Adele Ferguson
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Adele Ferguson Research by John Hughes, Lori Larson, and Don Brazier Transcripti on by Lori Larson Interviews by John Hughes October 23, 2008 Hughes: This is John Hughes with the Secretary of State’s Legacy Project at the home of Adele Ferguson at Hansville, Washington, overlooking Puget Sound. In 1961, Adele became the fi rst female legislati ve reporter at the state Capitol in Olympia, and in short order became a force to reckon with. She reti red from The Bremerton Sun in 1993, but has maintained her column, which is syndicated in some 30 Northwest newspapers. Hughes: Adele, you have been quoted as saying Adele Ferguson at the Legislati ve Building in Olympia, 1960s that you should never ask a woman her weight, Adele Ferguson Collecti on her salary, or her age. But, for the record, this is an oral history, and I’m duty bound to ask you to state your full name, including your maiden name, and your date of birth. It’s for posterity. Ferguson: It’s going to go in that book. Hughes: It’s going to go in an oral history, on the website, then in a book. Ferguson: Well, my full name is Adele (“A-dell”) W. Ferguson. Hughes: Not “Uh-DELL” but “A-dell”? Ferguson: You know why I do that? Hughes: Why? Ferguson: Because when you answer the phone and say “A-dell” they understand “A-dell.” But if you only say “Uh-dell” it kind of runs together. So I fi gure “A-dell,” then they know 2 who they’re talking to. … I was named aft er my father’s only sister, who was an invalid of some kind. I never knew for sure what was wrong with her. They never called me anything but “Sister,” just as my brother, Grady Jr., was “Buddy” and my sister Alice was “Tooddy.” They quit doing that with their last seven kids. I should tell you something interesti ng about my mother and my father’s family. I never met either one of my grandmothers. Well, I did when I was litt le baby – one of them. The one that came over from Norway with her kids in World War I. The other one is from the hillbilly secti on of Tennessee. And my grandfather had brothers, several brothers, and one of them was found dead by the railroad tracks one day, all bloodied up. Now the questi on was, “Did he get beat up and killed or was he run over by the train accidentally?” You know how they found out? Hughes: No. Ferguson: You take the body home and you get a new quilt, and wrap the body in the quilt, and then you wash the quilt. And if the blood comes out of the quilt then he wasn’t murdered. If the blood had remained in the quilt he would have been considered a murder victi m. Now that’s old hillbilly stuff . Hughes: Wow. Ferguson: But, yeah, that’s true! That’s a true story. Hughes: That’s Hillbilly CSI. Ferguson: Oh yeah. Hughes: So, I think we got interrupted on your full name. What’s the “W” for? Ferguson: My middle name – Werdell – is my mother’s maiden name. She was a teenager, I think, when she came over from Norway in World War I. What happened was this: A great number of Scandinavian men were inclined to come to the United States ahead of the family, sett le, fi nd another woman, have another bunch of kids and say, “I’ll see ya!” So the poor grass widows … they’re left alone back in Norway or Sweden. It happened to a lot of them. Eventually when they get the money, fi rst they send the kids over one by one. They pop the kids over as soon as they got the dough. And the kids come over and stay with the father. My grandmother came over with her two girls – my mother and my aunt. 3 I think she had fi ve boys and two girls. Her boys were all excellent fl oor layers. They were wonderful fi gures in my life… Hughes: Grandma’s sons we’re talking about? Ferguson: Grandma’s. My Norwegian grandmother. She sett led in Minnesota. Interesti ngly, as a young woman, she had a mastectomy and that was very rare in those days. Hughes: Yeah, to survive it no less. Talk about disfi guring. Ferguson: And I don’t know how it happened, but — what’s the name of the big medical clinic there? Hughes: The Mayo. Ferguson: The Mayo somehow learned about that and asked her to please come to the clinic, would