The Flagstaff General oral history collection includes oral
history interviews with people who have a connection to Flagstaff, Arizona, often conducted
by staff at Northern Arizona University's Cline Library.
Identification:
NAU.OH.2000.95
Language:
Material in English
Repository:
Cline Library. Special Collections and Archives
Northern Arizona University
Box 6022
Flagstaff, AZ 86011-6022
Phone: 928 523-5551
Fax: 928 523-3770
Email: special.collections@nau.edu
Historical Note
The interviews now found in the Flagstaff General oral history collection come from
different sources for different purposes. Some interviews were conducted by staff or
students affiliated with Northern Arizona University (NAU) Cline Library Special Collections
and Archives (SCA), sometimes to complement other archival materials donated to SCA. Others
were conducted with Flagstaff, Arizona residents whom library staff deemed notable for their
contributions to the city.
Scope and Content
The Flagstaff General oral history collection includes interviews with people associated
with Flagstaff, Arizona, including Charlotte Mills Fern, Joyce Killip, Therese Fronske,
Manuel DeMiguel, Rhoda Abeshaus, Grady Graham, Mary Chambers Malmgren, Nat White, Helen
Sebah, Chet Anderson, Wes Lockwood, Naomi Bunger, Henry Poore, Wilfred Killip, John Taylor,
Helen Taylor, Anna E. Johnson, Rose Houk, Michael Collier, Marjorie "Slim" Woodruff, and
John Running. Cline Library staff who conducted interviews include Todd Welch, Karen
Underhill, Peter Runge, Jonathan Pringle, Susan McGlothlin, and Bee Valvo.
Brief biographical information for interviewees is provided where available, largely based
on news coverage and obituaries from the Arizona Daily Sun as
well as other archival materials or finding aids for collections.
Arrangement
Oral history interviews were organized in 2022 based on call numbers assigned by SCA staff
between 2001 and 2014.
Many original audio and video recordings in the Flagstaff General oral history collection,
including audiocassettes and VHS videotapes, can no longer be played back safely in the
Miriam Lemont Reading Room.
Please contact the department to learn more or to request the digitization of a specific
oral history interview, in accordance with SCA's Digitization on Request
policy.
Conditions Governing Use
Due to the mixed provenance of the Flagstaff General oral history collection, researchers
are advised to consult Special Collections and Archives staff to learn more about copyrights
and other rights associated with specific interviews or other materials now found in the
collection.
It is the responsibility of the user to obtain permission to publish from the owner of the
copyright (the institution, the creator of the record, the author or his/her transferees,
heirs, legates, or literary executors). The user agrees to indemnify and hold harmless the
Arizona Board of Regents for Northern Arizona University, its officers, employees, and
agents from and against all claims made by any person asserting that he or she is an owner
of copyright.
Fronske Studios collection, NAU.PH.85.3, Northern Arizona University. Cline Library.
Special Collections and Archives.
Silver Images Photographs, NAU.PH.2002.27, Northern Arizona University. Cline Library.
Special Collections and Archives.
Arizona Daily Sun Collection, NAU.PH.73.10, Northern Arizona University. Cline Library.
Special Collections and Archives.
Platt Cline Collection, NAU.MS.91, NAU.PH.473, Northern Arizona University. Cline Library.
Special Collections and Archives.
African American Pioneers in Flagstaff Oral History Collection, NAU.OH.79, Northern Arizona
University. Cline Library. Special Collections and Archives.
Flagstaff 2020 Records, NAU.MS.294, NAU.MI.1997.44, NAU.PH.1997.44, NAU.OH.2020.11,
Northern Arizona University. Cline Library. Special Collections and Archives.
John Running Collection, NAU.MS.464, NAU.MI.2013.4, NAU.PH.2013.4, Northern Arizona
University. Cline Library. Special Collections and Archives.
Arizona Historical Society Oral History Collection, AHS-ND 95, Arizona Historical
Society.
SCA staff digitized and ingested born digital oral history interviews from the Flagstaff
General oral history collection between 2001 and 2014. Digitized and born digital interviews
are available via the Colorado Plateau Digital Collections.
