Clare Gottschall

FHS 2400

Old Person Interview

For this interview, I decided to interview my Grandma Gwen. She was married for

twenty-five years to my grandpa and they divorced. Because of this, her view on marriage is

different than older couples. It was interesting to compare her views on marriage compared to

mine and compared to the worlds. It was also interesting to see how much times have changed

over the past few decades.

Grandma Gwen admits that she did not have the best marriage but many positive things

came from it. The best thing that came out of her marriage were her children. She was able to

have eight children with my grandpa. She was also able to live her dream life, living in a nice

house, not having to work, raising her children. She got to live in a neighborhood that she loved.

She also got to be a part of my grandpas family which was good for her. She helped them and

they helped her. She loved my grandpa more than any of us could ever understand, but she did

say that having kids took a toll on their marriage. To my grandma, her kids were first and

everything else came second which caused a lot of tension between my grandparents. She said

towards the end of their marriage, they did not talk very much. She also said that she still loved

him, but it was better for everyone involved for them to split up.

It was interesting to see the marital roles that both my Grandma Gwen and grandpa took.

At the beginning of the marriage they kind of just assumed their roles. They got married at a

young age; my grandpa was a junior in high school. This affected their roles because at first my

grandma was the one who was the main breadwinner. After he graduated from high school, the
roles changed and they both took on traditional roles. My grandma was the wife that cooked,

cleaned and took care of the kids and my grandpa made the money. These roles stuck until they

divorced. They did not develop communication skills or learn how effectively communicate

with each other (Strong & Cohen, 2014, p. 297). Their children had traditional roles as well.

The four boys all played sports and the girls participated in Pep Club. Back then children were

very physically active and kept very busy.

My Grandma Gwen thinks that marriage is extremely important. She wants all of her

grandchildren to get married and have happy marriages. She thinks that although her marriage

was not the best, she gained so much from it.

 Reference List:

Strong, B, & Cohen, T.F. (2014). The marriage and family experience: Intimate

relationships in a changing society (12th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.