Marie Elizabeth Meyer Steinberg was born in Carthage, MO. Her father was Joseph G. Meyer and her mother was Marie Elizabeth Baldauf, both of whom were born in Gammertingen, Germany, in the original state of Hohenzollern.
******* Biography by Bettie Steinberg Garrison ***1988************
DAVE & MARIE
Any information I can give you about Dave and Marie will have to be as a couple, as they were already married when I met them. I believe that each of them came from families that were moderately well-to-do. Not wealthy, but certainly comfortably well off. The Steinberg family lived in a large, comfortable home in Lebanon. They apparently had a happy, congenial home life and an active social life. Except for Myrtle, the siblings were emotionally close their entire lives although geographically separated. Joseph Meyer was a prosperous farmer in the Carthage area. Apparently that was a happy home atmosphere, also, but Marie's mother died when Marie was about 10 years of age and Marie's father, Joseph Meyer, died when Marie was about 18 years of age.
Dave only went to school through about the 10th grade. I don't know why he went no further. Maybe that was as much schooling as was offered in the public schools in Lebanon at the time or perhaps he had to help his father in the store. I don't know if Marie finished high school or not, but she did take some type of business training. When her father died he left her some property and perhaps some other inheritance. There are few pictures or family mementos from her family as a fire destroyed their home.
The period of Dave and Marie's courtship and early married life was probably the most happy and carefree time of their marriage. They went to parties and dances. They belonged to a lodge, the Modern Woodmen. And, apparently, still had some money.
They were married in Carthage, May 1, 1909, but apparently didn't live there very long as Jeanette was born the following May in Marion Township, Jasper County. They lived there long enough for Alberta to be born there also. I believe this was where they tried farming. Next they lived in Carthage where David was born. At that point Dave was working in a stone quarry. They then moved to Tulsa where Dave and Roy, his brother, had a grocery store. Dave, Marie and family lived above the grocery store. After Tulsa, they lived in Sand Springs for a while and then moved to Lebanon. In Lebanon, Dave went to work with his brother, Albert, in a men's clothing store.
I can never remember when money, or lack of money, was not a problem in our household. Daddy always worked for someone else and always for a salary that just barely covered expenses. There was no sick leave or medical insurance. At one time he was ill and on crutches for a year. He always had a limp after that. The diagnosis was water-on-the-knee as I recall. And they were blessed with two additional mouths to feed, Bettie and Joe. That didn't contribute to financial prosperity. Despite the bleakness of the situation, we never went hungry, we always had clean clothes, we went to the doctor if we needed to go, and we never missed celebrating birthdays, Christmas, 4th of July and other holidays.
The depression years were particularly bad. Daddy was out of work a good deal of the time. He sold a paper product door-to-door. Lebanon was a small town, and he soon saturated his market. Mother sold a line of cosmetics door-to-door. I doubt that was a very profitable venture as Mother was by nature generous and gave specials to her friends. They had a huge garden. Anything we didn't eat was either canned or sold. They applied the axiom, "make over, make do, or do without" to its finite degree. We had wealthy relatives in Tulsa who sent us clothing they no longer used. Mother was an artist in the make-over department. I don't think she really liked to sew. In all probability she was burned out doing make-overs. Also, due to the fact her mother died when she was young, she had little training in the domestic arts such as sewing, knitting, crocheting, etc. Most stores extended credit. That probably helped tide the family over, but made catch-up a burden when a job was available. Fortunately for us doctors didn't require payments before rendering service.
During the depression, a period of unemployment unknown by the present under-fifty population, many hoboes moved from town-to-town by railroad, hopped off the train, and went door-to-door asking for food. I doubt if a single one was turned from our door without at least a sandwich of peanut butter and homemade bread.
