History and identity in the narratives of rural elders

Journal of Aging Studies 18 (2004) 187–203

History and identity in the narratives of rural elders

Lorraine T. Dorfmana,b,*, Susan A. Murtya, Ronnie J. Evansa,Jerry G. Ingrama, James R. Powera

aSchool of Social Work, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USAbAging Studies Program, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA

Abstract

The growing body of oral history research with elders has rarely focused on the reflections of rural

elders. The purpose of this study was to gather the oral histories of both community-dwelling and

institutionalized elders in a small Midwestern rural community. Of particular interest were the historical

events that shaped the elders’ lives, their personal histories and sources of identity, and their recollections of

rural community life. Tape-recorded oral histories were gathered with 37 rural elders in four community

settings: a congregate meal site, a semi-independent living setting, an assisted living facility, and a nursing

home. Major themes that emerged from the content analysis were the importance of the two World Wars and

Great Depression as the defining events in the elders’ lives, values of self-reliance, hard work, and religion,

attachment to place and community, and centrality of family and work. Implications for research and practice

are discussed.

D 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Keywords: History; Identity; Rural elders

1. Introduction

The growing body of oral history research with elders has rarely focused on the reflections of

rural elders (for exceptions, see Rowles, 1983; Shenk, 1991, 2002). Yet, rural-dwelling elders

comprise about one fourth of all elders (McLaughlin & Jensen, 1998; United States Census

Bureau, 2000), and lifestyle differences persist between rural and urban elders despite the

0890-4065/$ - see front matter D 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

doi:10.1016/j.jaging.2004.01.004

* Corresponding author. School of Social Work, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA. Tel.: +1-319-335-

0513; fax: +1-319-335-1711.

E-mail address: [email protected] (L.T. Dorfman).

L.T. Dorfman et al. / Journal of Aging Studies 18 (2004) 187–203188

diminishing urban–rural differences (Krout, 1998). Both individual identities and the aging process

are shaped by the physical and social environments in which people live (Joseph & Martin-

Matthews, 1993; Scheidt, 1993; Shenk, 2002). It is through the eyes and voices of rural elders that

we can gain a fuller understanding of the unique experience of growing up and growing old in

rural America.

The purpose of this study was to gather the oral histories of both community-dwelling and

institutionalized elders in a small Midwestern rural community. Of particular interest were the historical

events that shaped the elders’ lives, their personal histories and sources of identity, and their recollections

of rural community life. The reminiscences of these rural elders provide a way for them to reflect upon

the past, tell the stories that give their lives meaning, and gain a better understanding of themselves and

their communities (Bruner, 1999; Kaufman, 1986; Lubarsky, 1997; Merriam, 1993). The results of the

study should provide insights into the lived experience of rural elders and provide suggestions for

practitioners and policymakers so that they can better serve older adults who live on farms, open country,

and in small towns.

2. Related literature

2.1. The importance of reminiscence, oral history, and life review in the lives of elders

Although there are some definitional confusion and overlap in concepts such as reminiscence,

life review, oral history, and personal narrative (Merriam, 1993), all of these concepts focus on

gaining an understanding of the importance of the elders’ own experiences of growing older and

being old, and the meaning of important events and experiences in their lives. Empirical

measurements of the aged and the aging process have contributed enormously to our knowledge

of aging; however, older persons’ own views of their experiences as they grow older have often

been left out of the scientific studies of aging (Birren, 1996). Personal narratives and life histories

convey the richness and diversity of people’s life experience and can contribute significantly to our

understanding of how an older person views his or her own life and the aging experience (Birren

& Birren, 1996). It is through the process of telling one’s own life story that individuals are able to

make meaning of their lives, construct and better understand the self, and maintain a sense of

personal identity (Birren & Birren, 1996; Bruner, 1999; Kaufman, 1986; Lubarsky, 1997; Peck,

2001).

An important point to keep in mind in understanding the memories of individuals is that different

age cohorts or generations recall very different events and changes that were influential in their lives

(Schuman & Scott, 1989). Schuman and Scott (1989) suggest that in addition to this cohort or

generational effect, the most vivid memories are formed in adolescence and early adulthood, the

period when change and events have their greatest impact. Generational imprinting, then, is seen as

part of normal individual development. And when one’s own personal history intersects with

historical events (e.g., hardships encountered during times of war or depression), there is likely to

be a more vivid memory of those events and times. Testing their ideas in a national sample of adults,

Schuman and Scott found support for the idea that memories were strongest for people who were in

their youth at the time the event took place and that memories differed for different generations. For

example, the modal age of people who mentioned the Great Depression was over 70 at the time of

L.T. Dorfman et al. / Journal of Aging Studies 18 (2004) 187–203 189

their study, whereas people who mentioned the Vietnam War were most likely to be between 18 and

44 years of age.

2.2. Importance of the rural social and cultural context in shaping memories

Because the living environments in which people are located play an important role in forming

personal identities and memories, the older person experiences his or her aging within these unique

social and cultural contexts (Joseph & Martin-Matthews, 1993; Scheidt, 1993; Shenk, 2002). The

research of Shenk (1991, 2002) is particularly notable in providing valuable insights into the rural

cultural context that shapes the values and identities of older rural women. In her earlier study,

Shenk utilizes in-depth life history interviews, structured interviews, direct observation, and network

analysis to examine the receipt and provision of social support in older rural women. Major findings

were that the women were strongly embedded in social support networks of family, friends, and

neighbors and had been so over their lifetimes, the centrality of family relations in their lives, and

the importance of values of independence and autonomy. The more recent study (2002) provides in-

depth analysis of the narratives of two older rural women, one who was suffering from dementia and

one who was not. Again, certain cultural values and norms associated with the rural context were

found despite the very different life circumstances of those women: the importance and closeness of

family, the meaningfulness of religious faith, and the centrality of hard work, self-reliance, and ties

to the land. Comparable data for older rural men would further inform our understanding of these

issues.

