SCARLET#12/5:
GORDON'S GRANDDAUGHTER
...7/00...Scarlet Skiftun, been married five years this month...
...my name is the first chapter, but the name is Christina my sister...Bruce Boals met us and decided to tell it thru us...no, she was fourteen or fifteen, he used her perspective...she was fourteen or fifteen...8/30...
..I read most of the book I have not read the whole thing...
I thought it was a very good documentary, I enjoyed it, it uplifted the family...
...9/11...eighteen...I was in Odessa, tx,...I was a senior in highschool, I lived with my mother and sister...
...yeah, I know ...9/42...the shootout happened on a sunday evening...I got up the next morning and my mother and stepdad said this happened and we're going to ND...I was in shock. I loved him very much...it was a tragedy, I was hurt by it...
...10/34...must have been when I was about six or seven,...my sister and mother and my natural dad...my sister and I were jumping on the bed...her earlobe was ripped off...she took me to my grandparents, he was a lot of fun...he was real concerned about Christina...nothing was ever any different...he was a really loving grandfather...that's my first recollection of him...
11/50...I grew up in Odessa, TX...
...12/16...okay, grandpa gordon, my mother was the oldest daughter linda...Christina is four years ytounger, she's 22...
...13/03...my mother and my natural father divorced when I was five years old and there was another man in my mothers live at that time and I guess you would call him my stepdad...
...13/35...well, we were at bud and Alta Brakels home. That's where my Aunt Loreen and her fiance were. and Janice and the two kids, the little boy had not arrived yet...the first person I saw was my aunt loreen and there were a lot of tears...
...14/40...yea, for many years they were there year around,...we looked forward to be there for two weeks, we spent the summer there, ...it was always such a big thrill...I guess we had that one on one...whereas with your own parents...
...16/05...that's the same time he was sent to leavenworth, I was a bout ten or eleven...
...16/27...I remember just before he was sent to springfield...grandpa and grandma have a birthday right together...Loreen and I got a dolly madison cake and put it in a pan...it was the day before grandpa was to be sent away and I remember that's one incident I remember. He come in and we had a birthday party...I don't remember him letting us see any sadness.
...17/13...oh yeah, I remmeber his music...it was wonderful, you could sit and listen to him all day...it would be like he was reading it off the ceiling...I really enjoyed it...
17/52...Grandpa had a wonderful sense of humor...very easy going, he laughed a lot...
...18/21...I was in odessa, that was in May of 83...
...no, I didn't forget about it, my mother was gone for several weeks, it was a worry...18/53...just a constant worry as to what was going to happen to grandma and Yori's future...
19/38...oh I was bvery sad. Yori and I were very close. He waslike the big brother I never had...(choked up) it was really hard...
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...(Yori)...19/57...very protective, very fine, YOri stayed with us several diffent times...I guess he was better than a big brother, cause I didn't get picked on...I'm six years younger than Yori, he was very caring, very warm...very protective...
...I've not met anybody that is quite like Yori...
...20/47...oh I see several I guess, they're both very strong willed, very strong minded. They're both the kind of individuals who are so caring that they'll give you the shirt off their back and whenever it comes to children or somebody in need or hurt, Yori and Grandpa have the same compassion. and the genlte spirit, just a gentleness about them...now being incarcerated I'm sure has hardened that a bit...there's just a gentleness about them that you don't find with many men...21/25...
...22/01...well, theree were a lot, course I wsn't around when grandpa was fighting this...he didn't share this with his granddaughter...so there was a lot of things that I was in question about, there were a lot of things I was in doubt about, cause I just could'nt believe that all those things being said could be true...
(CUT W/CORCORAN)
...
...I was in Odessa, ...on the news, my mther and stepfather, ...
...23/45...it was extrememly hard on her (Linda), I don't feel that she ever accepted that this could happen to her dad...mom and I never really discussed how she felt , other then what was obvious, the tears, the depression, the anger...24/13...
(LINDA'S SUICIDE)
...24/23...well, that's what's been said...I feel she did, there are those that have different ideas. I feel she did, becuase from the time that happened till the time that she was gone, there was a halo of depression and it just got worse and worse...24/45...
...June of '83 to March of '84...eight months from the death of grandpa...
...25/24...no,...there were many other factors in my mother's life at that time....I don't think that was the cause, I don't think that alone caused the suicide...25/40...
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...25/49...well, I, this fellow that I called my stepfather, there are those that think he is capable of murder, he and my mother were in the midst of a divorce at that time...and uh, there was friends that we had had, there was one in particular, that his body was found about a year prior to then, and he been in his younger days been heavily involved with drugs and there was a murder, that was murder,...and mom claimed that she knew who committed this murder. Well, when you link that, there can be the possibilibty in somebodies eyes that whoever committed that murder would also be capable of this...I don't know ,,,there was much unhappiness in my mother's life at that time...I guess that I feel that she did committ suicide...26/52...
(CUT W/JOAN'S COMMENTS ON SUICIDE)
27/12...I would say Loreen, ...we're one year apart and we're extremely close...
...27/44...well, I guess I'd have to say Mom, considering the fact that the suicide did happen following this...However Lonnie who has had complications dealing with several things in years...I guess obviously, other than Yori, I'd say mom. Lorna seems to be doing okay. Loreen seems to be fine. and freddie is distant, he's chose to be distant. He's chose to be distant. I don't know if that's a sign...I don't know how to answer that , except for the fact that mom's gone...
...process of elimination you see, he's chose to be distant...maybe this is his way with dealing.
...29/35...um, until I moved up here and if you know anything about rural communites you walk into a place everytone says I'm so and so, who are you. and the next question is where are you from? how do you link up? then it comes into play, I'm Gordon Kahl's granddaughter...29/50...
...30/43...You know, ultimately it is my heritage. and I'm not the least bit ashamed of what happened. I'm saddened that it had to happen. Cause we lost a very wonderful person...30/55...
...31/32...I think he was very courageious. I think he was very wise...umm, there are a lot things that I'm uncertain about yet, to find out what's really what he says. I tend to trust and belive him because of the love that I have for him...31/55...
...32/41...PHOTO OF SCARLET AND FAMILY)
PHOTO OF JOAN ALONE ON MANTEL.
END SCARLET'S INTERVIEW
END TAPE @ 12:33:06