The other night I stepped back in time. This phenomenon was made possible by my elderly friend and neighbor as we sat together at my dining room table. We were talking about present-day America and she said that she felt that she had lived through the best of times. I encouraged her to tell me more and that’s when we stepped back to the 1920’s.
Garnet Juanita was born in 1924 on a farm near Valley Center, Kansas. The family called her Juanita and that just stuck. Juanita tells me, "We were poor growing up, but it didn’t matter back then because just about everyone was poor."
Her Daddy worked for the railroad, along with one of her older brothers. Her Mama stayed home and bore eight children. Two sisters, one was 8 years older and the other died from the influenza before Juanita arrived. The other five children that came before and after were brothers.
When Juanita was 4 years old, the stock market crashed and her daddy and brother lost their jobs. After that they all had to stay and work the farm, to make ends meet and because they couldn't afford to pay the farm hands.
For her 5th birthday, her mama ran off, leaving her daddy behind to raise all the kids on his own. Her mama hated living on the farm and wanted the excitement of a big city. Juanita remembers her daddy setting them all down and telling them that their mama had left, but they had nothing to do with her decision and he never wanted them to think it was their fault. He also assured them that he wasn’t going anywhere and how much he loved them. She remarks, "My Daddy was strict, but he was a good man. He raised us right."
For her 5th birthday, her mama ran off, leaving her daddy behind to raise all the kids on his own. Her mama hated living on the farm and wanted the excitement of a big city. Juanita remembers her daddy setting them all down and telling them that their mama had left, but they had nothing to do with her decision and he never wanted them to think it was their fault. He also assured them that he wasn’t going anywhere and how much he loved them. She remarks, "My Daddy was strict, but he was a good man. He raised us right."
The 1930’s came and with it, The Great Depression and The Dustbowl.
In those days, girls were expected to take care of the home, while the boys worked in the fields. All the children went to school, but had to pull their weight in order for the farm to survive.
Juanita took over the running of the home when her 16-year-old sister married and moved to Wichita. She was only 8 years old, but she had a step stool that her daddy had built for her to stand upon. She stood on that step stool to prepare and cook all the meals and wash the dishes afterwards. Even with the step stool, she wasn’t tall enough to hang all the wash out to dry with the wooden clothespins, but she was strong enough to throw her dad’s and brothers’ coveralls over the line.
She was expected to kill, pluck and fry up chicken. She taught herself how to make homemade noodles, bread and biscuits. She made bread three days a week and biscuits every night for dinner because her daddy loved them. She laughs at that memory and says with a chuckle, “When I was a teenager I told my Daddy that when I grew up I would never make another biscuit and I never have! Don't have to anymore, not when I can just buy them at the grocers and pop ‘em in the oven.”
“Living on the farm, we didn’t go hungry like a lot of people during the depression. Daddy raised hogs, chickens, and dairy cattle, so there was always meat to eat”. Her daddy would only have one cow butchered each year and that wouldn’t last long with so many mouths to feed, so pork and poultry were what she'd cook up and put on the supper table most nights. The beef was for special occasions. Juanita took over the running of the home when her 16-year-old sister married and moved to Wichita. She was only 8 years old, but she had a step stool that her daddy had built for her to stand upon. She stood on that step stool to prepare and cook all the meals and wash the dishes afterwards. Even with the step stool, she wasn’t tall enough to hang all the wash out to dry with the wooden clothespins, but she was strong enough to throw her dad’s and brothers’ coveralls over the line.
She was expected to kill, pluck and fry up chicken. She taught herself how to make homemade noodles, bread and biscuits. She made bread three days a week and biscuits every night for dinner because her daddy loved them. She laughs at that memory and says with a chuckle, “When I was a teenager I told my Daddy that when I grew up I would never make another biscuit and I never have! Don't have to anymore, not when I can just buy them at the grocers and pop ‘em in the oven.”
According to Juanita, no part of a butchered pig would be wasted. She said that many a night they would eat corn mush with pork cracklins’ thrown in.
"Do you still eat corn much? I queried. Her instant reply, “Oh yes, I love it, but now I buy the corn mush in a tube like sausage comes in.”
She proceeds to tell me that she slices it up and puts it in a fry pan now, “but mind you, the grease will splatter your stove! You can either put 'em right in the skillet or you can roll 'em in egg and flour and then put 'em in the skillet. Either way, it's good!"
I then asked "Did you ever eat an onion sandwich? I remember my dad saying he'd smear butter on bread, slice up an onion, slap it all together and devour it".
She nodded, "Oh yes, we'd eat a lot of those", but then she remembered her favorite sandwich that she would make to take to school for lunch. “We always had milk and cream, so I’d take the cream and add some sugar, whip it up until it was stiff, then put it in jars. I’d slice up the bread I’d made, and each of us would put a jar and two slices of bread in a sack to carry to school. At lunchtime we’d spread that cream on our bread. It was sure good eating!”
