National Museum of Forest Service History

What Did We Get Ourselves Into?

History EN ↓ 6 episodes

There is an old adage that “it takes a village to raise a child.” This is also true for the United States Forest Service, a sprawling outfit that employs 30,000 people spread over nine regions and across 600 ranger districts ranging anywhere from 50,000 to more than 1 million acres. This expansive organization has always required the help of an army of unpaid wives, sons, and daughters. ”What Did We Get Ourselves Into?” tells the stories of those intrepid women who gave their lives to “the outfit” without any expectation of notoriety or reward. Over the course of several episodes, listeners wi...

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National Museum of Forest Service History

Episodes

"Nothing I Couldn't Handle": The Perseverance of Joanne McElfresh 04.06.2024 27:52

For our sixth and final episode of this series, we turn to the remarkable story of Joanne McElfresh. Joanne was born in 1934 and bounced around the country as an army brat before returning to Missoula to attend the University of Montana, where she earned a forestry degree, a rare feat for a woman at that time. In 1957, Joanne joined the agency, becoming the first female forester ever hired by the...

”Amen and Amen”: The Enduring Love of Joyce and Sonny O’Neal 08.06.2023 41:08

In our fifth installment of "What Did We Get Ourselves Into?" we look at the world through the eyes of Joyce O’Neal, a southern belle who married her childhood sweetheart Sonny and began a lifelong journey through the outfit. As husband and wife, they grew alongside the forests that Sonny called home. They persevered together through tragedies and hardships but always found a way to laugh in spite...

”But For The Grace Of God”: The Saga of Carl and Vicki Pence 05.01.2023 44:25

In our fourth episode, we take a journey alongside Carl and Vicki Pence, two Idaho natives who ventured hand-in-hand through the peaks and valleys of life. Over a forty-year career together in the Forest Service, Carl and Vicki survived historic blizzards, menacing wildfires, and moments of intense grief. Still smitten all these decades later, they are living examples of the transformative power o...

”Hail to the Chief”: The Rise of Carma and Dale Bosworth 24.10.2022 36:55

In Episode Three we look at the world through the eyes of Carma Bosworth. From her small-town beginnings, Carma went on to travel the Mountain West with her husband Dale, a second-generation forester who would go on to become Chief of the whole outfit. Throughout his 41-year stint in the Forest Service, Carma stood with Dale as they rose through the ranks and moved over a dozen times.

”Southern Discomfort”: The Odyssey of Linda Hicks 22.08.2022 50:16

In the second episode of "What Did We Get Ourselves Into?" we explore the life of Linda Hicks, who married into the Forest Service in 1967 and started a journey that swept her from the banks of the Red River in Shreveport, Louisiana to the mountains of Missoula, Montana, and everywhere in between. Along the way she lived in cabins without electricity, trailers stalked daily by grizzly bears, and e...

”We Feminine Foresters”: Putting Forest Service Wives in Historical Context 22.08.2022 33:12

In the debut episode of "What Did We Get Ourselves Into?" NMFSH Oral Historian James Wall interviews Dr. Rachel Kline about her forthcoming history of the role of women in the United States Forest Service and the experiences of the early wives who "married the outfit." Additional Sources: What Did She Say? Recovering Women's Voices To Our Land Ethic Narratives