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Mrs. Lasker, I'm delighted to be with you here today and I'm certainly looking forward to the privilege of hearing you tell about your remarkable experiences in life and the very significant contributions which you have made and are still making in many fields. Would you begin by telling me a little about your childhood, your family, your parents?

Well, I was born in Watertown, Wisconsin, and my mother was a Protestant Irish woman whose name was Sara Johnson. She had been one of the early career women in Chicago and had been very independent because she was left alone to earn her own living. She came from the north of Ireland to visit her brother and her brother was killed shortly after she came to Canada, and then she went to visit relatives in Chicago.

How old was she when she came?

Seventeen.

And she came by herself?

Yes, she came by herself. And then her brother, who was much older, was killed in an accident and she found herself alone in Canada and went to stay with some friends or relatives in Chicago. She got a job and became very successful in her work.