National Museum of Nuclear Science & HistoryWillie Atencio: What were the circumstances that you came to the Española area?
Elberta Lowdermilk Honstein: Well, the very first thing was my father, Elbert Lowdermilk, got the contract to build the first road to Los Alamos in 1943. That’s how I came. In ’43 I would maybe have been 15 years old. We spent the summers with my father. I was still in school in Denver. That’s how I got to New Mexico.
Trisha Pritikin: We are in Lynnwood, Washington. Karen, can you spell your name and say your name, please?
Karen Dorn Steele: Yeah. So, my name’s Karen Dorn Steele. K-a-r-e-n D-o-r-n S-t-e-e-l-e.
Pritikin: Okay. I’d like to start with having you tell us, please, about your early life overseas growing up as the child of a press liaison for the U.S. Information Agency.
Cynthia Kelly: Okay, why don’t we start by having you tell us your name and spelling it?
Collene Dunbar: My name is Collene Dunbar, C-O-L-L-E-N-E, and it’s pronounced Coll-ene.
Jeffrey Nalezny: And your last name is spelled?
Dunbar: D-U-N-B-A-R.
Nalezny: Thank you.
Kelly: Great! Thank you very much. Now we’re here to talk to about your life, your life in Richland. So can you tell us when you came here and why?
Cynthia Kelly: Start by telling us your name and spelling it.
Carol Roberts: Okay, my name is Carol B. Roberts. C-A-R-O-L, initial B, as in Bobby, R-O-B-E-R-T-S. I came here in June 1944 with my mother and my sisters because my dad had been sent by DuPont out here. That is how I came to be such a smart aleck.
Kelly: Where did you live before?
Nathaniel Weisenberg: My name is Nate Weisenberg. I am here with the Atomic Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C. It is Tuesday, May 22, 2018, and I am here with Philip S. Anderson. My first question for you is if you could please tell me your name and spell it.
Philip S. Anderson: My name is Philip S. Anderson, P-h-i-l-i-p, middle initial S, A-n-d-e-r-s-o-n.
Weisenberg: Why don’t we sort of start at the beginning. Can you tell me when and where you were born?
Philip S. Anderson, Jr. lived in Oak Ridge from his second-grade year through his junior year of high school. His father, an officer in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, was responsible for housing at Oak Ridge during the Manhattan Project; his mother was active in the Oak Ridge community. In this interview, Anderson remembers his childhood in Oak Ridge, describing the level of secrecy in the city and hikes with his friends. He also recounts his reaction to the bombing of Hiroshima and his fond memories of being a Boy Scout in Oak Ridge.
Cindy Kelly: Okay. I’m Cindy Kelly. It is Thursday, April 26, 2018. If you could say and spell your name?
Patricia Postma: Right. I go by Pat, but it’s P-a-t-r-i-c-i-a P-o-s-t-m-a.
Kelly: Great. So tell me, how do you fit into Oak Ridge?
Cindy Kelly: I’m Cindy Kelly. It is May 15, 2018, and I’m at the University of California, Berkeley. I have with me Trisha Pritikin, and I first want to ask her to say her name and spell it.
Trisha Pritikin: Okay. Trisha Pritikin is T-r-i-s-h-a, Pritikin is P-r-i-t-i-k-i-n.
Cindy Kelly: I’m Cindy Kelly. This is May 14, 2018, and I’m in Mountain View, California. I have with me Eric, otherwise known as Astro, Teller. My first question is for him to tell us his name and spell it.
Astro Teller: Astro Teller. I’m the Captain of Moonshots at X. Astro, A-s-t-r-o, last name Teller, T-e-l-l-e-r.
Kelly: Well, we just have to start with—what is Captain of Moonshots?
