The Date Today Is December 1. I'm Interviewing
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DB 13974 DPACASS011 I: The date today is December 1. I’m interviewing Al Kieft. Al, you want to just say something to get on the tape, so we can check the voice level? R: Like we were saying in the beginning, the things that I can relate in the early part of the interview might be by handed down word of mouth because I wasn’t around when these people, my grandparents, for example, were living. And they came on the scene in the early 1880’s, I: Okay, let’s R: before I arrived. I: Okay, let’s check this for voice level now. Alright, Al, you want to start out with your father’s parents from what you can tell about where they came from and where they lived when they were here in Grand Haven? R: My father’s father’s name was Fred Dirk Kieft. And he married Annie Sickman of Grand Haven and they lived on Jackson Street in the 500 block on the south side of the street. My mother’s father was born in a little place called, Beaver Dam, near Zeeland or near Borculo. And he married Alice Slider. She had been born in the old country, the Netherlands, that is. And they lived on 5th Street in the 500 block on the west side of the street. My mother’s father was a night watchman here in Grand Haven, he and John Klaver were night watchmen or policemen, what we would call a policeman now. And he did other odd jobs. He skimmed coals for piling and he unloaded ore boats and unloaded other ships that came in. When a whistle would blow, they’d all grab a shovel and run down to the dock, see who could get employed first. Ma tells me. I: Where were those docks? R: The docks were where the grandstand is now for the waterfront stadium and next to that were the harbor police. Number one I believe it is called, where the Chamber of Commerce building is, office building. That was known later as the Robbins dock or the Goodrich dock, where the Goodrich boats were loaded and unloaded. And my father’s father was a millwright at Kilbourn’s mill, lumber mill. He was in charge of all the sawing devices and planing devices and sharpen planer blades, took care of the saws, took the warp out of them, all the other details that were connected with a lumber mill. They didn’t live very long, they died quite early. Most of them were dead before they were sixty. In fact, all of them were dead before they were sixty. I: Is the house where they lived still R: Both houses are still there. The house where my mother was born on 5th Street and the house where my dad was born on Jackson Street are still there. I: How about your mother’s parents, where did they come from? R: Like I said my grandpa Cook, my mother’s father was born in Beaver Dam. I: Oh yeah, uh-huh. R: And his wife, Alice Slider, came from the Netherlands and they married here in Grand Haven and they lived 5th Street. He was the one that was the night watchman. I: Oh he was the night watchman, uh-huh. Your mother and father then were married, where did they meet, do you know? R: Well they lived only a block apart all their lives and they were, my dad only went one year to high school because his dad was widowed when he was only nine, was a widower when he was only nine, so he had to go to work when he was 13. And he had to stand on a box top where he would assemble machines. And my mother worked at the canning factory peeling vegetables and tomatoes and canning factory was then a part of what later became the basket factory, the canning factory was there first. And then basket factory on the corner of 6th and Madison came a little later. So she began working at an early age. She also worked at Akeley Hall in the kitchen peeling vegetables and washing dishes. And they married in 1903 here in Grand Haven. I: You mentioned Akeley Hall and where was that located? R: Akeley Hall was on the corner of Washington, well the hall was on Columbus Street. It was a private school for girls in the 500 block of Columbus Street, where the old fire station now stands, the community center for geriatrics or whatever they are called. I: Senior center. R: Senior center and it was torn down early in the Depression years to build WPA projects like the city hall and the fire station. I: You mentioned something earlier about the first place that your mother and father lived. R: Yes, on the very west end of Jackson Street which at that time was part of a continuation of Madison Street, because Madison Street ran dead into 5th Street and the west end of that street was called Madison. And they lived in one of the houses that is now being renovated by a local school teacher. And I can’t identify it, because it has changed so much, what it looked like. But, that was where they lived when they were first married and next door, their next door neighbor was a man named, Henry Walker who was captain in the Coast Guard. I: And then from there 2 R: From there they moved to the 400 block on Jackson Street and from there they moved to the 500 block on Madison Street. My mother tells me that my grandfather and my dad carried the hard coal stove with a fire still in it on handles to the new residence at 513 Madison in the winter. I: Now, you said one of your grandparents or some relative lived on Jackson Street in the 500 block? R: The 500 and that house is still there. I think people by the name of Olthoff live there now. Uh-huh and the Mrs. Kieft that ran a boardinghouse there, that was my grandfather’s second wife, my dad’s stepmother. I: The one that you didn’t really couldn’t think of as a grandmother is that R: No, I didn’t because even though our backyards almost met, I never thought of her as, I thought of her as my dad’s stepmother, never as my grandmother. I: Well most of what we talked about so far and what you’ve remembered from being told, now starting at what point, what is your earliest memory of your own being? R: Well when Madison Street was a dirt street with a ditch on each side, must have been about 1922, perhaps. I remember them leveling the street and digging it out to lay the pavement, Madison Street in the 500 and 600 block, and soon after that; ’23 went to school. By that time the street was paved, by the time I went to school. I: Who were some of your neighbors around that area then? R: Oh, let’s see, the neighbors across the street were John Boyink, John Mull, Harold Putney. On the west side of our house was Mrs. Dusterwinkle, she was an elderly widow and she had several sons, among them Chuck Dusterwinkle, Garret Dusterwinkle, Sy Dusterwinkle and then on the other side of Mrs. Dusterwinkle was Ed Coats and family. And on the corner was Louie Bennett. Mr. Bennett delivered oil in an old tank truck, I believe it was a Reo. On the east side of our house was Mr. and Mrs. John Arkema and next door to them was Mrs. Bradway. No, no, no, Mrs. Bradway was her daughter, Mrs. Bloomsluiter, she was a very elderly widow. And oh let’s see. John Haltz and Mr. Hudson and family and Mr. Rue and Mr. Fox lived across the street also. Father of Stuart Fox would run on the car ferry to Milwaukee. I: Where did you go to school then after you became school age? R: We walked to Central School where the elementary school is now. The old one that burned down in the ‘60’s, I think. I: Uh-huh. 3 R: And kindergarten through 8th grade was in that building. And I along with many, many kids went to that school. Miss Koster being our first teacher. Like I said before, a saint. She must have been a saint, because we weren’t. She was very tolerant, very tolerant. Some of the outstanding teachers of that time though were later as I began to comprehend education a little better. Mrs. De Spelder, Miss Cherry, Mr. Mead, Mrs. VanWeldon, earlier Miss Mull, Louise Mull, whose father owned a shoe store on 7th Street, Miss Nevins, she was outstanding, she was a very good teacher, my favorite, if I had one. Learning was not my best thing. I: Your favorites seemed to be the junior high teachers. R: My comprehension was getting a little better about that time and I had a little better appreciation. I: Did you spend much time in Steve Mead’s office? R: Yeah, I guess I did. I spent a lot of time in Miss Nevins room too after school. I never had my science assignments finished. So I was doing experiments after school. I: Speaking of after school, what kind of activities did you engage in after school and in summers and weekends when you had no scholastic responsibilities? R: In the summertime during the early years just being a kid, play ball, hike to the river, catch frogs, I spent a lot of time around the river, a lot of time.