As I recall my parents' social life, it certainly did not include parties or any get-togethers that involved only their adult friends. We did go to church picnics and socials. Mother was very active in the Ladies Aid Society and the Missionary Society of the Madison Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church. She was a pillar of those societies. Although the Methodist Church does not like to talk about the fact that the ladies organizations are money-making arms of the church, they really are vital, financial support groups. At least they were at that time. The Madison Avenue M. E. ladies had chicken-pie dinners, one in the fall at Halloween and the other in February for George Washington's birthday. The menu was always the same: chicken pie, escalloped corn, hot biscuits, gelatin salad, and pumpkin pie for Halloween or cherry pie for George Washington's birthday. The price was 35 cents for kids; 50 cents for adults. I don't know whether my brothers were ever caught in the trap, but I always had to sell tickets. Mother was generally chairman of something, either the entire dinner or at least the escalloped corn. The Ladies Aid Society also had a quilting group which met every Thursday in the basement of the church. This was really Mother's social outlet. Those ladies met at about ten in the morning, or as soon as they could get their morning household chores done, and stayed until just before time for their children to come home from school. The ladies took casseroles and cakes from home and all the children and husbands went to the church basement for the noon meal. Having Mother attend the Thursday quilting group was much more informative than reading the weekly Laclede County Republican.
I suppose Daddy's social life was that he did have contact with people when he was working. He knew everyone in town. Some of them he had known all of his life. His work day was long, from 7 am until after 6 PM on weekdays and 7 am until after 9 pm on Saturdays. Sunday was spent working in the garden. He was a St. Louis Cardinal (baseball) fan and listened to their games on radio. He actually even saw one, but only one, of the Cardinal games. He read the St. Louis Globe Democrat (a conservative Republican paper despite its name) from cover to cover. I don't ever recall either of my parents reading a book just for the fun of reading. In those days to be asked to be a pall bearer was considered a compliment. Daddy was a pall bearer many times. He was a highly respected person in the community. I'm sure that any money he ever borrowed was on the strength of his good name only.
Despite the hardships, they managed to get all of us through high school. Things even brightened a bit at one time. Daddy had a job with the City. He was a meter reader. His health even seemed to improve with outdoor work. Then the Republicans were out of office, the Democrats were in, and someone else had the job.
In 1947, Daddy had a heart attack. He was in the hospital in Springfield. Jeanette, Alberta and Joe came from Long Beach; I came from Big Rapids; David was living in Lebanon. I guess it was a family decision that it would be better, when Daddy was able to be out of the hospital, if the folks moved to a warmer climate - California. They sold their home and most of their lifetime collections of belongings and moved to Long Beach in the fall of 1948. I'm sure that was very difficult for them. They left a small town and lifelong friends to move to a big city where they knew no one but their family. In retrospect, we probably did the wrong thing to urge them to take this step. They might not have lived as long with the harsh Missouri winters, but they probably would have been happier and more satisfied.
Long Beach was another difficult period in their life. Not only were they out of their element, but it was while they were there that Joe had his emotional break-down. And, again, they had practically no money.
Daddy died when he was 70 years old. He and Mother had been married over 44 years.
Sometime after Daddy died, Joe bought a house in Lakewood. Jeanette and Mother moved in with him. After Lee died, Mother moved in with Alberta. She lived there until 1975 when she had surgery and was never able to go home. She died in a nursing home at the age of 91, almost 25 years after Daddy died.
At no time did I ever hear either of my parents make a snide or critical remark about the other or blame the other for their situation. It was as if this was the way it was and their responsibility was to make the most of it. Daddy never failed to get a birthday present for Mother, no matter how small. Mother never let a birthday go by for any of us without having a cake no matter what else we did or didn't have. Daddy never left the house without kissing my mother good- bye. When Mother was in the nursing home, she told me that when she met Daddy she thought he was the nicest man she had ever met and she never stopped thinking that. A long time ago Alberta told me that she thought the one thing we should be most thankful for was that our parents were decent folks. She was probably right.
******* Biography by Bettie Steinberg Garrison ***1988************
DAVE & MARIE
Any information I can give you about Dave and Marie will have to be as a couple, as they were already married when I met them. I believe that each of them came from families that were moderately well-to-do. Not wealthy, but certainly comfortably well off. The Steinberg family lived in a large, comfortable home in Lebanon. They apparently had a happy, congenial home life and an active social life. Except for Myrtle, the siblings were emotionally close their entire lives although geographically separated. Joseph Meyer was a prosperous farmer in the Carthage area. Apparently that was a happy home atmosphere, also, but Marie's mother died when Marie was about 10 years of age and Marie's father, Joseph Meyer, died when Marie was about 18 years of age.
Dave only went to school through about the 10th grade. I don't know why he went no further. Maybe that was as much schooling as was offered in the public schools in Lebanon at the time or perhaps he had to help his father in the store. I don't know if Marie finished high school or not, but she did take some type of business training. When her father died he left her some property and perhaps some other inheritance. There are few pictures or family mementos from her family as a fire destroyed their home.
