Article From The Republic Newspaper December 28, 2008The Great Depession of 1930s In Columbus IndianaQUOTE:
"Depression Lessons Serve Man Well Throughout Life"
By: Brenda Showalter (The Republic Newspaper)
Joe B. Anderson made 10 cents an hour working as a soda jerk in downtown Columbus during the early years of the Great Depression.
He was fortunate to have a job during a time when so many around him were unemployed and struggling to put food on the table.
“We were never hungry, but a lot of people were,” Anderson said. “Older folks would come to our back door and ask for something to eat. My mother always fed them.”
Anderson’s family had plenty of food, with many meals consisting of chicken and vegetables they had raised.
“The basics were the main thing,” he said. “We didn’t have too many extras.”
It was a special treat for his family when Anderson’s father gave him 35 cents to go to Hoosier Market on Washington Street to buy steak for the family.
“That didn’t happen too often,” he said.
Fond memories
Anderson, 94, spent most of his life in Columbus and graduated from Columbus High School in 1932 as president of his class and a star on the Bull Dog basketball team.
He and his wife of 69 years, Eva, have lived in the same house in the Noblitt Falls neighborhood since the mid-1950s.
“Our marriage has been as near perfect as it can be,” he said.
Anderson took in stride the bumps in the road, including an illness ending his college basketball career and the June flood damaging his home.
He gets a little teary-eyed thinking of his many friends who are gone, but a sharp memory stores the good times — even during the Depression.
“I’ve been pretty fortunate,” he said.
Anderson fondly recalls working at Anderson’s Drugstore at Sixth and Washington streets, owned by his father.
“Saturday night was a big night in Columbus,” he said with a smile. “The farmers would come in town to get sodas.”
A potbellied stove in the center of the drugstore offered warmth for customers during the winter.
Anderson liked playing pool with his friends and going to Crump Theatre, where he paid about 15 cents to sit in the balcony.
Few people could afford to own cars in Columbus, Anderson said, and many came to town in horse-drawn wagons. Others rode bicycles.
Although Anderson didn’t remember hearing his parents complain about the tough times, they must have felt the pain.
His father was a successful businessman but bought a second drugstore shortly before the stock market crashed in 1929. He also spent money remodeling his other store.
The timing proved bad for adding new debt, and he had to file for bankruptcy.
Anderson left Columbus to study at Purdue University and moved to California in 1936, when he started a job at Douglas Aircraft.
He and Eva returned to Columbus in 1949 to be closer to their families, and he was offered a job at Cosco, where he worked for more than 30 years, retiring as marketing vice president.
Dislike for debt
Anderson came away from the tough times of the 1930s with an appreciation for what he had and dislike for debt.
He did not like to buy anything “on time” and paid cash for even big purchases.
“People just didn’t borrow money to take a vacation or buy a car,” he said.
When he and Eva built their house, he took out a mortgage but paid it off as quickly as he could.
Anderson never wanted a charge card but finally got one about 15 years ago for “convenience sake” and never carries a balance.
“I never pay a speck of interest,” he said. “Interest is a nasty word.”
That thrifty and frugal nature held on long past the end of the Depression.
Having been retired for almost 40 years, Anderson knows how to manage his money and make it last.
He also credits his wife with knowing how to run a household on a budget.
“She squeezed out every dime. I’ve never had to tell her not to spend money.”
Even today, they do not buy Christmas presents for each other. They have what they need, he said.
Anderson believes America became a nation of spenders instead of savers, and credit became too easy to obtain.
“I think this generation can learn a lot from their grandparents and great-grandparents,” he said. “Our values were considerably different back then.
“When we finally could save, we did.”
Joe B. Anderson
AGE: 94.
BIRTHDATE: May 30, 1914.
RESIDES NOW: Columbus.
RESIDED THEN: Columbus.
OCCUPATION: Retired as marketing vice president for Cosco.
FAMILY: Wife of 69 years, Eva (Glick) Anderson; daughter, Sue Percifield; son, Phil Anderson; six grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren.
BEST MEMORY OF THE DEPRESSION: Landing a job at Douglas Aircraft in California, where he worked with one the company's founders.
WORST MEMORY OF THE DEPRESSION: His father having to file for bankruptcy and losing the drugstore he owned.
TIPS FOR GETTING THROUGH TOUGH ECONOMIC TIMES: Don't max out your credit cards. Get rid of debt as soon as you can, and pay cash when you can. Save for a rainy day.
IN THEIR WORDS: "Everybody was poor, but we didn't know it. I don't remember anybody griping about it. It was a way of life."
Joe Harpring | The Republic
In front of the building that once housed the family business, Joe B. Anderson, 95, spoke of the bittersweet days of the Great Depression, including a seat-of-the-pants cross-country journey in his $15 car. END QUOTE
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