Desperate Days

Believing that it could never happen again, I never wanted my children to know the poverty, hopelessness, and humiliation endured by my family in the Great Depression. The current economic situation prompted me to reconsider. This is my first hand account of those difficult days. My story tells of early memories of happy days, family gatherings, and travel, prior to the start of the great depression in 1929. My father lost his job in early 1930. Before long the insurance policies were cash surrendered, and jewelry was pawned. My father's efforts to get help from his wealthy brother failed. Thus began years of living on Relief. We survived on surplus food deliveries, meager food vouchers, uncertain coal delivers, left-over buns from the convent kitchen, and holiday food baskets. Difficult enough, but complicated by my mother's eccentric behavior, and the case workers' determination to deal with her.