Wenzel, Ruth, 1992 May 12, Marshfield, Wisconsin
Biography/History: Ruth Wenzel was born on September 21, 1915, into a family that would eventually include six children, three boys and three girls. Her mother was born in Marshfield in 1893 and continues to live there, and her father, a sausage-maker, was born in Germany. Like many of the residents of Marshfield, Ms. Wenzel's German-Catholic background was fundamental in establishing her character. She attended schools affiliated with her parish church and was graduated from McKinley High School in Marshfield, now called Marshfield Senior High. After graduation, she spent a year at home with her mother, helping to take care of her younger siblings, and then got a job in the stenographic corps at the Marshfield Clinic. After beginning as a clerk, she advanced to become a supervisor in the secretarial department at the clinic. She started work on May 9, 1934, and continues to volunteer at the clinic to this day. She lives with her mother in the same home in Marshfield in which she grew up.
Scope and Content Note: In her interview, Ms. Wenzel discussed many issues relating to being a single working woman in a small town in Wisconsin. She is also able to address many issues relating directly to World War II, because she had two brothers and several other relatives who were in the service, as well as several friends who were in the WACs and the WAVES. Particularly interesting about her work was that she was hired in 1934 by a woman who was the manager of the clinic at the time. It did not seem surprising to her that a woman ran the clinic, and she stated that the only men at the clinic were generally doctors, with all other positions of responsibility filled by women. She also discusses the clinic's central position in Marshfield in general. Other topics that she discussed included her social life in Marshfield in the absence of her male peer group; her active participation in sports, such as basketball, softball, and most particularly bowling; her brothers in the armed forces; a trip that she took to visit her brother at the Air Corps base in Enid, Oklahoma; the very important place of the Catholic Church in her life, before, during, and after the war; and her family's reaction to wartime shortages and rationing.