Some Childhood Memories
Of
Eleanor Lofstedt Whiton
(Eleanor gave permission to share her memories, to Jean Borgeson, on April 23, 2006. We were attending the Perry Fine Arts program and while visiting with Eleanor, I asked her if she would mind sharing. She was glad to share, but wondered why anyone would be interested! I told her I loved reading it and told her it was a wonderful gift she left to her children and grandchildren, and now, the people interested from Rippey.)
Eleanor passed away on March 7, 2018 at the Rowley Memorial Masonic Home in Perry. Her sons, Robert and Richard gave me permission to post on our local Rippey websites in April, 2018.
It was a privilege and pleasure to know this wonderful lady. Her laughter always brightened any visit over the years. She was a great supporter of Rippey and was a familiar face at the many fundraisers the community organizations held over the years. I will miss saving her a piece of pecan pie at the church ice cream social every year! The one year no one baked one, we sure heard about it! That only happened once! The 2018 Rippey Alumni Party was equally poignant when I read the list of deaths for the year. She represented the Class of 1938 well. I always told her I wanted to be just like her when I grew up! If that were possible, I would be proud. Jean Borgeson, April, 2018
Picture taken October 1, 2017 I was lucky to be there for this occasion!…Jean Borgeson
Doris Brown and Jean Borgeson visited with Eleanor Whiton in the Rowley Masonic Home on Friday afternoon, October 1, 2017. The highlight of the day was when her Grand-niece and husband, Nick and Carol Hopp of Decorah, introduced Eleanor to their month old son, Chase. Grandmother, Rosanna (Whiton) Weis had accompanied them. Her sister, Lori (Whiton) Damron was there to enjoy the afternoon with Eleanor, also. Doris had a nice time visiting with Rosanna and Lori, as they were children when they lived in the same neighborhood as Doris, south of Rippey. The family was visiting their father,
Gale Whiton, of Perry, who, from all reports, also enjoyed meeting the newest “twig” on his tree.
Excerpts from Eleanor Lofstedt Whiton: (in her own words)
The house I lived in.
The house where I was born was “home” from Aug. 4, 1920 until I married on Feb. 14, 1940! By today’s standards, it was quite small–1 1/2 stories with full basement. The two upstairs bedrooms had sloping ceilings which were a real challenge to paper! My brother Merton’s bedroom was very small with a single bed and a chest of drawers; the other upstairs bedroom was big enough for two double beds, but Edna and I slept in one bed and the other was our guest bed! Dad and Mom had a small bedroom downstairs and their closet was under the stairway–very tiny.
The kitchen was very small; the kitchen range (cook stove) had a “reservoir” which had water in it, a kitchen cabinet that had a flour bin (which held 50 lbs. of flour) with a sifter on the bottom, a big sink with no drain boards, and a kitchen chair. The only work surface was a porcelain pull-out section on the cabinet. We washed dishes in a dishpan on the stove and rinsed them in another pan before drying them on a towel made from a flour sack. It is hard to picture how we made pies, cookies and cakes with such limited work areas, especially when we prepared meals for big threshing crews and family reunions.
The dining room was “fair-sized”– maybe 12’ x 14’? A dining room table was in the middle; it had several leaves which could be put in so that the table seated 12; a big buffet; Mom’s Singer sewing machine (treadle, of course); a plant stand (in the winter); six dining room chairs and the radio! Our first radio was given to us by Grandpa John Lofstedt, in 1928 — it had three dials that had to be “set” on the different stations! It was a real challenge to get the dials “set” for clear reception – a job that Merton relished!
Edna, age 9. Merton, age 5
Eleanor, age 1, cistern in front
Merton, 10; Eleanor, 6; Edna, 14; 1926
The living room was probably the same size as the dining room and had a leather covered sofa-bed that was made up when someone was sick so we had help nearby; our big up-right piano with an orange crate to hold music magazines (Etude) and sheet music; Mom’s little sewing rocker; an all-wood rocking chair and a big overstuffed chair; a library table that collected papers, magazines and “stuff.” Also, in winter, Mom had a plant stand in the living room, too!
The basement had a big fuel room where cobs, wood and coal were put to use in the furnace. In another room was the hand-fired furnace; our Delco plant (to generate electricity); several shelves with many batteries to “store” power from the Delco system (these batteries needed to be filled regularly with distilled water which we collected in big crocks whenever it rained). Dad used a little china cream pitcher to fill the batteries. The washing machine and rinse tubs were also in the furnace room, as was a laundry stove to heat wash water; the pressure tank and hand powered pump to get the water to the kitchen from the cistern; three churns – a big churn that had horizontal paddles; a dasher churn and a glass Daisy churn. The Daisy churn was used most often and one time Dad accidentally touched it with his hook and broke a little hole in the upper corner! After that happened, we would hold a finger over the hole while churning, then pour the buttermilk out after the butter formed! It worked beautifully.
Eleanor and dasher churn, 1933
The dasher churn was a tall round pottery churn and had a long handled dasher that we pumped up and down to churn the butter. After the butter was formed and the buttermilk poured off, the butter had to be “washed” to get all the buttermilk off, then it had to have a little salt worked into it before it was ready to use.
