Interview with Dale Roha. 5/11/09. Active Aging; Meadville, PA.
Croskey: Today is the fifth of November 2009. It is approx 11:39 in the morning. My name is
Tim Croskey and I am interviewing Dale Roha. Would you please state your full and spell your
full name. Just for the record.
Roha: Yes. Uh. I’m Dale Roha and I spell it R O H A.
C: And, uh, what is your date of birth?
R: Fourth month and the first day. ’27.
C: Mhm hmm. And where were you born?
R: Meadville.
C: You were born in Meadville. Where did you grow up? Did you grow up in Meadville?
R: In the country.
C: In the country?
R: I was born and we all lived out in the country.
C: Umhm. Was it in the vicinity of Meadville?
R: No just outside.
C: Just outside?
R: Bout a mile and a half.
C: Oh. Ok. Not very far then.
R: On the Star Route. Yeah.
C: Umhm. Did you have any brothers or sisters?
R: Yeah. There was eight in our family. Uh. Six brothers and two sisters.
C: Where were you placed in there?
R: I was the last one.
C: You were the youngest (laughs)?
R: I was the baby.
C: What was it like being the youngest?
R: Oh, it was alright, I guess. I wasn’t the smartest though. I… I went to ninth grade or so. For
a bout half a year.
C: Where did you go to school?
R: Uh, I went to two schools. To Ellis Hills, that was in the country and uh, in 1939, I uh, I had
to go to (unintelligible) School up on Williamson Road you know. And it was a, uh, elementary
school, or a consolidated. Eight grades there was. But I didn’t start there ‘til… I went to grade
school in Ellis Hills. Why, I uh, didn’t pass the fifth grade and, uh, it wasn’t till ‘39 you know,
1939. Three and a half years. I didn’t pass the eighth grade the first time and uh, then they sent
me to high school and uh…
C: Did you have to walk to school?
R: Oh no. Bus. Well, at first, when I went to the country school, you know, we had to walk, but
it wasn’t far I think.
C: How far was it do you think?
R: Half a year. Oh I mean half a mile.
C: Half a mile? What were the other kids like? How were they dressed? How did they act?
R: They acted pretty good. They uh… I did get in a fight with a kid once. (laughs) With the
Gleason kid. We was fighting there and I uh… maybe thats why I passed on. (chuckles)
Passed on to the sixth grade, I passed on to. Then, uh.. then we went to uh over to
(unintelligible) school.
C: Mhm hmm. How were they… how did the other kids.. and you. How did you guys dress?
Did you just wear everyday work clothes or..?
R: Yeah. Everyday. And we used to play ball. Stuff like that… (pause)
C: Did you do anything else for fun?
R: No. I guess.. I mean uh.. I can think.. uh, and we would always run around the schoolhouse,
you know. Play tag or something. And, uh… Toilets, you know. We didn’t have good toilets,
uh, in the grade school there.
C: Now your teachers at school, did they ever talk about President Roosevelt or anything he had
done? Do you remember?
R: No, uh, I don’t believe they talked too much about… uh, Mrs. Brown. She would tell us the
story ‘bout Heidi, you know, uh the girl in Switzerland. And, uh, for an hour she’d read to us
everyday. She gave a (unintelligible) though. Brother, my brother and two sisters, or sister
would, uh, Paul, you know. He would get the furnace, you know. Get the furnace going and
uh… (pause) And we’d have our Christmas, our Christmas party, you know.
C: Had them at the school?
R: Oh yeah. I was Moses. (laughs) I danced… did a little dance. (laughs) And, uh, brother
Paul he was Santa. He was big you know. (unintelligible) (pause)
C: Now I’d like to talk about your family maybe for a little bit more. What, uh, did your father
do for a living?
R: He was always a farmer. And, uh, dairy…
C: Dairy farmer? What kind of cattle did you guys raise?
R: Jersey. Always. And, uh, you know he died and then brother, he seemed to buy other cows
like Aryshires, oh and the Holsteins.
