LEVINE:

This is Janet Levine for the National Park Service. I'm here today with Mr. Eric Arthur Price, at his home, in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts. It's December 6, 1994. Mr. Price is what- one week away from being-?

PRICE:

Eighty-six.

LEVINE:

Eighty-six. Right. And Mr. Price came from England in 1915, when he was six years of age. Well, I'm very happy to be here and I'm looking forward- you have all these records. It's just wonderful, the research you've done, on your immigration. Let's start at the beginning, if you would say your birth date.

PRICE:

My birth date is December fifteenth, nineteen hundred and eight. EI-579 PRICE 2

LEVINE:

And where in England were you born?

PRICE:

I was born in the county of Kent- a small town called Gillingham, which is about thirty miles south of London.

LEVINE:

And Gillingham is with a G, right?

PRICE:

Yes, with a G.

LEVINE:

Okay.

PRICE:

G-I- double L- I-N-G-H-A-M.

LEVINE:

Now, did you live in Gillingham up until the time you left England?

PRICE:

Well, my early life was being in Gillingham for a spell. My dad, being in the British Navy, and traveling as he did in those days, and so I was taken by my mother's folks, who lived in a distance away from Gillingham in Berkshire County by the name of Farringdon. F-A-R-R-I-N-G-D-O-N. And I lived there for- with my grandparents, for a period of time until I was collected with my brother, who was in Gillingham, to come to the United States.

LEVINE:

Now do you remember Farringdon at all?

PRICE:

Oh, yes! I can remember the baker who used to come over and drive through on the cobblestones and call out his wheres and you could smell the bread. And I can remember, also, at that early age of five and six years of age, where I had a hoop, that was, my grandfather insisted, if I wanted to use the hoop over the cobblestone streets,and which I enjoyed so much, I would have to hang it up every night on- we had a couple of nails in the side of a wall where he made me hang my hoop every night. And I can remember going to the grade schools, in that particular time, which we would call, in the United States, kindergarten. And then I graduated from that, into the first grades. And then that was the story in terms of my early life and remembrance in England. EI-579 PRICE 3

LEVINE:

Now this was your mother's folks?

PRICE:

This was my mother's folks, which--.

LEVINE:

Their last name is?

PRICE:

Her last name was Sheppard. S-H-E-P-P-A-R-D. And her first name was Nellie. And then, of course--.

LEVINE:

Well before we leave that part, tell me what your grandmother- what Nellie was like?

PRICE:

Say that again.

LEVINE:

Can you tell me what your grandmother was like?

PRICE:

Oh, my grandmother and grandfather were typical grandparents. They just adored having me visit with them. And they were strict as all English parents are and, so I had toe the line, and give them all the credit in the world in my early stages that they were so much of disciplinarians, which I'm sure bore fruit for me in present day of activity and you might say values.

LEVINE:

What would they be strict about?

PRICE:

Well they were strict about-- going to church, going to my Sunday school, having my shoes and my- and all of my clothes put away all the time. Not to leave anything in my rooms untidily, and that was an English tradition. They believed in it, because I can remember Grandpa used to say, when you see your dad, he wants to see you with good manners and all like that, because he's very strict about this. I can remember my grandfather saying these things to me. I didn't have time much in those early days to see my dad, because he was away in the Navy so much. Actually, I didn't even remember what my dad looked like in those days. I can't remember my dad in those days. And that's why I anticipated, when we did plan to leave England, what did my dad look like? I'd heard about him being so strict, and I looked upon as being, "Oh, am I going fear him or how am I going to approach him?" And here I am, six years of age, and thinking about this, you know, and it dwelled on me as a purpose, you know what I mean? And it was just great to listen to some of things, but the little orders and disciplinary things that I went under, I just accepted them as the thing to do! It wasn't anything that I felt—that I felt hard done by, or feeling that I was being molested or ill- treated. I just accepted it as a way of my dad wanted me to be brought up and my grandfather and grandmother certainly carried it on, and I have some great memories about them.

LEVINE:

Do you remember anything that you ever did with your grandfather? Any place you went to? EI-579 PRICE 4

PRICE:

Yes! I do remember that, because Grandpa had a large lot of land and every year the circus would come around they would—it was a small circus, not like Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey like we have today, and have had for so many years—but I can remember it was a small circus. And they had always an annual rental from my dad's pasture—my granddad's pasture. And I can remember, it was a big day for me, because I got in free, because my dad was allowing me to get in, and I enjoyed all the animals and the acts and all that. I can remember and I can remember riding on the horses and being put up on a saddle and riding around, you know. And I—that was a big time for me on---on the circus grounds. And it was only there, it seemed, for a day or so, and then it went away, but I missed them when they went.

LEVINE:

What was your grandfather doing for work?

PRICE:

He was a carpenter. He was a carpenter all of his life and he did some work in working for the British government and being a carpenter. It happened that he was assigned to a big project, by the British Navy, in Gibraltar, which was one of their ports of like that. And actually, when that oddly enough is where my dad, coming into port, met my mother, in Gibraltar and this is where they romanced, you might say. And I have old stories about that—about it. He had written a—he had written sort of a biography of himself of his different escapades and worldly travels in his late years. And I can--.

LEVINE:

How do you remember about that? About them meeting?

PRICE:

Well, I don't remember that of course, because I wasn't born, but it's what I have learned from my experience and research. And I happen to have had an acquaintance with my own mother's brother who died of—at eighty-nine years of age, and in this country, and in Pittsburgh, Massachusetts, just thirty miles north of here, because they, he and his wife, who was—he and his wife was my own mother's kin, I understand. And they preceded us coming here by a year or two, getting set up in the United States. And I heard all these things from my uncle in his final years, and that was after my dad passed away. With that in mind, I have a good—quite a record of what happened there and I understand that their first born was going to be Hugh T. Price—Hugh Terry Price, the same which would be my older brother Hugh. And the second one, his name was Eric. And actually, I asked my dad, "How did you choose the name of Eric for me?" And he told me the story. He said, "When mother and I were on our honeymoon, in Gibraltar, we met a young Swedish boy, who we just took to and we enjoyed his company so much. He was about four or five years of age and he was a darling, so we decided we liked the boy so much that our second born son was going to be named Eric." And so that's how I won the name of Eric. And oddly enough, when I think of the name of Eric, when I came to this country, it was hardly known—the name of Eric. Kids would say to me in the school yard, "Where'd you get that name? I've never heard of it!" And I said, "Well, I don't know. The name was given to me." But isn't it odd, that here we are 1994 and it's quite a prominent name! Eric is! I mean, you can notice so many people named Eric, but in those days, and I must tell you this, when I came and when we came to America, I'll never forget, I was out in the school yard, and EI-579 PRICE 5 I was way ahead of my time at six years and they put me right into the third grade, because I was that far advanced! And the boys in the yard, they couldn't get over my accent being British, because I spoke the King's English, there's no question about it, because that's the way my folks taught me. And I'll never forget, I went home one day and I said to my dad, "One of the boys in the school yard today said to me he didn't like my accent. And he said to me, 'you know, you get my goat.'" And I looked around for the goat. I knew nothing about it, so my dad explained it to me. Another expression, I'll never forget listening to this youngster, who said to me, as though he didn't care, he said, "I should worry." I said, "Yes you should, but you don't!" I can remember those little expressions way back where at six years of age. I told—we used to tell my dad about it. And it was so funny. But, we had nothing when we came to this country.

