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Aunt Norie’s sewing room

By Eleanor Mckee - | Mar 4, 2009

Memories of the Great Depression: I was asked recently to share some of my memories of those days. Even in those days of want and doing without, you could see many who were worse off than you. We always had a home and plenty to eat.

My parents lost their farm, our home, it was all so sudden. I was a child of 9 when all of a sudden it seemed we had to move. Dad, a prosperous farmer who had always been able to hire an extra hand to help, must have felt almost helpless to be hit so hard so fast. At that time we had (I remember) a brand new Model T Ford which, of course, was all paid for. In those days (no such thing as credit or credit cards) you planned ahead and saved up your money.

People who had money who had not been hit so hard were quickly buying up those farms. That land was a solid investment. A wealthy widow in Topeka was one of them; she now needed a farmer to tend her land.

We soon moved from near Mayetta to up near Holton. Things changed. Mom pitched in to help Dad, even in the fields when Dad needed that extra hand. I can remember Dad’s quote: “Why, she can handle that team and that cultivator ever bit as well as any man.” My parents were a real team, always there for each other, Dad always pitching in to help Mom, too.

My world changed also. I soon learned to cook and manage, to take care of my little brother and sister, to help with the gardening and canning. My city cousins, no longer wealthy, came to see us, carrying home goodies from the farm.

But I will never forget the faces of those men, who were probably Dad’s also — like mine. We called them tramps (walking many times from Oklahoma and Texas) looking for work, hoping to get on a harvest crew, doing odd jobs for a meal. We fed them and fed them well. Folks become so real in times like those, taking care for each other, caring, really caring, and always just trusting in God.

Love and God bless. This is His world too, you know.