I just read my writings to Jim this morning and he added some things. He is sitting here at the table beside me writing, too.
Jim was from a family of 13 children. He told me that his mother made bread about 3 times a week. And she made a dozen loaves of bread each baking. Then in between the days, when the bread was gone, she made biscuits and pancakes. On the weekends she made 2 or 3 cakes or 3 or 4 pies, or both.
Jim was the twelfth of thirteen so most of the children were born during the Depression era. Jim was born in 1940. So some of the older daughters came back home with their families and lived with Mother and Dad Hultquist. But that was fairly common in those days. So a lot of food had to be made each day. But can you imagine the work that went on in that kitchen? And a lot of folks were starving during that time. So there was much heartache going on to think about. But Mom Hultquist kept her family going. She never lost any of the children due to neglect of any kind. But, boy, was she a tough one.
I thought she was too tough, actually, when I was young. But now that I am almost the age she was when she died, I see it all different. I know now that she had to be tough and I respect her now. Often I tell my kids who tell me they will write a book, "Don't write nothing about me until you have held a few babies in your arms." And I wonder how I would be have raised 13 children through the Depression era.
I just asked Jim what he was writing so I could add it to this. He writes in his words:
"As a child, when I got up in the morning, my mother would be cooking and baking for the day. On the days she made bread I could smell it baking as I reached the porch of our house coming home from school. The other boys knew when she was baking bread and would tag along with me to home to get some bread. Mom would let us break a whole loaf open and butter it and eat it hot.
"Mom would plan the whole day around when Daddy got home from work. They were like two love birds when I was a child. But when he died, her world was over and she was never the same again. There were 6 girls and 7 boys, and the girls all had to help inside with the cooking and cleaning and sewing. And the boys did the outside work of bringing in wood for the stove and coal for the furnace. The boys did the family gardening and even helped the neighbors with gardening. And the pay was a bushel of onions or tomatoes to bring home to the family."
Jim goes on to say that, once his dad died, his mother became very bitter. Often she had menfolk who wanted to court her but she told them that no one would take the place of her husband Bill. She was only in her early 40's when she lost Bill but never married again. She just couldn't get back up and go again. Jim felt so unloved and became bitter himself. But Jim says that he forgave her many years ago. And he knows now that she is complete again in heaven with her Bill beside her. They are love birds again and happy just like in the old days when he was a young boy.