We also had an ice box in the basement but only got ice on special occasions — not on a regular basis. Milk and “fresh” produce was taken to the basement where it was cooler in the summer but it was definitely not cold. We had fresh milk every day so that was not a problem.
The third room in the basement held canned goods and big boxes to store potatoes, carrots, apples, turnips and parsnips. Of course all the canned goods were home canned; Mom had a pressure cooker for canning meat and vegetables; fruit was canned open kettle style. We also made many kinds of pickles, jams, jellies, ketchup – hopefully enough to feed us well, year ‘round.
The outside of my house.
The buildings, beside the house, were a big barn that housed the cows, calves, horses, pigs, sheep; plus hay, straw and a feed room where ground feed was kept; a corn crib with an inside elevator, powered by a big gas engine; a silo; machine shed; tool shed/shop; hen house; double garage (which was a long way from the house!); also a smaller hen house for us three kids’ laying flock; the building that housed the supply tank (water); and, as mentioned earlier, the cob house and out-door toilet. These buildings were not close to the road. There was a small pasture on each side of the lane, leading to the building site.
Our mailbox was one fourth mile east from the end of our lane, so it was quite a hike to go after the mail! Agnes and Carol Swartzendruver lived south of our mailbox corner and in their fence row were two white mulberry trees; these were rather rare and a special treat to sometimes have before picking up the mail.
In the summer, there were band concerts on Main Street in Rippey, which we always attended and enjoyed; the summer I turned one, the folks told me I kept time with the music, either “bouncing” or “swaying” in perfect rhythm — so music has been a big interest all my life.
Eleanor’s mishaps!
In January, 1922, I couldn’t play outside because of the cold and snowy weather, so Edna and Merton were chasing me around the dining room table; their idea of entertainment was seeing me run/waddle (I was very chubby), but my sense of balance was not well formed and I ran into the corner of the buffet and split my forehead open a bit! A week later, the same thing happened in the same spot! My mom said later that they should have taken me to the doctor and had stitches put in, but they didn’t, so I have a scar on my forehead!
I was very much a “Tomboy”! My brother and I were closer in personality and interest and would play “farming,” ride horses, climb to the top of the silo and on the barn roof, climb to the top of the windmill — all “fun” activities to us, but not to our sister.
One day when I was about 4 years old, I was playing on the hayrack, which was not in use, and when I tired of playing, I tried to climb out between two boards. My body got out, but my head wedged between the boards and I was limp and blue when my dad saw me! He quickly got me out, slapped my back until I started breathing again.
2
When I was five years old, Dad bought a team of colts and put them in the divided stall in the barn. Merton and I wanted to go to the inside area of the barn to play. I wanted to go to the next stall where Dan, our riding horse, was tied and climb over the manger, but Merton (9 years old) said, “Oh, you’ve got to get used to them sometime, so go on in between them.” “OK!” I said. They were startled when I got between them and kicked hard immediately, making a racket that Dad and a neighbor heard (of course, Merton was screaming, too!). They pulled me out — I was unconscious, covered with blood and manure. Dad carried me to the house, called Dr. Martin (a typical country doctor), who came to our house. Since I was already unconscious, I needed no anesthesia — they laid me on the dining room table, cleaned the gash on my head, and sewed the wound shut! I started regaining consciousness as he was finishing and he kept saying, “Now just lie still, I’m almost done with my fancy work.” It took six stitches to close the wound, I was told. Imagine, no X-ray, no anesthetic, no sterile environment — and no complications!
We never had ponies–Dad always had a “riding” horse which was bigger than a pony and I loved riding horses! When I was really little, Dad would sometimes take me with him as he did chores or go to the pasture to bring in the cows for milking. Later, I rode with Merton and finally was allowed to ride alone by the time I was 8 or 9 years old.
We used to herd our cows along the roadside where they ate the grass in the ditches. One time, when I was on the horse, the girth broke and the saddle slid sideways which startled the horse and it lunged forward into the herd of cows — the saddle and I fell to the ground and scared the cows! They took off in all directions and Merton didn’t know whether he should help me or round up the cows! Fortunately, I was not injured, the horse went home to the barn and I helped get the cows and saddle back there, as well.
Another “horse” incident: One day, Merton and I were riding Dan, just for fun, when we met a neighbor who was moving his threshing machine, pulled by a big steam engine; the neighbor decided to “greet” us by blowing the very loud, shrill whistle! That, of course, startled Dan and he “bucked”– I grabbed Merton’s sides to hang on. Since Merton was very ticklish, he had very little control of Dan! It was a very scary situation for a while, but no harm done, and the neighbor was very apologetic.
Another time, I was on Dan and Merton was at the pump getting a drink. I, too, was thirsty, so I asked for a cup of water. When Merton handed it to me, some spilled on Dan and he ran into the barn, scraping me off the doorway (I don’t know where the cup landed). I had a hoof print on my cheek which was very sore and bruised, but no gashes or broken bones.
Eleanor’s family.