Rowles (1983) points out that attachment to place and community is known to be pervasive among

older persons; this can take the form not only of attachment to a present place, but also to

remembered places that are not necessarily physically proximate. Based on participant observation

and extensive in-depth interviews in rural Appalachia, Rowles describes such psychological

attachment to place as ‘‘autobiographical insideness,’’ which is linked to personal identity and may

be adaptive for persons as they age. Such insideness also helps remind the older person of his or her

contributions to the community and demonstrates the continuity between the past and future

generations.

Growing old in rural settings is influenced by the distinctive features of rural life. Although there

is considerable diversity in rural areas with regard to region, population density, farm or nonfarm

residence, race, and ethnicity (Bull, 1998; Dorfman, in press; Krout & Coward, 1998), there are also

a number of commonalities. For one thing, rural areas have a different occupational base

(historically linked to agriculture) than do urban areas, and are generally more sparsely settled than

urban areas are (Krout & Coward, 1998). For another, rural communities are often geographically

remote from many resources and services, putting rural people at a service disadvantage (Coward,

Bull, Kukulka, & Galliher, 1994; Krout, 1998). Finally, as mentioned above, certain values, such as

self-reliance, independence, practicality, and responsibility, are important to rural dwellers; these

values help shape individual identities and the life course (Childs & Melton, 1983; Shenk, 1991,

2002).

In summary, it can be expected that historical events, generation, aspects of rural environment and

culture, and rural values are all important in contributing to the reminiscences and life stories of rural-

dwelling elders. We examine these issues in the narratives of older rural men and women living in a

variety of community settings.


3. Method

3.1. Participants

Tape-recorded oral histories were gathered with 37 rural elders in four community settings: a

congregate meal site (n = 9), a semi-independent living site (n= 10), an assisted living facility (n = 3), and

a nursing home (n= 15). Six respondents were male and 31 were female. The age of respondents ranged

from 60 to 98, with most (27) being in their 80s or 90s. All lived in New Freedom, a small town

(population 3332) with a largely underserved rural population, approximately 15 miles from the

University of Iowa in Iowa City. The name of the town has been changed to preserve anonymity.

The respondents at the congregate meal site volunteered to give their oral histories. The respondents

from the semi-independent living, assisted living, and nursing home sites, who had moderate to severe

health impairments, were chosen for participation by the administrator who directed all three residential

sites. The selection of elders at those sites was based on their current functional health and cognitive

status.

3.2. The oral history interview

A set of questions suggested by the literature on reminiscence, identity, and rural aging reviewed

above was constructed to guide the oral history interviews (see Table 1).

These questions focused on the importance and impact of historical events in the lives of elders and

the personal history of elders, including their recollections of rural community life. With the exception of

one oral history, which was handwritten, all responses were tape-recorded with the permission of the

respondent. The oral histories were identified by number only to protect confidentiality.

3.3. Data analysis

All oral histories were completely transcribed. Transcriptions were then analyzed to identify major

themes and categories using the method of constant comparison (Glaser & Strauss, 1967). Codes were

developed for each theme and category on the basis of this content analysis. When agreement on themes

and categories was reached by the research team (Glaser & Strauss, 1967), two independent coders

Table 1

Oral history interview questions

Historical events

(1) What historical events during your lifetime made a deep impression on you?

(2) How did these historical events affect your personal life?

Personal history

(3) Where did you grow up? Tell me about your neighborhood.

(4) What is your earliest memory? Think back to the first important event in your life.

(5) What is your proudest achievement?

(6) What person or persons have you influenced in your lifetime? In what way?


coded the data. Different portions of the elders’ responses to a specific question could be coded into

different categories. The interrater reliability was .91.

The HyperResearch 2.0 data analysis software program (ResearchWare, 1999), which organizes

material into categories using predetermined codes, was used to analyze the oral history data. Codes and

data files were entered into the program and were not altered once the analysis began. The major

findings of the content analysis and excerpts from the tapes illustrating the range and the quality of

responses are presented below. All names and places mentioned in the tapes have been changed to

preserve anonymity.

4. Results

4.1. Impact of historical events on rural elders

The elders were first asked to describe the historical events that made a deep impression on them

and how those events affected their personal lives (Table 1, Questions 1 and 2). The events that

most respondents talked about most frequently (22 elders) were the two World Wars of the 20th

century, indicating the impact of those wars as defining events in their lives and memories. One 85-

year-old woman, currently living in the assisted living facility, shared these recollections of World

War I:

Oh, my; there’s been so many things happen in my lifetime. I guess probably the first thing I

remember is when they burned the Kaiser here after World War I. I wasn’t very old at the time, but I

remember that. That was a big affair.