The period of Dave and Marie's courtship and early married life was probably the most happy and carefree time of their marriage. They went to parties and dances. They belonged to a lodge, the Modern Woodmen. And, apparently, still had some money.
They were married in Carthage, May 1, 1909, but apparently didn't live there very long as Jeanette was born the following May in Marion Township, Jasper County. They lived there long enough for Alberta to be born there also. I believe this was where they tried farming. Next they lived in Carthage where David was born. At that point Dave was working in a stone quarry. They then moved to Tulsa where Dave and Roy, his brother, had a grocery store. Dave, Marie and family lived above the grocery store. After Tulsa, they lived in Sand Springs for a while and then moved to Lebanon. In Lebanon, Dave went to work with his brother, Albert, in a men's clothing store.
I can never remember when money, or lack of money, was not a problem in our household. Daddy always worked for someone else and always for a salary that just barely covered expenses. There was no sick leave or medical insurance. At one time he was ill and on crutches for a year. He always had a limp after that. The diagnosis was water-on-the-knee as I recall. And they were blessed with two additional mouths to feed, Bettie and Joe. That didn't contribute to financial prosperity. Despite the bleakness of the situation, we never went hungry, we always had clean clothes, we went to the doctor if we needed to go, and we never missed celebrating birthdays, Christmas, 4th of July and other holidays.
The depression years were particularly bad. Daddy was out of work a good deal of the time. He sold a paper product door-to-door. Lebanon was a small town, and he soon saturated his market. Mother sold a line of cosmetics door-to-door. I doubt that was a very profitable venture as Mother was by nature generous and gave specials to her friends. They had a huge garden. Anything we didn't eat was either canned or sold. They applied the axiom, "make over, make do, or do without" to its finite degree. We had wealthy relatives in Tulsa who sent us clothing they no longer used. Mother was an artist in the make-over department. I don't think she really liked to sew. In all probability she was burned out doing make-overs. Also, due to the fact her mother died when she was young, she had little training in the domestic arts such as sewing, knitting, crocheting, etc. Most stores extended credit. That probably helped tide the family over, but made catch-up a burden when a job was available. Fortunately for us doctors didn't require payments before rendering service.
During the depression, a period of unemployment unknown by the present under-fifty population, many hoboes moved from town-to-town by railroad, hopped off the train, and went door-to-door asking for food. I doubt if a single one was turned from our door without at least a sandwich of peanut butter and homemade bread.
As I recall my parents' social life, it certainly did not include parties or any get-togethers that involved only their adult friends. We did go to church picnics and socials. Mother was very active in the Ladies Aid Society and the Missionary Society of the Madison Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church. She was a pillar of those societies. Although the Methodist Church does not like to talk about the fact that the ladies organizations are money-making arms of the church, they really are vital, financial support groups. At least they were at that time. The Madison Avenue M. E. ladies had chicken-pie dinners, one in the fall at Halloween and the other in February for George Washington's birthday. The menu was always the same: chicken pie, escalloped corn, hot biscuits, gelatin salad, and pumpkin pie for Halloween or cherry pie for George Washington's birthday. The price was 35 cents for kids; 50 cents for adults. I don't know whether my brothers were ever caught in the trap, but I always had to sell tickets. Mother was generally chairman of something, either the entire dinner or at least the escalloped corn. The Ladies Aid Society also had a quilting group which met every Thursday in the basement of the church. This was really Mother's social outlet. Those ladies met at about ten in the morning, or as soon as they could get their morning household chores done, and stayed until just before time for their children to come home from school. The ladies took casseroles and cakes from home and all the children and husbands went to the church basement for the noon meal. Having Mother attend the Thursday quilting group was much more informative than reading the weekly Laclede County Republican.
I suppose Daddy's social life was that he did have contact with people when he was working. He knew everyone in town. Some of them he had known all of his life. His work day was long, from 7 am until after 6 PM on weekdays and 7 am until after 9 pm on Saturdays. Sunday was spent working in the garden. He was a St. Louis Cardinal (baseball) fan and listened to their games on radio. He actually even saw one, but only one, of the Cardinal games. He read the St. Louis Globe Democrat (a conservative Republican paper despite its name) from cover to cover. I don't ever recall either of my parents reading a book just for the fun of reading. In those days to be asked to be a pall bearer was considered a compliment. Daddy was a pall bearer many times. He was a highly respected person in the community. I'm sure that any money he ever borrowed was on the strength of his good name only.
