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2

1935
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HOME, FAMILY AND FRIENDS

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I know little of the winter of 1935 as far as our domestic life was concerned. I must assume it was reasonably normal as far as the family and our social activities were concerned. I assume that Willie and I got together with our various friends as usual and there were the normal poker games periodically. Prohibition having ended in December 1934, there well may have been a little more drinking. With business picking up rapidly, it seems probably that I wasn't at home quite as much as I'd been during the very lean years because of GE commitments either out of town or even at home such as working longer hours at the office as well as spending more time with visiting customers. As for the latter, such entertainment was expected by such clients and it was part of the "commercial man's" responsibilities to see that they got it. I shall cover this in detail in the GE Section since it was really quite an activity. However, this probably ^[[didn't]] average more than an evening or two a week over any extended period.

It was along about this time that we contracted with Dorothy MacLeod to take some pictures of the children. She was a good amateur photographer who had a hankering, I'd judge, to branch out a little and try a bit of studio work. So she had Bab and Rog out to their place one day and took a number of shots of them from which we chose two or three for finishing up into frameable enlargements. I'm including an assortment of the best small prints in here.

Willie went to Louisville in the spring to be with her mother for two or three weeks but just what specific arrangements were made in Erie while she was gone, I don't know except I feel fairly sure that my mother came and kept house and looked after the children. Although it was a heart-breaking trip for Willie, she can't remember much about it either after all these years. Also, the Depression had put heavy pressure on Willie's father's business and he and Uncle Walter had had a rough time keeping things going. Because of this condition, "the Colonel" had had to give up the apartment on Douglas Boulevard and move into a less costly bungalow in the same general vicinity. I feel sure this must have been a blow to his pride and accentuated the entire atmosphere of tragedy that had swept over them with Nana's illness. It was a deeply unhappy, tragic period, particularly for the Colonel and for Willie. Whether Nana herself realized just how desperately serious her condition was is a question but it seems likely that she did and bravely concealed it from her family. So this was the backdrop behind our lives for the first nine months of 1935.