Thoughts of Iowa Falls Part 3

Dad's interest in short wave radio began around 1930 and became an enduring hobby.  He was a licensed amateur operator sending and receiving code as well as conversing with amateurs around the globe.  He took great pride in building transmitters allowing him to make contact with Asian and European countries.  We children learned a lot about radio from him and years later, Esther and I became licensed operators.

Mail was an important factor in everyone's life.  Families kept in touch thru letters. Family members who farmed in Nebraska wrote about conditions for planting and harvesting.  Family in Kentucky passed on news of those living in Tennessee and Georgia.  In turn, those in Iowa passed on the latest job reports.  Everyone's health was of prime importance as was weather. We knew who was down with a cold, when babies were born, who had been hospitalized and how those with heart trouble were faring.  We in the north worried about the south when the Ohio river flooded; the south worried when blizzards or drought hit the north.

Telephones were not yet in wide service. We always had a phone since Dad worked for the phone company.  If a family was lucky enough to have a phone, it was generally placed the center of the house on the first floor, and when the phone rang in the night, one had to go downstairs to answer it.  In those days the phone bell rang until it was answered or the party calling disconnected.  Receiving a long distant phone call, like telegrams, usually meant bad news and were costly.

The first auto the family owned was a Terraplane Hudson.  On Sundays the whole family piled into the car for drives thru the countryside.  There were no seat belts and the smaller children were able to squeeze in beside us older children in the back seat.  Mom  sat next to Dad who drove and held Jerry, the smallest on her lap.  Dad taught me how to drive on those Sunday drives and as time when on, he gave Adeline, Mickey and Charles driving lessons.

There was an innocence and a peaceful sameness to those long ago days of our childhood, but continuing news of the depression, dust storms, soup kitchens, newspaper photos, radio reports of Japanese invading China, Italians invading Ethiopia and threats by Germany's Hitler, crept thru the country.  President Roosevelt held fireside chats on the radio and people across the country gathered around radios and listened intently to his words which kept the nation from being gripped in a state of despair.  The country joined him in keeping the faith that good times would come again, so it was with shock and disbelief that we heard Japan had bombed Pearl Harbor. From that day on, our lives were never again the same.

[Editor's note: This is part 3 of 3 parts]

1938 Terraplane 4-Door Sedan