Grace Illman Oral History
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Oral history interview with Grace Belknap Illman
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Primarily documents Grace Belknap Illman's childhood in Washington and Oregon; her experiences teaching army ground school from 1942 to 1945; and her teaching career after the war. Illman discusses her family background, childhood, and education in Washington and Oregon in the 1920s and '30s. She also talks about her great-grandmother leading a wagon train across the country to Oregon in 1843. " Illman talks briefly about her army technical training at the University of St. Louis in 1942 and her preparation for teaching. She also describes her reasons for wanting to do civil service work and her position as a civilian on the army base at Scott Field. Other topics related to ground school include the classes that Illman taught, particularly communications equipment and antennas; shift schedules; and a typical day of teaching. Illman also remembers the classroom organization; foreign language students; traveling by train; her social life; being commissioned in the army in 1943; uniform requirements after the change; living in Belleville; and returning to visit the area and how it had not changed. " Illman also comments on her easy adjustment to civilian life with her husband in Greensboro, North Carolina; her feelings about women in the military; the impact of her service on the rest of her life; and her feelings about her daughter, Cathy Illman Sykes, serving in the air force. " Other topics include Illman's personal interests and career teaching vocational education at Grimsley High School and Guilford Technical Community College in Greensboro, North Carolina, after the war. She describes classes she taught; her students; and her volunteer work.