LEVINE:

Let's finish talking about England and then we'll move to all that, okay?

PRICE:

Alright, very good.

LEVINE:

Okay, so back in Farringdon--.

PRICE:

Yes.

LEVINE:

With your grandparents. How about your grandmother, what was she like?

PRICE:

Well she was—I don't remember much about her except I can see her face and she was a---sort of a rotund lady and very English. And I can remember her saying to me, "Come on Eric, let's hurry up. We've got to get to church," and things like that. And it was Episcopal service, you know, like English are, and like that. And—but she was just a nice grandmother, that's all. I just—but my grandfather really was the key spokesman in being in the disciplinary faction, see what I mean? And I don't remember doing anything wrong! But, you know, those things don't—they don't collect in your memory, but I know that—I was under strict orders to obey the rules of the house.

LEVINE:

Well when you say your grandmother was "strictly English", what is "strictly English"? What was it that made her?

PRICE:

When I say that, I guess, she was a typical grandmother, as far as a housewife to her hubby and all like that. And he was probably retired. I'm guessing he was retired in those days. And I only learned about his occupation later on, in years. Oh many years after—from my uncle Steve, because I learned an awful lot from them— and from him about my dad and mother's early death. -Cause I knew nothing, you know, I had nothing. Nobody told me. I often wonder about what prompted Dad to come over here and all like that and so many things that are mysterious in a child's mind. And for that matter I have a cousin in Herne Bay, which is just north---northeast on the Channel—the Upper North Sea Channel. And I'm writing to her all the time and EI-579 PRICE 6 I'm trying to wean out of her what her mother told her about our particular history and all that. I'm just curious about it.

LEVINE:

Yeah, that's wonderful. Tell whatever else you remember about Farringdon.

PRICE:

Well, more or less, I do remember that I used to go to a nearby town, with my grandfather on a Friday night to get fish and chips. And the fish and chips in England was a big week—Friday feed. And I can remember, we used to go and they would take just plain newspaper and they would cook the fish and the fries and all like that, and wrap it in newspaper and this is the way it was delivered—that we brought it home. And I can remember many times, oh it was a regular thing that we went to a place called Cogswell, I think it was. C-O-G-S-W-E-L-L. Cogswell, which was just the town next door to—to Farringdon, right. And that was it and those are the things I think that mostly I remember. I do remember going to school and playing in the yard and all like that, but very hazily.

LEVINE:

Do you remember anything else?

PRICE:

And then I just remember being picked up, collected as it were and by Mother and Brother. And transportation was arranged that we went from there to Liverpool.

LEVINE:

Do you remember any stories that you were told as a child? Do you recall any of that?

PRICE:

No, not other than what I've already mentioned.

LEVINE:

No but I meant like real stories, you know, like fairytales?

PRICE:

No, I just don't remember anything that's pertinent like that.

LEVINE:

How about religion? Do you remember any religious observances in England?

PRICE:

Well no, it's just that the children of that age probably don't pay any attention. They're thinking about going out and playing or getting their hoop out and rolling it and all like that. And all I know is that we—we paid our dues in going to church and Sunday school, which was a must for us.

LEVINE:

What was the denomination?

PRICE:

Episcopal. Yeah, that, you know, Episcopal, and that's the Church of England, you know. So, that was it! And I've even got a copy of my dad's marriage certificate here and I've got a copy of my baptismal certificate. You know, I've got all of EI-579 PRICE 7 those things in my records. I guess how many records I have and you can imagine what I've done with this here. And I have—and that was my mother and my brother Huey and myself. And he was fourteen months older than I.

LEVINE:

Did you see much of Huey?

PRICE:

No, I don't. I don't remember hardly anything. All I know is that I had a brother, but I never saw him up to that particular time. And who cared? Who cared at that age? You know what I mean?

LEVINE:

Yeah.

PRICE:

And so, I hardly knew my mother either, because she was in Gillingham with my older brother. And so, I don't remember much about my early childhood, you know, up to about four and five, I don't remember that at all. That was sort of a blank [?]. When I was to my brother, you know, the one fourteen months older than me, well we chummed right together and that.

LEVINE:

Do you remember the incident when you actually met?

PRICE:

No, I don't. All I know is that we--- It's hazy--that I was just collected and picked up and foreworn, no doubt by my grandparents that, "you're going to go to the United States on a big ship and all like that. And your Daddy is going to be meeting you there and your new life is going to be in the United States."

LEVINE:

Do you remember saying goodbye to your grandparents?

PRICE:

Vaguely, vaguely. I can just say that it must have been a sorrowful parting and all like that. But I don't remember actually the parting and I really don't remember much about the traveling from Farringdon to Liverpool. I do remember arriving in Liverpool and Mother saying to me, "There is our ship!" And I can remember being in the harbor and getting on it and well we'll be getting on it shortly or something. I can--- we didn't stay overnight in Liverpool. We went right on ship.

LEVINE:

And the name of the ship?

PRICE:

The ship was a White Star Liner Adriatic. And that is in my write up here. White Star Line Adriatic, yes, and we left Liverpool, England.

LEVINE:

And what do you remember about the Adriatic?

