Phillipps: Everyone pulled together: Part 2 in our series, ‘Vintage Vantage’

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Many people jump to compare America’s current economic state to the Great Depression, roughly 1930-1940.

Along with the money, banking, real estate and political experts, the Journal wondered if residents who lived through that era might share stories and ideas.

How did they save money, cut corners, make sacrifices? What of those principles and practices might help people now?

Many people jump to compare America’s current economic state to the Great Depression, roughly 1930-1940.

Bob Phillipps grew up in a “big” house beside Parker Creek in the town of Kinnickinnic. At age 89, he’s known some hard times, in fact the hardest.

“My dad didn’t have much money when we were being raised,” he said.

Son of a farmer and one of six siblings, Phillipps has been farming his whole life.

He and his brother would rise about 4:30 a.m. to clean the barn. Phillipps said sometimes they “horsed around” too long and ended up running instead of walking the mile to school.

In the summer, he remembers rounding up cows in the morning. Once as a young boy, he helped herd sheep from the Roberts stockyards to River Falls.

He remembers the family doing all its own mechanical work to the tractors and other farm machinery. Phillipps recalls the old 14-horsepower milking machine that he sometimes tinkered with, often taking it apart and re-assembling it.

“Dad never did find out and neither did Ma,” he said about the experimentation.

He learned to drive the tractor at age 10, often plowing fields from dawn until well after dark. Sometimes he used the walk-behind plow or cultivator.

The family fished from the creek during times when there was no limit and a day’s catch could easily feed the family. The water also provided swim lessons for Phillipps and, sometimes, a bath.

He remembers deer hunting near the Iron River, keeping chickens and trapping whatever would make a good meal including muskrat and skunk.

His family grew many foods, including three acres of potatoes. They ate some and sold some but dug all of them by hand.

“Scalloped potatoes used to be one of the main things,” he said.

His mother sewed many items, including blankets that the kids helped tie together. He suspects his mother probably had her hands full raising all of them; the older children often helped care for the younger ones.

Phillipps said he and his siblings earned money for clothes by doing odd jobs like shocking grain for 25 or 50 cents a day.

“It teaches you not to spend it too fast,” he said of the hard-earned money.

He said when the soles of their shoes were flapping or falling off, they’d slip a “hog ring” (rubber ring for a pig’s snout) around the shoe to keep the sole in place.

Phillipps said he chopped a lot of wood then and still does now. He and his brother used the big cross-cut (two-man) saw together on big cottonwood trees to make firewood to heat the house and cook the food.

Their father admonished the boys to cut the stumps low so that the horse-drawn sled wouldn’t get stuck.

About entertainment during tough times, Phillipps says, “When we were younger, we used to make our own fun.”

He says that usually entailed running in packs and getting together with neighbors or other family. They’d skate, ski, sled, swim, play softball or take a long nature walk. At the end of play, somebody’s mother might have a treat like hot cocoa.

Around the end of the Great Depression in 1942, Phillipps got his draft letter and went off to the Army for four years. While gone, he sent home paychecks to help the family make ends meet.

Phillipps says he still cuts wood nearly every day, heating both his home and hot water with it. He just grins when asked if that’s how he stays in good enough shape to fit into the same Army uniform he wore 67 years ago.

Phillipps still has a garden these days and says his pleasures remain simple: Planting flowers where his old school used to be, chopping wood and volunteering at the American Legion. He enjoys watching the deer and especially birds at their feeders.

He keeps a close eye on the birds, saying that if they’re crowding their feeder, the weather’s about to change.

Many of the lessons Phillipps learned during hard times probably helped him in life.

When he and late wife Dorothy began farming, they lived on $36 per month. He said they “hung in there” a while and finally got ahead. Next came raising four children: Carol, David, Debbie and Donny.

The couple knew how to deal with setbacks, so persevered through tough times. Once, they could actually afford hogs, but then a flood carried away many of them.

He said they formed farming cooperatives back then to help make ends meet. For example, Phillipps and his cousin would share the cost of big farm equipment then work together.

He said about pulling together, “It was the only way to make it.”

Editor’s note: The Journal welcomes other perspectives from those who lived through the Great Depression. If enough people want to tell some of their story and make useful suggestions on being thrifty, maybe the Vintage Vantage stories will evolve into a series. Anyone interested in doing a story like it should contact Debbie Griffin at 426-1048 or at the e-mail address above.