Search for "Flagstaff General" in the "Collection name" field.
Item-level links to specific interviews are provided below.
Processing Information
SCA staff physically processed and digitized materials in the Flagstaff General oral
history collection between 2001 and 2014.
Sam Meier conducted research into the provenance of specific interviews, supported by
Melissa Lawton, in 2022. Meier then created a holistic finding aid for all interviews in the
collection.
Please note that certain oral history interviews may have originally been assigned call
numbers which start with NAU.OH.95, NAU.OH.99.95, or NAU.OH.1999.95. Sam Meier standardized
call numbers to NAU.OH.2000.95 in 2022.
Container List
NAU.OH.2000.95.1
Oral history interview with Charlotte Mills Fern conducted by Nancy
Cannon April 7, 2000 (1 folder
textual materials, 2 audiocassettes, 3 VHS videotapes, 1 3.5" floppy disk)
Scope and Contents
Charlotte Mills Fern was born October 15, 1909 in Maine, Arizona Territory, before
Arizona became a state, to E.C. and Cora Mills. She was a schoolteacher who worked at
Jacobs Lake, Sedona and South Beaver Elementary in Flagstaff, Arizona where she taught
for 32 years before retiring in 1975. She died October 10, 2005 in Flagstaff.
NAU.OH.2000.95.2
Oral history interview with Joyce Killip conducted by Margaret Van
Cleve June 14, 2000 (1 folder
textual material, 2 audiocassettes)
Scope and Contents
Joyce Auston Killip was born July 3, 1912. She lived in Flagstaff, Arizona for 78
years. She received her bachelor's degree from Arizona State Teachers College at
Flagstaff, now Northern Arizona University, and her Masters degree from the University
of Southern California. She taught in both the elementary and secondary levels in the
Flagstaff school system. Joyce Auston and Wilfred Killip married August 14, 1938. Joyce
Killip died in 2010 at the age of 98.
NAU.OH.2000.95.03
Oral history interview with Therese Fronske conducted by Margaret Van
Cleve June 22, 2000 (1
audiocassette)
Scope and Contents
Marie Therese (Jakle) Fronske was born August 1, 1921 in Flagstaff, Arizona to parents
Maud and Augustine Jakle. She attended St. Anthony's Elementary School and Flagstaff
High School. In 1940, she married Robert Martin Fronske. During World War II while her
husband served in the U.S. Navy, she ran his photography business, Fronske Studios, and
remained an active part of the business fare his return. She was a founding member of
the Secular Franciscans in Flagstaff and the women's organization P.E.O. Therese Fronske
died in 2017.
NAU.OH.2000.95.4
Oral history interview with Manuel DeMiguel conducted by Margaret Van
Cleve September 7, 2000 (1 folder
textual material, 2 audiocassettes)
Scope and Contents
Manuel DeMiguel was born January 24, 1927 in Glendale, Arizona to Luis and
Francisca DeMiguel. He spent most of his life in Flagstaff, graduating from Flagstaff
High School before enlisting in the U.S. Marines. He attended Northern Arizona
University, receiving his bachelor's degree in 1950, followed by a master's. He met and
married his wife, Annie, at this time. He then taught at South Beaver Elementary School,
a segregated school for Hispanic students and later African-American students, and
Emerson Elementary. DeMiguel then became assistant principal and later principal of
Killip Elementary, the first Spanish-speaking principal in Flagstaff United School
District. He also served on the Flagstaff City Council, Parks and Recreation Commission,
Sunshine Rescue Mission, the Salvation Army, Kiwanis Club, Elk Club, and Boy Scouts.
DeMiguel Elementary School, which opened in 1989, was named in his honor. Manuel
DeMiguel died July 31, 2001 in Flagstaff.