C: Now growing up, did you do a lot of chores to help your dad?
R: (pause) Yeah… I worked pretty good. Uh, I would go with him on the milk route. And he
had a truck there… that was in the ‘30’s… But uh, then, uh… we did retail. We sold it retail and
then around ‘40, ‘42 we did it wholesale. (pause) Yeah. We… we had the hay at home. Did
you just want to know about the ‘30’s? Or… the ‘40’s?
C: We can do, we can go into the 40’s, but kinda like to stay more toward the 30’s. Whatever
you would like to tell me.
R: Oh. Ok. Ellis Hills school, ya know. They had a hill and we’d go sled riding. And my
sister, she dead now. Just died a year and a half ago. (pause)
C: I’m sorry. That’s too bad. (pause) Now, what about your mom? What did she do?
R: Oh, she had to keep us. I mean, cook. She’d cook and all eight of us would be at the table,
you know. And dad got mad at me once. I, uh.. he was shaving, you know. And he whipped
me, ‘cause I was running around the house, you know. I’ll never forget that. Razor strop.
(laughs)
C: Did you like growing up on the farm then?
R: Yeah. I. We, uh… We had two places out there. They moved across from the Gleason farm.
But they owned it you know. There’s no barn there now, though. Down, you know. It fell
down, you know. Over one hundred years old.
C: Now did you have any family that lived nearby? Any grandparents? Or aunts and uncles?
R: Oh, my sister, you know, they have some great grandchildren out there. Live out on
Carmack road. And Paul has a farm out on Dixon road.
C: When you were growing up, though, did you have any family that lived near you?
R: Oh. Had aunts and uncles. Yeah Rohas had… Dad had one cousin and they was almost
next door to us.
C: What was that like? Were you guys close?
R: Almost a half mile. Not a half mile. Maybe two blocks. Uncle Bill. See, the Rohas, they
were dairy farmers. Nick Roha… and I guess there were seven dairies out there. Ernst is out
there and he is taking care of it. He’s just… you know, bales hay off of it. He don’t have no
cows there.
C: Now, growing up on the farm in the 30’s, did you notice anything that changed?
R: It wasn’t till the 40’s ‘til we got a new truck there and uh, you know. Bout ‘41. A Chevy,
you know, pickup. And, uh, yeah. I used to feed the cows and stuff like that. Or milk them.
We used to milk by hand, you know.
C: Now when you got the new truck, was that because you had saved up enough money for it
over the years then?
R: Must have been. (laughs) They… got another truck. A blue truck. Back around ‘46 or ‘47.
We, uh, we went into wholesale milk. We would sell to an uncle in town there. Uncle Earl.
C: Did you guys have a tractor then or farm with horses?
R: Oh, I imagine. When dad.. they had horses. When I was probably not too old, I remember
having some horse. Two horses. And then tractors. (pause)
C: Do you know when your dad bought the tractor?
R: Uh.. Must have been the early ‘40’s. Oh, yeah, bought a Minneapolis. (laughs) You know,
one of those. And, uh… Farmalls. Had Farmalls and Allis Chalmers and uh.. You see in the
50’s, I was up in the state hospital. So they bought some tractors.
C: When you were growing up did you notice if any of the other farmers had tractors?
R: Oh yeah. You know Gleasons had a big farm, rolling hills. And I believe they had John
Deeres. And, uh, my cousin, Jim, he lives pretty close to the schoolhouse, you know, he um,
they had tractors. Farmalls. (pause)
C: What were the holidays like? Did you guys have a big Thanksgiving dinner?
R: Yeah. Pretty big Thanksgiving. Christmas. Uh, sister and I had to go get a tree from, uh, my
cousins land. And uh, Paul, got the, we cut one from my uncle, or cousin, and put it in the
schoolhouse. There, uh, you know, Max Roha, you know my cousins. They, uh, held onto
(unintelligible).
C: Did you get gifts at Christmastime?
R: Yeah. I believe I did.
C: Were they… What were they like to you remember?
R: Mostly candy. Candy and a shirt.