Despite the hardships, they managed to get all of us through high school. Things even brightened a bit at one time. Daddy had a job with the City. He was a meter reader. His health even seemed to improve with outdoor work. Then the Republicans were out of office, the Democrats were in, and someone else had the job.
In 1947, Daddy had a heart attack. He was in the hospital in Springfield. Jeanette, Alberta and Joe came from Long Beach; I came from Big Rapids; David was living in Lebanon. I guess it was a family decision that it would be better, when Daddy was able to be out of the hospital, if the folks moved to a warmer climate - California. They sold their home and most of their lifetime collections of belongings and moved to Long Beach in the fall of 1948. I'm sure that was very difficult for them. They left a small town and lifelong friends to move to a big city where they knew no one but their family. In retrospect, we probably did the wrong thing to urge them to take this step. They might not have lived as long with the harsh Missouri winters, but they probably would have been happier and more satisfied.
Long Beach was another difficult period in their life. Not only were they out of their element, but it was while they were there that Joe had his emotional break-down. And, again, they had practically no money.
Daddy died when he was 70 years old. He and Mother had been married over 44 years.
Sometime after Daddy died, Joe bought a house in Lakewood. Jeanette and Mother moved in with him. After Lee died, Mother moved in with Alberta. She lived there until 1975 when she had surgery and was never able to go home. She died in a nursing home at the age of 91, almost 25 years after Daddy died.
At no time did I ever hear either of my parents make a snide or critical remark about the other or blame the other for their situation. It was as if this was the way it was and their responsibility was to make the most of it. Daddy never failed to get a birthday present for Mother, no matter how small. Mother never let a birthday go by for any of us without having a cake no matter what else we did or didn't have. Daddy never left the house without kissing my mother good- bye. When Mother was in the nursing home, she told me that when she met Daddy she thought he was the nicest man she had ever met and she never stopped thinking that. A long time ago Alberta told me that she thought the one thing we should be most thankful for was that our parents were decent folks. She was probably right.
Marie Elizabeth Meyer Steinberg was born in Carthage, MO. Her father was Joseph G. Meyer and her mother was Marie Elizabeth Baldauf, both of whom were born in Gammertingen, Germany, in the original state of Hohenzollern.
******* Biography by Bettie Steinberg Garrison ***1988************
DAVE & MARIE
Any information I can give you about Dave and Marie will have to be as a couple, as they were already married when I met them. I believe that each of them came from families that were moderately well-to-do. Not wealthy, but certainly comfortably well off. The Steinberg family lived in a large, comfortable home in Lebanon. They apparently had a happy, congenial home life and an active social life. Except for Myrtle, the siblings were emotionally close their entire lives although geographically separated. Joseph Meyer was a prosperous farmer in the Carthage area. Apparently that was a happy home atmosphere, also, but Marie's mother died when Marie was about 10 years of age and Marie's father, Joseph Meyer, died when Marie was about 18 years of age.
Dave only went to school through about the 10th grade. I don't know why he went no further. Maybe that was as much schooling as was offered in the public schools in Lebanon at the time or perhaps he had to help his father in the store. I don't know if Marie finished high school or not, but she did take some type of business training. When her father died he left her some property and perhaps some other inheritance. There are few pictures or family mementos from her family as a fire destroyed their home.
The period of Dave and Marie's courtship and early married life was probably the most happy and carefree time of their marriage. They went to parties and dances. They belonged to a lodge, the Modern Woodmen. And, apparently, still had some money.
They were married in Carthage, May 1, 1909, but apparently didn't live there very long as Jeanette was born the following May in Marion Township, Jasper County. They lived there long enough for Alberta to be born there also. I believe this was where they tried farming. Next they lived in Carthage where David was born. At that point Dave was working in a stone quarry. They then moved to Tulsa where Dave and Roy, his brother, had a grocery store. Dave, Marie and family lived above the grocery store. After Tulsa, they lived in Sand Springs for a while and then moved to Lebanon. In Lebanon, Dave went to work with his brother, Albert, in a men's clothing store.
