Ethelyn was born in Thornberg, Rio Blanco County in 1913. In her early years, Ethelyn grew up on a ranch on Wilson Creek near Meeker. There were eight children in the family. Her mother taught the children at home until they started school in Meeker. She also attended the Axial School for one year. She talks about many childhood memories of play, home, daily activities, and clothing. As a teen ager she talks about: puberty, dances, clubs, poetry, epilepsy, and travel to California. Ethelyn married at twenty-one and later divorced. Ethelyn had two children. She later married twice. She worked "between marriages" as a real estate broker and business administrator. Ethelyn talks about how she arranged for child care and about women's clubs in Meeker. Ethelyn died in 2001.
Audrey's mother came to visit her brother in Meeker at the age of fourteen in the early 1900s. She worked at the halfway house between Rifle and Meeker for several years. It was there she met her husband John Oldland, who was working as a guide for Teddy Roosevelt. They settled in Powell Park and had ten children. Audrey describes: her mother's cooking, sewing, the houses they lived in, children's play (dolls), and inside/outside work. She rode a horse five miles to school in the winter. When she was twelve years old she worked for neighbors, cooking and washing dishes to pay for her clothes and school books. She talks about a bad first menstruation experience. Audrey describes home remedies and the 1918 flu which struck her family. She attended beauty school in Grand Junction and worked for a short time in Meeker before marrying John Oldland. She describes beauty shop experiences. She had three children and talks about pregnancy and birthing experiences. The family lived on the Oldland ranch. She learned to fly and was the only woman at that time that flew in the area. Audrey died in 1993.
Wilma's father arrived in the Meeker area to homestead in 1885. Her mother arrived in a covered wagon with her sister. She remembers coming to town on a sled for the mail. She talks about her life on the ranch: play, work inside and outside, clothing, and washing clothes. And she describes a typical day's activities. She attended a winter rural school 1 1/2 miles away. She talks about dances, sleigh rides, and ice skating. Wilma liked to play baseball - she was the catcher. She talks about the first automobiles, which they had to put up on blocks in the winter. Wilma went to college at the University of Colorado at Boulder for two years, taking French, physics, and English. Then she married and had one child. Her husband died in an accident when her daughter was two years old. She lived with her mother in Meeker and worked at various jobs (housecleaning, babysitting, as a clerk, in a laundry, and in a garage). Wilma died in 1993.
This paper identifies factors that contribute to the decision by some married American women to “opt-out” of the labor market. Interestingly, many of these women have invested heavily in their education and have opportunities for career advancement. The “opting-out” phenomenon illustrates women who leave high-profile jobs to seek flexible work arrangements (e.g., part-time jobs) or to be stay-at-home mothers to balance work and family. Opting out is embedded in debates about traditional gender roles, wage penalty, and the loss of valuable human capital for the economy—highly educated mothers. Data for this study come from the 2012 American Time Use Survey (ATUS). This study uses Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) to evaluate the factors that influence the number of hours women work a week. It also uses logistic regression to assess if the effect of spouses’ work status holds after controlling for age, race, region, women’s education, work sector, occupation, household income, number of children, children under five, and time spent on childcare. Furthermore, this study evaluates the different time usage of parents and applies existent household utility maximization models to show the effect of women’s decision to opt out. This study found that while spouses’ works status is a significant contributor to women’s decision to opt out, there are other factors that are stronger predictors. This study also found that married mothers have a strong preference for housework and childcare, which leaves them with less leisure time compared to fathers. Ultimately, this study sheds light on the way a household maximizes its utility based on the division of labor agreed by the couple, which in turn influences labor supply.