Memories of World War II were likewise vivid, often centering on the events that marked the

beginning or the end of the war. Here are what two women, a 68-year-old nursing home resident and a

92-year-old who was living semi-independently, recalled, respectively:

Um. . .Pearl Harbor. Oh, the things that people could do to hurt and damage other people. That made

an impression on me. I didn’t know way back then that we were that far along with that type of a

bomb. And it amazed me and it shocked me and especially the shock was many people died when

Pearl Harbor was bombed. And then when they dropped the big bomb on Hiroshima. That gave me

quite an impression, too.

I really think Pearl Harbor. I can remember it so well; it was on a Sunday and we had just come from

church. And this news was on the radio. And I just remember everything about it.

The World Wars had important economic and emotional effects on these older people’s lives. Many

spoke of the effects of rationing, as did this assisted-living resident, aged 91, who, after many decades,

recalled clearly the various kinds of rationing that her family experienced:

Things we didn’t have, like you had to have stamps to get shoes. You had a stamp to get sugar. You

had to have stamps to get almost everything at the time. They were hard for people all over. . .I


remember that we were allowed to have so much meat. It was a really wonderful thing to get a beef

roast. I had a beef roast. Then I worked with my husband on the creamery and went in to see how it

was coming. It had cooked dry and the pan was no good. The roast was no good. Oh, I cried about

that. All our good meat was gone. . .Those are all things that affect you if you think about them years

later.

Across rural America, farmers and farming were much affected economically by the World Wars.

Effects ranged from gasoline rationing to difficulties in finding parts needed to repair farm equipment.

Two 84-year-old participants, first, a female and then a male living in the semi-independent site, spoke of

their experiences during World War II, respectively:

We couldn’t have everything we wanted. Gas was rationed, food was rationed. You lived on stamps.

The government gave you so many stamps for gas and so many stamps for sugar. Of course, that went

according to how many people were in your family. We were farmers so we got more gas than town

people did since we used gas in our tractors. You were only supposed to get so many road stamps for

gas in our car. We had a flood, that was back in 1944, and water went over our well, so the barnyard

flooded and we couldn’t drink our water. I remember our neighbor couldn’t figure why we got so

much gas since we had to drive to town then to get it. So we got more gas than he did. He wasn’t

happy about that.

During World War II, I was married and farming. I never was called up, so I didn’t serve. It wasn’t all

that easy farming then. If machinery broke down, you couldn’t get repairs. You did the best thing –

welded. In 1944, during the war I finally got a permit to get a tractor. I got a John Deere Model A.

Rubber was short, so I was fortunate to get rubber tires.

But it was the emotional effects of the two World Wars that were particularly devastating and

were described by about half of these elders. The emotional effects were far ranging and included

loss of loved ones, psychological and moral questions raised by war, and fears of the draft and its

impact on individuals and families. The voice of an 86-year-old poignantly revealed her family’s

loss:

My oldest sister had a son who was 18 and he was a freshman at the University of Iowa. He got

drafted and didn’t get to finish his first year of college. He was sent by the Army to the Battle of the

Bulge. On Christmas Eve, 1944, his troop ship was torpedoed and sank in the English Channel. He

was never found. That was a very distressing time for our family.

Another woman, now 71 and living semi-independently, recalled the traumatic events taking place

while she was still a schoolgirl:

Well, the lady teachers would get a telegram saying their husbands were missing in action. I mean,

they just left, picked up their stuff, and they went out the door. Constantly, constantly, that was goin’

on. Back and forth, er, we had to get a sub for the male teachers, or somethin’, you know. So it was

kind of an uproar thing.


War also presented serious psychological and moral dilemmas for many people. A very old

respondent, a former teacher, aged 93, shared her thoughts on this:

Well, nobody likes war, and even if we were just children it had been definitely brought to us what it

was like to be in war, what has been the result of it, and the Belgian children you know starving and

everything. And we as children through the Red Cross were knitting washcloths to send to the Belgian

children because they didn’t have anything. And of course you build up a desire for there not being

any more wars.

The psychological conflicts resulting from war were likewise expressed by another woman, an 87-

year-old nursing home resident:

And of course we didn’t believe in the wars or anything like that, so it was different for some people.

But, uh, it was our life for us. I think that’s about all I can say. We did not believe in killing, and while

I knew that some religions didn’t care and really sanctioned it, I couldn’t understand it, and so I stayed

in my own parishioner’s thoughts. I think it helped a lot to understand it, even though I know the

killing was going on. And that’s a terrible thing to have to try to understand. I still don’t understand

any kind of war, and my folks didn’t.

Another concern elders expressed was being drafted into the armed forces and sent far away from

home and community, to an uncertain fate. One of the youngest respondents, a male nursing home

resident, aged 63, who was experiencing multiple physical problems, was quite frank about his feelings

on this:

Oh, they’d be terribly afraid of the draft, for one thing. You’d be safe at home, you’d be safe hidin’ in

your closet. I learned that they will come and get you. They’ll look for you and drag you out and you

are a prisoner of the Army. I used to have nightmares about that, and patriotic person though I am, I

used to not like the idea that I was made to go with all these other strangers.

The same man, who must have been only a teenager at the time of World War II, was quite candid

about his feelings regarding the wartime enemy, which was possibly remained unspoken of by some

other respondents, ‘‘Oh, I still don’t like the Japanese. . .I guess in those days, my exposure to the media

made me slightly racist, if you want to use that.’’

After the World Wars, the second most commonly mentioned historical event affecting these elders’

lives was the Great Depression. Sixteen elders spoke of the effects of this difficult economic period.

