Now & Then, 9/24/2026

My dad rarely talked about what life was like for him growing up in the 1920’s and 30’s. I am so glad his sister, my late Aunt Arline (Robenhagen) Roggenbuck, kept a notebook. Her daughter Lynn, knowing I write articles about the “good old days,” shared her mother’s memories with me.
The pages from her notebook gave me an insight into the joys and struggles back then. Here, in her own words, are a few of her memories:
“I shared a bedroom with my sister Olga until she left home to marry. During the earlier years, our bed was far from comfortable. Our mattress was ticking filled with cornhusks. No Beautyrest mattresses for us. As we turned from side to side, the dry cornhusks would snap and crackle. Usually at harvest time, the mattress would be filled with new husks.
The Depression years were tough. There was little money to buy anything new. One year Mother (my grandmother) spent a total of $5.00 for her year’s clothing; $1.00 for a cheap pair of shoes, $1.95 for a corset she needed due to backaches, and the rest for material for a dress and aprons.
Us kids got a pair of shoes when school started, and they were expected to last until late June, then we went barefoot until fair time when we got new ones. One year my shoes just simply fell apart in late May, and the girls in my class had to serve lunch at Ladies Aid. I had to wear my mother’s black lace-up shoes. I was so embarrassed. It was one of the first times I felt we were poor.
I almost resented the fact my folks would never take “relief,” as welfare was called then. My classmates, whose parents were on relief had new warm sweaters, although they all looked alike and shouted “reliefers” to the rest of us. They also ate better than us.
We never went hungry, but our meals left a lot to be desired. We had a cow Bossy, and milk soup was a constant; dumplings in hot milk. Sometimes we had birds stuffed with a prune. When our snooty Uncle Henry and his wife visited, Mother would send us to Priem’s Store for a few cookies, which we bought in bulk, usually washboard and windmill cookies.
I remember when someone from the reservation came to our house. She had no food to feed her children. Ma gave her some eggs from our chickens, and a pail of milk. She gave Ma a pretty basket in return.
I remember one time when Uncle Henry stayed for supper, Ma got up one of her precious jars of meat. I can still see Uncle Henry, knife waving in the air, looking for butter for his bread and there was none. No one spoke as he put the knife down.
We didn’t have an ice box to keep things cold. We used the cellar floor to keep milk and other perishables from spoiling. Any leftovers from our noon dinner were served for supper. We often had home-canned sauces, mostly apple. My father (my grandpa) never wanted to try newfangled food and he didn’t want Mother to waste precious money making something different. I can remember when Adeline Schmeisser told us about a new thing called barbeques. Us kids were anxious for something new. In spite of Pa’s objection, Ma made some, and Pa actually liked it, even if it was newfangled.
The kids from town used to come to our house with syrup pails. They bought milk from us, five cents a quart. Ma really hoarded those few pennies.
We had lots of kids in our neighborhood and in the evening, we played games. Go My Good Sheep was my favorite. We also played Red Light, Green Light and we had scavenger hunts. No one had any money, but we found things to do.
We bought our first wind-up phonograph when I was about 12 years old. I guess the bean crop was pretty good that year, as the used phonograph, along with 10 records, cost $20. We sat up very late playing those records over and over again. “Among My Souvenirs” was my ma’s favorite and “Red Wing” was Pa’s. “Little Brown Jug” and “Climbing Jacob’s Ladder” were also favorites. This was the first music in our house, other than my brother’s (my dad) mouth organs, if you could call that music. We really thought we were living. Records were 15-25 cents, but we got very few. When my sister Olga earned money, she would always buy a Hawaiian record.
Grade school at St. James was pretty uneventful. I enjoyed school as it came easy to me. The teachers wanted me to skip a year, but my mother wouldn’t go to school to discuss it with the teacher. Ma didn’t feel she had the proper clothes, and she didn’t want the teacher to think any less of us.
I enjoyed my aunt’s memories, and I will share more of them in upcoming articles, hoping you enjoy them too.
Sending prayers for courage and hope for Jeff, Karen, Diane, Aaron, and Joe. Keep the faith. God has you in His arms always.