I can never remember when money, or lack of money, was not a problem in our household. Daddy always worked for someone else and always for a salary that just barely covered expenses. There was no sick leave or medical insurance. At one time he was ill and on crutches for a year. He always had a limp after that. The diagnosis was water-on-the-knee as I recall. And they were blessed with two additional mouths to feed, Bettie and Joe. That didn't contribute to financial prosperity. Despite the bleakness of the situation, we never went hungry, we always had clean clothes, we went to the doctor if we needed to go, and we never missed celebrating birthdays, Christmas, 4th of July and other holidays.
The depression years were particularly bad. Daddy was out of work a good deal of the time. He sold a paper product door-to-door. Lebanon was a small town, and he soon saturated his market. Mother sold a line of cosmetics door-to-door. I doubt that was a very profitable venture as Mother was by nature generous and gave specials to her friends. They had a huge garden. Anything we didn't eat was either canned or sold. They applied the axiom, "make over, make do, or do without" to its finite degree. We had wealthy relatives in Tulsa who sent us clothing they no longer used. Mother was an artist in the make-over department. I don't think she really liked to sew. In all probability she was burned out doing make-overs. Also, due to the fact her mother died when she was young, she had little training in the domestic arts such as sewing, knitting, crocheting, etc. Most stores extended credit. That probably helped tide the family over, but made catch-up a burden when a job was available. Fortunately for us doctors didn't require payments before rendering service.
During the depression, a period of unemployment unknown by the present under-fifty population, many hoboes moved from town-to-town by railroad, hopped off the train, and went door-to-door asking for food. I doubt if a single one was turned from our door without at least a sandwich of peanut butter and homemade bread.
As I recall my parents' social life, it certainly did not include parties or any get-togethers that involved only their adult friends. We did go to church picnics and socials. Mother was very active in the Ladies Aid Society and the Missionary Society of the Madison Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church. She was a pillar of those societies. Although the Methodist Church does not like to talk about the fact that the ladies organizations are money-making arms of the church, they really are vital, financial support groups. At least they were at that time. The Madison Avenue M. E. ladies had chicken-pie dinners, one in the fall at Halloween and the other in February for George Washington's birthday. The menu was always the same: chicken pie, escalloped corn, hot biscuits, gelatin salad, and pumpkin pie for Halloween or cherry pie for George Washington's birthday. The price was 35 cents for kids; 50 cents for adults. I don't know whether my brothers were ever caught in the trap, but I always had to sell tickets. Mother was generally chairman of something, either the entire dinner or at least the escalloped corn. The Ladies Aid Society also had a quilting group which met every Thursday in the basement of the church. This was really Mother's social outlet. Those ladies met at about ten in the morning, or as soon as they could get their morning household chores done, and stayed until just before time for their children to come home from school. The ladies took casseroles and cakes from home and all the children and husbands went to the church basement for the noon meal. Having Mother attend the Thursday quilting group was much more informative than reading the weekly Laclede County Republican.
I suppose Daddy's social life was that he did have contact with people when he was working. He knew everyone in town. Some of them he had known all of his life. His work day was long, from 7 am until after 6 PM on weekdays and 7 am until after 9 pm on Saturdays. Sunday was spent working in the garden. He was a St. Louis Cardinal (baseball) fan and listened to their games on radio. He actually even saw one, but only one, of the Cardinal games. He read the St. Louis Globe Democrat (a conservative Republican paper despite its name) from cover to cover. I don't ever recall either of my parents reading a book just for the fun of reading. In those days to be asked to be a pall bearer was considered a compliment. Daddy was a pall bearer many times. He was a highly respected person in the community. I'm sure that any money he ever borrowed was on the strength of his good name only.
Despite the hardships, they managed to get all of us through high school. Things even brightened a bit at one time. Daddy had a job with the City. He was a meter reader. His health even seemed to improve with outdoor work. Then the Republicans were out of office, the Democrats were in, and someone else had the job.
In 1947, Daddy had a heart attack. He was in the hospital in Springfield. Jeanette, Alberta and Joe came from Long Beach; I came from Big Rapids; David was living in Lebanon. I guess it was a family decision that it would be better, when Daddy was able to be out of the hospital, if the folks moved to a warmer climate - California. They sold their home and most of their lifetime collections of belongings and moved to Long Beach in the fall of 1948. I'm sure that was very difficult for them. They left a small town and lifelong friends to move to a big city where they knew no one but their family. In retrospect, we probably did the wrong thing to urge them to take this step. They might not have lived as long with the harsh Missouri winters, but they probably would have been happier and more satisfied.
