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Uh, my name is Bernice Pitts. I'm, uh, 95 years old and I'm a 36 year widow and I've lived in, uh, Los Angeles for, since 1945. I graduated in 45 and, and my mother, I told my mother that I wasn't planning to go to college and

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she let me know that. Oh, yes, you're going to college. In fact, you're going to a Christian college. So I, I ended up going to Pepperdine, graduated in 1949. I was able to choose my husband. I chose my husband myself from a family that had, um,

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um, six boys and one girl. I didn't have any, any choice for her husband because my first church of Christ was, uh, eight people. That was a whole church and the whole church were female, except one lady had a 14 year old son. These people were

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so happy to see us come, you know, because they only had that young boy as the male and they were glad to see the, uh, male come. My father who knew how to sing and knew how to teach the songs about the music notes and they

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were so happy to have us come one Sunday, this, this minister came and he was just preaching away and, and he got right in about the middle of the sermon. And he said, so you young people, all two of us don't even think about marrying out

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of the church out of the Lord. When the man said that I, I didn't hear another word of his sermon because I was thinking about what he said and, and how I had to get out of there and talk to my dad about this problem. I

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have, I said, I don't have a, a choice here. It's only one. And he said, we can have a l can't have a meeting in this lady's house. I said, I guess we're gonna have to have a uh outdoor meeting. We have to get some more

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people in this church because I don't have any choice here. My dad says, well, I'll see what I can do. And then he got him, uh some men to help him build uh some benches, no backs, just benches for us to sit on. And they built

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a little uh platform for the preacher. So he'd be a little elevated. Got us a loudspeaker and we're right here on this, this street. The, the seats are, you know, right off the sidewalk. You know, people on the sidewalk is the uh meeting place is right

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back here and we had our church meeting when Mrs Pitts told me that she had three sons in Booker T Washington, where I was going, I had hopes that I could find one of these. So when I went back to school, uh, Monday, um, and I

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got, with my classmates, I asked them, do you know the Pitts brothers? Oh, yeah. They said we know the Pitts brothers have three of them here in this, in the school with us. So when she saw the first one, she pointed him out to me, I

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said he looks pretty good. And then she said he's in the ninth grade. I said, oh, no, I'm in the 10th. Yeah, he can't. My person I want can't be below me. We let him go by the next one showed me, I said he looks pretty

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good but he looks like he's about my height. I, I, my husband has to be a little taller than me. I don't want to look down or, or look at right now. And then the third one she showed me, I didn't find any, any, anything wrong

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with him. He looked, he was tall enough and he was, I said, I think I work on him. I got to meet him at the church building. He was a member of the church. And so he was drafted out of the my high school into the

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navy. So when he came home for his first uh, a furlough, I told him that I was writing three or four Christian servicemen. And I asked him, would he like for me to put his name on the list on my list? And so he said, oh,

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yes, I'd love to receive mail from you. So that's how that got started. By the time he got out of the navy, we were ready for marriage from the male. And so I, I told him that, um, my mother said that I was going to a

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Christian college when I graduated from high school. And so he said, oh, that sounds good. I think I go to the Christian College too. When I get out, she sent me out here to go to Pepper dot And then she wanted me to enter it and,

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uh, uh, September for five, but I didn't like it out here by myself. I'm an only child. And so I didn't go, I, I, I didn't go and I didn't know what to do because I couldn't tell her I didn't go and II, I need to

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go back home. So, so I decided to give me a job and it took about two months for me to make my fare, which I did. I wor I worked and got my fare and then I went on back home, I went on the reports. He

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came to do Bey's. Aren't you in Pepperdine? What I said? No mother, I'm not in Pepperdine. I'm standing right here in front of you. Whatever I said, I just couldn't stay out there by myself. I didn't have friends and can the church is so big? Can

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you learn the people? And so I just wanted to come back home. Well, you just try pepper down and see when is the next entrance date? We are going to pack you up and take you back there and get you registered and all of that, which

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they did. December came, we started getting all ready to come to California. They, uh, got in touch with one of their friends that had left Oklahoma and came to California to see if, if they had an extra room that they could, uh, rent them, you know.

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But the next morning this couple took my parents to work with them, they got jobs, they plan to stay, you know, with the job. I had those kind of parents just do things in the spring morning. My mother did, um, domestic work, the people of my

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daddy. Well, at first he was, when I was a little kid, he was on WP A whatever that means, workers, workers, something or another. And I remember that when we left Oklahoma and came out here, he really got a nice job and, um, they thought we

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had struck it rich and we, we came from Oklahoma out here and g he got this job, um, I think he's making about maybe $25 a week. That was a good job back in the day, uh, in California. He worked at a, uh, cotton gin, I

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eat at school, uh, Pepperdine. And, um, and then when they got a break on the job, they went back to Oklahoma and sold a house. I live in South Los Angeles. This is South Los Angeles. And I've been living in, in the house. I'm in now

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58 years when this building was going to be, uh, sold, my husband got in touch with somebody from Pepperdine maybe or whatever. And so when we, when we purchased a building that we named it Normandy Church of Cars from the street. And so we started here

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with 33 I think 33 people, people came from, of the churches to, to get us started. August 11th, 1963 Business uh Secretary of Science. And when, and when, um when Carol entered the first time his major was uh business administration. And I said, oh, that'll be

