Theresa Schmidt

What our parents saw

As I watch a documentary about WWII,  I consider what did our parents see, hear and experience in their early 20’s.    Life seemed so much harder then.  I wish I would have talked more about this with them.  Mom always said, “you have no idea”.  I remember her telling me that they had to stretch everything they had.  For example,  I have a cabinet that mom had in the house at one time.  It was called a pie safe.  The doors on it had screens and latches on it.  that way the dog or anyone else couldn’t get the food. (pie)  

When it was of no use in the house,  Dad took the old cabinet to use in the garage.  The mice would chew thru the wood, so dad took soup can lids to cover the holes.   I asked mom why he didn’t just build a new cabinet?  He was good at building anything.  (another story).  

She said “we couldn’t just go out and buy things”.  I  assumed she meant they didn’t have  much money.  She told me “you weren’t allowed to buy things like- sugar, flour, fat, tires, lumber- many things were rationed”.  (See story about ration books)

That is why we had piles of what I thought was junk.  Dad, and his 2 brothers, who lived just down the street, shared piles of steel and metal, wood, tires.  “You didn’t throw anything away.  Somebody could use it for something else.”   Whenever he needed to repair  or build something  he would go to the piles of leftovers.

I wonder about when dad’s oldest brother, Uncle Phil, who went to serve in the military, what things were like in his family.  I imagine Grandma probably said the rosary and went to mass everyday.   In his obituary we learned that he served for 5 yrs overseas,  had been shot and earned the Purple Heart medal.  Dad would have been about 18 years old, and Uncle Jr. about 8,  when Uncle Phil served.  At the time, he was the only one of his brothers who served.  Dad was exempt from serving as he was needed to work on the farm.  Farmers were needed to feed the country.   Uncle Jr. was too young.  

August 17, 2020

Mom’s Ration book -finding a treasure

I liked dressing up mom’s cement goose.  after all I had one of my own and it was fun to see mom do something that was silly and watch her smile.  She was a practical person and if she didn’t see a purpose for something, she wasn’t doing it.  One summer afternoon I noticed she had several boxes of goose clothes on the bookshelves in the garage. (The bookshelves held many other things besides books.)

Being curious about the many outfits  she had I started sorting and organizing them.

Mom was neither.  As I straightened the rest of the shelves, I noticed there were several old books about women and business.  No doubt, dad must have rescued them from one of the many auctions they attended.  Since I was the only child who was a businesswoman,  I knew he must’ve wanted them because of me. It made me feel like, maybe he had been proud of me.  You never

knew how you felt with our parents.  nobody ever showed feelings.  It was always, “the facts mam, just the facts”   Since he had been gone for several years,  I asked mom if I could have these for my library.  She gave her permission, but said, “look through them, before you take them home, you never know what might be stuck in between the pages”.  Cool!  what would I find – money? a note?  a secret treasure map?

Leafing through the pages I found – scraps of papers used as a bookmark,  then a dog-eared page,  a couple pages had words underlined,  (had dad actually read the books and took notes?)  Having 7 daughters,  he might have been trying to figure us out.  OK, if that was all I found then I was happy.  Just to surmise what he might have been thinking felt good.

It wasn’t until almost the last book that I came across some small booklets.  At first I thought maybe they had been in the book when mom and dad brought them home.  They looked real old,  discolored but still in good shape.  Then I noticed on the front page of the small booklet was dad’s name, their was also ones with mom and Barbara’s name on, too.  Wow! what was this?  It said “Ration book”.  I showed them to mom and with no surprise and no excitement she told me about the books.  These books were from World War II.  The country was rationing certain items to all Americans, to help in the war effort..  The books said- Gas coupons,  sugar,  flour, meat, canned goods,  coffee  etc.  She explained, “You were supposed to tear off one of the perforated “coupons” each time you bought something”.  There were several coupons left in each book.  But mom, I asked, why didn’t you use up all the coupons?  She just said, “ you had to have money to buy the items.”

Being practical as they were,  I asked  “couldn’t you give them to Grama or someone else who could use them?’  Then very seriously she told me,  “you couldn’t give them to anyone else because you had to even show ID to use them.  And if you bought something for someone else you could get into trouble.  I could tell she didn’t want to take any chances back then.    I’m guessing that even thinking about it you probably felt unpatriotic.  After all,  her brother, Uncle Raymond and dad’s brother, Uncle Phil were or had been  in the service about that time.  This was people’s way of feeling they were doing their part in the war effort.

