Depression Era
As to growing up in a depression - Daddy closed their bank in 1931 and they moved to Valentine. Daddy worked in a gas station for a while, became a county commissioner of Cherry County, and eventually got a job with the Federal Land Bank of Omaha and managed repossessed farms. He later went to work for the 1st. National Bank of Omaha and managed 365 farms for them - I think that is when we moved to Wayne in August, 1939.
Mom said that she always felt so guilty about Ardis because she couldn’t even spare a nickel to give her so she could go to the movies. Ardis knit her graduation dress (I’ve seen a picture of it and may have it but I’m not sure.) As y’all may remember, both Ardis and Doyle were beautiful hand knitters, and Doyle was also interested in weaving. She had a small hand loom and wove a beautiful shawl before Susan was born.
Doyle graduated from high school at the age of 16 and wanted to go to college but there wasn’t any money, so she worked for 2 years as typist and saved up $300 for the tuition to enter Nurse’s Training at the University of Nebraska in Omaha. She had to be 18 before she could start. She entered training September 1, 1933 and I was born at home September 4, 1933. I was kind of embarrassed because all my friends had been born in a hospital - so I asked Daddy one time why - and he said that it was a lot cheaper plus they had a good nurse and a good doctor so there was no worry… It made sense.
BTW, Granddad (Geo W. Derry) is someone to really be proud of - he was a very ethical, honorable man. He finished paying off all the people that he owed money to from the bank in Eli in 1955. When he died February 25, 1977, he was still owed money by people who had borrowed it from the bank. As you can tell, I was mighty proud of him.
Also as a point of interest - they took the last of the buildings away from Eli back in the early 50’s — but the town is still listed on all of the maps of Nebraska that I’ve seen - even the one that was published this year!
Aunt Jan