Most frequently, they recalled the hardships of the Depression years, which, in turn, limited educational

opportunities for many people engaged in farming. Our oldest respondent, a former teacher, aged 98,

living in the nursing home because of physical frailty but cognitively intact, described how her family

experienced the Depression:

We of course lived through the Depression and we were farming at the time. We lived in Missouri

at that time. We lived in Missouri twelve years after we were married. That’s where my husband

was from. In the Depression we got three cents a dozen for our eggs and ten cents a pound for our

hogs. You know you can’t do very much on that. . .And the men would go out along the road and


trim brush and different things like that to help us get through with [it], because there was no

money.

A younger woman, a 78-year-old community-dwelling elder, communicated the impact of the

Depression during her formative years: ‘‘I was a teenager then. I suppose that’s made the greatest

impression on me, what has lingered with me anyhow, going through that Depression.’’

Economically, families needed youngsters to help out, which precluded school for some. One woman,

aged 82, put it succinctly, ‘‘We weren’t allowed to go to school.’’ A 92-year-old woman, who was still

living independently in the community, elaborated on what happened in her family:

We couldn’t go to high school or anything and we just had to work. It was different then than it is

now. [Of] course some of ‘em went to high school, but we didn’t have a chance to. Our father thought

if we learned to work, why we could make a living. I wanted to go to high school; he wouldn’t let us,

our father wouldn’t let us.

Perhaps related to their memories of the World Wars and Great Depression, five elders also noted the

impact of particular presidential administrations as important in their lives. There were vivid memories

of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who served during a time of both war and depression, and of Herbert

Hoover, who was raised in Iowa. Two women of considerably different ages and life situations, a 93-

year-old frail nursing home resident and an independent, healthy, 78-year-old woman, who was in

charge of accounts at the congregate meal site, spoke in turn in praise of President Roosevelt:

All the things that Roosevelt did, and all that he stood for was outstanding. Roosevelt really

advocated Social Security for the older people. That affected even the younger people because they

had to pay in.

And if it wasn’t for Roosevelt, I don’t know what we would have done. I know he had sense enough

to take us out of the war.

Local pride was apparent in the recollections of another woman, aged 86, who hailed from President

Hoover’s hometown:

I lived close to where Mr. Hoover’s birthplace was. At one time, the United States Army Band came

and played right in front of our house. That was a thrill. I sat on the porch roof to watch them. Many

things that took place left a mark on my life. Mr. Hoover was Quaker. We were of Quaker heritage,

and that made it more interesting to me. . .

4.2. Personal history and identity

4.2.1. Early influences on identity

Two questions tapped early influences on identity: respondents were first asked to describe where

they grew up and the neighborhood they grew up in, and were then asked what their earliest memory was

(Table 1, Questions 3 and 4). Most elders said that they grew up either on farms or in small towns (18

and 19 elders, respectively). Many, like these two women aged 92 and 91, both living in the nursing


home, spoke fondly of the sense of community, cooperativeness, sociability, and, also, the hard work

they experienced while growing up on a farm:

We grew up on a farm and were seven children. And we had a big garden, and we ate what we

raised. I can remember our suppers usually comprised, especially in the spring, would be fried

potatoes and new onions and radishes in the summer from the garden. And in the winter, my father

would butcher a hog or two. I don’t remember so much about him butchering beef, but we always

had a hog or two to butcher. And the neighbors would all come in when we butchered, and they’d

all help get the meat all taken care of, and then in turn when they butchered, my father would go to

them and help them.

I went to country school. Drove to town in a buggy. We didn’t have cars, you know. We had a very

nice country neighborhood. The people would all kind of go together, see that everyone was ok. We

used to have little country dances. We moved the furniture out of the kitchen and put it on the porch

and everyone would dance in the dining room. We all knew each other.

Our oldest respondent, aged 98, summed up the centrality of this kind of life: ‘‘By the time I could

walk and talk I was always interested in farming; there wasn’t anything else.’’

Half a dozen elders talked about farm life in the context of their earliest memories (Question 4). Here

are the respective recollections of hard work on the farm from an 84-year-old man and an 87-year-old

woman, respectively, both living semi-independently:

The biggest thrill I ever had was when I got my pony. I was very interested in farming. When I was

nine years old, my dad started me out. I was cultivating corn. I mowed hay and raked hay when I was

nine years old. Then I moved up to bigger things. When I was eleven years old, I started plowing with

six horses. I did everything very young because I wanted to do that. I was always right behind my dad

or our hired man. I thought I knew everything there was about farming then!

We lived on a farm. After we got out of town, then we went and moved out in the country and we

lived on a farm and I milked cows. We had a mile and a half to school. We walked a mile and a half to

school and a mile and a half back, you know. And, uh, I had to milk cows before I went in the

morning. Of course that would be, you got up about five o’clock in the morning, have to be at school

at 8:30. I milked some cows and ate my breakfast before then and walked a mile and a half.

Other elders extolled the warmth and closeness of growing up in rural small towns and villages.

Again, themes of rural community, cooperativeness, and sociability were evident in their responses. Here

is what a 93-year-old retired teacher recalled:

I grew up in this small town name Easton, Iowa. And, I guess you could describe it as semi-rural. It

wasn’t a farm, but there were many people in the small community, each with a house. And, a very

social community. It was a wonderful place to live, because people were congenial. Nobody tried

terribly hard to get ahead of the next guy, you know that kind of thing, just worked hard and were

satisfied. . .Everything was done on a small scale. I went to a small school, a one-room school there. It

was wonderful. We grew up in a loving environment, all very friendly people.


