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A long life lived

From Butler County to Chicago to decades in?Warren County, Times Observer reporter’s aunt writes about life growing up

Times Observer file photo Above, six members of the Warren High School class of 1935 (front, from left) Paul Gray, Elaine Heald, Lucy Alder, (back) Marge Piccirillo, Julia Decker, and Phil Ittel, celebrate their 75th high school reunion in 2010.

About 10 years ago, I interviewed my great-aunt — Elaine Heald (always Aunt Lainie to me).

I didn’t interview her because she was my great-aunt. I interviewed her because she was heading up the 75th reunion of her Warren High School class.

I don’t recall much about the reunion — I did stop by and seem to remember seeing more than a handful of her classmates there.

But, I learned some things about my family and about a much different time.

Aunt Lainie’s childhood spanned the Roaring 20s and the Great Depression.

Cyrus Heald poses for a photo at the plow hitched to two of his daughters, Elaine and Lois.

At about the same time as the reunion, Aunt Lainie was writing up memories from her childhood for publication in Tin Tub Baths and the Ragman: Tales from the Good Old Days in Northwestern Pennsylvania.

The title on her portion was: Life in the Country in Butler County, Pennsylvania.

That Aunt Lainie didn’t grow up in Warren County surprised me. That she later lived in Chicago surprised me even more.

I came across that write-up again a few weeks ago. I’m glad I did. And I’m glad she recorded it. There aren’t very many folks left who would remember that time.

The women from that side of my family live very long lives, but all of those from her generation are gone. Aunt Lainie died in 2014 at the age of 97 and survived two of her younger sisters — Lois (Aunt Loie) who died in 2013 at the age of 93, and Grace (Aunt Gracie) who died later in 2013 at 86. My Aunt Phyl (Phyllis) died in 2016 at the age of 92. Lainie’s brother, my Grandpa Don, died in 1981.

In the information age, anyone can find out the basics — even a bunch of details — of the 1920s.

World War I was over. The Great Depression would come later. Radio and silent movies were popular forms of entertainment.

The Roaring 20s was a time of economic prosperity. But not for everyone.

“We lived a simpler and quieter life,” Aunt Lainie said. “We didn’t miss all the amenities in life because we didn’t realize they existed. We made our own fun and didn’t realize how poor we were because everyone around us was just as poor.”

“We made our own playtime after our chores were done. We had a cornfield in the summer. We thought it was fun to run back and forth up and down the rows. We didn’t realize how much this strengthened our legs and arms. We also played ‘Andy Over’ over a large barn. You threw the ball over the roof to someone on the other side. We didn’t realize how strong this made us throwing it back and forth. We thought it was just great fun.”

Sometimes, work and play mixed.

“My father had a large vegetable garden but no horse, just a hand plow. One time, just for fun, he hooked my brother (that would be my Grandpa Don) and I up to the plow with a rope, but I’m not sure how much help we were in plowing the garden.”

“He took our picture, one of the few pictures ever taken. We thought it was great fun, but today it would probably be considered child abuse. We thought we were just having fun and helping Dad out.”

Sometimes, play mixed with… garbage.

“Other fun things we did were trying to find pretty stones and broken pieces of glass and china digging in the ground where former residents had buried their garbage. Garbage disposal was non-existent at that time.”

And, sometimes, play sounded unpleasant and dangerous.

“On Mondays, in the summer, our parents went shopping at Butler which was 25-30 miles away. They were gone for most of the day. We older kids stayed home.”

“To fill in our time we devised all kinds of games. One of these consisted of putting anything we could find in the kitchen for our lunch on crackers and making each other eat the crackers.”

“We were allowed to eat only one bite if it tasted too bad.”

“Fels Naptha soap was our specialty. I think now of the things we had under the sink that really could have been disastrous if we had chosen them. We were lucky there never was any ill effects, just fun.”

“Of course, we never told our parents. They thought we were angels while they were gone.”

It would appear Fels Naptha soap would have contained both lye and benzene in those days. Not items on a nutritionist’s list of healthy foods, I would think.

When the snow flew, the family enjoyed sledding and skating… with limitations.

“In the winter, sliding was great fun. With only one sled for all of us, we would slide down the hill, pull the sled back up, and let our siblings take their turn. We never felt cheated but waited our turn. We also skated on our neighbor’s pond. On our feet, of course, there were no skates.”

“Christmas time was very special. My Dad and brother combed the fields for the best Christmas tree, hauled it home, and we trimmed it on Christmas Eve.”

They lit the tree with small candles and always kept a bucket of water nearby.

“One year, 1927, was an especially lean year and my parents were unable to purchase Christmas presents due to money being very tight and being unable to get to the stores.”

“My mother always made new outfits for our dolls, but this year Dad devised a different present. He took wooden hangers and painted them and drew flowers on them and put our names on each with the year ‘Xmas 1927’ on the back. I still have my hanger 83 years later and I cherish it highly, realizing just how much my father cared for us to make these special gifts for each of us.”

I don’t know where that very personal family heirloom ended up. I will be asking around.

Aunt Lainie didn’t regret her humble origins.

“I feel that the rough beginning didn’t seem to hinder my progress in later life. In fact, it probably was an asset to all of us. We really learned a lot from our experiences. Perhaps a simpler quieter lifestyle helps us adjust to the bumps along the way.”

“When I realize I ended up as an Executive Secretary, I guess I learned enough along the way to make life profitable. I also am a very healthy 93-year-old and take no medication, so I think my lifestyle did not hinder me at all.”

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