PRICE:

The Adriatic, I remember we were right down in the bottom, because it was, you know, it was the lowest possible fair and we were booked as far as steerage. See what I mean. And my mother, or my dad, one of them told since, that I can remember, that it cost my dad ninety-three dollars for the three of us to come over on steerage in those days. And of course, being steerage, it was a place where we had EI-579 PRICE 8 freedom of the decks and all like that. At the time it was 1915, and the war was still on. And I sort of compare our antics, my brother and I, at ages seven and six, to what the present day might do compare in the days when Hop Along Cassidy was around and their guns and their cowboys and all like that and we enjoyed just the idea of keeping our eyes open for German U-boats. We thought it was fun, not realizing, as I have said in my write up here, that---the severity of the war being on. We didn't realize the—not being adults, how serious it was. And I can remember, we used to play with a string or a rope and we'd think we were fishing and things like that. And we'd to put the strings over the side of the ship, you know. And I can remember we were just boys, having a lot of fun and I'd never seen a rocking chair, 'cause they didn't have any in England, and they had one on board and of course we both had to try it. And we were rocking back and forth and back and forth and all like that. Of course, me, I had to show my brother up, so I went backwards and went too far and got my bump on the head. And oh! It was about as big as a quarter. Mother said, "Won't you be careful!" Oh, "I can't watch you all the time!" I can remember her saying it, you know. But we were just boys and raising a dickens and getting away with a lot of things she never knew about or anything like that, and antics and fun on the onboard ship. We had to. We had a lot of energy, you know, and like that. And then we—I can remember not much more than that on the way over.

LEVINE:

What was it like being around your mother for the first time in a long time?

PRICE:

Well that, it's hard really—it's hard for me to recognize that I must have had some memory of her, because I just accepted her as well she's been away for away and that was it, you know. I probably remembered her at that time from an earlier age, but being separated from her, I just accepted her and my brother and like that and we continued life. There was more important things, I mean think about it in those days. [recording error] And I'm telling you, I can remember when we arrived here it was--.

LEVINE:

Can you remember the arrival of the ship coming into New York Harbor?

PRICE:

Yes, I can remember coming by the Statue of Liberty and through the narrows and because they pointed it all to us, because now it's span by the horizontal bridge, you know, by the narrows. But in those days, it was all open and we saw the— as all people from Europe and everywhere, saw the Statue of Liberty and like that. And I didn't know Ellis Island was just in back of it. I know that we saw a lot of ships in going through the narrows and we saw the skyscrapers, you know, Lower Manhattan which was not as much as it today with the big Trade Centers there and the like, but the World War Building [?] was up and the Chrysler Building was up. I guess it's changed hands since. But--And then I remember we were—I don't remember too much about going through the channels of entering the country through immigration. I do know that we boys were hung onto by mother to keep us together and she had no doubt the directions to follow. We had no one to meet us there and so we went the way of all the passengers there that were coming into the country and they examined me and we—I was detained, because of this lump on my head. I felt sorry, because I was put into one of these rooms. [It] was four bunks high and fed and I had to stay there, that's all, EI-579 PRICE 9 because they had to watch this bump on my head. So, it was five days that I stayed there.

LEVINE:

Were you actually in the hospital?

PRICE:

Well, it was--I think they put me in for a checking up and all like that and then they put me back into the rooms where there were these tears of---you've seen these at Ellis Island where I think there's three isles, for isle with a wash space and all like that. And I can remember that vaguely. And I was so sorry, because I was wondering all the time, "I wonder where my mother and brother are staying, waiting for me?" Finally, they discharged me. They found out it was just a normal bump and off I went. And you can imagine all the communication that had to be done and checking in my dad up in Pittsburgh, Mass. I can imagine that, as far as being detained and all like that. But, all because of this bump on the head I was detained for five days—my folks were. Well anyway, we were discharged from Ellis Island finally.

LEVINE:

Do you remember thinking--?

PRICE:

But when I remember so clearly, that when I went back five years ago to visit, I was—it all came back to me as a kid. It all came back to me, because I remember that war space and I remember the bunks! I remember sitting on the little chair there, wondering, as a boy of six years of age, wondering where my mother was and how she was, because nobody told me. That was in my mind. Where was my mother and my brother? I was in a new land! Well I was satisfied with the fact that I was detained for a reason, but I worried about my mother and where she was! So, finally it all came together, and it seems so distant today in my thoughts of it.

LEVINE:

Did your mother or brother ever tell you what it was like for them during those five days?

PRICE:

No, they never did and I never asked my brother or I didn't bother, that's all. I assume they were taken care of as hospitable as they could be in a case like this, 'cause there must have been a lot of cases like that where one of the group was detained. And then I remember we trained up—we took a train up. I guess we probably went over to the Manhattan and went to either Grand Central or Penn Station, one or the other. And we journeyed then, the three of us, 'cause it all was arranged, no doubt by my dad, and we got off in Worcester, because the Union Station was then run and we got in Worcester and my dad met us there with a horse and team.

LEVINE:

What was it like meeting your dad?

PRICE:

Well I'm gonna tell you. That's interesting. I haven't seen my dad. I didn't know what he looked like. And the impression I got, after he greeted us at Union Station, with a big—smooch for mother and a hug and all like that. And I don't remember him fawning much over we two boys. And he no doubt said, "Good to see you boys" and all like that. And as he walked off with my mother, all I could think about EI-579 PRICE 10 was looking at the size of his hand. It was embedded in my mind, I wonder if he—if he would hit me if I did something wrong. It was embedded in my mind of what a disciplinarian he was, see what I mean. And all I could think about was looking at the size of his hand. Now isn't that odd? I think that's terribly odd and that's been with me all my life and I've told other people that and I told my dad that. Oh my goodness, because he was going back and forth, and I was looking at the size of his—he had his left arm over Mother—around Mother, of course. And we came up in the back, because that was the way it was taught, that we boys, that whoever we went walking with, with any adults, we always followed them. We never got ahead of 'em! And so, we journeyed from there. We got in the horse and team and Pittsburgh was probably twenty-five miles north. He worked on a farm. He worked on a farm for eight dollars a week and in a year he saved enough money—ninety-three dollars to get us out. And that was a rough—he worked—oh that was a rough one, it was an apple farm called Raymond's on Pearl Hill, in Pittsburgh. Well anyway, we stayed there, at the farm for a few weeks and finally—and they were awfully good. And finally we got a basement apartment in, I believe on Cedar Street, yes, in Pittsburgh. And that was a thrill. It seems as though, my dad being English joined a lodge called the Son's of St. George, which was a complete English lodge and through that, as all the clans do, they help one another. [Recording error] [Then my father got a job at] Manning Maxwell Moore, in Pittsburg, as a—as just a utility man, that's all—different to the farm to the farm he worked on, but a step ahead. And so that got him off the farm and on to the—and onto an inside job at Manning Maxwell Moore, which since is the big General Electric Company in Pittsburgh. They sold out, converted instead. And with this in mind, we had our own home—a basement apartment on Cedar Street. And I remember the first—I remember the first Christmas that we were here. The snow came down and Dad went out and he picked up a secondhand girl's sled. Girl's sled in those days, of course they're all different today. And I'll never forget it. And oh we—all the other boys had great Flexible Flyers and different things like that and of course brother and I, we envied what they had, because we had nothing. There was no welfare. There was no hand outs. There was no nothing at all! You either went hungry or you didn't. That's the way it was in those days. There was no welfare and we worked. My brother and I, even as youngsters, we'd go out and pick up wood for burning in the stove and all like that. It was a part of our life. We had a unified family there. And mother would be doing housework around for some lodges or something like that, you know, still we took care of it. Well, three years later, the tremendous influenza epidemic hit us—1918, and I-- we lost our mother.

