Zmuda, Dorothy, 1992 June 16, Stevens Point, Wisconsin:
Recorded interview and transcript available online.: Dorothy (Roshak) Zmuda was born on February 1, 1923, in Stevens Point, Wisconsin. Ms. Zmuda comes from a large family with five sisters and four brothers. Her father's background was Polish and her mother's background was German and Polish. Her mother spoke German, Polish, and English. Ms. Zmuda was raised in Stevens Point and was graduated from high school in 1942. She then moved to Milwaukee, initially staying with an older brother who lived there, and took a job with Badger Meter for about two months. She took night-school classes in fashion design and then began working at Allis-Chalmers as a layout artist in their advertising department. Ms. Zmuda was also active in USO-sponsored dances and events in Milwaukee. In 1945 she returned to Stevens Point with her fiancé and they were married on September 14, 1946. Ms. Zmuda worked as a secretary and later as a clerk in Stevens Point until the birth of the first of their five children in 1948. She has worked as an artist for the past twenty years, and continues to reside in Stevens Point. Ms. Zmuda is a lifelong member of the Catholic church.
Ms. Zmuda begins the interview by telling about her remembrances of the attack on Pearl Harbor. She talks about the reactions of some her high school friends and about her own aspirations for the future and how the war affected her opportunities. She then describes her first job in Milwaukee at Badger Meter, including the work, working conditions, and male co-workers. Ms. Zmuda explains how she obtained her next job in the advertising department at Allis-Chalmers. She then talks about working at Allis-Chalmers, including her job description, company basketball teams, co-workers, length of the workday, and rate of pay. She describes the rented room she shared with a roommate. She then talks about dating during this period and the interactions with men in the service, especially those scheduled to be shipped overseas. She also talks about “Dear John” and “Dear Jane” letters, information about birth control, and abortion. She describes her experience of trying to join the Waves.
Ms. Zmuda describes shopping in Milwaukee including dealing with shortages. She talks about typical meals and the places that she would frequent. The USO dances and parties are described including parties held at private homes, large dances, and boat trips through the South Shore Yacht club. She also talks about seeing German POWs in Milwaukee being taken off to work. She describes how she and her friend participated in a blood drive, including the problems she had because she was under 21 years of age. She then talks about the fact that the sermons in the Catholic church were in English and discusses how the Polish immigrants tried to learn the language very quickly. She also talks about pro-German sentiment in the work environment at Allis-Chalmers.
Ms. Zmuda talks about her neighborhood in Milwaukee and how she felt about living in the city. She describes how, after President Roosevelt died, she was unable to get anything to eat during the three-day mourning period when all the restaurants were closed. She talks about the end of the war, including the atomic bomb, V-J Day, and the celebrations in Milwaukee. She describes how crowded the highways were on Sunday evenings coming back to Milwaukee after a trip home for the weekend, as well as the crowded conditions of the buses in and out of the city. She talks about her move back to Stevens Point and the differences between her life and Milwaukee and the move back home.
While still living in Milwaukee, Ms. Zmuda had the opportunity to meet Louis Armstrong, and she describes that meeting. She also talks about the wage differential between men and women at Allis-Chalmers and the problems she had buying an expensive coat on layaway because she was a woman. She finishes with a few other stories including that of a shy young soldier who she dated and that of the reaction of another young man, just returned from serving in the South Pacific, to her associations with the young Chinese engineers from Allis-Chalmers.