NAU.OH.2000.95.6
Oral history interview with Rhoda Abeshaus conducted by Margaret Van
Cleve November 30, 2000 (1 folder
textual materials, 1 audiocassette, 1 3.5" floppy disk)
Scope and Contents
Rhoda Abeshaus grew up in Pottsville, Pennsylvania. She and her husband Merrill moved
to Tuba City, Arizona in the 1960s, where Merrill served as an orthopedist. They
relocated to Flagstaff in 1972, where Merrill founded in Northern Arizona Orthopedics,
later the Summit Center. Looking for the Jewish community that they had grown up in,
they began offering Jewish services and Torah readings in their homes. In 1973, Rhoda
and Merrill founded Flagstaff's first synagogue, Heichal Baoranim (Temple in the Pines;
now Congregation Lev Shalom) with two other Jewish families. Rhoda also served on the
Flagstaff Summer Festival Board, was district chair for the Northern Arizona Girl Scouts,
and volunteered within the Flagstaff school system.
NAU.OH.1999.95.7
Oral history interview with Grady Graham conducted by Carol Maxwell April 22, 2002 (1
audiocassette)
Scope and Contents
Grady D. Graham was born March 24, 1913 in Carthage, Mississippi to Ollie and Zola
Walker Graham. He married Mary Buckley in 1947. Graham lived-in Louisiana and New Mexico
before moving to Flagstaff, Arizona, where he lived for 57 years. He worked in the
lumber and timber industry as a log scaler, as did many other African-American men at
the time. He was the entertainment president for the Flagstaff's Elk Club and an
outdoorsman. He died March 5, 2004 in Flagstaff.
NAU.OH.2000.95.8
Oral history interview with Mary Chambers Malmgren conducted by Margaret Van
Cleve June 25, 2001 (1 folder
textual material, 2 audiocassettes, 1 3.5" floppy disk)
Scope and Contents
Mary Chambers Malmgren was born December 25, 1921 in Tulsa, Oklahoma to Mary Riordan
and Robert Chambers. She lived in California, spending summers in northern Arizona with
her grandparents, Caroline Metz and T.A. Riordan, at their home in Flagstaff, Arizona.
She married John "Jack" Malmgren in 1947. In 1976, the Malmgrens retired to Sedona,
where they were active in community organizations including The Muses, Sedona 30, and
the Sedona Art Center. Mary Chambers Malmgren died on July 15, 2017 in Sedona.
NAU.OH.2000.95.9
Oral history interview with Nathaniel "Nat" White conducted by David S. F.
Portree for HIS 599 November 7, 2002 (1 folder
textual material, 2 audiocassettes)
Scope and Contents
Nat White received his PhD from Cornell University in 1973. He moved to Flagstaff,
Arizona in 1969 where he worked for Lowell Observatory as the program manager until his
retirement in 2007. He was a founding member of Friends of Flagstaff's Future and served
on the Coconino Community College District Governing Board starting in 2000, named Board
Chair in 2021. He was a council member on the Flagstaff City Council from 1988 to
1992.
NAU.OH.2000.95.12
Oral history interview with Helen Sebah conducted by Karen
Underhill August 9, 2002 (1 folder
textual material, 1 audiocassette, 1 VHS videotape, 1 DVCAM tape)
Helen Sebah was born in Rock Point, Arizona (Tsé Nitsaa Deezʼáhí) on July 15, 1910. She
was put in a government boarding school for Navajo children in Shiprock, New Mexico in
1917, where teachers gave her the English last name Save rather than her Dine name
Sebah. Sebah then attended a Presbyterian mission school in Ganado from 1922 to 1924. At
the age of 14, she moved to Flagstaff, where she worked as a nanny and a domestic
worker, including working for the Babbitt family. During World War II, Sebah worked at
the Navajo Army Depot (now Camp Navajo). She earned her GED, followed by attendance at
Indian Bible College and Northern Arizona University, where she was awarded an honorary
degree. Sebah taught Bible classes and Sunday school at El Nathan Conference and the
Flagstaff Mission to the Navajos and translated gospel hymns from English to Navajo/Diné
Bizaad. Helen Sebah died on April 10, 2008.
