Engineer Memoirs
A:
So am I.
Q:
And his father was very, very closely observant of his progress.
A:
That's right. And I think Ernie had the same attitude towards his children. Ernie was
younger. Ernie's father was 44 years old when Ernie was born, and that in itself makes
an entirely different relationship, you know. By the time Ernie was 10, 12 years old, his
father was well in his 50s. That's a wholly different relationship. Ernie was a generation
younger when his children were born.
But he was always busy. He had very time-consuming jobs. I went to all the baseball
games and football games and diving meets. I don't think he ever went. I think the
children would have liked him to go, but they accepted this relationship. So long as
somebody was there, we were supporting them in what they did.
But it was a full-time job for me. I don't see how women can work and raise a family
and be an Army wife. Something has to give. I was fully employed, I can assure you,
through all these years.
Q:
You only lived on the military post that one time?
A:
Other than Leavenworth and Carlisle. And then Fort Sheridan, but that's much later in
life.
Q:
Is there an informal chain of command among Army families? Do wives of senior
officers--
A:
Oh, I think there's a certain respect for the wife of a more senior officer. But I think
that would be true, or should be true, in the civilian world as well.
Whenever my husband had a troop command, I was elsewhere. I wasn't part of that.
I think in the other branches of the service, probably the wives are more conscious of
this chain-of-command concept. I am not because it was just never in my experience.
In various jobs that Ernie has had, of course, he always had a boss. Even when he was
a three-star general, he had a boss. I think there were times, probably, when the wife
asked me to do something--but never in a commanding way. I was always very happy
to be a part of it. No, I don't really think about that.
There's no rank among wives, they say, you know.
Q:
They say that, do they?
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