Jane Works, Flo Hume, Ruby Owens and Susan Pulliam, residents of Fountain Villa, recently shared their experiences of growing up during the Dust Bowl and Great Depression Era.
Students Jonathan Miller, Dylan Newland, Blake Haar, Jeremy Waldman, Emma Neal and Mia Aronson became interested in this period of time while reading “Out of the Dust” by Karen Hesse, this fall’s book selection for the Iola Reads program.
Inspired by the youths’ interest, the women began â¨giving their recollections about the Great Depression.
A lot of the men left home to look for work. They would travel by foot or railroad and stop by homes to ask for work and meals.
Dresses and shirts were made from feed sacks, one woman said, while another mentioned all the fruits and vegetables that could be found were canned for the winter.
If a family was fortunate to have a fan, a wet towel was hung up in front of it to help cool the room. Some families would move their mattresses to porches to sleep which was cooler than being indoors.
Times were bad for everyone. Parents provided for their families as best as they could, the women surmised.
The severity of the Dust Bowl depended on location, whether a person lived in western Kansas which is considerably flatter than the topography of eastern Kansas.
Houses weren’t built to be as airtight in those days as they are today, the women said, and some schools would dismiss class because the dust would become so thick it made it dark outside.
Dust Bowl, Depression intrigue elementary students
