Interview of Ruth Grindle

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Interview of Ruth Grindle

Esther Rodick interviews Ruth Grindle who talks about her life in Southwest Harbor. Neither of her parents were originally from the area, but her father moved to Bar Harbor to work in a jewelry story before moving to Southwest Harbor to open his own store. In 1921, he became the town Postmaster, but was dismissed in 1933 when FDR was elected-back then, the Postmaster was tied to the political party in power. Ruth talks about how she loved watching the JT Morris steamship come to town and seeing the workers running on and off with the freight. She remembers fires in town, and horse stable, and ice storage. Ruth met her husband at Echo Lake, where she went for recreation. She worked at the Dirigo Hotel and her husband worked as a boatbuilder. After recovering from Guillan-Barre syndrome, the two opened a store in the 1950s which sold a wide variety of things. Finally, she tells of how she finagled her way into meeting FDR when he visited Southwest Harbor.

338 Main Street

Southwest Harbor

ME

USA

January 6, 1992