Where possible, interviewee names and corresponding theme are attached to a photo. If you click on the theme/name, you will be taken to a page with the audio recorded clip. On that page, there will be a brief biographical data of the interviewee, the timestamp of the audio recording, a written transcript of the audio recording, keywords, and recommended citation.
-
Mr. Jim Taylor
Maureen Elgersman-Lee
Mr. Jim Taylor (born in 1946 at Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston, Maine)
-
Reverend Albert Jackson and Mrs. Clemmie Jackson
Maureen Elgersman-Lee
Reverend Albert Jackson and Mrs. Clemmie Jackson (born in Slabfork, Virginia; age 61; lived in Maine for 43 years) and Mrs. Clemmie Jackson (born March 1948 in Marengo County, Alabama; age 55; lived in Maine for 3.5 years)
Audio Clip Transcript:
Okay. And are there other types of jobs that you have held? You're also pastor of…Christ Temple Church? Can you talk about that? How recent that has been? A little bit of that history? “It's been about a couple of weeks ago…that I was installed…And, um, mm…I was…I was assistant pastor…And -- and I was the assistant pastor there for about 40 years.” Okay. Great. Um, if l can just take a -- a moment to ask you since we're talking about Christ Temple, ah, and talking about your role as pastor, if l could ask you -- if you could say just a -- a few things about Reverend Isaac Jackson -- the late Reverend Isaac Jackson. He was a man who, when I envisioned this project, I would have wanted to interview. And maybe, um, this could be an opportunity to say some things about him. “Yeah...Yeah. Ah, he was my brother. And, ah, actually he was a man of vision because we started on 85 Dennison Street, a little small church and, ah -- and it was converted, ah, um, from a storefront into a church. And, ah, it was -- and he was here for about 35 years. And then -- then we moved from Dennison Street from where we are located now. And, ah, as I say, he was a man of vision. And he -- he was a, ah -- what am I trying to say, he, um, was also a person that, ah, stuck to his, ah, conviction and I – I think it's what made him -- made him so great. And, ah, even though we had struggles -- but he -- he stood to his convictions and he didn't -- he didn't ever -- ah, variegate for what he believed in. I think that's what made him such a strong leader.”
-
Mr. James Mathews
Maureen Elgersman Lee
Mr. James Mathews (age 59; born 1941 in Portland Maine; married with five children; lived in Maine all his life – lived in South Portland for over 26 years)
Audio Cip Transcript:
“Well, basically we provided a good roof over their head and they had plenty to eat. [laughter] We attempted to keep them clothed and so on and so forth. I believe as far as their schooling is concerned, they did not choose to go to school. Like my son is a firefighter, so when he finally decided what he wanted to do, he was able to go to school on his own to become qualified. I have another daughter that when she was living in Florida she went to school down there. In fact, I have two children that lived in Florida for a while and they went to school in Florida for other education, to gain knowledge in that sense. So basically I haven't really provided college education for them because they at the time didn't require it or didn't seem to be needing it at the moment. We have helped them in other ways, you know, financially and other ways to keep them going ahead.”
-
Mr. Rupert Richardson
Chan Prum
A clip of Mr. Rupert Richardson talking about his education and employment background.
-
Mr. James Sheppard clip 1
Sanela Zukic
Mr. James Sheppard
(born in New York City in 1924; both his parents immigrated from Antigua in the West Indies to Canada, then they came to the United States in 1923; moved to Maine in 1971)
Audio clip transcript:
“Okay, my family. I have three boys and a girl. I've been married twice. And when I married the second time-I had one son the first marriage-when I remarried, my wife had a daughter, so that made two children right off the bat. And then I had three more children after her. And that comes up to five, right? They all started school in New York City. They all attended public school in New York City until I moved up here. In 1971 I moved to Maine. And they transferred to the local schools in Westbrook; they completed their school in Westbrook. They all went on to college one at a time. And finally the last daughter completed college up at Bates College a few years ago. I attended all the graduations, but I really couldn't even tell you the dates. One son graduated from USM and the youngest boy graduated from MIT-Massachusetts Institute of Technology-in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Starting with him. He is a professor now in Alabama teaching aerospace engineering; his name is Eric. E-R-I-C. The other boy lives in Kittery, and he's into marketing; that's Robert. R-O-B-E-R-T. He's into marketing. Unfortunately, our daughter passed away in Florida. She contracted something and just couldn't handle it, and she passed away two years ago in Florida. I forgot to mention her before, that's because she passed away. And I have a son in New York City who's a horticulturalist-that's a form of agriculture-in New York City. His name is Arthur. A-R-T-H-U-R…”
-
Mr. James Sheppard clip 2
Sanela Zukic
Mr. James Sheppard
(born in New York City in 1924; both his parents immigrated from Antigua in the West Indies to Canada, then they came to the United States in 1923; moved to Maine in 1971)
Audio clip transcript:
“My experiences raising children? Well, seeing to it that they attended school and seeing to it that they did their homework. That sort of thing. That's standard I guess; regular stuff, I guess. I don't know how to answer that. Between my wife and I, we saw to it that they did a lot of reading. And we did a lot of traveling. We did a lot of traveling to the Caribbean and South America, and we took them with us. In addition to seeing to it that they did their work at school. And they excelled, especially the one that's a professor now. The youngest one gained. You know, you learn a lot. You don't know anything with your first son; you get better as you have more children. By the time number five was born, we knew exactly how to channel things. And I think that's why he came out number one. With my first son, I didn't learn anything. [laughter] I shouldn't say that; he's the horticulturalist in New York.”
