Interview with Louise Davison Click for bio
Louise Davison
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Lucinda Meshberg: This is Lucinda Meshberg and I'm here with Louise Davison doing an oral history recording for the long 1960s class. Just to start, for some background information, how old were you in the 1960s? How old were you in 1960?
Louise Davison: 1960. I would have been 17.
LM: Okay. So, where did you grow up?
LD: Outside of Philadelphia in a small town called Paoli, Pennsylvania. Population, probably 2000. But we were about 20 miles from Philadelphia. So It was a small town, but it was close by city sophistication.
LM: What do you remember about getting your education there and growing up?
LD: Public education, good. The high school I went to was Conestoga High School in Berwin, Pennsylvania, still considered to be a very good school. We competed in that area with a lot of private schools, but our production, the school's production, was very high level. I was an academic track, because they used to track back then, and intended to go to college and did.
LM: Where did you go to college?
LD: That's a long one. I started off at a small girls' school, called Cedarcrest College in Allentown. Pennsylvania and went there for two years. Then I transferred to the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia and went there for two years, and then I got married, and then I moved to North Carolina, and my husband was working on his PhD, and I finished my degree, my undergraduate degree in art history, at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.
LM: Was music and television and important part of your life during the 60s?
LD: Not really. No.
LM: Okay. My next question. What kind of effect did the Vietnam War have on your community?
LD: And this is another very interesting thing. I can't speak for my community. We were in Graduate school, Pete was in graduate school starting in 1966.
LM: And Pete is your husband?
LD: He was my husband. Right. And I say that I don't know how it affected my community because I was in a student community. We were aware of the students who did not get deferments. We were aware of one who died in Vietnam. My husband happened to have been 4F, and actually, in 1968, in the heat of everything, he had open heart surgery, and so it did not affect us the same way it affected everybody else. I remember enormous conflict about it, but because we were both in school and because he was not involved, it didn't have the same impact.
LM: How did it feel to watch the Civil Rights Movement unfold throughout the 60s? Or what memories do you have about it as a movement?
LD: One probably would be later, which was a friend of my parents was involved in Fair Housing, and so I was aware of that. I don't know and I'm not sure whether that would be in the 60s or not. I was in North Carolina when Martin Luther King was killed. I remember participating in some, I don't know that they were rallies so much as commemorations. This was a southern school, but in a very, you know, a very black and white State. And the thing is, there was definitely an outpouring. I've always watched the news, I have not been impacted terribly by, you know, commercial television so much and I remember being aware, but I was not active.
LM: Okay, so when do you remember starting to watch the news?
LD: Well, I watched the news you know, the early news when there were only three stations. And I watched, I'm pretty sure it was NBC. I remember vividly Walter Cronkite. I remember the beginning of McNeil Lehrer on PBS and I to this day watch that on a daily basis. It is my only source of news with the exception of the newspapers online, the Washington Post, and the New York Times. And I don't listen to radio. And I never did listen to radio which makes me an outlier in my own generation.
LM: So did your family own a television when we were young?
LD: After I was 12
LM: After you were 12. Okay.
LD: We used to go up the street on Thursday nights and watch The Lone Ranger at a neighbor's. They had one earlier.
LM: What do you remember about dating and when did you start dating?
LD: I don't - I was five feet eight when I was 12 years old, and I was, I have been cross-eyed my whole life. And my dating situation was different from the popular girls. I'll put it that way. I think I had a boyfriend, sort of in like the 10th or 11th grade, nothing very serious. I started to date, actually, a man who had graduated from college at the end of my senior year. And then I met my future husband in the very beginning of my freshman year and we dated off and on for four years before we were married.
LM: What are your memories of the feminist movement and how it affected gender roles throughout the 60s?
LD: That's really a hard one because I was aware of and sort of didn't like Betty Friedan. I have a different attitude I think than a lot of women. I had three brothers and I grew up in an all-male neighborhood. Literally didn't have- I had girlfriends at school, but there was nobody who lived around me. Which meant that I assumed that I needed to take care of myself. So it didn't occur to me that I couldn't do anything that a man could do. And I was not particularly persuaded by the fact that I needed to somehow be different or feel differently than I did just sort of natively. I then, when I got into, much later, I am extremely aware of this disparity in earning power for women. And I know that in my early marriage, I would, I was divorced in 1978, and at that time in the state of California, I was warned to get a credit card before I divorced because I would not have one If I didn't already have it. I had - my father could sign on my bank account when I was a teenager, I could not do that by myself. So I was aware of all these things, but they were not enormous obstacles. It became, I think feminism became Pretty serious after my divorce and trying to get jobs and even an educated woman and being paid less. It was, you know, that matters. But I was never an active feminist, and I still feel I feel the way I have always felt which is I think I was one of the boys in a good way.
LM: So tell me about your siblings and growing up with you said, three brothers, yes?
