Ida Irene Hess was born in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky. Her father was a mining engineer in Central City. Her mother, who graduated from Valparaiso College with her father, worked at home. After graduating from Indiana University, Hess returned to Central City to teach math and English at the local junior high school from 1932 to 1942. In 1940, she came to work with Leslie Kish at the Survey Research Center. Under Kish, she trained many graduate students in the details of sampling. The following is an interview with Hess, conducted in February 2008 by Fritz Scheuren, an ASA past-president.
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