[Glenda] Honey, is it time for the interview?
[Chrysten] If your ready!
*Laugh*
[Glenda] I'm ready!
[Chrysten] Okay, so what is your full name?
[Glenda] Glenda, G,L,E,N,D,A; Jeanette, J,E,A,N,N,E,T,T,E; Kiehn, K,I,E,H,N.
[Chrysten] Mk, um, what's your *laugh* relationship with me?
[Glenda]*laugh* Chrysten?
[Chrysten] Yes?
[Glenda] Your phone is cutting out.
[Chrysten] It is?
[Glenda] Hu
[Chrysten] Oh
*moved the phone*
[Glenda] It seems alright now.
[Chrysten] Okay, that's probably cuz I moved it.
[Glenda] Oh, okay.
*laugh*
[Chrysten] Yeah, so, I would say your just my Aunt, Great Aunt.
[Glenda] Yes, I'm your Great Aunt, but you can call me grandma.
*Laugh*
[Chrysten] When and where were you born?
[Glenda] I was born in Monara Park, California.
[Chrysten] Mk
[Bob] 1899 (in the background)
[Chrysten] 1899?
[Glenda] No *laugh* 1951
[Chrysten] 1951, Okay.
*laugh*
[Chrysten] Tell Bob I love him!
[Glenda] I love you too baby!
*Laugh*
[Chrysten] Umm, what is your best memories as a child?
[Glenda] *pause* Wow! That's a tough one. Umm *long pause* As a child Hu?
[Chrysten] Yup!
[Glenda] *sneezes* Excuse me, um.
*TV in the background*
[Glenda] Well, Christmas is always ... Love Christmases! Um, *long pause* I guess, um, having my cousins come over for a few weeks in the summer, and we just play all summer. that's not really a good one though, is it? Oh, I know, the first year I got my... a real bike, a brand new bike. *laugh* Or, one time I went down to the pond and I found a snapping turtle, but I was afraid to pick it up because it was always snapping at me. So, I went to go get my brother and this other boy took my turtle and my brother jumped on his bike and was chasing this boy down to get my turtle back and he went, he went down this hill and I don't know what happened to your grandpa, but he *laugh* was half way down the hill then all of a sudden, his bike started going end over end. It just took all of his skin off his face, one side of his face, both arms, and his legs and the people that lived right there, the Hashimoto's, came out and he was just... He though that he was dead*laugh* so they called my mom and she had to come down and just talk to him and say, "Okay now Robbie now," he goes, "Mom, am I gonna die?!" *laugh* Ah, that was funny. Okay, let me think. Um, oh, I know, walking on the rails in Eastern Washington!
[Chrysten] *laugh* Yeah
[Glenda] and I know that's illegal now, but you have to bra... blame my sister and brother cuz they were older! *laugh* I can't think of anything great. I mean fantastic when I was a child.
[Chrysten] Well, I think what you said was funny. Well, I guess we'll just go onto the next question. Um, what is one of your best memories as an adult.
[Glenda] As an Adult *long pause* As an adult, I guess it would be, um, going to your house with Jonathan and Izzie.
[Chrysten] Yeah, that was fun.
[Glenda] For the... that was fun. Just doing whatever I could do, but you kids. You, you, your momma took you everywhere. That was cool. That was cool because we played games, and I loved that. And we'd just laugh ourselves silly.
[Chrysten] We played Marco Polo. That's my favorite memory.
[Glenda] That was cool!
*laugh*
[Glenda] By the way, don't let your Uncle Ronnie take that down.
[Chrysten] I won't!
*laugh*
[Chrysten] We got it fixed finally. Yeah, well, um, what are you most thankful for in your life?
[Glenda] I'm thankful for my boys, and my family. My extended family which would include you and, and your Uncle Robbie and, and his kids and grand kids, and... What was the question again?
*laugh*
[Chrysten] What are you most thankful for in your life?
[Glenda] What am I most thankful for as an adult? Yeah, I would say my boys.
[Chrysten] Okay, Going onto the next question, which is about 9/11. try to describe what your remember about 9/11. What were you doing?
[Glenda] Okay, I was getting up, and getting ready for work , and Bobby had the news on and we saw the first plane go into one of the trade towers... Twin towers, and um, and it was just like there was... everything was so silent! Your minds went numb.