she talk to some of their doctors in a meeti ng about what happened? And she did. As a matt er of fact I’ve got a book on the Mayo Clinic but I haven’t run through it yet to see if I can fi nd that writt en up in there. I think it might be. It’s about that thick – the book. That’s why I haven’t read it yet. But she did, she went to the Mayo Clinic and told them all about her operati on. Hughes: So Werdell is your mother’s maiden name? Ferguson: Yes. My father’s name is Ferguson. Hughes: So you are Adele Werdell Ferguson. That’s your maiden name? Ferguson: Right. Hughes: What was your father’s fi rst name? Ferguson: Grady, G-r-a-d-y, Grady Ferguson. Hughes: And the derivati on of Ferguson? Ferguson: Mostly Scotch. I don’t know where the Grady comes from. When I was litt le we used to laugh at it. We didn’t like it. … I’m half Norwegian and half Scotch. Hughes: That’s a prett y formidable combinati on of gene pools. Ferguson: Oh, I think so. Hughes: And how about your mother? What was her fi rst name? Ferguson: Christi ne. C-h-r-i-s-t-i-n-e, just like regular Christi ne. 4 Hughes: Were they married as a young people? Ferguson: Well, they must have been. I don’t know. Was she 18 when I was born? No that wasn’t me. That was somebody else. I’m thinking of Barack Obama’s mother! (Joking) She was 18 when he was born. I was their second child. They had a boy before they had me. Then they had a lot more kids. Hughes: What was the span between you and your brother? Ferguson: Probably a couple years. Kids at school used to say, “Gee, how do you remember all of the names of all of your brothers and sisters?” And adults would say, “I didn’t know they gave that much furlough” in the Army! Hughes: And how many siblings in all? Ferguson: Ten. Hughes: You were number two of 10. Holy moly! That’s a big family. So, do you want to negoti ate over this? What year were you born? Ferguson: (aft er lengthy pause) I was born near the ti me of the Great Depression. That’s as close as I’m going to give you. Hughes: OK. And where was that? Ferguson: Fort Snelling, Minnesota. My father was an Army man. He was career Army. Hughes: Were your early growing up years in Minnesota? Ferguson: Well, no. I was just a baby in Fort Snelling. And then we moved to— Hughes: Where was that near, Adele? Fort Snelling … Ferguson: Between Minneapolis and St. Paul. I think it’s the oldest fort in the United States. Hughes: So you’re a baby in Minnesota. Ferguson: And then they moved to Fort Omaha, and I was raised in Fort Omaha. Hughes: So you stayed there for how many years? Ferguson: I don’t remember. I went to school there. And then in Caruthersville, Missouri. My dad was transferred to a Nati onal Guard unit in Caruthersville. That’s in Southern Missouri. Hughes: What was your dad’s job in the Army? 5 Ferguson: He was a soldier. I don’t know what he did. He was in the offi ce, and of course he fought. As a matt er of fact he joined the Army when he was 16 because he had thrown a boot out the front door of the house and hit a goose and killed it. And they took him down and enlisted him into the Army. So he was 16, but of course they didn’t care how old you were. He was big enough and able. Hughes: Where was that? Ferguson: Tennessee. But then he went to the border, fi ghti ng Pancho Villa. He fought with those troops. Hughes: With General Pershing along the Mexican border in 1916? Ferguson: Yeah, and then he was in World War I, too. He went overseas. And he got mustard gassed. He never talked much about his Army service. … He eventually became a sergeant, and then he became a First Sergeant. He got in some kind of trouble toward the end of his career and got busted. But I never knew why. Someone in the family may know why. Hughes: What did you call your parents – “Mom,” “Dad”? Ferguson: I called my mother “Mama.” Some of the other kids called her “mother.” Neighbors called her “Mrs. Ferguson.” I never heard anyone call her “Chris.” My mother called my father “Dad.” He called her “Ma.” Hughes: Tell us about what your mother did. Ferguson: She stayed home. Hughes: A housewife – classic housewife? Ferguson: Yeah, she never worked.