LHM: Josephine Cornick’s Catalog of Cars
In 1979, Josephine Cornick Ross was 77 years old and lived at the Issaquah Villa nursing home. A student with a tape recorder interviewed her for a school assignment. More than 30 years later, their 22 minute conversation found its way into the collection of the Issaquah History Museums. This recording is the only narrative we have about Josephine’s life that she herself created. Unlike Ferol Jess Tibbetts and Minnie Wilson Schomber, whose letters and journals share details of their lives with us, we have only Josephine Cornick Ross’s photographs and brief oral history. For that reason, we have many more unanswered questions about Josephine.
But, there are some things one can surmise even without a pointed narrative, and a fascination with automobiles is one of them.
Unlike Ferol, Josephine’s family did not have access to their own automobile, as she explained to her interviewer:
- Jo Cornick Ross opening the door of an automobile.