Elder Interview-Marlene Weirsrock
Name/Title
Elder Interview-Marlene WeirsrockEntry/Object ID
A.2008.001.493Tags
Needs Accession Sheet, Needs Location, Needs PhotoDescription
Weirsrock, Marlene Mae (Silas) Born 01/31/1940 Parents: Dewy John and Mae (Jourdan) Silas Paternal grandmother: Mary (Johnson) Silas Her family was living in Milwaukee and her grandma Silas wanted her and her sisters to come up to Oneida to take some pictures with her. The following week she had died. She can remember her grandma baking bread and pies in an old cook stove. Her grandma never went to school and her dad went as far as the 8th grade. Even though her dad didn’t have a good education he could fix’s anything and does anything. She could remember her grandma going in to the woods and picking roots and herbs for some kind of home remedy medicine. Her grandma Silas lived on Chicago Corners and Fish Creek rd. Her grandma and grandpa Silas spoke the Oneida Language all the time. They went to the Methodist Church, but her dad didn’t go to church. Her grandma was a midwife she delivered all her grandchildren. When they lived in Oneida, her dad did a lot of farming, bartending at Vandenberg tavern and cutting wood on the Stockbridge Reservation. Then in the late 40s she got a job at Allis Chalmers in Milwaukee, as a Crane Operator, he retired from there after 30 years Her mother went to Carlisle Boarding School, in the summertime she worked for some people in Pennsylvania cleaning their homes. Her parents got married in 1920, they had 9 children. They lived in Oneida, then they moved to Milwaukee, she lived there most of her life. Her mother had a stoke in 1980, and then they brought her back to Oneida. Then she moved back too in the 90s, she moved in the same house she was born in. She started going to kindergarten at Chicago Corners School. Then they moved to Milwaukee, and she to View School on the South Side of Milwaukee. They lived on 6th in Bruce St. There was a lot of Indian family in the neighborhood. She went to South Division High School for awhile. Then she went to Amber High School in Amber, Wis. Just before her dad retired he bought 80 acres of land in Stevens Point in 1956. She dropout of school and got married to Richard Elm in 1957, they have 3 children. They stayed married for about 10 years and they got divorce. She went back to school at N.W.T.C. for machinist. When she graduated from there she got a job at Briggs and Stratton. She worked there for about 10 years. Then she bought a tavern on 16th in Arrow St. in Milwaukee. She was in the tavern business for about 18 years the bar was called Arrow Inn and Marlene Bar. She got her G.E.D. and taking college courses. And she opened a gift shop at the airport in Milwaukee. Her father pass away in 1969 then her mother came to live with her. She started up a food program for the elderly. Bill Kelly was running the Action Group in Milwaukee, and he had a big conference room and that were she had her first elderly meal about 15 elderly came to eat and it gotten big every week she started the food program in 1978 and later on she started having bingo. Her advice to the youth is to have respect for their elders and get a good education.Recording Type
Audio/VisualCollection
Elder InterviewsCataloged By
Gerzetich, Courtney (Cottrell)Category
Digital Media