I asked her if I could have one of the books, since there were several.  She said I could take them all,  they weren’t any good.  Maybe it brought back hard memories for her.  It was very important for me, having a little glimpse into my family’s life during the war.

There was a time Bill and I considered adoption.  We wanted a little boy to even out our family.   We were asked to take classes for the adoption. During the classes we were to make a chart of our family tree. I became interested in looking back as far as I could.  Working with mom and dad to fill in what they knew. I decided to bring Aunt Agnes and Aunt Theo,  mom’s only living Aunts to her house for lunch.  In the mean time I searched at the Tecumseh library for the article about the train accident that Mom’s dad and oldest sister were killed.  It was the spring of 1930.  Mom never talked about it and just got teary whenever it was mentioned,  which was hardly ever.  

    We had arranged for dad to need a ride shortly after they got there so that we could talk with them alone.  They told us how devastating it was for the family, the whole town really.  Mom was only 5 and Uncle Raymond was only 2, Uncle Alfred, Aunt Frances and Helen were in elementary school when it happened.  I am attatching the article from the paper.  

TheytoldusthatGrandpaLidsterandMargie(thatwasmom’soldestsister,whowasabouttograduatehighschool)hadgottenaridehomefromafriend.  On the way home the car stalled as it crossed the railroad tracks, about 2 miles North of where they lived.  The friend and Margie were inside the car trying to get it started and grampa was trying to push it off the tracks.  (In those days the trains didn’t use whistles unless they were in a town.)  This was 1930 and there was no insurance, so if you lost your car it was a big loss.  As the article says, it dragged the car a ways down the tracks and everyone was cut beyond recognition. 

Grandmahad5childrentocareforand  a 100 acre farm.  They told us how all the farmers in the area helped get the crops in and gave the family clothes and other stuff they needed.  Thank goodness Aunt Theo lived across the street.

They also told us stories about how their grandpa fought in the civil war.  That would be my great, great, great, great grandpa.  They remembered he talked about how cold they were in the winter and that they had to find their own food.  Stealing eggs from chickens, stealing chickens, hunting and cooking for themselves.  The Union (government of the north) only gave them a uniform, gun and bullets;  and a canteen.  Food rations were unreliable.

My second mother/friend was the best neighbor I ever had. She always wanted to visit with someone and if you were the one, you were the only one.  She listened intently to everything you said. She wanted to meet everybody you knew, and I always felt like someone special to her. She would talk to me about all her other friends, and we laughed about so many things.  I don’t know if she knew it or not, but I knew she would trick me into coming down to her house when she would call and say I have something to show you or could you help me write a check. I just knew she wanted some company and it was me. 

Wheneversheaskedustocomeoverfordinner,itwouldbeabanquet. Shealwaysmadetwomeats,potatoes,andseveralsidedishes. youalwayswentawaystuffed. Shemadesureofthat. 

Oneofherfamoussayingswas- whenyouwerevisitingandyousaidyouhadtoleave. She’d  say “oh come on set down.”  

When Bill was working midnights all those years. She was great company. She would say let’s watch that movie that’s coming up on Wednesday, but when I went down to watch the movie, she talked all the way thru it.  She told stories about stupid things the cats did.More stories about her family, and when she was younger, she loved to go out, she love to sneak out and go dancing. I bet she was a wild dancer. I bet she was a wild everything. I loved her a lot and I hated leaving Tecumseh because of her being next-door.  

My earliest memory of my mom.  

I’m not sure how old I was, but I know I was very young.  Small enough to be held in her  arms and rocked to sleep.  It is the warmest memory I have of her.  I don’t think I felt well and I remember her rocking back and forth in dad’s chair.  I know it was in the corner of the living room where he always sat.  Nobody sat in dad’s chair when he came into the LR, which was usually not till after dinner.   So, this must have been during the day when we rocked.  She patted my bottom and sang a little, and it felt very comforting.  No one was home and it was quiet and warm in the house.  I only remember it happening that one time, but maybe there were more.  when Liz was born,  I thought about that time and wanted to give her and all my kids that same comforting feeling.  

My earliest memory of my father.

When we went to church he was the one who carried me. I must have been about 2.  My dad carried me, because mom had another baby (Mar).  I knew I had to behave with dad, he didn’t kid around in church.  We all sat in one pew but he sometimes left us with mom and went to the back of the church.  Then the other kids watched me.  I remember watching to see where he went and saw that he would come back to the front and give people something.   I watched him til he came back to sit with us – Barb, Janice, Ron, Pat, me and the baby.  I can still see him bent over as he knelt down and looked at the floor.  (he must have been praying) – (that we would all be quiet).

