. We always called my grandmother Vo and I stood with Vo.<\/span><\/p>\n

JR<\/strong>: What do you think of the changes in Fall River from \u2026 your time of growing up and now?<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: Like my father used to say, \u2018I don\u2019t know why they are building all these banks, who has money to put in all these banks?\u2019 But, the trouble, the thing is, it needs to be straightened out a little bit. I don\u2019t like to go too much into politics, but we should have a good mayor and a good politician in there. Someone that\u2019s good that will teach, not teach \u2013 show the people that he is willing and able to run Fall River, because Fall River was a great big city at one time. It was a great big city, because I read the book one time. I couldn\u2019t get over it. We had a parade one time, over a hundred people in the parade and it was all from people that worked in mills \u2013 that worked in the mills.<\/span><\/p>\n

JC<\/strong>: The Cotton Centennial? [The Fall River Cotton Centennial celebration was<\/em> held from June 19 \u2013 26, 1911 to commemorate the one-hundredth anniversary of the construction of the first cotton mill in Fall River, by Colonel Joseph Durfee, in 1811.<\/em>]<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: Yes, that\u2019s it \u2013 the [Fall River<\/em>] Cotton Centennial. Yes, now, isn\u2019t that enough to be proud of? And then I read a book about this woman that came [from<\/em>] New York \u2026 to live here with her husband. He was a, ah, lawyer. She said, \u2018I never saw such a beautiful city in all my life, because \u2026 there\u2019s trees.\u2019 It\u2019s unbelievable how pretty Fall River is.<\/span><\/p>\n

GK<\/strong>: President [William Howard<\/em>] Taft came down for that Centennial. [President Taft visited Fall River on \u2018President\u2019s Day,\u2019 June 23, 1911<\/em>].<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: Did he? See? We had a lot to be proud of. I am telling you we have to do something; please, do something, there is so much to be done. You know?<\/span><\/p>\n

JC<\/strong>: When you look back on your life, do you have any regrets?<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: I don\u2019t have any regrets, marrying my husband, having my children, I just wish \u2026 that I probably could have had a little more education. That is what I think I would have liked, a little education.<\/span><\/p>\n

JC<\/strong>: You were born too soon.<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: That\u2019s what you get when you\u2019re a baby.<\/span><\/p>\n

JC<\/strong>: Mrs. Abdow, we thank you for sharing your memories with us.<\/span><\/p>\n