My paternal grandmother, Minnie Fritts Lofstedt, was an invalid due to a stroke when I was a newborn, so I never knew her as an active person. When I was almost 6 years old, we went to see Grandpa (John) and Grandma Lofstedt on Easter Sunday. I had a brand new green Easter bonnet and I was so proud of it. I jumped out of the car and ran toward their house. Grandma was sitting on the front porch and when she saw me, she threw her hand in the air and said, “Where did you get that horrid hat?” I was crushed! I stopped in my tracks — my day was ruined! (Is that why I don’t wear green any more?)
My Lofstedt grandparents lived in Grand Junction, Iowa, as did my maternal grandmother, Louisa Ulrich Schuttler. My maternal grandfather, August Schuttler, died before I was born.
My paternal grandfather, John Lofstedt, was everything a grandpa should be: gentle and loving. (he had a bristle mustache and he loved to whisker us kids.) I have such wonderful memories of him.
My maternal grandmother had eleven children and she visited them often. When she visited us, she worked in the garden and flowers along with our family; she also helped pick up corn cobs from the pig pen after dad and Merton fed ear corn to the pigs! Oh my! How I hated that chore! We used the cobs for fuel in the stove where all cooking, baking and canning was done, summer and winter. I never felt that we grandchildren were special to Grandma Schuttler! After all, she raised 11 children.
My mom, dad, brother and sister all milked cows — I never did. (one advantage of being the youngest?) The farm cats were always in the barn at milking time to enjoy the fresh warm milk before the pails of milk were carried to the house to be run through the separator which was hand cranked! The skim milk was given to the pigs; some of the cream was churned into butter and the rest was sold. Cream and egg money bought groceries and gas for the car.
Eleanor’s Dad’s accident.
In November, 1926, Dad was picking corn with a horse-drawn corn picker. Mom drove the team on the wagon that caught the corn and hauled it to the crib. Some corn stalks got lodged in the rollers of the picker and Dad tried to pull them out, but his glove caught in the rollers and pulled his hand in. His left hand was “ground up like hamburger”, Mom said. He was able to get the team stopped. Mom loosened the rollers to free his mangled hand, then he walked to the house and called Dr. Martin while Mom unhitched all the horses and put them in the barn. Neighbors on our party line heard Dad call Dr. Martin and several came immediately to help do chores and offer support. With 16 neighbors sharing a party line telephone, there were never “private” conversations and often, it was a big help in times of crisis.
Dr. Martin took Dad to Iowa Methodist Hospital in Des Moines where doctors amputated the hand at the wrist. Dad’s brother, Otis Benjamin Lofstedt, took us to Des Moines to visit Dad on Thanksgiving Day and I tasted my first turkey dinner. And yes, I liked it a lot! Another new experience that day was listening to a radio! There was so much static and I did not enjoy that! On the way home, it was extremely foggy — not a fun trip. Dad had to spend the whole winter in the house and he would pace from window to window, which nearly drove Mom crazy. The neighbors had a “husking bee” to harvest the corn all by hand; the men picked the corn and put it in the crib and the women prepared and served lots of food. Neighbors and relatives helped with chores all winter, but by spring, dad was able to do nearly everything – using a “hook” contraption to carry pails, and to use a pitch fork and shovel. He held a milk pail on his hook and milked with one hand! He had a lot of phantom pain for many months and his “stump” got miserably cold in winter.
There was no bathroom in our house! There was an “out-house” (some called it a “back-house” or “privy”) about 40 feet from our back door where we went to the toilet. No toilet paper as we know it — we used sheets of paper from a catalog. We bathed in the kitchen, using two wash basins: one for soapy water and one to rinse! In the summer, Dad rigged up a 10 gallon can with a hose attached that hung on the framework of our windmill so the guys could take a shower after working in the fields.
Oh yes, the windmill! The wind supplied the power to pump the water which went into a supply truck; underground pipes took the water to tanks for the livestock to drink. Occasionally, we kids would go swimming in the tank! If we had several calm days, the supply tank would run dry and then Dad had to use the tractor for power — a big nuisance to convert from wind to tractor power.
Monday was always “wash day” (laundry) and since Mom wanted to start early, she would roll us kids out of bed so she could wash the sheets and our pajamas. Of course, there were no dryers, so everything was hung outside on the clotheslines. If it were rainy or 20 degrees below zero, she did string lines all over the house and dry them inside. Oh! What a hassle that was! Imagine — bedding from three beds, clothes for five people, plus towels, rugs, etc., and doing laundry once a week! Mom used the wash water to scrub the porches and sidewalks. We did have an electric washing machine which many of our neighbors did not have; they had gas engines on washers and were often located in a building separate from the house. Our Delco plant had to run for washing on Monday and ironing on Tuesday.
Since we lived on a farm, we always had chickens, hogs, sheep, cattle and horses. Big draft horses did the field work; plowing, planting, harrowing, mowing, raking, pulling the binder to cut oats, pulling wagons — that was farm “power”
Eleanor with big rock that dad and
team of horses pulled out
Eleanor on Babe; Merton petting Rover, 1928
We three kids were not given an allowance — instead, our parents built a small hen house and gave us a flock of laying hens which we fed, watered and cared for. The eggs they produced were sold, the money divided three ways and that was our “allowance”; no set amount each week!
