Engineer Memoirs
A:
One's a handful, and one's a challenge because he doesn't have siblings to interact with,
and you have to make that environment for him, either with friends or with your
relationship with him or something. I know about being an only child.
But I think there are probably more failures in the endeavor of child raising than any
other endeavor in the whole world. To be successful, I think, is a full-time job.
You know, there were other things that took my time. I didn't sit home and simply take
care of children. I feel that the mothers or wives must have interests of their
own--outside interests--to make an interesting person. I played golf; I belonged to a
neighborhood book club; I did volunteer work with Scouts and school because of the
children.
You can't just go into hibernation and be a mother and a housewife. I don't feel that
that helps anybody. I also had another responsibility. For about two years my mother-
in-law was very ill. She broke her hip and made a fine recovery for the first year, and
then it was downhill after that.
Every day for two years, I drove from here to either Distaff Hall or Walter Reed to
oversee her household and to see her. So there were many claims on my time. But I
always tried to have outside interests. I have many outside interests--sometimes too
many, my husband would say.
I often think, what would my life have been had I married somebody else, or had I been
in a different environment. I really don't think I would have grown the way I have or
enjoyed life so much. A lot of that is due to Ernie. He set many challenges for me, you
know, that he wanted me to do--to learn to do.
Learning to use the computer is just one example of it. But all through our lives, there
have been challenges to meet, and each new assignment was a new learning experience.
Q:
Are you inclined to be as methodical as he is?
A:
Oh, no!
Q:
I mean, he obviously plans way, way ahead.
A:
We complement each other on these things.
Q:
What about particular challenges of raising a family in the late 1960s and 1970?
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