Sharon Cook and Simone Newrohr

[00:02] SHARON COOK: Mom?

[00:04] SIMONE NEWROHR: Yeah.

[00:06] SHARON COOK: So, yeah. Okay, I want to do this recording of you because I love you so much, and your story from France is so amazing.

[00:28] SIMONE NEWROHR: You were Oregon.

[00:31] SHARON COOK: Okay. You were born in 1925, right?

[00:39] SIMONE NEWROHR: Yeah.

[00:40] SHARON COOK: Okay.

[00:43] SIMONE NEWROHR: Yeah.

[00:45] SHARON COOK: Okay. And you were on a farm in France. Is that right? Yeah. Okay.

[00:57] SIMONE NEWROHR: Yeah.

[00:58] SHARON COOK: So. So you grew up very happy at first, didn't you? Until the war started. Didn't you have a nice life until the war started?

[01:21] SIMONE NEWROHR: Sometime good, sometimes bad.

[01:26] SHARON COOK: Okay, so I have this story about your mom that she liked that picture of you when you were a fat little baby, and she made the big picture and she hung in the living room. Do you remember that? Yeah. Yeah. So were you sad that you saw your fat little baby picture up on the wall? Yeah. So you lived with your family until 1939. Didn't you move in with your uncle Pierre?

[02:29] SIMONE NEWROHR: Yeah.

[02:31] SHARON COOK: Okay, mom. So you guys all live together in a house in 1939? Okay, so the German. The Germans invaded France in 1939 and you were 19 years old?

[03:09] SIMONE NEWROHR: Yeah. Something like this. Yeah.

[03:12] SHARON COOK: Okay, so the german occupation put a cannon up on top of your hill so that would overlook the ocean so the Germans could see when the american ships came in. Do you remember that?

[03:37] SIMONE NEWROHR: Yeah.

[03:39] SHARON COOK: So that was pretty scary. Wasn't that pretty scary?

[03:46] SIMONE NEWROHR: No, because I was young. It wasn't. It was a challenge. It was an experience. I was young, but it was scary. When the poem comes.

[04:00] SHARON COOK: Hold on.

[04:03] SIMONE NEWROHR: Oh, shit. Let me.

[04:07] SHARON COOK: Mom. Mom. Yeah. Okay.

[04:12] SIMONE NEWROHR: Yeah.

[04:12] SHARON COOK: So you're trying to see. Oh, yeah. You could see the american ships coming towards your coast in France, couldn't you? Yeah.

[04:31] SIMONE NEWROHR: Uh huh.

[04:33] SHARON COOK: Yeah. Yeah.

[04:40] SIMONE NEWROHR: So, goodbye. Always was so complicated when. I cannot explain this in a friend of phone.

[04:49] SHARON COOK: I know, sweetie, but we're just going to get the main parts of your story. Like when you thought the Germans were bombing your place there, your village, and didn't they blow up a bridge? Yeah.

[05:15] SIMONE NEWROHR: Yeah, they didn't blow the bridge. And American came.

[05:27] SHARON COOK: But that time that. Were you at your grandmother's house, living with her then when you were getting ready to cross that bridge? And then we thought that. So tell us about that.

[05:48] SIMONE NEWROHR: Oh, Sharon I can't do it today. I don't feel good at all with this.

[06:07] SHARON COOK: You looked up in the sky and I. The airplane, the bomber coming towards you.

[06:17] SIMONE NEWROHR: Yeah. And then I went back to the village, and the village was almost all destroyed. And then I went to my.

[06:31] SHARON COOK: So the bridge that you were gonna cross, they just blew it up, didn't they?

[06:39] SIMONE NEWROHR: Yeah, it was.

[06:42] SHARON COOK: Yeah. So there wasn't a bridge anymore to go across to where your farm.

[06:50] SIMONE NEWROHR: Yeah, we could. We couldn't go to Italy no more. We couldn't go to Nisa no more.

[06:59] SHARON COOK: Yeah.

[06:59] SIMONE NEWROHR: That was the capital frontier.

[07:03] SHARON COOK: Yes. So I remember when you said that there was a bar or something, a place where people would go to drink. Tell us what happened to that lady.