Doris's mother was born on the trip west in a covered wagon train from Indiana. Doris's grandparents came to the Meeker area in 1889 to homestead on Flag Creek. Her grandmother, Minirva Wilson, told her about the trip west. Doris describes: the homestead cabin, the reservoir, home remedies, and cooking. Doris's mother, Goldie May Stephenson, went to college in Boulder at the University, against her father's wishes, and Doris relates stories of her experiences. She returned to Meeker to teach in the Coal Creek School and in Meeker. Goldie May stopped teaching when her children were born, but went back because of the Great Depression. She was also elected Rio Blanco County Superintendent of Schools, but had to resign because she was pregnant. Goldie May tended to sick people during the 1918 flu, and Doris relates her mother's experiences during that time. Doris grew up in Meeker. She didn't attend college because of lack of funds. She worked in the County Clerk's office, until she ran for County Treasurer and was elected, the first woman elected to that post. She talks about working women and working mothers.
Minnie came to Craig in 1910 with her family when she was fourteen. They lived on a ranch near Craig until they moved to their homestead south of Craig. There were nine children and Minnie was the oldest girl, responsible for many of the household and babysitting chores. She talks about: hauling water from the river, cooking on the coal stove, the cattle/sheep wars, clothing, play, school, and taking care of her sick mother. Minnie boarded in town for high school and talks about activities. She had one year of college and took the state teacher's exam. She then taught in a rural school but didn't like teaching. Minnie moved to California with a friend and went to a business college. She worked as a secretary/bookkeeper for a time and then returned to Craig in 1941. She married Lewis James and moved to the James ranch. Her husband died a year and a half later of pneumonia. She moved back into Craig and worked as a secretary/bookkeeper until retirement. Minnie died in 1989.
Alta came to homestead in the Great Divide (Moffat County) area in 1929 from Brighton, Colorado where she and her husband were farmers. They had seven children. Her husband, John Lawrence, died shortly after they arrived. They also lost a son to Mountain Fever and strep throat. Alta found that the homestead was too much to care for and moved her family to a house near the Great Divide Community Center. She and the children worked at whatever jobs they could find: cleaning the community center, working for other homesteaders, and boarded school teachers and the mailman. They raised much of their own food. The children went to school in the summer at the community school. Alta describes food handling, washing clothes, and making clothing. She also talks about home remedies. Alta died in 1984.
This study explores how upper and middle-upper-class married mothers living in the United States frame and understand the personal and professional implications of opting-out. Opting-out entails women leaving high-profile jobs for more flexible work arrangements or to stay at home. These women have heavily invested in their educations and have promotion opportunities, which makes their decision to opt out of high-powered positions perplexing. Structural functionalism and symbolic interactionism frame this research question. Bourdieu’s concept of habitus links both theories to show how women “do gender.” In-depth interviews were conducted with 12 working mothers who opted out to raise their children. The study found that for interviewees the ideal American mother is a working woman who is obsessed with her children’s success. It also confirmed the friction between stay-at-home mothers and working mothers, known as the “mommy wars.” For stay-at-home mothers the cost associated with their choice is a career penalty; for working mothers it is the feeling of guilt of being partially present in their children’s upbringing. This study argues for policies that aim for a better work-family balance and shared parenthood and which diminish the penalties, both financial and tacit, for working mothers and mothers returning to the workforce.
Oma's parents came to Blue Mountain, Colorado, near the Utah border, in 1902 to homestead. Oma was born in 1909 in Jensen, Utah (named after her grandfather.) She talks about: Ute Indians, illness, accidents, home remedies, children's play and work, hard winters, Mormon crickets, and work with cattle. They left the homestead in 1926 and moved to the White River (Meeker). She attended high school in Jensen and Meeker, and began her life of working on ranches, inside and outside. She married June Graham when she was twenty-one and he was thirty-seven. They had known each other for three years. They worked on ranches in the White River area. She speaks about: dances, living conditions, cooking, always "enjoying her work", problems with elk, and isolation from neighbors in winter. They worked for the Roosevelt family on their ranch for a time. Oma had an accident with a grubbing hoe which later resulted in the amputation of her leg. Oma tells many stories about experiences in rural Colorado. Oma died in 1988.
