It only took boys, only boys, and it was a pay school, so not all the boys in the town could attend it was the ones who could afford to. They had it on Rector Street in the large federal kind of building. But my father went to, what he used to joke about Warner Institute.
By this time they had started the grammar school and high school. My mother had gone to Jersey City public schools and then came here. There was no public school when my father was born in Perth Amboy. She made more than my father.ĬW: He worked for his own father. She made eighteen dollars a month when she got married, and my father made fifteen dollars. KP: How long did your mother stay in the school system and how much did she make?ĬW: She taught about ten years, from around 1895 to 1905. But she had kind of a direct mind, and my mother was fascinated by it. I can't say that can I? You don't mind? Oh, I just wanted to say that. It's that kind of piercing mind, but dare say, she had a man's mind. She said her teacher was this brilliant woman, probably a Gertrude Stein type, who was a pupil of William James. One of the first, probably, at least certainly in a teachers' college, and do you know what the text book was? The two William James' volumes.ĬW: Nothing like going to the source, right? It was not, you know, something new that just came out. When she went to school, they instituted a course in Psychology at Trenton State. I know because my sisters would say, "Why do you know that and we don't?" and I would say, "Because Mom talked to me and she didn't talk to you!" And she did, and she told me things. She would talk to me and say things like, "Are you having a good time, Baby?" She would tell me things about the family, and I do have a good memory and I remember things.
But while she was cooking, I would be in the kitchen. You know, she had five kids, and she loved cooking. My mother talked to me a lot because I was the youngest of five children and her mind was not totally used up in house cleaning and running the whole show. Her sisters always called her "The Scholar" and had a deep respect for her.ĬW: She taught in the school system and she told me things.
So I better learn a profession to support myself." And of course, she was a beautiful woman, you know, but that was always her way of explaining it. She went there and she always joked about it and I said, "Mom, why did you go to college and none of my aunts did?" She said, "Because I was the ugly one and he figured I would never get a husband. Her marks were good enough and he ventured to let her go to Trenton State, which we now call the College of New Jersey. My mother had to make an absolute plea to my grandfather to be allowed to go to school. They were all bright, witty women, but they were women. She was one of seven sisters and she's the only one that went beyond eighth grade. My mother was born in Jersey City but moved here and was a member of the first graduating class of Perth Amboy High School. Not only were you born in Perth Amboy in 1918, but your father was born in Perth Amboy.Ĭharlie White: My father was born here. KP: I guess I'd like to begin by asking about your parents, because you're a real Perth Amboy native. Kurt Piehler: This begins an interview with Charlie White on Jin Perth Amboy New Jersey with Kurt Piehler and.