Walter David “Dub” Deason’s Story and Insights on Growing up Following the Great Depression
I wasn’t around when the crash hit, but do
remember what it was like growing up shortly following. In ’27, the year the
crisis of the stock market crash hit, my Dad went to Bakersville, California
and worked in the cannery to earn money for the family. Dad also cut timber,
the redwood tree; and picked cotton. In those days, people even killed Jack
Rabbits for cash since there were too many and there was a reward for killing ‘em.
In ’29 he went back to Arkansas and bought a farm. We had everything we needed
there.
I was the baby of eight,
born in Arkansas in ’32. When I was five, we moved from Arkansas to Missouri.
The levy in Arkansas that protected our land burst and Dad had to get us out;
so he sold the farm and bought a new place up here.
My family was “poor,”
but we never would have known it if people hadn’t have told us. We lived in the
country and had a cow, thus milk; and chickens, thus eggs. We had little money
and no one could really borrow any, but we had what we needed. The cities were
bad however. Folks there did not have farms and animals.
Life in my family was
good: we had always had enough food and were happy. Yup, that’s right we had
everything we needed. We lit our house with lamps and candles; and we had an
outhouse. We had a clothes line and a washtub—we got to wash once a week. We
had basic furniture and basic conveniences.
We raised and killed hogs for meat as well as goats, turkeys and
guineas. We wore handme down clothes and mom would make undershirts for us boys
and dresses for the girls out of sacks. We had a wooden fireplace or woodstove
all the time growing up.
We made lard, had a
hand grinder; mom would can in quart Mason jars. Mom would take part of the
grease and put it in with the sausage and then turn the can upside down to
preserve the sausage. When we preserved bacon, we would put two inches of salt
down then, put some more bacon on and then add more salt. We churned milk and
made butter, ate lots of eggs, and didn’t have an ice box.
Back then most houses
were two room “shotgun houses.” They were called that because they had three
doors that made a straight line through the house that you could shoot straight
through if they were open: one in the front, one in the middle and one in the
back. The walls were not insulated, but simply had “patched” cracks—patched
with cardboard and other stuff that was tacked up. The cabin you see on Little House on The Prairie was like a
mansion compared to it.
Times were a lot more
trustworthy—nobody locked their homes back then, we didn’t even have locks. If
someone wanted to buy something, they would simply walk up and ask. If they
needed it but didn’t have the money right then, all that was needed was a handshake.
If you said, “I don’t have the money right now, but when I get it, I’ll give it
to you,” people accepted that. A person’s word meant something and people
trusted each other.
When we were farmers,
we would raise 5 acres of peanuts; and let the peanuts dry. We also had 4 acres
of cucumbers because there was a government deal that guaranteed selling them.
We would pick them every other day rain or shine because the cucumbers grew so
fast!
Most of the time that
I was growing up, we picked cotton and when we were older, would cut
timber—virgin timber—and burn part and sell the other part. We planted
lots of cotton. That was the crop back then. When you were picking cotton, you
would pick some gum off a sugar gum tree and chew it while you picked and if
you had to go to the bathroom, you’d go right in the field where you were and
hope no one was around.
Note
from Ryan ~
My grandfather grew up picking cotton,
chopping wood, hauling hay and he said that even though days got hot and that
they never checked the temperature back then. He would bet that the loft of tin
roofed barns was probably over 120º at times, but no matter what the
temperature was like, they just worked.
We had little cups and
saucers that were rounded on the edges. When I was a kid, mom would put a
biscuit, some sugar, coffee and milk in there and make us “soaky.” We had red
eyed gravy and ate beans and potatoes twice a day. Beans would usually last a
couple of days. When we were done eating dinner, we would simply cover dinner
(noon meal) with the table cloth until supper (evening meal) and just go back
to work. We drank lots of coffee. We cooked whole chickens and ate the feet and
the head too. In fact, mothers would give the chicken feet to little kids to
chew on. You put the brains of a hog in eggs. We ate chocolate pies, fat back
biscuits and pretty much any kind of fried pie.
All the food was
put on your plate when you were younger; and if it was put there, you ate it.
When you were older, you were asked how much you wanted to eat while it was
being prepared and were expected to eat it. When all of the food was ready, it
was all put on a platter and anything you put on your plate you ate.
We would go to
town when we were 4, 5, or 6 to buy coffee, barrels of flour (55 gallon
barrels), sugar, salt, and to buy coal oil for our lamps. We could trade an egg
for a peppermint stick bundle that was bound with a string.