Ina was born in Hurley, New Mexico in 1916 into a family of twelve children. When she was two they moved to Meeker, Colorado and her father died when she was six. They then moved to Rifle where she attended school. The family was very poor after father's death and Ina talks about: little medical care, home remedies, puberty, deaths of children from TB, spinal meningitis, years of deprivation and sadness, and describes the death of her closest sister from spinal meningitis. Ina married John H. Eddy when she graduated from high school. After having three children, one premature, she found she was RH negative. The family moved around Colorado for her husband's jobs until settling in Rangely where he worked in the Texaco oil field. She describes the early years of the town of Rangely during the oil boom: streets, and schools. They lived in a Texaco company house near the field. Ina worked in the school cafeteria for a number of years. In later years, she and her husband lived in several places in the West for his employment with the government. She missed watching her grandchildren growing up. Ina died in 1988.
Lena came to Hayden with her husband, a teacher, who had been invited by Ferry Carpenter to come to teach there in 1921. Their first child was born at the Hayden Inn. They filed on a six hundred and forty acre homestead, which they maintained for six years. They sold it to an area sheep rancher for enough money to buy the Empire Courier newspaper in Craig, which they continued to run for two generations. In the early years Lena answered the telephone, read proof, and collected social news. They also maintained the area weather station for eight years. Readings were taken every three hours and reported to the regional weather office. Lena talks about: women's clubs, use of sleds in the 1920's and 30's, the sheep trail that went by their house in Craig, newspaper subscriptions paid with local produce, political activities, and home remedies. Lena had five children. Lena died in 1991.
Norine's grandparents came to Meeker in the early 1900's and lived on a ranch on the White River. Her mother, a teacher, came from Denver in 1912. She tells many stories of her mother teaching in rural schools and as Rio Blanco County Superintendent, and of her own experiences in rural schools. She tells of life on the ranch: cooking, clothing, animals, food preservation, transportation, heating, washing, and play. She talks about: access to medical help, home remedies, the early death of her father, mother's midwifery, pregnancy, childbirth, puberty, and divorce. Norine attended college and became a teacher in Meeker. Her fiancé was killed in WWII, so she earned a Master's degree in social work and worked in Denver until retirement. She now spends her summers in the Meeker area.
Bernice and Beryl are twin sisters who were born in Oregon in 1903. They came to Meeker in 1903 with their father, a carpenter, and their mother, a teacher. The women wanted to be interviewed together. Bernice tells of their mother's death from surgery on the dining room table - they were six years old. She describes life in Meeker in the early 1900's: clothes washing, schools, games, women's activities, a "poor farm", and adult activities. She also describes her career as a bank cashier. Then Beryl speaks and talks about the early death of their mother and their relationship to the woman their father married, in part, to care for them. Beryl describes the organization of Meeker's first library by a group of women in 1925. Both sisters were then interviewed and they spoke about: school, play, baking, housekeeping, view of marriage, and coping without their mother. Beryl talks about her marriage to Father Richards and her role as an Episcopal priest's wife. Bernice talks about her married life with William "Bill" Sides, and her career in the bank. Neither sister had children. Beryl died in 1994, and Bernice died in 1990.
Leona's father came to the Rangely area in 1885 from Texas, and her mother arrived in 1899 after her marriage. They purchased a ranch on the White River. There were twelve to fourteen families in the area when Leona and her sister (Ruby Rector Kirby) and brother were children. She talks about: her mother's childbirths, community dances at their house, winter activities, musical instruments, play, school, work, and clothing. Leona discusses: cooking, baking bread, eating their own cows, hogs, chickens, turkeys, staples, washing clothes, home remedies (Ute Indians), and diseases. She talks about relations with the Ute Indians who came by their house during hunting season. She and her siblings attended high school in Grand Junction. Leona attended Western State College for three years and then married Clarence Hinricks. Her husband worked in oil fields in Wyoming and near Craig (Iles Grove). She taught in rural schools for seven years. They had one son. She talks about teaching one winter at the Moropas one room school. She later worked as an office manager. She worked outside the home for thirty years. Leona died in 1995.