NAU.OH.2000.95.14A-B
Oral history interview with Chester "Chet" Anderson conducted by Susan
McGlothlin October 12, 2004 (2
audiocassettes, 1 VHS videotape, 2 DVCAM tapes)
Scope and Contents
Chester C. "Chet" Anderson was born June 10, 1915 in Pinedale, Arizona. He moved to
Flagstaff during the Great Depression to find work with family members. He went on to
own an auto service station and to found the Northern Arizona Warehouse Company and
Anderson's Trading Company, which provided supplies to the western parts of the Navajo
Nation and Hopi reservation. The trading company also traded beans and grains grown by
Flagstaff area farmers as well as wool, sheep, rugs, and art from Navajo and Hopi
sheepherders and artists, distributing goods in Texas, California, and Arizona. Anderson
married Agnes Switzer in May 1937; they remained married until her death in 2003 or
2004. Anderson married Sandra Hummell in 2004. He was a founding member of the Flagstaff
Ski Club, founded in 1939, which installed a tow rope in Hart Prairie. He died October
10, 2007.
NAU.OH.2000.95.15
Oral history with Wes Lockwood conducted by "unidentified female
student" November 13, 2002 (1
audiocassette)
Scope and Contents
George Wesley "Wes" Lockwood was born June 28, 1941 in Virginia. He earned his
bachelor's degree at Duke University in 1963, followed by a Masters and a PhD from the
University of Virginia in 1965 and 1968. He worked at Kitt Peak National Observatory in
Tucson, Arizona from 1968-1973, before beginning his work at Lowell Observatory in
Flagstaff. At Lowell, Lockwood worked on a "Solar Variations and Atmospheric
Transparency" project, an offshoot of the Observatory's "Project for the Study of
Planetary Atmospheres," which began at Lowell in 1950. He also supported the development
of a library and archives at Lowell, conducting oral history interviews with staff.
Lockwood was instrumental in establishing lighting ordinances to preserve Flagstaff's
dark skies by preventing light pollution, together with Naval Observatory astronomer
Chris Luginbuhl. Lockwood retired from Lowell in 2008, but remained involved in project
work with the observatory until 2019.
NAU.OH.2000.95.16
Oral history interview with Naomi Bunger conducted by Sylvia Neely August 17, 2005 (1
audiocassette)
Processing Information
Naomi Loretta (Knight) Bunger was born April 9, 1917 in English, Indiana to Millard and
Zellah Knight. The Knights moved to Tucson, Arizona when Naomi was eight years old,
before moving to Phoenix where her father worked at the Arizona State Hospital. Naomi
married C.T. "Bud" Bunger on November 17, 1934. The Bungers operated or worked at a gas
station in Denver, Colorado, dairies in Arizona, tobacco farms in South Carolina, a
lumber business in Show Low, Arizona, a sawmill in Flagstaff (the C.T. Bunger Lumber
Company), and Arizona Storage Rental in Phoenix. They retired to Prescott in 1980. Naomi
Bunger died March 13, 2016.
NAU.OH.2000.95.17A-B
Oral history with Henry Poore conducted by Bee Valvo April 13, 2007 (2 DVCAM
tapes)
Scope and Contents
Henry Wayne Poore was born in Paperville, Tennessee on May 13, 19831. He married
Ninalei "Nina" Bader, a nurse who had served with the Frontier Nursing service in
eastern Kentucky, in December 1955. The Poores moved to Flagstaff, Arizona from Virgina
in 1962. Dr. Charles Sechrist convinced Poore to stay in Flagstaff and practice
medicine. He owned a private medical practice for 35 years before retiring in the 1980s.
The Poores participated in medical missions to Honduras, Kenya, Mexico, the Navajo
Nation, and Havasupai. In 1990, the Poores opened Flagstaff Urgent Care. Henry and Nine
Poore and Bill Packard founded a free medical clinic in 2011, now known as the Poore
Medical Clinic; they later founded a free dental clinic, the Sid Davis Dental Clinic.
Henry Poore died November 11, 2015.
