Refrigerators, Ice Boxes, and Washing Machines

During World War 2, from 1942 to 1946, metal was scarce, and you couldn't even get a new car. You had so many bronze and silver looking pennies because they didn't make copper ones during the war. I remember sorting somebody's pennies and putting all the gray ones in one stack and all the copper ones in another stack.

So it was after the war that everyone started getting new appliances. Aunt Oakie got a Frigidaire refrigerator, which was still being used by Mama in 1993 when she died. Shortly after Aunt Oakie got that refrigerator, my family got a Kenmore two-door refrigerator. These both had to be defrosted, but before we had a refrigerator we had an ice box. The ice man came every other day and you put a sign in the window that pointed to how much ice you wanted that day. Occasionally we stopped at the ice house to get ice on the way home from Grandma's, and put it on the Model A running board. Most people my age still call a refrigerator an ice box. One of Daddy's most favorite things was having ice cream in the refrigerator to have any night you wanted it.

Shortly after the war, we got a used washing machine that was the ringer type. Then we got a new Kenmore. Both of these required rinsing and running the clothes through the ringer at least twice. We had one tub that had wheels on it and another that you sat on a wooden stool that Daddy built. We drained the soapy water out of the washing machine with a hose that watered the grass outside of the fence. Every week you could tell where the water had drained because of the green grass. We mostly did washing on Monday and then ironed on Tuesday and cleaned house on Friday. Wednesday and Thursday we didn't have a certain chore.

I don't remember how we washed clothes before we had a washing machine. Grandma used to put her clothes in the water on the stove. Aunt Oakie sent her work dresses to the cleaners. All our clothes were hung on the line to dry. We used starch where necessary, and the work pants were put on pant stretchers, which caused them to have a crease as well as taking out a lot of the wrinkles. During the '50s when all the skirts were full, my petticoats were starched and hung on the line so they would stand out. The starch was a compound that you bought dry and used hot water to mix up. You dipped the clothes in that mixture after they were rinsed and you put them back through the ringer. After they dried on the line you had to sprinkle them with water before they were ironed.

One summer Bobby and I helped Mama hang out the wash and then she would to take us swimming at "Terrible Smells." Its name was actually Terrell Wells and it was a sulphur pool. It was a private pool that was open to the public, but they could refuse service to anyone they wanted to. Most of the city parks had public pools at that time.

A Roadster in the Entryway

After growing up and completing college courses through San Antonio College and then a bachelor's degree at Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos, I embarked on marriage. Our wedding occurred on June 27th, 1964, at Redeemer Lutheran Church in San Antonio. We had met and then lived afterward in Corpus Christi, Texas. Laura Katherine was born on June 19, 1965, and Paul Robert was born July 1, 1967. Rae Janette was born September 30, 1968, and Sharon Lynne was born July 6, 1970. Elizabeth Ann was born April 17, 1976.

My husband, Robert (Bob) Goodman, was a mechanical engineer. His hobby was old cars, and first we had a five-window coupe. It was tan. We took it to a car show in Corpus Christi when we lived there.

Bob had a passion for 1932 Ford roadsters. One that he built from a '33 truck chassis and motor, and from body parts that he already had ended up in our new house in the entryway. It was with the supplies of boards and sheetrock. Rae Janette had to help him move it. This kept it safe before he had the shop or garage built, but it stayed there a long time even after that. As you would imagine, some people commented on it being in the house. We sold this vehicle without the seats and the insides being finished, though had a good green paint job on the body parts. We sold it to a guy from Houston.

Over the years we spent hours and days and weeks looking for old cars on ranch and farmland. We spent some time visiting Ford dealerships looking for NOS (new old stock) parts. There are no parts available today; you have to get new-made parts to build a roadster.

