JOSEPHINE (JODIE) McGOWAN GARDNER Oral History Project The Historical Society of the District of Columbia Circuit Oral History Project United States Courts The Historical Society of the District of Columbia Circuit District of Columbia Circuit JOSEPHINE (JODIE) MCGOWAN GARDNER Interviews conducted by: Traci S. Grigg First Interview: August 3, 2006 Second Interview: August 10, 2006 Third Interview: (retaped) June 20, 2008 Fourth Interview: October 5, 2006 TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface ...................................................................... i Oral History Agreements Josephine (Jodie) McGowan Gardner....................................... iii Traci S. Grigg. ..........................................................v Oral History Transcript of Interviews: First interview: August 3, 2006. ............................................1 Second interview: August 10, 2006.........................................2 0 Third interview: retaped June 20, 2008.......................................3 6 Fourth interview: October 5, 2006..........................................4 4 Index. .................................................................... A-1 Biographical Sketches Joseph McGowan Gardner................................................B-1 Judith S. Feigin. .......................................................B-3 NOTE The following pages record interviews conducted on the dates indicated. The interviews were electronically recorded, and the transcription was subsequently reviewed and edited by the interviewee. The contents hereof and all literary rights pertaining hereto are governed by, and are subject to, the Oral History Agreements included herewith. © 2008 Historical Society of the District of Columbia Circuit. All rights reserved. PREFACE The goal of the Oral History Project of the Historical Society of the District of Columbia Circuit is to preserve the recollections of the judges who sat on the Courts of the District of Columbia Circuit and lawyers, court staff, and others who played important roles in the history of the Circuit. The Project began in 1991. Interviews are conducted by volunteers, trained by the Society, who are members of the Bar of the District of Columbia. Indexed transcripts of these interviews and related documents are available in the Judges' Library in the E. Barrett Prettyman United States Courthouse, 333 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C., the Library of Congress, and the library of the Historical Society of the District of Columbia. With the permission of the person being interviewed, oral histories are also available on the internet through the Society's web site, www.dcchs.org. Such original audio tapes of the interviews as exist, as well as the original diskettes of the transcripts (in WordPerfect format) are in the custody of the Society. [Standard Form] INTERVIEWEE ORAL HISTORY AGREEMENT Historical Society of the District of Columbia Circuit Oral History Agreement of 1. In consideration of the recording and preservation of my oral history memoir by the Historical Society of the District of Columbia Circuit, Washington, D.C., and its employees and agents (hereinafter "the Society"), I,~~P#/M&'hAIM 6MZM/6% hereby grant and convey to the Society and its successors and assigns all of my rights, title, and interest in the tape recordings, transcripts and computer diskette of my interviews as described in Schedule A hereto, including literary rights and copyrights. All copies of the tapes, transcripts and diskette are subject to the same restrictions herein provided. 2. I also reserve for myself and to the executor of my estate the right to use the tapes, transcripts and diskette and their content as a resource for any book, pamphlet, article or other writing of which I or my executor may be the author or co-author. 3. I authorize the Society to duplicate, edit, publish, including publication on the internet, and permit the use of said tape recordings, transcripts and diskette in any manner that the Society considers appropriate, and I waive any claims I may have or acquire to any royalties from such use. 7/71 Date SWORN TO AND SUBSCRIBED before me this ? dayof 79 ,2008. Notary Public My Commission expires /D -s/-// -tc ACCEPTED this &-day of , 2OOg, by Stephen J. Pollak, President of the Historical Society of ... 111 Schedule A Tape recording(s) and transcript(s) resulting from 4 interviews of t&dn a- (Number) JTL~~~ILm~6 ow0 on the following dates: (Interviewee) Pages of Transcript 1-14 20- 3s 36- 43 4r4- 59 The transcripts of the 1-( interviews are contained on 5 diskette(s). iv Standard Form INTERVIEWER ORAL HISTORY AGREEMENT Historical Society of the District of Columbia Circuit Oral Historv Agreement of 1. Having agreed to conduct an oral history interview with zd& r/, 6 GDu~Gctdner for the Historical Society of the District of Columbia Circuit, Washington, D.C., and its I employees and agents (hereinafter “the Society”), I, \ .ILL 1 5 G P , do hereby grant and convey to the Society and its successors and assigns, all of my right, titlg and interest in the tape recordings, transcripts and computer diskette of interviews, as described in Schedule A hereto, including literary rights and copyrights. 