[Bobby] She didn't think it was a Jumbo Jet(In the background)
[Glenda] Yeah, we didn't think it was a Jumbo Jet when it first hit because the picture. What it was showing looked small, and, um, it was also a work day, and I wanted to stay home, but I had to go to work. You know, so it was strange that day cuz I remember walking in the backyard and there was no birds singing. Everything was just quiet and when I got to work, of course we dug out an old TV. and it was probably a 13in. black and white. We were watching and listening around this and it was scary because we worked at Boeing and that would be a big target for anyone attacking the U.S. You know, so we were kind of worried about there and again, the people were just, everybody was quiet. They weren't their normal happy selves, you know. It was just like you were in a dream. Like this couldn't have happened and, and then the idea that you know, someone would actually attack on U.S. lands. you know, that was... it was just unbelievable. And when they... airplanes it made them land*cough* because they didn't want more planes to be used as bombs, you know. So they grounded all the planes. So you didn't, yeah, so there was no, I mean, that something you always hear is the airplanes. Well here, and there was nothing, you know, and everybody was just waiting for the next shoe to fall. Yeah, for days, it was, it was just... It was real scary, and I remember *cough* one time I was watching news and they said that there is a plane heading towards the U.S. from Canada, and so we knew that we had all our planes grounded. So they scrambled a bomber fighter, fighter jets, and that means they go up and they see what it is you know, and try to get them to respond. And, and if they don't they shoot em down, and if they respond, which thankfully they did, they escorted this plane in, but it was a UN plane. A United Nations plane, and it just brought tears to my eyes, you know. That somebody really cared about what was going on here is the U.S. you know. It was, it was a wonderful feeling. I mean I remember... I think I did cry because it just, it was just a moment in life when you know someone was saying we're here with you, we'll get through this, you know. And it was hard. It was, it was, that was I think the first part of my healing process. You know, that we aren't alone. That other countries do care.
[Chrysten] Yeah, well, you answered the next 1,2,3, 3 or 4 questions.
[Glenda] Right on!
*laugh*
[Chrysten] so, um, what did you do the rest of the day after you found out about the attack?
[Glenda] Well, we had to stay in at work. We, we did very little because we just, I mean it was like, you know, your brain wasn't working. You weren't, you know, you, we did very little because we just, I mean it was like, you brain wasn't telling your hands what to do. And, and every time the news would come on for a minute, everybody would just run to this little tiny TV and, and watch, know, because like I said, Boeing was a, It would have been a, a place to attack because it made airplanes. But, um, yeah, that was, that was one of the scariest moments of my life! *laugh* And you know we went home that day, and the same with Bobby and I. We were, I don't know, numb. You know, we couldn't, we didn't know what to do. You know, it was fear of, of the unknown. You know, what would happen next, and,and then it, you know for me it went to I don't want myself or my family to go to any, into any public places, you know, that were well know, because I was afraid they'd have somebody there as a bomber, plane, you just never know.
[Chrysten] Yeah, well, um, what's one word that comes the mind when you think of, um, 9/11?
[Glenda] Of what?
[Chrysten] Of this attack, of this day.
[Glenda] What's my emotion that comes to mind?
[Well, what's one word?
[Glenda] Ah, Terror.
[Chrysten] Terror?
[Glenda] Yeah, because of all the lives that were lost. You know, and you always wondered what would be, and who would be the next target, You know.
[Chrysten] Yeah.
[Glenda] And it was also, uh, al lot of people felt it was time to reconnect with your family, you know. To make those bonds stronger that, "Hey, wait a minute, we are a country, and we do stand together," you know, and the chips are down. We may not any other times, but you know, it was just people were reaching out to get to know people, you know. And that part of it was a, a nice thing, but I think the first word that comes to mind would be terror.
[Chrysten] Yeah, Hu, absolute terror!
[Glenda] Who do what?
[Chrysten] Who do you think emerged as leaders after, um, 9/11?
[Glenda] Oh, uh, emerged as leaders. *TV in the background* Oh, we were kind of removed from that, but I guess for the New Yorkers, it would have been, uh, Mar Juliana.
[Chrysten] Yeah.
[Glenda] Uh, I would say president, but I'm not a republican, so!
*laugh*
[Glenda] Uh, yeah I would say Mar Juliana.
[Chrysten] Mh.
[Glenda] And oh! A hero would be the guys' on that flight. That 4th plane that said, 'Lets Roll'. The y weren't gonna let that plane, which I believe was going to hit he White House, and, and that uh, you know it was. I think they were the heroes. And I think the people that died were heroes, nad the firemen and the policemen that lost their lives trying to bring people out of that building, you know. Um, I think everyday ordinary people emerged a more heroes than, you know, military, or anything like that.
[Chrysten] Yeah.
[Glenda] I think it was people came, it was like a feeling like you had to reconnect with life. You know, that there, your life at that moment in time was changed. It changed the world, you know.
[Chrysten] Mh.