LD: It was in the days when we were very free. We played, I mean, aside from school, we played in the summertime from breakfast until we were called at dinner, and our parents had no idea where we were. The thing is we lived in a small town, everybody knew everybody. My father was a small-town physician, so we definitely were, you know, known, and it was a lot of imagination. Tree houses, playing in the woods, and riding bikes, and it was quite wonderful. And actually I moved to Moscow Idaho after my divorce, with two children, a two-year-old and a six-year-old so that I could try and achieve in Moscow, Idaho, the freedom that I had had as a child and I think my kids, my brothers would say this, that we had the last, you know, fabulous childhood and I think my children feel that way about their childhood in Moscow.
LM: When did you move to Moscow?
LD: 78'
LM: 78'? Okay.
LD: Thought I'd be here for a year. Can I go back to the dating question?
LM: Oh yeah. Absolutely.
LD: Because the one thing that I wanted to tell you is one of the things that is very much in the news right now. Abortion was not legal, and it had a huge impact at least on me regarding my sex life. I was terrified of getting pregnant before I was married. And the thing is, it didn't cause me to change anything, but it was very definitely a deterrent at least in my community and I think I was not probably alone. Did sex occur? Of course, but not like it certainly has been able to be since the birth control pill.
LM: So you did not have access to birth control?
LD: No, no, not until I was married. And it was very, very early. I mean, as a matter of fact, the pill that I, you know, the pill in the early days was 10 times maybe a hundred times more powerful than it is and it ultimately was so powerful that it altered my reproductive system, to the point where I couldn't have children for almost eight years.
LM: Oh wow.
LD: Until my hormones, you know, got under control. So now it's a fraction of what it used to be. The chemicals are a fraction of what they used to be.
LM: Growing up, what sort of games that your brothers and you play?
LD: A lot of sports. Baseball, some football. My problem was that I have no depth perception because I only have the side of the one eye, so I was always lousy at it and the last one called. We did a lot of running. Had there been track for women back then, I probably would have done track. The only sports that were acceptable for women in those days was tennis, field hockey, and if you could stand it, half-court basketball. No women ever ran track back then, and the idea of what's happening now with women's basketball was absolutely unimaginable.
LM: Speaking of school, what subjects did you do in elementary school and high school, and what was your favorite?
LD: Always art. We were taught to read in reading circles out loud, and I was very embarrassed to make mistakes, so I did not like that. I did read a lot when I was a kid. You know, privately. My fifth-grade teacher, I don't remember subjects, and in elementary, my fifth-grade teacher was a returned Korean War veteran who had lost an arm. A man. And he was an outstanding teacher, and I remember that year being really exciting. He just was a great guy. Junior High. I loved again, art. I always veered toward English and the social sciences before the hard Sciences. High school, I took German and four years of Latin, loved that, took Latin again in college, and the very best course I had in high school was what we called Civics at that point. And it was taught by a man who was way ahead of the game. I graduated in 1961 from high school, and this man was already putting the Vietnam situation on the radar which was way early, and also making the importance of Civic involvement and voting important to us as high school students, and it was it was a great course.
LM: What kind of books did you read? You said you enjoyed reading.
LD: Nancy Drew. Oh dear, I don't even remember. The classics. You know, children's literature, young adult literature was not yet the big deal that it is now, so mostly the classics. Heidi, but I don't know.
LM: The Classics? What genre did you find yourself drawn to more?
LD: In books?
LM: Yes.
LD: Well, it was all fiction. I mean, I don't remember getting, you know, non-fiction serious until I was an adult. I will tell you that I did take saxophone in elementary school, and I was in saxophone in the band for two years, but by the time I got to the junior high school, and it was junior high school, not middle school. So seventh through eighth, seven, eight, nine, it was not seemly for a girl to play saxophone so that was the end of that music career. And when I did listen to music my father had loved classical and also jazz. And so those those were the things that I would I was sort of raised in the sound around.
LM: Was being seen as- because you said you quit saxophone because you wanted - it wasn't... What was the word you used? Seemly?
LD: It was definitely a man's instrument.
LM: Was that important to you, being seen being seen as feminine?
LD: No, I don't think that I saw it that way. I think I just accepted the fact that it is what it is and there may have been other interests at that point I don't remember.
LM: You mentioned you learned German and Latin in school. Did you ever travel to Germany or meet any German-speaking people to practice your language?
LD: No, I wanted to be an AFS student and go abroad, but - and I don't know what the situation is now - but it was at that time, very expensive and my family could not afford it. So I was not able to do that. I did make up for it however, because I have lived for a year in Norway, I have lived for a year in Spain, and I lived for two years, in Ukraine in the Peace Corps about 15 years ago and traveled a lot.
LM: Were you always interested in Going to other countries and learning about other countries?
LD: Oh, yeah. I mean, yeah absolutely. You know, when you grow up in a really small place, but the influence of the city was close enough. My family were Presbyterians, and we had wonderful programs in that church, in the little local church, with Lincoln University, which was an all-black University in Chester County. And so, we had these wonderful exchanges with people. We did have exchange students at that time who came to Paoli so I had Connections, but I think if you grow up in one place, you want to get out. And indeed, I wanted to get out at 18 and never went back.
LM: Was religion an important part of your life growing up?