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good business administration. I'm Secretary of Science. We can work together, could you? And then when he dropped out, he got a job, he had time to, you know, spend time with the brother Cassius, you know, he decided he'd help him with the bulletins and stuff. And

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I guess he got all excited about that, working with the preacher, you know, so when it's time for him, for me to graduate and he did go to college, his major is uh theology. Oh Lord have mercy. I, I, when I was a kid. I said,

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I surely don't want to marry a preacher. I, I never saw the man's, the preacher's wife. You know? I said, I sure wouldn't like that kind of job. I, the, the husband is gone and, and, and, um, and the wife is not with him. You know,

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and I decided I didn't want to marry a preacher and I didn't marry one but he became one. What could I do? I got a job at, um, Los Angeles City College. They call it a stenographic pool. And we had, uh, I think about eight workers

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and a supervisor of the teachers at, uh, L A City could get us to do their, their tests and get them ready and, and, um, uh, I ain't tried working there. I would get chosen to go over the interview off the civil service test. Well, I

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would get a, I would get invited to come for, for the interview, but I never would get chosen. I never chose it. And so one day on the, somebody called the Department of Employment to see if, uh, somebody could get a worker to come to just

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do a vacation relief for this person who wanted, needed somebody, this lady's employment or she said, you know, there is a, a lady here who, who wants to work just a little time per, um, because she's, uh, she's waiting for, uh, an adoption to go to

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go through and she didn't want to be working on a full time job. And that was me. And, uh, so I, she hired me and I went on to work for her for three weeks. When my three weeks were up, this, uh, highway patrol people wanted

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to hire me. I said, no, I don't wanna be, I don't want a job because I'm waiting for my adoption to come through. This lady that I had worked for. The three weeks, she started telling everybody anybody who wants to take a vacation request. Mrs Pitts

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because she works. That's the way she works. They had me working in all the different state offices. It was difficult because um blacks weren't uh able to, to get them. They just, they're not black people. When I first moved in. They had uh uh people in

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this, in this neighborhood drugs selling drugs. That was, that was bad. My house was broken into a couple of times. I know it turned out good though when they got, got out. I'm glad I didn't move but we, we didn't want to move, you know, because

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right here at the church and, and all that, my Children out here on Saturday the way they had Saturday programs. And I told them that uh I was going to uh Sears and on my way back, I was uh coming back to get them instead of

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my going down gauge from Verona, I came on down to 64th street and to to come back to get them. And when I got to that corner where I live right now, the uh owners had a, a sign in the, in the yard for sale by

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owner. I said, oh, let me stop and see. Can I see this house? He opened the door and I said, oh, before I come in, do you have two baths? Yes, mom, two baths, two baths because I had two baths where I am now, you know.

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And uh and I had two Children can hardly get the bathroom, you know. And so I, I told him I would, I would get back to him very, very soon. And I told my dad that I, I saw this cute little house for sale over there

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on uh whatever it was and um Carol and I would like to have it and he said, what's stopping you? I said we need a downpayment. He loaned us the money and uh we bought the house. Oh yeah, the name has definitely improved. And I told

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you about the drugs being in here when I first moved in. That was really, really bad being so close to the church. I mean, that was good. And uh my uh my kids could walk to school. We were on our way up up north to San

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Francisco. When the, when the walk the the rides res came about, that's something that can, that I forgot about that. And we could see it happening on, on TV, at my brother in law's house. He was, and I guess, I think, I guess we ended up

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going on. We happened to be in New York when they had one. They have, but I don't know. And, uh, and they had, they had let us, uh, they had let us stay and it was so frightened, you know, to watch it go on. And my,

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and my husband said we might not be able to get out of here. We need to get out. It was in the New Jersey. He said we had to get out of this. We, I don't know if we can get out now. You know, that was

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really something watts really improved for some reason or another. Oh, you know, they had, uh, build up of better stores and it was really, really nice. What, when, when that was over, I think, I think, uh, blacks have, uh, taking the place of, of, uh, white

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people did move out and, uh, blacks moved in, in Spanish more Spanish have come in. Especially the, my neighbor right across the street from me. She Spanish at the, she watches out for my house. Kenneth. Kenneth Ha was really, uh, Costa Carol. He come here, he

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come here for things that we would have programs we would have. He'd come and then he and Carol were really close. Pepperdine way back in the day. They used to go to, um, big Bear. Carol had a close relationship with Pepperdine and I know Kenneth handles

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FIFA. There was a, uh, a young man that came over from Guyana, South America who, who uh 22 become a minister. Normandy helped, helped him to go to school. And we, and we went the guy in South America annually about seven years straight to, to, uh,

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help them with meetings and uh vacation bible school. And we, we also went to, uh, Nigeria to help with, uh, be in a vacation. I was good. Normally Christmas school was really, really, well, it started in Pepperdine. So they let us start and then it, then

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it moved to, when we got the, normally Ben, my husband was teaching a religion, religion class over at the old campus before, before they moved to Malibu and they wanted him to move to Malibu. But I wouldn't allow it. It's a nice neighborhood and we, we

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have, we have, uh, things that we need. That's, that's not too far, far away, you know, I just take, I take things, you know, as they come, I, I, uh, I don't let anything, you know, stop me from doing what I, what I wanna do. Oh.