TRANSCRIPT

WM - Wilma (Miller) Morrison, interviewee / NP - Natalie Przybyl, interviewer

WM: And so, then a friend of mine came, in, I graduated in [19]47, um... A friend of mine came from Brantford and she wanted to know 1st of all, she wanted, she had decided to enrol in this nursing, nursing assistant program, it was called the Certified Nursing Assistant Program then, it was run by the government, and uh, because, you know, it was sort of because after the war things were changing and, and hospitals were, they were needing nurses and things like that, quickly. So, it was a 9 months course, and so she came and, and um, asked if she could stay at our house. Her mum had recently died and her mum and my mum were really good friends. So, uh, her uncle said, 'Well, why don't you go and ask Mabel [Miller, Wilma's mother] if she'll let you stay at her house.' So, she did, she lived with us for a bit. But when she went to enrol, they suggested that she, uh, ask someone else black to come, because that would help her if she ran into problems, it would help her to have somebody to talk to. So she asked me, and so I went down and they accepted me and so the rest is history! There and so we had a good time. So, um, yeah, we worked, we both worked at the mental hospital for... What did I say? 9 years, I guess, yeah, mhmm. [pause] So and, really going there, actually speaking I would have been able to go, at that time, uh, the mental hospitals had training schools, and I... I mean nurses training schools.

NP: Oh!

WM: Yeah. Uh, that's where nurses were all trained, in the hospitals then; St Joseph's, and, and the General and the OH [Ontario Hospital] at that time. And I would have been able to go on, but we couldn't afford it. Um, my mum was, was not all that well, so we could never afford it, but they always encouraged me and so I was, um... I, you know,... It was great; it was... Neat staff. When I came down here, one of the doctor's was sayin' he wouldn't send somebody up to that place, they were just another face, another number and I thought boy, you really don't know what you are talking about because it was almost a family situation, you know? Uh, and the caring that took place was, was really something. But um, yeah, I'd, I, you know... And even after I came, after we moved down here, then my husband was encouraging me but I liked dealing with people; I loved dealing with the patients, and, and so I... Well, probably I was lazy, you know, I don't know. But anyway, I enjoyed whatever it was I was doing, I really enjoyed it. And so, uh...