Browse Interviews

John Tate was born in 1947 in Youngstown and moved to Cleveland in 1970. In this 2009 interview, Tate discusses his childhood and young adulthood, focusing in particular on music and race relations. Tate describes the rock and roll and R & B music he listened to as a youngster and its significance to his life. The issue of race relations enters in to the discussion of his development to adulthood, and he describes some instances of racism he experienced while working different jobs early on…

Jean Cotton was born in Cleveland in 1946. Much of this 2009 interview centers around Cotton's experiences growing up in Cleveland and Ravenna, Ohio under the guidance of her strict, minister father. Against his wishes, she listened to a good deal of rock and R & B music, the content and meaning of which she describes in great detail. She left home at age twenty, and music remained an important part of her life as she married and eventually had children of her own. Cotton also shares her…

Mike Olszewski is a newscaster for WKSU-FM and a professor of communications at Kent State University and the University of Akron, as well as the author of several books. He was born in Cleveland in 1953. The interview discusses his childhood, racial issues, music, and the media.

Sheila Blecman is the owner of Coventry Cats. She was born in Elyria in 1946, and later went to Ohio State University before finding a teaching job in LA. She moved back to Cleveland in the 1980s and opened Coventry Cats. The interview is about her childhood in Elyria where she worked in her father's grocery store, race relations in the 50s and 60s, and her love of music.

Jamilah Zand was born in Cleveland in 1954. This 2009 interview discusses her childhood, racial issues, and the music she grew up with. Zand, who grew up on Cleveland's east side, shares memories of attending concerts, listening to the radio, and sampling new music from her different relatives' record collections. She also comments on the music being released today and how its message is often different from the music she grew up with. Race and race relations in Cleveland are another topic…

John Wilson is a musician and music industry veteran who was born in Cleveland in 1949. In this 2009 interview he discusses growing up on Cleveland's east side, his life long involvement with rock and roll music, and the issue of racism, both within the music industry and in Cleveland. As his family was one of the first black families in his east side neighborhood, Wilson experienced racism at a very young age. He also developed a love for rock and roll as a child, and he describes this as well,…

Bill Spoon was born in Alabama in 1942 and came to Cleveland in 1960, becoming involved in the city's music scene. He is the founder of The Soul Notes singing group. This 2009 interview discusses his childhood in Alabama and his life in Cleveland, focusing on the community of African-American musicians in Cleveland in the 1960s and 1970s that he was a part of. He ties in his discussion of these artists and their music with the broader issue of racism, which African-Americans in the city faced…

Linda Shisila was born in Cleveland in 1950 and grew up in Parma, a suburb on Cleveland's west side. This 2010 interview discusses her childhood, focusing on the music she listened to throughout it. Shisila was an avid fan of rock and roll and saw it as a great form of fun and entertainment. Comparing the music from her childhood to that of today, she laments the negative messages found in much of the latter, preferring the happier songs that she remembers growing up with.

George Hendricks was born in Alabama in 1942 and moved to Cleveland at the age of 7. He is a singer with The Hesitations and has been performing music since he was a teenager. This 2009 interview discusses his long career as a professional R & B musician in Cleveland, describing the bands and the places in which he played, his struggles to make money playing music, and how he feels the nature of both the musicians and the music industry as a whole have changed since the 1960s. A recurrent…

Lynn Tolliver was born in Cleveland in 1950. He started working in radio at age 18 and is still in the music industry as a radio announcer and song writer; he is also an author. The interview discusses his childhood, family, race issues and music.

