JACOB'S STORE ON MAIN STREET IN MILFORD. I WORKED THERE WHEN I WAS IN JUNIOR HIGH ONE SUMMER.
MEMORY LANE
SMALL TOWNS
BY R. AUBREY LA FOY
Several days ago I chanced upon some neat sayings that I liked and think you might also. “Life is a coin. You can spend it anyway you want, but you can only spend it once”. The other is “Life is a journey, not a guided tour”. Last week my one and only sister, Jean Scanlon, passed away. She was three years younger than I but we grew up together and had wonderful parents who did all they could to give us a “jump start” on life. I say we came out of the same hatch but our lives certainly took different paths and journeys.
We were Depression Kids being born in 1925 (Aubrey) and 1928 (Jean). Our Father, Ray LaFoy, was a World War I vet and by profession, a butcher. During those trying years we didn’t have much but always had enough to eat, a warm house and clean clothes. Jean had better clothing than I because Mother sewed and made many of Jean’s dresses. I wore jeans some years and in sixth grade remember having a wool tweed pair of pants. Both pair of pants was patched but always clean. I recall that during the winter after I had gone to bed, Mother would wash my pants and put them over a hot air register to dry at night so I could have a clean pair of pants the next day. I never worried much about clothes. My sister Jean, on the other hand was much more conscious of what others were wearing.
In the late 1920 Dad and Mother were in pretty good shape financially. Dad was in the meat market business with an uncle and my grandfather but it went “belly up” in 1931. They were good fellows and when somebody would be short of money they extended credit but soon had so much on credit they couldn’t pay their suppliers and had to close. Mother had worked at the local bank but they all went under as well. From 1932 to 1936 it was touch and go for my folks. They managed to keep our home through a federal finance program and Dad took jobs as a butcher in Spirit Lake, Spencer and Graettinger. In 1936 he secured a position working for the City of Milford. His jobs were Street Commissioner, Chief of Police, took care of the disposal plant, city dump. jailer and janitor for the city hall. He was also the city clerk. His base salary was $70.00 a month and $20.00 extra as city clerk, $90.00 total. Dad took the minutes at the council meeting but Mother typed them up, kept the books and wrote the warrants for the city’s bills. I recall many a night Mother pouring over the big legers that she placed on the kitchen table to do the work.
Small towns are great and everybody pulls together and takes care of each other. Everybody burned coal and many a time I recall the church or the American Legion buying and delivering coal and groceries to needy families. In our case to conserve finance Dad jacked up the car, took out the battery, drained the radiator and we walked every place. It was a small town so downtown was only two blocks away, church four and school five blocks. In those days we all bundled up in the winter with heavy sheepskin coats, knitted mittens, caps, scarves and overshoes. I recall when in elementary grades the kids came in the two east doors took off their overshoes and piled them in the corner. We did the same in high school but many of us had zipper overshoes or rubbers. In the elementary grades the kids hung their coats and caps on hooks in the clothes rooms and in high school in lockers. Most of the time we bundled up and went outside for recess but if the weather was really bad, we played in the gym. I think we received good educations for the times and know my sister and I could meet the challenges we encountered with that start.
I recall that in those years the men had difficulty obtaining full time positions and kids had an even worse time if you lived in town. Some of the boys got jobs working at the service stations pumping gas and the girls might get some money babysitting. The situation today with our economy hasn’t changed a great deal. We have a niece who lives in Las Vega, Nevada. Her husband was unemployed for five months and her son (age 21) had a hard time getting a job. Their daughter (age 18) is attending community college and would like a part time job but because of the high unemployment can’t find one. All of the part time jobs are taken by adults who were laid off. The only consolation is that in the Depression years things didn’t cost as much. Eggs, milk and bread were cheap and coffee was only five cents a cup. Movies were ten to twenty five cents and popcorn and pop were a nickel. A good hamburger cost ten cents with all the works so for fifty cents you could have a great date going to the movies.
The small towns were and are very proud of their communities. In those days most towns had a weekly newspaper. The newspaper always had a very active society editor whose job was to get as many names of the residents and subscribers in print as possible. The society editor would collect the names of all who attended a birthday party, card party, family celebrations, weddings and funerals. The local merchants placed ads in the paper and sponsored many give-away contests or brought Santa Claus in for the kids. The American Legion had “feather parties” prior to Thanksgiving and Christmas and distributed many fowl to needy people. Local clubs distributed clothing and food to the needy and doctors treated many a patient in exchange for a chicken or some eggs. Maybe some people didn’t eat as well as others but nobody starved. The farm kids brought in their sack lunches and usually had enough even if it was just plain food. .
Small towns in the USA are hurting today. The economy is changing and many of us who grew up in them recall that on Saturday night the town streets and stores were packed where as today there is nobody there. The stores are closing and it is terrible to go through some towns and see so many of the buildings empty with no prospect of a return to prosperity. Industries, mines, lumber mills have disappeared but many of the people stay with no prospect of a return to the way it used to be. This past week Connie and I were in Deer Lodge, Montana to attend a memorial service for my sister, Jean Scanlon. Many of the people we talked to would tell us how the town used to be and seemed very depressed. The main employees in the community are the state prison, lumber mill, schools and hospital. Years ago the railroad and mines employed many people and looking around it would seem that any young person with any education or ambition would seek employment elsewhere. But yet when tragedy strikes people in those small towns band together and support each other just like we did back in the Depression Years. My brother-in-law is unable to drive and the local Meal-on-Wheels bring in his dinners and their church provides meals on Saturday and Sunday. Many of their friends stop in to see how he is doing and nurse checks up on him regularly. The senior citizens in Deer Lodge have dinners each day at an abandoned and reconstructed train depot. The churches in Deer Lodge band together to serve Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter dinners for the senior citizens. A clothing store operates to dispense used clothing to all and medical services are great. I know all of these services are up and running in our local communities also.
My sister was a WAVE during the Korean War so an honor guard was in place at the cemetery to honor her. It was a pleasure to converse with many of the citizens of that community who are banding together to get through this difficult period of our history. We did it after the Great Depression and we can do it today if we stick together and help each other.
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