Interview with Dorothy Caldwell, January 18, 1979

Partial Transcript: This is an interview with Miss Dorothy Caldwell for the oral history project Frontier Nursing Service by Marian Barrett at approximately ten o'clock on January 18,1979.

Segment Synopsis: Dorothy Caldwell is introduced. She talks about the Frontier Nursing Service and how the Great Depression affected the organization and the local people.

Keywords: Agnes Lewis; Couriers; F.N.S.; FNS; Great Depression; Horses; Jobs; Local people; Locals; Logging; Money; Mountain people; Poor; Poverty; Surgeons; Timber; Work; Working

Subjects: Agriculture--Kentucky; Breckinridge, Mary, 1881-1965; Coal mines and mining--Appalachian Region; Depressions--1929--Kentucky; Frontier Nursing Service, Inc.; Leslie County (Ky.); Medical care--Appalachian Region; Medical care--Kentucky; Nurses; Rural health services; Subsistence farming

Partial Transcript: Did she have time to spend with people in a leisurely way?

Segment Synopsis: Caldwell talks about Mary Breckinridge's schedule. She also discusses her own daily activities as a courier for the Frontier Nursing Service.

Keywords: Assignments; Backs; Barns; Business; Couriers; Duties; Errands; F.N.S.; FNS; Gardening; Gardens; Horses; Injuries; Planning; Schedules; Social activities; Social life and customs; Tea time; Wendover; Work; Working

Subjects: Breckinridge, Mary, 1881-1965; Frontier Nursing Service, Inc.

Partial Transcript: Was there a vet nearby? How did the couriers learn to take care of the horses?

Segment Synopsis: Caldwell talks about caring for the horses as a courier. She tells a story about a visitor riding a stubborn horse.

Keywords: Ailments; Couriers; Diseases; Duties; F.N.S.; FNS; Horseback; Illnesses; Learn; Responsibilities; Riding; Services; Sickness; Stubborn; Teach; Tennessee Walkers; Treatment; Visitors; Work

Subjects: Breckinridge, Mary, 1881-1965; Frontier Nursing Service, Inc.; Horses--Care; Tennessee walking horse; Veterinarians

Partial Transcript: Betty Lester was there when you were there wasn't she?

Segment Synopsis: Caldwell talks about Betty Lester, a supervisor and superintendent for the Frontier Nursing Service. She tells a supernatural story Betty Lester once told her.

Keywords: Betty Lester; Clinics; Districts; Escort; F.N.S.; FNS; Ghost stories; Ghosts; Horses; Legends; Lost; Red Bird Center; Supernatural; Superstitions; Tales; Thousandstick Mountain; Uniforms; Wendover

Subjects: Breckinridge, Mary, 1881-1965; Frontier Nursing Service, Inc.; Medical care--Appalachian Region; Medical care--Kentucky; Midwifery--Appalachian Region; Midwives--Appalachian Region; Nurses; Nursing; Rural health services

Partial Transcript: Do you remember any experiences, along the way when you were riding with local people? Any interaction that helped--helped you gain an impression about what Leslie County was like?

Segment Synopsis: Caldwell talks about social interactions couriers would have with local people while travelling through the area. She tells a story about a childbirth that she witnessed with another nurse, Betty Lester.

Keywords: "Granny" midwives; Betty Lester; Couriers; Deliver babies; Delivery; Duties; Experiences; F.N.S.; FNS; Fear; Friendly; Helpful; Home visits; Horses; Impressions; Interactions; Local people; Locals; Pigs; Prenatal care; Riding

Subjects: Childbirth; Frontier Nursing Service, Inc.; Medical care--Appalachian Region; Medical care--Kentucky; Midwifery--Appalachian Region; Midwives--Appalachian Region; Nurses; Nursing; Rural health services

Partial Transcript: Could you tell me a little bit about how the FNS began, with how Mrs. Breckinridge motivated people to have faith in what was going on?