But these small communities could also be very homogeneous and, perhaps, even insular, as the

words of an 87-year-old nursing home resident demonstrate:

We lived in a Christian neighborhood and practically everybody went to this Sunday School, and

practically everybody came. So we knew everybody from around the neighborhood cause it was a

small neighborhood. . .The people all being Christians more or less we didn’t have all the outside stuff

which you see on television these days [laughter].

In talking about where they grew up, seven elders also described the houses of their childhood and

youth. For most of those respondents, now in their 80s and 90s, there were few of the creature comforts

that we take for granted today. Here is how an 84-year-old wife and husband who were living semi-

independently recalled the houses that each grew up in:

The house is still standing and it was finished being built about two months before I was born. I was

born in that house in 1916, and it’s still there. It’s sold again now, and they’ve remodeled it. There

were four bedrooms upstairs and then they had a living room, family room, kitchen and a dining

room. No running water and no bathroom. My sister and I shared a room. We had a nice big room. My

five brothers shared a room. They usually had two to a bed. Then my parents had a room, and the

other one was a spare room. My sister and I slept together. We just had a dresser and a nice big closet.

The house we then moved into was quite a let down. There was no water, sink, drain, electricity, and

no indoor toilet. We had to learn to use one of those outdoor ones. That was awful cold in the

wintertime.

Question 4, which asked respondents to recall their earliest memories, was aimed at gaining insight

into the formative events that may have influenced the elders’ later lives. The majority of elders

focused on either childhood transitions and important turning points in early life, or on family issues

and events as their earliest memories (14 and 12 respondents, respectively). In both cases, elders

tended to remember either important normative events, such as Christmas, the birth of a sibling, or

going off to school for the first time, or nonnormative events such as severe accidents or illness of a

parent or sibling. Among those remembering school entry were a 68-year-old woman and an 84-year-

old man:

When I started school, I was six. They didn’t have kindergarten back then, so I started right into first

grade. I learned to read ‘See Dick Run.’ I don’t know if they still have that book around. That’s the

one I learned to read in; I learned how to read the whole thing. It was a small country town where the

school was, and we used to get out and run at recess at noon, and even though I was one of the littlest

ones going to school there, I could run faster than a lot of the others and it was fun beating them! My

little short legs really made me go! I can remember all of that.

We went to a rural school, country school. And it had all eight grades, and there would have been four

of us that went at one time. I know it was very cold; we walked. And when it was very cold, my father

would take us in a wagon. And sometimes he had straw in the wagon, and we’d cuddle down in the

straw to keep warm. And we carried our dinners in a tin bucket, and sometimes, if I recall, our dinner


would be so cold it would be almost like frozen when noon came. And I’m so grateful it isn’t that way

any more. . .

Important family events included births and holidays, especially Christmas. Listen to the joy

expressed in the words of this community-dwelling 92-year-old about the birth of her younger sibling:

I think it was when my sister was born, and I wondered where she came from. And my dad said she

came under a cabbage head, a cabbage leaf. That’s where we got her [laughter]. Yeah, I was so tickled

to have her, and that was a good memory. There was five of us girls and only two boys. And I was in

the middle. I was glad to have that little sister.

Here is the holiday story of a 91-year-old woman living in the assisted living facility:

Well, I think my first thing I can ever remember is of the big evergreens we had in the house. A

Christmas tree. I can remember that my grandparents came over to our house and they had all put

little gifts in the tree for me. So I can remember I guess this little set of metal dishes and that was

the first gift I can ever remember. It was a lot to take it off the tree and that I can still see in my

mind.

Among the nonnormative events described by the elders were accidents and other traumas. Such

painful events were remembered vividly by a community-dwelling former farmer, aged 77, and an 81-

year-old nursing home resident:

Well, the one that’s imprinted on me was getting hit by the truck when I was eight years old. I mean, I

spent two years regaining my health, and I had a mastoid operation out of it. I wouldn’t advise you to

get hit by a truck. And, uh, that was my earliest memory, I think.

I was three years old, and my dog was with another dog and I tried to get between ‘em and I got

bit by my dog. And I mean if I’d a left them alone, they’d a been fine, but it was because I got in

there. And then my dad figured because I got bit, the dog didn’t need to live any more, so he took

it behind the barn and shot it. It was traumatic for me, you know. He was afraid of that dog biting

someone else because it had bit one person, you know, and so it’s funny how those are the things

you remember.

Elders, likewise, recalled traumas involving their entire family that could affect the family’s life

history. Here is how a nursing home resident, aged 87, described the multiple painful events that

occurred in her childhood:

My mother nearly died when I was two and a half or three years old, and I had to help at home from

then on, and I wasn’t very big. But I had to do a lot of work then, and I grew up fast. . .And then my

sister nearly died, and I can remember that, how sad that was. She was not too well from then on. And

I guess that’s played a big effect on my life because I couldn’t stand to see her suffer, and I was ready

to do everything I could to keep her from suffering. And I was not very old; I didn’t understand

things.

4.3. Personal achievements and sources of identity

Elders overwhelmingly described two major spheres of adult life—family and work—as the most

important achievements of their lives (Table 1, Question 5). Twenty-one elders talked about their

families as their proudest achievement, and eighteen elders talked about their work (recall that responses

could fall into more than one category). Pride in raising a family, sometimes interwoven with religion, is

illustrated by the comments of these three women, all in their mid-80s to late 90s:

We raised two children, a boy and a girl, and we’re so proud. Our son is deceased, but our daughter’s

still living. But we were so proud of both of ‘em. I would have to say that would be our greatest

achievement. We didn’t set the world on fire any other way.

