Interview with Ms. Juel Farquhar and her daughters Janine Farquhar and Kathy Ayeh conducted by Sharon Sekhon and Victoria Koos on September 27, 2020 at their home in Yorba Linda.This interview was done for "Shouting from the Margins: Black Leadership in Orange County, 1960 - 1979."
Juel Farquhar and her daughters are community leaders in their respective fields. Juel Farquhar was the first Black teacher in Fullerton and in this interview discussed her husband, the first Black mail carrier in Fullerton. Her daughter Janine was the first Black police officer for the City of Anaheim. And daughter Kathy Ayeh teaches dance for the Fullerton Unified School District after studying dance at UC Irvine, UC Berkeley, and in Africa.
Tags: African American; Black Americans; Civil Rights; Discrimination; Activism; California; Education; Feminism; Police; Interviews; 1950s; 1960s; 1970s; Orange County; Fullerton; Maple Street Elementary; Wilshire Junior High School; FUllerton Union High School; UC Irvine; Doogan’s Ranch; Fullerton City College; Hollywood; Yorba Linda; Kathy Ayeh; Kathryn Waynell Farquhar; Juel Peters; Juel Farquhar; Braxton Berkley; Sophia Berkley; Brigman Owen; Janine Farquhar
Transcript:
Juel Farquhar:
Juel. J-U-E-L. Juel Farquhar. Julie.
Janine Farquhar:
She came here in 39 and-
Juel Farquhar:
They used to call me Julie.
Janine Farquhar:
They called her Julie. (silence)
Juel Farquhar:
My grandparents lived in Fullerton. They lived on Orange Star. Was it Orange Star?
Janine Farquhar:
Yeah, it was a ranch.
Juel Farquhar:
Ranch, they lived on a ranch. (silence)
Janine Farquhar:
Yeah, but they've built stuff. There's a church-
Juel Farquhar:
Church of [crosstalk 00:00:54]
Janine Farquhar:
If you're going west, there's a church between Euclid and [Rookers 00:00:57]. There's a church. I don't know if that's where it was. There's a house that's-
Kathy Ayeh:
I always thought it was where the gray house is on Orange.
Janine Farquhar:
Well, the gray house, that's somebody that she worked for.
Kathy Ayeh:
Oh, okay.
Janine Farquhar:
She worked for the lady that lived in the house.
Juel Farquhar:
It was down the street from there is where grandma and grandpa lived.
Janine Farquhar:
Yes, it's in that area.
Juel Farquhar:
On the other side.
Janine Farquhar:
Like I said, bottom line, it was a ranch, and we lived there. I only knew grandma when she lived with my Aunt Ruby up in LA. I didn't know grandma when she ... I wasn't born then. (silence)
Kathy Ayeh:
Berkeley.
Juel Farquhar:
My last name was Peters. But that was my mothers name. But my grandma and grandpa were Berkeley. My mother was married to a mean man named Peters when she lived in Illinois. (silence)
Helen. She was a pianist. She played for the church, organist there. And she cooked a lot, and made bread and stuff like that. (silence)
Her bread, she made her ... And she canned all kinds of fruit. When we were little kids, we'd go pick the fruit, go in the forest, because they had berries and stuff like that, and we'd pick it and bring it home. And she would can it for the winter. (silence)
Southern Illinois. DuQuoin. Capital D-U, and capital Q-U-I-N.
Kathy Ayeh:
Q-U-O-I-N. (silence)
Juel Farquhar:
When I came out here after I graduated from high school, and my grandparents lived on Orange Star on a ranch over there, and I came to live with them, and then I'd go to school. I went to Fullerton College. Started going to school here in 29. (silence)
I liked it. Came on a train from Illinois to California. Came to Fullerton California. (silence) Not really. Not really. I liked people anyway. I'd always been around a lot of people and played sports, baseball. (silence)
No, it was after, in college. First year of college. (silence) Yes, just like it is now. When I pass by, it looks the same. I'm sure they've done some changes and stuff. (silence)
This is where they had moved. They moved from Illinois years ago, and they lived on Orange Star, in a ranch, in Fullerton.
Janine Farquhar:
Tell her how they got to live at that. The owner of the ranch was tired of his renters tearing up the place.
Juel Farquhar:
Yeah, he was. And so he rented it to my grandma and grandpa. The renters would rent it, and they'd tear it up. And so when my grandpa wanted to live there, well, he rented it to them. And that's how they lived there. They were living there when I came.
Janine Farquhar:
Because they didn't take care of it. (silence) They were okay. But they were ... Yeah.
Juel Farquhar:
They were good to me.
Janine Farquhar:
The majority was like what you ... Yeah. (silence)
Juel Farquhar:
No, there were others. I think we have-
Janine Farquhar:
Dave Cox.
Juel Farquhar:
Yeah.
Janine Farquhar:
Dave Cox.
Juel Farquhar:
Dave Cox.
Janine Farquhar:
And trying to think.
Kathy Ayeh:
The [Goodwin 00:05:29] Family.
Janine Farquhar:
Not the Goodwin. The Berkeleys. The Berkeleys.
Juel Farquhar:
Yeah, the Berkeleys went to school there, all the Berkeleys.
Janine Farquhar:
Her nephews. Because grandmother had, I don't know, seven or eight brothers. And Tom Berkeley went there, and he went to UCLA. Did he go to UCLA [crosstalk 00:05:46]?
Juel Farquhar:
Yeah, he went to UCLA. And he played basketball at the high school. My uncle, my grandma's son. And all of her kids, grandma had about seven kids.
Janine Farquhar:
Yeah, I can't remember the number for sure. But we got the pictures [crosstalk 00:06:00].
Juel Farquhar:
And the younger ones went to school here. My mom had married, and she stayed in Illinois. But the younger ones went to school here, Tom, Clifford. (silence)
She stayed in Illinois. She stayed in Illinois. She was in Illinois until she died. (silence) Oh, it wasn't too bad. Grandma and grandpa were so nice.
Sophia and Braxton. Braxton was my grandpa, and Sophia was my grandma. She was just a nice lady all the time. (silence)
Yeah, I learned piano when I lived in Illinois. I continued for a little while, and then I finally quit. (silence)
He was just a healthy helpful busy man. (silence) He played baseball. Well, they called it softball. (silence) Short stop. Well, we didn't travel. Well, we just played in Fullerton and whoever was there. We didn't travel a lot. (silence)
What did I study? I just wanted to graduate, so mostly English and regular college courses. (silence) When I was working at ...
Janine Farquhar:
Hunt's.
Juel Farquhar:
What?
Janine Farquhar:
You were canning tomatoes and peaches at Hunt's.
Juel Farquhar:
Yeah.
Janine Farquhar:
We were born by then.
Juel Farquhar:
Before I worked-
Janine Farquhar:
.. there, she built airplanes. Was it?
Juel Farquhar:
I built airplanes. (silence) People talked about it a lot. (silence) The few that were here, they finally shipped them off somewhere. Before they shipped them off, I knew a few of them.
