HomeMy WebLinkAboutHandouts_Regular_Tab _06/09/2011 1VI:om's ear�y days growing up in Chicaga
We had some fun times on our recent trip to Florida, and shared
some great old stories of my mom, who is 104 years old.
By her son, Chet Matbison.
1. The red wagon., age 10. Every Saturday moming my Mom was giyen
$10.00 to take to the grocery store to buy food for the whole family of 7. She ground her own
coffee, ground peanuts to make peanut butter, and chum�d butter. She cut aad wra,pped. the
family's meat, and bought vegeta.bles, fruit, etc. She always saved 5 cents for a big }�ickle and a
cinnamon stick through its middle for a treat to eat on the way home.
2. Mom's favorite neighbor My mom ha.d a very kind neighbor who frequentlSr gave her nice
presents; dresses and treats. One da.y the neighbor asked my mam's mother w�y she adopted
Charlotte when she already had a large family of her own. My mom had told the neighbor that
she was adopted and was an orphan. My rnom got a good spanking when her mother got home.
3. TQO manv freckles to be a movie sta.r. During the days of silen�t movies, a movie star could
not have freckles. My mom wanted to be a mavie sta,t, and a friend told her that the cure would
be to hold a diaper, fu11 of wet pee, on her face. My mom decided to try it out on her younger
sister. After a few wet diapers she decided it did not work and besides, it did not smeil sa good.
4. World V�ar I ended with a bi ban $. My mom was living in the same Chicago
neighborhood as the famous Notre Dame football coach Knut Rockne when the `ryVar to end aII
Wars" was over. To rejoice, my mom gat all of her mother's pots and pans for all the
neighborhood kids to beat on and celebrate. Of course, all the pots and pan,s were ruined. Then
it was my mom's tum to ge� beat uponl �
5. Mom's �Tietory Garden. During WWII vegetables were hard to get in Chicago. So my mom
took me over to a vacant lat wi,th a shovei, rake, and pitch-fork, and we dug up the grass and
planted a vegetable Victory Garden. Three years ag�o I decided to copy her idea. and now we ha.ve
a take-off of my mom's Victory Garden below our Condo.
6• Pup�y or ba.by bov When I came home from the hospita,l as a new-born, my older sister
was verY d i s a ppov.rted. She thought my mom and dad were going to bring home a puppy.
7. Sad baseball storv Every Saturday morning, the neighborhood families would get together
in a vacazrt iot in Chicago to pla,y baseball. Young and old, fat and stnall, every one played. My
Grandfather Cha,rley took a mighty swing a.t a ball just as a s�na1I neighborhood boy walked
behind him and he was killed. A poiice paddy-wagon came and took my Gramps to the police
station where Gramps was exonera.ted and learned the lessan "Always look before you svving".
8. Flowers for sale. My mom's older brother had al1 the girls in the family go out and pick wild
flowers, make small bouquets, and sell them door to door for 5 cerrts ea,ch. He kept 4 of the five
cents and rny rMOm eamed 1 cent per bouquet.
9. Canadian Honl�er. During WW II meat was very scarce ia Chica�o Coming home from
s�hool one day our neighborhood kids spotted a wild Canadian Goose flying around with a
wounded wing, We finally caught it and took it home to our garage to chop its head off. Of
course it bled all over the garage. We tvak the feathers off and made a nice down pillow for my 6
month-old niece Melanie, and my mom baked it and we had a feast.
10. Slippery Boy Scout Dinner. As a Boy Scout, rt was my honor to take my morn to the
Scout's "Big Dinner". My brand new pair of Ieather shoes were aII shined up for the event, but
turned out to be very siippery in the snow. I escorted my mom a.�m-in-arm. My rnom heid me
up while mv shoes just slid a11 over. But we made it! �
P. S. When 3ean and I arrived in Fiorida mom was down and out. But after a few
Birthday parties she really began to be her old fun loving self. Mom's favorite party joke
is to ask a guest "Da you know John?" If they answered "�ohn Who?", mom would
touch her finger tips in her drink and flip water on�them and say "John the Baptist".
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