Transcript:

00:00 Hello, this is Melissa, Hale-Spencer, the editor of the Altamont Enterprise, and we have an amazing guest today. Betty Spadaro, who for many people is almost synonymous with Altamont and she will be in September hitting the century mark and she's in town today for what else? The Altamont Fair. So welcome Betty.

00:33 Thank you for introducing me.

00:36 So just to start with, can you tell us a little about what you've done today? I hear you've had a whirlwind day at the Altamont. Unfair. Just kinda start at the beginning and walk through the festivity.

00:50 Well, we started in the office to meet the person who was the director of the ultimate fear and Andrew and I introduced her to have relative who came with me, Sarah activists from of hers, but a friend of my friend, really a daughter of one of my friends. She's come from Ithaca to be here today. From there we started and we went down to the school where I taught, which was brought down into fair years ago by the your CD's from the bows and kill. Right. And the bows and killed. And I had planned to be there for half an hour, so that friend who is portraying the teacher could have her lunch hour. So then I agreed the various people who say came in.

01:46 Well I'm going to interrupt your flow of the day will return because I just want to hear a little more about that. Um, tell just for people that haven't been to the fairgrounds, if you could describe for us what that school houses like right now? Yeah.

02:03 Right now it has curtains. Very few of the rural schools ever had curtains. Oh. But the teacher before me had curtains and I always, I was there for five years, so I wash those curtains. And then finally after about the third year they deteriorated. So then I put new ones in and I keep track of those curtains since the forties. And I keep so that we have nice new curtains.

02:32 Oh, isn't that a nice homey touch? It's a one room school house. And just tell us a little about what it was like to teach students. I'm assuming from a wide variety of grades it

02:45 is not easy. Yeah, because I would have to be prepared to teach an person who was an eighth grader about science is great science and also a child who was about five, just learning to read or maybe somebody who's in fourth grade or somebody might be in third grade and often they would move and then another group would come in and family. I had families.

03:15 I remember the Pulliam's had a reunion over at the fair not long ago and all of the pulliam siblings, we had a picture in the paper stood up in front of the school house because they at all all been there. So today when you were there, I hadn't realized you were filling in for the person acting as a teacher and so were there people coming to talk to you about your days there?

03:40 Yes, right. They were discussing, how did I ever manage a person who was 15 with a child who would say five?

03:49 Yeah. So is there an answer to that question? Not necessarily. It wasn't easy. Yeah. You just kind of had to play it by ear. I bet the podiums were excellent, wonderful family and they have always kept track of them and they always keep track of me. Oh, isn't that great. So then just progressing along with your day after the school house. What happened? What happened next today? Where did you go with the fair after that? Where did I go after the school house today? You know, you were there for today? Yeah, just walking through the rest of today. Yeah. I walked to,

04:25 to the antique car building because my son has many of his tools and his science there that he had on his business.

04:38 Oh yes. Dicks. But Dara was someone who is very near and dear to my heart and um, I know he just loved antique cars and he restored so many of them and that's nice. I hadn't realized a lot of his things are there at the museum new. Lovely. That's really nice. So then after that visit, what happened next? Today? What did you do after that? From there we went down to the old barn

05:10 and we're discussing how people were able to make that with hardly any tools,

05:17 hard labor. This is the Dutch barn that you know, the Dutch burn? Yeah. That's almost like a cathedral when you step in there. It's just so high in those hand. Hewn rafters all fit together with mortis and tenon joint is Mr Raul. You should tell people how to put burns stupid together. Yes. And Betty hears referring to ever delete ever Everett Rau who was probably roughly a contemporary of yours. Maybe a touch younger. Yeah, he really knew his and now his grandson tim is carrying on that tradition. He's going to be active in trying restore the old crowns house on the edge of Ultima because that's all that old post and beam construction and he's working with a friend of his. I'm with an Indian name. His name isj cougar white cloud. So after your barn visit today, what happened next?

06:15 Fair. I would say we came back up to eat and a delicious restaurant and it was a well done. Good. From there we went down to the big ceremony of the the motorcycle, the veterans. Weren't they honored?

06:39 Yeah. So tell us what happened there. Because we didn't have a reporter covering more busy

06:44 putting together the paper, we hit the persons representing the Democrats and a person representing the Republicans. We also had the commissioner of agriculture and nationally the vfw seven. Oh, six. Two was represented. Read a beautiful poem and the Legion of a nine slash seven slash seven. Was there nice many flags and I understand they sang happy birthday to you.