LEVINE:

Oh!

PRICE:

Yeah, it was two days after the Armistice was signed. It was November the thirteenth. The Armistice was signed on November the eleventh and two days later we were all stricken with the influenza. My dad did not get it, but Brother and I got it and Mother got it, and I'll never forget when three years later we had moved to a place on North Street, in with another English family that had been kind to my dad and mother. And I can remember that, in those days, the—it was a terrible thing. We were there in bed, brother Huey and I, and Dad came home and I'll never forget him saying that, "Well EI-579 PRICE 11 boys, I've got some bad news for you. You've lost your mother." I'll never forget it. We laid there, in our bed, with influenza. We didn't have it badly, but we got over it. But, we just looked at each other. And since then, in those three years that we had been here, Mother gave birth to another son, Gordon. He was two years of age when Mother died. And my uncle Will and his wife upon Pearl Hill, in Pittsburgh, they took Gordon for a spell and brother Huey and I were respectively—let me see—would be nine and ten years of age. So, we kept house [at] nine and ten years of age with Dad. Dad worked and Dad taught us everything. He taught us how to sew, how to cook, how to be independent and honest to God I'll never forget him. He was strict but by God he knew his stuff. He could make roses out of dough and everything like that. He was so clever about everything with his naval experience and all like that. And he, four years later after Mother died, he met a lovely lady. Her name was Blanche. She had never been married, but she was an English lady who was a maid at some of the Crocker's and the Burbank's and all like that, in Pittsburgh. And they happened to meet each other after one of these St. George's or Marriot, and it was a name—that's another English affiliate, women's association, and they met each other through it and I think a year later they got married. Why a woman, since she was a saint, wanted to come into a home with three boys—can you imagine that? We were probably fourteen, fifteen and well let's see—and seven. Three boys. Well he lectured us. He said, "I want you to treat your new mother as Mother." He lectured us, "I want you to call her mother just like you did with your own mother." And he lectured us and we did as we were told. Through my brother---through my new step-mother, and she was a lovely person, lovely person. She gave my father four more sons. We had seven sons in our family and no girls. We lost one boy. His name was Everett and I guess he lived to be three or four years of age. I forget what he died of, but any way that was it. So, that left six of us. My brother Gordon—my kid brother Gordon is a retired Episcopal priest and has had a tremendous career. He writes to me all the time. He's in Dayton, Ohio. I lost my older brother ten years ago to cancer. He was very successful. He was plant manager of a big company. Well we all made out pretty good from nothing. I've done alright myself. And my other four brothers, one of whom was lost; they're all graduates from the General Electric Company with good jobs, retired today. And comfortably—financially comfortable with their—with what they have earned, with their benefits and all like that. So, we wanted for nothing. Why? Because we have given of ourselves, the doctrine our dad taught us: to be self-sufficient, independent and a good Christian doctrine. And this is it. I think often about how hard Dad was. What a disciplinary person he was. But I thank him today, because he sowed the seeds in all of our minds, which spelled success [that] we boys have had today. Every one of us are comfortable. Every one of us, we're not rich and we haven't been stars in athletics or movie stars or rose to the very top of everything, but we are very comfortable in that middle plateau and we're very respectful and loving, I'm telling you. And now my two boys-- I have two sons, David and Terry, and they're both vice presidents. One's in Boca Rotan, Florida who I visit and he's got a beautiful wife and my older son, David, who was a twin, whom we lost—at five weeks, I guess it was. And we—I'm very proud that we can say that we had our rough and rough times and all like that, but they were good times. Look at me today. Look at me. Look at what I've got to be thankful for. I just feel as though I love my work, what little I do in my staff administration wok reporting for my superior boss. EI-579 PRICE 12 And I like people and I enjoy all the girls and the guys at work and I think I know the feeling is mutual. It's the same with my association with my church or my lodges or my associations. There are people in this building; I feel they're always in touch with me about different things. It's a great feeling of friendship and like that and being wanted. It's nothing for anybody to knock at my door and say, "How you doing Eric?" And that's what I like about this place, because I got all ages, in the condominium set-up—all ages. And we have lovely people in this building, you know, so that there's no problem whatsoever. They all know me, where I live, so if anything happens to me I've got a lot of people surrounding me. It's great. And I have—I lost my wife twenty-four years ago and—lovely lady, great. She left me the heritage of two fine sons.

LEVINE:

What was your wife's name?

PRICE:

My wife's name was Marian.

LEVINE:

And her maiden name?

PRICE:

Her maiden name was Bloom. She was of Swedish heritage. And there are a lot of Swedish people in these areas. And, yes we--.

LEVINE:

How did you meet her?

PRICE:

(Laughs) It was funny. It was during Depression and that was in 1929. I wasn't able—I might preface what I'm going to say by telling you that my brother Huey went through junior [year] of high school and then he had to come out, because of need of working for the family. I got started in my junior year and I had to drop out, because of need to work in my family. We both went into Manning Maxwell Moore, this machine tool shop where my dad had risen from sweeping the floors to a superintendant. And he got us in there and we learned our apprenticeship—both of us. At the end of my apprenticeship, which was four years from sixteen to twenty-one, I guess.

LEVINE:

Would this be an apprenticeship---?

PRICE:

An apprenticeship as far as a machinist is concerned, through an ICS course. And so that was that and then the Depression hit and everyone was out of work, so Dad said, "I'm sorry son." He says, "I'm not going to be able to support you. You'll have to share for yourself." Things were bad. There was no handouts at all. So, I went to Boston and I got a job in the Boston YMCA on Huntington Ave. Oh, I cleaned toilets, I did everything too. And here I'd just finished my apprenticeship, but I was—. If I didn't work and do whatever work there was to earn a few dimes and all like that, I went hungry, so. And I had to run up a bill, I can remember they were charging three dollars and seventy-five cents a week for—and upper bunk of four in a room like that in the YMCA was three seventy five each. So, I had to run up a bill for three or four weeks,'cause I had no money. And, so I did what I could. I know what it is to have a part of jam on a loaf of bread and like I know that. Finally, I found some work on the Fenway. You don't—you're probably not acquainted with Boston, are you? EI-579 PRICE 13

LEVINE:

Absolutely.