I guess raising my family to be good Christian citizens. I have a wonderful family and all my

grandchildren. So they’ve turned out very well and I feel like I’ve really been blessed.

I suppose raising the nice family that I raised. That was probably the biggest achievement. My

children were never in trouble or anything like that, so that’s a good achievement in life I think, to

have children that you can feel proud of. I raised four children and I never took them to the nursery. I

suppose we didn’t even have a nursery. They went to church every Sunday. If one of them acted up,

they got taken outside and then brought back in and they were never bad again.

When rural elders were asked to recall what person or persons they had influenced in their lives (Table

1, Question 6), a large number (16 of 37) responded that it was family members. Family was seen as

including both biological and nonbiological kin, as conveyed by the words of two nursing home

residents, aged 87 and 63, respectively:

I think my half-brother. He and I were close, and I think we are the closest and I think we still are.

There was somethin’ between us that I can’t explain, but I helped him in his way; he helped me in my

way. We fought like cats and dogs once in a while, but when it gets down to the serious part of life, his

attitudes and mine were the same. And we believed very much in the church and how to work within

the church, and we also believed that we needed to continue; we had each other and we didn’t want to

lose each other, and yet I was going away to school away from him. And he was worried about that,

and I was too. And I suppose that was the biggest part of our worries, but he was a very fine young

man and I certainly love him. You know you can love somebody but don’t know exactly how much

you love ‘em or what you’ll do to fight for them until you’re separated.

He [not a blood relative] was raised by my parents and me when I was in my 20’s and he was just

barely out of diapers, and I took him like he was clay and I molded him into the person he is today.

He’s a genial companion, and we’re interested in the same things. There is no wonder that that

happens. I admire intelligence when I see it, you know, in somebody. He was under duress in his

young life, and he was like me, he accomplished an awful lot.

In addition to family, rural elders also took great pride in their work and identified with that

work, whether it was farming, a small business, or professions that were available in the rural



community. Here is how two men, aged 77 and 84, respectively, recalled their achievements as

farmers:

Well, acquiring a farm of my own; that was my goal when I got out of high school, and I finally

made it after several years. I think that’s my proudest achievement. When I bought the farm, I

was 35.

Farming enough to make a living, and then being able to retire and be comfortable. I’m proud that I

got a high school education. It was adequate for what I wanted to do. Today, you couldn’t even farm

with a high school education. You have to know all the different things with the computers in the

tractors. Today I have no idea how to start on that.

Rural communities also offered opportunities for entrepreneurship, as described by an 89-year-old

woman who ran a ‘‘mom and pop’’ establishment in New Freedom:

Owning my own restaurant; my husband and I bought it together. I sold every type of pie. I baked

them myself and sold them for ten cents.

Several respondents mentioned a career in nursing; those women often found that their nursing

skills served them well in family life as well as in their work lives. One woman, aged 94 and

living semi-independently, described the road that took her into nursing after first working as a

teacher:

Being a successful nurse. I had to spend three years in nursing training. My mother died during it,

and her sister. When my mother was sick, I took off and came home and helped take care of her. I

also had a tonsillectomy and appendectomy, and I passed with 90+%! My mother never wanted me

to go into nursing, and that’s why I taught; she thought it was going to be too hard. After every

term of night duty, I would have to go to bed for several days to recuperate from nursing! My

husband had terminal cancer. I took care of him for ten years. I met my husband because his wife

had been very sick. I took care of her after she had a stroke. I lived in there and took care of her.

I’m proud of that.

This same woman also talked about how she influenced children to follow in her footsteps in

nursing:

If they see who is a success, they will often want to follow that kind of work themselves.

Especially in nursing. The children that I took care of, I think they thought, ‘Oh, I want to be a

nurse!’ I had several that I know that followed in my footsteps. I could see why that would make a

great impression on a person. If you are sick and you have someone that is kind, you want to

follow in their tracks.

A final way that the elders felt that they had influenced other people was by participating in

community life. Six elders mentioned community contributions they had made, with contributions to

their churches being mentioned by several. One woman, a 93-year-old nursing home resident, recalled


simply, ‘‘Well, I taught Sunday School, and I have done a lot of babysitting, too. I have probably

influenced someone along the way.’’ In addition, our 98-year-old described a very lengthy involvement

in teaching Sunday school and the gratifications it brought her:

I taught Sunday School for fifty years and there have been some of my Sunday School kids that come

back and now there are several of them coming and tell me, ‘you influenced my life’. So there’s

several from my classes in Sunday School.

Good works were also performed in other community venues, as illustrated by this healthy 78-year-

old woman who was living independently:

Do you know IOF, International Odd Fellows? It’s a sisterhood [women’s organization associated

with the Odd Fellows]. It’s a lodge, all our rituals and everything are based on Bible things, and we

carry on the business and we care for our sisters and their spouses. Years ago they were formed as

social things, because they didn’t have other things years and years ago to go to, and they took care of

the families. If somebody was down or if they had a funeral or sickness or anything, we stepped in

and took care of these things for ‘em, you know.