07:18 Yeah, they did great. And you made time in his busy schedule to see us and you know, I think most of us, I hate to say when we think of people that are a hundred years old, we tend to think of people who are maybe confined to a wheelchair or even a bad. And Betty just drove in here on her own steam and just looks like to me like she's always looked. I don't even see any gray hairs in that curly head. I've got many myself. But you did so well walking us through your day. I'm hoping you can walk us through your life. Just let's start at the beginning. Where were you born?

07:59 I was born in Amsterdam.

08:01 And how is it that you came to Altima?

08:04 Well, that's rather interesting. My mother remarried after losing her husband of Roman and he was from Alabama. His son was a former owner of this is a newspaper and that was shorty Roman.

08:27 Oh, shorty Roman. Yes. I've seen pictures of him and he ran the mine to tell. Yes he did. That's one of the pictures I've seen. Of whom at the line of type and that line, that type is still over at 1:20 maple and still working. It is, yeah. Jim, Jimmy Gardner still use that hot lead type and it. I always think my father was a newspaper man of the old school and he worked for a big daily and that's to me the sound of a newspaper. It's almost like rain on a hot tin roof. That noise of the type falling into place, the blood type. That's a wonderful skill to have trouble

09:07 when you have to mail that you do. In my son, whenever he met somebody who had worked there have melted that each one would have a little memory. Oh,

09:23 memory. Yeah. That's not a good memory to have because it burns. It does, yeah. Certainly writing with a computer keys a lot, a lot safer and easier, but there's still something that just excites me about the hat lead type. So how, how old were you when you moved to Ultima?

09:43 I had just finished college and uh, at what college had you been to Oneonta and also Albany state. So this was both for education courses to become a total in education. What made you want to be a teacher? How, how was it that I always wanted to be a teacher as a young child. Very young. Do you know why, what it was that motivated? Well, maybe because my mother had said that my aunt was a teacher and she had died when she was 19, was scarlet fever and because I heard maybe about being a teacher, maybe that's what inspired me. I have no idea.

10:26 Yeah. Well in that era most teachers were women, but it was still a very rare thing for a woman to pursue her own career like that. So, um, tell us about your very first team

10:40 teaching job. Sort of comical, I explain this, I was working down in east durham as a waitress. I had secured that job through Marilyn's mother and we were about eight years college people and naturally had a good time when we had time off, which is seldom in those days people did not have telephones as they do now and nationally, what they don't have now that you have now that they didn't have. And My mother wrote me a letter saying you won't believe it. It's like a dream because we had no. Most of us when we stood in line for graduation that year, had no jobs and when we did have a job it was only about 800 maybe or thousand dollars a year. So in this letter she's mentioned that she and her husband had gone around to look at these various rural schools up and burning up and knocks and she had written it.

11:57 They looked worse than when she went to school. Goes here, dilapidated. It must've been in the midst of the Great Depression then. Is that? Yeah. So, uh, but she said they came home, started disciplining, not able to find anything that would be suitable or they didn't need any teachers. Meanwhile, in a store where, uh, my stepfather was walking in, he saw a man by the name of Cyrus submit Arrow and he thought, oh, he is a trustee, I know of a school up about a mile up the hill. And he said to him, do you need a teacher? And he turned and he said, yes, I do. I need a teacher in. My stepfather said, well, my step daughter needs a job. He said, she said,

12:53 hired without an interview without even meeting you. Oh my goodness. So you must've had a job that probably a lot of other people wouldn't have taken. Oh Gosh. And so what happened after that?

13:11 Well, I just came back and it was September and I met this family. And is Patrick, was he one of those in the family? Yes, he was one. Okay. So he was a son of Cyrus. Was He? Uh, he was, I've got to think. No, take your time. Yes, he was. Patrick was his son. And tell me about first meeting your future husband Patrick. Was it love at first sight or how did, how did that unfold? Well, probably more so. Uh, he came to inspect to see if the fire were working well in that pot belly stove. That's what he said. He really wanted to check out the new teacher.

14:03 Oh, that's great. So that's good. And it was the fire working well in the pot. Bellied stove. There was another, there was another kind of fire that was about to start. So, um, how long did you court each other before you got married? Well,

14:23 world war started. Oh, right in the middle of that year. And therefore he was in service for almost four years. And where was he in service? What branch of the government was he? What military in the army you built? Arif? Uh, your fields. Oh. So we use with the air people as well as the army. So you had to wait four years. Did you write a lot of. Yes. Did you save them? I did for a long, long time. Oh Gosh. I just came across a little trove my mother had written my father during World War Two, and so when he came home from the award, did you get married right away or was there two months later? Oh, that's pretty much right away. And where was the wedding those days? We did not have many weddings. You just got married because she didn't have any money. Yeah, but what we did do is we went to New York City and so the rockets.

