Interview with Treon Christine, January 19, 1980

Partial Transcript: This is an unrehearsed interview with Treon Christine for the Frontier Nursing Service oral history project conducted by Nancy Albertson on January 19th, 1980 at 10:30AM in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Segment Synopsis: Treon Christine is introduced. She talks about volunteering with the Frontier Nursing Service, including discussion about dating local men and the feeling of women's independence within the organization.

Keywords: Autonomy; Couriers; Dating; Exciting; F.N.S.; FNS; Families; Fashionable; Independence; Isolation; Restrictions; Rules; Smith College; Volunteering

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

Partial Transcript: When--when you met her or when you were around her, did she talk much about--

Segment Synopsis: Christine discusses her memories of Mary Breckinridge and her presence at Wendover.

Keywords: Autonomy; Back problems; British; Controlling; Demanding; F.N.S.; FNS; Fashionable; Feisty; Horses; Leaders; Matriarchs; Needs; Women

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

Partial Transcript: What were your duties?

Segment Synopsis: Christine discusses her duties as a courier. She describes a childbirth she witnessed while accompanying a nurse.

Keywords: Anna May January; Barns; Breakfast; Coal trucks; Deliver babies; Deliveries; Driving; Errands; F.N.S.; FNS; Friendly; Helping; Home births; Jeeps; Jobs; Labor; Observing; Pain; Responsibilities; Stalls; Useful; Work

Subjects: Childbirth; Frontier Nursing Service, Inc.; Horses--Care; Midwives; Nurses

Partial Transcript: Do they do more in the hospital--

Segment Synopsis: Interviewer Nancy Albertson speaks with Treon Christine about the changes in how childbirths are handled. They talk about changes in funding within the FNS over the years.

Keywords: Agnes Lewis; Alcoholism; Changes; Committees; Deliver babies; Experiences; F.N.S.; FNS; Fundraisers; Government funding; Government regulations; Helen Browne; Home births; Home deliveries; Hospitals; Money; Private donations; Safety; Support; Training

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

Partial Transcript: When you were there did you notice any vying among--among the staff or any problems that Mrs. Breckinridge might have had with anyone?

Segment Synopsis: Christine discusses whether she ever noticed any fighting among the staff at the FNS. She talks about the poverty of the local people and whether the nurses tried to teach them about sanitation. She discusses the local people that worked at Wendover.

Keywords: Agnes Lewis; Betty Lester; Cooks; Decentralization; Diet; Discipline; Duties; F.N.S.; FNS; Families; Fighting; Food; Gardens; Gender; Grounds; Helen Browne; Isolation; Jobs; Local people; Locals; Men; Problems; Relationships; Responsibilities; Sanitation; Socialization; Supplies; Teaching; Women; Work

Subjects: Frontier Nursing Service, Inc.

Partial Transcript: Was Mary Breckinridge--did she have much to--in ch--in charge with Wendover?

Segment Synopsis: Christine discusses two nurses with the Frontier Nursing Service, Helen Browne and Anna January.

Keywords: Administrators; Anna May January; Betty Lester; Children's hospitals; Couriers; Duties; F.N.S.; FNS; Finances; Helen Browne; Jobs; Leadership; Orders; Responsibilities; Social work; Work

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

Partial Transcript: What was your perception of--of Kentucky as isolated in that sense and has it changed since the fifties, at all?

Segment Synopsis: Christine talks more about her impressions of the Appalachian area and the people who lived there when she visited.

Keywords: Children; Coal; Communities; Death; Dental care; Depressed; Energy crisis; F.N.S.; FNS; Hostility; Impoverished; Isolated; Isolation; Mountains; People of the Appalachian area; Poor; Poverty; Pride; Prosperity; Relationships; Rural locations

Subjects: Appalachian Region--Social conditions; Frontier Nursing Service, Inc.; Kentucky--Rural conditions.

Partial Transcript: Do you remember Mary Breckinridge interacting with the people very much?

Segment Synopsis: Christine talks more about Mary Breckinridge, especially about the last few years of her life. She discusses her own involvement with the Cincinnati Committee. The interview is concluded.

Keywords: Cincinnati Committee; Committee members; F.N.S.; FNS; Health; International; Involvement; Local people; Locals; Mary Breckinridge Day; Opinions; Opportunities; Travelling; Trips; Volunteers; Wendover

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