Witt, Ben
This interview is with Ben Witt and covers the following themes:
1) Stories about Ben’s father, George Martin Witt, who was born in 1889. The stories specifically relate to:
Mining and quarrying in Arizona.
The Bisbee Deportation.
Prohibition-era moonshine in Tucson.
Demolition of St. Joseph’s Orphans Home, railroad bridges, and timber collection.
George’s life and travels as an imposter chiropractor, courting Ben’s mother Eileen Vola in rural Arkansas.
George Witt’s injury from a pneumatic truck tire explosion.
2) Ben's own oral history, including:
Ben’s childhood in the Ft. Lowell & Stone area in the 1940s, household and neighborhood description. Presence of cotton agriculture and many families from Oklahoma and Arkansas.
Childhood games, the arrival of running water and electricity to Ben’s house, and their first swamp cooler.
Monsoons and neighborhood flooding.
Development in the Catalina Foothills.
Elementary school at the new Amphitheater School District.
Reflections upon growing up in poverty.
Part 1 of 3 was recorded at the base of Tumamoc Hill in Tucson, Arizona on August 15th, 2017.
This interview covers the following themes:
High school at Amphitheater in the mid-late 1950s. Ben's social and work lives.
Further details about the demolition of St. Joseph’s Orphans Home.
The beginning of residential air conditioning in Tucson.
The beginning of Ben's career in plumbing. Comments on local unions, union culture, and the construction industry in early 1960s Tucson.
Further descriptions of the Ft. Lowell/Stone area, which Ben refers to as “Okietown.” Celebrations, dances, music, demographics.
Racing and car culture in 1950s Tucson.
Childhood play in the 40s and 50s, including the Wetmore pool, bicycles, games in desert with WWII surplus gear.
Ben meeting his wife Connie in the early 1960s.
Opening a bait and tackle shop in 1966.
Details about Ben’s parents later years.
Part 2 of 3 and was recorded at the base of Tumamoc Hill in Tucson, Arizona on August 18th, 2017.
This interview covers the following themes:
Development of the Stone/Ft. Lowell area from the 1940s onward: commercial changes, Amphitheater School District, neighborhood demographics, alcohol and drugs.
Ben's career trajectory from plumber to pipefitter to foreman.
Changes in plumbing craft; the introduction of plastics.
First steps into retirement in the late 1990s.
Part 3 of 3 was recorded at the base of Tumamoc Hill in Tucson, Arizona on August 30th, 2017.