June K. Lyman, Phoenix, Arizona: an interview by Dr. Floyd A. O'Neil, Dr. Gregory C. Thompson [January 12 and 13, November 29, 2009]

Transcript (34, 64, 66 pages) of interviews by Floyd A. O'Neil and Gregory C. Thompson with June K. Lyman on January 12-13 and November 29, 2009

Lyman (b. 1912) talks about her family and growing up in Sykeston, North Dakota, a small farming community. Her father owned a mercantile, and she lived in a Frank Lloyd Wright house. She attended the Saint Elizabeth's School of the Benedictine Order until eighth grade, and then attended the public high school. She talks about the economic changes that came to the family because of the Depression. She remembers the flu of 1918. The Lawrence Welk Band sometimes came to the surrounding community to play for the Friday night dances. Lyman worked at the Sykeston Opera House (upstairs in the mercantile her father owned) as a pianist for the silent movies while in high school, and graduated co-valedictorian of her class. She attended St. Catherine's College in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1929. She attended North Dakota State University in Fargo, North Dakota, where she graduated with a BS in History. She worked at Lake Minnetonka as a waitress at the summer camps, and was a member of Phi Mu Sorority, Kappa Delta Phi, and Pi Gamma Mu. Her first job after graduation was as an elementary teacher for the upper grades, she became the principal at twenty-one. She received her Master's Degree in History Teaching from Columbia University, New York, 1939, and married Stan Lyman in August 1942. They had two children. Stan worked for the Bureau of Indian Affairs and they moved quite often, so Lyman taught at the Pine Ridge Indian School, Belle Fourche High School, and Sturgis School. In addition she spent four years as principal in Vale, South Dakota, was Dean and matron at the State Correctional Institute for Girls in Plankinton, South Dakota, worked at Oglala Community High School as a teacher and counselor, and was a child welfare worker in Aberdeen, South Dakota. She continued in child welfare work in Denver, Colorado. Interviewers: Floyd O'Neil and Greg Thompson.