15:27 Oh, you went to radio city music hall and back. We came in, he went to work and I went and I know Susan who was with me, her. She's related to the [inaudible]. Married to Frank Panero and. Well anyway, what happened was, I lost my train of thought. You were talking about it coming back from New York City, seeing the cats. You went right to work. You know what I want to say is we were married the 26 so that we would save the district from a having a substitute. So when it was time to, after the recess of the Christmas, I went right to work again. I didn't take any days off so much for a honeymoon. Right. And where did you settle when you were first married? Where did, where did you and Patrick Live? Right across from the post office. The one which is there now on Lark Street, and I know you described for me, but it wasn't large streets. Park Street, Park Street, yeah. You described for me before the kind of land

16:40 escape it still in your memory of ultima and if you're able to. I just love it. If you could walk for our listeners kind of up and down maple avenue and main street because you did this for me once and were telling me every building what used to be there. Just could you describe some of the businesses?

16:57 We're right here in the heart of Altamont that you can remember from that era? Well, for instance, as you turn the corner by the A and p there, which was hungover as well. Right now it's called. The MERAMEC has restaurant, but yes. Then was cradles hardware store and then they hit a building next to the which he used loaded with his of sales. Everything needs soul. Was basement is packed from the early, early, I guess teens. They had everything out there. And Patrick work there for, didn't he? Yes, he did. Yeah, and so it was like a department store, but it had all kinds of everything in the cell food. Yeah, that's about it. Okay. Bicycles and stoves and refrigerators and lawn mowers. Shirts and blouses and Napkins and tablecloths are. Gosh, wouldn't that be handy if we had that today

18:07 and I remember too, you were telling me once just how different or maybe not so different, but it's. It was a time where people were so trusting. You said your son Dick, when he was little, he loved wheels. He always loved wheels and he would just get on. It's a little little boy. He would just get on his bike or maybe tricycle, I can't remember, and just he could leave your house and just paddled down the street and go see his father cradles or go to the Soda Fountain and just. It just seemed like such an idyllic way to raise.

18:39 To raise a child. Yeah. I would just not worry about him. He'd be way around the corner up near presbyt and he was proud of a seven. Yeah, no worry. Yeah, that's just a great way to have your world. I wish, I wish we could have that again today. So

19:00 to get back a little more to your teaching career, um, I think you were in the very first group of teachers and Altima and elementary school when this school was new. Is that right? Tell us a little about

19:12 on elementary school. Well, they, my sixth year I was hired there in the old school, which is now demolished. Oh, in the high school. The high school was everything right. I see. And they had, it was so starting, you know, those years, the baby boom. And so people were in the, a reformed church, the, a legion, there's another place all out. So there just wasn't enough classrooms,

19:48 space for all the kids that I see. So I hadn't realized. I always, you know, we write frequently about, especially older people who graduated from our high school and they always talk about how sad it was. It was torn down, but I hadn't realized

20:03 it had grades, you know, that were much lower than high school. Not Kindergarten. Oh, started with first grade, but when I started they started kindergarten there, but I was started with fifth and sixth, two grades together. I see. And so the,

20:23 at least it was not like to raises a lot smaller span to have to get your lessons prepared for than it is in the one room schoolhouse where you had that huge expanse, but how was it for the kids to go from. Most of them probably came from settings like the bows and kill school. Very, very small single classrooms to this large brick building with many classrooms. What, what was that adjustment like for them and for you?

20:55 Hi, I'm really never saw the adjustment. Yeah. From there we'll say the bows and killed two R's.

21:03 Cool. I really fun. What a difference. A little tiny clapper. One Room, two big brick. And then you were also teaching in the new elementary school too, right? Well then that was.

21:15 It was demolished until the new one was built. I believe it's 1952. I think sounds so I was there from 45 to 52 in that older school and then it was demolished probably four years later and it should never have been demolished because it was a good sturdy building. It could have been used. Yeah, for officers or something. Yeah.

21:47 So how was it to be in a spanking new school? Did the kids like that? Was that fun? For them?

21:55 It was a whole. No difference is totally different because we had a principal and a secretary, a nurse, music art. We weren't used to that.

22:09 Yeah, but what a much richer experience for the students

22:13 and started teaching Spanish and French and they're starting with third grade.

22:20 And then how long did you continue as a teacher there? What happened?

22:25 It is a person will say who was in third grade started with French and he moved right along with that teacher is in fourth grade and fifth grade French. The next class, the fourth graders started with Spanish and they continued.

