Ruth Sandvik: Interview Outline: Section 6 Education and running a store Tape Reference Number: H2002-09-11 Ruth Blankenship-Sandvik talks with Bill Schneider and Eileen Devinney in Kiana, Alaska on February 28, 2002.

Bill Schneider: Then a little bit on your own education because I think that's fairly unique.

Ruth Sandvik: Well, at the time, when I was ready to go to high school, there was a war. And they were evacuating from some of these cities, so the only school I could go to was a -- a boarding school called White Mountain.

Bill Schneider: Uh-hum.

Ruth Sandvik: And I went there three years. And then went the fourth year to Fairbanks high school. Then went to the university. And taught -- taught in the Fairbanks high school. And then moved out of Fairbanks and then began traveling other -- other places.

Bill Schneider: Uh-hum. What year did you graduate from UAF?

Ruth Sandvik: Let's see. '50.

Bill Schneider: What we call UAF now.

Ruth Sandvik: Okay. Last summer I went to reunion, and it was a fiftieth. So it must have been '51.

Bill Schneider: '51?

Ruth Sandvik: Yeah. My husband graduated in '50, and he came back for the fifth year degree, in '51, to graduate with me.

Bill Schneider: Oh, that's neat. So you've seen quite a few changes here in Kiana, I suspect?

Ruth Sandvik: Yeah. Absolutely. I mean, when I grew up, people had -- it was very simple to have a store. The basic things were salt, sugar, coffee, flour, baking powder, and soda. And canned fruit was a luxury. Dried fruit, you know, you had -- you saw them have the dried fruit the other day. Dried fruit was -- was used. They tried to keep oranges and apples until Christmas, but you can imagine they were not in top -- tip-top shape when they doled them out at Christmas.

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