My mother’s parents, Clark and
Dolly, grew up in Canada, just the other side of the border from Niagara Falls.
In 1925, ninety years ago now, they eloped! They got married and moved to this
side of the border, to Buffalo, where the jobs were believed to be more
plentiful and paid better than what was available in Ontario at the time. And
for a couple of years things went really well. Clark and Dolly both worked, made good
money, and were even able to save some.
That all
changed in 1929, when the Wall Street Crash happened. Dolly was already staying
home taking care of the children who had come along, and that was okay. But
Clark was working and trying to stay employed – it was hard when companies and
factories were closing down all around him. Every time he got a job, the place
would close soon after, and the next day Clark would be the first in line at a
place where there were hints of hiring. It was very tough going for both of
them.
All through my
childhood I heard stories about the Great Depression and the heroics of the
people who struggled through it. Clark and Dolly were the picture that could be
posted next to the phrase hard times which
is synonymous with the Depression. In the end, Clark provided for his family, and
Dolly made ends meet, but it was tough.
One of the
jobs Clark had during the Depression was at a pots and pans factory. I don’t
know the name of the company or the address – I wish I did. All I know is that
it was a pots and pans factory. And the quality must have been a little better
than what Clark and Dolly already had, because Clark brought some of the pots
and pans home! I don’t know if there was a boxed set sitting
around one day and Clark picked it up and brought it home, or if he snuck a
piece at a time under his jacket and brought it home, or if they were factory
rejects that he brought home – they weren’t going to be sold, and yet they were
not supposed to be taken by the employees. All I know is that there were pots
and pans from the factory brought home which were not supposed to be, and Dolly
was using them.
That is, until
the day that Clark arrived home from work looking as pale as can be. He asked
Dolly to give him all the pots and pans that had come from the factory. She
knew better, when he looked like that, to ask any questions, so she took a
pot off the stove, emptied it, cleaned it out and gave it to Clark. Then she
went into the cupboards and retrieved the others, making sure the lids were
with them. And once all of them were in Clark’s arms, he walked outside and
buried them in the backyard!
When he came
back inside, Clark said that one of his friends at work had gotten fired that
day because he had the factory’s pots and pans at home! Clark did not want to
get fired. No one was to ever know that there had been any of the factory’s
merchandise in their house!
About two
weeks after my Grandmother told me this story, she wanted to take it all back
again! “Denny! You must
never repeat that story – it will bring shame and embarrassment to the family!”
“How can something
that happened fifty years ago bring
shame to the family?”
If Dolly remembered the address of where they had been
living at the time, she was not forthcoming with it!
I was so glad
she had told me that story. So often we only hear about the heroics of our
ancestors – their struggles and victories. It was wonderful to hear about a
character flaw, a screw up, weakness – this shows that our forebears were
regular people after all. Human. And I’m human. And maybe if I’m human like
they were, I’m also capable of heroics like they were – it could happen, it’s
in the genes!
Someday, if it
hasn’t already happened, someone in Buffalo is going to go into his backyard
and for whatever reason start digging and will come upon a set of pots and
pans, and he will not have any clue as to how they came to be there – he will scratch
his head and wonder upon what appears to be nothing more than a pile of junk.
But if our family could only know about it! We would cast our eyes and see
something completely different. I’ll even be corny enough to say it, in someone’s
backyard in Buffalo are the pots of gold that make this story complete!
349 20151215 Pots of Gold
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