5. Discussion and implications

The personal histories of these rural elders reveal a great range of human experience and convey a

multitude of impressions. Yet, despite this diversity, there were the regularities, the common themes, and

patterns that ran through the oral history interviews that we get a sense of commonality, as well as

uniqueness, in the experience of growing up and growing old in the rural setting. Reminiscing allowed

the elders to recall the important events and changes that shaped their identities and gave meaning and

purpose to their lives. In the meaning making of these rural elders, four overarching themes emerged

time and again.

5.1. Defining events in elders’ lives

Important historical events impacted the elders’ lives and were often recalled with great clarity.

Those events most frequently occurred during the impressionable years of youth or early adulthood,

the periods of life when change and major events may have their greatest impact (Schuman &

Scott, 1989). Paramount among their memories were the World Wars of the 20th century, which

resulted in family disruptions of men going off to war, losses to families of people who were never

to return, moral questions raised by war, and personal hardships induced by rationing and the

inability to obtain the needed farm equipment and supplies. The Great Depression of the 1930s

likewise impacted these elders’ lives enormously, notably, in the economic hardships faced by their

families when they were growing up and the opportunities that were foreclosed, such as being able

to obtain an education. For many of these rural families, every available hand was needed to help

feed the family during those years. Consistent with Schuman and Scott (1989), when major

historical events intersected with individuals’ personal histories, there was a vivid memory of those

events or times.

5.2. Values of rural dwellers

Certain values that are important to rural dwellers helped shape the individual identities and personal

histories of these elders (Childs & Melton, 1983; Shenk, 1991, 2002). Values of self-reliance,

practicality, hard work, and religion pervaded the oral history interviews. As this 84-year-old explained,

hard work and self-reliance were fostered early on in his family: ‘‘I had to milk the cows before I went

[to school] in the morning. Of course that would be, you got up about five o’clock in the morning, have

to be at school at 8:30.’’ Elders spoke frequently of the value of religion in their personal and family

lives, which was perhaps reinforced by growing up in a rather homogeneous Christian community,

which, at that time, had limited outside influences. One respondent even remarked on this religious

homogeneity in her narrative. The emphasis on religion was seen by the elders as resulting in good

works, such as a positive influence on the young, as described by two women who had taught Sunday

school for many years.

5.3. Attachment to place and community

There was a very strong sense of rural community solidarity and rural identity conveyed in the

narratives of these elders, often expressed in their earliest memories. Most of the elders spoke

affectionately of their lives growing up on a farm or in a small town, even while noting hardships. Their

feelings of community solidarity were expressed in fond recollections of country dances, neighbors

getting together to help butcher hogs, and community cooperation and sociability. ‘‘Nobody tried to get

ahead of the next guy, you know that kind of thing, just worked hard and were satisfied,’’ recalled a 93-

year-old retired teacher. Attachment to the rural community was also seen in elders’ memories of being

willing to participate in community organizations that were an integral part of community life, not only

the churches, but also to organizations such as fraternal lodges that aimed to better the lives of individuals

and families. The elders demonstrated a high degree of ‘‘autobiographical insideness’’ (Rowles, 1983)

that was adaptive for them as they aged. Elders who had grown up in nearby rural communities also

showed this insideness for the community where they had spent most of their lives.

5.4. Centrality of family and work

Family and work were the twin achievements in the elders’ lives; most talked openly and expansively

about these two major spheres of life. The majority expressed great satisfaction and pride in having

established and raised a family. ‘‘I would have to say that would be our greatest achievement. We didn’t

set the world on fire any other way,’’ said one woman. Family solidarity was described in the recollections

of shared Christmases, the birth of siblings, and other family events of the distant past. Likewise, work

formed an essential part of these elders’ lives and feelings of accomplishment. Thus, for one man,

acquiring a farm of his own was a major goal and was central to his sense of well-being; for other elders, it

was owning their own restaurant or being a good nurse. All of these occupations, both farm and nonfarm,

not only had personal meaning for elders but were also central to the life of the rural community.

There are a number of implications of these findings for professionals who work with rural elders

and for research. First, through the use of reminiscence and personal narrative, elders can be

encouraged to reflect on the past, better understand the self, and ‘‘story’’ their lives in a way that

helps them achieve the sense of integrity that is developmentally important in later life (Bruner, 1999;



Erikson, Erikson, & Kivnick, 1986). Such reflection and meaning making helps elders better

understand and accept their place in the world (Lubarsky, 1997; Peck, 2001). Situating reminiscence

within the appropriate social and historical context is imperative (Webster, 1999); in this case, it is

within the context of the rural environment and the major events and changes that shaped rural

people’s lives. Second, understanding the rural context and the major events that impacted rural elders

can help practitioners gain a greater appreciation and respect for those elders, and may facilitate a

better relationship between elders and service providers. Third, through the use of personal narratives,

service providers can become more aware of the unique needs and values of rural elders and be better

able to design and deliver appropriate services for them. This is critical given the paucity of health

and human services in many rural areas, as well as the tendency to design and deliver rural services

based on the dominant urban model (Coward et al., 1994; Krout, 1998; Murty, 2001). Shenk (1991),

for example, notes that older rural women are strongly integrated into informal support systems of

family, friends, and neighbors and are thus more likely to use programs and services designed to meet

specific needs, which fill gaps in the informal care system. Such services may be more attractive to

older rural women than being drawn into an all-encompassing social service system that, to them,

may signal loss of autonomy and control. Finally, the reminiscences of rural elders are valuable in

helping practitioners make appropriate individual status assessments of elders, especially of frail

elders. Such assessments should include the assessment of cognitive status and social network

support, as well as of functional status, to provide a holistic picture of the situation and needs of rural

elders.

