Jane Reynolds – An Interview About The Depression Essay, Research Paper

The depression of the 1930s was a major event in many American’s lives. It left them with little money, and even fewer resources. The country had to bind together to get through rough times, and each person was struggling to live individually.

Enter Jane Reynolds, a 76 year old woman whose memories of the depression are surprisingly happy. Her family was very lucky in that her father owned a used car lot in Salt Lake City, a steady job that put food on the table. Jane says she remembers her father had to repossess cars all the time because no one had money to pay for anything.

In 1930 Jane and her family moved into her grandparent’s house, to combine all their resources in this hard time. She remembers the home as being very happy and comforting, even though her mother was at first in a state of depression because she was worried about the new baby she had just beared. There were no drugs to treat depression like there are in modern times. Yet still, Jane can remember her mother saying, “We are poor, but we are not poor in spirit.”

Jane’s grandfather worked at ZCMI and traveled selling shoes. The family was very fortunate to have two men in the house with well paying jobs while so many people were going hungry. The children’s clothing was the same fabric used repeatedly, but taken apart year after year and sewn back together again in an updated style. The girls learned at a young age to be worthy seamstresses, something helpful to their mother who was trying to raise 5 children and be cheerful about it at the same time.

School was always a pleasure for Jane, being with all her friends and having fun was something any child could enjoy, poor or not. She remembers that some students couldn’t bring a lunch to school so they had to walk to and from home for lunch because their mothers didn’t drive. Some children would have a solitary piece of bread to eat, and some would have nothing at all. At these times, Jane remembers the teacher handing out small cups of milk and bits of bread to the hungry children. The children who had food never took what the teacher offered because they knew that the less fortunate children needed it.

Jane’s family was pretty well-off, receiving groceries twice a day and eating canned…

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