Gertrude Rader talks about the profession and lives of teachers, who were primarily women, in Western Colorado during the early Twentieth century. She discusses how, in small communities, women were expected to be much more than teachers including: Doctors’ assistants in a pinch, de facto members of the families that they boarded with in cases of illness or maternity, and moral pillars of the community. She includes many anecdotes from her own teaching career in Mesa County, and explains the important social role that schools played in their communities. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries and the Museums of Western Colorado.
