Economy Block

October 29, 1929 the New York Stock Exchange crashed on what came to be known as “Black Tuesday.” Most historians point to this day as the beginning of the Great American Depression. It’s said that anyone who bought stocks in 1929 and held onto them would see most of his or her adult life pass by before getting back to even. My grandmothers were teenagers in 1929. They completed their educations and began families and careers during the decade that followed. I asked them what that was like, and they said it taught them to be frugal. They both raised vegetable gardens, sewed their own clothing, and bottled fruits, pickles and jellies. If company came to visit, it was an excuse to make a roast and dinner rolls, not an opportunity to go out to eat. They lived by the adage, “Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”