Lou Ragland is a musician, singer, and record industry veteran. He was born in 1942 in Cleveland and grew up in the Cedar-Central and then Hough areas of the city. The interview covers his childhood in segregated Cleveland and his life in music. He recalls being the first in the neighborhood to have a television set. Ragland discusses his musical influences, especially radio; buying records at Record Rendezvous; experiences being an African American musician amid growing white interest in Black…

Joan and James Orosz were born in Cleveland in 1942 and grew up on the city's east side. This 2009 interview with the husband and wife deals with the the music they listened to growing up as well as race relations. The two remember listening to the ethnic music their parents favored before developing a liking for rock and roll and R & B. Joan and James also talk about their experiences growing up in Cleveland, describing the schools they went to, the neighborhoods they lived in, and the kinds…

Charm Warren-Celestine was born in Cleveland in 1950 and grew up in the Wade Park neighborhood. Her parents owned several record stores from the 1960s through the 1990s, Dean's House of Jazz. She worked for her parents and continued her love of music with a career in radio sales and artist promotions. This 2009 interview opens Warren-Celestine sharing childhood memories of her parents' store, the radio stations she listened to, and the venues around Cleveland at which she saw concerts. She…

Timothy White describes his mother, Margaret Louise White, the second female pilot to be issued a commercial license in the state of Ohio. White also shares and describes artifacts from his mother's flying days.

Barbara Koch Lindamood was a flight attendant for Eastern for one year in the 1960s. She donated her uniform, notes, and other related materials to the International Women's Air and Space Museum. In this interview she talks about the materials she is donating and about her time in flight school and as a stewardess.

Mary Ann Davis discusses the life of her sister, pilot Margaret Louise White.

Cleveland native Joyce Pezak discusses her experiences working for Jack & Heintz Company during WWII. She originally worked on the main floor anodizing parts for airplanes, but was moved after she developed an allergic reaction to a chromic acid. Pezak also discusses her life and experiences in Cleveland.

Daughter of Margaret Louise White, Tonya McCarter, talks about what her mother was like on a personal level. Although she cannot recall much about her mother's life as a pilot, she does elaborate on her mother's progressive attitude and resistance to conformity.

Connie Luhta is the president of the International Women's Air & Space Museum. She was an air race pilot during the 1960s and 1970s, including the Powder Puff Derby and Angel Derby. She currently manages the Concord Airport in Concord Township, an airport she and her late husband owned.

Nadine Nagle discusses her experiences as a pilot in the WASP program, although it was disbanded while she was still in training at the end of WWII. She gives details of her training and her experience in the program. She also describes here experiences with the Red Cross.

Pat Stanzel is a lifelong Cleveland resident. She was a "Rosie the Riveter" during World War II. She discusses her time working as the only female in various research labs after the war. After she married she went on to teach and was a teacher at a number of schools in Cleveland. During the busing program designed to desegregate the Cleveland schools, the teaching staff was desegregated first and she was transferred to a school on the east side where she was the only white teacher. She discusses…

Ruth Reep is a lifelong Ohio resident. She learned to fly during the 1950s. Her first experience in a plane was the result of winning a magazine contest that offered a plane ride as the prize. Reep was a member of the Civil Air Patrol. She and her husband frequented the Cleveland Air Races, and she owns a piece of Bill Odum's downed plane. Reep recounts maintaining her own plane and spending time with other pilots. She now lives in West Salem, Ohio, with her daughter.

Joan Mace was born in 1924. She worked at Curtiss-Wright and joined the Flying Club to get enough hours to interview for WASP program, but World War II ended before she could do so. She became a flight instructor at Ohio University and eventually became chair of the aviation department. She worked for Ohio University for 30 years and taught more than 1,000 students. She also participated in several air race events. Upon retirement, she moved to Florida and flew for the U.S. Coast Guard…

Gayle Gorman Freeman is the president of Manairco, a family company that produces airstrip lighting. She is the daughter of two pilots and has received several pilot certifications, including helicopter and glider licenses. She has been involved in numerous aviation groups, including the 99s, the Whirly Girls, and the Young Eagles program.

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Thelma Miller was part of the last class of women trained in the WASP program in Sweetwater, TX. After WASP training, she became a flight instructor and moved back to Ohio. She stopped flying in her 60s. She attended a ceremony in Washington DC for WASPs.

Cady Coleman, a NASA astronaut, talks about how she became interested in flight and her experiences when she worked on space shuttle missions at NASA.

Cris Takacs is the collections manager at the International Women's Air and Space Museum in Cleveland, Ohio. Takacs shares the history of the museum and the materials in the museum's collection including a pamphlet from a passenger on the Hindenburg and a mannequin that was owned by a seamstress from NASA who sewed monkey suits.

