Bounty of Depression: Poverty, sharing were 'way of life' for widow's family
The widow of John "Bud" Hutchings, whose father's collections eventually were transformed into the John Hutchings Museum of Natural History, recently spoke of those days to youngsters at the museum.
Her parents were caught in the financial crash of 1929 when the bank that held their savings — $3,000 — unexpectedly closed its doors, wiping out the resources they had saved to build a cottage. In those days $3,000 would have paid for the home.
Barely 4 years old, she and her family lived in poverty for the rest of her childhood.
"It was a way of life. I didn't feel depressed. I knew we didn't have any money, but no one else in the neighborhood did either," she said.
Her father, John Whimpey, was a farmer in Lehi, so the family of nine children never went without food.
"When he saw someone going without he would take some grain to the mill and get cracked wheat or flour and give it away," she said.
"There was a lot of sharing ... a lot of borrowing to keep things going."
The Whimpey family had a garden and fruit trees and shared the produce with those who didn't have a garden, she said. What they didn't share or use, they canned.
"I never remember feeling I was going without. Everyone was sharing and bartering," Hutchings said. "We looked out for one another. Mother had us check on our neighbors to see how they were doing. It made you compassionate — you were very much aware of others."
Nothing was wasted during the Depression. The church owned a cooperative store in Lehi. Among the items it sold was cloth. Instead of throwing away the end pieces they all went into a barrel for people to take, no charge. In the meat department dog bones were given away free while soup bones were just a dime.
When clothing wore out the serviceable pieces were cut up and stitched into quilts. If cotton batting wasn't available, the new quilt was sewn around an old blanket.
Even old, worn-out shoes were stored for the future, just in case someone needed them.
Every July 4 young Madge looked forward to her one new dress for the year, sewn by an older, married sister, Lela Russon.
Hutchings was number seven in the brood of nine, four boys and five girls. Two died as children: a boy, age 8 and a girl, age 2 1/2. Funerals then were held in the home.
"I never knew my grandparents," she said. "I felt I missed out there."
Playtime was often in the dirt roads where children drew hopscotch games and played ball. Although few people had cars then, the children were always disappointed when a car came down the street and messed up their game.
In the winter the children claimed the hill at 600 North and 200 East for sledding and making snow angels.
Because coal stoves were used to heat the homes, they demanded a thorough cleaning twice a year. Everything was removed from the home so it could be scrubbed down. And when childhood diseases struck, the process was repeated to get rid of germs.
Because the coal stoves heated just the bottom floor, about mid-afternoon the family would open transom windows over the doors to allow the heat into the upper floor where they had two bedrooms — one for the boys and one for the girls. Then they would heat bricks to warm their beds.
Families in the '30s were resourceful, even making their own perfume by soaking rose petals in water, Hutchings recalled. They also made their own lye soap, which was hard on skin and hair. Occasionally they would give their hair a vinegar rinse to counteract the harshness.
The Whimpey household had the one phone in the neighborhood, while a neighbor across the street had the one newspaper subscription (to the Deseret News). They shared.
A washroom near the back door contained a wringer washer and three tubs. Water was heated on a coal-burning stove for laundry. In the winter all was brought into the house but the clothes were hung out to freeze, then brought in to finish drying.
"It was amazing how fast they would dry after being frozen," she said.
Milk was kept cool in a milk house that had a concrete floor for holding fresh water from a nearby well that ran through and out to the garden. Milk was 5 cents a quart.
But perhaps one of the most poignant occurrences were "door-step babies." Unwanted babies were wrapped up and put in baskets, then set on a family's doorstep. Hutchings said she knew several children in her neighborhood who had come to live with families that way.
"(The families) accepted them just as their own. Nobody knew where they came from."
E-mail: rodger@desnews.com
Recent comments
My parents and grandparents also survived the depression. I was born...
Clyde H, Fendley Sr. | May 5, 2008 at 2:22 p.m.
My parents and grandparents survived the depression and taught us...
Rich | May 5, 2008 at 12:04 a.m.
It was a good story that everyone could learn from. It showed community...
becky | May 4, 2008 at 10:45 p.m.