[07:22] SIMONE NEWROHR: Where the waitress was like, she was about all 200 pounds. When I went back to the farm, I went to the bar and blew up. And I was blown up, and the woman was cut a piece. We couldn't find nothing to her.

[07:50] SHARON COOK: That's so horrible. I remember all the stories you've told me since I was a little kid. I'm sorry to bring up things that are probably sad for you. It's just this is. Your story is so important, mom, it's.

[08:21] SIMONE NEWROHR: Oh, my gosh. I wish I could explain clearly, but not today. Oh, my gosh. God, how many people do remember where I did after this? I couldn't stay with the. Yeah.

[08:45] SHARON COOK: No, tell me what? No, just then, after that. Longer. What? Yes, then after that.

[09:00] SIMONE NEWROHR: After that, we had to go to my father's farm because there was no more farm.

[09:11] SHARON COOK: Yeah.

[09:11] SIMONE NEWROHR: So we stayed with my father. It was a few mile away in the mountainous. Well, I don't know when. It's too complicated.

[09:26] SHARON COOK: Well, you told me. I know, sweetheart.

[09:33] SIMONE NEWROHR: And then after the American came everywhere, elaborated. Here's no more bombing.

[09:43] SHARON COOK: And you thought you saw the American in a tank, a giant tank coming into your village. Didn't you give him a flower? Tell us about that.

[10:05] SIMONE NEWROHR: I cannot tell you everything. Not today or today. There was some, but I know. First American came. Yeah. And I had a carnation in my hand. And I. And I went toward the tank, and I saw the soldier. I said, welcome. Welcome to France. They needed. Went to Italy. They didn't send France. They went to Italy.

[10:48] SHARON COOK: That's so.

[10:49] SIMONE NEWROHR: And then we were living with. We were free. With no more bombing. Yeah, they took the german prisoner, and they took the prisoner that was in Sarah. And that's it. We were free. There was no more. No more. Nobody. We were alone.

[11:15] SHARON COOK: So your farm got taken over by the Italians from Mussolini, didn't they? Those italian soldiers, didn't they take over your farm?

[11:36] SIMONE NEWROHR: Yeah, but that was way before the German. The Italians, yes, that came before the German. Yeah, they didn't stay very long.

[11:47] SHARON COOK: You had a beautiful place. You lived where your family grew roses and carnations for the perfume industry in Paris, didn't you? Yeah. Yeah. So tell us what you used to do when you had to pick those little buds on the flowers. For the perfume.

[12:24] SIMONE NEWROHR: Oh, you had to go at where? That's what we. About 63. Always a tree. And then we used to climb on a ladder and pick each. For each flower and then throw them in the ground and then sand and put the flower in the bag. And then when we ate enough, we had to send it to the. To the factory to make a perfume.

[13:01] SHARON COOK: And so that was orange blossoms, right?

[13:07] SIMONE NEWROHR: That's right. That's the one that was stinging all over my hand. Yeah.

[13:14] SHARON COOK: So you got. And does pile. You got stung by a lot of bees, didn't you?

[13:24] SIMONE NEWROHR: Oh, yeah. My hands were so swollen, but I never really bothered me.

[13:34] SHARON COOK: Because you're tough. You're the toughest person I know.

[13:43] SIMONE NEWROHR: Oh, she went too long. I know she went, but I'm too old to do that. No. Well, I'm not feeling too good today.

[14:11] SHARON COOK: I know you just had that booster from the vaccine. I'm sorry. So you don't feel great today? Well, yeah. Well, guess what? Your voice sounds real good, mom.

[14:34] SIMONE NEWROHR: Yeah, but to my eyes are terrible today. The world is so. Well, so after the war, I look for a job. My grandmother died, so I was alone with Bernard. He came back from the concentration camp. So I stayed with my uncle Bernard. And then I look for job. And then I met your father and Philip. And then I. 52. At 51, I got. I met your daddy, and then I asked for the visa and I come over in this country. That's it.

[15:33] SHARON COOK: So Daddy was an american sailor? You met father? Yes. He was an american sailor that came over to France. Yeah.

[15:50] SIMONE NEWROHR: Yeah. He wasn't. He wasn't one of those big ship.

[15:56] SHARON COOK: Yeah.

[15:57] SIMONE NEWROHR: And you said it was a. Eddie officer.

[16:02] SHARON COOK: Yeah. He looked handsome in a sailor suit, didn't he?