Janine Farquhar:
Well, if you look at the annuals in Fullerton College [inaudible 00:08:58]
Kathy Ayeh:
First year.
Janine Farquhar:
[crosstalk 00:08:59] And the next year, it was like, "Zoop!" Gone.
Kathy Ayeh:
Second year.
Juel Farquhar:
When they transferred them away from Fullerton in the area, I didn't like it. (silence) No, it didn't scare me. I just thought it was kind of not pleasant if you take people out of their home and force them somewhere else because they didn't like their nationality. They were Japanese. To me, when they did that, I did not like it because I thought that was not fair. (silence)
We were in first grade together. Yeah, in Illinois. We were in our school, and the teacher started getting after me because I didn't have a pencil.
Janine Farquhar:
Her pencil was a stubby one because [inaudible 00:09:56]. So she had a stubby pencil.
Juel Farquhar:
And she was fussing with me because I didn't have that pencil. And my husband, who I finally married, he was sitting in front of me, and he turned around and handed me a pencil because he didn't like the way the teacher was talking to me. (silence)
After the war, and when he got out of service, he came to California. And that's when we got married. (silence) Tuskegee.
Janine Farquhar:
He was in the third squadron. Did you see the movie Red Tails? If you see the move on TV, they're going to cut out parts. In the theater, the very beginning of Red Tails, the mailman is passing out the mail. That was what my dad did. And so when Steven Spielberg, or Lucas, whoever made the movie, interviewed the people, because they were still around to be interviewed, I'm sure they said, "You got to put [Ozzie 00:10:54] in there." And so we're sitting going, "That's my dad!" [inaudible 00:10:57] Yeah, but because he was the mailman. So he was much loved, of course, because he brought them the mail. (silence)
Juel Farquhar:
In Fullerton, he was all over the place.
Janine Farquhar:
He was a mailman. He was a mailman when he got-
Juel Farquhar:
Everybody knew him.
Janine Farquhar:
He had a job, but he ended up being a mailman, which was hard work. You got to take a civil service exam. And he was in the top three. And they passed him over, passed him over. And they said, "We don't have to hire. We can hire off the top three." So they would hire number two and three, because he was number one. And this lady called Ms. Dean, I don't remember her first name-
Juel Farquhar:
Suzanne Dean. Suzanne Dean.
Janine Farquhar:
She wrote letters. Suzanne Dean, she wrote letters to the postmaster, to the Congressman. She went to bat for us, so he could get hired.
Kathy Ayeh:
So he was the first mailman of African American descent in Fullerton. He was the first one.
Janine Farquhar:
And she was the first teacher of African American descent, even though she didn't want to be interviewed for this about 15-20 years ago, so another person got credit for it. She didn't care. But another person got credit for being the first. This whole family were overachievers, if you think about it, because all of her brothers went to college. One became an attorney, one did political stuff. Was it Clifford?
Juel Farquhar:
What?
Janine Farquhar:
Clifford did political ... Didn't Clifford-
Juel Farquhar:
Yeah, all the Berkeleys went to school.
Janine Farquhar:
Yeah, they did [inaudible 00:12:15] they achieved.
Kathy Ayeh:
Ebony Magazine wanted to interview her. She said no when she first became a teacher at [Molton 00:12:22] Drive. She just said no. She didn't want the-
Janine Farquhar:
[crosstalk 00:12:25]
Juel Farquhar:
I just went to school.
Kathy Ayeh:
[crosstalk 00:12:25] actually.
Janine Farquhar:
Well, and the whole thing is you hated being the first. Well, you were the first [crosstalk 00:12:31]
Juel Farquhar:
I think I might have ... I went to school with [inaudible 00:12:31], very nice.
Janine Farquhar:
Yeah, they were okay.
Juel Farquhar:
Went from the building planes, I helped build airplanes just before the war. And so when I came back-
Janine Farquhar:
We went to San Jose State for her-
Kathy Ayeh:
[crosstalk 00:12:50]
Juel Farquhar:
My degree. My [crosstalk 00:12:50]
Janine Farquhar:
Social. Social. She was a social worker for a hot minute.
Juel Farquhar:
But he didn't fly planes. He did the other type of work. (silence) [crosstalk 00:13:10] On [Truslow 00:13:10].
Janine Farquhar:
Truslow.
Kathy Ayeh:
Truslow.
Janine Farquhar:
One side is all Yuppie side, and the other side is like it was. Yeah, it's [crosstalk 00:13:15]
Juel Farquhar:
I lived on Truslow with my husband for a while until we moved here.
Kathy Ayeh:
No, we moved to [Rosalind 00:13:22].
Janine Farquhar:
Rosalind. Okay, we lived at 113. Well, they actually lived behind the freight at 145 on the end of the street. But they had a house. My aunt, this aunt, owned the house. Aunt Sophia are in here.
Juel Farquhar:
That was my mother's sister. (silence) That's my Aunt Ruby.
Janine Farquhar:
[crosstalk 00:13:42] But anyhow, Sophia, it's actually funny, but Sophia and Braxton, the roots of what they [crosstalk 00:13:49]
Juel Farquhar:
They came to California.
Janine Farquhar:
Their grandparents, or their parents, or slaves. So it's going to be in here.
Juel Farquhar:
My aunt worked in Hollywood for years.
Janine Farquhar:
Yeah, she was secretary-
Kathy Ayeh:
... to Hattie McDaniel.
Janine Farquhar:
She had movies. Alligator People. Alligator People, she's the maid.
Kathy Ayeh:
She has film credits.
Janine Farquhar:
Wild in the Country with Elvis Presley, I think it is, she's the maid. I mean, she basically made the maid ... You know. [crosstalk 00:14:13] She was Hattie McDaniel's secretary. (silence)
Juel Farquhar:
In Illinois. We were from Illinois, so I went back there. Oh, it was very nice.
Janine Farquhar:
She had a nice suit, a nice ... Was it brown suit?
Juel Farquhar:
Huh?
Janine Farquhar:
Your suit, was it brown? Your suit.
Juel Farquhar:
I don't remember.
Janine Farquhar:
We have the hat somewhere. It's fragile. She had this hat on with flowers on it. At the church. You get married at the church?
Juel Farquhar:
Yeah, we married at church in Fullerton.
Janine Farquhar:
With the Zion, AME Zion, or whatever it was? What's the church?
Juel Farquhar:
AME Zion.
Janine Farquhar:
Yeah, the black church.
Juel Farquhar:
In Illinois. And then we came here from there and lived here ever since. (silence) Yeah, I went to this Methodist ...
Janine Farquhar:
What was it? First United Methodist?
Juel Farquhar:
First I went to a church in-
Janine Farquhar:
Santa Ana.
Juel Farquhar:
Not Anaheim.
Janine Farquhar:
Santa Ana.
Juel Farquhar:
Santa Ana.
Janine Farquhar:
For a hot minute.
Juel Farquhar:
There was a church. And then I got tired of that because I wanted to be close to my church. So I moved to Fullerton and went to Fullerton Methodist.