Long Beach was another difficult period in their life. Not only were they out of their element, but it was while they were there that Joe had his emotional break-down. And, again, they had practically no money.
Daddy died when he was 70 years old. He and Mother had been married over 44 years.
Sometime after Daddy died, Joe bought a house in Lakewood. Jeanette and Mother moved in with him. After Lee died, Mother moved in with Alberta. She lived there until 1975 when she had surgery and was never able to go home. She died in a nursing home at the age of 91, almost 25 years after Daddy died.
At no time did I ever hear either of my parents make a snide or critical remark about the other or blame the other for their situation. It was as if this was the way it was and their responsibility was to make the most of it. Daddy never failed to get a birthday present for Mother, no matter how small. Mother never let a birthday go by for any of us without having a cake no matter what else we did or didn't have. Daddy never left the house without kissing my mother good- bye. When Mother was in the nursing home, she told me that when she met Daddy she thought he was the nicest man she had ever met and she never stopped thinking that. A long time ago Alberta told me that she thought the one thing we should be most thankful for was that our parents were decent folks. She was probably right.
******* Biography by Bettie Steinberg Garrison ***1988************
DAVE & MARIE
Any information I can give you about Dave and Marie will have to be as a couple, as they were already married when I met them. I believe that each of them came from families that were moderately well-to-do. Not wealthy, but certainly comfortably well off. The Steinberg family lived in a large, comfortable home in Lebanon. They apparently had a happy, congenial home life and an active social life. Except for Myrtle, the siblings were emotionally close their entire lives although geographically separated. Joseph Meyer was a prosperous farmer in the Carthage area. Apparently that was a happy home atmosphere, also, but Marie's mother died when Marie was about 10 years of age and Marie's father, Joseph Meyer, died when Marie was about 18 years of age.
Dave only went to school through about the 10th grade. I don't know why he went no further. Maybe that was as much schooling as was offered in the public schools in Lebanon at the time or perhaps he had to help his father in the store. I don't know if Marie finished high school or not, but she did take some type of business training. When her father died he left her some property and perhaps some other inheritance. There are few pictures or family mementos from her family as a fire destroyed their home.
The period of Dave and Marie's courtship and early married life was probably the most happy and carefree time of their marriage. They went to parties and dances. They belonged to a lodge, the Modern Woodmen. And, apparently, still had some money.
They were married in Carthage, May 1, 1909, but apparently didn't live there very long as Jeanette was born the following May in Marion Township, Jasper County. They lived there long enough for Alberta to be born there also. I believe this was where they tried farming. Next they lived in Carthage where David was born. At that point Dave was working in a stone quarry. They then moved to Tulsa where Dave and Roy, his brother, had a grocery store. Dave, Marie and family lived above the grocery store. After Tulsa, they lived in Sand Springs for a while and then moved to Lebanon. In Lebanon, Dave went to work with his brother, Albert, in a men's clothing store.
I can never remember when money, or lack of money, was not a problem in our household. Daddy always worked for someone else and always for a salary that just barely covered expenses. There was no sick leave or medical insurance. At one time he was ill and on crutches for a year. He always had a limp after that. The diagnosis was water-on-the-knee as I recall. And they were blessed with two additional mouths to feed, Bettie and Joe. That didn't contribute to financial prosperity. Despite the bleakness of the situation, we never went hungry, we always had clean clothes, we went to the doctor if we needed to go, and we never missed celebrating birthdays, Christmas, 4th of July and other holidays.
The depression years were particularly bad. Daddy was out of work a good deal of the time. He sold a paper product door-to-door. Lebanon was a small town, and he soon saturated his market. Mother sold a line of cosmetics door-to-door. I doubt that was a very profitable venture as Mother was by nature generous and gave specials to her friends. They had a huge garden. Anything we didn't eat was either canned or sold. They applied the axiom, "make over, make do, or do without" to its finite degree. We had wealthy relatives in Tulsa who sent us clothing they no longer used. Mother was an artist in the make-over department. I don't think she really liked to sew. In all probability she was burned out doing make-overs. Also, due to the fact her mother died when she was young, she had little training in the domestic arts such as sewing, knitting, crocheting, etc. Most stores extended credit. That probably helped tide the family over, but made catch-up a burden when a job was available. Fortunately for us doctors didn't require payments before rendering service.