Mom always had a big garden and we all worked in it. We canned everything! Later, locker plants were available, so then we froze a lot — fruit, vegetables and meat. We butchered pigs, cured hams, and bacon; rendered lard, which was used for baking and frying, and made our own sausage. One time when Mom was rendering lard, I ate too many cracklings, and wow, was I ever sick! Mom had tried to warn me, but I did not stop in time! Lard was also used to make lye soap (a stinky, day-long process). The lye soap was used for laundry.
We also butchered beef and canned or froze most of it. We ate the brains, tongue and heart! Ah! What memories!
School days
There was no kindergarten when I started school in September, 1926. I was so thrilled to go to school because Edna and Merton had been going long before I could. We went to Rippey Consolidated School and that was the only school Merton and I ever attended. Edna had gone to a one-room country school her first three years, then after graduating high school, she attended Iowa State Teachers College in Cedar Falls, Iowa, so she had a variety on both ends of her education. By the time I started to school there were school busses, so I never walked or rode a horse to school.
I started taking piano lessons when I was eight years old. Mom played the piano a little and Edna started lessons a few years ahead of me, so that big, old piano got a regular workout! That big, old piano had ivory-covered wooden keys and during humid weather, the wood would swell and warp, making the keys stick together. (very hard to play!) Also, during damp weather, the ivory covers would loosen and come off the wood keys so we would glue them back on!
Dad’s cousin, Jennie Rice, lived in Texas and she visited us each summer when she traveled the Chautauqua circuit and was in our area. She was the piano player for the Chautauqua shows, and Oh! How I loved to hear her play! She made that piano “dance”! She taught me chords, so I could play accompaniment for my Dad’s harmonica music. I loved our “jam” sessions.
Eleanor in Rippey High School Band Uniforms,1938
When Merton was in high school, he bought a trumpet and I was so impressed with his music that I wanted a trumpet, too. I saved my hard-earned money to buy the trumpet and thoroughly enjoyed playing in the school concert band and marching band, from seventh grade until graduation. After graduating from high school, in 1938, I played in the city band, which played concerts every Saturday night in the summer in Rippey.
Of course, a trumpet was not part of the string ensemble, so I bought a violin to be eligible for that! The violin was not my favorite instrument, but at least I had the pleasure of being in the string ensemble during my high school years.
Later, Merton bought a guitar! Yes, I played that too! It could be either a “steel” guitar or a “Hawaiian” guitar with parts/pieces added or taken off. However, I didn’t buy a guitar. I just enjoyed his!
Mom did a lot of sewing on her treadle sewing machine — everything from “Sunday best” to aprons and even undergarments. She also pieced quilts by hand and did hand quilting. Neighbor ladies had “quilting bees” at each other’s homes so the clutter created by the quilting frames was not in the middle of the living room for long!
Seeing my mom piece quilts inspired me to try. I’m not sure how old I was, maybe 10 or 12, and even though mom helped and encouraged me, my attempt was a total failure! The pieces would not go together and I got so frustrated, I cried. Mom suggested I put it aside for a while. A few years later, I did finish piecing it by hand, but I hired it hand-quilted!
Starting in Junior High School (6th, 7th, 8th grades), there were declamatory contests. These were optional, but something I enjoyed all the way through high school. Categories were: humorous, dramatic and rhetoric.. I always chose “humorous”! These were performed in school or programs in town, as there were no district or state contests.
There were also operettas which combined music and drama which I enjoyed a lot.
Each year there was a Junior Class play and a Senior Class play with homemade props and costumes. They were very amateurish, but they were a really big deal at that time.
While growing up, we ate three meals a day at the dining room table, We had breakfast early in the morning, dinner at noon and supper in the evening. I never heard of “dinner” as an evening meal until I was in high school and our Home Ec. teacher told us that some people had dinner in the evening because factory workers and professionals were not home at noon. Those families had their big meal (dinner) in the evening!
In school, I took Home Economics, which included sewing. Sewing was part of my 4-H experience, so I really had a lot of help with the basics. However, I was never a top notch, tailor-type seamstress! Sewing has always been a part of me, and I enjoy that hobby to this day.
Big sister and Eleanor all dressed
up for Easter, 1930
Edna and Eleanor, 1938
4-H kept my interest piqued for a few years. We “studied” about sewing, cooking, home furnishing, art appreciation, and hygiene. We had uniforms to wear to our meetings and we did demonstrations of our projects at the County Fair and other places. I also raised Silver-laced Wyandot chickens which Merton showed at the fair, because girls didn’t camp out with their projects and Merton was there with beef calves anyway. I was truly jealous that I couldn’t stay at the fair! Merton also had a colt to show one year.
6
Eleanor in back seat of
Model T Ford, circa 1924
Eleanor and Trixie, in V-8 car
There were no “drivers Ed” classes when I was growing up. My dad and my brother taught me to drive. My mom went with me to Jefferson (our county seat) and she was far more nervous than I when I got my first drivers license at age 16. Mom never enjoyed driving and was glad when we kids were able to chauffeur ourselves to our activities and meetings.
Air-conditioning was unheard of when I was growing up. When torrid temperatures made the house unbearable, we ate our meals in the basement and went to bed on the lawn! When we woke up in the morning, our sheets would be damp with dew — really yucky!
