Mary Ann Ford interview -- June 19, 2009

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Mary Ann Ford Edited Transcript – June 19, 2009
Paul and Mary Ann Ford Fly Fishing Collection
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Western Washington University Libraries Mary Ann Ford
Special Collections
Fly Fishing Oral History Program
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This interview was conducted with Mary Ann Ford on June 19, 2009, at her home in Wenatchee, Washington. Her husband, Paul Ford, is present. The interviewer is Tamara Belts.
TB: Today is Friday, June 19, 2009, and I‘m here with Paul and Mary Ann Ford. We‘re going to start with Mary Ann and do an oral history about her needlework and then we will interview them both about their book collecting and maybe we‘ll get to some of Paul‘s fly fishing. Our first question is: how did you first become interested or start doing your needlework? The library subject heading I think is fancy work actually.
MAF: Right, well actually I, if you would believe it, I started embroidering when I was three years old. My mother drew out my name and a block, you know that you play with, on some fabric and had me do the outline stitch around them. Unfortunately, I don‘t have that anymore. But that‘s what she told me. I wouldn‘t remember I was three, but she told me that‘s what I was. In my early life you never just sat without doing something. My mother was a good seamstress, she knitted, she embroidered, so you learned very early to embroider. We used flour sack material, made dish towels and embroidered those, did appliqué, and then during the early years of the war, we knit afghans. So I‘ve always done handwork. And when Paul and I were first married, how many sweaters did I knit for him?
PF: Lots.
MAF: Numerous, numerous sweaters. I think he still has some of them, and hats. Yes, I knit hats for him every once in a while. He‘d say, ―I need another fishing hat.‖ So I would knit him one. The seriousness of the embroidery: we did pillowcases. I can remember selling pillowcases in Mt. Vernon at a garage sale and I really didn‘t want to put them in, but we weren‘t using them. This woman came along and she said, ―I only want one of these.‖ She said, ―I‘ll give you twenty-five cents.‖ I have thought about that so often because I wish I hadn‘t put them in the garage sale. But those were the kinds of things we did—embroidery.
The biggest part of my themes when I was in grade school and would have a project would be to make a cover that was embroidered. I would get checkered material and cross stitch the title and my name on it and fancy it all up. I think that‘s why I got A‘s all the time because the covers of my projects looked better than anybody else‘s.
But anyway, my seriousness on embroidery came, I would say, probably the last year I was a principal. One morning I walked in through the kitchen to work at about 6:30 in the morning and there sat my head cook. She looked up, sort of startled and said, ―Is it okay if I‘m here?‖ And I said, ―Sure, what are you doing?‖ And I walked over and looked and she had this most beautiful embroidery which turned out to be Hardanger. She was taking a class. She said, ―I had to come in here because I have to count and my husband keeps wanting to talk to me and I need peace and quiet.‖
It was so beautiful. It was a Scandinavian embroidery and since my grandparents came from Denmark, that added to my interest. I said, ―Where‘s the class?‖ She told me and said ―It‘s at one o‘clock, change your lunch hour and come take the class.‖ And I said, ―No,‖ I didn‘t think I better do that. At the end of the day I