PRICE:

Oh, are you? Well Fenway—in the Fenway it was a straight on the Audubon road which circles the Fenway. And, in those days, there were—there was a—. It's where all the Red Sox play and stayed in those days. They didn't stay in hotels like they do today. And they played—they stayed, especially the hometown boys. They had their own apartments in the Audubon, which is around the Fenway. And there was need of a lot of papering and painting all like that to be done in these apartments, so I got to know some of the ball players. And I was twenty-one, twenty- two, something like twenty-one, and so I got to know some of the ball players. And I remember there was a fellow of the name of Charlie Berry. He was a catcher. He took a fancy for me. He was probably a few years older than me at the time. And he took me down to one of the games when the Yankees were in town and I was able to get---I gave it to my brother but I've got copies of it. I have a list of all of the Yankees of those days and all of their autographs and all of the Red Sox in those days. That was 1931, I believe, yes. And I got Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig and Tony Lazzeri and Bill Dickey. I can name them all off, all the time. Well I've been offered a lot of money for those, but no I'll keep them in my family. And it was only a few months ago that I gave them to my son David, my older son. I've got copies of it, I ran through a machine. But anyway, I left there, and my brother Huey, he wasn't affected too much by the Depression and he left Manning Maxwell Moore and was hired in a—for a machine tools shop who made papermaking machines, in Worcester. And he wrote to me. I was single, he had just gotten married and he wrote to me and he says, "Eric," he says, "Let me give you some advice. I've got a job for ya," he says. "And it's right up your line as far as your apprenticeship," he says, "If you want to come up, want to [?], want to engine plant or whatever you've been schooled in, I've got a job for you." Well I had built myself a nice living in Boston. We had our own little fraternity and the YMCA and I had---I was making out pretty good. I was in the kitchen and I was doing this. I was making both ends' meat. I was living the life. I went to—we used to go to dance's down on Stuart's Street at the YWCA every Saturday night. Walk all the time. We had no cars—any of our gang did, you know, and we had more fun and we used to go to dances and all that kind. Well anyway, I came to Worcester. I had to give up and I knew that brother Huey was right by saying you can't live that life all your life. Get back to where you should be and like that. He says, "Well you know you've got the talent for making tools." So, I did and I came up and I made out very well in the department I was in. But with it, now I had to go out and start a new life as my social life. I lived with brother for a while—for a couple of weeks and I said, "This is not for me. I'm going down to YMCA." So, I went down to YMCA, and got a room down there after I got my feet on the ground. Well then I found out a fellow was working at the plant, I said to him, "What do people do around here? Any place to dance or anything like that?" And this fellow's name is Ray Lamont and he still communicates with me for Christmas. And he said, "Would you like to get down Saturday night?" I said, "Sure." So, I went down with him Saturday night. And of course me from the big city, I thought I was a big shot. So, there was this lady who was there that was on—you don't know anything about Worcester no doubt.

LEVINE:

No. EI-579 PRICE 14

PRICE:

There's a place called the Bank Loft and they have a roof garden up there and they used to have dances there. This is in 1934 I think, or '33 or something like that. And, so I went down with this fellow and of course there were the guys—stag guys all around looking at all the girls over to see which one they wanted to dance with, you know, back in the days of the big bands or similar—similar kind of music. I saw this lady from a distance and I'd seen her dance and she'd just come off the floor and everybody shuffled around her. I said to Ray, "Who's the girl? Who's the attraction?" Oh he says, "That's Marian Bloom. She just won the title of Miss Worcester." And I said, "Oh." And I said also, "Very pretty girl." So he says, "Yeah, she's quite popular." I said, "Yeah," and I'll never forget I went over to talk to her and I said, "May I have a dance?" She says, "Oh, I'm all booked up," she says, "for the evening. I'm sorry." You know. So, a couple of dances later, she was dancing with someone and I went up and whispered to the guy, I said, "Listen, I'm just passing through." I said, "I'm just passing through the city and I know this lady and she's booked for the night, would you mind allowing me to finish this dance with her?" And she looked—surprised and he looked kindly about what I had said and so he turned her over to me! Oh my goodness gracious, I had a nice dance with her and believe it or not I took her home that night— that is on the trolley car, you know, we didn't have—that's right. And so we enjoyed our own trolley car and I made a date with her. I guess at first it was meet her inside at a dance, because we had no money. Anyway, it was—that's when we started to go together. And we got married in 1937. 1937, yes. We had a nice—. And then I had an opportunity to leave this company to leave this company in Worcester to go to Philadelphia. Actually, my brother was there first, 'cause he had been promoted and so he wanted me to follow him. He says, "It's a new life." And I hadn't been married yet, so I had to talk my wife into doing that. So, she gave up her job at Norton Company— quite a bright lady. So, we traveled around. We had our ups and downs and like that. And then we lived in Philadelphia area twelve years, then we came back here. And it was her home. She always missed her home. I mean I could go anywhere. Anyway we had two fine sons and had a wonderful, memorable life with her. I had the greatest lady in my life and you know it's a wonderful thing when you stop and think of it. And my boys, oh they call me at least once a week—at least once a week, mostly twice a week, just to touch base. And of course I go down to see—two or three times a year down to Florida to visit my son. He's got a beautiful home—swimming pool, everything. I have my older son who's on top of mountain in Simsbury, Connecticut. Beautiful! I could show you pictures of [it]—really great. They've both done well and I'm very proud. Speaking about being proud, I must tell you, when my dad died, at eighty-nine, I can remember I was up in Pittsburgh and brother called me, Gordon, my Episcopal brother priest, and he came East for it. And he—what a personality he has. And he's a little taller than I. And people would come in morning, you know, "I'm so sorry Gordon." "Sorrow?!" he said to them, "this is a day of triumph! Look at the patriarch sitting there, just lying there, laying in his quietness realizing that he is a patriarch and he left a lot of sons who were very successful." I'll never forget him saying that to this guy! And he wrote my dad's eulogy, and like that, and conducted the sermon. And the sermon was titled "The Man I Knew." It's beautifully written, beautifully written. Wow, I'm going on talking it up a lot. EI-579 PRICE 15

LEVINE:

It's so interesting.

