Edie Thompson
The economic news of the future that cautions a real possibility of depression brings memories to share. We were lucky because Dad did not lose his job. He was Secretary-Treasurer of a small one-year trade school. The low year for the school would be based on less than 20 students; a former year had been a class of 60. The board decision to stay open was based on many cost-cutting plans that included a cut in Dad's salary.
Mom's job was to feed a family of 5 on a dollar a day. We 3 children each had a savings account of $25. One winter my sister's account bought the coal for the furnace. Another year my account paid for an organization that was honoring my sister's academic standing in her university. My brother was able to buy a bike which was necessary for his teenage job. All extras were canceled; music lessons, dance lessons, hopes for a dog, all beyond our reach. Holes in shoe soles were mitigated by placing cardboard inside the shoe. We made our own blouses and dresses and gladly accepted hand-me-downs from neighbors.
My most consistent memory, however, is of the "hobos" who knocked on the back door to ask for food. Only my Dad would open the door. He would agree to help, and the man would sit on the back steps. Dad would cut thick pieces of Mom's home-made bread, cut generous slabs of meat, for a sandwich, and boil a fresh cup of coffee. All the while Mom was despairing that this would take food she was planning for the next day. She would plead with Dad but his answer was that no man, asking for food, would ever leave his house hungry.
Mom would say...there's a mark on our house, and there probably was.
Will months in the future prompt the homeless to ride the rails? Will community-based food help be adequate? How will our political institutions handle a probable increase in city- and town-homelessness? Will there be significant price hikes? And, how will we continue to address the needs of the scourge of covid-19?
We rose to the demands of the thirties; I have faith that we will work together to refashion the future.
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