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McFadyen, Marguerite (audio interview #1 of 1)
INTERVIEW DESCRIPTION - This interview was conducted in McFadyen's home. 9/24/1982
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- 2020-11-12
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- SUBJECT BIO - Marguerite McFadyen was a volunteer with many community organizations including the Red Cross, Assistance League and Traveler's Aid. She and her husband also enjoyed fishing and were members of the Catalina Turn Club where he husband served as president. McFadyen was born in Colorado but her family moved to Long Beach because they believed it would improve her brother's health. She grew up and went to school here at St. Anthony's. Catholics were a minority group in Long Beach while she was growing up and the school, which served all of Long Beach, was small. After graduating from high school. she went to USC, the same school her husband graduated from as a pharmacist. Her husband served in the military and when he got out, he began managing pharmacies in Long Beach. First he worked for big chains and then started his own pharmacies in office buildings where there were medical offices. In this interview, McFadyen talks about what it was like to grow up in Long Beach and live here through the 1933 earthquake, World War II and post war changes. TOPICS - Topics on this side of tape include: family background; childhood; education; health problems; the Pike; Buffums and WWIITopics on this side of tape include: education; church; Owl Drugstores; Depression and pharmaciesTopics on this side of tape include: husband's family; marriage; recreation and 1933 Long Beach earthquakeTopics on this side of tape include: American Women's Voluntary Association; Red Cross; Catholic Charities and Assistance League
- *** File: cbmmcfadyen1.mp3 Audio Segments and Topics: (0:00-4:12)... McFadyen was born in 1885 in Boulder, Colorado and, at the time of the interview, was looking forward to her 87th birthday in December. Her family moved to Nevada when gold was discovered there. Then they moved to Long Beach because they were told her brother would be healthier at a lower altitude. They planned to stay in Long Beach for a year and lived in the Cynthia Annex downtown; they lived upstairs above retail stores. She attended Pine Avenue school and, after their year was up, they returned to Reno. But they only stayed a few months before returning to Long Beach. (4:12-8:46)... When her family returned to Long Beach, they moved to a residential neighborhood on 4th between Atlantic and Locust. She attended St. Anthony until she graduated from the 8th grade. Then she went to public high school. At the same time, she was preparing for confirmation, taking music lessons and getting her teeth straightened so she had to go to Los Angeles every week. All of that was too much for her and she couldn't sleep. Her family took her out of high school and her mother sent her back to the second half of 8th grade at Atlantic Avenue School. After that, she went to a convent school for 2 years. (8:46-10:04)... When her family lived on 4th Street, they were across the street from the Buffum family. She had her teeth straightened by the same dentist and took music lessons from the same teacher as Harry and Thurline Buffum. Buffums had a car when there were few in Long Beach. When the family piled their laundry in the car to take it to the laundress, all of the neighborhood kids jumped in the car to ride along and there was hardly enough room for the laundry. (10:04-11:21)... Her husband, Dwight McFadyen, was the son of Edgar McFadyen was a banker before he came to Long Beach and became an undertaker here. His livery stable, where he kept the horses he used to pull his hearse, was located where Buffums garage was at the time of the interview. (11:21-12:43)... Most of the children she grew up with on fourth street moved away from Long Beach. Only her family, the Buffums and the Middoughs stayed. (12:43-15:00)... After she graduated from the convent, her family moved to her uncle's orange grove in Cucamonga. They only stayed about a year and a half before they moved to Los Angeles. She attended Pomona College for a year, but illness led her to miss most of her sophomore year. When her family moved to Los Angeles, she attended USC and graduted from that school. Her husband also graduated from USC with a degree in pharmacy. In those days, it was only a 2 year course although it's a 6 year course now. There were only 5 men in his class and all of the others had been called into the service. (15:00-17:48)... McFadyen's husband, Dwight, was in the Medical Corps along with Harry Buffum and they were sent to France. Her brother was younger and went to the Armory to practice 2 nights a week until he was called into the regular army. He served in the engineering corps and built a big base in New York before he was sent overseas. (17:48-22:51)... Her parents were Alice and John Port Hiskey. Her father remained in Nevada when her family came to Long Beach. He only visited at Christmas and Easter. He worked for the Westen Ore Purchasing Company. They built plants near sites of gold discoveries such as Tonapah and Goldfield. In Nevada, they operated near gold mines and they had operated near silver mines in Colorado. Her father lived in Millers, outside of Tonapah, and it wasn't on the railroad line so they used stages to transport ore. They were frequently held up by bandits. The miners were Austrians who were called "Bohunks." There were no schools in mining towns, so she started school in Reno. (22:51-26:12)... When she was a child in Long Beach, she could walk