*long pause and TV going on in the background*
[Chrysten] So, what do you believe is the legacy of 9/11?
[Glenda] The legacy of 9/11 is to be more aware of what is going on around you. Um, and the fact that knowing that the country can pull together. Unfortunately, it only seems to be at a time like that, but the country was going through a change. there were people that were um, breaking up, or going through a divorce at the time, and they stopped them, and went back and tried to reconnect with their former love interest. And, and, uh, for me, like I said was when that plane came over from Canada and it was the UN, because some times you just feel like, you know, the U.S., I mean if anything goes wrong, the U.S. is the first one to go, be there, you know. And you don't think the way that you know other countries care. You know?
[Chrysten] Yeah.
[Glenda] Because it actually changed the world. I believe that that was a full on affront of a terrorism. Something that we never see on our lands, and very few of them elsewhere, and um, then it just got, to went out of control. People were bombing everywhere.
[Chrysten] Mh, so how do you think it changed the United States?
[Glenda] *cough* I think, well, #1 is it increased security in all places.
[Chrysten] Definitely!
[Glenda] Yeah, and uh, I think it made, like I said, everybody more aware, to be more aware of where you're at, who your with, and what to be aware of, you know. When you're driving down the streets, if you see something that is odd, or out of place. Just like we've had 100's of. of uh, roads on Seattle, and little blocks in Seattle that are blocked off because somebody saw a bag that was left unattended, and they thought it was a bomb. For the 1st 3-6 months, it just seemed like it was a daily thing. If anyone left anything, even a garbage bag alongside the road, it got called in. And they went in with a bomb squad because they didn't know what it was.
*laugh*
[Chrysten] That seems scary, but here is another question. I think it is going to be the same answer as the last one, but, how do you think it changed the world?
[Glenda] Well, I think for the world it was an awakening but hey, these terrorist need to be dealt with, and I think that was, I think that was the first thing as, as a world, we came to recognize that yes, terrorism is here, and we do have to deal with it.
[Chrysten] Yeah.
[Glenda] But we have to deal with it as a world, not a country.
[Chrysten] Mh, agreeable!
* laugh*
[Chrysten] Do you believe that another attack like 9/11 is possible, and why?
[Glenda] Well, I think that it would be harder to do, because of the security that we do have in its place, but that's not to say that some person, you know, like there was actually, um, a Muslim guy that got into a, a single aircraft, you know. Those small ones. he had taken, flight lessons on how to uh, fly a 7, a five-seven, I think it was. And he ended up taking a small plane, and driving it into a skyscraper. Wasn't that in Florida? I think it was Florida.
[Chrysten] I think so.
[Bobby] that's one of the, that's on of the bombers.*in the background*
[Glenda] No, no, no, this was later, and um. So it was, it was just uh... What was the question?
*laugh*
[Chrysten] Do you think that another attack like 9/11 is possible, and why?
[Glenda] Yes, I think it is possible because you know as time goes by, you get more lacks of security measures, and people are up in arms right now, "Oh My God! They touched me at the airplane!" Well, you know, that's what probably would have stopped the first attack on 9/11 if they would have been a little bit more... Um, lets see, more uh... ch ch ch ch ch...
[Chrysten] Influences by security?
[Glenda] Yeah, yeah. But back then, it was yeah yea, we're Americans. We gotta do everything we can to prevent this, but as time goes on, I think some people forget. You know, what this is all about. Why these things are in place, you know. But did I answer it?
[Chrysten] Yes, you did.
[Glenda] Okay.
*laugh*
[Chrysten] Okay, so were any of your family members hurt during 9/11?
[Glenda] Did they what?
[Chrysten] Um, were any of your family members hurt, injured?
[Glenda] No thankfully! But then again, I reiterate that at that point of time all of those people that died were part of everybody's family because everybody felt the pain and the terror, and the loss of these people.
*TV in the background*
[Glenda] So, in that way, it would be, it, it would be, you know, if you looked at it as your world family, yeah. *sigh*
[Chrysten] Yeah, lots of people. Um...
[Glenda] ... and you know as Americans, we don't like anybody messing with other Americans. I mean we could be at an all out war with your neighbor, you know, but when it comes down to the bottom line, don't mess with the U.S!
*laugh*
[Glenda] And people try to pull together.
[Chrysten] Well, are there any last thoughts, comments, or memories you would like to share about that day?
[Glenda] Yes, yes, and you know, you have a deep love for family members, but at that moment in time, they were part of everybody's family.
[Chrysten] Well, you've answered all of my questions!
[Glenda] Aw, right on!
Glenda Kiehn Legacy and Leadership Interview, Chrysten Wetzel, 9/9/14, interview
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