Thursday, July 16, 2009
Zelda at 95
Zelda Thomas sat looking expectantly at me, her large glasses magnifying the wrinkles on her face. I thanked her for letting me talk to her as I squeezed a grey, rusted folding chair onto a section of hard concrete floor between the aging card table and another group of elders whose canes stuck out dangerously into aisles.
Zelda Thomas was born in 1914 and raised by her grandparents on their farm. She became a teacher at a one-room schoolhouse in Russell. "We made soup at school," she remembered. Students would have potatoes for lunch and then bring soup home for their families. For Zelda, the Depression happened so slowly she hardly noticed it. Living on a farm, her family was more self-sufficient than others who lived in town. "We had cows, pigs, chickens. That's what we must have eaten" she said.
Zelda is 95 years old and doesn't hear so well. Each time I asked her a question, she would lean in closer to me with her eyes closed, then lean back and open them as she answered. But not hearing well also has its advantages. Zelda's friends always want her to drive them around, because she never gets distracted by their talking.
Zelda Thomas was born in 1914 and raised by her grandparents on their farm. She became a teacher at a one-room schoolhouse in Russell. "We made soup at school," she remembered. Students would have potatoes for lunch and then bring soup home for their families. For Zelda, the Depression happened so slowly she hardly noticed it. Living on a farm, her family was more self-sufficient than others who lived in town. "We had cows, pigs, chickens. That's what we must have eaten" she said.
Zelda is 95 years old and doesn't hear so well. Each time I asked her a question, she would lean in closer to me with her eyes closed, then lean back and open them as she answered. But not hearing well also has its advantages. Zelda's friends always want her to drive them around, because she never gets distracted by their talking.
Labels: chelsea, Depression, geofeed, Norfolk, Observation, Picnic, Russell
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