Interview with my Grandma - The Great Depression & WWII

My grandma’s mother and father owned a farm with one thousand nine hundred acres. They had many kinds of animals on their farm, including cows, horses, chickens, hogs, and donkeys, as well as “outside only” cats and dogs. They very rarely had to go to the store because they grew or raised any food they needed. My great grandmother had a huge garden with vegetables and fruit in it and flowers were planted among the vegetable rows. She would can the vegetables and fruit to eat during the winter. They had one car and one truck for transportation, along with a tractor, plow and mule for the farming. My grandma remembered during harvest season that some Mexican families would come and live in three small houses on the land. The Mexicans would help her father harvest the fields. She said until she

My grandma walked two miles to school. Her mother and two aunts made clothes for all the children. The girls wore dresses and the boys wore slacks. They had two sets of clothes, a school or church set and a play set. They also had a pair of shoes for school or church and another pair for play. She remembered that if they did not change from their school to play clothes right as soon as they got home from school or they would get in big trouble. For entertainment my grandma played with her sisters and the occasional neighbor friends. She and her sisters would get one doll and a trunk for doll clothes for Christmas. They would make the clothes for their dolls and play with them all year. One time my grandma’s friend from next door broke her doll. My grandma said that girl never touched her dolls again! My grandma would only play dolls with her sisters for a little while because she would rather be outside playing with the animals or climbing trees. If her mother could not find her all she had to do was look up the nearest tree. My grandma and her sisters also liked to make mud pies and play soup on their wood burning stove. She liked to make paper dolls to play with also.

My grandma told me that while my grandpa was away she was in daily torment. She did not know if my grandpa was alive or dead and the only way to find out was to ask the Red Cross. Everyday when she went to the mailbox she had a feeling of dread and happiness at the same time. She dreaded it because she knew there was the possibility of having bad news in the mail. She was always delighted to see a letter from my grandpa, but scared because she knew something had happed. She just did not know if it was good or bad.

My grandma does not remember her parents disliking the president, Herbert Hoover. They were not drastically affected by the Great Depression. She

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