along the shore at low tide to Wilmington. There was a bridge from Wilmington to San Pedro. In those days, roller skating was popular and she often skated to school. Her grandmother, who lived in Boulder, visited them in the winter until she moved to Los Angeles in 1924 and lived there until she died in 1930. (26:12-27:52)... She roller skated on the double decked pier and on Saturdays, she and her brothers fished there. They caught yellowtail and sometime albacore. In the summer time, their mother wouldn't let them go to the beach in the morning. They had to read and write letters to their father before they had an early lunch and then went to the beach in the afternoon. (27:52-29:09)... Her family moved to Long Beach because he brother, Chuck, had German Measles and then typhoid when turned into pneumonia. He was so frail that her mother had 2 baby buggies, one for her youngest brother and one for Chuck who was so frail. When her family came to Long Beach, they brought along a maid to help with Chuck who needed a special diet. (29:09-30:33)... As a child, she enjoyed going to the beach and the Pike. She and her brothers played in the sand. Her aunt and uncle bought property in Pasadena. They didn't have their own children but her uncle had more money than other family members. Her aunt and uncle later sold their property and bought an orange grove in Cucamonga. End of tape *** File: cbmmcfadyen2.mp3 (0:00-3:59)... McFadyen boarded at Immaculate Heart Convent in Hollywood and graduated from high school there. After that, he family moved to her uncle's orange grove in Cucamonga. She attended Pomona College and her brother was in high school. It took an half an hour to get to school because the roads were so bad. The family moved to Los Angeles when he father went to work for Atkins Rock and Gravel Company and they lived in a house without electricity. The family's home in Reno and her grandmother's home in Boulder had electricity. Her father didn't stay in Los Angeles very long since he could make more money in Nevada. (3:59-4:53)... In Long Beach, her family belonged to St. Anthony parish. When they starting going there, the priest was a Mexican and. Catholics weren't very popular at that time. Then Fr. Riordan was sent there and he built the school. She made her first communion there and was confirmed by Fr. Riordan. That's also where she was married. (4:53-8:51)... When McFadyen's husband returned from serving overseas, he went to work for Sun Drug Company. A little later, Owl Drug Company bought out Sun and her husband worked for Owl. It had several drug stores in Long Beach. When Owl opened a drug store in San Pedro, her husband supervised that as well as the stores in Long Beach. Her brother also worked for Owl as a manager. He started out managing the store in San Pedro, then moved to the one in Santa Ana. Her husband continued to work for Owl until 1943 or 1944. Owl had offices in Los Angeles and San Francisco. During the Depression, Owl sold some of their stores to Sontag. (8:51-12:42)... Pharmacies began to go into office buildings where many doctors had offices. While he was still working for Owl, her husband, with his partner Freeland Putnam, opened a drug store in the Pacific Southwest Building. Then they added drug stores in the Security Building and the Professional Building. Then they expanded to Bixby Knolls and Lakewood. There had to be enough doctors offices in a building to make it profitable to operate a drug store there. Each store had to have 2 or 3 pharmacists since state law limited the hours each one could work. Her husband never employed union members. He always offered a little higher salaries to attract non-union employees. (12:42-16:21)... Both her family and her husband's family came to Long Beach in 1906. The Horace Green family came about the same time and she went to Pomona College with George Green. In those early days, Buffums department store was called the Mercantile Company. (16:21-19:17)... The Methodist and Christian churches in Long Beach had large congregations. She doesn't remember any Mexicans going to services at St. Anthony's. At the Convent of the Immaculate Heart, where she went to high school, there were 21 girls in her class and they included the Del Valles, Nietos and some girls from the Dominquez family. The mother house of the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart was in Mexico. (19:17-23:00)... The Owl Drug Company tried to buy the Long Beach Drug Company at the corner of Pine and Ocean but the owners wouldn't sell. So the first store Owl bought was at Third and Pine; that became her husband's headquarters from which he managed other Owl stores. Owl also built a another store on Pine that was very elegant with beautiful tile and her brother Frank managed it. But Owl finally sold it because it wasn't suitable for a drug store. It had high Tiffany glass ceilings and no heating system. It was the coldest place she can remember. In those days, drug stores had fountains and it was a really special occasion when one got to have a banana split. (23:00-29:00)... The McFadyens, her husband's family, opened a mortuary in Long Beach in 1906 and Motell opened one in the same year. Her sister-in-law, Marie McFadyen, grew up in Long Beach and started college at USC. Then she transferred to UC Berkeley where she met Fred Monroe who was majoring in forestry. They married and moved to the woods; he worked for the federal government. At the time of the interview, she was living in Wenatchee, Washington. She went back to school and became a teacher and she taught until she retired. End of tape *** File: cbmmcfadyen3.mp3 (0:00-4:08)... Her mother-in-law was