Segment Synopsis: Caldwell discusses how the Frontier Nursing Service districts were built and how the construction was funded.

Keywords: Building; Clinics; Committees; Communities; Construction; Contribution; Demand; Districts; Doctors; Donations; F.N.S.; FNS; Fees; Finances; Funding; Gladys Peacock; Healthcare system; Inspiring; Mary Willeford; Meetings

Subjects: Breckinridge, Mary, 1881-1965; Frontier Nursing Service, Inc.; Medical care--Appalachian Region; Medical care--Kentucky; Midwifery--Appalachian Region; Midwives--Appalachian Region; Nurses; Nursing; Rural health services

Partial Transcript: What was it, do you think that--that brought most of the people there, in the beginning?

Segment Synopsis: Caldwell speculates on why people joined the Frontier Nursing Service.

Keywords: Adventures; Chapels; Clinics; Conversations; Doctors; Excitement; F.N.S.; FNS; Families; Foreign; Horses; Jobs; Missionaries; Patients; Professional; Psychiatry; Surgeries; Wendover; Work; Working

Subjects: Frontier Nursing Service, Inc.; Nurses; Religion

Partial Transcript: What was it, do you think, about--um--Wendover that created the harmony that seems to be there?

Segment Synopsis: Caldwell discusses the atmosphere at Wendover. She also speaks about Mrs. Breckinridge's personality and others' opinions of her.

Keywords: Appreciation; Authority figures; Chapels; Converations; Couriers; Demands; Domineering; F.N.S.; FNS; Harmony; Humor; Opinionated; Past; Personalities; Private; Respect; Secretaries; World War 2; World War Two; World War, 1939-1945.

Subjects: Breckinridge, Mary, 1881-1965; Frontier Nursing Service, Inc.; Religion; Women; World War, 1939-1945

Partial Transcript: Do you think that the--the spirit that Mrs. Breckinridge started there is something that can be continued through other people or do you think that it's--

Segment Synopsis: Caldwell talks about the spirit of the Frontier Nursing Service. She discusses her opinions on why Mary Breckinridge started the FNS.

Keywords: "Wide Neighborhoods"; Administration; Attitudes; Cincinnati Academy of Medicine; Contributions; Dramatic; Expectations; F.N.S.; FNS; Grief; Inspiration; Meetings; Respect; Serve; Spirit

Subjects: Breckinridge, Mary, 1881-1965; Frontier Nursing Service, Inc.; Medical care--Appalachian Region; Medical care--Kentucky; Midwifery--Appalachian Region; Midwives--Appalachian Region; Nurses; Nursing; Rural health services

Partial Transcript: I wonder how--um--I'm just curious if--and I guess no one really knows the answer to this but--how carefully she had thought about the directions that she wanted FNS to go in over the years.

Segment Synopsis: Caldwell talks about the decisions Mary Breckinridge made when building the Frontier Nursing Service hospital and her house at Wendover.

Keywords: Business; Committees; Construction; Developing; Expensive; Extravagance; F.N.S.; FNS; Homes; Hospitals; Houses; Opportunities; Planning; Purpose; Water systems; Wendover

Subjects: Breckinridge, Mary, 1881-1965; Education; Frontier Nursing Service, Inc.

Partial Transcript: Did Mrs. Breckinridge promote--um--education within the Service a lot, for instance, if she saw that someone had potential she would want them to get further training, to then come back?

Segment Synopsis: Caldwell talks about education and promotion possibilities within the Frontier Nursing Service. She talks specifically about a courier named Jean Hollins who took classes in order to be hired permanently at Wendover.

Keywords: Agnes Lewis; Classes; Couriers; Courses; F.N.S.; FNS; Hiring; Horses; Jobs; Learning; Opportunities; Promotions; Skills; Staff; Students; Training; Veterinarians; Veterinary clinics; Wendover; Work; Working

Subjects: Breckinridge, Mary, 1881-1965; Education; Frontier Nursing Service, Inc.; University of Kentucky

Partial Transcript: How were the couriers seen by the organization?