Some of the things I remember from our bedroom : it was crowded, (6 of us in one room)  but we each had our own space.  sometimes it was just one side of the bed, but it is where I belonged.  I remember the windows were cold,  I had my very own green twin blanket, actually 2 of them, because our upstairs was always cold.  The blankets were not enough to keep the cold out and I slept with the blanket over my head lots of times.  Beverly was my first (walking) doll.  She was all mine.  I didn’t have to share her. wow  She slept with me and I talked to her a lot.  She was a good listener and I told her about when I got married, I would be nice to my kids and let them do lots of things they wanted. Now that I think about it, I remember a small crucifix on the wall,, right by the door.  There was a short door off the room that led to the attic.  It was a dark, spooky room.  Nobody knew exactly what all was in there.  We used to set mouse traps and we got paid 5 cents for each one we caught.  Dad liked to watch cowboy programs, so naturally I had dreams about Indians coming to get me.  I always hid under the bed. They never looked there.

I had my appendix out when I was 7.  

The day after school got out, I didn’t feel well.  I knew we didn’t have any health insurance and worried about going to the doctor.  After about 3 hours of nausea,  mom took me to the doctor.  He said to take me right to the hospital for surgery right away.  In the OR I remember them telling me if I smell a funny smell to just try to blow it out.   Then I woke up in my hospital room and mom was there.  Grama and Grampa Forche came to visit and brought me a game of some sort.  Then everyone went home, and it got dark.  I remember crying that I wanted my mom.  But she didn’t come.  the next day I had a room mate that was a 1 yr old, and 2 more kids came into the same room.  My bed was by the window.  Then 2 days later I had to go to another room because, I caught the measles.  (They said German measles)  I had to be in a room all by myself.  I remember dad came to see me, and I thought that was really different.  He had to wear a gown and a mask.  These measles were very contagious and I spent 3 more days there, which I don’t remember.  When I got home I had to sleep in a room alone and I stayed in Mom and dad’s room.  The house had to be kept dark til I got better.  They said these measles made your eyes sensitive to the light, and you could go blind if you got too much light.  Ronald called me sickie, I didn’t like that cause I didn’t feel good and I remember saying it wasn’t my fault.  I think that is when I stopped saying anything to him.  When I felt better, I found out that we had new neighbors.  It was a girl 2 years younger that me.  Brenda was 5.  Mar and her had already played together and I felt that is why they were always better friends.

Christmas traditions

We always made lots of Christmas cookies.  My dad had a sweet tooth so we made his favorite every year.  Rock cookies (Labguuken) a German traditional cookie.  We also make plenty of sugar cut out cookies too.  

On Christmas eve,  dad would take us around town to see the lights.  When we got home Santa had been there.  There was a row for each of us, no wrapping, but we didn’t even notice.  Then we would have a big Christmas dinner the next day.  About 1 week before we got together with out Forche cousins at a community room at one of our churches.  Sometimes in Adrian, sometimes in Deerfield.  We also went to a kids party that the Knights of Columbus (the men’s group of the Catholic church) had with gifts for everyone, songs, games and fun.  

One thing from my childhood that I still have 

I have the birthday card form when I turned One, form Aunt Marcella and Uncle Raymond. It had a silver dollar in it and mom saved it in the same envelope.  I also have a small pink bank, although I don’t remember where I got it.  I kept my 2 walking dolls, Beverly was from when I was 6 until I was 67. Charmin Chatty came to me at my 7 yr Christmas. She walked and talked.  She had 2 small records that you put in the side of their tummy and them pull the string.  These were very popular back then.  Walking and talking was a new concept.  These dolls were 30 inches tall and if you rocked them as you walked with them their legs seemed to move.   The girls all said they look creepy so I put them in the dumpster at the sorority I cleaned, just one month ago.  (10/2021) I thought I would be sad that I finally got rid of them, but I really forgot all about them.  

A favorite vacation

We always camped or stayed at a tiny house cabin.  Every year we always camped up north for one week at Benzie state park,  close to Empire, Mi.  It had a shallow river to play in and a current to float back and forth.  The river went out to Lake Michigan the campground had a mile hike to the lake.  We always took the small boat my dad had, because he liked to fish. . . .and also to carry all the stuff for 8 – 10 people.  I only hiked the path once all the way.  Their were a lot of markings and bent trees in the woods that dad said the Indians made to mark the trail.  We always believed him.  When I was really small I liked to walk beside my dad and put my hand in his.  It fit just right.