Hailey Ocapan:I'm going to name off some things so participation in this project is voluntary you may withdraw from the project or in the interview at any time duration of the interview will vary up to 60 minutes follow up interviews may be requested or voluntary the interview will be recorded and transcribed a copy each will be made available to you the recording of the interview may contain material to which you will have copyright transcripts will be available to entire class for research purposes the University of Idaho students faculty and staff as well as researchers visiting special collection and archives may use the interview for any research the University of Idaho library will preserve the interview and transcript the interview will be made publicly accessible through UI library for scholarly historical purposes including potential through its website and do you agree to those terms
HO:Perfect ok so Leroy what year were you born in?
HO:perfect so my first question for you is what music or artists were you listening to in the 60s?
LB:in the 60s oh all kinds of em like what you call those like when you're 16 years old you're beautiful and you're mine and like purple people eater and a lot of em old songs like that back in the 60s can't remember em all
HO:do you sorry I'm sorry
HO:do you think music was primarily about partying or about social social change?
LB:well we didn't party much back in them days 'cause we was trying to survive then but when I was back in the 60s as a teenager and I tell you a good little story about my sister and I that one time I was out hunting with a buddy of mine after I came back from hunting I went home my dad told me I had to go down to the jail and get my sister out and I went down to jailhouse that guy asked me where my parents were and I told them that they they're not gonna come down far as their concern she can rot in here so he's decided ask him I could talk to her so I talked to her and it was dark I couldn't even see her in the room so after I came got done talking to her I went down there and I asked him and he says your parents won't come down I say no they they won't they don't care and so he says well you come back tomorrow and I'll talk to you and I said OK so next day I went down there and he told me well I'm gonna have you custody of your sister if anything happened she ain't gonna be here next time she's gonna be in a girls reformatory which was a prison camp kind of for girls and and so he says I'm gonna let you it's gonna be your responsibility to take care of her I says I will so he let her out and I told her don't you ever do that again as we get in trouble like that because they're gonna send you away and you know mom and dad don't care whatever happens to us so she said OK so few months went by I working over in Boulder Montana on a quadrille outfit then and my sister come over there and she asked me that my mom and dad want to see me so I went over and back home that weekend and my mother asked me she says I heard you were leaving us yeah she says can you take your sister with you well I guess I can I had a 1957 Ford then
I bought for $300 back in them days their run pretty good and so when we left Boulder city my job I had it moved down to Creek Colorado and I oughta keep my job I had to follow em down I had to pay for my own trip down there my sister with me I had one of my last check I got I have pay part of the rent out of that and I only had like $20 to go down in Colorado which which there's about 1200 miles so this guy I was working with named Bob ream he was the driller and I was his helper and they call it so I went ahead and we went to he went to see his parents before we hit down Colorado so we went over to Roundup Montana that's where his parents lived so after we got there he we all went out Rabbit hunting him and his brother and his dad and I we all came back and he's showing how he could do a quick drama draw used to be a cartoon with that pistol when he put his pistol on his holster went off and the bullet went right under his skin down to his knee so we had to rush him to the hospital now of course you know the cops they got involved in it and they ask what happened so we told what happened so he had to spend like two months at home before he can go down to the job well I cant hang around there so I told my had to leave ask me how much money I had and I told him $20 he gave me another $10 my sister and I head on down the Colorado we drove all day and all night brought us snacks here and there and I put my last dollar in gas in center Colorado in which creed was about 30 miles from there so when we got to creed there wasn't a place to be had to rent because it's a construction company and then they rented everything out so
I try and get ahold of my boss see if I get some money they to eat on and stuff and I couldn't find him so that night my sister and I drove out to creed a little bit out by the dump her and I slept in the car for a couple of nights and we went back in town I found my boss and asked him if there's any way I can get some money so we can eat on so he asked he said well our company don't do that so he done it anyway and they advanced me some money and then when by the time we got there when there's someplace a house we could rent and I asked the guy that owned that house he had a store and it was a big cabin so my sister and I rented that out so her and I were standing there that's where she met her husband Pete and then going up there up to Butte got married and finally they were happily after you know that finally he passed away not too long ago so that's where my sister met her husband but we had some good times and we used go to the movies and stuff and that's where I met my first wife in Creed and we all used to go to the drive in and stuff like that and when we coming home from the drive-in I had some tires in my trunk which is just the car up and head lights were blinding off onto on-coming traffic is the state patrolman and I didn't have driver's license
but Pete did but they didn't have pictures of him on there so I told Pete give me your driver's license on the way to butte on their honeymoon if they got on a passing the patrolman stopped Pete and ask him what was going on cause he kept swinging having lazy eye and he ask that cop he says shh he couldn't hear his motor right he had some kind of noise and motor so he took petes license down and everything and send them on well when he got up to Butte he came back and I am and when we went to the driving one time had some tires in the trunk and this cop pulled us me over I told Pete give me your driver's license Pete so he gave me his driver's license and that cop wanted to see my driver's license he asked me get outside and I showed him my driver's license he looked at me and then he shined a light back there in the backseat and there's Gale and Pete he says didn't I stop you before yeah you stop me up on the pass I had a 58 Blue Chevy then he says what are you doing with this car well that chevy blew up in Butte and I bought this one and I cannot well what you got in the trunk and I said some tires I open the trunk she's well when you get home you take them tires out he says cause you're blinding everybody said OK so that's one incident we got by without getting caught that was pretty funny back and them days so yeah we had some good times then.