Janine Farquhar:
Yeah, the one on Commonwealth with the tall tower, across from the post office.
Kathy Ayeh:
That's Commonwealth and Pomona.
Juel Farquhar:
My husband, in the service, he was in the post office mostly. So that's where he wanted to work. So he took the examination and starting carrying. He carried mail how long?
Kathy Ayeh:
I would say 25 years. (silence)
Janine Farquhar:
So tons of people know him. At his memorial service, the church was packed, floor to ceiling. Because people knew him from the post office, from he worked at [inaudible 00:16:06], he was a Y's Men. You know, "Y" apostrophe "S" Men. (silence) The YMCA had Y's Men. The neighborhood and everybody who everybody who ever was his [crosstalk 00:16:24].
Juel Farquhar:
Ozzie. They called him Ozzie.
Janine Farquhar:
He got people who were like my age, "Yeah, when I was two years old, he brought the mail to my house," you know. (silence) Thank you. Thank you. (silence)
Juel Farquhar:
He was just a really nice man. Kids liked him a lot. When he came from Illinois, he had been working in Illinois at a jewelry store, a man who ... He dug up people.
Janine Farquhar:
Oh, he did tombstones.
Juel Farquhar:
Tombstones?
Janine Farquhar:
He made tombstones, jewelry store, and he did catering with his father.
Juel Farquhar:
Huh?
Janine Farquhar:
He did catering with his father at the Elks Club, you told me.
Juel Farquhar:
Yeah.
Janine Farquhar:
And he worked at the bowling alley there.
Juel Farquhar:
Yeah, he worked in a bowling alley. And when he came here, that's what he ended up doing, working at the Fullerton Bowling Alley.
Janine Farquhar:
Yeah, he was a janitor, and then he knew how to repair the stuff, fix the alleys, which they didn't know. (silence) He would set pins in bowling. He was strong. (silence) [crosstalk 00:17:50]
Juel Farquhar:
On Fullerton, off Harbor.
Janine Farquhar:
Is [Davion Bean 00:17:51] still in Fullerton? I can't remember.
Juel Farquhar:
It was on Harbor, Janine.
Janine Farquhar:
Harbor? It's off Commonwealth.
Juel Farquhar:
Commonwealth and Harbor.
Janine Farquhar:
Commonwealth. It's on Commonwealth, I want to say like 300, or at that first-
Kathy Ayeh:
It's on that block, okay, closer to home.
Juel Farquhar:
I went there for years.
Janine Farquhar:
Yeah, when we got there, we got to go with them in the summertime [inaudible 00:18:11]
Kathy Ayeh:
He'd let us ride on the machine as he was [inaudible 00:18:15].
Janine Farquhar:
But he did that. He had laundries [inaudible 00:18:18] bowling alley. Then he finally got the job at the post office. And he had other part time jobs along the way because he was a hard worker. But I'll tell you now though, he was a reader. That's the thing that I-
Juel Farquhar:
Yeah, he liked to read.
Janine Farquhar:
[crosstalk 00:18:30] get your work and just be in another world.
Juel Farquhar:
He was very diligent man.
Kathy Ayeh:
He supported the family really well. (silence)
Juel Farquhar:
She was the first one. (silence) I've been taking care of little kids all my life.
Janine Farquhar:
She used to take care of her brothers and sisters, so it was nothing new.
Juel Farquhar:
There were eight in family, and the younger ones were brothers. And I used to help with them. And when I decided that I wanted an education, and in Illinois where I lived, it was too expensive. I worked for people. I'd clean their houses and whatnot, for nothing practically. Clean all day, and make a couple of bucks.
Janine Farquhar:
So she used coming down here with her grandparents, and their address, school was free.
Juel Farquhar:
And I came out here to live with my grandparents. And when I began to live with them, I went to school too. I couldn't afford to go to school in Illinois because it was too expensive to get in. I didn't have any money. So I came out here, and right away, I was able to go to school. (silence) Well, I had these two.
Janine Farquhar:
And Peter.
Juel Farquhar:
And my son in there. (silence)
Kathy Ayeh:
But I want to say something. One of the reasons why she became a teacher because she realized, "I been taking care of kids ever since I was young. So that'll be something that I'll be able to do." And she's always enjoyed teaching and working with young people. She did it at an early age.
Janine Farquhar:
She has a gift. Hers is a gift. Teaching wasn't considered work for you because you loved it. You love working with kids. You like working with kids who have problems.
Juel Farquhar:
Oh, okay.
Janine Farquhar:
You did. You kept saying the ones that have problems are the ones that-
Juel Farquhar:
And it's easy. I been taking care of kids all my life.
Janine Farquhar:
Yeah, and the ones that had problems were the most fun for her. (silence)
Juel Farquhar:
Hermosa Drive School. (silence) I enjoyed it. I enjoyed working with kids. I taught fourth grade.
Janine Farquhar:
Yeah, you taught fourth a lot, but you did other grades.
Juel Farquhar:
And fifth.
Janine Farquhar:
Fourth. You did second and third.
Juel Farquhar:
And second and third.
Janine Farquhar:
But fourth was your favorite.
Juel Farquhar:
I taught at Maple School in Fullerton.
Janine Farquhar:
You were in child care. You did child care at Maple.
Juel Farquhar:
Yeah, I did little kids.
Janine Farquhar:
You got a list. We put a list of what you ... Isn't that a list of your schools?
Juel Farquhar:
What?
Janine Farquhar:
Right there on the paper.
Juel Farquhar:
Here?
Janine Farquhar:
Is that the list of the schools.
Kathy Ayeh:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Janine Farquhar:
Okay.
Kathy Ayeh:
Maple.
Juel Farquhar:
Yeah, Maple is here.
Janine Farquhar:
It's on the bottom though because she retired. She retired and then [crosstalk 00:21:26]
Kathy Ayeh:
There's Hermosa. Fern Drive.
Juel Farquhar:
I taught at Hermosa, Fern Drive, Rolling Hills.
Kathy Ayeh:
Rolling Hills, [Valencia 00:21:30] Park, Maple School.
Juel Farquhar:
Valencia Park, and then Maple. And when I retired-
Kathy Ayeh:
You were at Valencia Park.
Janine Farquhar:
She retired from Valencia Park in 86, but worked until 2003 subbing. And then Valencia Park, when she went back there, she was working with kids who couldn't read so that they could read. Tell her about the little boy, because basically they would graduate out of their class and get back into regular class. What's the little boy that you had in there forever? What did he say to you?
Juel Farquhar:
Which one?
Janine Farquhar:
Little boy that he was the slowest one to learn how to read. He asked you a question.
Kathy Ayeh:
He said, "All my friends are gone. What do you have to do to get out of your class?" And she told him, and he was out in two weeks.
Janine Farquhar:
Yeah, but he wasn't putting out and wasn't producing. He just was having a good time. And then there was nobody to have a good time with. He got out of your class.
Juel Farquhar:
I enjoyed it. (silence)
Janine Farquhar:
I say I was nine.
