Deborah Femat and Aden Femat
Recorded
August 12, 2021
46:47 minutes
0:00 / 0:00
Id:
ddv001063
Description
Deborah Femat (67) tells her son Aden Femat (26) about her father's experiences as a WWII veteran and how his PTSD and alcoholism shaped her and her family’s life. Deborah also shares stories about her grandmothers and her complex relationship with her mother.Subject Log / Time Code
Deborah (D) begins by introducing her father, Floyd Eli Ford Jr., who served as an Army Air Corps member during World War II. D then shares how he became a prisoner of war, and some of the experiences he survived.
D describes her father’s PTSD and how it resulted in him struggling with alcoholism. She also begins to describe his abuse against their family and recalls her parents’ divorce.
D shares how her parents met at her maternal grandmother’s dude ranch in Bandera, TX.
D talks about how young her father was when he joined the military and when the plane wreck occurred. She discusses his struggle with alcoholism and his sobriety.
D describes her relationships with each of her parents, and explains why her parents’ divorce was difficult for her. She shares how, on her 16th birthday, she realized the extent of her father’s abuse towards her mother. D then recounts a particularly violent instance of abuse against her mother while she was 7 months pregnant. This story involves gun violence.
D considers how her sisters felt about their home life: “we all felt the terror.”
D reflects on how her father shaped her as an adult, such as avoiding violence as a parent and her own experience with alcoholism and sobriety.
D shares what she would say to her father if she could still speak to him.
D remembers her paternal grandmother, who was “an incredible craftsperson,” and her maternal grandmother who ran the dude ranch.
D considers what she would say to her mother if she could speak to her. D remembers the kind of presence her mother had and how she approached people.
Participants
- Deborah Femat
- Aden Femat