NAU.OH.2000.95.18
Oral history interview with Wilfred Killip and Joyce Killip conducted by Nancy
L. Maurer November 11, 2001 (3
audiocassettes)
Scope and Contents
Wilfred F. Killip was born in Morenci, Arizona on September 2, 1911. He moved to
Flagstaff in 1932 in order to attend Arizona State Teachers College at Flagstaff, now
Northern Arizona University, where he received both a bachelor's degree and a Master's
degree. After he graduated, Wilfred taught at South Beaver Elementary School, a
segregated school for Hispanic and later African-American students, and Flagstaff High
School, where he served a president. Killip then served as assistant superintendent of
the Flagstaff Unified School District. His career in education lasted 40 years. Wilfred
Killip died November 30, 2006.
Joyce Auston and Wilfred Killip married August 14, 1938.
Joyce Auston Killip was born July 3, 1912. She lived in Flagstaff, Arizona for 78
years. She received her bachelor's degree from Arizona State Teachers College at
Flagstaff, now Northern Arizona University, and her Masters degree from the University
of Southern California. She taught in both the elementary and secondary levels in the
Flagstaff school system. Joyce Killip died in 2010 at the age of 98.
NAU.OH.2000.95.19
Oral history interview with John Taylor and Helen Taylor conducted by Todd
Welch September 27, 2008 (1 folder
textual material)
John and Helen Taylor talk about meeting at church in Clemenceau (Cottonwood);
marrying; and starting their own grocery store in Flagstaff, Arizona. The couple also
describe the day to day business and how they supplied their store.
NAU.OH.2000.95.20A-B
Oral history interview with Anna E. Johnson conducted by Roabie
Johnson July 24, 2013 (2 DVCAM
tapes)
In this oral history interview, Anna Johnson who was born Anna Ryberg in Williams,
Arizona on May 22, 1917 to Swedish immigrants, recalls her early years on Garland
Prairie, her Swedish heritage, her experiences in Flagstaff, and her life with her
husband and children.
NAU.OH.2000.95.21
Oral history interview with Rose Houk conducted by Olivia Charest February 26, 2014 (1 folder
textual materials)
In this oral history interview, Rose Houk, who was born in 1952 in Decatur, Indiana
talks about her childhood and the path which brought her to Flagstaff, Arizona and to
her vocation as a natural history writer and environmentalist. Rose also describes a few
of the many award winning writing/photography projects that she and her husband, Michael
Collier have collaborated on.
NAU.OH.2000.95.22A
Oral history interview with Michael Collier conducted with Karen
Underhill May 15, 2014
In this oral history interview, Michael Collier, who was born in 1950 in Schenectady,
New York discusses his early years moving with his family to a variety of communities in
the U.S. and his gradual move to Flagstaff after college, marriage and medical school.
Michael who is a geologist, physician, pilot, photographer, writer and environmentalist
also talks about his outdoor adventures, his collaborative writing projects with his
wife, Rose Houk, and his concerns for the planet.
NAU.OH.2000.95.23
Oral history interview with Marjorie "Slim" Woodruff conducted by Peter
Runge April 4, 2008
In this oral history interview, Marjorie "Slim" Woodruff talks about her childhood in
Sunnyslope (area of Phoenix) Arizona and her early hiking experience in the desert. She
recounts transferring to Northern Arizona University in the late 1960s and joining the
NAU Hiking Club sponsored by Harvey Butchart. She also discusses her work as a guide,
the old and new equipment (including technology) available to hikers, and living and
working at Grand Canyon.
NAU.OH.2000.95.24
Oral history interview with John Running conducted by Jonathan
Pringle March 11 and March 25, 2014
David Edward Gay (September 4, 1931- ) is a retired Air Force Captain. Gay met Katie
Lee in Oklahoma City in the 1950s-1960s. Upon meeting, Lee asked him to drive her to
Golden, Colorado. The two embarked on a trip in Lee's 1955 Ford Thunderbird, the story
of which was recorded by Gay's grandson, Erik Karolus.
Scope and Contents
This file is composed of an audio recording created by Erik Karolus in conversation
with his grandfather, David E. Gay. The conversation was recorded using an iPhone 5s and
stored on a USB flash drive.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
This recording of conversation between Erik Karolus and David E. Gay was donated to
Special Collections and Archives by Karolus in April 2024.
