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From the depths of despair FREDERICKSBURG DODGED WORST OF THE DEPRESSION
Talk of economic recession, market crashes and layoffs brings back memories for those who lived through the Great Depression as childrenDate published: 11/30/2008 BY LAURA MOYER The 1929 stock market crash, Wall Street suicides, bread lines, Hoovervilles, hobos and crippling unemployment symbolize the Great Depression. But for several area residents who lived through that time, the hardships were more commonplace--and far more personal. Here are some of their stories. A RESCUED SHOE Little Lois Barbour took off her shoes and tossed them toward the porch one warm day in 1930 or '31. One shoe landed safely. The other went down a deep, dry well next to the house. Lois hated telling her parents she'd lost half of her only pair of shoes. She knew there was no money to replace them. She cried as her daddy made a ladder from little trees he'd cut. When he climbed down into the hole, it felt like the end of the world. But he came back up with that black leather Mary Jane shoe. That Great Depression memory is a defining one for Lois Barbour Rose, now 85 and a Spotsylvania County resident. Her parents, Lester and Sudie Barbour, had a farm in central North Carolina. They owned a car, and though they weren't wealthy, they had a little money in the bank. Then the bank failed, and the money was gone. For the next several years, Rose recalled recently, the family lived virtually without cash. Everything they ate was grown or raised on the farm--vegetables, fruit, milk, eggs and sometimes pork or beef. "We had plenty of food, even if it wasn't always what we wanted to eat. Mother always managed to put something on the table," Rose said. They couldn't buy a license plate for the car, so her father kept it in the garage. Young Lois and her two brothers wore resized clothing and hand-me-downs passed among a galaxy of cousins. Lester Barbour bartered grain for sugar and farm tools. Every morning, Sudie Barbour would bake a pan of sweet potatoes in a wood-burning stove. She shared them with hungry travelers walking along the north-south highway beside the farmhouse. "It wasn't a day that we didn't have somebody come by and beg for food," Rose said. Her parents set an example for the children through charity. "I heard both of them say we were lucky. We had enough to eat, and we could share."
Read more stories about Fredericksburg Date published: 11/30/2008
Way worse than today
(posted by
thankyouvets
, Nov. 30, 2008 4:00 pm)
These stories and many more not published are examples of how today's difficulties are not near what was experienced in the "great depression". In fact they haven't gotten as bad as what many in this area lived through- the late '70's.
We have been conditioned by our media to believe that we are experiencing an economy "not seen since the great depression". They are setting up for the "miraculous Obama recovery" after trillions in bailouts and stimulous checks". Don't let that happen. SAY NO TO BAILOUTS
and just like the great depression
(posted by
jaeshuan
, Nov. 30, 2008 11:32 am)
it was preceded with an era of easy credit. too bad those of us with iqs higher than our body temperature saw this coming 5 years ago.
Great story
(posted by
staceyf
, Nov. 30, 2008 10:24 am)
In a way it is comforting. If we as a country could bounce back from that, we most certainly can bounce back this time too.
Thanks for the
(posted by
madukes
, Nov. 30, 2008 8:16 am)
Great story of memories we should all take to heart.
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