Mom was hysterical when storms struck. Many times Dad and Mom would drag us three kids from our upstairs beds to the basement during a thunderstorm. A friend of mom’s had been killed by a tree falling on her as she tried to rescue some chickens that were in danger of drowning during a storm.
Eleanor feeding baby chicks, 1933
Merton with chickens, good picture of house, cob house, out-house and barn, 1926
Oh — chickens! Of course, we had a flock of laying hens. When they would get “setty”, they stopped laying eggs (hoping to brood baby chicks), so we put them in “jail”. Dad made a coop that had slotted floors, (no nesting material) and the hens had to stay in there until they stopped “clucking” and stopped acting “broody”! Some of the “mother” hens were used to raise baby chicks that we bought at a hatchery. The mother hen and 12 or 15 baby chicks were put in individual coops and these were put in a “chicken yard” (a small pasture). A small enclosure was made of chicken wire ( a fine-meshed fencing material). The waterers were made from fruit jars with special attachments and feeders for the baby chicks. The fence was up above the ground 4 or 5 inches so the hens could not get in. The hens had their own waterers and feeders. The hens also scratched for weed seeds, insects and worms. The cute, fuzzy chicks soon started growing feathers and gangly legs, so they were no longer “cute”! Each “family” had to be locked in their coop every night so varmints couldn’t get them Weasels, opossums, skunks, raccoons, foxes and even dogs played havoc if chicks were available. And yes, when it rained, we herded them into their safe coops.
Mom always raised chickens. Sometimes we used individual chicken coops to put a hen with 10 or 12 baby chicks per coop. Later we had a brooder house with electric heat units, to keep the chicks warm. Whenever a thunderstorm came, we would have to run out and put the chickens inside their building! Chickens just didn’t seem to “know enough to get in out of the rain”! By the time the chickens weighed three pounds, they were ready to eat. Oh, what a treat to have our first fried chicken of the year! We ate (or canned or froze) all the roosters. The pullets were kept for laying hens.
Entertainment
The only card game was Flinch. This was a numbers game and I really don’t remember much about it. We made paper hats and sailboats; spin the bottle; drop the handkerchief; string tricks; button-hummers; Chinese checkers; checkers; dominoes; carom, and our jam sessions with Dad and his harmonica and me doing the piano accompaniment. Outdoor games included croquet, a rope swing, a game called “Andy Over”; roller skated on a very limited sidewalk. Merton and I built farm fields using string or binder twine for fences and twigs for posts; we had a few farm toys and “livestock”. Sledding and ice skating in the winter was fun, unless it was to cold or windy. We did have roller-skates. Our sidewalk was very narrow and went from the house to the outdoor toilet, cob house and to the barnyard gate.
7
I thought Dad or Mom could fix anything and everything! (Almost!) Of course, we kids out-grew or wore out shoes every few months. If they could be re-soled or new heels put on, they were not thrown away. Mom constantly mended clothes for everybody. The new (homemade) dresses for Sunday and/or dress-up occasions were patched, then they were worn to school and next for “everyday”. By that time, they had patches to cover worn areas and the hems had been let out. The men’s overalls were also patched may times before they were discarded. Females never wore slacks/pants in public, but we did wear coveralls to pick corn, shock oats, etc.
Cob house? Yes. A building very close to the house where corn cobs were put whenever we shelled corn from the crib. Cobs were used as fuel in the cook stove and to start a fire in the furnace.
Mom and we three kids always went to Sunday School and church. We would often ride with our neighbors, Charlie and Agnes Swartzendruver and their daughter, Carol. If they had other plans after church, Dad would come to church and we would ride home with him. One Sunday, the Swartzendruver’s had other plans, so Dad came to church and when we went home, there were many, many cars in our yard! Relatives from both sides of the family, plus neighbors and friends surprised the folks with a pot-luck dinner for their 20th wedding anniversary! Of course, I was thrilled to see all the aunts, uncles and cousins. However, my joy was diminished considerably when I found out that Edna and Merton were part of the conspiracy and I had been left out! They thought I was too little to keep a secret.
Part of my church experience as a grade-schooler was Daily Vacation Bible School in the summer and then as a teenager, I went to Epworth league. This was all at the Rippey Methodist Episcopal Church. I was also the church pianist in my late teen years.
Eloise Templeton was a really good friend for all twelve years at Rippey Consolidated School and remains a really good friend as I write this book in 2006. We were both in all things musical, vocal and instrumental. My favorite band instrument was the trumpet and since that did not qualify to be in the string ensemble, I got a violin because Eloise was in the string ensemble. Eloise’s mother was our 4-H leader, so we did that together. We stayed overnight with each other, often. Wonderful memories.
My Grandpa John Lofstedt was in the hospital in Des Moines in 1930 and we were planning to go see him, but the morning we planned to go, I got up with the mumps on both sides! Edna was so mad at me, she cried, and not out of sympathy! The funny part of the mumps story is, I had been taken home from school, twice, because I looked like I had the mumps and all the other kids had the mumps! As I said earlier, I was chubby! When I did have the mumps, I was really swollen a lot on both sides.
Merton was always the first to get all the diseases. He was not a husky youngster and he caught everything easily. Dad had not had the kids’ diseases, so he eventually had everything as an adult along with us kids. I remember him being terribly sick with measles at the same time I had them. He was in their downstairs bedroom and Mom had made our couch into a bed in the living room for me. We kept Mom busy!