[16:11] SIMONE NEWROHR: Oh, can we do this conversation at another time? Oh, seven is.

[16:23] SHARON COOK: Well.

[16:27] SIMONE NEWROHR: Not long, but not on the phone. I hate to phone. I don't.

[16:37] SHARON COOK: Well, I can ask you one more story. So after you met. After you met Daddy, that's when you waitress. A waitress in France and didn't work at a restaurant that was underneath a waterfall.

[17:07] SIMONE NEWROHR: Well, we used to go in this waterfall on the Sunday. One Sunday. And then his ship left, you know, so I didn't see your father no more. And then he just sent the paper to his mother in Ohio that he was going to marry me. So I started to make the paper, the visa to take the boat and meet him in New York.

[17:42] SHARON COOK: So go ahead. Go ahead.

[17:51] SIMONE NEWROHR: Well, so I arrived in New York. I couldn't find your father. And then I started to go back in France. And then suddenly he didn't recognize me because my hair was black instead of red. And then he was waiting with his friend with a car, and he finally found me with my suitcase. And then we took off for the Ohio in the middle of the night.

[18:31] SHARON COOK: Grandma and grandpa, his mom and dad. Yeah. So the one that I. The one thing that I thought was so funny was when you were at Ellis island in New York, by the kind of near the Statue of Liberty, you and daddy couldn't find each other. So can you tell me? So what did I do that was so funny?

[19:09] SIMONE NEWROHR: Well, I was. So I get off the boat. It was thousands of people. I didn't know what to do. I didn't know how to talk. So I sat down someplace and I stayed for a little while with the lady in the boat, you know, she was in a. And then she left. And I was all alone on the airport with all those people, and I didn't know what to do. I was looking for your father. I couldn't find him. He couldn't find me either. So he was. Suddenly, he told me it was a bench, suitcase. So he climbed on one of those, on the highest. Then he saw me. Finally, he saw me and he come down. He recognized me, and.

[20:14] SHARON COOK: He piled a bunch of steamer trunks on top of each other and. Yeah, he climbed to the top. See how smart he was?

[20:27] SIMONE NEWROHR: So then he finally saw me all alone down there. He come down, and then. So we went outside the harbor, and then he was in the train waiting. And then we know what he done. He took my hand. He took my hand, and he put the. My fiance. The fiance didn't wing it. Never felt it was too small.

[21:05] SHARON COOK: Oh, that was one.

[21:09] SIMONE NEWROHR: I don't know. First, because he saw me with the brown hair, and then the wig was not fitting well, he never lost his school. So we, all night we drove. We never saw a word. We never know how to talk. And you, we stopped. I remember we had some steak. And then we arrived in Belair, 05:00 in the morning. It was dark, it was below. He had a little town.

[21:58] SHARON COOK: Oh, my gosh.

[21:59] SIMONE NEWROHR: And it was freezing, it wasn't weary. And then we got off of the car with a friend. And then, my gosh, I said, what kind of. See what the. Called the cold train. You know, everything was smoky. Everything was smoking in Milan in 51 or 52. And so we get off, we start to climb the steps, and grandma, parchment then opened the door. There was grandma. So the first thing she said, she said, mom, she doesn't wear the hair. Oh, I understood that. I mean, because of the dog. It was. Yeah.

[23:03] SHARON COOK: Go ahead.

[23:04] SIMONE NEWROHR: Go ahead.

[23:06] SHARON COOK: Oh, go ahead.

[23:10] SIMONE NEWROHR: It was so pretty inside. The wall were flowery. You know, the paper was flowery. The floor was with the flower, you know, the design. It was so clean. And this apartment. And then I met the grand. My grandma and Maggie. And that's it. My life.

[23:39] SHARON COOK: I was gonna say. So when you first were supposed to meet my dad in New York, he was looking for a redhead because you had red hair in. Breathe. And.

[24:02] SIMONE NEWROHR: My hair.

[24:04] SHARON COOK: So you dyed your hair black. That's why he couldn't find you.

[24:17] SIMONE NEWROHR: I wish we could talk different. That's not with the toxic. Especially when I don't. Good. You are. So I stay a week in Belair, and we got married. We got married in the little church and so on. I never understood the priest, what he was saying. And then you. Then I. Then we went to Pittsburgh. Honeymoon.

