Seniors compare current crisis to Great Depression

Seniors at the Alpena Senior Citizen's Center remember when economic times were tough during the Great Depression and on Thursday they shared their thoughts on what the future holds.

Mabel Cole, 88 , of Mount Morris remembers that times were tough when she was growing up, but said they weren't as tough as what some families faced.

"We were luckier than most because we raised our own vegetables and we had chickens, eggs, a couple of turkeys and ducks that we raised for our meat," she said.

She said there was a time when her family paid a doctor with a chicken and some eggs. Cole said that even though she was only little at the time, she realized she was living in a depression. She said her step-dad worked two days a week on his job and that she would work in the garden with her sister and mother.

"We didn't suffer as much as a lot of them did," she said.

Cole said although she thought there may be another depression, she didn't think it would happen in her lifetime. She said it's surprising how many people are hurting right now.

"This is going to be worse than the 1930 depression," she said, adding that she believed the seniors and the younger people will be most affected by the current economic changes.

Paul Cormier, 78, said he remembers his stepfather worked in the plastic factory in Leominster, Mass., for 27 cents. His mother would make potato balls and his uncle used to make doughnuts out of his home.

He remembers going to a bulk store to get food like peanut butter and eggs. He also said family used to get together to have group dinners where everyone would bring something.

"The good old days were not really the best days but they were days you have to remember," he said.

Cormier said he remembers making his own toys as a kid. He said he made a scooter out of roller skates.

He said he hopes things work out best for the United States but believes people are going to have to tighten their belts.

"That's what people are going to do, they're going to have to scale down until this is over with, Cormier said. "Most people don't live within their means anymore."

Laura Benac, 94, of Alpena said she was a little girl during the time of the depression and didn't realize at the time she was in one. She said she lived on a farm and her mother did a lot of canning.

"We had enough to eat, a lot of people didn't," she said.

Carl Basel, 89, of Alpena grew up on a farm during the time of the depression and said people in rural areas could grow a garden and had livestock. He said most of the food preparation was canning and added people also would preserve meats by various methods like canning, smoking, making sausages and salting meat before it was put into barrels.

Basel said he's not worried because his assets are reasonably safe and he doesn't have a mortgage. He said these kinds of events have happened before and there has been such a long interval of time between the last shortage and the present.

"No, it doesn't particularly surprise me because frankly, as far as I'm concerned. We've been living beyond our true limits and ability to produce growth for a good many years and it's finally caught up with us," he said.

He said he is sure the U.S. will pull out of this.

"There are too many positive forces afoot," he said.

Arvilla Tews, 81, of Alpena said she remembers growing up in Detroit and that it was a hard time but her family survived because her mother was so economical. She said her mother washed walls for a woman and cleaned her house for $5 every two days.

"People think it's bad now. My poor dad worked 10, 12 hours a day at Kroger for 25 cents an hour," Tews said, adding that by the time he was done he was so tired her sister and she would walk him home.

"Our Christmases were very, very sparse," she said. "You got your school shoes and boots and if you were really lucky, some fruit."

Tews said she remembers eating mutton for Christmas one year.

"We ate. We didn't starve, but we had to eat what was given to us," she said adding that her family ate a lot of meatless soup.

Tews said she sees similar times coming and believes the bottom is going to fall out eventually, perhaps in the next year. She said her house is paid for, but is having a hard time paying her taxes. Out of her five sons, only one is working.

"So when you've got something, you have to hold onto it," she said.

Crystal Nelson can be reached via e-mail at cnelson@thealpenanews.com or by phone at 358-5693.