Toni Mullee is the executive director of the International Women's Air and Space Museum. Mullee shares the history of the museum and her experiences as executive director there.

Cris Takacs interviews Pat Hange and Mary Feik, two pilots and aircraft mechanics, about their lives as women aviators.

Edna Paul was a pioneer aviatrix during the golden age of flight, first flying as a teenager in the late 1920s. Paul continued as a pilot into the 1940s. Originally from St. Louis, she frequented nearby airfields and attended the Cleveland National Air Races. Paul discusses the circumstances surrounding her time as a pilot, focusing on her teenage years, a record-setting altitude flight, an anniversary flight made after her 100th birthday, and the sentiment of her family and friends concerning…

Mary Shilmiller worked as a Rosie the Riveter at Firestone in Akron during summers. She spent 50 years as a teacher, with most of her career spent teaching special education in Euclid. Her brother was a pilot.

Dawn Mulson Full became a pilot with the Civilian Pilot Training program during World War II. Dawn was friends with influential female pilots Caro Bayley Bosca and Florence Boswell. She became an air traffic controller after going through training. She worked as an air traffic controller throughout the war and quit after she was married in 1947. Dawn only flew for a short time and participated in only one air race. Dawn is still a member of the 99s and wears a bracelet that her father created…

Mariane Dyson worked on Mission Control at NASA during shuttle missions. She discusses the details of her job and her experiences working as a woman at NASA in a male dominated field.

Sister Diane Therese Pinchot is an Ursuline Sister and Head of the Art Department at Ursuline College. A Cleveland native, Sister Diane decided to join the Ursuline community prior to going to high school. She designed and built the altar dedicated to the four churchwomen murdered in El Salvador on 2 December 1980. In this interview, she discusses her decision to enter the religious community, the love and support she found within the Ursuline Sisterhood, and the power of art as a tool to…

Christine Rody is a sister in the Vincentian Sisters of Charity order in Cincinnati, Ohio. She served on the Cleveland Latin American Mission team to El Salvador with Sr. Martha Owen and Sr. Dorothy Kazel. In this interview, she discusses her decision to enter the convent and her time in El Salvador. Sr. Christine reflects on the work she helped perform and the impact that work has had on the Salvadoran people. She also describes the situation in El Salvador both before and after the escalation…

Dr. David Goldberg continues his story in this third interview. He discusses his time as part of collectives that produced Midnight Special and the New York City Star newspapers in the early 1970s. Midnight Special was a newspaper committed to covering prison life throughout the United States. Content was written by inmates and published by the collective. The New York City Star was a left-oriented newspaper for New York City. He discusses the nature of his work at and his eventual leaving of…

Sister Martha Owen is an Ursuline Sister. She served as mission partner to Sr. Dorothy Kazel in El Salvador from 1976 to 1979. In this interview, Sr. Martha discusses her childhood and her decision to enter the convent as well as her mission work in El Salvador. She worked in several villages including La Union, Zaragoza, and La Libertad. She goes into detail regarding the living conditions of the people of El Salvador as well as the conditions she, and the rest of the mission team had to adapt…

Sister Sheila Marie Tobbe is an Ursuline Sister and served as a member of the Cleveland Latin American Mission team during the 1990s. In this interview, she shares her experiences in El Salvador, working and living with the Salvadoran people during the civil war and the nature of the work performed there. She discusses an earlier visit to El Salvador during Christmas 1979 and New Year's 1980 when she stayed with Sister Dorothy Kazel and the impact that trip had on her desire to serve as part of…

Dr. David Goldberg, professor of history at Cleveland State University, discusses his involvement in anti-Vietnam war protest activities. He talks about the activism on campus during his time at the University of Wisconsin - Madison from 1962-1966, including CIA Truth Teams, Socialist Club, Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), and other activist groups. He also relates his story of turning in his draft card, sending a letter to the government outlining his reasons for resisting the draft,…

