My parents were both born in 1935, in the midst of the Great Depression. Their parents were middle-class, white collar professionals: my maternal grandfather a mechanical engineer for Bailey Meter and my paternal grandfather a supervisor for the Bell Telephone switch boards. Even with such advantages, times were challenging and both my grandmothers had to work hard to stretch their household incomes and make home life comfortable and secure.
I remember my maternal grandmother, Mildred Green well. She ran a tight, orderly home that was well supplied with home-canned fruits and vegetables from my grandfather's vegatable garden. She was still frugal even in the 70's and 80's when I visited her at their spacious home in Willoughby, OH. My mother told me of stories of how she sewed their own clothing, made soap, and even rinsed the last bit of ketchup from the near-empty ketchup bottles with a little vinegar. What I liked best were the delicious pickles she put up in the "cold cellar" in their basement. They were far superior to the store bought variety!
Grandpa Green was also handy, and though he had steady employment, he also worked hard to make the most of what they had. He and my uncle, Thomas Allen Jr., reroofed their home on Kingston Road in Cleveland, OH, laid a flagstone walk and even built their own picnic table and canoe! Later, grandfather retired to a nine-acre home site that was originally improved only with a small two bedroom house and a stand of maple trees in the back. He, my father, Mildred and others helped a contractor to greatly expanded the house to include two more bedrooms, a large living area and numerous utility and storage areas, as well as the requisite workshop. The living great room was built with massive wooden beams hewn from trees he'd felled on the site, and another room was paneled with lumber of similar origin. Grandfather also built a large shed and a maple sugar shack in the reat of the property. He and friends would tap the maple trees in late winter and boil the sap down to make maple syrup and sugar. In the summer he mowed the large meadow in front with a tractor he'd fashioned out of an old Ford Model A and a mowing bar. When us children would visit, grandpa would tinker with a steel merry-go-round he'd bought and refurbished for such events so we could go round and round as long as we liked.
As I child I just enjoyed the rich and varied pleasures of visiting my grandparent's home in Willoughby. As an adult, I greatly appreciate the hard work and careful thought that went onto creating that small, family paradise. It is especially meaningful to realize that all those good things came out of the hard times they endured in the Great Depression and the privations of the second World War.
Now our small family is also struggling in a time of economic hardship and war. It may not be so dramatic as it was in the past, but the opportunity to make something good out of it is at hand. Inspired by my parents' and grandparents' examples, I am optimistic that we too shall emerge better for it and enjoying a good life in the more prosperous and peaceful future. In future posts I will elaborate on some of the things we are doing along those lines.
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