May 8, 2020 3 min read

Cal Thomas’ April 30 op-ed,” Follow example set by our parents, grandparents,” told so much truth of how people were able to cope with upsets in life in the ’30s and ’40s. I would also add ’50s and ’60s. Those who can still recall most of the hardships are the older senior citizens today.

Thomas’ piece started with the Great Depression between 1931 and 1940. I was born in 1934, a depression baby. For 15 years, until my grandfather died in 1946, I watched my grandparents struggle to make a living by raising chickens for meat and eggs and owning a cow for milk, cheese and butter. I remember the long rows of various colors of grapes used to make wine. There was no government funding for being sick and out of work. You worked your land. You depended on neighbors as customers.

The grim picture I see in my mind today is the lack of city water or indoor plumbing. For all their life, water for all indoor purpose was an outside pump, the same pump used for watering the chickens and cow. The garden or other needs, like washing clothes, hair or bathing, was water caught from the downspouts off the small house. Their main meals were basically the products from their huge garden, fruits from their various trees, eggs and chicken (including heads and feet for soup) and the homemade milk products.

The worst of all hardships had to be having a family of 10 to prepare for bath time or using the free-standing outhouse 30 feet away from the house. It is nearly impossible to visualize such living, yet one of their daughters lived to be in her early 90s.

After World War II, most high school graduates married. Very few went to college but many of the young males were drafted for Korea and Vietnam wars. House buying was not much of an issue, as most young couples found second- or third-floor rentals in people’s homes ($35 to $50 a month rent). While employment seemed to be plenty for male and female, young mothers did not go to work. Housework and parenting kept them at home.

Some of the interruptions with employment, besides a temporary layoff, was a strike. A layoff in the ’50s or ’60s meant a weekly government check for $35 plus a bag of cooking/baking products once a month. The strike produced no monetary check. The strike, which set many families back in paying bills for weeks or months, was the result of an expired union contract.

As Thomas stated, “those previous generations would shake their heads at how we are reacting to current economic challenges.” Life is at its best. Relax.

Joann Diesel

Houston