PRICE:

And, so we—my boys have done well. And I—after my dad died and I lost my wife, my dear wife, who postoperative condition, six weeks after my dad died. So, I lost—so that was kind of rough. But following that, I was—I spent quite a bit of time with friends there after my wife died and traveling back and forth to Pittsburgh to visit my brothers, and like that, and they were very kind to me, and like that. And we had all— my uncle Steve was a little younger than my dad, and I spent about three years of constant visiting him and, you know, I used to take him out for rides and he lived to be eighty-nine himself. And his final years, I'll never forget when he died; I took him finally to a different nursing home, in his final days—just he had no one understand. Well he did have a daughter, but she paid no attention to him. And he has a sick—he had another sick daughter who was in a retarded situation, which I promised him after he did pass away that I would visit her as long as I could, and I had done that. She's passed away now. But, from all the visits that I had with my uncle Steve, he knowing the story around my dad and mother, his sisters, getting married and all that, he was able to tell me a lot of things that I never knew before. And I have—I can remember that—oh so many things. And to preface that I can remember, in my dad's final days, I used to go up every two weeks to Pittsburgh—at least every two weeks on late Sunday. And my wife wasn't feeling good at that time and that's alright. So, but I used to steal her away and go up and I'd sit, go up there in late afternoon on a Sunday, I can remember Dad used to like to smoke a pipe. And I went in there and I said, "Anybody home?" I wrapped on the front doors. You know anything about Whalen Park, do you? Okay, no. And he was up there in those outskirts of Pittsburgh and there was a place called Whalen Park—a little cottage it was. And—there was no lights on and it was—I wrapped. I said, "Anybody home?" , 'cause you never locked the door. "Yeah, I'm here." And he's sitting there in the quiet, in twilight of the evening like that. I said to him, "What you thinking about, Dad?" He's sitting in his lounge chair, like I am now, and I walk over the other side—the other side of the dining room table. And I looked at him, "What you been thinking about Dad?" I'd say. He'd be smoking a pipe. "Well," he says, and he used a word that is reeling and he says, "Oh son, I'm just soliloquizing," meaning that he was thinking about a lot of things. Well following that—and this was, oh probably two or three years before he passed away at eighty-nine, he started to pencil some of his stories of his trips and my brother—my step-brother and his wife, after he, they gathered all his penciled notes up and they put it in a—she typed it up for him, as best she could. And he titled it, "Just Soliloquizing." And I have copies of it here. [It's] beautifully written! There's a lot of things between the lines that I—were not printed, which Uncle Steve told me about of which I could write a book by myself between what Uncle Steve told me and what Dad's expression was, ' cause he went all over the world with the British Navy. And I'll never forget, "Just Soliloquizing," and then I followed it up after he passed away, and then my wife passed away, with these visitations with Uncle Steve and that's how I learned so much about the background. And then he passed away and then last year his retarded daughter passed away, so I had no ties here at all expect my own sons understand. And about four years after my wife died, I ran into a Swedish fellow and he said to me, "Why don't you come down to the Estate Gilliats [sp?], a Swedish club not too far from here?" He said, "We can turn EI-579 PRICE 16 the whole place over and I'm the manager down there." So, I said, "Oh, sometime I will," because my wife and I used to love to go out and dance and like that, and different places. Of course I—and this is about—oh goodness, three or four years later after my wife left, 'cause I busied with myself. I never bothered with anybody. You'd be surprised, the people that I knew, they were always trying to fix me up. They'd invite me to dinner and invite some other lady, and this happened three or four times. And they'd call me or see me in the next couple of days or so [and] say, "How did you like Ellen?" "How did you like Beatrice?" "How did you like...?" very nice lady, you. "You gonna call her up?" "No." I didn't have anybody set me up, see. (Laughs) I must—I had to say that and, so I went along. I went to ball games, I did a lot. I like sports and I had a lot of interest in different things. I was at the Elks and different places. And I just didn't bother about anyone, about anything ever at all for a while until this fellow said, "Why don't you come down and have a drink with me, down here?" So, I went down.

LEVINE:

Let me say, that we're at the end of this tape.

PRICE:

It's what?

LEVINE:

We're at the end of the tape. We can put in another one, but I just want to say that I'm here talking with Eric Price, and this is the end of tape one, and this is Janet Levine and we'll begin tape two. [END TAPE ONE]

LEVINE:

We're about to begin now tape two. I'm speaking with Eric Price on December sixth, 1994. And would you continue with your telling about things.

PRICE:

