The Depression

Mary Alexejun

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Mary Alexejun was born in 1922 and was

seven when the market crashed. She was
raised in the community of Ingalls, Michigan,
and was a teenager during the Depression
years.
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 husbands parents bought a farm near Ingalls, Michigan, in 1933
and my husbands 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
When we were teens my parents had that Chicago was no place to raise teenagers,
so that is why they bought the farm in Ingalls,
a player piano and we danced and
had popcorn every Saturday night in MI. She was more saving than anyone. She
had a heart of gold. She washed dishes and
the living room; that was our
rinsed the dishes in a pail of water before
using soap and then fed the rinse water to the
entertainment.
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 didnt 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 didnt 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.

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D.C. Everest Area Schools Publications

Alexejun, Mary

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The Depression

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 didnt take her up on the offer. I
was a gym leader in those days.

Marys husbands family in Ingalls, MI in 1925. Helen (mother),

Edward, Antone, Albert, and Leon (father) Alexejun.

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 dont 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 dont remember the exact amount of money in the
Bank of Stephenson. Then the bank closed and they werent 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 Then the bank closed and they
now and being told it was closed, and all your werent able to go there
money is gone.

immediately. Several months later,

the bank offered a blanket as
compensation for that loss of
money.

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 dont 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
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D.C. Everest Area Schools Publications

Alexejun, Mary

The Depression

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comedians were also on the radio.

What were your favorite movies?

My favorite movies were Shirley Temple movies and Gone with the Wind. We didnt 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 werent very good and I didnt have any ski boots.

Did your family listen to President Roosevelts 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?

I was sad. Everybody liked him because he got the people out of the Depression with the WPA.
Everybody was able to go back to work. People wanted to work. People would wait in line to get a job.

After the Depression Mary worked at the post

office, the telephone company, Scott Papers,
and the White House Milk Company. She has
3 children and 7 grandchildren. In Marys
free time she enjoys biking, picking berries
and dancing.

June Hessel (cousin), Mary Alexejun, and

George Juranek (brother).
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Alexejun, Mary

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The Depression

Joe Garad (husbands uncle) and a friend in 1932.

Some neighborhood friends in 1929:

Charlotte Whalen, Marguerite Clark, and
Marshall and Judy Seidl.

Helen (mother-in-law) Alexejun with Albert and Edward Alexejun feeding the
chickens in 1931.

Neighbors in Injalls, MI in 1932.

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D.C. Everest Area Schools Publications

Marys mother in 1917 or 1918.

Marys sons in 1956: William, Donald, and Robert

Alexejun.
Alexejun, Mary

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The Depression

The Alexejun family at a swimming hole

on the Little Cedar River in 1930.

Helen Alexejun (mother-in-law) on the Ingalls farm in 1930.

Making hay with the loacl farmers in 1931.

Marys mother (Helen) and father
(George) in 1920.

Albert (husband) and Edward

(brother-in-law) Alexejun in 1930.

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D.C. Everest Area Schools Publications

The Ingalls, MI farm in 1931.

Alexejun, Mary