Nordic American Voices National Nordic Museum
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Nordic American Voices National Nordic Museum Interview of Jonna Wilson ID: 2019.043.001 April 20, 2019 Seattle, Washington Interviewers: Gary London; Kaisa London; Saundra Magnussen Martin; Brandon Benson Gary London: [0:00] This is an interview for the Nordic American Voices oral history project. Today is April 20, 2019, and we will be interviewing Jonna Wilson. We are at the Nordic Museum in Seattle, Washington. My name is Gary London, and others present today are— Kaisa London: [0:21] Kaisa London. Saundra Magnussen Martin: [0:23] Saundra Magnussen Martin. Brandon Benson: [0:25] Brandon Benson. Gary: [0:27] Thank you, Jonna, for agreeing to be interviewed. We appreciate it very much, and hope this will be a positive experience for you. Jonna Wilson: [0:36] Thanks. I’m sure. It’s nice to be here. Gary: [0:39] Would you begin by giving us your name, place of birth, and date of birth? Jonna: [0:44] Yes. I was born in Mikkeli [Finland] January 26, 1979. I was born Jonna Maria Jääskeläinen. Gary: [0:54] Okay. We’d also like to learn as much as we can about your family background. Do you have memories of great grandparents at all? Jonna: [1:05] No, unfortunately not. They were all… My parents were quite old when they had me, nearly 40. Gary: [1:15] So, your grandparents, probably? Jonna: [1:17] Yeah. I only really met my grandmothers. My dad’s side, that family originally came from Karelia. They came after… I’m not exactly sure which year they came, but my dad’s mom was born in Jääski in Karelia. So, they were evacuated, basically. They stayed close to the border in the Imatra-Ruokolahti area. Then my dad’s biological dad is actually not known. Known by my Nordic American Voices Page 1 of 14 grandmother, but not to the rest of the family. So, that was my grandma’s maiden name, Jääskeläinen, that I carried. I don’t, unfortunately, know a lot about them. Gary: [2:32] About the grandmothers? Jonna: [2:34] Yeah. She had like 12 siblings that are in various places in Finland, mostly Naantali and Kotka, and that area, but I’m not awfully close to them. Gary: [2:50] Did you spend a lot of time with these grandmothers while you were growing up? Jonna: [2:54] Yeah. When I was growing up, we would visit my grandma in Imatra I suppose every month or so, for a day. She died in 2000, I think. After that, I haven’t really had a lot of connection to that area. Gary: [3:17] What was her name? Jonna: [3:18] Linda Maria Jääskeläinen. Gary: [3:20] What do you remember about her? Jonna: [3:23] She was a hard worker. They definitely appreciated hard work. My dad has told that he was good at school, and he always wanted to have a better education. His parents (his stepdad and my grandma) were sort of working class, and they didn’t appreciate the education, so they didn’t allow him to go to oppikoulu. Gary: [3:58] To high school. Jonna: [3:59] Yeah. So, he became a car mechanic. It was the hardest admission to that school, so he wanted to prove at least that he could get into that school that was the hardest to get into. That’s pretty much what I know about them. My dad, as a child, participated in the pioneering summer camps, and things like that. Gary: [4:33] Your grandmother on your mother’s side— did they come from Karelia? Jonna: [4:39] No, my mother’s side is from Savo, from Juva originally. Both my mom’s parents were from there. Her dad died when she was like eight years old. It was during the war. Gosh, now I’m really bad. I wasn’t prepared enough for this. Gary: [5:08] That’s quite all right. Jonna: [5:10] Oh, actually I’m confusing it. He must have passed in 1950, because my mom was eight years old. So, my mom basically grew up with her mother. They lived in Juva and Mikkeli area the whole time. My mom had a completely different experience. They were working class, also, like strong working class background, but my mom’s mom always wanted her to have a high education, and go as far as she could. So, that was sort of my granddad’s legacy. When my mom was born, he said, “Okay, this girl; we will educate her as far as she wants to go.” So, my grandmother kept that up. Her message was always that women need to be independent and strong, basically to be able to Nordic American Voices Page 