Oral History Interviews
Beginning in 2007
The founding committee — Louise Brodnitz, Denise Cunningham, Betsy Cooley, Hazel Denton, Nola Klamberg, and Leslie Kamrad, Annie Lou Berman, Patty Murphy and Leslie Wheelock – worked out details and procedures for the project. They met with Bernadette McMahon, coordinator of Capitol Hill’s Overbeck History project, to learn about that established project. (Check out Capitol Hill’s excellent website at www.capitolhillhistory.org to get a sense of their fascinating program.)
CAG’s Oral History project is recruiting and training volunteers to conduct interviews with people who have played significant roles in Georgetown over many years. Dozens of long-time residents are being tapped (many in their eighties and nineties) to record their rich experiences and invaluable memories of growing up, living, or raising families in Georgetown and/or participating in the organizations and businesses that have developed and preserved Georgetown buildings and structures over the past century. Our oldest residents are being interviewed at the earliest stage of the project to share their unique and irreplaceable knowledge.
Grace Addison
Grace Addison told CAG Oral History interviewer Patty Murphy that the Addison family received “a grant by Charles II... that’s how long the Addisons have been around here.” Though she grew up in Chicago, Grace’s father believed speaking with a southern accent was “proper” and moving to the DC area was the natural thing to do. Grace moved to Georgetown after meeting her pilot husband, Joe, while working as an "airline hostess" after World War II. They moved to P Street near Volta Park and she...
Edith Shafer
In her interview with Janet Kandel and Cathy Farrell, Edith Shafer talks about moving to Georgetown in 1960 when she married and what it was like to raise her family here. She tells how she became involved with the Garden Club and, in 2017, Edith, Lee Childs and June Libin were awarded the William A. Cochran Community Service Award for their efforts to protect and enhance the parks and architecture of Georgetown. At the recent Oral History evening, Edith solicited belly laughs from her...
Gunther Stern
For close to 30 years, Gunther Stern headed up the Georgetown Ministry Center, offering a place for homeless people in our community with a clubhouse-type drop-in center providing health and wellness services, a winter shelter, and street outreach to those individuals so many of us encounter every day. A native of Washington, DC, Gunther talks about his life and how it brought him to the work to which he dedicated himself. He explains the changing nature of homelessness during his years in...
Richard Hinds
Richard Christel's interview with Richard Hinds focuses on the evolution of Georgetown Campus Plan negotiations. Mr. Hinds serves a General Counsel of the Citizens Association of Georgetown, a position he has held for many years. During the 1990s and into the present day, Georgetown University has been at times in conflict with the neighborhoods that border its campus. Mr. Hinds underscores and explains the evolution of the neighborhoods' commitment to pushing back plans that the university...
Neville Waters III
A sixth-generation Washingtonian, Mr. Neville Waters III has been coming "home" to Georgetown for 61 years. Neville's grandfather, Mr. Waters bought the home on P Street in the 20's for around $2,000 when it was a predominately black neighborhood. It has remained in the family ever since, once holding all three generations of Neville Waters under one roof. Be it community parties, games of Bridge, basketball meetings, Epiphany Church gatherings, black Georgetown reunions, and a revolving door...
Keith Lipert
The mixture of internationals, celebrities, and local residents give a unique feel to the Georgetown community. Carey Rivers’ interview with her neighbor, Keith Lipert, a well-known merchandizer of fashion jewelry and accessories, explores the personal joys and pleasures of living and working in Georgetown. How lucky Georgetown is that he and his young family moved here and opened a shop on M Street in 1987. Keith has been a key part of the commercial life of Georgetown as it has undergone...
Dayton Mak
Interview Date: Monday, August 21, 2017 Interviewer: Hazel Denton Transcript: Dayton Mak-August 21 2017 .pdf Hazel Denton: Today is August the 21st, 2017. My name is Hazel Denton, D‑E‑N‑T‑O‑N. I have lived on P Street in Georgetown for 25 years. For the first 23 years, I had the good fortune to be the neighbor of long‑time residents, Judy and Dayton Mak. I am now interviewing Dayton Mak, who celebrated his 100th birthday last month. Dayton was born in Sioux Falls, South Dakota in 1917....
Ella Pozell
Ella Pozell who, along with her husband Joseph, worked for 26 years at Oak Hill Cemetery in the heart of Georgetown from 1986-2012. Oak Hill is listed on the National Register of Historic Places; included on the grounds are two structures – Oak Hill Cemetery Chapel and the Van Ness Mausoleum – both of which are also listed, separately, on the National Register of Historic Places. Founded in 1849 and completed in 1853, it’s a good example of a “garden cemetery” which has landscaped winding...
Carol Joynt
Carol Joynt / Nathan’s of Georgetown Nathan’s was a well-known and well-frequented tavern established in 1969 by Howard Joynt and two partners. It sat in the heart of Georgetown at the corner of M & Wisconsin. Mr. Joynt quickly bought out his partners and built Nathan’s into the go-to place for Washington celebrities. It’s been described as an up-scale Cheers where the rich, famous, and fun-loving folks of Washington society once came to hob-nob on any given night. Along with Clyde’s...
Vernon Ricks and Barbara Ricks Thompson
Vernon Ricks and his sister, Barbara Ricks Thompson, have been active worshipers at Mt. Zion United Methodist Church on 29th Street since their childhood years in the 1940’s and 50’s. Vernon and Barbara describe how living in Georgetown, attending Mt. Zion church, being educated at Philips, Wormley, and Armstrong schools, and being part of a close, supportive family and community gave them the foundations upon which they each created successful lives. Vernon was born at home during the war...
