Mary Alexejun's Interview

Tell us some background information about yourself.

I was born in Ingalls, Michigan, in 1922 and my father worked for Wisconsin Public Service Corporation in Ingalls, Michigan, on the Menominee River. His wages were about fifty dollars a month and the company owned the house we lived in at the time. No one saved more than my mother, who never threw anything away. Clothes were handed down and you always put the amount of food you could eat on your plate. You never wasted any food. My husband’s parents bought a farm near Ingalls, Michigan, in 1933 and my husband’s father stayed in Chicago to work so they could make the payments on the farm. My in-laws were Lithuanian and spoke very little English. They had three boys in their teens  who were mischievous. My mother-in-law could see that Chicago was no place to raise teenagers, so that is why they bought the farm in Ingalls, MI. She was more saving than anyone. She had a heart of gold. She washed dishes and rinsed the dishes in a pail of water before using soap and then fed the rinse water to the pigs. When we were teens my parents had a player piano, and we danced and had popcorn every Saturday night in the living room; that was our entertainment. We also sat around the radio and listened to the hit parade. I remember Giselle McKenzie. Everyone loved her, and she was from Canada. My dad made turtle soup often, and the soup was always shared with all the neighbors plus fish and venison. I had a brother, and we went fishing a lot through the ice in the winter and in the summer. In the winter we went ice-skating and sliding and in the summer we went swimming in the Menominee River. If you didn’t know how to swim you were thrown in the water and you had to swim back. I went to a small two-room schoolhouse with four grades in each room, with about forty children in each room.

What do you remember most about the Depression?

I remember my father had a steady job. Most of our neighbors were very poor, and you more or less shared. If you had fish or any food, that you had an abundance of at the time, you shared it. That is what I remember the most. In those days we didn’t have freezers. We had iceboxes, and there was an icehouse where they stored the ice, which was covered in sawdust, and you used it in the summer. In the winter you stocked up on ice.

Can you recall any ways that the Depression affected education?

Yes, when I graduated from high school my gym teacher, Ruth Skowland, offered to pay my way to go to college if I would pay her back when I finished and I am sorry to this day that I didn’t take her up on the offer. I was a gym leader in those days. 

How old were you during the Depression?

In 1933 I was eleven. I was born in 1922. In those days we never locked the house. I think people were more friendly and more sharing.

Is life easier and more fun now or back then?

That is a good question. Right now I am eighty-one years old, and I am so busy that I don’t know where the time goes. In those days we were more relaxed, and today we are always in a rush. They say it is easier now with the automatic washing machine. I remember my mother had an old wringer wash machine, and she always used to boil the white clothes to make them white. In some ways it is easier now. You never wasted anything. When you bought flour, you bought it in a sack and my mother made table cloths and other items from the flour sacks.

Did the banks closing affect your family?

My mother and dad had a small amount of money; I don’t remember the exact amount of money in the Bank of Stephenson. Then the bank closed and they weren’t able to go there immediately. Several months  later, the bank offered a blanket as compensation for that loss of money. It is like going to the bank now and being told it was closed, and all your money is gone. 

Who was the president?

Herbert Hoover was president before Franklin D. Roosevelt. Roosevelt was the president who started all the programs like the WPA, which was a good thing. They built parks and other things. Franklin Roosevelt was elected after Hoover. I don’t remember Harding. 

Which do you think is better, TV or radio shows?

I watch both but back then I listened to the radio. Some shows are better on TV but I like the radio, too. You can be doing something when you listen to the radio. 

What was your favorite radio shows?

Amos and Andy and Your Hit Parade, and they were on Saturday night. Then there was a show that listed the top ten songs of the week and they would start with number ten and work back. They would have a well-known singer on the hit parade to see what was number one. Gracie and George Burns who were comedians were also on the radio. 

What were your favorite movies?

My favorite movies were Shirley Temple movies and Gone with the Wind. We didn’t go to the movies very often. It only cost ten cents, there was only one movie theater, and it was twenty miles from us. It was the Lloyd Theater. The theater in Menominee had an organ, and the organist would play music before the movies began. 

What do you think is the greatest invention in your lifetime? 

Electricity. My husband worked for Wisconsin Public Service and my dad worked for the same company. What would we do without electricity? 

What were your favorite activities?

Swimming in the summer and sled riding in the winter. We had a natural hill, and we made a jump. I also enjoyed skiing. My dad made me skis but they weren’t very good and I didn’t have any ski boots. 

Did your family listen to President Roosevelt’s radio addresses?

Definitely, “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” 

What were you doing when President Roosevelt died?

When President Roosevelt died, I was working at the telephone company. I had the measles on December 7, 1941, the day Pearl Harbor was bombed. 

What was your reaction?