We never had a Christmas tree, so Santa left our gifts on the chairs where we sat at the dining room table. The best Christmas I remember as a child was when I was four years old and Santa brought me a doll in a doll bed! Of course, the bed was too big to put on the chair so it was sort of under the table by my chair. I wanted to play with it in our little kitchen and Mom told me several times to take it to the living room to play. I was so proud of Santa’s gift. I wanted to show it off all the time!
8
Mom was second oldest in a family of 11 children. Most of her siblings lived within a 40 mile radius, so it was easy to get together for Sunday dinners which happened every 3 or 4 weeks. I loved the wonderful home-cooked dinners and enjoyed the many cousins to play with, but it often irked me to be among the last to arrive, as we had to go to church, always.
My barefoot days do not fall into the category of “fun” memories! I remember stepping on a nail (quite a deep penetration). It was “treated” at home with a piece of fat meat tied over it after it was cleaned with turpentine! I also stepped on a bumble bee, ran a wooden sucker stick between two toes, stepped in chicken and animal manure — see what I mean? Then, it was total torture to put shoes on when school started!
We had a bicycle, but it had wooden wheels that warped so badly, it was nearly impossible to ride. Riding horses was a lot better and more fun.
Rain water from the house went into a cistern where pipes took it into the basement. The basement tank had a hand-pumped pressure gadget that created enough pressure so we could have soft water in the kitchen by turning on a faucet. We used soft water for our weekly bath and to wash dishes. The cook stove had a reservoir which warmed the water nicely.
Our drinking water came from a hand-pumped well about 100 feet from the house and that pail of water sat on top of the wood-box that held fuel (wood and cobs) for the stove. We all drank from a dipper that was always in the pail!
Pets
We had many outdoor cats that lived in the barn and they loved the fresh milk that they got morning and evening! We also had a dog, generally a collie. One dog found some rat poison that Dad thought was well hidden under a porch. It was so sad to see Rover suffer and die after he ingested it; or, maybe Rover ate a rat after it had eaten the poison. We never knew.
Rover, guarding Edna, 16 and Eleanor, 8; 1928
Eleanor and Trixi (our Rat-Terrier dog} taking water to men in the field shocking oats, 1930
When I was ten or eleven years old, the folks bought a little rat terrier puppy that did live in the house and it truly was one of the family! She was so protective! She didn’t want anybody on the premises. She never made up or welcomed an outsider and she would bark and nip them on the ankle. She was so dearly loved by all of us that no one wanted to have her “put to sleep” when she developed cancer. As my wedding day neared, I took Trixie to the vet and held her while he gave her the injection. After that experience, I swore I would never again get that attached to an animal, and I never have! Trixie would rest her head on our furnace register and the comfortable warm air would blow over her body and a horrible odor would waft all through the house. This had to change before my wedding as the reception was held in my home.
Our family never went on a vacation! Mom took her mother (Louisa Ulrich Schuttler) and we three kids to visit cousins of hers in Illinois, around the Peru/LaSalle area. We all had a great time that summer of 1936. Dad stayed home to tend the livestock and poultry and “keep the home fires burning”. Mom also took us to the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines. We stayed in a private home near the fairgrounds and walked to the fair, and then all over the grounds! We surely walked many miles in those two days!
One day when the threshers were at our place, Mom made lemonade to take to the men in the field. She squeezed the lemons, put the juice and some sugar in a big pail, then went to the well and pumped water to fill the pail. A neighbor boy watched her pumping and asked for a drink. When he dipped a cup into the pail, he let out a yell, “Wow! That well pumps out lemonade!” We teased him about that in later years.
9
Neighbors were really special. if someone was sick or had injuries that curtailed their abilities, neighbors helped each other out — like when my dad had his left hand amputated, the neighbors had a “husking bee”. At other times, it might be a “plowing bee” — whatever needed to be done! Great memories.
The Great Depression
Eleanor, all dressed up
My memories of the Great Depression are rather dim. I never had the feeling that we were “poor” because everyone was in the same boat! I knew we had to be frugal. That’s just the way it was. I do remember wearing a lot of hand-me-down clothes from my sister and from my neighbor, Carol Swartzendruver, who was three years older than I. Carol’s mother, Agnes, was an extremely good seamstress and since Carol was an only child, her dresses were extra nice. However, I failed to appreciate that to the fullest and made the remark, “I sure would like to have something new, just once”. I was reminded of that remark over the years!
As for discipline, we were never spanked! Dad would grip our shoulder and look us in the eye and explain that such behavior was not the thing to do, gave us a little jerk (and frown), then let us go. That seemed to be very effective.
Grandpa John Lofstedt gave us a radio in 1928, an Atwater Kent, that had three dials to set to receive a station. What a challenge! We would fiddle with it, then write down the best combination for that station. The folks particularly liked KMA and KFNF, both in Shenandoah, Iowa; also WHO in Des Moines. Farm market reports and news were top priorities, but the Hit Parade and comedy programs helped entertain us. Mom got wrapped up in soap operas which I never did like! Television wasn’t even a word in our vocabulary — unheard of! We did have a hand cranked Victrola that we enjoyed. I particularly enjoyed John Phillip Sousa band music.
