Stephanie K. Seymour October 6, 2006; April 24, 2007; February 27, 2008 Recommended Transcript of Interview with Stephanie K. Seymour (Oct. 6, 2006; Apr. 24, Citation 2007; Feb. 27, 2008), https://abawtp.law.stanford.edu/exhibits/show/stephanie-k-seymour. Attribution The American Bar Association is the copyright owner or licensee for this collection. Citations, quotations, and use of materials in this collection made under fair use must acknowledge their source as the American Bar Association. Terms of Use This oral history is part of the American Bar Association Women Trailblazers in the Law Project, a project initiated by the ABA Commission on Women in the Profession and sponsored by the ABA Senior Lawyers Division. This is a collaborative research project between the American Bar Association and the American Bar Foundation. Reprinted with permission from the American Bar Association. All rights reserved. Contact Please contact the Robert Crown Law Library at Information [email protected] with questions about the ABA Women Trailblazers Project. Questions regarding copyright use and permissions should be directed to the American Bar Association Office of General Counsel, 321 N Clark St., Chicago, IL 60654-7598; 312-988-5214. ABA Senior Lawyers Division Women Trailblazers in the Law ORAL HISTORY of STEPHANIE K. SEYMOUR Interviewer: Nancy J. Siegel Dates of Interviews: October 6, 2006 April 24, 2007 February 27, 2008 2 3 4 5 6 ORAL HISTORY OF STEPHANIE K. SEYMOUR 7 TAKEN ON BEHALF OF WOMEN TRAIL BLAZERS IN THE LAW, 8 A PROJECT OF THE AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION, 9 COMMISSION ON WOMEN IN THE PROFESSION 10 11 12 13 CONDUCTED BY NANCY SIEGEL 14 ON OCTOBER 6, 2006 15 IN TULSA, OKLAHOMA 16 17 18 19 Transcribed by Tina Hale 20 21 22 23 Q. This is the first interview of the oral history of Stephanie K. 2 Seymour, which is being taken on behalf of Women Trail Blazers in the 3 Law, a project of the American Bar Association, Commission on Women in 4 the Profession. It is being conducted by Nancy Siegel on October 6, 2006. 5 Today is October 6th, 2006 and Stephanie Seymour and I are together 6 in her office in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Would you please state your name, 7 Stephanie, and tell us when you were born and where? 8 A. Stephanie Kulp Seymour. I was born on October 16, 1940 in 9 Battle Creek, Michigan. 10 Q. And what was it like growing up in Battle Creek, Michigan? 11 A. Battle Creek is a small town. I think it had about 50,000 people at 12 the time. I went to public schools, walked to school, lived in a house in a 13 neighborhood where nobody locked their doors and I guess I had a pretty 14 normal childhood. I was one of four siblings, the second. I had an older 15 brother, Bruce, and a younger brother, John, and a younger sister, Susan. 16 We were all - all of us were born within six years of each other so I spent 17 my whole life growing up with my siblings. 18 Q. What did your parents do? Were they both professionals? 19 A. Neither of my parents went to college. My father was in the - I 20 should say, sort of the housing construction market, which he started at the 21 end of the war. He was - he had polio as a child, had a brace and was not in 22 the service. And at the end of the war, he started building houses. Not 23 personally building, but he contracted to build houses for returning veterans -2- 1 and became a very successful businessman doing that. Notwithstanding he 2 didn't go to college, he was an extremely well-read person. My mother was 3 born of Italian immigrants in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Bessemer, 4 Michigan, an even smaller town of about 3,000, I think. She moved to Battle 5 Creek to go to nursing school at the hospital and she was a registered nurse. 6 Q. So she completed her work in nursing school and went on 7 professionally as a nurse for how long? 8 A. Yes. I don't remember. 9 Q. Did she work as a nurse throughout your youth? 10 A. No. 11 Q. No? 12 A. I'm not sure if she worked. I don't remember her working at all 13 as a nurse. She was a mom, a busy mom. 14 Q. With six kids? 15 A. No, only four. 16 Q. Four kids, but in six years? 17 A. Four kids in six years, yes. 18 Q. Okay. So what was your life like when you were in elementary 19 school? Do you remember the name of the school that you went to? 20 A. I will. 21 Q. Okay. 22 A. I was a shy, little girl and a very good - I was a goody two shoes. 23 Q. So things haven't changed much? -3- A. I was a good student. A quiet, good student and I also enjoyed 2 school. 3 Q. When you were in grade school, do you have any remembrances 4 of any special teachers or people that had some important effect on you 5 during your very early school years? 6 A. Not particularly. I had teachers I was very fond of, but no one 7 stands out. 8 Q. And who was your greatest role model during that early time 9 period? Was it one of your family members or one of your teachers? 10 A. I'd say probably my dad because he was so interested in education 11 and interested in his children doing whatever they wanted to as they grew up. 12 He also - he was always very supportive of my schooling. And he also liked 13 to travel a lot so we - because of the seasonal nature of his business, and 14 because we had cold hard winters in Michigan, we would get in the car in the 15 wintertime and take trips. We spent a lot of time in Florida when I was 16 young. My parents would take us out of school and we would go to - I went 17 to elementary schools in the winters in St. Petersburg for a number of years 18 and then we subsequently took three-month car trips in the winter with the 19 four of us. I was home schooled before home schooling was popular. My 20 parents would - we would just take our books. We were all pretty good 21 students - but there were four of us - and we took these trips every winter 22 until I was in junior high school. One year we started in Florida and then we 23 went all the way up the East Coast, stopping all along the way at historical -4- sites and museums. We went to Washington, D.C. We went to New York 2 City. We went to Boston and went up into Canada, came across Canada to 3 Montreal and Toronto and back to Michigan. Toronto is quite close to 4 Michigan. Another winter, we went to New Orleans where we spent a week 5 or so. We went across Texas, spending time at each place. We went to 6 California and spent about a month in Los Angeles. Then we went to San 7 Francisco, came across the country, went to the Grand Canyon, came back 8 home - all the time doing our school work on the way. So those were - I 9 was in every state except three by the time I went to college and that really, I 10 think, influenced my life. 11 Q. That was exactly my next question. In what ways do you feel that 12 travel with your family to all these different locations influenced your life or 13 encouraged you in some way to pursue an advanced education? 14 A. I - it was just - broadened my horizons, I guess. We spent a lot 15 of time meeting a lot of people on the road and staying in different cities. It 16 gave me a perspective of the country that I certainly wouldn't have had if I 17 had grown up and stayed all in one place the whole time. And then the 18 summer I graduated from high school when I was 1 7, before I went to 19 college, we took- my father wouldn't fly. He was, I guess, afraid of flying 20 - so we drove to New York, took the U.S.S. United States, which was then a 21 huge ocean liner, to Europe and spent three months. He bought a car, bought 22 a European Ford, which wasn't all that big, and we traveled for three months 23 all over Europe. -5- Q. You were what age at this time? 2 A. I was 17. So I had a brother who was 18. He had finished his 3 first year in college. I had a younger brother who was - must have been 4 about 14 - and a sister who was about 12 at the time. We were all stuffed 5 into this little European Ford with all the luggage on top and we went to all 6 kinds of countries: England, France, Germany, Switzerland. 7 Q. Do you remember having any specific experiences that surprised 8 you or lead you to believe there were differences between the United States 9 and Europe? 10 A. Well, we spent the last month - it was in August and we spent the 11 last month in Paris, and - which was an incredibly interesting experience.