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Show Betsy Bamberger Less r 1-27-83 p.7 Connecticut College for Women. L Now, at that time, therewere rnor c:0llegcs just for women? BL That's right. There were a lot of them. L There were a number of them around the country. BL That's right . And one of the reason thy didn't wnnt me--mother didn't want me to go to Smith. She didn 't care much for my father's sister. L Who was. BL Elsa Bamberger Michael. L What did she have to do with Smiths. BL She was a Smith's graduute. And so , the f~ct that Elsa had gone to Smith. My mother didn't want me to go to Smith. L She thought that the school would turn out-- BL Well. At any r ate , there had been some difficulties. Because. Personality complex and so forth. But at any rate. L What did Smith represent? BL Well, Smith to me was an ivy league s chool. It was an intellectual environment and I really wanted to be part of the--you know, I wanted to go to a really top school and I felt I could handle it. And I felt Mills was a compromise and I wanted to go East to school. I always wanted to do that. I wanted to be exposed to some of the better minds and more exciting, stimulating things that were going on in the country. But. Well. When --the first chance I got, I was very excited that Connecticut accepted me. But then the war started. And it was almost impossible. It was so difficult to get back and forth across the country and also -- L Why was that. BL Well, because the trains were delayed. Nine hours. Because they were shipping troops and all the armamEnts and so forthfotthe tropps back and forth , during the war. I remember being delayed 7 hours going across the country, getting back to school after the christmas vacation. And J ernember the day of Pearl I I /,(,/ ~~~em/c., Harbor, listening to the symphony, theft( .... L&1 J; .· · c and being interrupted I with the bombing of Pearl Harbor and one of the girls in the dormitory having a brother who was stationed in Pearl Harbor and we're being so concerned. And of course, New London, Conn., where I was in school, was right across from the Electric Boat Works, right next to the submarine base and there was talk that there was going to be bombings of the East Coast and my parents wouldn't let me go back. L What was your reaction, do you remember, to Pearl Harbor. BL Well, we were frightened to death.We were all scared, you know. We had been at lunch and we had been talking with the girl about her brother's being statione at Pearl Harbor. And when we heard it. The first reaction was, we thought it was |