Well yes, I think I was speaking about being invited down to the Scandinavian athletic club and upon an initiation of a friend of mine who was manager there. And so we went down there and I heard music upstairs and he said, "Oh yes, they run dances every other week here for a group known as Parents Without Partners." And so I went up there, listening to the music, and I hadn't danced for, goodness greatness, for four or five years. And the first thing you know, being exposed to all of these people, and I guess the women outnumbered the men at least five to one, so it was easy for me to ask for a dance. So, I went out and I danced the first time, as I say, for many years, and it was just fun. Then I learned that I could come back in a couple of weeks or whenever they're having music, so I just kind of followed that up and that got me back into the throws of going out and meeting people. And I remember, oh goodness, was about a couple of years or a year later that I happened to be at a dance at the same place and I happened to spot a lady that I had liked the way she danced and she seemed very personable from the distance. And—so I said to the manager, who I knew quite well, I said, "Who's that lady over there? " And he said, "That's—she's widowed and she's—her name is Dorothy Thyden." T-H-Y-D-E-N. And she's always— she comes out quite regularly to some of our dances and sits with the girls. You can see there's six or eight girls there. And I said, "Yeah," you know, I said, "Joe, I'd like to meet her." And so, a dance past by and nothing happened, so I went over to speak with EI-579 PRICE 17 her and I said, "May I have a dance please?" She says, "I understand you want to meet me." Well I'm gonna crown Joe, you know, because he—(laughs). Anyway, she was such a lovely person and that was nineteen years ago, December the thirteenth, next Tuesday, that I met her, and we have kept company ever since. She had a son and daughter, ten and thirteen. [She was] widowed. Her husband died at forty-two years of age and left her with two, Jane and John. And she did a great job in bringing them-- those boys. She's a doer. She's a Lithuanian background, but a worker. She's politically inclined, as far as civic activities, not to aspire for any particular plateau, but to work for civic and social life. And she's—she's had her rough times up and down. Her hubby died and went blind in the last two years of diabetes and, so she's had adversities. And she bought up those two kids. Johnny is a respiratory therapist at St. Vincent's and Jane is a legal secretary. So, she's done well and she can be proud and I have never, never I have I seen any more loving and close family in my life and I am a part of it! Those kids think the world of me, you know, and now that the grandchildren have come along, I've got them all over me. So, that's my family here. And oh they think she's much younger than me, but it doesn't matter. I'm family. Of course for every time the kids have a birthday, it's something, you got to have Eric out, you know. Thanksgiving, Christmas—we've got things planned for Christmas, you know, to suit. Now Johnny's wife is an RN at the same hospital, so they—they've done well. They have three children. And Jane and her hubby—and she married a nice fellow who's a research and development engineer with Digital. They have a nice—they have nice homes and like that. [Jane and her husband have] one child. And they're good kin, lovely family; you know it's just great. But this is the story of my life up to now and I'm still working three mornings a week as a—well a guess, I just completed last years at Washington Mills for an abrasive producing, manufacturing company and making all sorts of wheels and so forth. We don't make the wheels, but we make the basic grain. And I've been there over thirty years and they've treated me fine, and I was plant manager for many years. And about ten years ago I asked my boss if I could just kind of retrain to slow down. And I said, "I don't want to quit, but I want to do something a little lessened." He said, "You write your own job description," and I did. And I wrote it out and I am now—he looks upon me as a staff administrator reporting directly for him. I sit like in the bleachers and watch the ball game go on, but I do—I have certain assignments that I do as far as graphs I make and different production and steel and all the loads of things I do in foreign shipments and oh I do so many things that it's—but no pressure, no pressure. And I work twenty hours a week, which borderlines me for a few fringe benefits. Oh it's nothing for me to be in there at five thirty in the morning if I've got some real challenges, you know, because they're all going to be accomplished. But, I have no problem, it's just there. And then I'm recording secretary for our senior Elk's group and I'm quite active in our Shrewsbury senior group and I have been at church for many years, but I'm starting—the cup is starting to run over a little bit and I'm going to start passing them on to others, at age eighty-six. And so that I can take it a little bit easy, because due to my physical conditions, which I guess, I got to expect decadency to set in at a certain period of time—I can't do—thank God I'm mentally capable of doing a lot of things! And I thank my good Lord that he has left me with a god mentality to be able to think and speak and resolve things, but I still have—I just have a body and all of anatomy is catching up with my age. And I guess it's like an old EI-579 PRICE 18 car. The—after a while the parts start to wear out and you've got to have them replaced or repaired. And—but the biggest secret to contain yourself is modern day medicine and good doctors and the fact that I've got to learn to slow down and that is my biggest problem, because my spirit is so—it's like a race horse as far as my spirit and wanting to do things, but my physical able-ness is not able to cope. (Laughs) But that kind of brings you up to date with everything. I have nice little studio apartment here in Shrewsbury, where I'm surrounded by lovely people and all of the maintenance taking care of, lawns, and around at the corner is my washing and dryers and like that and I don't have too much to worry about my home life, because everything is my little condo. I call this a condo, which it is and I bought it [in] 1985, so it's all mine and I have a good attorney who has—in the process, well he has just about completed it: a living trust, where I have set up for an irrevocable trust for the Price family for my two boys and my revocable which is mine, which I've got it set up where by what little estate that I do have is going to be well-administered, so I don't have to worry a thing about it. I've even got all my funeral ministry, all taken care of. It's all in a book form. I've even written my obituary. I have—I've got it all written out just what I want said and all like that. And I've talked to people about, and they say they know it's a good idea, because who knows better than you yourself about what you've been able to do and what you want in it. As far as a eulogy is concerned, anybody can say that. (Laughs) The guy they knew or something like that. Well anyway, that's about as much as I can bring you up to date with.

LEVINE:

Well that's just wonderful. Thank you so much. I've got two questions just before we end. First of all, having come here as an immigrant, when you were young, do you think that had much to do with the kind of person, for the rest of your life—do you think that influenced you in some way?

PRICE:

Yes, I am sure it did, because it was the basic seed that was planted into our mind as far as being independent. Not having any help at all made us extremely conservative and then having gone through, as we did, the terrible Depression of 1929- 31, it made us conservative to the point whereby our values are so much different than the kids and people are today. In this, and I don't want to get into politics, but we've got to take—get away from our welfare government and we've got to put it—the government back into the hands of the people, because our welfare has ruined our society and it has made—it has had a lot to do with all of the crime and the disorder- ness in here. I can remember back into my days about how we respected an officer, a policeman. We wouldn't say, "Boo" to him. Today, the kids, they get away with everything and it's really a shame and I don't blame anyone except the fact that we have gotten away from, what is my opinion is the most important thing in the world, is family values. It's alright to talk about education, but it starts with the family and then the family can promote the education, but it's the basic seeds that are planted in, from family interest, are bringing up kids that make the kids what they are going to be in later life. There's no question about it. Some have tremendous talents: the basketball players, the football players and all like that. But they haven't much up here; they are gifted with that, to make the monies that they do today, but those are unusual cases. They're one in (laughs) tens of thousands, you might say. But, yes I do believe EI-579 PRICE 19 and I this can be confirmed by some of my peers, people I talk to, people that came over in the days, that their grandfathers and grandmothers came over, fellows today, you know a lot of people around here are upbringings of Europeans and all like that, and they can tell me, I was talking with a fellow at the Elk, Sunday morning, we had memorial service for the people that passed away during the year, our brothers—the brother elks. And this fellow, he's Armenian, and he's way up in the Elks, he was telling me all about his folks came over. We we're talking about Ellis Island, because I was telling him about our interview today, and he says, "I've got to get down there," he said. And his mother came over in 1909. That was six years before I came over and he said, "I believe she's supposed, she sent in some money to have her name put on a wall." I said, "Well it's there." "I've got to get down there," he says. I said, "Fine." So, I told him how we had been down last summer, Dottie and I, my friend Dottie. I've got the pictures. So, to answer your question, I'm sure, as I used the word, seeds that were planted there, which were all good germinating seeds for the good of mankind, because they're not doing that today. It's under—Quayle always preached, it was a few years ago, about family values. They were almost ignored, but now it's coming to pass that that is what we need: family values. And this would take care of, probably, a lot of the sex problems that we have. We talk about all of these things and all like that, but it all comes back to what I said: family values of education. Sure there's going to be strays— there's going to be strays, sure there are. And my youngest son and his wife, he—they couldn't have children. So, he adopted two—he adopted twin boys at two and a half years of age. They are now nineteen. And so he's brought those boys up. He's had his problems with them, because—I don't think I could ever, I don't myself I could ever adopt when I've heard so many stories about people with their stories of adopted children, but anyway he 's—he and his wife have brought these two boys up and they're going to be alright . They're nineteen now—twin boys. But he's got a good job, making a fortune—he spent a lot of money on them, but this is it. But this is kids that didn't have family values to start and as far as physiologists say, the most important years are those first few years. Those first few years, because if those first few years aren't embedded with true love and affection from parents or whoever they might be. And against what—no attention at all, then that is so important to the children in bringing up, because it's the first base of-- their training, is those first few years. I know it. I've seen it. And yet some people make out with being orphans, you know, so there's always extremes.