[24:56] SHARON COOK: Yeah.

[24:57] SIMONE NEWROHR: And I would spend. Oh, it was freezing. I thought to die. That was when we started. No, that was in Pittsburgh when we went for honeymoon for a couple of days. This is when we stayed farm of Joanne, you know, the farmer in Pittsburgh. We spend the honeymoon there. Oh, my God. So I didn't know daddy. So I said, okay, I'm gonna eat. Let's fix me something. So I opened a Frida there. I never even saw you understand what I say?

[25:55] SHARON COOK: Yes. You've never seen a refrigerator before, because.

[26:00] SIMONE NEWROHR: You never had it there before in the farm. I got some cheese. I got some bread. I didn't know Daddy hated cheese, especially Lamborghini. Was horrible cheese. So I fixed sandwich. He bite in there, and you see, he opened the window in the farm, you know, and he threw my sandwich in the window. He said, where do you want the divorce already?

[26:39] SHARON COOK: So I know it's horrible.

[26:43] SIMONE NEWROHR: Oh, God, that's horrible. And, you know. You know, in the basement, in the farmer, it was a freezer for the big steak, big everything. Joanne always. But they didn't know that because he was in, you know, in the Navy. He didn't know all those things. But anyway, so that day, we just walk in the wood and we. Oh, God, what a. And then I went back, and we went back in Valera. And then he had to go back in the navy for one year to finish his service. I said, with my grandpa, a teenager. He had to sleep with her. Poor Maggie. And she was a teenager. Yeah.

[27:55] SHARON COOK: So you had to. You had to live with Daddy's mom and dad and his sister. Yeah. And I. Yeah. You didn't know how to speak English, did you? No.

[28:16] SIMONE NEWROHR: You know, I know I did. I know, I understand. But I didn't know what else, you know, one day, grandma, she said, you want to take a bath? I never know what it was about. We never done much better than friends. So grandma, she. Poor soul, she was the president of the PTA. This is when I met everybody there. I didn't know what Heckambo, all those name I never heard before. But it was a nice life, they were. My grandma took me everywhere to know everybody. It was a really family I never knew before.

[29:12] SHARON COOK: You worked at a fireworks factory, didn't you?

[29:19] SIMONE NEWROHR: You know, you know more about me than you do. So with grandfather, grandpa, he looked like a kaiser to me, you know, he was handsome. He looked like a German. So we didn't know how to talk to each other, but he thought he talked to me. The money, you know, five or one penny that grandpa did that to me. Oh, he taught you money? Yeah. So I couldn't stay at home all the time, you know, I was not meant for that. So they knew the friend, you know, this is when I know Jenny and I learned how to make those fireworks in the hill. Okay.

[30:20] SHARON COOK: Okay, mom. I guess we have to quit now. So.

[30:31] SIMONE NEWROHR: Okay.

[30:32] SHARON COOK: Okay. So my name. Mom. My name is Sharon Cook, and I'm your daughter. And today, April. Today is April 24, 2022. We are in the Ozarks in Missouri. And my recording partner is my mom. She was born in France during World War two. And her name is Simone Newrohr She's 97 years old. And you did wonderfully.

[31:28] SIMONE NEWROHR: I shouldn't. That's not even after the thing I should have said. But not today.

[31:38] SHARON COOK: Still. I'm still writing your memoir, your story.

[31:46] SIMONE NEWROHR: Oh, my gosh.

[31:51] SHARON COOK: Mom. I love you. We're done now.

[31:55] SIMONE NEWROHR: Okay? You don't go tonight?

[31:59] SHARON COOK: No, you don't go.

[32:01] SIMONE NEWROHR: Okay.

[32:05] SHARON COOK: I love you.

[32:06] SIMONE NEWROHR: I'm off for dead. I can't believe it. I don't even know where I am.

[32:11] SHARON COOK: I love you. So now relax, mom.

[32:17] SIMONE NEWROHR: I did my best. I couldn't do more. I cannot leave this thing. Imagine what happened.

[32:32] SHARON COOK: Okay.

[32:33] SIMONE NEWROHR: Okay. Bye. Bye.

[32:35] SHARON COOK: Bye. I love you.

[32:37] SIMONE NEWROHR: Okay, bye.