2 of 14 cope on their own. Gary: [6:29] What was that grandmother’s name? Jonna: [6:32] Tyyne Maria Kaukonen. I don’t remember her maiden name. Gary: [6:43] That’s fine. Jonna: [6:46] She lived in Mikkeli, where I lived as well, so she was also closer. Gary: [6:52] More contact with her than your other grandmother? Jonna: [6:55] Yeah. Definitely. I would see her weekly, at least. Gary: [6:59] What do you remember about her? Jonna: [7:02] She was the gentlest, most generous person I’ve known. My sort of role model. She would always give everything. Even though she didn’t have much, she would always give whatever she had to whoever needed it more. I’m going to be emotional, because I miss her. Gary: [7:30] So, you were very much attached to her, it sounds like. Jonna: [7:34] Yeah, I was. Gary: [7:36] Do you know how your parents met? Jonna: [7:41] In Mikkeli. My dad ended up studying in Mikkeli. [They met] in a nightclub in 1968, I think. They were in their mid-twenties, I think. My mom got pregnant with my oldest brother quite quickly. He was born in 1969. And they got married and started a family. Gary: [8:20] Can we have the names of your parents, too? Jonna: [8:25] Yes. My dad is Martti Jääskeläinen, and my mom is Anja Kaarina Kaukonen, originally, Jääskeläinen nowadays. Gary: [8:37] How many siblings do you have? Jonna: [8:40] I have two older brothers. They are ten and five years older than me. Jussi Tuomas Jääskeläinen was born in 1974 and Janne Juhana Jääskeläinen was born in 1969. Gary: [9:04] So, you grew up in Mikkeli? Jonna: [9:07] I did. Yes. Gary: [9:09] What was that like? Jonna: [9:11] It was safe. It’s a small, nice town. Everybody knows each other, more or less. My Nordic American Voices Page 3 of 14 mom was the [Finnish word], like an inspector in the archives. The National Archives are in Helsinki, but [she worked in] the area, municipal archives. She was the inspector and then the director, eventually of those, and finally retired. She never wanted to leave Mikkeli. She didn’t want to leave her mom. Basically, she was offered director spots in different municipal archives around, in Vaasa and Hämeenlinna, but she never really wanted to leave. Gary: [10:23] You said education had been a premium for her parents. Jonna: [10:28] Yeah. She studied in Helsinki and Jyväskylä. She has a master’s degree in History. Gary: [10:39] And your father was an auto mechanic. Jonna: [10:41] Yeah. Of course, now they’re both retired. He was a car inspector, like those annual inspections that you have to do with cars. Gary: [10:56] Tell us about growing up in Mikkeli— your school experience, your experience with friends. Jonna: [11:09] We lived in a very safe little neighborhood. It was these old [Finnish word], those old postwar wooden buildings that they have in a lot of areas, similar houses next to each other. There were a lot of kids. We would just run in the streets and play there. Everybody knew each other’s parents. So, it was nice and safe. Kaisa: [11:44] You might want to mention [Finnish word]? Gary: [11:52] Do you want to talk about those at all? Jonna: [11:54] I don’t know too much. I just know they were the blueprints, and they were somehow provided. Kaisa: [12:04] Men who had served in the military and had participated in the war years were granted… given assistance in building homes for themselves, because there were was a huge shortage of housing. They were basic houses, usually two bedrooms and a kitchen on the main floor, and then a second story, maybe a couple of rooms. Jonna: [12:39] And a little kitchen. Kaisa: [12:41] A little kitchen, depending on how people… They mostly built them themselves. Jonna: [12:50] Yeah. Of course, my parents bought it from somebody else. I guess that wasn’t even the original builder. Kaisa: [12:59] Yeah. But originally that’s how they came. And they look alike. Jonna: [13:06] They are a lot alike. They were very similar-looking, just different colors. Yeah. And usually quite big yards, so that you can grow your own vegetables and potatoes. Nordic American Voices Page 4 of 14 Gary: [13:20] Did you have your own garden? Jonna: [13:21] Yeah, we did. Gary: [13:24] Tell us about your school experience in Mikkeli. Jonna: [13:28] I attended Urpola school the first two years. Then I applied and got accepted to a music class.