Get Off Your Do-Nothing Stool

As an introduction, please reflect with me on a few eventful experiences prior to my birth and early stages of my life. In the late 20s Calvin Lloyd migrated from Macon, Georgia to Toledo, Ohio. Ruth Anderson had migrated from Conway, Arkansas and also to Toledo, Ohio. She completed her high school requirements in or about 1929. The school staff scheduled a dance event for graduates to celebrate their success.

(There is an assumption Ruth had permission from the school to invite Calvin to attend as a guest.) From a historical perspective, the most popular musical artists at this time were Louise Armstrong and Duke Ellington with their song, “It Don’t Mean a Thing.” Also, I am sure the graduates enjoyed the latest music of the day by using one of the first record players.

I believe it was during this event Calvin and Ruth fell in love which led to their marriage. Dad became employed at a highly rated coffee house located in Toledo as a Barista Coffee Maker. His responsibilities included making samples and serving high quality coffee to the customers. On his meager income, Dad and Mom rented the upstairs in a duplex at 508 1/2 Wabash St., Toledo, Ohio. (Most of the houses on the block were single dwelling homes.) Mom and Dad had five children: Elouise, Calvin Jr. (Sonny, my nick name), Barbara, Juanita, and Frank. What a sad experience with the death of my two younger siblings: Juanita and Frank.

Many families in America had similar experiences. Studies of the early 30’s indicated 27,000 children died each year. The good news is the introduction of new medicines in the late 30s and early 40s assisted in reducing the death rate of children.

Just as there were ongoing improvements in the area of health, there were also continual improvements made in other areas of our lives. (Refrigerators were not common until the 1940s.) Thus, the iceman delivered a 25 lb. or 50 lb. block of ice in a wagon drawn by a horse to us once or twice a week. He carried the ice on his shoulder with a leather protective cover between his shoulder and the block of ice.

He used a claw-hook to hold the ice in place on the leather protector as seen in the attached picture. Keeping ice in the icebox kept our food and milk from spoiling.

By the way, Mr. and Mrs. Philpot, living on the first floor of the duplex, also had an icebox in their kitchen. Additionally, they had a small cool storage metal box underground in the backyard. Several times a week they shared fresh fruit from it with us. As I made early morning visits, Mrs. Philpot’s famous words were: “The early bird gets the worm!” (Later in life, I began to appreciate this familiar phrase as words of wisdom.)

Also, it was a daily practice of Mrs. Philpot to listen to the news on the radio. After all, five million Negroes had migrated legally from the South to the North, known as “The Great Migration” or “Mass Movement” of 1915 and it ended approximately in 1960. (Of course, most likely, before I was born, some of my relatives and the Philpot’s were included in the migration). Therefore, I am sure she was interested not only into keeping well informed of the world news but to also, imitate the news reporters in their speech pattern. Unfortunately, she developed serious health problems including a swollen leg, which contributed to her premature demise. (It appeared she did not believe in receiving medical assistance from doctors. Therefore, she totally depended on council and prayers from her self-appointed pastor.)

Regarding other activities in my home life as a kid, one morning when I woke up and headed towards the living room without any clothes on, I heard my mother’s voice from outside talking with our neighbors. I had a problem.

I did not know where my clothes for the day were located.

My baby sister Barbara walked into the living room also without any clothes on. I felt shameful to go downstairs without clothes on, but yet I felt OK to put shoes on Barbara and have her go downstairs to inform our mother I couldn’t find my clothes. This solved the problem.

The “crisis” was over.

By the way, Mom always showed a spirit of loving care regardless of the circumstances for better or for worse.

For instance, several days a week when the weather was conducive for walking, Mom would pause and greet other women. I recall one lady asked mom a question:

“Are these three ‘brats’ yours?” Even as a kid, by the tone of her voice and body language, I knew her question was not “nice”. Yet Mom did not respond in a negative manner.

What a learning experience for us kids!

But I do recall another type of experience handled totally differently. Later in autumn, we enjoyed seeing the changing colors of leaves on surrounding trees from green to gold and brown. Also, the temperature was cooler in the evenings. Our parents placed wood and coal in the pot belly stove, which was partially made of transparent material.

As kids, we enjoyed watching the “dancing” flames! One day in the fall, however, my parents were alerted by our neighbors that leaves were burning on the side of our duplex.

The neighbors assisted my parents by extinguishing the fire.

The question is “how did the fire start?” A neighbor informed my parents my older sister was outside striking matches and believed to have started the fire. As a result, she was punished. (Spankings were common in the 1930s.) However, Elouise is not the only child in the family who displayed unwise behavior as indicated later in this chapter.

The Christmas season was always very special for our family.

We enjoyed listening to holiday music on the radio. (The first commercial broadcast on television in America did not take place until 1941.) We also had a few decorations in the living room: Santa socks hung on the wall over the fireplace. On the mantel were three small jelly jars half full of mixed nuts and three small jars half full of raisins for us kids. Most importantly, dad was home from work on Christmas! As kids, we did not know we were in a Depression, we thought our lifestyle was “normal.” Mom sewed several new dresses for my two sisters for Christmas.

To my surprise, my parents presented me with a brand-new miniature snow sled! (This *picture looks similar to the one I received.) A stipulation came with this gift: do not take the sled outside until we give you permission. “Thank you, Mom and Dad for my Christmas Gift!!” What a beautiful gift! But the more I looked at the sled the more I visualized running with the sled, “flopping” on it and enjoying a brief ride before slipping back into the house.