Kathy Ayeh:
57.
Juel Farquhar:
Yeah, you were about nine.
Janine Farquhar:
57 is what I think. That's what I think. And Kathy says it's different. And I say, "Well, that's what I remember."
Kathy Ayeh:
Well, I just remember I was in the fourth grade, I thought, when you started teaching at Hermosa.
Janine Farquhar:
Actually I was in the fourth grade because I was the same age as the kids she had. I used to do the bulletin boards. That was my thing, decorating the bulletin boards, and making the borders, and all the stuff you can't even do not because there's too much stuff in the classroom, and it's a fire hazard. But that [crosstalk 00:22:51]
Juel Farquhar:
Yeah, you did help me with bulletin boards.
Janine Farquhar:
I loved it. I loved bulletin boards. That was not her forte. (silence) Oh, yeah. Mary Perkins. Oh, yeah.
Kathy Ayeh:
Oh, yeah. She's still here, yeah.
Juel Farquhar:
Who?
Kathy Ayeh:
She's in Fullerton. Yeah.
Janine Farquhar:
She goes where we go to church. We talked to her today. Yeah, she calls mom every Sunday after church. We go on the computer. So she calls her to say, "Hi, Mrs. Farquhar. How are you today?" Ms. Perkins.
Juel Farquhar:
Oh, Ms. Perkins. Mary Perkins.
Janine Farquhar:
Yeah, because, see, she came from the South. So a whole different culture. I have to say basically I'm spoiled and I'm blessed because I've lived here all my-
Juel Farquhar:
Mary was a real good teacher. I know she's a good person. (silence) When I came there [inaudible 00:23:50], it wasn't as bad.
Janine Farquhar:
Housing got to be a problem. Like when they built the houses by Maple School, and mom and dad went to buy one, and they said, "No, these are for the Mexican families." Right. So-
Juel Farquhar:
What did you say?
Janine Farquhar:
When you went to buy the houses over by Maple School, they said they built those for the Mexican families.
Juel Farquhar:
Yeah.
Janine Farquhar:
And then so they still stayed at 113. Then she finally got something later on off of Rosalind.
Kathy Ayeh:
Because she knew a Mexican family, and they sold it to us because they knew each other.
Juel Farquhar:
And then one day, I was looking out here. Kathy was ... You remember [inaudible 00:24:27]?
Kathy Ayeh:
Yeah, well, Mary told you about this house. This was in the seventies.
Juel Farquhar:
And Kathy said, "Why don't we go down there and look?" And that's when I got this house.
Janine Farquhar:
We had a very good real estate agent.
Juel Farquhar:
This one was for sale, and I bought ...
Janine Farquhar:
Mary was really on it. Yeah. Yeah. Well, yeah, there's a gentlemen [crosstalk 00:24:36] Fullerton-
Juel Farquhar:
Who is that?
Janine Farquhar:
Mary. We were just saying she's the reason you got the house.
Juel Farquhar:
Mary. Mary ...
Janine Farquhar:
There was a man in Fullerton that [crosstalk 00:24:49]
Juel Farquhar:
Her name wasn't [inaudible 00:24:50]. What was Mary's name?
Janine Farquhar:
I don't remember her last name. I'm sorry I don't.
Juel Farquhar:
Well, her name was Mary.
Janine Farquhar:
There was a gentleman in Fullerton who sold a lot of property to black families. The Owens, most of the Owens bought their houses from him.
Juel Farquhar:
And that's when I got this house. When did I get it?
Janine Farquhar:
Huh?
Juel Farquhar:
When did I get it.
Janine Farquhar:
1973. (silence) No. Uh-huh. We minded our own business around them.
Kathy Ayeh:
[crosstalk 00:25:21] All the people talk about, "There's people that are going to come into your neighborhoods." People live where they want to live. And they're just not going to move in and come into your neighborhood.
Juel Farquhar:
They what? Mary Mayer was her name.
Janine Farquhar:
Mayer. Yeah, Mary Mayer.
Kathy Ayeh:
That's what it was.
Janine Farquhar:
M-A-Y-E-R. Thank you.
Juel Farquhar:
She was in real estate.
Janine Farquhar:
You pulled that one out. (silence) Yeah, 1948.
Kathy Ayeh:
51.
Juel Farquhar:
You were 48?
Janine Farquhar:
Uh-huh, yes.
Juel Farquhar:
And she was?
Kathy Ayeh:
51.
Juel Farquhar:
51.
Janine Farquhar:
And Peter was 52. So it was smack dab in the middle of [crosstalk 00:25:54]
Juel Farquhar:
[crosstalk 00:25:54] 52. (silence)
Janine Farquhar:
Maple School. Wilshire Junior High, which is the best. Fullerton High. Fullerton College, so I was like eight years on that corner. And then Cal State Fullerton. Finished up at Cal State Fullerton. By then, it was built. See, when mom was going to school, Cal State Fullerton, Long Beach was [inaudible 00:26:19] because Cal State wasn't even done yet. (silence)
I transferred. I actually had more fun at JC, going to JC. Cal State Fullerton was more work. Actually my major was political science.
Juel Farquhar:
That's where I got my ...
Janine Farquhar:
You got your counseling. Your master's in counseling at Cal State Fullerton. So Cal State Fullerton was ... I got my degree there. In the middle of getting my degree, I had my son. So I had him. Well, I had like two units to go or whatever, and I had him. I'm not married. It was fine.
Juel Farquhar:
Lucky.
Janine Farquhar:
And then I went back and finished. Then I worked at the library, Fullerton Public Library.
Juel Farquhar:
Forever.
Janine Farquhar:
Part time. And then I got hired at Anaheim Public Library, and I was there for almost six years. And then I decided that somebody needed to apply for the police department. My brother said he wasn't interested. And I said, "Well, somebody needs to apply for the police department." So I applied, and I was in that job for three years. I really wasn't suited. I did okay. I was average. I wasn't super cop. I wasn't horrible. I just was mediocre. And I decided, "Well, I don't want to be mediocre." So then I quit that job and worked a lot of part time jobs raising my son until he turned about 16, I guess. So from 1980 to 19 ... Let's see. 1970, 78.
1980s and 1988, I did a lot of part time this, that, and the other. [inaudible 00:28:02] And then I got hired, State Compensation Insurance Fund, and I worked for the state because I wanted something that had perks. They had the perks. And so then I was State Fund for 24 years. And I retired eight years ago from that job. (silence) Oh, yeah, it is. The benefits are wonderful, the medical. You can't beat it.
Kathy Ayeh:
Yeah, she was the first police woman that was African American in the Anaheim Police Department.
Janine Farquhar:
Yeah, I was.