2. I authorize the Society to duplicate, edit, publish, including publication on the internet, or permit the use of said tape recordings, transcripts and diskette in any manner that the Society considers appropriate, and I waive any claims I may have or acquire to any royalties from such use. 3. I agree that I will make no use of the interview or the information contained therein until it is concluded and edited, or until I receive permission from the Society. [Signature of InterviewerInterviewer] 7 Date TO ’ SUBSCRTBED before me this day of RGU C, 4I ,2099- I ,W!1 daryPublic My Commission expires 03-i@--t9 [y, ACCEPTED this day of &rrU- Jy , 200eby Stephen J. Pollak, President of the Historical Society of the District of Columbia Circuit. V Schedule A Tape recording(s) and transcript(s) resulting from -4 interviews of (Number) (Interviewee) Pages of Date (Month, Day, Year) & Title Number of Tapes Transcript t The transcripts of the 1-( interviews are contained on diskette(s). vi ORAL HISTORY OF JODIE GARDNER First Interview, August 3, 2006 This interview of Jodie Gardner is being conducted for the District of Columbia Circuit Oral History Project on August 3, 2006, at the home of Mrs. Gardner in Washington, D.C. by Traci Grigg. This is Tape 1. Mrs. Grigg: Mrs. Gardner can you please state your full name for the record and the year you were born. Mrs. Gardner: Josephine McGowan Gardner. I was born in Dover, Massachusetts, in 1920. Everyone calls me Jodie. Nobody’s allowed to call me Josephine. Mrs. Grigg: You told me before we started that you used Josephine in one of your marriages. Mrs. Gardner: My first marriage. I was married by a bishop and I had to do the right thing. So I said, “I, Josephine, take thee Carl.” But my second marriage I was married by an Episcopal minister. I said, “Can I use Jodie?” and he said, “Of course.” With my second husband I married using Jodie. Mrs. Grigg: Let’s go back to where you were born and talk about your childhood. Mrs. Gardner: I was the youngest of five children. When I was born all four of my siblings and my mother had whooping cough. The only people that didn’t were my father and the nurse. Mrs. Grigg: My goodness. Mrs. Gardner: But I didn’t catch whooping cough till the next year. I had it when I was a year old. I guess that was safer than having it when I was an hour old. And I grew up in a lovely big house in Dover, Massachusetts. We had hills. We had good coasting in the winter and there was a pond so we could skate and it was just a wonderful place to grow up. The reason my parents moved from Boston to Dover was because there was a very good school, an elementary school. Mrs. Grigg: Did you and all of your brothers and sisters go to the elementary school? Mrs. Gardner: They all went there and, of course, I went there long after they did. So, in a way, I was an only child because I was the end of the line. But on the other hand, I did have these wonderful brothers and sisters that I looked up to and adored. And I just had a very happy childhood. In the summers we went to Nahant, MA, which is one the ocean. We had a big house there and were surrounded by cousins and friends. Of course, the swimming was wonderful and sailing and tennis. It was a wonderful place to be in the summer. Mrs. Grigg: How old was the next youngest sibling? Mrs. Gardner: Two and a half years old. My brother. He’s the only one left now so we’re very close and we talk every Saturday. Mrs. Grigg: That’s nice. Mrs. Gardner: He’s in Boston. Mrs. Grigg: Do you have any stories you want to share from your school days? Elementary school, high school? Mrs. Gardner: I don’t think I better. Mrs. Grigg: Yes, you can. Mrs. Gardner: My granddaughter made a little booklet for Mother’s Day. It was empty. She sent it to me and said, “Grandma, please write down the naughty things you did when you were growing up.” So I wrote down a lot of naughty things. I’m very aware of them but I don’t think I better put them in this particular place. Mrs. Grigg: You don’t want to share even one? Mrs. Gardner: No, I don’t think I want to share them. I was naughty, no question about that. - 2 - Mrs. Grigg: Are you sure you don’t want to tell us one story? Mrs. Gardner: Well, all right. We used to have ice cream every Sunday. It would be in an old- fashioned freezer and it would be on the back porch with a dasher and everything.