Her husband is George Sullivan, to whom she has been married for 52 years. She has six children: William, Janet, Julia, Mary, Cathleen, and Michael. Other items of interest in her life may be that her religion is Catholic, she is politically unaffiliated, and she considers her 'socio-economic' status to be middle class. Her hobbies however, just consist of reading in her spare time. Maryanne's military experience consists only of her husband's time as an officer in the Air Force. I myself am an employee under Maryanne in her current business.
TRANSCRIPTION
What are your earliest childhood memories?
My earliest uh…. Times, that we lived on a working ranch. Horses and a lot of livestock. It was a very different way of life- it was very relaxed. It was just, you know, a different way; from nowadays everything is so hectic. We were satisfied with very little.
What was your relationship with your parents like, growing up?
My dad was in the military; my mother was a stay-at-home wife. We- my dad believed that as a family, whenever he was here, we did everything together. There was, you know, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays were for family. We always went out, you know, as a family. To him it was always important that we were together.
What was your home life like with your siblings; like chores, how you played, etc?
We all had a lot to do. We all had chores, we all had to do our work- it was not anything where you just sat down and watched TV- of course, there was no TV in those days, not really. So, it was, it was work. But we all got along real well. We lived uh…on the ranch with my grandparents. We worked, we did the work that had to be done there. I used to have to feed the chickens….which is why I hate chickens. Mine was to go, you know, to feed 'em and try to keep 'em in the pins.
What kinds of games did you play as a child?
Hopscotch. Uh, jump rope... We did a lot of skating. Uh… we did, uh, I had a lot of paper dolls and things like that, which you know, took up a lot of my time. Hide and seek was another good one at night.
What sort of diseases did you have to face when you were younger?
None really… uh, oh! Measles… is about the only thing. I never had mumps- I was pretty healthy. It wasn't a very big problem, it was just uh, it was just kind of like an inconvenience. We were very lucky to have an in-home doctor- my grandfather was a doctor. Anytime, you know, we got sick or something it was taken care of right away.
What was your classroom environment like when you were in school? Like, what subjects did they emphasize?
In grade school, of course you know the Reading and Arithmetic and the writing. We had PE…it was important that, uh, we took piano lessons, we took dancing lessons…and things like that. Uh, you know, I really can't remember what subjects we had in grade school… and after the first couple of years we had history, we had Texas history here. We had, uh you know, world history; we had Civics- which I don't know if they teach anymore… we had science… Into high school we took Latin. I took Latin, uh, Texas history, you know of course we took religion, we took English, we took uh, a science- which ever you know, different things. You had to have either homemaking… or… I can't remember, but you had a choice and everyone picked homemaking because you could go into the kitchens and make your own lunch. The nuns didn't have to do that for you…with the nuns it was a routine. This one day, that the other. It didn't vary from week to week, you know. Providence wasn't a huge school, and most of us had known each other had known each other since grade school…it was kind of like family. The nuns were very strict and there were rules you had to follow, but it was all for the better.
What sort of dressing fads do you remember?
My favorite was what they called the Ivy League. You know, the uh, skirts with the buckles in the back, white buckle shoes… the uh, very, very full skirts with the designs on them. Uh… we had what they called the 'sack' dresses. You had a straight skirt and the top kind of ballooned around, uh, about an inch or top below your waist. It was a nice one. They had the nehru jackets…a very popular one when I was in high school was what they called the bomber-style jackets that came to the waist with the zipper… Strapless dresses, well spaghetti straps, were very popular during the summer. Shorts were not as popular as they are now…slacks were a little bit popular though.
What sort of unspoken social taboos do you remember?
You had to be careful who your friends were. Uh, there was an unwritten rule as to who you hung around with and who you didn't hang around with. Uh… that was about it. Mostly you stuck with the people you already knew, growing up. It wasn't really a clique, but mostly it was girls that I grew up with.
How did things change for you in life after you were married, or did
you notice a change at all?
Well, by the time I got married I was already working, uh, George was in the military- uh, wherever he went I didn't really go. I stayed here in San Antonio a lot… I did travel a lot to West Virginia, but uh, that was about it. Um, Willy wasn't born until about…two years after we were married- three years after we were married- so you know, when I first got married life was about the same. You know, it didn't really change drastically.
I noticed that you claimed you were born in your house under a
midwife-Were your children born in hospitals?
I wasn't born under a midwife- my grandfather delivered me. But, yeah my children were born; all my children were born in hospitals. Uh, let's see…uh, five of 'em were born at Wellford Hall and one was born in Panama city, Florida at the base there.
What sort of vehicle did you first own?
My first car was a… fifty-two Chevy, my Dad bought me while I was in high school. But you know what, I bet he didn't pay more than twelve-hundred dollars for that car- I mean, you could get a very nice car for very little money.
What was the experience like, trying to start and run your own business?
Well, the plumbing company wasn't bad, because I had a partner to begin with. And Myron was really the one that did most of the leg-work. I did, you know, paper work- you know. But he was the one that got everything started- he really went out to get the contracts that we had. But it was very interesting, very interesting to work for a company that was all men and in those days a woman wasn't supposed to tell a man what to do. But it didn't work with me! And after that was when I bought the store (Anne's Old Fashioned Ice Cream)- I taught school before then, and when I stopped teaching was when I did the plumbing company, and after that was when I was in the mall and got to talking to the people at the ice cream place and one thing led to another- I had really just filled out an application as a worker, and Bob Teller, who was the owner of the store, called me and we got to talking… and eventually I got the store from him.
Did you take advantage of the increasing rights for women over time? In what ways?
I've always been salaried; you know… in all my jobs I've been salaried so I've never, you know… over time doesn't turn to that.
So looking back did you didn't notice much in the way of discrimination at all?
There was a lot of discrimination. Back in the, uh, in the seventies- and maybe in the eighties, and even now every once in a while there is discrimination in business. There is a lot of men out there that would rather talk to a man than to a woman.
So how about anything as far as racism goes?
I've never had a problem with racism. Not against me, I've never had… Back when I was a little kid there was a lot of racism; in the town was like, you know, divided- whites here, Hispanics here, black people could not live inside the city limits… it was bad. The demonstrations were the ones I've seen in Selma… uh, Selma- was it Georgia? Atlanta- no I think it was Alabama. Back in the… back in the sixties it was really bad when they were trying to integrate the schools and everything; the uh, it was supposed to be peaceful demonstrations but they were anything but peaceful. I was there when they were turning cars over… they were setting them on fire. The white people were staying at home with their doors locked because it was bad, it was just- the black people were demonstrating something terrible.
Did the new technology over time improve your life or did it become a hindrance for you?
The new technology? It improved, because with the new technology there is so many things that you couldn't do before… a lot of figures and things are right at your fingertips. You know, you really don't have to work at a lot of it.
Do you have anything you would like to add?
Things in general? I've had a very interesting life… I've met a lot people that were famous- I've had friends that were famous. I've had a very good life- my children grew up, they all, they went to college, you know, not all of them finished but most of them did. You know, life in general has been really good because I've never had any problems with my children, a lot of problems people have nowadays you know- there was no drugs or anything like that. So it was pretty peaceful.