Old Putt-Putt

Our mother was room mother for Bobby Joe or me every year. This involved making cookies and punch for parties, and being chaperone for field trips. All the kids wanted to go in our car, which was a '28 Model A roadster with a rumble seat. We didn't open the rumble seat, but I recall one time it was open and Uncle Frank, Sissy, Bobby Joe, and I rode in the rumble seat and sang "My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean" along Fredericksburg Road. Uncle Frank was a veteran of World War I, and that song dates from that era. The kids at school called our car Old Putt-Putt.

Daddy had promised to buy Mama a brand new car if she married him in 1938, and in the 1960s he still hadn't. I think he forgot about telling her that, but she didn't forget. After a series of used Chevrolets and Old Putt-Putt we finally got a new car when the Japanese came out with a four-cylinder. Daddy never would drive the Model A outside of town, but the mother of the lady next door bought it from us and she took it quite often out of town to see her other daughter, so it was road-worthy.

At school, for Valentine's parties the teacher made a Valentine's box covered with paper lace and hearts. Everyone put their Valentines in the box to be handed out at the party. We brought a Valentine for everybody because Mama said it wasn't fair if somebody didn't get any. We spent hours deciding which card to give to whom. We had the little hearts that had the sayings on them.

For Halloween we wore costumes, At Christmas we each brought a gift and each of us took one home. There were days off for military parades, and every year we had a Wednesday off for the stock shows and Southwestern Days, and they had a parade. We also had off for San Jacinto Day; there were events all week and the Battle of Flowers parade Friday afternoon. They had the river parade on Monday and Fiesta Flambeau was a lighted parade on Saturday night. All these matched up to the Rose Bowl parade at that time. The only difference was ours used paper flowers where they use real flowers.

Superstitions and Sayings

Mama knew every superstition that was known to man. Whether she believed them or not, she knew them. But some people took them seriously. One night, Bobby Joe and I were going out with Uncle Tuffy and Sissy, and Uncle Tuffy turned the car around and went around the block rather than cross the path of a black cat. That's supposed to be bad luck.

One night Grandma and Aunt Oakie were trying to keep me busy and said, "If you put salt on a bird's tail, you can catch it!" It must have worked because I spent hours trying to catch a bird with a salt shaker!

Another thing Mama said was if you spill salt, you should throw it over your left shoulder "to undo the bad luck." When you throw it over your left shoulder, you're throwing the salt in the Devil's face.
M
She said if you're working with silverware and you drop a knife, it means a man is coming; if you drop a fork, a woman's coming. If you drop a spoon, you'll be disappointed!

We also heard if you break a mirror you will have 7 years of bad luck. It was bad luck to walk under a ladder, I can see how that was bad luck or could be. It was also bad luck to open an umbrella indoors. Grandma (Vina Anna Wood) had an old umbrella that was tattered to strings, that she called a parasol. It was brown, and I don't know how many times she told me not to open it in the house.

Daddy had a number of sayings. One of them was when someone left in a hurry, he said "they were off like a jug handle" We weren't sure how a jug handle was off, so maybe that was from before our time. Another one was if something involved a lot of red tape or they asked a lot of questions, he would comment that they had to "smell your socks."  It occurred to me after I was well grown that he may have adapted that saying for polite company.

Daddy always said someone was a blooming idiot if they were in love. He called cannas "Raymond flowers" because my cousin's husband was named Raymond and he gave the first ones that Daddy had to him.

Daddy told me many times that I had  a "yarn by the tale" when I was engrossed in a book.

Another saying I really didn't understand was one that some of the Young cousins told about at a reunion. They said that one time they thought it was their brother coming back to get something. They told him that he could come inside if his nose was clean. But instead of the brother, it was the preacher come to visit. I don't know what it means to have your nose clean.

One superstition we would remember for a long time was, "If you see a red bird, company is coming that you are not expecting." One summer we--Daddy, Mama, Bobby Joe, and I--went fishing and we saw red birds everywhere. When we got back to town we found out that my aunt was coming from Arkansas with my two cousins and the cousins' kids. Then, Daddy's boyhood friend from Tarpley, who lived in California then, was going to be in town with his family. We still think a red bird means unexpected company.

