Grace Mehrer Interviews Her Grandmother Judy Houston About Getting Married at 18 to her Middle School Sweetheart and Growing up in Bham.

00:02 Okay, this, my name is Grace Mehrer and I'm here with my grandmother. And my first question is, how would you like to be remembered as a person.

00:14 As a loving, caring mother, grandmother, and friend?

00:26 Awesome. I love that. How has your life been different than what you thought it was gonna be?

00:34 Having gotten married so young and neither one of us coming from well to do families, my life has been very different. Never thought I would get to travel the way we've traveled. Never thought that I would have 12 grandchildren. Never thought that, you know, when you're young, you really don't think you're gonna live. I used to think that I would not live past 50 years old, which is a ridiculous thought. But that's the way you think when you're 15, you know that you're not gonna live forever. So in 50 years seems like a long time, but here I am at 74 and still kicking.

01:29 Okay, to follow up, what was your childhood like?

01:36 Mehrer I did. I was 8 of 9 children with in a family that did not have very much lived on a farm until I was nine years old, then moved to the city where I went to Birmingham city schools and had parents who cared about me, but we just didn't have a whole lot. So.

02:11 What were your parents like?

02:14 I always thought old because when you're number eight of nine, your parents are older than most people's parents. But my dad was hardworking and industrious. He had an 8th grade education, but he always provided very well for his family.

02:45 Okay, okay, okay, we'll start this question and we'll pivot to another question. How did you and Opa meet?

02:58 Short answer, Church. We went to a small church in West End, and we had been going there for several years when his family showed up. And we were about the same age, so we were thrown into the same group of people. And so we went to different high schools, but that's where we met, was in church.

03:27 You got married when you were 18?

03:29 19.

03:30 19. Okay, follow up with that. What was it like financially getting married so young?

03:36 Not easy. I was working at the time, and Opa was working part time, going to school part time. He started out at Jeff State. He was going to school part time because we always knew that we wanted him to have a college education. It was a disappointment to my parents that or to my dad that I did not that I made the decision not to go to college because I thought it was more important for Opa to go to college because at the time, the thought of highly educated women earning a lot of Money would just not heard of. So that's the way that we decided to handle it. And it was tough, but we always had a goal in mind of what we wanted to do and worked toward that. So.

04:48 Okay. How was being a parent and grandparent changed you?

04:54 Well, it'll make you grow up. I had your mom when I was 21, but I had always been around children. I had nieces and nephews always. And I was always involved with them. So I knew about children. I knew how to take care of a child. But, you know, when they. It's a lot different if you're taking care of a small child and they play and you have to change diapers. And you. You know that that's a lot different than it is raising a child who's 12 years old and they have different problems.

05:34 Right.

05:34 But. But, you know, you just kind of feel your way through those things and you do the best you can, so. But it did made me grow up, that's for sure.

05:51 This is fun. Do you have any favorite stories about your kids?

05:55 About my kids? Let's see. Well, we were very young when we had your mom. And one of my favorite stories has to do with Opa. Not only was he working and going to school, but he was in the military and he was in the reserves. And every summer he would have to go to summer camp, and he would go in this place in Mississippi that was. It was very icky. There were lots of mosquitoes, and it was very hot. He did not like going, but he would drive our family vehicle when he went. And he tells the story of that. Your mom's handprint was on the dash of the car. And when one of the guys, when he was at camp one summer went to wipe that off, he stopped him and he went, don't do that. That's my babysitter. So, you know, that made me know that we were there struggling to get through him not being there, but he was also struggling, too, with not having us around. So.

07:17 That's so cute.

07:18 Yeah.

07:19 Okay. We're pivoting to more, like, historical type of vibe. What was it like going to school in Birmingham, Alabama, while schools are being integrated.