Nylon was not yet invented. We had silk stockings for really dress-up occasions. They had seams in the back. Oh, what a challenge it was to have those seams straight! The foot and ankle were shaped and you had to buy your exact size to fit properly. Once they got a snag and a run, they were ruined! These were not panty hose. Each stocking was separate, so we would buy two pair at a time; then when one stocking had a problem, we could still keep it for the time the other pair got snagged! Stockings were held up with a garter belt or girdle with supporters to fasten onto the top of each stocking.
As a little youngster, I had to wear long underwear in the winter. It was a real chore to put on long cotton stockings over the bulky, long underwear. These stockings were held up with rubber garters, often cut from old inner tubes. Not a happy memory!
Mom taught me to embroider and I enjoyed that a lot. She also crocheted, but that is something I never learned.
We had one pair of ice skates, so Merton and I took turns on a very small pond that sometimes formed in the corner of a small pasture close to the road. Since this pond was not always available, ice skating was never a big deal, just occasional fun.
Due to the extremely dry weather in the mid 30’s, we had many bad dust storms when clouds of dust obscured the sun, making mid-day quite dark. Keeping a house clean was impossible! We were cleaning our house and Grandpa Lofstedt’s constantly — without vacuum cleaners! We had a hand pushed carpet sweeper, brooms and dustpans, mops and lots of rags to pick up the dirt.
10
In the winter of 1935 – 1936, there was record breaking cold and record breaking snow depth! There were no motorized vehicles on our road during the whole month of February, 1936. There was no school! Grandpa Lofstedt was dying of cancer and we went in a horse-drawn sled to see him several times. We had to get rid of cream and eggs in the same conveyance, often going across fields and over fences to reach our destination. Sometimes the horses would “go down” in the snow. Then dad and Merton would have to get out of the bob sled and coax them back up. What an ordeal. Dad sometimes would ride our riding horse to Rippey and pick up the mail for all the neighbors, then call them to come pick it up at our house At other times, he would ride the horse to Rippey, then have a friend drive him to Grand Junction to visit Grandpa. Thank goodness the telephone worked during that period! By this time, I was dating, which meant there was a long break in my social life! Rough!
Grandpa Lofstedt died March 20, 1936, and by then the roads were passable, so we had no problems with funeral arrangements and associated activities.
We did have a three burner kerosene stove to use for canning and cooking when summer heat was totally unbearable, with the kitchen range. The kerosene stove was on the porch and Mom had a one-burner oven to use for baking, but it was really small and not too satisfactory.
A trip to the dentist was a much dreaded excursion. Cavities were cleaned out with a drill that really hurt (and got very hot) before the filling was put in. Even the tooth cleaning was unpleasant.
When I was quite small, I wanted a pedal car so bad. I begged Mom to write to Santa, as I knew my folks could not afford one for my birthday, it had to come from Santa for Christmas. Needless to say, I never had a pedal car.
Our family was close and I always felt secure and loved, but we never hugged and kissed. Our feelings were not shown.
When I was growing up, Mom wore her hair short and so did Edna and I, very plain and straight. When I was 14 or 15, I got my first “permanent wave”! At that time, getting a perm was quite complicated. A machine with attachments of clamps and wires was fastened over small rollers of hair. The heated clamps often got too hot, so the beauty operator always had to be right there to move or loosen the clamp before it burned your scalp!
As I was growing up, we made homemade ice cream often in the winter; seldom in the summer, as we had to buy the ice. Also, in the winter it could be kept frozen outdoors for treats for a couple of days, but in the summer it had to be eaten in one sitting, as we had no refrigerators or freezer.
The Fourth of July was always a BIG day as I was growing up. My Grandpa Lofstedt always brought a big bag of firecrackers (all sizes), torpedoes, sparklers, Roman candles, cap guns (and several rolls of caps). We would put a large firecracker under a can and watch it blow up! Such excitement! In the evening of the 4th, we often went to Spring Lake (northwest of Grand Junction) where the fireworks were set off on the west side of the lake while the viewers were on the east side of the lake. We could see the fireworks in the sky and the reflection in the lake. There were people in boats on the lake which added to the picturesque setting. More happy memories!
In the years before Grandma Lofstedt’s death, Grandpa would drive his car really close to the house, then he and Dad would carry her inside. As she was very handicapped, she very seldom came to our house.
11
Eleanor, holding a buck sheep, 1931
Dad raised sheep and often a ewe would not claim her lamb, which meant we had to bottle-feed it and keep it in a box in the house for warmth! These lambs would be “pets” all their lives, which was really fun. The sheep were sheared every spring and most of their wool was sold. Mom did keep some that she washed (stinky!) and carded. She used special tools to “loosen” the wool and make it fluffy, the she used the wool to make comforters. Comforters were very warm compared to quilts, as they were thicker and made of WOOL!
Dad had a threshing machine powered by a tractor. Another rig in our neighborhood was much bigger and powered by a steam engine. When the threshing crew was at our house, the guys washed up outside, where improvised wash stands were set up with pails of water nearby and towels thrown on the fence. All the women tried to cook more and better dinners than their neighbors, so every meal was a feast! It is hard to visualize the hardship of preparing all that food on the day of serving! Threshing was always in August when the hottest weather is at its peak–no refrigerator, so little could be prepared in advance.