C: What types of food did you eat at these dinners? Did you have any special.. special holiday
foods that you had?
R: Probably chicken. Potatoes.
C: What about… How ‘bout birthdays? Were they celebrated?
R: I don’t believe we celebrated them. Oh wait.. They’d put a cake on once and a while.
Candles.
C: So you didn’t get birthday presents like people do today?
R: No. But, uh, (pause)
C: Now when you were a kid, did you go into town quite a bit? Or did you stay out…?
R: We went to the movies once and a while. Saturdays. My brother… (pause)
C: Did ya? What kind of movies did you see, do you remember?
R: Oh… When I was a kid, I went with some friends… uh.. yeah, you know, the Gleason
boys… and they’d take me to see, uh, you know, Hopalong Cassidy. They liked that. Bill…
(laughs)
C: Now, when you went into town, did you notice any signs of depression, you know, hard
times? Or did it just…?
R: No. I didn’t notice any.
C: Now did your family have a radio?
R: Oh yeah.
C: Did you listen to it quite a bit?
R: Yeah. I… probably an hour every day. But, I… they’d listen to boxing when Joe Lewis and
them were boxing. Dad… dad always liked baseball games, you know. He… I guess he was a
Cleveland fan (laughs) Oh he, uh, managed, you know, they had a little team he managed them.
(upon seeing gum on his glasses case) Oh, I got this stuff on there. It was in my pocket. Gum, I
guess.
C: So he was a baseball fan?
R: Yeah. He liked baseball. Or football too. (pause)
C: Do you ever remember listening to Roosevelt on the radio?
R: I don’t believe I ever heard him on radio?
C: Do you know if your parents listened to him?
R: They probably did. Yeah.
C: Do you know what they thought of Roosevelt? Did they ever voice their opinions?
R: Yeah. They liked him.
C: Did they?
R: Yep.
C: Do you know why?
R: I don’t know. I believe ‘cause he was Democrat. Or then Welker run against him… or
Dewey. (unintelligible)
C: Do you remember any rationing? Were there anythings rationed?
R: No. I don’t know. They might have rationed. I know they rationed in World War Two,
didn’t they? Maybe that’s what it was. (pause)
C: The other day you told me you are a member of the Presbyterian Church. Were you raised in
the Presbyterian Church?
D: Oh.. I didn’t go there ‘til I got out of the state hospital in ’74. But, uh, you know the Latter
Days church up there on Park Avenue? I got my baptized there. ‘Bout six years ago. (pause)
C: That’s nice.
R: I’m Christian.
C: Did you go to church when you were a kid?
R: No. I didn’t go too much. Didn’t go to church.
C: Did your parents go to church?
R: He said he was a Catholic. I don’t know. And, uh, they didn’t go much to church. (pause)
Do you go to church?
C: I do. I go to the Methodist Church.
R: That’s right. You told me that.
C: Now, as you were growing up, did you notice any major, drastic changes in any… in the
economy around Meadville? I know as a kid it’s kind of tough to notice those things.
R: Yeah. I believe they just put up Channellock ‘bout ten years ago. Of course, I guess I wasn’t
a kid then, I mean. Oh, I don’t know too much about…
C: Did you notice people out of work at all? You know, did you notice any unemployed?
R: No. they, uh, brothers worked at (unintelligible) factory. Keystone over in Geneva, you
know. But that was after World War Two. No, the factories there, they had and Talon. And that
was all that I…
C: Now, I did some digging here, and I found a few papers. Now I made copies so that you can
have what I found. The main thing I want to show you now is this picture. Do you ever
remember seeing this picture before?
R: I doubt it.
C: Now that’s not a very good photocopy, but I found that in the records down at the Historical
Society.
R: August Roha. He was… they were four brothers. That might have been my dad here. Could
be.
C: I have this thing here. Somebody had taken the time to write the names out. You know, as to
where they were sitting.
R: Yeah. Oh.
C: And they say that face is you.
R: And that’s my mother, huh?