We also heard things like "kicking the bucket," "putting your nose to the grind stone," and "helping your neighbors."

Grandma and Aunt Oakie were quick to tell you that thunder was bowling pins that God was using to make the noise! This was supposed to make young kids feel better when they heard thunder. Mama would also say it was the old man throwing potatoes in his wheelbarrow. At Grandma's they also kept nest eggs in the chickens' nests. I thought nest eggs told the chickens where to lay eggs, but they were really to keep snakes from getting the eggs. The glass eggs would break inside the snake after he ate them.

Holiday Celebrations

We spent a lot of Thanksgiving dinners at Grandma's and Aunt Oakie's house, but sometimes Mama would have everybody to her house, including her family. I remember one time we had duck for dinner and Uncle Frank made jokes about it that Mama didn't appreciate. We had the tables in the living room. Mama always got out her glasses and bowls and things that were her good dishes.

One Thanksgiving when we were at Grandma's, I remember the older people arguing about how FDR had changed Thanksgiving to the fourth Thursday of the month from the last Thursday to give an extra week for shopping. Back then, nobody shopped until after Thanksgiving. 

On Christmas, we always asked for things to be brought to our house and things to be brought to Grandma's house. Daddy always got upset because he didn't see why we had to spend so much money for Christmas. It is too bad he couldn't just enjoy us enjoying the holiday. Mama always took us to Wolff & Marx downtown to shop because they had a Santa that had a real beard, and they let the kids play in the aisles with the toys. Aunt Oakie always took us to Joske's to see the Christmas scenes in the windows. I thought that Santa Claus went from one store to the other.

The biggest Christmas we had was getting the new bicycles. Another year I got a bride doll. She also had roller skates and all kinds of clothes. Her name was Nanette. All my dolls had names and later all my daughters' dolls did, too. Some kids just call their dolls "Baby," but all ours had names, even the rag dolls.

On Christmas Eve, Mama and Bobby Joe and I always went to the Christmas program at church. It was a children's program. Sometimes Daddy stayed home and played Santa Claus. On Christmas morning, we went to Grandma's and Aunt Oakie's house. At their house, they had a saying that whoever said "Christmas gift" first got the gifts from everybody else. You had to say it first thing out of your mouth when you came in. I don't remember anybody ever getting the gifts, so it was just a saying.

Mama was from a German background, and in their traditions Santa Claus put the Christmas tree up on Christmas Eve and it would stay up until January 6th for the 12 days of Christmas. Daddy convinced Mama that it was bad luck to leave the tree up past New Year's, but it was really because he was afraid of fire.

On Easter we dyed eggs and made an Easter nest. Sometimes we got baby chicks at the feed store that were colored for Easter. They usually ended up at Aunt Ellie's or Grandma's because they both had chickens. Later, when he was in business, Bobby Joe tried giving away colored chicks, but no one would take them. I think they didn't like the fact that they were colored, and also by then they couldn't have livestock in town.

For Halloween, we had costumes and went trick-or-treating door-to-door at the neighbors--way far spread. I remember one year Aunt Oakie made us costumes that I called the Orange Witch and Wizard. It had a witch's hat and orange skirt and black top. Another year I remember going to Winn's and picking out a costume. When my own children were dressing up years later, the costumes were much more creative.

On Valentine's each classroom had a Valentine box and we gave cards to everybody in school.

Changing Traffic Patterns

We used to travel Zarzarmora Street to go to Grandma's. Later, they built freeways, and the downtown area where they didn't have freeway yet had traffic lights. They were set for a certain speed so if you went down at that speed, they would all be green. Bobby Joe and I would say, "Pop, pop, pop," and watch the lights change as we went through the area. 