If you wanted to
go anywhere, you would ride a horse or walk. We never went out to eat. All that
fast food stuff didn’t come out till after the 60s. You ate at home with your
family.
People were a lot
closer back then. Families were really close. The women recorded everything
about the family history from births to deaths to marriages in the family Bible
and sat on the porch together in the evenings. Dad would give you a lesson on
farming or how to do something there and mom would get out the Bible and read
it to us.
We went to church,
that also doubled as the school house, Sunday, Sunday nights, and Wednesday
nights and you took a wagon. Every once and a while, everyone would get
together and everybody brought food for a potluck and a blanket to sit on. We
would spend the time playing games, eating, and talking together.
Back then, the
neighbors would also get together for hog killings. Everybody had kids and we
would all get together by loading up on wagons. People were close and a lot
closer to the man upstairs back then. When we spent time with friends; and
there was no fighting.
We didn’t have radio,
TV or technology like today. If you had a stick and a wheel that you could
attach to it, you would run around all day and be occupied with that. We had
corn cob fights, would throw a ball on the roof and catch it when it came off.
The boys would skinny dip in creek or river water.
When we went to
school we would take carrots, biscuits and fried pies that mom made. All the kids attended a two room school house and
drank water from the same water pump. We all washed and drank from the same
cup. If one got sick, we would all get sick. We learned to read, write, and do
arithmetic and we helped the teacher with the teacher’s own work pulling weeds
in their flowerbed, washing the house, anything.
Note
from Ryan~
My grandfather was
“homeschooled.” He was taught by his parents. Just look at the following things
that he told me were a part of his everyday life: if he got in trouble at school, he would be punished there and at home
as well. In the summers it was so hot that they couldn’t go to bed, so they’d
sit on the front porch. “Mom would talk about the Bible and read it and Dad
would give you a lesson on farming or teaching you about what needs to be
done.”
In 1947, we moved
to Blodgett, MO and got electricity, but still had no indoor plumbing. We had a
big garden and canned everything. We picked anything too—anything that we could
find. If we saw an apple tree on someone else’s property or a blackberry patch,
we would ask if we could work all day picking and get half of what we picked
for ourselves.
Dad died in 1950,
he was in his 60s and died in my arms. I graduated high school right after that
and tried to get a job. I ended up getting one at a shoe factory making 30
cents an hour and thought there’s got to be a better way to earn a living, so I
joined the army with 5 buddies at 18. When I went into the army, they sent me
to Fort Lindenwood for Basic and after that I was sent to Korea. July 28th,
of ‘51 I landed in Japan. I helped the army engineers build bridges that just
kept getting blown up and then we would build them again at first, but was
later picked to be a cook. I got prepared for the military; I didn’t go to
bakery school, so I didn’t know anything about cooking, but I just did my best
and stayed there for the rest of the war. I spent 22 months in Korea and was
then stationed at a Fort in Virginia for my last 9 months on a training ship
that was right outside of the continental United States. We had a “Duck”
vehicle like the ones I’ve ridden with my grandkids.
When I got
home, I tried farming for a year and then bought a little grocery store. In
1960, I got married at 28 to Ella Virginia Gardner. In ‘61 I started working
for the post office in our little town in addition to the store, but I stayed
in the army reserves for a long time.
I have done everything
but make money and have always rather worked hard than have an easy life. Out
of everything I did to provide in my life, I would not take anything else; I
wouldn't change it even if I could. I was pretty lucky. I have a wife, 5 kids,
18 grandkids, 6 great grandkids. When I was growing up people didn’t know what
the word divorce meant and I’ve
stayed married and all my kids have never gotten a divorce. Today, people don’t
seem to understand what married means.
When you have lived 81
years, you see lots of changes. Everything from lights and indoor plumbing to
TV, but I wouldn’t trade the times I grew up in for anything. People were
close. At Christmas, if we got an apple and a banana; we were fine. Stores put
Christmas stuff on the shelves after Thanksgiving and took them off after
January 1st. One year, I got
a stopper gun from Dad that cost 19 cents. Boy was I proud! When I was eight,
Dad gave me a white handled pocket knife that cost $1. Another year I remember,
getting a rubber ball for Christmas.
Note
from Ryan ~
My grandfather let me hold one
knife that he had that was over 100 years old that was just like the knife his
father gave him! Those knives were largely used for castrating the hogs. But,
as Grandpa also told me, they had other uses. He told me about how one time he
was with his dad and he saw a cow that had swelled up because it had gotten
into the wheat and his father whipped out this kind of knife and stabbed it in
the side and a bunch of air came out of the cow.
