TRANSCRIPT

Mabel: Grandma Watson trained for a mid-wife in England. My mother did it just for courtesy or whatever you call it. She didn't like to be without her doctor.

Judy: Were there any doctor's in the country then?
Mabel: From Rouleau. There were two at Rouleau, McKean and Singleton.

Judy: Grandma, when you were young, didn't you also go help people when they were sick or stay with them when they were dying?

Mabel: I stayed with Mrs. Holmes about three days when Grandma Holmes died out there on the farm. I went Wednesday after dinner and she died Thursday afternoon and then I stayed with her. They weren't using their car at that time. Dick Clarke and his father was down the day the grandmother died. You see, Mrs. Clarke was a niece of Mrs. Holmes. They were down the day she died. Well. Then they took Mr. Holmes and Bill to Rouleau to see about the casket and the cemetery and I stayed on with Flo, Thursday. And then Harold and I took them to Rouleau to the funeral on Saturday. They weren't using the car at that time. I don't know just what year it was.

Judy: You used to help prepare bodies sometimes, too, when there had been a death?

Mabel: Mrs. Johnson and I washed Ralph Thrower. Died with a heart attack when he was about 22, or something. In them days, the funeral was right at the home. Well then the father, Mrs. Farrell and I got Mr. Thrower ready for burial.