I was born at the end of the Depression at home. Mother and Dad were farmers three miles northeast of Oenaville. I can remember at that time there was no electricity, phone, running water, and I studied by kerosene lamp. We walked three miles to school.

I am glad we lived on a farm. My uncle lived in Temple and had no money to buy food or pay bills. My uncle and two other men worked for WPA and were sent to Dad’s to work. They dug a drainage ditch in the pasture with a pick and shovel for $1 a day. Dad offered them a pair of mules and double shovel to make it easier. Uncle told him no, that they had to make it last. We did not have a tractor so everything was done by hand.

I remember when the hoof and mouth hit the cattle. They drove them into the same ditch my uncle was digging, shot them and covered them up!

We had plenty to eat because we had our own pork, turkeys, milk, butter, eggs and vegetables. There was fish in the stock tank, wild rabbits and chickens. We would take cane to Ratibor and make syrup. The roads were dirt so if it rained bad we went to the store in a wagon. It was 13 miles to Temple so we did not go there much. Our family doctor was in Westphalia, but he made house calls. When a neighbor got sick and could not take care of things, all neighbors pitched in and did it for him, no charge of course!

Once a year we would go to Miller Springs for a weekend to camp out and fish in the Leon River. That was a long trip then in a Model A. I have often wondered how people today would survive a time like that. We have lived an easy life for so long. This is why we should try to avoid another Great Depression.