OA<\/strong>: Oh my goodness, I went on, and on, and on, and on. I wish I had more to tell you.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FALL RIVER HISTORICAL SOCIETY Women at Work: An Oral History of Working-Class Women in Fall River, Massachusetts 1920-1970 Interview with Olivia Raposo Abdow,\u00a0n\u00e9e Terceira Interview with Mrs. Dolor \u201cDuke\u201d Bernard Abdow, n\u00e9e Olivia Raposo Terceira Interviewer: (JC)\u00a0Joseph J. Conforti, Jr. Interviewee: (OA) Olivia Raposo (Terceira) Abdow Additional Commentary: (JR) Joyce B. Rodrigues, Fall River Historical Society \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0(GK) George D. Kelly Date of Interview: December 10, 2014 Location: Catholic Memorial Home, Fall River, Massachusetts Summary: Olivia \u201cOlive\u201d Raposo (Terceira) Abdow was born in Fall River on October 26, 1928. Olive\u2019s parents were married in Fall River in 1919. Her father was born in Fall River in 1898. His parents immigrated to the United States from the island of St. Michael in the Azores. They arrived in New Bedford, Massachusetts, where they met and were married, and later moved to Fall River. Olive\u2019s mother immigrated to the United States from St. Michael in 1915. The Terceiras lived on Choate Street in a six-family triple-decker tenement house surrounded by an extended family of aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents. The neighborhood was primarily populated by first-generation Azorean-Portuguese. There were four children in the family. Olive had two older and one younger brother. Both parents worked as weavers in a cotton mill. Olive characterizes herself as a \u201cDepression baby\u201d and a \u201cworking girl.\u201d\u00a0As a \u201cDepression baby,\u201d she\u00a0vividly describes everyday life during\u00a0the Great Depression years of the 1930s: the food, movies, dating, favorite radio programs, the presidency of FDR, the March of Dimes Foundation, and later leaving school to care for her mother who had suffered a stroke. Olive married Dolor \u201cDuke\u201d Bernard Abdow in 1948 and began a successful Fall River \u201cmixed\u201d marriage of a second-generation Portuguese-American and a second-generation Lebanese-American. As a “working girl,” Olive explains how she managed to work and care for her two sons with the help of her Lebanese in-laws. Her career took her to factories in Fall River: the Kerr Thread Mill (American Thread Company), Rondo Knit Sportswear,\u00a0Nancy Dress Company, where she worked for twenty-eight years expertly manufacturing better dresses.1 She concludes this interview looking back on a life well-lived, with no regrets, but wishing she had been able to have more education. 1The apparel industry classifies garment manufacturing in terms of price points. Budget or mass market garments are at the low end of the apparel spectrum with clothes that retail at a relatively low cost. Moderate dresses are medium-priced merchandise, a step above budget. This is the price classification of the majority of clothing. Better dresses are medium-to-higher-priced merchandise. The fabrics, styling, and craftsmanship are of better quality than lower-priced items. Designer products cater to the high-priced prestige or luxury market. Haute Couture and Made-to-Measure apparel is cut and sewn specifically for individual customers and costs tens of thousands of dollars. Source: http:\/\/www.apparelsearch.com\/ Note: This interview has been slightly edited for continuity and readability; in order to preserve the integrity of the conversation, the phraseology remains that of the interviewer and interviewee. Italicized information in square brackets has been added for the purposes of clarification and context. OA: The only thing I can start off with right now is that I am a Depression baby. JC: What year were you born? OA: I was born [on September 1] 1928\u2026. Okay, like I first started at, I was a Depression Baby, but I did go to work. JC: Were you born in Fall River? OA: Oh, yes. I was born [at 200] Choate Street\u2026. See, my grandmother [Mrs. Antonio Raposo Terceiro, Sr., n\u00e9e Maria De Jesus Ferriera Andrade] had a little grocery store [at 198 Choate Street, Fall River] and, of course, during the [Great] Depression, she lost everything. But we had a wonderful bringing up, my cousins and I; we had a lot of fun together \u2026 we played games together. Today, children do not play games. That is terrible. They don\u2019t know what hide-and-seek is, you know, or jump rope. Forget it. Forget it. I don\u2019t know why the children don\u2019t play games like we used to play games. And we, um, my grandmother sat on the stoop while we played games, and, of course, when the [street] light went on, you know what happened \u2013 we had to go home. We didn\u2019t stay outside, we had to go home. Once in a while, maybe, if she stayed a little later, or we\u2019d beg her, she would stay a little later\u2026. But we had to go home when that light went on; home everybody went. And a lot of us, our street was about the size, and, ah, I am trying to think, I\u2019m trying to visualize it now because it was so small. It was so small, but we played a lot there. JC: Can you describe the house you were brought up in? OA: Sure. It was a six-tenement house. It was my \u2026 aunts, and myself, me, I was brought up there. Well, my, ah, aunt [Mrs. Manuel Arruda, n\u00e9e Alexandrina Raposo Terceira] lived on the bottom floor. We lived on the middle floor. And my Aunt Mary [Mrs. Antonio Raposo Terceira, Jr.] lived on the top floor. And that is where we were brought up\u2026. My grandmother lived right across the yard in her little apartment\u2026. JC: Were your grandparents immigrants? OA: My grandfather [Antonio] \u2026 he was brought up in [Feteiras do Sul, S\u00e3o Miguel,] Azores. My grandmother [Maria] grew up in [Feteiras do Sul, S\u00e3o Miguel,] Azores, but was brought up in Hawaii. She had quite a travel, you know\u2026. [Her father, Manuel Ferreira Andrade, and his three children, went to Hawaii following the death of his wife, n\u00e9e Claudina S. Neto; Manuel was employed as a landscaper by a wealthy islander. He eventually immigrated to the United States after the death of his employer.] JC: Can you tell us something about that? OA: Well, I don\u2019t know the name of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fallriverhistorical.org\/WomenatWork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3811"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fallriverhistorical.org\/WomenatWork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fallriverhistorical.org\/WomenatWork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fallriverhistorical.org\/WomenatWork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fallriverhistorical.org\/WomenatWork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3811"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/fallriverhistorical.org\/WomenatWork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3811\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5917,"href":"https:\/\/fallriverhistorical.org\/WomenatWork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3811\/revisions\/5917"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fallriverhistorical.org\/WomenatWork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}