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The Great Depression!! The very
name conjures up pictures and personal stories as varied as there
are elder citizens who remember those days. The depression defined
life in the United Sates during the last century's early years. It
also defined the lives of those who
lived through it. Mine was one of
them.
Many stories have been told of hardships, bread lines and
unemployment for it was a time
of much suffering for many,
culminating in despair, helplessness and hopelessness. But,
paradoxically, those days also
produced examples of great love, courage and compassion. They taught
lessons of responsibility and, to children growing up in this
turbulent time, they gave us mentors, people of character and
stature as role models. My story is not so
much about the depression as it is about just such people — mentors and
role models. You won't hear
the names of politicians, rock musicians, nor professional athletes
nor glamorous movie stars — just ordinary, everyday, caring people.
As
Sophia of TV fame "Golden Girls" would say: "Picture this; it's
Connecticut, the 1920's and
30's — a family of five young people trying to stay together during
hard times."
Our father died when the eldest
child, my brother Bill, was in his teens and my younger sister, Ella
Mae, was little more than a baby. Bill and brother, Russ, took on
the duties of father to their three younger sisters as mother's
health was always frail. She lived less than a decade after father's
death. That is when the two boys took on additional responsibilities
— double roles of both
mother and father. No eleven year old girl had better role models
than I did.
This is not a sad story filled
with pitiful cries of "Why us?" Our mother, my very first role
model, never allowed it. Our home was, as a rule, filled with
laughter and playmates. Our
brothers' pranks and teasing were
usually received with some of our own in return. No
matter what, my mother insisted
that no one go to bed angry at another. She made our
daily chores into games to make
them more palatable even as she made sure they were done and done
well. There was music around the old upright piano as she played her
favorite melodies. There
were stories made up and acted out, books to be read aloud to her
when she was bedridden. She had been a "Normal School"
(teacher's college) graduate at a
time when women could no longer teach once they married. We were her
pupils. Lack of money was always a problem but love was in
abundance. She gave us fond memories and
her strength and courage during her
many long illnesses set an example for all of us.
After her death, the Great Depression hit our family with
gale force. Bill, with news of a
possible job, headed for
Chicago via the
hitch-hiking method which was then a safe and
cheap means of travel. Russ, working
for the Railroad in New York, brought us three girls
to live with him in
Stamford, CT and
commuted by train each day so as to be home with us
at night. Did I mention "role model"?
We all shared the chores of cooking and housekeeping but
it was my older sister, Ruth,
who shouldered the responsibility of being our surrogate mother. As
adults, Ella Mae and I continued to look upon her as our mother
figure mentor.
When a massive
railroad strike occurred in the early 30's, many office workers were
laid off,
including Russ. Limited without even a high school diploma, Russ
took a selling job
on a commission
basis and moved us to
Massachusetts. He made sure that we did well in
school yet had time to enjoy friends.
He filled the father role with strictness and quiet
dignity but with plenty of humor and fun thrown in.
However, early in my sophomore
year, he found that he was financially unable to keep the family together.
A kindly
landlady had been allowing us to live rent free for several months
but could no longer
afford to do
that. Russ made arrangements for Ella Mae to live with an aunt in
Connecticut; Ruth, just
finished with high school, found work as a live-in companion-housekeeper
for an elderly woman nearby. Russ planned to join Bill in
Chicago
where a job might be available. His immediate concern was where I
would live. My immediate concern was not being able to do my next
day's English homework after the electricity had
been turned off that day.
The next day, I was cal led upon
to answer some
questions from my homework. When I
stood to say I
didn't have the answer, the lack of food combined with the
uncertainty of
my future proved
too much and I fainted. In spite of my pride, the nurse and my
teacher learned of the
situation. Soon was taught another lesson of the goodness of people.
Miss Ellison, my
teacher, contacted my brother to ask if I might come to live with
her and her mother until I finished high school or the family was
able to get together again. I lived with them until I graduated.
This was a happy time in my life for I felt secure and loved by
these two
wonderful women. Miss Ellison remained always my interested and
interesting mentor.
Although I
earned a small amount of money in a part time job in a small shop
after school
and on weekends,
other mentors saw to it that I was supplied with basic clothing and
other
necessities. Another teacher kindly took me shopping for my first
gown so that I could attend
the senior prom. I still remember it and how special I felt in it.
Today, one of my daughter's favorite sayings is "When the
good Lord closes a door, He
opens a window." While the Great Depression closed many a door for
our family, windows were certainly
opened for me by compassionate mentors who helped shape my life. As
my own great-grandchildren grow up in today's confusing and angry
world, I can only hope
they are fortunate enough to find the kind of role models to look up
to that I have had. I could ask for nothing better for them. |