The first freeway across San Antonio was Highway 87 that goes up to Fredericksburg to the north and Laredo on the other end. They built the north and south sections on each side of downtown first and left the middle in downtown to be built later. That was the section that had the traffic lights. We called the freeway the 'speedway'.

Way back when, there were horse-drawn wagons in the traffic. As time went by, there were fewer and fewer of them until there was a time when there were no horses.

One Christmas when I was in about sixth grade, I decided to learn to ride a bicycle. Mama went to work in the sewing factory to get Bobby Joe and me each a bicycle. Mine was a 24-inch bicycle, and it is the only bicycle I ever had. I dreamed about getting that bicycle until I actually had it.

I rode around the neighborhood on all the gravel streets, and to the store. It was a little store called Duran's where we got bread and milk. I rode some around the school and to the five-and-dime called Winn's. Their slogan was, "Save a trip to town, shop at Winn's!" They had stores in all the shopping centers in the suburbs. Later on, I worked for them.

San Antonio always had good bus service. One day it was 80 degrees or higher out on the Fairgrounds at the stockshow, but that night it was freezing, so ice formed on the power lines. Mama sent me to school on the bus that afternoon.

We rode the bus downtown, and when I was older, I rode it to the junior college, which was San Antonio College, called SAC. When I got off the bus, I walked across San Pedro Park to the college. Later, when Bobby Joe went to SAC, he couldn't find the car once he had parked it there.

When I went to San Marcos to university, one of the professors used to come in on the train. If you wanted to see who was coming to school, you would go to the train station. Later, people went on the Greyhound bus or the Continental bus. That's how I went to school a lot. Even later, people came in their own cars.

Games People Played: A Typical Day

 In the mornings, we played with Sharon and Jimmy Fanscki, who lived three doors down from us. One summer we had stilts. We walked back and forth from our house to theirs on stilts. Daddy made my stilts the same height as the porch so I could just walk off onto them.

When we moved over to Grandma's house we played Pitching Washers, Daddy and I against Bobby Joe and Mama. We played in the driveway. You had a hole and stood 'just so far' from it and pitched washers and tried to get them in the hole. We played every evening after supper. 

After lunch we had a siesta and then played outside between the houses in the shade. One day when my school friends came over, we did gymnastics on the quilt between the houses. 

Bobby Joe and Ray Berry, who lived next door and was a few years older than Bobby Joe, made a movie with a camera. They took still shots of westerns and used ketchup as the blood, but the pictures were black and white so they didn't turn out like they expected and they were disappointed.

One morning, Bobby Joe and I had a circus. Our Mama was our most important guest. We had a clown and Bobby Joe did tricks. Bobby Joe thought he was going to get rich selling tickets. Mama was the only paying customer, along with possibly three or four kids. Needless to say, we didn't get rich!

Daddy talked about playing Mumblety Peg when he was young. It was a game boys used to play with pocket knives. It was where they went through a whole series of things, like we did with jacks. I think Daddy thought he must have grown up in the best time to grow up in rural Bandera County. 

Sometimes after supper we got out the croquet set. Some evenings Mama and Daddy would play, along with whatever kids were there. Daddy was notorious for almost winning and then using his club to hit people's balls all over the yard. 

At night we had a street light in front of our house that made our house and the one across the street the gathering place. We played games like Colored Eggs (see previous post about that game) and Button, Button, Who Got the Button? as well as Hide and Seek, and Freeze Tag. In Hide and Seek, we counted by fives to a hundred. I always thought counting by ones was the easy way out. 

Moms would call their kids home to bed, and we often listened to the San Antonio Missions, minor league baseball's Texas league, on the radio. Jim Wiggins was the announcer. Their phenomenal shortstop Brooks Robinson played for them during this time. More about that in this blog post.

Later, we had bicycles and roller skates, and went roller skating downtown at the roller rink and to the movies. We rode the bus for a nickel and went to the movie for nine cents, so for a quarter you could get a Coke and popcorn and everything.