22:43 Yeah, that's the era I went to school in Guilderland. It was at the different school. It was over, you know, on route 20 Guilderland mentoree and yes, everybody in my year learned French and then the next year Spanish, but the school district in later years did a way with teaching foreign languages at the elementary level, which is such a shame. Yeah. So, um, how, how long did you continue to teach there? How, how long were you a teacher and Altima and elementary I guess until I can retire. Oh, okay. So that was your career. I've there. That's why you're such so well known in the community night. I uh, retired in 1979. That's a good long career. So what did you do after you retired? I bet you are somebody that has a lot of different interests.

23:36 Well, my husband and I started going to Europe. We, he and I went to Europe three years different times and went to London and England rather in Switzerland and Germany. And then we also went to Australia and then he died and then a woman was promised that she had a partner to go to Kenya and he's out of the blue. She decided she didn't want to go, so they asked me if I go, so then I went to Africa with her and then she wanted to go to China and Japan, which I went with her and uh, the melees and quite a few of those Asian

24:26 country. I had no idea. You were a world traveler. So tell me, what is it, why is it you like to travel to such far? I like to read it

24:36 both countries and I like to, when I see people, I usually ask them if they had an odd name, what nationality there were. I've always been interested in people.

24:48 Yeah. And so when you go to these countries, you probably can't speak all those languages. How uh, how is it that you,

24:57 they usually will get a hold of a young one. I haven't been there lately. Yeah, but I usually get ahold of a young child who's taught English in the young child or even like nine or 10 we'll be able to translate. Oh, isn't that lovely? Yeah. I don't know how it is now. I think most people now have been brought up with English. Yeah, it has become a unicorn

25:20 versa language. So of all those travels, is there one place that stands out for you as a favorite or a place

25:27 that you most liked? What is lovely can you can get all those animals? Oh, well, tell us about Kenya. I've never been and probably will never go. What did you do there? What is it that appealed to you so much? Usually you naturally, they have a person who's a guide and you it's such and such a time you go out and get in the car. It was the guide always knows where he's going. In this area. For instance, it might be elephants, so elephants are all in certain area or lions lying there like key cats up there. Just as cute and instance. I said, oh, look at that lion and a fellow said, look again, we're not used to really looking well at things and all of a sudden you can see there are 10 of them all around there because they blend right in. My Gosh.

26:30 Well, and that's just such a nice metaphor for life. We're not used to really looking well at things and you seem to have an ability to do that. Yeah, and also you just in passing

26:44 that Patrick had died and yet you kept on traveling and I know it must've been very hard to lose your only son. I wonder if you have any thoughts or advice for people because so many of us when we get older and we lose the people we love, we just kind of hunker down and turn in and you just kept on being outgoing. Do you have any advice or thoughts on how you manage to read books and play bridge and we have some chuckles. They're people who are listening. This is good advice. Read books, play bridge and then I found Dick. You know when he was racing? Yes. I'll pinch and I met many of the race drivers. He had parties up there 2:00 in the morning and you'd go to these parties. Oh my. I would go and get the pizza and then after they got everything together after the race and they stand up if they were racing in Saratoga or in Vermont.

27:46 Those are the two places me. Otherwise, if you're racing Canada had nothing to do with it. Couldn't go that far, I say, but they stay overnight. You slept on the top of the table, on the boat. Outside in their big vans are all over the blades on the blower. So Betty, you are a real adventurer, but when you mentioned books and the important of books, do you have any certain ones that you read again or consider favorites are worth recommending to other people? Well, I certainly am interested in biographies or World War Two or world. The civil war. So you like history? Yes. Isn't that interesting? In some of those World War II history have lived through yourself, so you must have an interesting perspective when you read those. Cut. Our time has gone so fast. We're through our half hour. Do you have any parting thoughts for people? Something I haven't asked you you'd like our listeners to know about or I ever mentioned eastern star. Oh well go ahead and very active here in this area. Albany, Schenectady, district deputy. And then I was also, uh, when I went up to Warren Washington, I had the same job. Then I was also appointed to represent New York state in Wyoming.

29:21 New York state of Virginia will tell us why eastern star is so important to you. They're fewer and fewer fraternal organizations these days. Tell us why, why that matters. Why? Because we're doing things for others. Scholarships for nurses, scholarships for teachers. Someone has. Last year's home, we were ready to give them some supplies. Cancer, we always have a certain project every year, the grand major and it has a certain one. Well, betty, this is a perfect note to end on because I think you're somebody. My theory why you've stayed so young is because you care so much about others. Others. So thank you. Thank you so much. You're welcome.