This is a follow-up interview to Dr. Goldberg’s initial interview. He discusses in detail his experience in prison as a result of refusing his draft induction physical. He relates the prison conditions, various jobs, and means of keeping busy. While at Danbury prison he helped organize a black history course and a series of guest speakers from local universities, including Columbia. He spent time in three different federal prisons over the course of his 19 month prison sentence. Dr. Goldberg…

Daniel Brustein is a physician and industrial hygienist and has lived in Cleveland Heights, Ohio since 1976. In this interview, Mr. Brustein discusses his experiences as part of the anti-war movement during the 1960s. Specifically, he covers the topic of draft resistance and his involvement with Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and the Boston-based resistance groups The Resistance and the Boston Draft Resistance Group. He was also a part of the Pentagon Protest in 1967. Mr. Brustein…

Father Doug Koesel is a Catholic Priest serving at Blessed Trinity Church in Cleveland, Ohio. He was part of the Cleveland Latin American Mission team in El Salvador from 1981 to 1986. In this interview, he discusses his experience in El Salvador, working with the people, and trying to educate Americans on the situation in El Salvador. He also discusses the two trials connected to the murder of Sisters Dorothy Kazel, Ita Ford, Maura Clarke, and Jean Donovan. Fr. Koesel reflects on how the…

Father Rob Reidy is the pastor at La Sagrada Familia in Cleveland, Ohio. In this interview, he reflects on his time in El Salvador as part of the Cleveland Latin American Mission team. He served in El Salvador on two separate occasions, first in the 1980s during the El Salvador Civil War and later in the late 1990s-early 2000s. Father Reidy discusses the conditions and nature of his work while in El Salvador, including the attitude of the military junta towards Catholic church workers and the…

Father Bob Begin is a native Clevelander from a large Catholic family. In this interview, he discusses growing up in Cleveland and the forces that impacted his decision to become a priest. Father Begin discusses the changes that occurred in the Catholic Church as a result of Vatican 2 and how those changes influenced his own ministry. He also discusses his involvement in anti-Vietnam activism. His activism included taking over a midnight mass at St. John's Cathedral in Cleveland, Ohio and…

Bishop Anthony M. Pilla served as the Bishop of the Diocese of Cleveland for twenty-five years. Appointed in 1980, his first official act was to receive the bodies of Sister Dorothy Kazel and Jean Donovan from El Salvador. In this interview, Bishop Pilla reflects on his time as Bishop of Cleveland and on the martyrdom of "The Four Church Women." He discusses the political side of sending a team of missionaries to a foreign country and on dealing with politicians in both the United States and El…

Martha Eakin of the Shaker Lakes Nature Center discusses her mother, Jean Eakin. Jean was a major figure in the battle against highway development through the Shaker Lakes in the 1960s. The grassroots campaign, often referred to as "the freeway fight," was started by Jean Eakin and quickly grew to involve numerous citizens, politicians, and community groups. The role played by Cuyahoga County Commissioner Albert Porter, a major proponent of highway development, is also discussed at length. After…

Kay Fuller, a founding member of the Shaker Lakes Nature Center, discusses the "Shaker Freeway Fight," in which a coalition of local activists successfully stopped the construction of a new highway through Shaker Lakes during the 1960s. This experience laid the groundwork for the creation of the Nature Center. Fuller discusses many changes over the years at the Nature Center, including alteration of the landscape, educational programming, and an abandoned plan to build an $8.5 million…

Hope and Stanley Adelstein, lifelong residents of Cleveland Heights, discuss their experiences as supporters of the Shaker Lakes Nature Center. The couple describe their role in the grassroots battle to stop highway construction through the Shaker Lakes during the 1960s, which laid the groundwork for the creation of the Center. The Adelsteins were also involved with the founding of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, which is discussed in some detail. Stanley Adelstein, an active member of the…

Billie Smith of Shaker Lakes Nature Center describes her involvement with the Center, providing details on the history of the Center, recreation and public events, staff development, and educational programming. Smith also discusses the "Red Raider" campground (near Chagrin Falls, Ohio), which was started by her husband Ralston Fox Smith in 1933 as part of a teaching program at Shaker Heights' Malvern School. Actor Paul Newman, a Shaker Heights native, is also mentioned for having attended the…