07:35 That I started high school the year that they integrated the high school I was going to, and there was lots of stuff on tv, and, you know, everybody was talking about the fact that there were going to be African American kids who would be going to the high school I was going to. And so first day of school, I was scared. I was very nervous because of all the talk, because There was talk about there being riots and there were going to be adults there who were upset with all this. So the first day of school, I was very scared. And actually, we did not. Then you just walked school, because we didn't live that far from school. And a friend and I walked school, but we never even got in the front door because of all the adults. So after a period of time, we went home, and I did not want to go back the next day, but I can tell you that my dad looked at me and said, yes, you will go back to school. For one thing, he worked for the Birmingham City Board of Education, so he knew what was going on, and he said, yes, you will be there and you will be fine. He did have my brother drive me to school. I had an older brother who could drive, of course. And he drove us to school that morning, took us right up to the front door. We got out and went into school. And, you know, kids were nervous, but parents were crazy, and kids were nervous because their parents were crazy. But then, you know, once school got started and things kind of settled down, and I remember actually being a friend of the first African American girl that went to that high school, so. And then she went. Graduated the same year I did. We went all the way through school together. So it was. Going to high school for the first time is a little scary anyway. But then you add that element into it, and it was really scary. I was scared. But looking back on it now, I wish I had been as strong then as I would be now. I would never have turned around and gone back home to that day, but I did so because there were a bunch of adults there who were acting fools.

10:45 Yeah. So didn't a lot of your friends not go to school?

10:49 A lot of my friends did not go to school for the first few days.

10:52 Okay.

10:52 Yes.

10:52 I didn't ask how long.

10:54 And that's, you know, that, you know, I went home telling my dad, so. And so there. Nobody's going to school tomorrow. Then, you know, I don't want to go to school tomorrow. But he looked at me and said, you will be in school tomorrow. So. And as. I guess as afraid as I was of facing that again, I was probably a little more afraid of my dad.

11:18 Yeah.

11:19 So. And I just would never have. I wasn't the type kid who would have just stood up against my dad.

11:28 Yeah.

11:29 You know, so. But there. Yeah, there were few people in Classics those first, I would say, two or three weeks of school, so.

11:39 So do you remember, like, news or, like, talk of It. Before, like, your high school integrated?

11:45 Yes. Yes. Yeah, it was. You know, it had been going on for several years at that point. But. But as. I mean, you know, as a kid, you don't watch the news. You. You hear of it sort of in conversation and that kind of thing, but you don't sit down and watch the news like you do as an adult. And, I mean, there was a lot of crazy stuff going on then, but, yes, I do remember hearing about it. I knew that it was going to happen. I didn't really think it was going to be that big a deal. But then when you get there and there are all these people who are screaming and yelling at one another and, as I said, acting like a fool. Right. That. That was. That was scary as a kid.

12:36 So I can only imagine. Okay. What was it like to work in an office in the 1960s as a woman?

12:48 Well, there weren't many opportunities if you did not have a college education. I had a clerical job where I filed and answered the phone, and you just made minimum wage, which at that point was $1.40 an hour, I might add. And the place that I work is what, in later years turned into, I believe, Equifax. Equifax. It's like a. A credit clearing house where, you know, you have to go through that if you want a loan, if you want a mortgage, if you want whatever. They keep the records of everything you've done financially before, but then everything was kept in paper files, and there were huge rooms full of filing cabinets, and. And that's what I did. But I will admit that the supervisor was a woman, and she was very good at her job. She was. She knew how to run the place, but she was also open to hearing, like I needed to. When Opal went into the military, I ended up going to be with him for a period of time, and she helped me to be able to find a job in the new location that I was going to. So not only was she a good manager, but she also was caring, so that meant a lot.

14:37 All righty. Okay, we're ending on a. A little funny question. Do you remember the best date you've ever been on with opa? Of course.

14:47 Best date I've ever been on with opa. I don't. We've been on so many. You know, I guess maybe the very first one that we ever went on would probably be the one that stands out the most to me, because, you know, once you. Once you develop a relationship with someone, and we were so young. We were friends, but that very first date was to a valentine, or we called it sweetheart banquet at the time. And. And it was a church related thing. And he actually asked me to go with him. And he didn't even drive at that point. So, yeah, his mom brought him to pick me up. And, you know, and so that's the thing that probably stands out most to me. But, you know, it wasn't like there was this huge romance from the very beginning. I mean, we were like friends. We were kids. We, you know, we did all kinds of things together. And then as we got older, it turned into more of an actual, like, dating kind of thing.

16:18 Right.

16:19 But that first one was probably the one that stands out the most to me.

16:25 Well, cute. Well, thank you for telling your story.

16:31 You're welcome.