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Reader Essay: remembering the Depression
Reader essay: growing up during the Depression
Igrew up during the Depression. I thought Culdesac was the center of the world. I didn’t know about the Depression, but I did feel ashamed about our house and the way I was dressed. and the way I was dressed. We lived in a three-room house — a kitchen, living room and one small bedroom with a tiny closet. bedroom with a tiny closet. There was no sink or water inside, only a pump outside; no refrigeration, no bathroom and only one light bulb in the ceiling for each room. The water for our Saturday night baths was heated on the cook stove. Talk about no privacy! My parents had their bed in the living room. As more kids were born, there was no room, so my sister, Velda, and I were the oldest, and for many years we slept year-round on the covered porch. Herbert Hoover was president from 1922-33. The stock market crashed, but Hoover said, “While people must not suffer from hunger and cold, caring for them must be a local and voluntary responsibility.”
Every summer, we Vawter kids got sick. Mama said it was “summer complaint.” Now I believe it was because of no refrigeration and the flies. The fly paper was hanging from the ceiling in the little house, and it was full of flies. ABOVE: From left are Erma, Melba and Skip Vawter. RIGHT: Melba (Vawter) Ashburn posed on top of the car, as her brother, Glenn Vawter, perched on the hood.
I took my turn going downtown in Culdesac to get the mail. In the summer, without shoes, I felt the splintery floor of the post office. I wondered why the postmaster was always so crabby. There was a butcher shop, and I looked in the window and wished for just one wiener. Sometimes, I stopped at Norbo’s General Merchandise Store and spent my penny, which was given to me by a sweet old lady, Mrs. Tiffany. Of course, I had gone down to the creek to pick the wildflowers for her, but it was worth the penny. I wonder how come my brothers and how come my brothers and sisters didn’t know how this was done. There wasn’t much laughter or even smiles at our house in the early ’30s. I was determined to smile; so when I walked downtown, I practiced smiling at the fenceposts and telephone poles. It’s a good thing I was alone, or I might have been considered loony. Keller’s Drug Store was a favorite place. They had high stools and served ice cream and sodas. However, I seldom had the nickel for a cone. The drug store was the daily bus stop, and was the daily bus stop, and I wanted to see the people who arrived. There was a barbershop in Culdesac with the red-and-white barberpole. I was told they even had a bathtub in the back. My parents told me I shouldn’t go into the barbershop. After all, I was just supposed to get the mail. My parents didn’t go to church, but we had wonderful grandparents who came every Sunday and took the Vawter kids to Sunday school and services at the Methodist Church. They always came from the farm in their wagon, pulled by two their wagon, pulled by two horses. Thank you, God, horses. Thank you, God, for my grandparents! for my grandparents! I want to tell you about I want to tell you about my family. Velda was born my family. Velda was born in 1923, then I was born in in 1923, then I was born in 1924 and Glenn in 1926. 1924 and Glenn in 1926. He was followed by Irene, He was followed by Irene, 1928; Marvin, 1929; Ellis, 1928; Marvin, 1929; Ellis, 1930; Erma, 1932; Teddy, 1930; Erma, 1932; Teddy, 1935; and Skip, 1939. Our 1935; and Skip, 1939. Our dad didn’t have a regular dad didn’t have a regular job during the Depresjob during the Depression, so you can imagine sion, so you can imagine how poor we were as we how poor we were as we lived in the tiny house in lived in the tiny house in Culdesac. Culdesac.
I had a great desire to I had a great desire to play the piano. When I play the piano. When I was 11, Dad got me an old was 11, Dad got me an old pump organ and hired a pump organ and hired a teacher, Mrs. Olin. I was in teacher, Mrs. Olin. I was in seventh heaven. I paid the seventh heaven. I paid the teacher by taking a quart teacher by taking a quart of milk each school day. of milk each school day. I didn’t milk the cow, but I didn’t milk the cow, but my dad did. A year later, my dad did. A year later, Mama and Dad bought me a used piano. Recently I found they paid $8 a month for two years for the piano — what a sacrifice. It was placed in the tiny living room, along with their bed. I was blessed.
I was happy to grow up in a small town, and even though I didn’t know it was in the middle of the Great Depression, God was good. I never enter a bathroom without saying, “Thank you, God.”
— Melba Ashburn, 95, Lewiston
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