Corn shelling was another big deal, but that was done at cooler times of the year. Dad hired a corn sheller to set up by the crib, then again, neighbors would help rake and shovel the ear corn from the crib into the sheller. The shelled corn was elevated into overhead bins in the crib and the cobs were put in the cob house and basement. Some of the shelled corn was taken to the elevator and sold. Most of it was fed to the livestock and poultry.
We had several fruit trees that provided goodies, fresh and canned (later frozen); apples to eat fresh, canned or made into apple butter; cherries for sauce, pies and jam; and mulberries! To harvest the mulberries, Mom sewed several yards of mesh to make a big “sheet” which we put on the ground, then using long handled rakes, we shook the branches so the fruit would fall off into the mesh sheet. The sheet was then picked up and the contents poured into pails for use in sauce or pies. Mom bought
pears and peaches in bushel baskets to can; also crates of prunes. We always had a strawberry patch and they were picked every other day. To get fresh gooseberries and raspberries, we went to Mom’s sister’s timber near Ogden and climbed hills up and down hunting for them.
All the rooms in our home had papered walls and ceilings which needed to be replaced often, due to furnace soot and dirty conditions in general. We did all our own paper-hanging, which was really an ordeal!
The kitchen and dining room floors were covered with linoleum. A smaller-than-room size carpet was in the living room. During the Depression in the mid-1930’s, the kitchen linoleum was so worn, there was no pattern or color visible, but the backing was not yet worn through, so Mom decided to paint it! This necessitated taking the stove, wood box and cabinet into the dining room. Dad brought a heavy plank and two blocks of wood to prop it up, so we could go from the dining room to the porch without walking on the kitchen floor! This situation lasted several days, as Mom put on two coats of paint, THEN “stippled” two colors to brighten up the ivory colored floor. What little cooking was done, was on the laundry stove in the basement.
We had homemade bread that sometimes got moldy! Obviously, we were not big bread-eaters and since Mom made six loaves each batch, it wasn’t used promptly. Pie crusts were made with home rendered lard and cakes, cookies, rolls and pudding were always made from scratch! No box mixes were available.
12
Flies! Oh! What a problem they were! Swarms of flies would collect on the screen door and it was impossible to go in or out without flies getting in the house. There were times Mom hung “fly paper” in the dining room. “Fly paper” was a ribbon of sticky paper that held the fly like glue. Of course, we had at least three fly swatters to be used individually. Flies were also a problem for the animals. Cows and horses were constantly switching their tails to drive them away. The horses had fly nets over their harness to help keep the flies from biting them. This was extra work for Dad and Merton after putting their harnesses on.
Tiny “grease” ants were a major problem in the summer! They were attracted to lard, butter, cream and everything that had “fat” or “greasy” items in it. Mom bought a powder that repelled or killed them. (I’m not sure which.) She also put kerosene in cups that were put under the four cabinet legs. Of course, after putting the kerosene barrier under the legs of the cabinet, all its contents were taken out and cleaned thoroughly before putting them back in place!
My parents loved fish, but never went fishing. Instead, they ordered 100 pounds of frozen fish (several different kinds) from a firm in Duluth, Minnesota every winter. These frozen fish were kept in Mom’s fish pond with heavy cement blocks on top of the wood cover so dogs and other animals couldn’t get them. It was a chore to remove the blocks and wood cover to get the fish to the house.
Mom’s fish pond was a concrete tank buried in the ground. In the summer, she had goldfish in it and they had to be put into an aquarium for winter survival. The five gallon aquarium was put in the upstairs hall and sometimes it would have ice on it, but the fish survived very well.
When I was a freshman in high school, all the 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th grades met in an assembly room (in our seats) before classes began, for study hall during free periods and for programs or lectures. In the back of that room was a clock. When I turned around to check the time, there was a 10th grade boy that always seemed to be looking at me! One day, he winked at me! I liked that and smiled!! That boy was Roland Whiton! He had gone to a one-room country school in Boone County, near Angus, and came to Rippey Consolidated School to get his high school education. I was not yet 15 and had not dated. Roland and I would visit during our lunch time, but dating was not mentioned for a long time. During this time, I was going to Epworth League at my church every week, and a guy in that group asked me for a date. Since he was from the church group and his folks and my folks had known each other for years, I thought if I were allowed to date anybody, he would be acceptable! Right! I was given permission to go on my first date, with Paul Bardole. After that, Roland and I started going together regularly. Our first date was to a “chivari” (a surprise party for newly-weds) for a teacher in our school, Jake Peters, and his wife, Wilmuth.
The Junior-Senior Banquet was always a big event. The girls wore “formal”, long dresses and the boys wore suit, (no tuxedos) and all were expected to be mannerly. It was not a prom! No dancing was allowed at school or in the school’s name.
Eleanor, Graduation, 1938
Eleanor and Roland in Illinois on honeymoon
It has been fun “remembering” and jotting this down. I realize it is not all “chronologically” done, but I wrote as I thought about the different experiences over my first 19 1/2 years!
13