During the depression, a period of unemployment unknown by the present under-fifty population, many hoboes moved from town-to-town by railroad, hopped off the train, and went door-to-door asking for food. I doubt if a single one was turned from our door without at least a sandwich of peanut butter and homemade bread.
As I recall my parents' social life, it certainly did not include parties or any get-togethers that involved only their adult friends. We did go to church picnics and socials. Mother was very active in the Ladies Aid Society and the Missionary Society of the Madison Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church. She was a pillar of those societies. Although the Methodist Church does not like to talk about the fact that the ladies organizations are money-making arms of the church, they really are vital, financial support groups. At least they were at that time. The Madison Avenue M. E. ladies had chicken-pie dinners, one in the fall at Halloween and the other in February for George Washington's birthday. The menu was always the same: chicken pie, escalloped corn, hot biscuits, gelatin salad, and pumpkin pie for Halloween or cherry pie for George Washington's birthday. The price was 35 cents for kids; 50 cents for adults. I don't know whether my brothers were ever caught in the trap, but I always had to sell tickets. Mother was generally chairman of something, either the entire dinner or at least the escalloped corn. The Ladies Aid Society also had a quilting group which met every Thursday in the basement of the church. This was really Mother's social outlet. Those ladies met at about ten in the morning, or as soon as they could get their morning household chores done, and stayed until just before time for their children to come home from school. The ladies took casseroles and cakes from home and all the children and husbands went to the church basement for the noon meal. Having Mother attend the Thursday quilting group was much more informative than reading the weekly Laclede County Republican.
I suppose Daddy's social life was that he did have contact with people when he was working. He knew everyone in town. Some of them he had known all of his life. His work day was long, from 7 am until after 6 PM on weekdays and 7 am until after 9 pm on Saturdays. Sunday was spent working in the garden. He was a St. Louis Cardinal (baseball) fan and listened to their games on radio. He actually even saw one, but only one, of the Cardinal games. He read the St. Louis Globe Democrat (a conservative Republican paper despite its name) from cover to cover. I don't ever recall either of my parents reading a book just for the fun of reading. In those days to be asked to be a pall bearer was considered a compliment. Daddy was a pall bearer many times. He was a highly respected person in the community. I'm sure that any money he ever borrowed was on the strength of his good name only.
Despite the hardships, they managed to get all of us through high school. Things even brightened a bit at one time. Daddy had a job with the City. He was a meter reader. His health even seemed to improve with outdoor work. Then the Republicans were out of office, the Democrats were in, and someone else had the job.
In 1947, Daddy had a heart attack. He was in the hospital in Springfield. Jeanette, Alberta and Joe came from Long Beach; I came from Big Rapids; David was living in Lebanon. I guess it was a family decision that it would be better, when Daddy was able to be out of the hospital, if the folks moved to a warmer climate - California. They sold their home and most of their lifetime collections of belongings and moved to Long Beach in the fall of 1948. I'm sure that was very difficult for them. They left a small town and lifelong friends to move to a big city where they knew no one but their family. In retrospect, we probably did the wrong thing to urge them to take this step. They might not have lived as long with the harsh Missouri winters, but they probably would have been happier and more satisfied.
Long Beach was another difficult period in their life. Not only were they out of their element, but it was while they were there that Joe had his emotional break-down. And, again, they had practically no money.
Daddy died when he was 70 years old. He and Mother had been married over 44 years.
Sometime after Daddy died, Joe bought a house in Lakewood. Jeanette and Mother moved in with him. After Lee died, Mother moved in with Alberta. She lived there until 1975 when she had surgery and was never able to go home. She died in a nursing home at the age of 91, almost 25 years after Daddy died.
At no time did I ever hear either of my parents make a snide or critical remark about the other or blame the other for their situation. It was as if this was the way it was and their responsibility was to make the most of it. Daddy never failed to get a birthday present for Mother, no matter how small. Mother never let a birthday go by for any of us without having a cake no matter what else we did or didn't have. Daddy never left the house without kissing my mother good- bye. When Mother was in the nursing home, she told me that when she met Daddy she thought he was the nicest man she had ever met and she never stopped thinking that. A long time ago Alberta told me that she thought the one thing we should be most thankful for was that our parents were decent folks. She was probably right.
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