FREE ESSAY ON AN INTERVIEW WITH JANE REYNOLDS ABOUT THE DEPRESSION

AN INTERVIEW WITH JANE REYNOLDS ABOUT THE DEPRESSION

The depression of the 1930s was a major event in many American's lives. It left them with
little money, and even fewer resources. The country had to bind together to get through
rough times, and each person was struggling to live individually.
Enter Jane Reynolds, a 76 year old woman whose memories of the depression are
surprisingly happy. Her family was very lucky in that her father owned a used car lot in
Salt Lake City, a steady job that put food on the table. Jane says she remembers her
father had to repossess cars all the time because no one had money to pay for anything. 
In 1930 Jane and her family moved into her grandparent's house, to combine all their
resources in this hard time. She remembers the home as being very happy and comforting,
even though her mother was at first in a state of depression because she was worried
about the new baby she had just beared. There were no drugs to treat depression like
there are in modern times. Yet still, Jane can remember her mother saying, We are poor,
but we are not poor in spirit. 
Jane's grandfather worked at ZCMI and traveled selling shoes. The family was very
fortunate to have two men in the house with well paying jobs while so many people were
going hungry. The children's clothing was the same fabric used repeatedly, but taken
apart year after year and sewn back together again in an updated style. The girls learned
at a young age to be worthy seamstresses, something helpful to their mother who was
trying to raise 5 children and be cheerful about it at the same time. 
School was always a pleasure for Jane, being with all her friends and having fun was
something any child could enjoy, poor or not. She remembers that some students couldn't
bring a lunch to school so they had to walk to and from home for lunch because their
mothers didn't drive. Some children would have a solitary piece of bread to eat, and some
would have nothing at all. At these times, Jane remembers the teacher handing out small
cups of milk and bits of bread to the hungry children. The children who had food never
took what the teacher offered because they knew that the less fortunate children needed
it. 
Jane's family was pretty well-off, receiving groceries twice a day and eating canned
fruit from the summer. They always had a big family gathering on Sundays and had a big
roast, a privilege not many people could claim in those days. The rest of the week was
usually filled with beans and small bits of meat. 
To help out with the money issues of the times, many of the kids in Jane's family,
including herself, had part time jobs. Mostly they were hired by friends or neighbors to
clean their houses, which was looked upon as a very generous gesture.
Also in Jane's memory is a friend's father who received two hundred dollars a month,
which was a fortune back then. Many people were not as blessed. Some of Jane's friends
had to go straight from school to a job every day, shoe-shining and doing other various
things, anything to get a little bit of money. The only frugal time Jane remembers
clearly is Christmas, when presents were small but satisfactory.
On the subject of unemployment, Jane recalls her poor uncle who could not find a job
anywhere. He had tried in what seemed like fifty different places, but no one had enough
money to hire him. Jane's father welcomed her uncle into the house and supported him
until finally he found a job as steel mill worker. A very lucky aspect of Jane's life was
that her grandfather had a steady job, something very hard to come by in those days. His
employment as a shoe salesman was what kept Jane's family rooted. 
On the other side of employment, Jane related how many of her friends' fathers were
searching and searching for a job. She recalls going over to her friend Andrea's house
one day and walking in to find the place bare of furnishings. The family's furniture had
all been repossessed. These were sad times, and Jane wished there was some way she could
help her friends in need. She realized how lucky she was to have a safe, comfortable home
with food on the table every night. 
Although in this case, a happy childhood is remembered and thought fondly of, the impact
of so many people hungering for a better life made the depression of the 1930s a time
that Jane Reynolds will never forget. It will live forever in her memory as a time where
America was struggling to find itself, and the fellowship of man played a higher role
than any.