Segment Synopsis: Caldwell talks more about why people would want to become couriers for the Frontier Nursing Service. She talks more about the spirit of the organization.

Keywords: "Wide Neighborhoods"; Adventure; Changes; Couriers; F.N.S.; FNS; History; Horses; Hospitals; Influence; Jobs; Outdoors; Philanthropy; Presence; Respect; Strengths; Vital; Work; Working

Subjects: Frontier Nursing Service, Inc.; Volunteers

Partial Transcript: Did you ever think about doing it for life, also?

Segment Synopsis: Caldwell talks about various requests people from the Frontier Nursing Service have asked of her over the years, even after she had left the Service.

Keywords: Assistance; Assisting; Contact; Couriers; F.N.S.; FNS; Favors; Help; Helping; Jobs; Opportunities; Patients; Requests; Transportation; Unique; Work; Working

Subjects: Cincinnati (Ohio); Frontier Nursing Service, Inc.

Partial Transcript: Was there much going on in the city committee at that time to raise money for the FNS?

Segment Synopsis: Caldwell talks about the financial aspects of the Frontier Nursing Service including donations and fees.

Keywords: Adventure; Childbirth; Committees; Communities; Contributions; Corporations; Couriers; Deliver babies; Delivery; Donate; Donations; Duties; F.N.S.; FNS; Fees; Finances; Ford family; Fund raising; Land; Money; Mothers; Obligations; Pay; Postpartum; Pride; Schedules; Self-supporting; Services; Travel

Subjects: Breckinridge, Mary, 1881-1965; Cincinnati (Ohio); Frontier Nursing Service, Inc.; Leslie County (Ky.); Medical care--Appalachian Region; Medical care--Kentucky; Midwifery--Appalachian Region; Midwives--Appalachian Region; Nurses; Nursing; Public health; Rural health services

Partial Transcript: Was there much--um--in the way of education in Leslie county at that time? The school system? How were most of the kids educated?

Segment Synopsis: Caldwell talks about education in Leslie County. She talks about her friendships with some of the former Frontier Nursing Service employees and her lack of contact with Betty Lester.

Keywords: Agnes Lewis; Betty Lester; Changes; Communities; Community affairs; Correspondence; Couriers; Desks; F.N.S.; FNS; Friends; Helen Browne; Isolation; Jobs; Missionaries; Reminisce; School buildings; School systems; Wendover; Work

Subjects: Breckinridge, Mary, 1881-1965; Education; Friendship; Frontier Nursing Service, Inc.; Rural schools--Appalachian Region; Rural schools--Kentucky

Partial Transcript: Miss Caldwell is there anything--um--else that I've missed or that you can think of that made an impression on you--uh--you know, concerning the F.N.S.?

Segment Synopsis: Caldwell discusses the couriers for the Frontier Nursing Service who were all volunteers and paid a fee in order to join the program.

Keywords: Couriers; Demands; Duties; Employees; F.N.S.; FNS; Fees; Horses; Jobs; Local people; Locals; Loyalty; Money; Participation; Responsibilities; Work; Working

Subjects: Frontier Nursing Service, Inc.; Volunteers

Partial Transcript: How would you feel if the couriers were no longer to be a part of the F.N.S.? Would you feel that that was a real loss? I mean, today--I mean, if the--the jobs that the couriers did were just done by other volunteers or by people that were hired, that kind of thing?

Segment Synopsis: Caldwell discusses the spirit of togetherness and group mentality at Wendover within the Frontier Nursing Service program. The interview is concluded.

Keywords: Authority; Changes; Close-knit; Closeness; Contributions; Couriers; Duties; F.N.S.; FNS; Foundation; Freedom; Funds; Hospitals; Idealism; Patients; Relationships; Sacrifice; Service; Spirit; Transporting; Wendover

Subjects: Breckinridge, Mary, 1881-1965; Frontier Nursing Service, Inc.; Volunteers