LD: It was when I was young. It was very important to me which may have also been one of the reasons that I was kind of not one of the typical teenagers at that time during junior high and high school. I actually was, at one point in my senior year of high school, preached at the Riverside Presbyterian Church in New York City, and then in the summer of my senior year and between senior year and freshman year of college, two close people died. The father of a friend, and an uncle of mine, and sitting in the services, I came to the conclusion that death was final and that was the end of it and I've never looked back.
LM: You mentioned it wasn't common for people your age to be very involved in the church or religious.
LD: I think it was a super involvement. I would have to say. It just was a big part of my life. It was a big part of my identity I would say from 12 to 18. I always sang in the choir, I participated in various youth events. Anyway, but as I say, then all of a sudden one day, it was over and I don't know what my teenage years might have been like if I had not had that.
LM: Music seems like it was an important part of your life because you play saxophone and you mentioned singing in the choir.
LD: Well singing was belonging. And the thing is, so I sang all the way through high school. I sang in college at the first school I went to. When I moved to Moscow, I've been in a couple of musicals which was sort of fun. I was not the lead, but I was in choruses and so forth. And that's a big, that's a huge kick. When I came to Moscow, Idaho, I joined the university corral. Not the big fancy one, but the amateur one if you will, and sang for several years with that. And I don't know whether this matters to you, but I have five children and three of them are artists. Two of them are major musicians. One of them is a professional. So I got to listen to music being practiced every day, all day. Not all day. And, as a matter of fact, one of my kids is playing in Carnegie Hall on the 1st of November with the 30th Anniversary of the band Pink Martini, so it's a big part of my life.
LM: This may not be definitively within the 60s, but when did you have your children?
LD: My first child was adopted from when we were living in Norway. We adopted my daughter from Korea in 1971. And as I say, I could not get pregnant for a while, so I did not get pregnant until four years later and ended up having my first son, who will be 50 in December. And then after my divorce, I remarried when I came to Moscow and I acquired a stepson, and then, a year later produced a set of twins.
LM: So you raised them to be very artistic.
LD: Yeah. Yeah, it was pretty important for us. I mean, as I say, trying to kind of recover that really free childhood that I'd had. And they could do that here. And the benefit, of course, being that there are two universities here and they could take advantage of things like the, Lionel, Hampton Jazz Festival. When the twins were toddlers, they could stand as far away from Ray Brown as you and I are. And the thing is, uh, this was a wonderful area creatively, artistically, and musically. They are exceptional.
LM: You mentioned in school, your favorite subject was always art. What medium was your favorite?
LD: Well, when I studied at the Academy of Fine Arts, it was painting, although I would have if I had stayed there, I would have gone into printmaking. And after the kids were out of high school, I began to do art again and I have been pushing the medium of fabric behind glass paintings. I can show you some of those if you like, but at any rate, I I love, I love working with fabric. I thought I was going to be a quilter, and I made one quilt, and that was the end of that. But I got into fabric as a medium and I'm still doing that.
LM: Do you think it was in school that this creativity was sparked?
LD: I think I inherited it. My father should have, rather than being a doctor, should have been a medical illustrator because he was a very, very fine drawer. My mother was also quite artistic, so I think I came by one or two genes, but I was always good at it, and I loved it, and so it was easy for me. I also am a real fan of serious, I mean, the arts are serious stuff. Children who are educated with the arts are, usually have a leg up both from the standpoint of what it does for their brains and their openness to things and how they see and interpret, but also just pure pleasure.
LM: Before we're done, is there anything that you wanted to bring up that's really important that you say about your life? I've gotten through all my questions.
LD: I just feel like a very lucky woman.
LM: Is that because of the time that you grew up in?
LD: It's a combination of things. I have the feeling that I would have lived through some of the best years on the planet. I mean, I've gone from, I was born in the middle of World War II And went through, all those 50s that we've been talking about as a child, but as a young, you know, teenager, older teenager, I've been very fortunate with wonderful family and friends, and I feel as if, the medical advances have been an advantage to me. I think that I'm worried about where technology is taking us in terms of the distraction for children. I'm glad I'm not raising my kids right now. They all work in the industries and of course use technology all the time. But I feel I can't say that certain things that have happened to me have not had, you know, purpose, but I feel, I just feel lucky.
LM: Thank you.
- Title:
- Interview with Louise Davison
- Date Created:
- 2024-09-19
- Description:
- We talked mostly about Louise's childhood, family, and education. She expressed her overall impression of the 60s as being positive.
- Subjects:
- education gender family vietnam crm childhood media assasinations perception religion politics
- Location:
- Moscow, ID
- Latitude:
- 46.72821545
- Longitude:
- -117.0124598
- Type:
- text
- Format:
- record
- Preferred Citation:
- "Interview with Louise Davison", The Long 1960s - 2024 Fall, Center for Digital Inquiry and Learning (CDIL)
- Reference Link:
- /thelong1960s/items/davison.html
- Rights:
- In copyright, educational use permitted. Educational use includes non-commercial reproduction of text and images in materials for teaching and research purposes. For other contexts beyond fair use, including digital reproduction, please contact the University of Idaho Library Special Collections and Archives Department at libspec@uidaho.edu. The University of Idaho Library is not liable for any violations of the law by users.
- Standardized Rights:
- http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-EDU/1.0/