Mary's family came to the Craig area over the mountains in a covered wagon to homestead on Black Mountain in 1911 when she was eight. She had three brothers and the family lived in a two bedroom log cabin. She talks about: living conditions, winter cold and snow, cooking, washing clothes, making clothing, yearly trips to town, rural schools, play, and home remedies. Mary attended high school in Craig and describes school activities. She taught in rural schools for five years after graduating from high school in 1921. Mary lived at the school or with nearby families. She talks about: the schools, students, snowstorms, and homesteading. Mary married, Clarence Haughey, at twenty-two, and they lived in various places in Moffat County. They had four children. Mary talks about her family's interest in politics (women were allowed to vote in 1920). She was the Deputy County Clerk when her husband died at age fifty-one. She later won election to be the County Clerk and served sixteen years. Mary was a quilter. Mary died in 2003.
Janet was born in Kersey, Colorado on February 11, 1911. She came to the Craig area in 1918 with her parents, as an only child. They lived on her grandfather's ranch on Little Bear, for three years. They moved to various rural schools where her mother taught and her father helped at the school and worked at odd jobs. Then they filed on a homestead in 1925 and Janet's mother continued to teach in rural schools. Janet talks about: women being able to support themselves, homestead work, home schooling, clothing, puberty, play as a "tomboy", and play with sleds and skis. Janet describes: the homestead cabin, cooking, food preservation, sleeping with quilts and flat irons, lack of illness, health concerns in her rural community, death of neighbor from self abortion, and care of the deceased. She talks about: Craig high school activities, college, and her own teaching in rural schools. She married Ernest at twenty-six and had two children in her mid-thirties. Their home was in Hamilton on a ranch, where she served as census enumerator and Moffat County Superintendent of Schools.
Iris's parents came from Georgia to Spring Gulch, two miles north of Williams Fork in Moffat County in 1914 with seven children. Iris was born in 1905. The nearest neighbor was 5 miles away. Her father had a college education and taught at the Wattle Creek school and was also a preacher. Her mother found life much harder than in Georgia. Iris describes life on the homestead: garden, cows, wheat, deer, hogs, clothing, play, puberty, and the one room school. For high school the children stayed in a rented house in Craig while their parents stayed on the ranch. Iris was interested in science and wanted to be a nurse. She went to Denver General Hospital for nurses training after high school. She describes some early nursing techniques and home remedies. Iris came home to marry Wayne Lyons and they lived on the Lyon's family homestead in Breeze Basin in 1930 and had four children. She worked as a nurse when she was needed. At one point they would have closed the Hayden hospital if not for her. Later she worked at the Craig hospital. Iris died in 1999.
Hilda's parents homesteaded in Dry Lake, fifteen miles south of Maybell in 1916. They lived in a rented house, a tent, and a dugout before they built the homestead. They also homesteaded a second time on Wolf Mountain, further south on Price Creek. Hilda talks about: grubbing sage brush, building the school, homeschooling, description of the dugout, and hauling water. She describes the 1918 flu, death, and burial. She talks about the outside work she did as the oldest girl: building fence, herding cows, breaking horses, plowing fields, mowing and pitching hay. She also describes: types of clothing, transportation, play, dances in Maybell, doctors, pregnancy, births, medical issues, and home remedies. She worked as a maternity helper from age fifteen to eighteen, and then worked at St. Mary's Hospital in Grand Junction until she married at age twenty. They went to California to work on a fruit farm until the depression and then returned to Price Creek to buy a ranch. She talks about difficult years with lack of water, loss of animals, and Home Demonstration clubs. They had one child. Hilda enjoyed painting with oils. Hilda died in 2001.
Annual report of the Colorado College Women's Concern's Committee for 2009-2010.
