Oral history interview with Walter E. Hazlett, 1974 February

This oral history interview with Walter E. Hazlett was conducted by Jim Strassmaier in February 1974. In this interview, Hazlett discusses his early life in Portage and Willmore, Pennsylvania, including his courtship with Naomi Ruth Long (also known as Ruth Hazlett), as well as working in coal mines. He also talks about working in the shipyards in Washington during World War II. He speaks about Ruth Hazlett, including her family background and their marriage. He describes his experience during the 1948 Vanport flood and talks about its aftermath at length. He speaks further about Ruth Hazlett. He speaks more about working in coal mines in Pennsylvania, including participating in labor strikes. He talks about his children, their careers, and his relationship with them. He then gives a timeline of the places he lived; talks about injuries he sustained in the workplace and in a car collision; and revisits the topic of his marriage. He also talks about his and Ruth Hazlett's family educational background. He closes the interview by revisiting the topic of working in coal mines in Pennsylvania and his experience during the Depression.