Kathy Ayeh:
You don't say that. But that's what-
Janine Farquhar:
See, you don't think about that, you just had the job. No, it's that I wasn't horrible. But when you're a parent, a single parent, what's more important? Raising your kid or being a super [inaudible 00:28:48] my child. A lady told me, and this was before I even became a cop, she said, "Your children are more important than your job." And she had, "I had a wonderful job, and we're all in counseling because we're a mess. So even though welfare sucks, you want to ..." Because I did welfare like for a year. Said, "Even though welfare sucks, you're raising your kids." It was funny, when I was on welfare for the one year I was on it. I said, "Wait a minute. I've been paying taxes for this. This is my money." (silence)
Kathy Ayeh:
It's your money.
Janine Farquhar:
And I got to see it firsthand, that-
Kathy Ayeh:
They don't do that.
Juel Farquhar:
[crosstalk 00:29:25]
Janine Farquhar:
I did a paper. It's underneath the thing. You don't need it. I did a paper on my ... It wasn't a sociology test. I can't think of what it was. I did a paper. And I did a paper on my experience in the welfare system, what a rip off it was. And I got A double-plus. It was like, "Yay, so welfare did a good thing for me. I got a good grade." But I remember talking to a lady who was in tears. She was a grandmother. She couldn't read.
Juel Farquhar:
Where'd my thing go?
Janine Farquhar:
So she lost her job because she was a custodian, and you do have to be able to read, or a cook. You got to be able to read stuff to make sure you don't mix up the wrong ... Whatever, whatever. And so she was on welfare and couldn't even fill out the paperwork. Yeah, that's how said that was. Yeah, well nowadays it'd be better. But back then, I just felt so bad for her because she just didn't know what she was going to do. She was in tears and, "I've been working all my life taking care of my family and my grandchildren." I was in the office that was one of the worst ones in the county, which I didn't know that until I got out. But it was good for a year. It was good for me because I learned to see what happens to people who don't have advantages. I knew I could get out of it. But I got to see where some people would be stuck in it the rest of their lives. (silence)
I was saying that somebody ought to apply. I didn't think I was going to get it. I just said somebody ought to apply for it because the money was good. And I said, "Somebody ought to apply for this job." My brother said, "No, not me." Because he, you know, "If you leave me alone, I'm fine. I don't have to be buddies with you."
Juel Farquhar:
You talking about Peter?
Janine Farquhar:
Yeah, Peter is like ... Because black men get picked on. Yeah, he had his share of getting picked on. So he basically is like, "Just leave me alone. I don't hate you. Just leave me alone." (silence)
Well, I'm going to say it. This is something that a lot of women don't understand. Men have a certain culture. It's not a race thing, it's just men. They insult each other. I mean, everybody had it. One guy's nickname was Stumpy. He was short. One guy's nickname was Lizard. [Lizzar 00:31:40] was his last name. One guy was called White Rat. He was real ... a little bright. I mean, he was real light. My nickname was, "Far-quhar!" Because my name was funny enough. So that's what men do.
Kathy Ayeh:
They like to joke.
Janine Farquhar:
And it would sound like if they treated you politely, they didn't like you. And see women are always, "They're nice because they like me." No, they screw with you, they like you. They treat you with politeness, and whatever, and all that, they don't really like you. They may tolerate you. And most women back then didn't get that. And that's why there was the issue with women. But nowadays women'll be cops or whatever, and they can goof off or whatever. But back then. So I never was picked on in that sense.
Okay, what happened with me was really funny. They made a comment. And it was off the wall. And I can't remember the comment now. Oh, yeah. Oh, it was, "Farquhar, you're okay. You're all good. The only thing wrong with you is you don't have ..." And I said, "Well, I can get all I want whenever I want." And they just, they laid out laughing. They laid out laughing because I had cut the guy low. And I wasn't vulgar. I just said, "I can get all I want whenever I want." And they were just ... So I learned to play into it without being vulgar myself and not being offended. Because I was getting a compliment. Even though it didn't sound like one, it was a compliment (silence)
Kathy Ayeh:
No, I went to UC Irvine. I was a dance major. I went there from 1969 to 1974, and got my master's, and started out. Well, I would always work with Parks and Recreation in the summer while I was going there. So I worked with kids. And after I graduated from UCI, I got married to someone from Ghana, West Africa. Then we moved up to Davis, and I was the director for Black Repertoire while I was there, teaching dance and classes, and we did performances.
Juel Farquhar:
When did you go to Africa?
Kathy Ayeh:
After we moved from Davis to Michigan because he was working on his PhD. So I taught at Lansing Community College Dance. And then I wanted to dance in New York. So while he was working on his doctorate, I went and danced in New York for almost a year and a half with Alvin Ailey, not in the company, but took classes there and the Dance Theatre of Harlem.
Juel Farquhar:
Tell them when you went to Africa.
Kathy Ayeh:
I'm getting there.
Janine Farquhar:
She's getting there.
Kathy Ayeh:
I came back to California. My husband decided that he wanted to go back to the African continent because he got his PhD in genetics and [inaudible 00:34:45]. And so I stayed in the US for about a year, and then I went to Malawi. Then lived there for six years, taught at a school, and I taught dance classes afterwards. The Longwood Private School. We were there for about six years. And then we went to Ghana, West Africa. And I taught dance. I taught at the American school. They had an American school there. And then after school, I would teach dance classes.
So I was on the African continent from 1983 to 1993. Then I came back to the US because I realized that I wanted to live in the US. I didn't want to live on the African continent anymore. And I got a job working with the Fullerton School District, all the arts for all the kids. I'm one of the teachers there.
Juel Farquhar:
And you've been there ever since.
Kathy Ayeh:
Back in 93.
Janine Farquhar:
And Berkeley also.
Kathy Ayeh:
And I taught at Berkeley School until it closed from 93 until 2016. Berkeley Private School. (silence) Oh, I just have always loved dancing. It's funny because I always wanted to be a ballerina. And it's interesting, I want to tell this story. My mom took me to [Louis Ellen 00:35:57]. And this was in the fifties. And so I remember buying a book on ballet. I loved the ballet. And so I went to this dance studio. And they said, "Well, actually, we can give her tap lessons." And so my mom realized, "Well, if I put her in this class, I don't know how she's going to be treated." So I didn't do that. But I've always loved dance. And so when I went to UC Irvine, they had a fabulous dance department. And I was able to do what I wanted to with dance. The ballet classes-
Juel Farquhar:
The dancing was in her blood. My husband was the dancer. He could dance. I mean, just-
Janine Farquhar:
My dad was a good dance partner.
Kathy Ayeh:
Yeah, there's a Kenyan phrase that says, "If you can talk, you can sing. If you can move, you can dance."
Janine Farquhar:
Because all babies can dance. All little kids dance. (silence)
Kathy Ayeh:
I just love dance movement. I like dancing from all around the world. And because I lived on the African continent, I got to experience different cultures. So I think what it is, is that when you're dancing, the African culture's movement is just so joyous.
Janine Farquhar:
Yeah, joy. It's a lot of joy.
Kathy Ayeh:
It's just there's happiness in the movement.
Janine Farquhar:
Their worship is joy. The way they worship, they'll stand there for hours and just have their hands up in the air, and just praising God. Just hours, literally.