LEVINE:

What--?

PRICE:

But generally speaking that's it.

LEVINE:

One last question.

PRICE:

Sure.

LEVINE:

Do you think your—what you remember and the way you remember your early life has changed over the years? I know talking to your uncle added a lot of information. EI-579 PRICE 20

PRICE:

Yes, I will say this that I, in answer to your question, I always remember when I got married—I always—and before I got married, I always said my dad was awful strict. He was too strict. I said that at that time, "I won't be that strict." And so I gave my two sons a lot more attention than my dad gave me. Well he loved me, he was distant. And I spent more time with my boys. Oh, I spent a lot of time with my boys, to the extent the love is there. They're calling me all the time, "How are ya Dad?" And you know they love to have me come down, put the red carpet out for me and all like that. And I'll never forget. I'll never forget when [their] mother died, my two boys they were just through college. They worked their way through it [with] a little help from me. And we stood in the reception room following the funeral, and I said to the boys, David and Terry, I've got, and I said, "Thanks boys, you're a big help to me." I remember what David said to me, he says, "Hey Dad, there's only one guy to show us the way." I'll never forget him saying that. There was only one guy that showed us the way, meaning me, because, you know, I taught the boys to be realists, stoic, you know, take things in stride, and all like that, and it was great. And they are that way today. They're very strong in their temperaments. And another thing that they refuse to kid me around about, he says, "You know, Dad," he says, "You and Mother gave us a great bringing up. You made a few mistakes—I won't make those." I'll never forget him saying that to me! (Laughs) Oh, God love him.

LEVINE:

So in other words, there was a time when you thought your father was too strict.

PRICE:

Oh, yes.

LEVINE:

And then did you revise that?

PRICE:

Oh now—oh yes, I right up to the time of my—of my maturity I thought even leaving home, I thought he was too strict and all like that. But—and then, as I got on my own and I got married, I always thought that my dad who was oh so strong and too strict, and my other brothers feel the same way. And that's why I said to myself I'm going to be closer to my boys than what my dad was to me. But, at this age, and another score of years before me, I realized that Dad was right. I realize now when I've reached maturity and had my families and I see what's going on today, [I] think, oh my dad was right as far as his discipline was concerned. Oh was he was right—he taught us how to do independent and how to do what we want. I used to say, "Aren't you ever going to give me any credit for that?" He says no, "you don't get credit for what you're supposed to do right. If you want medals you join the Army," that's what he used to say to me. I'd used to say, "Gee the least you can do is say thank you or something like that," you know, I was kidding to him. And that's what he said, he says, "You don't get any medals for what you're supposed to do right, 'cause you're supposed to do things right. If you want any medals join the Army!" (Laughs) He was a—yes a great one. He used to say to me—he used to have some one-liners that he'd say to me, "You know son, keep your lips buttoned," and "You never shot for your thoughts." He had some great sayings. And I remember another time that—I remember when Will Rogers and Wiley Post were lost over the North Pole, way back many years ago. I said to my dad, EI-579 PRICE 21 up at the time, and I said to my dad, "How is it Dad," 'cause I thought Will Rogers was just my ideal. I'd read so much about him and-- he was so popular. I said to Dad, "Dad," I said, "How come an important person like Will Rogers, popular, smart everything, he goes like that in an accident?" And I'll never forget what Dad said, he says, "Let me tell you something son. No one—but no one has a contract on this earth." He had some great expressions. No one has a contract on this earth and he's right. We don't know what tomorrow brings, but we hope there'll be a lot of tomorrows. When I talk to my boys about this, I tell them about my living trust and my different things about my funeral ministry and different things that they should know. I've just written out—had them sign a proxy as far as not giving me any automatic life prevailing things when I'm in bed and all like that. And—so, "What's all this about?" Terry says. He says, I could do this twenty years from now," meaning I'm gonna live that long, you know. (Laughs) They're always positive in their thinking. Oh dear.

LEVINE:

Is there anything else you could think of—anything else about your past that you used to think one way about and now you've changed?

PRICE:

Well I'll tell you what, as I have gotten older, I tend to be a lot more patient than I used to be. It seems that the aging process teaches one to be that way. It's not easy, because impulsively you're ready to bite sometimes, just impulsively about some decision you want to make. But after quick thought, you have a chance to not get upset about things and all like that. I know that in my in my good companion, Dottie, we have a sort of a pact between us and I never can remember, in all of the nineteen years where we've ever had an argument. We have been, like my dad used to say, "You can be in disagreement, but you don't have to be disagreeable. That was another one of his expressions. And I brought that to the relationship between Dottie and myself, because she's had her adversity, I've had mine, in losing our mates. And we have a—we have a sort of a pact between us that if ever we see something coming up that leads into being provocative, we change the subject, and it works out. I've seen her sometime when I know we're headed to a disagreement, you know, she'll change the subject and I commend her for it, not audibly, but to myself. And I know I've done the same way and she, to herself, recognizes we went so far so we change the subject and we forget about it, see what I mean. Not everybody could do it, because it depends on the personality, you know what I mean. You must derive an awful lot of interest in listening to different personalities.

LEVINE:

Oh, yes. You're absolutely fascinating and I really want to thank you so much. Okay, is there anything else that you can think of to say about coming to the country or anything else?

PRICE:

No, except that—at the turn of the—well when I get to be a hundred I will have fourteen more years of experiences of which you can come back and put on another tape.

LEVINE:

I'd be delighted. (Laughs) Thank you. EI-579 PRICE 22

PRICE:

Okay.

LEVINE:

Okay, this is Janet Levine for the National Park Service. I've been speaking with Eric Price on December sixth of 1994. We're here in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts at Mr. Price's home. Mr. Price will be eighty-six in a week and I will sign off. END OF INTERVIEW