One way to keep our memories alive, according to Humorist Will Rogers, is to talk about the weather. I find it hard to understand how we can have CLEAR SKY, bright SUNSHINE B-U-T it is cold! I mean BELOW FREEZING. It did not quite make the forecast of 3 below last night but +2 is still cold for me. I NEVER did like cold weather.
When I was age 11, we were poor. School was a mile across a pasture. My younger brother, age 9, was in the hospital dying. Mom sat with him. Dad had to feed the cattle for the folks he worked for.
In our family were twins Leonard and LaVerna, age 3. We lived in the hired hand 4 room house. It was COLD and had snowed that night, and I set out to walk to school. I got about half way and my ears, feet and hands were getting numb. I was crying and found myself a snow drift that had one of those curved tops, probably six feet high. I snuggled up out of the wind for a few minutes, then I finished walking to school. I got there late, stumbled into the one room country schoolroom - half out of it. The whole class was disrupted from my entrance. The male teacher tended to me and revived me. I remember that day crystal clear.
After school a family came to pick up their kids and they took me home. That was the coldest I had or ever have been. This was in about 1932 or 1933.
My brother did die from pneumonia. It was an era when the Depression had just started. We had been share croppers in Trego County, Kansas (rural WaKeeney). We had hail, 11 inch rains, etc.
Dad had to take Bankruptcy. We moved to Mom's brother Fred Koleber's, who lived near Eaton, Colorado. After my brother Alfred died in 1933, we moved back to Barton County, Kansas. Fred Michaelis financed us to get re-established. His wife, Eva (Margheim) was my dad's oldest sister.
Shortly after that, 1935 the Dust storms rolled in. But we survived.
When I was age 11, we were poor. School was a mile across a pasture. My younger brother, age 9, was in the hospital dying. Mom sat with him. Dad had to feed the cattle for the folks he worked for.
In our family were twins Leonard and LaVerna, age 3. We lived in the hired hand 4 room house. It was COLD and had snowed that night, and I set out to walk to school. I got about half way and my ears, feet and hands were getting numb. I was crying and found myself a snow drift that had one of those curved tops, probably six feet high. I snuggled up out of the wind for a few minutes, then I finished walking to school. I got there late, stumbled into the one room country schoolroom - half out of it. The whole class was disrupted from my entrance. The male teacher tended to me and revived me. I remember that day crystal clear.
After school a family came to pick up their kids and they took me home. That was the coldest I had or ever have been. This was in about 1932 or 1933.
My brother did die from pneumonia. It was an era when the Depression had just started. We had been share croppers in Trego County, Kansas (rural WaKeeney). We had hail, 11 inch rains, etc.
Dad had to take Bankruptcy. We moved to Mom's brother Fred Koleber's, who lived near Eaton, Colorado. After my brother Alfred died in 1933, we moved back to Barton County, Kansas. Fred Michaelis financed us to get re-established. His wife, Eva (Margheim) was my dad's oldest sister.
Shortly after that, 1935 the Dust storms rolled in. But we survived.
2 comments:
This is so inspiring. In spite of what happened to you and your family, you were able to stand up. What happened to you is hard to forget, but as they say, whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger.
What an incredible story. growing up in California, I can't even imagine that level of cold! Thank you so much for sharing this portion of your life. It is fascinating history.
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