Stella was born in Oak Creek, Colorado and grew up near McCoy, Colorado on a ranch until she was six years old when her father died. She had five siblings. Stella's mother moved the family to Glenwood Springs so that she could work and her children could finish high school. The children spent summers on the ranch. She talks about: homemade clothing, working during the depression, and summers on the ranch. Stella married Jay Rector and traveled with him to construction jobs. Later they worked on the Kirk ranch, and finally on her husband's father's ranch, both near Rangely. She talks about her husband's mother, who had ten children and first came to the area in 1898 at six years old. Stella describes: washing clothes, cooking for family and extra help, gardening, sewing, roundup, and needlework. The ranch was twenty miles from town, and she saw few neighbors. She liked the chores outside, but not the cooking. She had four children, and talks about her daughter's education, etc. Stella describes the town library, 4H, and women's clubs. Stella died in 1991.
Oral histories were collected by Julie Jones-Eddy in 1983-1986. Permission forms were obtained at the time of interviews. This oral history collection of forty-seven interviews with women between the ages of sixty-five and ninety-five years of age is the result of a two year project begun in 1984. It was supported by a grant from the Colorado Endowment for the Humanities. In addition to the tape collection, the grant also funded the production of a videotape program which highlights selective portions from some of the interviews. "Women of Northwestern Colorado, 1890-1940: Glimpses of Our Lives" is available at Tutt Libray and other libraries around the state.The original files are housed in Special Collections, Tutt Library, Colorado College, R1000. Audio files: WAV and MP3 were processed from original cassette tapes using Soundforge; a Marantz 221 PMD cassette player/recorder. Settings recommended by the Colorado Digitization Project, Digital Audio Best Practices. Each tape is set at 96kHZ, 24 bits. Images: Scanned from photos and slides to JPEG. Text materials: Scanned to PDF and processed to PDF/A using Adobe Acrobat Professional.
Oral histories were collected by Julie Jones-Eddy in 1983-1986. Permission forms were obtained at the time of interviews. This oral history collection of forty-seven interviews with women between the ages of sixty-five and ninety-five years of age is the result of a two year project begun in 1984. It was supported by a grant from the Colorado Endowment for the Humanities. In addition to the tape collection, the grant also funded the production of a videotape program which highlights selective portions from some of the interviews. "Women of Northwestern Colorado, 1890-1940: Glimpses of Our Lives" is available at Tutt Libray and other libraries around the state.The original files are housed in Special Collections, Tutt Library, Colorado College, R1000. Audio files: WAV and MP3 were processed from original cassette tapes using Soundforge; a Marantz 221 PMD cassette player/recorder. Settings recommended by the Colorado Digitization Project, Digital Audio Best Practices. Each tape is set at 96kHZ, 24 bits. Images: Scanned from photos and slides to JPEG. Text materials: Scanned to PDF and processed to PDF/A using Adobe Acrobat Professional.