I asked how bad the Dust Bowl was. She replied, “Horrible! There was dust and dirt all over everything. Nothing stayed clean. You couldn’t keep the house clean, but I really tried. Plus, the days were so hot and back then there were no air conditioners. It hardly cooled down inside the house when evening came, so we'd carry our mattresses out onto the porch and sleep sleep there at night. Those were real bad times for a lot of people, but we got by.”
When Juanita was 15, she quit school. A friend had told her about a job in Wichita and thought Juanita would be perfect. She talked her daddy into driving her into the city. It was so exciting to be in a big city with a population of 120,000, even though she felt like a country bumpkin.
Her new job was babysitting for a young couple, Kirby and Mary Lou. They interviewed Juanita that morning and hired her on the spot. Her daddy left her there with her one meager suitcase and headed back to the farm.
Kirby and Mary Lou worked at the Boeing Plant and couldn’t afford for Mary Lou to stay home with the children, a 2-year-old boy and a newborn daughter. Mary Lou hurriedly showed Juanita where the recipe for the formula was and off to work she went. Juanita had never been around a newborn, but in her words, “I figured it out!” The job included room and board, plus $3.50 per week.
Her new job was babysitting for a young couple, Kirby and Mary Lou. They interviewed Juanita that morning and hired her on the spot. Her daddy left her there with her one meager suitcase and headed back to the farm.
Kirby and Mary Lou worked at the Boeing Plant and couldn’t afford for Mary Lou to stay home with the children, a 2-year-old boy and a newborn daughter. Mary Lou hurriedly showed Juanita where the recipe for the formula was and off to work she went. Juanita had never been around a newborn, but in her words, “I figured it out!” The job included room and board, plus $3.50 per week.
One night shortly after she began, Kirby got home early from work and started cooking the dinner. He had some steaks to cook up and as Juanita watched him, she decided to ask, “Kirby, how about I cook the dinner?”
She fried up the steaks, mashed up potatoes, and made gravy. Mary Lou arrived home and they all sat down to dinner. Kirby exclaimed that the gravy was the best he’d ever had and from then on, Juanita cooked all the dinners.
A year had passed by, when Kirby got a big enough raise that Mary Lou was able to stay home with their children. Juanita wasn’t worried, she put her good dress on and went out and got a job at a nearby restaurant. Mary Lou told Juanita that she’d like her to stay on with them, if she didn’t mind continuing to sleep in the bed with the little boy. The baby slept in a cradle in the room as well. It was safe and cheap, so Juanita stayed on.
Juanita earned $7.50 a week at the restaurant. She paid Mary Lou $1.50 a week for room and board and gave her father $5.00 a week for groceries to help feed the family still at home. Her daddy would come into town to sell milk and cream to the city folks and always stop by to see how she was doing.She fried up the steaks, mashed up potatoes, and made gravy. Mary Lou arrived home and they all sat down to dinner. Kirby exclaimed that the gravy was the best he’d ever had and from then on, Juanita cooked all the dinners.
A year had passed by, when Kirby got a big enough raise that Mary Lou was able to stay home with their children. Juanita wasn’t worried, she put her good dress on and went out and got a job at a nearby restaurant. Mary Lou told Juanita that she’d like her to stay on with them, if she didn’t mind continuing to sleep in the bed with the little boy. The baby slept in a cradle in the room as well. It was safe and cheap, so Juanita stayed on.
The restaurant was owned by a nice man that had studied to be a doctor, but it hadn’t worked out. Apparently every time he saw blood he’d pass out and that ended that career lickety-split. Her new boss had grown up in a wealthy family, because his father was in the oil business, so his next venture was buying the restaurant.
He hired 6 girls to wait tables. Juanita, once again, smiles at a memory. “He hired two Juanitas, so I was known as Little Juanita”.
I can easily understand why because the Juanita I know stands no higher than my shoulder and I’m no giant standing at 5’4”.
Juanita continues, “My boss had rules for all of us girls”. The rule that sticks in Juanita’s mind the most, “We were not allowed to date any of the men we waited on, especially the servicemen from the nearby military base, because that would make us cheap.
To prove his point and show Juanita what happened to cheap women, one evening Juanita’s boss took her to a place where these types of women entertained men. While they stood outside watching, the police came and arrested everyone in the house.
As to her restaurant job, “I worked there for two years. It was a good job.”
At 18, Juanita applied for a job with the Santa Fe railroad. She was told that they didn’t hire anyone without a high school diploma, but if she would go to night school, they would take her on with the condition that she graduates. She did and Juanita worked for Santa Fe until she retired forty-four years later.