Kathy Ayeh:
Well, I look at it this way. When I dance personally, when I was younger when I danced, it's because I had a sense of freedom. And I remember going to a service where it was a service, but the people were dancing, and they were just so joyous. And you see that in the Black American culture, where people have to sing. The shakers move too. There are certain cultures, whether they're white or black, where people have to express themselves through movement. [inaudible 00:38:05]. I mean, all kinds of things. So dance can take you to a spiritual level. It truly can. And that's what I noticed about the African culture, is that when people dance, they could dance for a long time, nonstop. And that was something-
Juel Farquhar:
They're still doing it.
Kathy Ayeh:
That was something that was spiritual for them. (silence) Mister ... What was his name? He taught Afro Cuban classes. We had ... What was his name?
Janine Farquhar:
He came, and he taught Afro Cuban classes. We had jazz dance teachers.
Kathy Ayeh:
I wasn't there when Donald McKayle was there. I was before that. But Donald McKayle, he died I think three years ago, UCI. But he was very popular at the-
Juel Farquhar:
Where's that at, in Fullerton?
Kathy Ayeh:
At UC Irvine Dance Department. And recently they just hired two black female hip hop dance teachers over the summer. When I was there, it was jazz, modern dance, and ballet. But now they've extended it. So now they have a hip hop dance department too as well. Yeah, I went there from 1969 to 1974.
Juel Farquhar:
You were in Fullerton.
Kathy Ayeh:
You were working, probably.
Juel Farquhar:
I was working, I think.
Kathy Ayeh:
I saw it on the TV. Actually on the TV, someone got shot. I'm going, "What?"
Juel Farquhar:
These men [inaudible 00:39:39]
Kathy Ayeh:
That was the same thing that happened with Ruby. He got shot when they were taking him out. I saw all that on live TV. I remember that so well. (silence) That was on the TV too when we saw it.
Janine Farquhar:
I was in college. Actually, I was a political science major. [inaudible 00:40:01] I said, "I'm done." Because, see, I was a Student for Kennedy. And we were up in Sacramento at some Students for Something, political thing, when Johnson said, "I'm not running." We all threw money on the table, and ran out, and went down to the Democratic headquarters in Sacramento. Nobody's there, of course. But we're just all fired up and excited. And you're really high.
Kathy Ayeh:
Because you thought Bobby Kennedy was going to run.
Janine Farquhar:
Was going to get a chance. And then when he got assassinated ... So he was the third one, or the [inaudible 00:40:29]
Kathy Ayeh:
[inaudible 00:40:30]
Janine Farquhar:
I turned off my whole political, "I care," part and just said, "Fine. I'm not going to be involved in politics."
Juel Farquhar:
You did what?
Janine Farquhar:
Some people, yeah, are going to fight hard or fight more. And there's things you can do to help. But I wasn't going to be political anymore because I just was like, "Whatever." (silence)
Kathy Ayeh:
That's why I said I hope enough people go out there," this is my personal feeling, "and vote him out." They were shouting when he came to visit Ruth Ginsburg's thing. This is my personal opinion. We cannot have lying presidents be normal.
Juel Farquhar:
When dumb-dumb got as president.
Janine Farquhar:
[crosstalk 00:41:14] People with money. Not all people, but people with money, and people who are ignorant and are easily led. It's like Germany.
Kathy Ayeh:
And that's why they're dissuading science. This is why, you look around and you compare the countries all around the world. And I know that the stuff we get in America is censored because when I was in Africa, when I looked at CNN, there was all kinds of stuff that I would've never gotten here. But in general, the countries around the world. The African countries are doing better right now with COVID than we are because they have a set plan. And they don't want it to be unified. They figure, "As long as we can keep this confusion going-"
Janine Farquhar:
Now, what I said when this started back in January, I said, "It's a population being [inaudible 00:42:04]." I didn't say who or what because a virus is a virus. And Kathy goes [inaudible 00:42:09]. I said, "We're being ..." Kathy goes, "That's just so cruel." I said, "No. It's the population being [inaudible 00:42:16]." (silence) I'm trying to think. I wanted to get done so I could get a decent-
Juel Farquhar:
When did I go to school?
Janine Farquhar:
You went in the fifties and the sixties at Cal State, yeah.
Juel Farquhar:
Okay.
Janine Farquhar:
I didn't socialize in the sense of the fraternities. I got invited to one, the TKEs. Are they still around? Yeah, I went to their-
Kathy Ayeh:
They are back on campus.
Janine Farquhar:
Oh, yeah. [inaudible 00:42:46]
Kathy Ayeh:
What?
Janine Farquhar:
The TKEs. I don't even know. T-E-K? Is it-
Kathy Ayeh:
TKE.
Janine Farquhar:
TKE, or whatever. Yeah.
Juel Farquhar:
What is that?
Janine Farquhar:
That's a fraternity, yeah.
Speaker 4:
They got kicked off, I think.
Kathy Ayeh:
For parties?
Speaker 4:
For just craziness.
Janine Farquhar:
Oh, yeah. So they're stupid, yeah.
Speaker 4:
It was just the past couple years, they got re-back on campus. So it was a while.
Janine Farquhar:
But I remember I went to ... Because you could be a sweetheart. Whatever you call it when you're not-
Speaker 4:
A sweetheart. A fraternity sweetheart.
Janine Farquhar:
And I went like ... The party was fun. You know? But it wasn't my thing. I didn't have time for this stuff. I did not have time for this. I didn't even try to get into a sorority. The only sorority wanted to get into was [inaudible 00:43:23] at Fullerton High. And you had to be invited and all that. Only because they did charity work, not because we were going to be ... And I realized that at church I could do charity work without having to be invited. So I wanted to do service. And I wanted to get through school. And then of course I got pregnant my senior year at the last semester. So then I got really focused on raising my child.
Kathy Ayeh:
Right.
Janine Farquhar:
So I didn't ... JC was fun. Cal State was just, it was work. Just get through it and move on. And I had teachers that were really good. I'm sure they're retired now. Yeah, some of them have died. Yeah, one of them has died, I know. The other, one, I don't ... Anyway, bottom line is, I've moved on. I don't even ... The only teacher I really, really, really cared about is Ms. Stewart, was my first grade teacher, and she just passed away at 103 last month. That's the teacher that I remember the most.
Juel Farquhar:
Who?
Janine Farquhar:
Ms. Stewart.
Juel Farquhar:
Oh, Ms. Stewart.
Janine Farquhar:
She passed away.
Juel Farquhar:
Your first grade teacher.
Janine Farquhar:
103 years old.
Speaker 4:
Wow. (silence)
Janine Farquhar:
Because that's how I was raised, and that's just her parents. It's in your genes to care about people. And that was basically ... I just want to make sure that people are taken care of however you can. I think it's important that you take care of who you can, where you can, when you can, how you can, at whatever level. And then you don't have to be a millionaire, but just be kind to somebody. Like right now at the store, I always put in an extra dollar or two in the little thing where you help. It's for veterans and it's ... Whoever it is, I throw in an extra dollar. I tip big. I do 20% tip. We eat out a lot. We go pick it ... My brother doesn't like to sit in the restaurant. Never did, even before this. And he's generous, so he'd go buy dinner for whoever's with him or get two or three dinners. Usually two, and we can all eat that.
