My mother was a bomb maker

[greybeard]

Not many folks today can say that about their mother.
I see frequent posts about our Dads, but not much about our Moms.
Was thinking today about my mother and all she went thru in the Great Depression, then her husband going of to a CC Camp in Colorado during the depression to make $30/month, and later get drafted into the US Army during WW2 and seeing her 2 sons go off to and finally return from Vietnam, then the unfathomable grief when my youngest sister died. It had to have been tough--it was tough times, even for that generation. I recently looked at a photo she had, of me, my brother and 3 sisters at the table Christmas time 1973. On the back, she had written "All my children home for the first time in 4 years". I remember that week. It was, finally..a happy time.

She had picked cotton beside my father, (by hand, dragging a sack) helped with the few cows they had in the early days, endured sandstorms during the dust bowl when they lived out in Nolan County, watched them lose a small farm in Bowie County when Wright Patman Reservoir was impounded in the early 50s. (then called Lake Texarkana) faithfully got up early and made biscuits every morning my father worked and of course, lunches for us kids.
Among her accomplishments/trials/tribulations was she worked in the mid- late 40s at the old San Jacinto Ordinance Depot on the banks of the Houston ship channel in Channelview Texas. She told me her job there was to assemble 50 & 100 lb bombs, specifically, installing part of the fuse assemblies.
She saw a lot of history and heartache and worry, which I'm sure I contributed my share of.
When living near Tyler, she heard the 1937 New London school explosion. 10 years later, Both my mother and father were frantic when they heard the Texas City Grand Camp explosions at their places of employment. Dad worked at the Humble Oil refinery in nearby Baytown (now Exxon) and Mom was working at the Ordinance Depot. Each thought the other's job place had exploded and both went rushing home to check. They didn't have a telephone in those days.
Dunno, just thinking about her this morning.......

 

[HDRider]

:tiphat: A great American story, about a great American Mother. :clap: :clap: :clap:

 

[bball]

All i can say is women from that era were cut from a much different cloth than today..i reckon men were too. My deceased wifes grandmother was a WW2 battlefield nurse. Lady as tough as nails. I often wonder how we as a society would deal with the hardships that generation did. Thanks for sharing. She clearly was a strong woman.

 

[Craig Miller]

Those ladies wer tougher than today's men

 

[pricefarm]

All i can say is women from that era were cut from a much different cloth than today..i reckon men were too. My deceased wifes grandmother was a WW2 battlefield nurse. Lady as tough as nails. I often wonder how we as a society would deal with the hardships that generation did. Thanks for sharing. She clearly was a strong woman.

Back then life was a lot harder than today, it weeded out the weak.

 

[Caustic Burno]

Not many folks today can say that about their mother.
I see frequent posts about our Dads, but not much about our Moms.
Was thinking today about my mother and all she went thru in the Great Depression, then her husband going of to a CC Camp in Colorado during the depression to make $30/month, and later get drafted into the US Army during WW2 and seeing her 2 sons go off to and finally return from Vietnam, then the unfathomable grief when my youngest sister died. It had to have been tough--it was tough times, even for that generation. I recently looked at a photo she had, of me, my brother and 3 sisters at the table Christmas time 1973. On the back, she had written "All my children home for the first time in 4 years". I remember that week. It was, finally..a happy time.

She had picked cotton beside my father, (by hand, dragging a sack) helped with the few cows they had in the early days, endured sandstorms during the dust bowl when they lived out in Nolan County, watched them lose a small farm in Bowie County when Wright Patman Reservoir was impounded in the early 50s. (then called Lake Texarkana) faithfully got up early and made biscuits every morning my father worked and of course, lunches for us kids.
Among her accomplishments/trials/tribulations was she worked in the mid- late 40s at the old San Jacinto Ordinance Depot on the banks of the Houston ship channel in Channelview Texas. She told me her job there was to assemble 50 & 100 lb bombs, specifically, installing part of the fuse assemblies.
She saw a lot of history and heartache and worry, which I'm sure I contributed my share of.
When living near Tyler, she heard the 1937 New London school explosion. 10 years later, Both my mother and father were frantic when they heard the Texas City Grand Camp explosions at their places of employment. Dad worked at the Humble Oil refinery in nearby Baytown (now Exxon) and Mom was working at the Ordinance Depot. Each thought the other's job place had exploded and both went rushing home to check. They didn't have a telephone in those days.
Dunno, just thinking about her this morning.......

Mom worked the Liberty jobs as well followed dad to Yorktown for WWII European theatre then San Diego for the Pacific campaign.
Dad was working at the Pan American refinery Texas City when the Grand Camp blew anchor landed in the parking lot. Took all the windows out of the rent house in Texas City when it blew.
That generation was tough.
Mom and dad would be 104 today they saw some stuff from horse and buggy to man on the moon.

 

[NEFarmwife]

I LOVE hearing these stories. I'm no stranger to an older man or woman, wishing to talk about the "days" of their life. And I may hear those same stories more than a time or two but each time I listen, it is like the first time I've heard it.

Our homesteads use to have a home on nearly every quarter. Our homestead housed 2 more homes that no one today, can tell you where they were once located although their family resided there years ago. Our history is vanishing as fast as our elderly and nobody can tell a story like they can.

 

[Rafter S]

My father was born at home in rural Grimes County Texas in 1930. They didn't have running water in the house, or electricity for that matter. His parents got their first car when he was 13. Before that if they wanted to go anywhere it was walk, saddle a horse, or hook up the wagon. They made their living farming, with everything done by hand or with mules. Basically they weren't living any different than folks had for a couple hundred years before.

He died well into the computer age in 2007, and although 77 isn't that old he saw tremendous changes in the world in his lifetime. I often wonder if any other generation will see that much change. And if the 21st century sees as much change as the 20th did, what will the world look like?

 

[TexasBred]

I LOVE hearing these stories. I'm no stranger to an older man or woman, wishing to talk about the "days" of their life. And I may hear those same stories more than a time or two but each time I listen, it is like the first time I've heard it.

Our homesteads use to have a home on nearly every quarter. Our homestead housed 2 more homes that no one today, can tell you where they were once located although their family resided there years ago. Our history is vanishing as fast as our elderly and nobody can tell a story like they can.

Basically it all boiled down to how hard and how long did a man have to work to feed the family and put shelter and clothing around his family. Didn't leave much time for anything else and everybody had their particular chores to do. I think folks work hard these days but don't have to work as hard physically nor as long to make a living leaving time and money left over for socializing, partying, traveling or whatever you want to do and it really should be that way. Gotta keep progressing. I use to look out the window at church and see my dad plowing the garden with a horse and I would think "Can't you wait until after church". Truth was he couldn't wait. He simply didn't have enough hours so he did it when he finished something else. I'm sure he would like to ahve been taking it easy for an hour too. Yes we're working smarter, producing more in less time and in many cases got way too much time on our hands but gotta keep moving forward.