LB:and I could tell you another episode when I was 18 just turned 18 yeah go down to the selected service to sign up for the service
HO:oh yeah grandpa that actually leads me to my second question and it was what were your thoughts on the Vietnam War? Vietnam
LB:well I thought it was kind of crazy then you know 'cause I I think we didn't have no business there you know but at that time when a wars going on they were drafting or getting a bunch of these young kids that were underage in there so when I turn 18 I went down to the sign up for the service now would have been in that war no doubt but she told me I needed a birth certificates and I did not have a birth certificate so she says well we can't sign you up until you get a birth certificate because there finding like 16 and 15 year old boys over there that they lied about their age they need a birth certificate I told them the only thing I had was the church certificate when I first went to church and they wouldn't accept so I said ok so I went on with my life and got married had one girl then and I was living down there in creed and my mom called me one night and she says hey lee there's FBI up here looking for yeah and I says what yeah they were here so I said OK so the next day I went went to the selective service there in creed told em that woman what happened so she made me out a draft card so I took it home two days later I heard a knock it is about 11:00 o'clock at night I heard a knock and my wife ex-wife then was at her sister's house and I was babysitting my kid Nora and
I opened the door and this guy flashes a badge we're the FBI and we want to talk to you Mr. Ballensky said yes I am so I told him come on in answered two of em sat there at the table with me and asking me questions are you trying to dodge the service I said no I'M not trying to dodge the service I went so sign up now woman would not sign me up in Butte because I didn't have her birth certificate so she and so I flashed this card out that that selective service made out from me and he says where did you get that and I told him about that woman there in Creed made it out for me and she told me if you got any questions go talk to her about it and they said OK they talked a little bit my ex-wife come home and she is yelling them wondering what's going on I told just never mind just be quiet and she kept butting and finally they were leaving they say well Mr. Ballensky only thing we can do is let the army know what's going on and it up to them I say hey if they want draft me I'm fine with it I got one little kid but they want me go on the service I go I'm not running from it and so they said OK so about a week later I got a letter in the mail from the United states army stating that they could not find a birth certificate whatsoever of me in Bismarck North Dakota 'cause I was born in North Dakota and they could not find a birth certificate see I was born at home so was my other sister we both were born at home and the doctor didn't make out a certificate or nothing when we was born so only witness I had was my aunt so I got to open that letter and they state and that's what they said they could not find a birth certificate at me whatsoever and I never heard another word from the army after that so my sister-in-law she lived up there in Denver Colorado and she came down one weekend I told her about it and she said she could give me a birth certificate so she went back up Denver she sent me one down and I had to send it to my folks and they fill everything out and a witness and all that and that's where I got my birth certificate now so that's what happened
HO:I'm glad you have your birth certificate now
HO:did the Vietnam War change how you felt about America as a global leader?
HO:did the Vietnam War change how you felt about America?
LB:What I like about America
HO:Did the Vietnam War change how you felt about America? V
LB:well no I don't think it changed the American that much everything kinda just stayed the same you know your gas and your grocery everything it's just like people went on with their lives that were in America
HO:What social movements were you aware of during your time in the 60s?
HO:What social movements were you aware of during the times of the 60s
HO:Yeah like the civil rights movement like
LB:You know I really didn't know that much about that you know their movements around in those 60s everything seemed to be going so good everybody seemed to be happy back in them days there wasn't hardly anything going on you know and everybody is just enjoying their life then gas was cheap cars was cheap everything was cheap back in them days and you didn't have to have a high school diploma to find a job when you go find they had a sign up you need or they needed someone they hired ya without any education
HO:where were you growing up sorry?
HO:and where were you growing up during this time?
HO:where were you during the 60s?