But I tip 20% all of the time, and even more so. My hairdresser, I tip her. We tip her now where we didn't used to. Because people, they're hurting. They're not making money. We're blessed. I'm retired. She's retired. He's retired. She's the only one that's got to get up and go to work. Basically-
Kathy Ayeh:
And I'm still waiting for that to happen.
Janine Farquhar:
Yeah. Well, bottom line is, because we're blessed, and have good retirement, and good medical, and live in a nice house in a good neighborhood, whatever, we are so blessed. And the whole point is that you need to give when you can, how you can. (silence)
Yeah, there is a little thing that has ... It's a little ... Whatever, yeah. And there's people who aren't and never will be. And it's too bad for them because basically the joy of being a do-gooder is you help somebody, but you get the rush. And they get the rush because they're greedy. And greed is its own punishment because you never have enough when you're greedy. You will die wanting.
Juel Farquhar:
Well, we were raised like that, to help the elderly.
Janine Farquhar:
Yeah, you were raised to help everybody.
Juel Farquhar:
In Southern Illinois-
Janine Farquhar:
Whoever showed up at their house, there was a meal.
Juel Farquhar:
And I came here because my grandparents lived here, and I wanted to go to college. In Southern Illinois, I couldn't afford it. But when I came to live with my grandparents, I went to junior college and got my degree.
Janine Farquhar:
Yeah. One of the people that was kind to her when she first came to town was-
Kathy Ayeh:
[Kendall Nices 00:46:53]
Juel Farquhar:
Kendall Nices.
Janine Farquhar:
Kendall Nices and Preston [Piett 00:46:57], who was the fire chief back in the day.
Juel Farquhar:
At the time.
Janine Farquhar:
But they were a year ahead of her. And I remember when she came in the school, Preston sat on one side and Kendall sat on the other side to make sure nobody would pick on her. And she says, "Well, they were nice to me. Nobody picked on me."
Juel Farquhar:
I wasn't used to that.
Janine Farquhar:
I said, "No, because Kendall was there and Preston was there." And Kendall called her Julie up until the day he died. He died at 99 last year. And he knew her before he knew his wife, which is really cute, Sandy. But he always ... Because that's his ... He wasn't here by the time-
Juel Farquhar:
Julie, they called me. My name was Juel.
Janine Farquhar:
Yeah, that was a giving kind person.
Juel Farquhar:
They called me Julie.
Janine Farquhar:
He was the same way that we are. You meet people, you say hi, you introduce yourself, "You need anything?" That's just how he was all his life. (silence) Well, school was it. I did sports.
Kathy Ayeh:
Well, we played in the park. Yeah, we did parks and recreated in the summer.
Janine Farquhar:
[crosstalk 00:47:51] Library. No, no. Maple School.
Juel Farquhar:
She was in the library.
Janine Farquhar:
Yeah, and I was in the library, nose in a book. That was me.
Kathy Ayeh:
I'd go to the library too. We'd always go, like the had the book club. (silence)
Juel Farquhar:
Which one?
Kathy Ayeh:
[inaudible 00:48:10] right across from Berkeley School.
Janine Farquhar:
The original library was by, the Carnegie Library, it was built by the Carnegie money, Carnegie building.
Kathy Ayeh:
[crosstalk 00:48:17]
Janine Farquhar:
I know it was Carnegie. And I know the Anaheim Library, the old one, that's a Carnegie building. This one may not be a Carnegie Building. But anyway, the bottom line is that my nose was in a book.
Kathy Ayeh:
What was the [World Progress 00:48:27] Building? [inaudible 00:48:28]
Speaker 4:
[inaudible 00:48:29]
Janine Farquhar:
And I remember I worked there, and when I came back, I was hired as a page when I went to school, got pregnant, came back to town. And [Caroline Johnson 00:48:41], who passed away about three years ago, she was a children's librarian. And she said, "I don't have any work for you. But I'll hire you and give you three hours a week. Semester's almost over, and then we'll give you 20 hours a week." So that was my library moment. And the head of the library was ... Can't think of his name right now. It'll come to me. He was my library dad. But that was my whole life, was that. I did some clubbing. (silence) Bars, dancing. Yeah, that kind of thing. I remember thinking one time, "What kind of people do you want to meet? Well, they're not here."
Disneyland had two clubs. They had the big one, which was ... What do you call it? Not a [inaudible 00:49:30]. Meat market. You know, slang for meat market. They had a big one. There was a girl at work who would go out, and I went with her a couple of times. Very pretty girl, kind of like you, very pretty girl. And I went to hang out with her because she was gorgeous, so the guys would flock and I would get the leftovers. So I went out with her twice. And then I discovered that there was a small club at the Disneyland Hotel. It was the one that was more intimate that I liked better. But I only did that ... She took my son back to Illinois when he was three. So that three month period, I dated, and went out. And I said to myself, "You know, I could've had a master's degree. And I wasted my time doing this." That was my whole thing, was that it was a waste of my time. So then after that I didn't even care if I went and did anything.
I remember I went up to LA, to some party. And the guy asked me ... I was living in Carson at the time. He said, "Are you from Fullerton or somewhere?" I said, "Oh, no. No, I live in Carson. Oh, I live in Carson," because I did. I was [inaudible 00:50:39]. I said, "Oh my God.
Juel Farquhar:
You were there for a while.
Janine Farquhar:
That's how square I was.
Kathy Ayeh:
They couldn't tell. They couldn't tell. That was back in the day.
Janine Farquhar:
And now Fullerton's the place to go. It wasn't. Some people, they don't want to get old, they don't want to do this. They want to be 27-
Kathy Ayeh:
Forever.
Janine Farquhar:
25 forever. Yeah, and I'm sorry, no. (silence)
Kathy Ayeh:
Well, I was into sports and dance school, and GAA. But then when I got in dance my sophomore year, I just concentrated on dance. And basically I just ... No, I didn't socialize, didn't go to any clubs or anything like that. I knew what I wanted to do. I wanted to be a dancer. I wanted to have my own dance company one day. And it's ironic because even though I never had a dance company, when I taught at Berkeley School for 16 years, that was the like the dance company that I had.
Speaker 4:
That's beautiful.
Juel Farquhar:
Berkeley, you taught for several years.
Kathy Ayeh:
Because I enjoyed teaching the kids there. But I think what happened with me is I got married when I was like ... How old was I? 21.
Janine Farquhar:
Yeah, you were young.
Kathy Ayeh:
So I got married, and placed my attention on what I wanted to do with my dancing career. So I really didn't go out clubbing.
Juel Farquhar:
And you lived in Africa.
Kathy Ayeh:
Yeah, I moved on the African continent.
