Depression Days

[Teresa]

Stories of the Depression....
The times when folks were poor in material things.. but strong in family.

I have heard lots and lots stories of what the gardens gave in vegetables and fruits..and what the cows provided in milk, butter, cheese & cream. The chickens in fresh eggs and a Sunday fresh frying chicken.
The many meals made with fried bread in bacon grease... and milk gravy. ( I have made that myself ..and it is yummy)
And of sandwiches made out of lard and sugar.

Not too often have I ever heard of anyone being able to go "out to eat" in those days.
So I came upon this menu from a cafe in 1936.

[Teresa]

Doesn't anyone have any stories that they remember family members telling about days gone by?

[Janet Harrington]

My mother and daddy were raised during the Depression Days.  I think that is why my daddy kept everything.  He threw nothing away because it might be worth something someday.  Just one story about my family... we loved to eat fried chicken.  My mother and both my grandmothers could fry chicken.  Yes, Ms. T, as good as yours.  Anyway, when we would have fried chicken at our family table (which was quite often because chicken is a cheap meat), my daddy always ate the neck and the back.  We would always ask daddy why he ate the neck and the back and he would tell us it was because those pieces were the best.  What daddy was actually doing was letting his four daughters have the meaty pieces.  Oh, how we loved our daddy.  Anyway, when I became an adult, daddy told me that he really didn't like chicken.  When he was a boy, they ate chicken all the time and he had to help catch, kill and clean those chickens.  He also said that sometimes the chicken wasn't cooked all the way through because his mother was in a hurry to get everyone fed.  anyway, daddy ate the neck and the back because he knew those pieces got cooked all the way through.  Ha.  And we girls thought he was sacrificing the best parts of the chicken for us.  Now that my daddy is waiting for me in heaven (and he will hopefully wait a long time) I think about eating those fried chicken dinners at our family table and wishing he was here to eat the neck and the back again.  Love you Daddy.

[Teresa]

My sister Sherri and I thought that our Mama actually liked the pieces of toast or the pancakes and waffles that got too brown/borderline burnt sometimes.
She would say,"Here.. you girls and daddy have these and I will have this one and this one. I like them the best."
We were just shocked! And would say to her,"Mama...those are burnt!".
She would say," Oh no there not..I really like them this way."
I believed her.

When  I became a mother myself... then I knew first hand.. how "good" the 'burnt' waffles and pancakes really were.
*smile*

I am the good mother I am today, because I had and still have, the most wonderful mother (and daddy) in the world to teach me and show me what real unconditional unselfish love is all about.
The circle of love started with my dear loving Grandma Workman who loved my mama...
and they both,in turn, taught and loved me.
I have taught and loved my boys and I see everyday what we as a family, are teaching Ashley.
The circle of the love of family will never be broken.

Thank you to my grandma & mama.

[Jo McDonald]

We were raised in the days of depression.  I was born in December 1929 -- so I was a real depression baby.  My brother Jack was two years older and my sister Helen is 2 years younger.  Our Grandma Workman lived with us for 13 years,
so my Mama and Daddy had to really s-t-r-e-t-c-h every penny.  There were very few pennies to stretch, but I honestly did not know we were "Poor"  we had so much love and laughter that I guess poor was never a thought to us three kids, but I know that Daddy and Mama had to spend many many worrisome times, hoping things would be alright for the six of us.
 
The menu from the Oregon paper read like the menu at Longton Cafe when I was in high school.  I dated a boy (no, not Fred at that time) who after the movie, that cost a quarter, would take me to the cafe and buy us each a cheesburger for 25 cents.  Oh  My,  was that ever a treat and a coke for a nickel!!!   Then we would go to the back of the cafe and dance to the juke box.  Still I did not know we were "poor." 
I guess in fact we were not -- just very very rich in all the things that counted.
  Thank you, my sweet daughters for the nice things you remember about your Grandma W., your Daddy and I. 
Love reaches out to touch everyone that you will share it with.

[giester2]

The one story that sticks out in my mind is one that my grandmother told me.  She got married during the depression, and actually hid the marriage for a while so that she could continue to work as a school teacher.  She said at the time if the husband had a job, the wife was not allowed to work.

[Jody]

Whenn I was in the second grade (they called our class the depression class,we were always the smallest class.Miss Angell put us up totease our  techer, Miss Newman.  We called her Mrs. Cougher    (because she was dating Jake  Cougher, the sixth grade teacher0.  Well to make a long story short ,we found out she really was Mrs. COUGHER

[Diane Amberg]

   Depression thinking lasted long after the depression was over. My family was very lucky in that the depression didn't hit them too hard. Like most Kansas families they had multiple things going on. My Mom's father worked at the shops of the Rock Island RR in Horton, and had cattle, and had a rock quarry, a big garden and I think also chickens. In the summer they collected the seeds of grass (Blue Stem?) that was used to make a blue dye. Some buyer would come to town to make the arrangements then come back later to purchase the bags of seed. In the fall, Grandpa would pick out walnuts. His parents lived near by and also had lots of grapes that the Horton folks would buy. My father's Howard family were into horses, cattle and oil. Also had a garden, fruit trees and chickens. Of course there was the family milk cow.  Daddy and Uncle Teddy raised a coyote and a badger and any other orphaned creature that anybody brought them. I doubt that any of that put any food on the table. Daddy said he sexed chickens for a hatchery,and irrigated and sold tomatos during a drought. Everybody caught fish too. Even after they moved east, we had our own chickens for a few years and always had a big garden and lots of fruit trees.To me, apple sauce came from the basement, not from the store. I'm not sure today's generation gets it.

[kfclark]

My Generation hasn't got a clue when it comes to the sacrifices our parents and grandparents made just to get by.  Both my parents were born in 1929 and so really did not know anything different growing up.  Mom told me that really the one thing she wanted during the depression was a set of Dionne Quintuplet Dolls. She did not get them, but Grandma made her a set of 5 Rag Dolls.  Mom said later that she hated those dolls with a passion, but realized that her mom was really doing the best she could on a limited budget.

I'd love to hear from some of you who lived through WWII and have stories about the rationing and how you got by with that.  Mom told me that sugar was rationed but honey was not and Grandma Gladys made it her business to try every honey based desert recipe that caught her eye. Mom laughed that they rarely had dessert before the war, but once sugar was rationed they always had some "horrible honey flavored dessert" that Grandma had seen in the paper.

[Diane Amberg]

Kevin, I think Carol still has the family ration book in its oilskin pouch. Nobody throws those away...like we might need them again some day. I remember just after the war, when soldiers were coming home. We still lived in Wimington at the time. When the "boy" next door came home to stay, everyone was so happy. I remember sitting on his lap playing with the medals on his uniform. He took his military training, joined the Wilmington Police and made his career on their bomb squad! He did live to retire and died just a few years ago.