LB:see I was up in Roosevelt drive when I was younger in my days the Berkeley pit we used to live in meaderville merk they call it in Butte and the Berkeley pit started drawing and few years later they start buying our little town out meaderville merk because they were dumping all there waste behind people's houses while we had a big rock come down on our house and then the garage and that's when my dad called them and they came down they looked at and bought my dad out because we were the only house in that whole block the only house and my dad held on until that happened and they finally gave him what he wanted for his house then he bought 20 acres out of Butte up in the Highlands they call it roosevelt drive and during my years up there and that's where we kind of grew up there we move down there six mile view cuz we got tired of the snow and everything up there so we bought 10 acres at six mile view and my dad was an alcoholic so he drank most everything out so we didn't have much of anything and we didn't get to school very much at all when we lived up there cuz we were always snowed in and so then we had to log and support my dad a lot of times 'cause he didn't wanna work so us kids had to go out loggin and make the money so we could survive so we miss a lot of school didn't get much education so we've done the best we could until we moved down into Butte and my dad finally went to work the mines that's where my older brother got drafted in the army and then we moved into town into Butte and that's when I got me a job at a little store there in Butte Peterson brothers they called it and I worked for them until I got me a job over in Boulder city there as a core driller helper and that's where everything ended there from there on I went down to Colorado
HO:so you mentioned how you weren't really that much aware of like the civil rights movement during that time do you have any like did your parents talk about it at all or?
LB:Did my parents do what honey
HO:about like the civil rights movement did you know your did you know your parents opinion at all?
LB:no no they didn't talk about it much at all the movement as they were from Russia you know that they didn't know how to talk English very good my mom my dad did but not my mom so they didn't talk about it much we was up there in in Roosevelt drive so we kind of was out of the way from it seemed like all that you know we didn't have we didn't get to watch TV 'cause we didn't have no power back there where we lived at back carry seam lamps and outhouse and a well you have to carry water from up to the house and so we didn't we just kinda hanging up there kinda lived alone all the time and the only time we ever had any fun is when we get all the neighbors that lived up there in the hills with us around the mountains up there we all get together like on a weekend one time and we play baseball and that's how we got to know the kids of course riding school bus to school and back all the time but sometimes you know I really loved it up there it was pretty had 20 acres up in the mountains with trees and closest neighbor was a mile from yeah and we had a little pond called criminals pond above our house up their ways and we hike up there my brother and I and then we would go fishing in that pond up there and that was a lot of fun we had a lot of fun their I really enjoyed living up in that country there it was beautiful in the winter and summer
HO:did you have any like diversity in your community where you grew up in in the 60s?
LB:do you mean like what food
HO:like people like different cultures or anything
LB:Yeah we didn't have hardly any people coming around up there our neighbors come visit little bit but like actually it's you know really good friends that you can hang around and everything and we all us kids sisters and brothers used to stick around together all the time that's who we got to play with was each other if want to play baseball or something we go out in our little field we never had hardly any friends or anybody come up there visit us or nothing
HO:how would you describe yourself in the 60s?
LB:well myself you know I wasn't about myself that much I guess is just we was trying to survive and and sometimes I was upset you know that I couldn't be smarter and had the education 'cause I want to play sports and my dad wouldn't let me and I didn't have the grades to get into play sports and I you know I kinda regret not having that and I missed it actually I didn't have much of a childhood or teenage hood we've always seem to struggle and fight for our lives every day when we was living up there
HO:yeah what kind of education did you get? Education
LB:I went far as the 9th grade is I didn't graduate high school because I didn't have enough credit so I dropped out after 9th grade I dropped out of school but when I starting school in meaderville about 6 years old we had a first grade teacher named Miss sorcell and she was a really mean teacher and sometimes during the day I would sleep in class and she put a note on my shirt and send me home and it said that I needed to go to bed early or something 'cause I sleeping in school well they never did wanna help me through school because when I got to junior high school all I done if I didn't cause any disturbing in the class or anything they would pass me onto the next grade and that's the way it went through clean-up to junior high school and one time when we was reading I didn't even know how to read in junior high when the teacher had each one of us read when they came to my turn I was scared and I was embarrassed I didn't know the teachers skip me and he told the kid behind me to read he said it's his turn he says why he says he's only here half the time so he don't know what's going on but in the first grade when the teacher had me to read and I didn't know how and she says why should he wanna learn all he's gonna do is become a miner like his dad so he don't need the education and so she never called on me for anything who really taught me about adding and subtracting was my older brother he taught me how to do that because the teacher didn't wanna take any time out to teach me so when I went to school and we had some adding I knew how to add them and all of a suddenly I got like a B on my paper and she thought I was cheating and she say how did you know that my brother taught me how to do this and after that I did good as far in adding and subtracting and that was it
HO:well I'm glad you showed her
LB:yeah she's supposed to be our teacher and she didn't even bother you know because my dad was a miner and she figured that's all I was gonna be us minors didn't need education cuz all we done is go in the ground and get the ore out but the people don't realize miners when they go in the ground get that are out that silver and gold and copper and iron and all other kinds of minerals that the car that there driving is made out of that metal that us miners put out risk our lives for and your pens your computers all your cameras everything you can imagine do with metal miners done that and if it wasn't for the miners they wouldn't have had all this stuff like silver they use silver and cameras and they needed that silver and if they didn't have it they wouldn't have no cameras so you know that they figured miner were just trashy people you know and when I become a miner you know that was surviving trying to support my family
HO:yeah it's a scary job too
LB:at least I raised them until they were 18
HO:OK grandpa I have one final question for you
HO:what major historical events do you remember hearing about the most during the 60s?
