Q: When were you born? 

A: October the 10th 1936.

Q: Where were you born?

A: Guysville Ohio.

Q: Where did you grow up as a child?       

A: Around Rome, Canaan township area Rome and Canaan township.

Q: What was your parents' jobs?

A : Dad was a . . . he usually worked in a coal mine or a steel mill. While he was working we usually farmed around the farm.

Q: What kind of jobs were there around the farm?

A: Well, milking the cows, putting up hay or corn, building fences, and fixing fences. There were a lot of jobs around the farm.

Q: How many brothers and sisters did you have?

A: There was 6 of us brothers and 4 sisters.

Q: What was their names?

A: There was: Andy, Emry, Margaret, Mike, Julie, Mary Ann, me - Charlie, John, Helen, and Rudy.

Q: What was your childhood like?

A: Oh . . . back in them days I guess you could say not much like today. It was kind hard to . . . money was tight, scarce. You didn’t get as much as you do today.

Q: Did any wars affect your family?

A: Well no. I had 3 brothers in the army during the Second World War. They were all in, in the same time. I was the next to go into the navy. I went in, in 1956 and I came out in 1958. John was in the army and Rudy was in the navy. He was my youngest brother.

Q: Who were your parents?

A: Andrew and Mary Brozak.

Q: Do you remember any natural disasters?

A: Well, I guess locally, you could see a … We may have had a disaster in June. I suppose the flood this year, 1998. Well, they had one around the Shade area, that’s around Wheeling, Ohio. A few years ago they had a flood. It was one of the worst. It killed a lot of people. A lot of houses were washed away. Everything was washed away and many peopled drowned. That was a bad one.

Q: How was the farm equipment different from today?

A: Oh well, farm equipment is different. There is no comparison in the farm equipment then and now. The farm equipment now is well, a lot of it is well, most of it is self-propelled. Well, when - then - when you cut hay, you had to hook or hitch the horses. They’d pull it, the mowing machine. Now one machine might do two different jobs all in one. Like they got one now that will cut the hay and clip it. You might have it ready to put up the next day. But then, you would wait two or three days just cut it and leave it lay for a couple of days. Then rack it, leave it lay a day before you could put it in, before it would be dry enough for you to put it in. So things are a lot faster today then they were back then. A lot easier, not much work to do it. Now you ride around in an air-conditioned tractor, when then you had to sit on a seat of an old hay rack or mowing machine or something like that with the horses in the hot sun.

Q: Do you remember getting your first TV?

A: Probably in, I would say we got our first TV in 19 - early 1950 -  probably 1951. It was a big floor model RCA. And if you could get - if you could look through the snow -you might be able to see something. Otherwise you could not see very good.

Q; How many channels did you get?

A: Well, about three at the most. 3, 8, and 13.

Q: What kind of programs were on?

A: Well, we would watch Dragnet, that was a big one back then. We watched wrestling on Friday night or Saturday night. It was one of them two nights. Them were the popular ones. It was real thing back then. I think it was the real thing. I think what they do today is phony. Boxing was a good one too. You could pretty well count one that one. That was when they had Rocky Marciano, Joe Lewis, Joe Wallcot, and them guys.

Q: Do you remember the radio?

A: Well, we always had a radio. Usually we didn’t use them very much because we didn’t get electricity until 1949. I think it was ’48. Dad turned the radio on only when he wanted to listen to the news or something like that. Otherwise it was hard on the batteries. It operated on batteries. Then after we got electricity we got a little radio that sat on the table. We could listen to it more often. We didn’t want to burn too much electricity.

Q: Do you remember getting indoor plumbing?

A: We didn’t get that until 1955, along in there somewhere. That was the year I graduated from High School. I hate to tell my age but you could do the math.

Q: Do you remember the earlier styles of cars?

A: They were a lot nicer looking cars than they got now. The Chevy, Ford, and Mercury were good looking cars. Real nice style. They were made much, much better. The bodies didn’t rust out as fast as they do today. If you had one of them car you had a good one.

Q: How many inventions have you seen come out new?

A: Several I might guess or if they were just upgrades, you know, from good to better.

Q: Do you remember the old computers?

A: I don’t even know anything about computers. I heard today that they are coming out with one that is, I forget the name of it - but it goes very fast. It is amazing how fast it goes.

Q: What kind of bike did you have growing up as a child?

A: Well I didn’t get a bicycle until I was in the 9^th or 10^th grade. It was a Schwinn, and I was the third owner of it. It was as good as new. It had a generator on it. The generator ran off the tires and it ran a light. It was a good bike but it was hard to pedal. It put muscles in your legs. Today that’s what anybody that plays baseball should ride. I won’t mention any names. If they would exercise their legs it would help a lot more. A hard pumping bicycle to do it.

Q: What was your favorite sport as you were growing up as a child?

A: Baseball. I liked the Cleveland Indians.

Q: Did you play any sports while you were growing up?

A: I played baseball, basketball, we didn’t go out for football because most of them were too scared, or they would get hurt.

Q: What positions did you play on the teams?

A: Well, I played everywhere, we didn’t have any real positions. We just played for fun.

Q: How have the sports changed over the year?

A: I don’t really know. Everyone has their own decisions. But one way that it has changed is that all the players want more money. I don’t think that this is the way to do it. It really takes away from the sports. Other than that I don’t really know.

Q: How much could you buy with a dollar compared to, today?

A: I have heard that a dollar today is worth a nickel back then. Now I don’t know. I’ve just heard that different times.

Q: What else has changed like gasoline prices?

A: Gasoline prices have, they’ve changed a lot of times. They use to be a lot cheaper, but they have always gone up. But they always find their way back up again.

Q: Have you ever lived through times were you had to save your money to get something that you really needed?

A: Yeah, we did. I used to mow a lawn if I had time just to get away from the farm. I would go mow someone else’s lawn. We would use one of those real mowers like the one that I gave Kurt. They was hard to push for $0.50 a yard. But when you had $0.50 you had $0.50. If you saved up enough of that you could buy yourself a shirt and a good pair of pants. In my opinion I would in some ways live back then -  in some ways. Because today is just to fast. I don’t like this way of living.

Q: What do you think of punishments?

A: They ain't nowhere near strict enough. They could really tighten up. There would be less crimes. Now if they put someone in jail, turn them out. They aren’t out very long till they commit a crime in order to get back in jail. Because they want someone to keep them.

Q: What were punishments a long time ago that aren’t used any more?

A: Well, the worst one was the electric chair. They don’t use it any more. They just give you a shot or something.

Q: Did they hang people back then?

A: Not in my time they didn’t.

Q: How has the schools changed?

A: Well their not strict enough either. The teachers can’t give you a paddling or anything.

Q: Did you have a favorite animal around the farm?

A: A horse.

Q: What was its name?

A: Prince.

Q; What color was it?

A: White.

Q: Is there anything you would like to tell us that we already haven’t discussed?

A: No I don’t think so. One thing I advise you. If you ever have an opportunity to smoke a cigarette, turn it down.