The Great Depression

Daddy was killed in a fatal crash with a truck in a duststorm west of Big Lake. He was driving a V8, probably at a high rate of speed. This was in 1930, during the Great Depression. We had been living in the largest house in town, with servants and two cars. I was in high school. All of a sudden we moved into a small apartment with no servants and no cars. It took me a while to adjust. Meanwhile, mother had taken job as a sales person in a clothing store. She was a strong woman and determined to survive. The only real blow had been when she had to sell her grand piano which she really loved to play. I was a difficult teen ager. However, I soon got a job working after school, but it did not pay a lot of money. There were stories about all the people who were out of work, many of then riding freight cars from town to town. Some of them were called hoboes. Also, crime increased, and the robbers were called hijackers. The bank had a sign: "$500 for a dead bank robber. Nothing for a live one." The cashier had a pistol underneath his window. You had to live during those days to understand what was going on. Armadilloes were called Hoover Hogs after the unpopular president. Actually the meat was good. Finally, Franklin Roosevelt was elected president, but it still was a long time before the country showed signs of recovery.