LB:which Harry which was that
HO:during the 60s a lot of it was the war in Vietnam you heard that a lot and other than that you know I didn't hear much then you know 'cause like I said we was up in the mountains so we didn't get no TV or radio so we didn't hear much of anything then what we did here was most of Vietnam or you know when we was living up there the only TV we got for my brother and I would walk to our neighbor which was about a mile from our house him and I would walk to their house watch TV there and we was all excited got to watch TV there and this is in the winter time snow was up to our knees and him and I had a light that we had we we watch tv when it was time to go home which it was dark so we walk all way back home through that snow and cold it was below 0 when we walk all the way home and you know just so we can watch TV
HO:Back I'm sorry grandpa
HO:yeah do you remember the assassination of John F Kennedy?
LB:Yes I do it was really sad when he got shot everybody was crying and it really upset me too that he he got shot like that you know and he to me he is such a great president to me 'cause he got everything going in United States going the right direction there was jobs all over the place inflation wasn't here they had a lot of gas wars in Butte you know at these stations and I remember my brother and I we used to go to a gas station in butte called a community gas station and we drive in there and we put a dollar's worth of gas and that'll about fill your car up then that's how cheap the gas was and him and I after we fill up we had little money and we just in our gas station right around the corner there was a little drive in and we go to that drive in you can get a hamburger fries and a milkshake for 11 cents at that time
LB:and that was their special that day yeah and my brother and I had a lot of fun there in Butte and we go into town sometimes you know and we go at their drive-thru there and they call it Tinkerbelle drive in and then we go up there and what you do is ask for some request slips and they give you some request slips like four of them and then you write too who from who for that song you want them to play for ya so eddie he make it out then him and I would go home and turn the radio on we lived in Butte then turn the radio on and you could hear your names over that radio said too Leroy from his brother Eddie and they would play that song and that was quite a deal for teenagers 'cause teenagers hung around those drive ins a lot and you know you drive this strip through Butte they had a route that you go through teenagers and sometimes you even race and street races and then you used to walk around they used to have like movie theaters used to only cost you a dime to go to a theater back and them days used buy a candy bar dollar forty some now and used to buy them for a nickel and it was a lot of fun back in the them days in the 60s
HO:that's good did you and Eddie have a song you guys would play?
HO:did you and Eddie have a song you guys would play?
HO:a song when you guys would do that?
LB:oh a song the songs eddie would know the songs he knew the songs I like I would tell him you know and something the one I really didn't care for was when you when you're 16 you're beautiful and you're mine and I did not like that he would play that I was so embarrassed to hear that on the radio and then when see my friends they sing that to me oh you're 16 and I was 16 at that time
HO:that's funny eddie there's a prankster
HO:I said eddies a prankster
HO:grandpa do you remember when MLK got assassinated?
HO:Martin Luther King junior
LB:Oh yeah he got assassinated about right after Kennedy did and they assassinated him too Butte didn't many colored people there at the time you know but you know when Kennedy and Martin Luther King were getting together they help free the blacks from being equal in all from like now it is everyone can get jobs black and white now at these jobs but back in them days they were trying to keep from all the blacks had to go to certain bathrooms and drink out certain fountains and stuff like that and couldn't go to a white school President Kennedy and Martin Luther King they were getting together and they're working things out real good for the black and whites where they wouldn't have to do that that's the reason why I think they got rid of him because things were going pretty good with Martin Luther King and President Kennedy and I feel sorry for him you know all the black people because what was going on you know
HO:Yeah well grandpa I think that is the end of the interview thank you so much for taking your time out of the day and talking to me
LB:hey you're sure welcome honey anytime