To earn some extra cash in January of 1931, Grandma went back to work for The Reuben H. Donnelley Corporation in Nevada, Iowa. By this time, Grandma and Grandpa had been married for just over a year, and Grandpa still had dreams of making farming their livelihood. The cash to fund his dream was not coming easy, so Grandma did the only thing she knew could earn some money--type.
Making seven cents a page and typing 65 pages a day, grandma contributed what she could so they could buy cows, pigs, and chickens to raise. Meanwhile, Grandpa tended to the livestock chores and gardening while working at the Skelly Oil Company in Marshalltown.
Grandma would get a ride home or take the bus on Saturdays and Grandpa would drive her back to Nevada on Sunday nights. The bus ticket cost Grandma $1.10, and she agonized over the fact that the round trip ticket would not cover two trips from Nevada to Marshalltown, but was only good for a Nevada-to-Marshalltown-and-back-to-Nevada trip.
The letters from Grandpa showed his exhaustion and frustration. They were not the relaxed, poetic works of heart he had written to Grandma from California. They were short, sloppy, and contained numerous spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors.
"Recieved you letter yestidy. I was ver much astonish. Howsomever you mad 1 mistak. I worka from middy Sat. to sun by Sun. I will brung the whash in Sat. Mourn. Well this will be all fer awhile."
During the week, Grandma and a couple other girls working at Donnelley's stayed with a widow lady in Nevada--a Mrs. McCullom. Apparently Mrs. McCullom was a lonely woman and loved the company of the young girls...
"...she wants to play cards or something every night. Monday night when we came home from supper she had popped corn and had apples; Tuesday, gum, apples and candy kisses; tonight apples and popcorn. Something every evening. She serves real good breakfasts. Have just been eating an apple at noon but tomorrow will have to get something else or will be appled to death."
Did ghe marriage last? Were finances the straw that broke the camel's back? Did flirtations and jealousy come around again after they were married? DOES Love Endure? Were they able to travel again....as a couple? The date would be during the outset and fallout of the Great Depression. And WE know something they don't know: World War II is not that many years away.....
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