Nyle Jones reflects on his experience living through the Great Depression as he looks at old photographs of himself when he served during World War II and of his late wife, Iris. Jones has spent most of his 98 years living in and around Stanton. — Daily News/Stacie Smith
Imagine using cardboard to line a pair of shoes because the soles had worn down. Imagine spreading lard across bread sprinkled with brown sugar as an afternoon snack.
These are just small everyday details of what life was like during the Great Depression (1929-1939) for three residents of Green Acres Retirement Living in Greenville.
Soon after the epic stock market crash in October 1929, which sent Wall Street into a frenzied panic, Americans saw the steepest financial decline in modern day history, with consumer spending and investment drastically dipping causing unemployment to spike up.
By 1933, millions of American workers were unemployed and almost half of America’s banks ceased to be efficient.
It wasn’t until 1939, when World War II forced America into a war machine, creating an industry boom, that Americans finally saw the end of the Great Depression.
NYLE JONES
Nyle Jones celebrated his 98th birthday earlier this year, surrounded by family and friends. Jones was born in 1918, and still remembers being 14 when times were tough.
Jones was raised in the Stanton area and he fondly recalls how his father could create artistry out of everyday things. Jones also recounted how he and other kids would help local farmers and earn money by protecting their crops from pests.
“We, as kids, to earn money, would sell sparrow heads to Ray King,” Jones said. “We’d earn two cents for sparrow heads, 10 cents for rat tails, 25 cents for crows’ heads — it was a bounty, a bounty on that stuff.”
Ray King was the operator and owner of Smith Brothers, a store where the Jones family would purchase necessities. Like many families during the Great Depression, the Jones family maintained a garden and kept a cow and pig. Jones’ mother kept the pantry well stocked.
“Mother canned everything she needed,” Jones said. “We always had plenty to eat.”
With as many as 13 million people unemployed in America at the time, Jones’ father was able to put his artistry and skills to work to keep a roof over his family’s head and food on the table. Though he’d taken up odd jobs to earn money, like painting houses and barns and hanging wallpaper, the lack of regular income led to the family losing their home, however.
The Jones’ made due, though, and with Jones’ father’s creativity, along with some hard work to renovate, the family moved into a garage transformed into a home.
Clothing and shoes were repaired, rather than replaced. Games were the creation of ingenuity and entertainment was often free and centered around church gatherings.
Green Acres residents shared their stories of growing up during the Great Depression, which lasted from 1929 to 1939. From left are Beverly Zahm and Eleanor Grifhorst who enjoy meals together and reminisced about their childhoods. — Daily News/Stacie Smith
ELEANOR GRIFHORST
Eleanor (Porter) Grifhorst was born in her grandmother’s house in Rockford and lived there most of her 93 years until moving to Greenville a few years ago.
Grifhorst’s father was able to remain employed through the Great Depression, working in a warehouse for Wolverine where shoes were stored. The company employed Grifhorst’s father and aunt and she joined their payroll after graduating from high school. She still clearly recalls her father’s wages and how it was budgeted.
“That $9 per week, I remember how may parents planned to spend that,” Grifhorst said. “There would be $1 and they would send me to the meat market or grocery store and I would ask for dog bones to make broth.”
Her parents would try and reserve $1 for gas money to visit family in Grand Rapids. Car trips were usually reserved for Sunday drives after church and to enjoy a rare treat.
“When we went down there in Grand Rapids on Plainfield Avenue by Creston High School, there was an ice cream store and there was double dips you could get for 5 cents,” Grifhorst fondly recalled. “We would ask my dad if we could get an ice cream and he would say ‘no,’ then feel bad and give in.”
Simply finishing school could be a costly venture. Residents within the city limits of Rockford could attend and complete high school for no charge, but those who lived in areas designated RFD (rural free delivery), would have to pay tuition. Grifhorst’s parents invited a family friend’s daughter to reside with them in order to complete school at no charge.
“She graduated in 1933,” Grifhorst said of her friend. “She slept with me in my bed and her parents would get her on the weekends, but we let her use our address — those people were awful happy when my parents let their daughter stay with us.”
BEVERLY ZAHM
Beverly Zahm was born in Detroit, but moved to Belding when she was 4 years old.
Her father continued to work at Ford Motor Company in Detroit for 10 more years, driving to Belding on the weekends. In that time, he was unable to find a home that was willing to allow children, resulting in the family living apart for so long.
Like many families during the Depression, everyone chipped in to earn money. Zahm’s mother would cook for students at Ellis School and sell loaves of bread and cakes. Zahm was able to enjoy the rare treat of going to the movies, watching “Gone With the Wind” six times because she worked as an usher at the theater in Belding where her grandfather was the janitor.
Living during the Great Depression was more apparent during the cold months of winter. Walking was the main means of transport and owning warm, winter clothing was a scarcity. Keeping the house warm was somewhat of a luxury, as well.
“We didn’t have money to buy coal, so we had to live in the kitchen,” Zahm recalls. “We had to walk through town and we didn’t have warm clothes, just little cotton dresses — we didn’t have snow pants or anything, just those old brown socks and I didn’t like them, but they kept me warm.”
Many of Zahm’s memories took place in the warmth of the family kitchen and of her mother’s baked goods. During Christmas, Zahm’s family would come together and make cookies, candies and other baked goods. Rather than spread frosting on cakes, Zahm would adorn pieces of cake with homemade jam.
“I can remember some nights we would have a bowl of apples and mom would peel them and we would each have a quarter of apple,” Zahm added. “If we were really rich, we would pop popcorn.”
In in age of instant gratification and having the world at our fingertips, the simpler times of the Great Depression seem so difficult and a distant memory. Through the words and sentiment of Jones, Griofhorst and Zahm, there was an underlying contentedness and nostalgia. All three noted that they never felt as if life was a struggle or difficult. Because they and their neighbors all lived under similar circumstances, it was just a way of life.
Zahm remarked that her childhood was a happy time and Grifhorst beamed with pride as she commented that her family was admired throughout the community of Rockford because of their loyalty and Jones had the gleam of a young boy when he mentioned the stonework bird bath his father constructed that is still standing in Stanton.
The histories of these three people make the term, “The Great Depression” seem a misnomer.