Janine Farquhar:
Yeah, we weren't party animals, to be honest, I would say. You could do it. I had a car. I had a job. I didn't go do that. But I was raising a kid. My son, I was 21 when I had him, so that took care of 18 years. And I enjoyed it. I enjoyed being a parent. I hated when school started because then I had to get on my broomstick. I loved summer. (silence)
Kathy Ayeh:
Because when we were in Ghana, we were talking to some of these men that studied in England military. And they had a straight syllabus they had to follow, very regimented. And then they said they went to the US to do some courses. And they said, "We couldn't believe the creativity that we were given to just do what we wanted and have our own ideas."
Janine Farquhar:
[crosstalk 00:52:56]
Kathy Ayeh:
And they said that in the US, we have more creativity. (silence) The Africans were condescending to the Black Americans.
Janine Farquhar:
Oh, okay.
Kathy Ayeh:
See, I've never experienced that. When people talk about that to me, I'm just really surprised. But I can see how it would happen. When the people went back to Liberia, the people that went back there, they put themselves above the other people that were African. So then that would happen the other way. It's your level of consciousness. (silence)
Oh, he passed away in 1999. I had come back to the US in 93, and we were friends and stuff like that. But I got a divorce in 94. But he passed away in 1999. But I still have the connection to the continent. That's always going to be a part of me. Really is. (silence)
Juel Farquhar:
When will I be 99?
Janine Farquhar:
Friday.
Juel Farquhar:
Friday. Okay.
Kathy Ayeh:
Mine is Morning Glory.
Janine Farquhar:
I don't know if she has a-
Kathy Ayeh:
I think it might be a rose. (silence)
Janine Farquhar:
Yeah, and when we say racism, we haven't been treated as badly as some people have been treated. But our family has been, like I said, overachievers, if you think ... And you don't of it as being overachievers. Just, "This is what we're going to do, and we're going to work at it until we get it done." Her brothers, one brother joined the military and ended up teaching at the ... What do you call it when you're on campus and you teach?
Juel Farquhar:
In Chicago.
Kathy Ayeh:
ROTC.
Janine Farquhar:
ROTC in Chicago with the military. The other brother got his ... Does Kenneth have a PhD?
Kathy Ayeh:
Kenny had a PhD.
Juel Farquhar:
Who?
Janine Farquhar:
Kenneth had a PhD.
Juel Farquhar:
Yeah, he had his doctorate, I think.
Janine Farquhar:
Jan has at least a master's.
Juel Farquhar:
Master's.
Janine Farquhar:
And he's vision impaired. Yeah, but he got a master's. So out of the eight kids ... Well, let's see. Jan, Kenneth, Juel, John have-
Juel Farquhar:
Kenneth.
Janine Farquhar:
Yeah, Jan, Juel, Kenneth, John. Four had higher education, and the other four did well. Did well, basically.
Juel Farquhar:
There were eight of us.
Janine Farquhar:
And we're lucky because I look at the statistics in Black America, and I go, "Oh, man, we really are at the-"
Kathy Ayeh:
Yeah, because in the forties, 80% of Black Americans couldn't read. And then in the seventies, it kind of went down. Now it's going the other way again. So they'd say things like, "There's no such thing as racism," and all that. And they would ingrain that into the population so people would think that. But anytime you're redlined to get a house, because even when mom and dad got the first house at Rosalind, they had to know someone to get that house.
Janine Farquhar:
Yes.
Kathy Ayeh:
And to get the house here.
Juel Farquhar:
I had to know her. She knew me, and she just-
Kathy Ayeh:
We got a real estate lady. She said, "You need to do this, this, and this to get this house." And that's what she did.
Janine Farquhar:
Because they were going to try to outbid her. Mom had a bid, and the other people tried to outbid her, and it was too late. [crosstalk 00:56:10]
Kathy Ayeh:
She said, "That's illegal. You can't do that," the real estate lady that was helping her. So they got the house.
Juel Farquhar:
How long have I been here?
Janine Farquhar:
47 years.
Juel Farquhar:
27 years?
Janine Farquhar:
47 years.
Juel Farquhar:
47 years? In this house?
Janine Farquhar:
Joey was three years old when we got this house, and he's 50. So yeah, 47 years. We live here. My brother visits. He comes at night, in the evening. And then we take him home in the daytime. Because he's got his own apartment. And then my kids live ... I have a house in Fullerton. Well, it's in trust to us, all together. My house in Fullerton, my son, his wife, and the three boys lived in my Fullerton house. (silence)
He's 50 years old. He's had different kinds of jobs. But 50 years ago, he got hired on at Chevron, and he's an operator. So he makes decent money. Very good money, in fact. He got three kids to suck it up, but he does make it. And Tasha's a full time mom.
Juel Farquhar:
[crosstalk 00:57:15]
Janine Farquhar:
And Noah is 18. No, Noah will be 18.
Kathy Ayeh:
He'll be 19.
Juel Farquhar:
They have three kids.
Janine Farquhar:
He'll be 19?
Kathy Ayeh:
Yeah. Or maybe he'll be 18.
Janine Farquhar:
Yeah, he'll be 18.
Kathy Ayeh:
18 on December 19, excuse me.
Janine Farquhar:
Yeah, the oldest one, he goes to Sunny Hills. We live right behind Buena Park, and I'm getting my blanket out, and my reading list, and I was ready for Buena Park, and Sunny Hills wooed him. Their coach actually, he doesn't pull from very far. He gets in the neighborhood and looks for the best kids in the neighborhood. So they were city champs. They were city champs last football season. And I said, "Thank God they were because this season is a bust." And then the two little ones, when I say little, they're nine and eight, and their pictures are up there. (silence)
Kathy Ayeh:
No, I don't. But I teach, so I have kids like that. Then I have-
Janine Farquhar:
You have kids.
Juel Farquhar:
She teaches. She's working with kids, like I did. (silence)
Kathy Ayeh:
I'm an Eckist, and they're Methodist. So we do freedom of religion in this house. (silence) Well, it's called the path of spiritual freedom. And we believe that soul is the most important thing. So when you said when your mother passed away, you could feel her presence in you, that's something that might happen to somebody in Eckankar. So when you said that, I thought, "Okay, she's very aware of who she is as soul." And we believe in the light and sound, that everybody is soul and they're made from light and sound. The highest physical, that's the highest part of anyone, the soul. But we believe that you can become a coworker with God by giving of service to other people and helping them find out who they are. Our tenets are we have the light and sound that we listen to, the sound curtain, you can see the light. But we recognize ourselves as soul. That's the highest body that we have. And that's the part that's God. God made us, and we're all miniature forms of God. Soul is divine. Soul is unlimited. Soul is eternal. But it's not God. (silence)
ID 0551. Interview with the Farquhar Women: Juel Farquhar, Janine Farquhar, and Kathy Ayeh for SHOUTING from the Margins. Interview. Sharon Sekhon, Victoria Koos. 2020. The Studio for Southern California History. Accessed on the LA History Archive at https://vimeo.com/464422584/ac65a8b01a on Apr 28, 2025.
