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Transcript of Bernadine R. Simon oral history (tape 2 of 2), 1975-04-15
Item Metadata
Collection: Oral History Tapes (UOHT)
Author(s): Hansen, James E., 1938-, Simon, Bernadine R.
Title: Bernadine R. Simon oral history (tape 2 of 2) Date: 1975-04-15
Identifier: UOHT_0050_access_sideA Date Edited: May 2021
Editors: Victoria Lopez-Terrill, Cory Rubertus Transcript Provided By: Memnon
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00:00:06.560 00:00:22.420 SIMONS: He had a really good sense of humor. You know Chuck was the state forester for many years before he took this job. And Joe and Chuck were friends from way back and he always called Chuck the Bull of the Woods.
00:00:23.250 00:01:34.260 He had a lot of little names for people, you know, and I don't know, he just had the most fantastic memory. He didn't have that many people to help him. And of course when he left we had quite a bit of trouble finding things, you know, because he did his own filing I guess and because of his wonderful memory he just he didn't rely on those files. You know he just, he knew… of course he didn't have any of the building compared to what Chuck had to worry about. You know we had to have everything in black and white because my gosh you get everything, every building mixed up with another one you know if you didn't. But Joe hadn't had that much building too. But he knew everything that was going on and went over and inspected them himself and he really knew what was going on. And he was a very human person you know really really interested in people for themselves and not just as related to their work.
00:01:34.350 00:01:37.700 HANSEN: Was he embittered by his termination?
00:01:37.700 00:01:52.220 SIMONS: I'm sure he was, yeah.
HANSEN: Where is he now?
2 SIMONS: I think in the state of Washington in a small college either Washington or Oregon, in a small college, I guess they like it real well.
You know Gail Hamilton is his brother-in-law.
HANSEN: Oh yeah.
00:01:52.490 00:02:01.010 SIMONS: Mrs. Whalley is Gail’s sister. And so that's where I've heard about him mostly through him and he said they like it real well there.
00:02:01.040 00:02:33.630 I guess the college is about like this one was when Joe started here.
They know all the people and really like it. I always liked Mr. Whalley just really well. Course as I said he didn't have the headaches in those days, how he would have performed then you know, I don't know. He would probably go on with it because he was just, you know, like that.
00:02:34.880 00:03:26.160 HANSEN: Let's see. Can you think of any other major problems or challenges that the board was prompted to deal or obliged to deal with during the time that you came that we haven’t discussed? The student unrest and the building and the financial problem. Oh yeah, one thing I wanted to get a little bit more information on was Dr.
Chamberlain's appointment as president. It was a faculty committee that recommended several people and I don’t believe Dr.
Chamberlain was included in the original recommendation.
SIMONS: No he wasn't one of the five.
HANSEN: Were you involved in the discussion as that ultimately resulted in his appointment?
SIMONS: Well
00:03:26.160 00:04:17.400 they chose these five men and interviewed them. They all came and they were outstanding in lots of ways you know. But the board just felt that Dr. Chamberlain had as much as those fellows to offer. So why bring in somebody that didn't know the background or anything when there he was right in the middle of it, you know. So I think that I think it took the interviewing of the other ones to find out their backgrounds and interests and everything, you know, to realize that here he was sitting, probably better qualified than any of them were.
00:04:17.450 00:04:21.470 HANSEN: Did he have individuals on the board who advocated him particularly?
00:04:22.440 00:04:36.920 SIMONS: I think Mr. Breeze probably was very interested in him although I'm sure… have you ever have you ever seen Dr.
Chamberlain in action?
00:04:37.010 00:04:42.490 HANSEN: I've seen him before the Joint Budget Committee.
3 SIMONS: Yeah he's pretty powerful isn’t he.
HANSEN: Sure is.
00:04:43.290 00:04:46.440 SIMONS: So.
HANSEN: Talk about memories.
SIMONS: He can even,
00:04:46.800 00:05:13.070 Dr. Hansen, he can remember. I remember one day Miriam was looking for something and he said “Miriam it's in the file. I know it's on a piece of paper, a piece of green paper about like this”, years before you know, and it was. Who’d know whether it was green or pink paper, you know. I mean guy with everything he's got on his mind but he just, once he's seen something it's just like it was printed in his mind.
HANSEN: Yeah, photographic.
00:05:17.550 00:05:26.250 Well I guess that's about all I had.
SIMONS: Well, I don't feel like I told you anything but...
HANSEN: Well, you give me some little insights that I think are really helpful.
00:05:26.250 00:05:46.240 The trouble is when you just read documents SIMONS: Yeah.
HANSEN: You can't get the little nuances that that really explain the way things happened. I think your impressions of Kezer in the agronomy department are going to be very helpful to me. I'll definitely go and talk to Gladys Eddy about that too.
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