Maurice “Maury†Raether was born on 10 July 1910 on a farm near Green Bay, Wisconsin, and for a number of years attended school in a nearby town. He lived and worked on the farm until 1928, when he left for Duluth, Minnesota, where he lived throughout the war years. Maury drove a milk wagon for a local dairy from 1928-37, then worked 14 years for the Duluth Transit Authority as a bus driver. Aged 31 and with three children when the war started, he wasn’t drafted to serve during the war. Maury later went to work for a local railway, finally retiring from the Duluth-Winnipeg Railway in 1975. He married Signe (d. 2000) in 1935; they had four children, three of whom were born before the US entered the war in December 1941. At the time of this interview, Maury Raether lived in a log house outside the small town of Esko, Minnesota, and kept busy with his garden and woodworking projects. Maury passed away on 1 January 2008, aged 97. In this interview, Maury provides insights on working, rationing of different consumer goods, wages and prices, and changes in Duluth during the war years