While my Grandpa’s life growing up has been dealt with very briefly, it
shows us a different kind of lifestyle—one that is truly happy, has a loving
family, hard work, and hope. They enjoyed life! Today people want that same
type of hope—they want a simple life and Faith. They want relationships. They
want a good life. From here on, my aim is to cast a vision for how we can
prepare for the next Great Depression, the next storm that is bound to come
someday unless a miracle occurs due to the mounting national debt as well as
the nearing peak of consumer debt. But there is Hope! There is God and His Word reveals how to live a life differently from
how many do today—a life surprisingly similar to the “hard” life of my
Grandfather.
Ryan’s
Mission and Vision
My Grandfather’s 3
sons, my Uncles, had a bit of the life my grandfather did as well. They hauled
watermelons during the summers and by 10 or 11 (5th grade) where
hauling hay. At one point the three of them were making almost $300 a week
combined—good money back then (the 80s). However, they also had to watch out
for those who wanted to cheat them.
My grandfather chose
the simple life over money. I remember the watermelon stories, the stories of
making raisin Jack in the kitchen in Korea, my Grandfather’s humor, I remember
the happiness and joy of family together, I remember hearing and seeing the
Gaither’s very often on the television in my Grandparent’s and Aunt and Uncle’s
home; I remember my Grandpa Deason’s love for my Grandma who died when I was 9
of ALS, or as it is better known Lou Gehrig’s Disease. My Grandpa Deason has
had and is still living the good life.
♦ ♦ ♦
I went for a walk with my Grandfather one
Thanksgiving to walk his dog and he told me about his concern for me and my
parents’ generation and the mess that the country is in. He told me, “The White House…and Washington, D.C…..you
gotta fix it.” This book is my first step in sounding the alarm to that end.
I realize that I may never have an opportunity to speak to the leaders of this
nation; however, I will write and speak about how to “fix it” by doing the
right thing instead of just doing some-thing. What follows is my vision—well
really a Biblical conviction based on study of God’s Word and time spent with
the Lord—of what we as individuals and families can do. We cannot keep going
down the path we are going as a country without consequences. Realistically a
storm is coming. God can do a miracle! I pray for Revival, I hope for a
complete turnaround, but realistically I have to be honest and so do you that
we do not see a 180 happening. However, I do know that Scripture is very clear
about this: God will preserve and take care of His Remnant.
The truth is that unless the United
States of America dramatically changes course, that the judgment of God will come upon our land (Jeremiah 23,
Romans 1:16-32).
But God is
the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another. Psalms 75:7
And he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth
kings, and setteth up kings Daniel 2:21
Therefore, I believe we must be
realistic. God will always preserve a Remnant for Himself, as I will go into
later (and am even doing a book project on with a good friend—Ken Zimmerman,
Jr. which is scheduled to be released in 2014). But before we go on I want to
make clear what my intentions are as we move forward. The reason why I must do
this is I am going to mention very specific ways that we can prepare for a
coming economic storm; however, without the proper foundation these
preparations and ways to increase one’s income will become idols in our lives.
1)
Seek and Serve God only
2)
Pursue Wisdom
3)
Plan Purposefully to Provide for &
Protect my Family
4)
To Invest in Lasting Things:
Relationships, Time with God, a Home (not just a house)
We need to
recognize first and foremost our utter need for and dependency on God. You
cannot take a breath, enjoy a hot meal, cherish fellowship with a close friend
or loved one, learn, or apprehend anything without God! He designed you and
your body and your mind in your mother’s womb (Jeremiah 1:5, Psalm 139:13-14)!
God is sovereign and controls all things, when hard times come, He is still
with us. The things that you and I must endure during our lifetimes, we will
endure in His strength if we abide in Christ. Like Job and Hezekiah, we can
trust in the Lord in the midst of our sickness! As the late Adrian Rogers said,
“‘Pastor, what should we tell the sick
and suffering?’ Tell them that this isn’t God’s final plan; Jesus is coming
back.” Daily acknowledge your utter need for God! You must understand your
sinful poverty (Rom 3:23, 6:23)! When you understand that, and daily live in a
mindset that you are nothing and God is
your everything then “Blessed are the poor in spirit” (Matthew 5:3).
And what do the poor in spirit receive? “For theirs is the kingdom of heaven”
(Matthew 5:3)!
--from Ryan Marks and Walter David Deason, Jr.'s book: HOPE FOR WHEN THE STORM HITS