C: That’s what they’re saying. Bertha. Dale. 1928. A year old. (laughs)
C: I didn’t know if you had ever seen it and thought I’d bring it with me.
D: See Victor. And James. Now there’s two Victors. Yeah. He’s a cousin one.
C: You had a cousin Victor and a brother Victor?
D: Yeah… Earl G. That’s George. My uncle. Now do you know who these ones are?
C: Is that your grandmother, I think?
D: Yeah. Martha.
C: And then I take it that these guys are probably all your uncles. Well, this is your dad and
these would be your uncles.
R: Mhm.
C: Were you all a pretty close-knit family? Did it seem to you?
R: Oh yeah. They… my uncle would come out and see us once in a while on the farm. See…
Alice. They’re my… Alice and Helen were both my aunts. And uh… Jack Cole. He was, you
know, Aunt Helen’s first husband. Where’s Ernest?
C: I think that’s Ernest.
R: Max there. That’s probably Max. (pause) Is this Irma or…
C: She’d be that one, I believe.
R: She was something like a tomboy, you know. Never went to school. She called me a puppy.
Puppy. And then... Yeah, they went out California. Uncle Walt, they moved out there, his
family, with Clarence you know.
C: What did they move out there for?
R: Hmm. I don’t know. They worked out there at the Lockheed.
C: Oh, Ok.
R: And then… Walt. (pause)
C: That building in the background, is that a familiar building to you?
R: I don’t know. That might be our house or something.
C: I just didn’t know if you recognized it.
R: Is this Clarence?
C: I’d say that’s Clarence.
R: Uncle Walt. They, uh, moved out to California in, uh, must’ve been the early 30’s. There
was four boys.
C: Now when they were back, did they ever talk anything about any life out in California?
Tough times?
R: Probably to my dad.
C: Mhm hmm.
R: I remember last time… Uncle Walt. They moved back.
C: Oh, I do have some other here you might want to leave your glasses out. I found this. Was
your granddad August Adam?
R: August.
C: Now I think…
R: Wait a minute. I think… that’s August? Oh, did they call him Gus?
C: I didn’t come across a Gus. Maybe I have wrong information.
R: They called him Gus. See the Germans, we’re mainly German I guess. And they settled
mainly in Wisconsin.
C: Here. You can look.
R: Boy.
C: And then there’ s a little bit more information about him over here.
R: My dad’s boy, his name was Edward. August was his middle name. Yeah. Dunham. Carl.
Now who’s that, his wife?
C: Yeah, Apparently.
R: Oh, Margaret. Margaret died in ’41.
C: I believe he died long before you were born, didn’t…
R: Now my one aunt, you know, diabetic. I mean cancer. Must’ve been Margaret. Lived on
North St. with her brother Earl, you know.
C: Um hmm.
R: (reading papers) Lost his barn? Wow, they had a hell of a fire. Horse farm? All his
contents. Now what kind of horse is that?
C: Percheron.
R: Percheron. Hmm. Maybe I heard him talk about that. My sister, uh,.. Yeah, we had… I
remember riding a couple horses down there. Fred and… what was his name? Fred and Donner.
C: Those were the horses’ names?
R: Yeah.
C: You rode horses? Did you guys growing up have a bicycle or anything?
R: Yeah. My brother had a motorcycle. Harley Davidson. And I used to ride a bicycle ‘round
the barn. Parked over n the corner. I don’t know what happened to it. Uh. Oh yeah, brothers
had two motorcycles. (pause)
C: How many cows did you guys milk then?
D: I don’t know how many then. But around 50 in ’75, they had. I mean, when I got… yeah.
There must’ve been same when I got home from the state hospital. Not counting heifers.
C: Is there anything else you would like to bring up? Something I might not have mentioned.
Anything you would like to tell me?
R: I don’t know. You wanna have dinner? Or.. I’m gonna go have dinner.
C: Anything for the interview? Anything about your childhood that you want… that you think
is important?
R: No. I guess that’s all.
C: Why, I thank you very much.