To date, there has been little oral history research with rural elders. Such research helps us understand

the unique experiences of rural elders and the events that shaped their lives and gave them meaning.

Although some elders in this study said that they ‘‘hadn’t done much and had nothing interesting to tell

about their lives,’’ a self-deprecating attitude that may be a characteristic of this age cohort, the richness

of their tape-recorded oral histories reveal otherwise. Future cohorts of elders, notably, the coming

cohorts of baby boomers, will no doubt be different from these elders in many ways. It should be kept in

mind that the present study focused on older rural men and women in one Midwestern rural community,

and that the respondents were all Caucasian. It is therefore important that future studies be conducted in

different geographical locations and with more heterogeneous samples to test the generality of the

findings. In this way, we will gain a fuller understanding of the individual and collective experience of

the large number of rural elders and be able to develop interventions that will better serve their present

and future needs.

Acknowledgements

This project was funded in part by the Corporation for National Service, Learn and Serve Higher

Education through a grant to The Association for Gerontology in Higher Education, in partnership with

Generations Together/University of Pittsburgh.

References

Birren, J. E. (1996). Foreward. In J. E. Birren, G. M. Kenyon, J. Ruth, J. J. F. Schroots, & T. Svensson (Eds.), Aging and

biography: Explorations in adult development (pp. ix–xi). New York: Springer.


Birren, J. E., & Birren, B. A. (1996). Autobiography: Exploring the self and encouraging development. In J. E. Birren, G. M.

Ruth, J. Ruth, J. J. F. Schroots, & T. Svensson (Eds.), Aging and biography: Explorations in adult development (pp. 283–299).

New York: Springer.

Bruner, J. (1999). Narratives of aging. Journal of Aging Studies, 13, 7–9.

Bull, C. N. (1998). Aging in rural communities. National Forum, 78, 38–41.

Childs, A. W., & Melton G. B. (Eds.) (1983). Rural psychology. New York: Plenum.

Coward, R. T., Bull, N., Kukulka, G., & Galliher, G. M. (1994). Health services for rural elders. New York: Springer.

Dorfman, L. T. (in press). Older rural workers and retirement preparation. In L. W. Kaye & S. S. Butler (Eds.), Gerontological

social work practice in rural towns and communities. Binghamton, NY: Haworth Press.

Erikson, E. H., Erikson, J. M., & Kivnick, H. (1986). Vital involvement in old age. New York: Norton.

Glaser, B., & Strauss, A. (1967). The discovery of grounded theory. Chicago: Aldine.

Joseph, E. J., & Martin-Matthews, A. (1993). Growing old in aging communities. Journal of Canadian Studies, 28, 15–29.

Kaufman, S. (1986). The ageless self: Sources of meaning in later life. New York: Meridian.

Krout, J. A. (1998). Services and service delivery in rural environments. In R. T. Coward, & J. Krout (Eds.), Aging in rural

settings: Life circumstances and distinctive features (pp. 247–266). New York: Springer.

Krout, J. A., & Coward, R. T. (1998). Aging in rural environments. In R. T. Coward, & J. A. Krout (Eds.), Aging in rural

settings: Life circumstances and distinctive features (pp. 3–14). New York: Springer.

Lubarsky, N. (1997). Rememberers and remembrances: Fostering connections with intergenerational interviewing. Journal of

Gerontological Social Work, 28, 141–149.

McLaughlin, D. K., & Jensen, L. (1998). The rural elderly: A demographic portrait. In R. T. Coward, & J. A. Krout (Eds.),

Aging in rural settings: Life circumstances and distinctive features (pp. 15–43). New York: Springer.

Merriam, S. B. (1993). The uses of reminiscence in older adulthood. Educational Gerontology, 19, 441–450.

Murty, S. A. (2001). Regionalization and rural service delivery. In R. M. Moore (Ed.), The hidden America: Social problems in

rural America for the twenty-first century (pp. 199–216). Cranbury, NJ: Associated University Presses.

Peck, M. D. (2001). Looking back at life and its influence on subjective well-being. Journal of Gerontological Social Work, 35,

3–17.

ResearchWare (1999). HyperResearch 2.0. Randolph, MA: Author.

Rowles, G. D. (1983). Place and personal identity in old age: Observations from Appalachia. Journal of Environmental

Psychology, 3, 299–313.

Scheidt, R. J. (1993). Place and personality in adult development. In R. Kastenbaum (Ed.), Encyclopedia of adult development

(pp. 370–377). Phoenix, AZ: Oryx Press.

Schuman, H., & Scott, J. (1989). Generations and collective memories. American Sociological Review, 54, 359–381.

Shenk, D. (1991). Older rural women as recipients and providers of social support. Journal of Aging Studies, 5, 347–358.

Shenk, D. (2002). Narratives and self-identity in later life: Two rural American older women. Journal of Aging Studies, 16,

401–413.

United States Census Bureau (2000). Householders age 55 years and over by metropolitan–nonmetropolitan residence, sex and

age: March 2000. Current population survey, March 2000. Special Populations Branch, Population Division. Washington,

DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

Webster, J. D. (1999). World views and narrative gerontology: Situating reminiscence behavior within a lifespan perspective.

Journal of Aging Studies, 13, 29–42.

Documents

History and identity in the narratives of rural elders