close to the Curtis family, which had several children. One of the children, Marjorie, was, at the time of the interview, living in an old house on Atlantic between Eighth and Ninth. She was active in the Episcopal church and worked as a school teacher until recently. The family also had a son who became a doctor. (4:08-9:45)... Her husband's parents were both born in California. His mother's family came overland in 1850. His father's family sailed around the horn to get to California. He was a strong Presbyterian. He sent for his younger brother who was a singer and who sang in San Francisco saloons. The grandfather owned land and raised sheep and grain near Dixon, California before the railroad was built. He had his own warehouses and ships to take his harvest to market. The family opposed the railroad and is confident the Southern Pacific Railroad burned down their warehouses and docks. (9:45-11:00)... Her husband's family's ranch house was a stop on the Pony Express route and also a hotel. The family's ships carried their grain as far as China. The old house was torn down some time in the 1930s or 1940s. (11:00-12:38)... She married Dwight McFadyen in 1922. His parents gave them a home on Bennett in Belmont Heights as a wedding gift. Her husband worked as a pharmacist for Sun Drug Company and within a year was promoted to manager. (12:38-21:16)... Her husband always enjoyed sailing. He saved his money and bought a 15 foot long sailboat which he kept in a slough. Long Beach didn't have marinas in those days. He paid a man $.50 to keep a latern on the mast lighted so it wouldn't be run down. By 1929, her husband had saved enough to buy a 32 foot long boat from Stewart Fellows. They fished from the boat and joined the Tuna Club. They spent nearly every weekend on the boat and fished at Catalina from April until November. In November they couldn't fish because they had season tickets for USC football teams. (21:16-22:09)... Her husband bought a lot on Signal Hill, but sold it when oil was discovered. He didn't think it would be a suitable place to build a house among the oil wells. (22:09-28:47)... She and her husband had just reutrned home when the 1933 earthquake struck. They went to check on his mother and then to check on is brother. His mother's home was messed up. They lost a lot of things, but the house wasn't damaged. That evening, they took their camping gear and set it up in the back yard. It was silly because their house wasn't damaged and they could have lived more comfortably on their boat. The man who was managing the mortuary for her husband's family and his family stayed in their backyard. District managers from Owl drug stores came down to Long Beach to see how the drug stores had survived the earthquake. They made a fire pit in their backyard out of the bricks that fell off of their neighbors chimney and cooked meals there. That first night, they had about 30 people in their backyard. (28:47-30:52)... About the third day after the earthquake, they were able to move back into their house. The man who ran the meat department of the market near her house where she usually bought groceries kept her supplied even after the earthquake. Many people didn't have access to food. Many of the employees at the Owl drugstores didn't have access to food, so McFadyen served breakfast to the employees. They couldn't re-open the drug stores right away, but the employees worked at cleaning up and getting the stores ready to open. End of tape *** File: cbmmcfadyen4.mp3 (0:00-7:26)... In college, her major had been Social Work and she worked for the county charities until she was married. After she was married, her mother-in-law got her involved in all kinds of civic organizations. She volunteered for the Red Cross, Scouts, Catholic Charities and others. During WWII, she worked 3 days a week from as a volunteer field worker for the Red Cross. Her husband always worked on Saturday nights, so she volunteered the American Women's Voluntary Association. They had a little cubby-hole office, about the size of a telephone booth, on Ocean between Pine and Locust. She worked there all day Saturday until 11 pm sometimes where something special was going on at the Servicemen's Bureau at Ocean and Linden. She had only 1 day at home and she employed a Black woman to clean her house and look after her nieces and nephews when they were left with her. That woman had worked for her for 43 years, but during the war, she went to work cleaning offices. Then McFadyen didn't have any help. Her gardener was drafted and she couldn't find anyone to take his place. (7:26-14:46)... In 1954 she moved to Seal Beach. She moved into a house that Sterling Pillsbury's sister built. She used the same architect who designed the Pillsburys home on Country Club Drive. After she moved in, she had the house expanded so she had a formal dinning room and a playroom below it. She also has worked on the landscaping. Once when she was vice-president and in charge of new members for the Assistance League, she had a party for them in her garden and it rained. (14:46-20:24)... McFadyen and Francis Putnam were the first provisionals in the Assistance League in 1945. They had to have provisions right away after the group was formed. When she was due to become president, her mother-in-law was very ill and it was difficult to get anyone to live in and take care of her. And it was the same year she was supposed to become chair of the Red Cross. There was only so much she could do. (20:24-22:19)... At the time of the interview, she was volunteers as a driver for Meals on Wheels and the Stroke Center. End of tape
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