The Day Our Family Took to the Road

Sisters Evelyn Palmour and Doreene McCoy were just children when the Depression hit their Nebraska community. Recently, the sisters remembered how their family packed up, took to the road, and started over.


Time again for StoryCorps, traveling the country recording your stories. Last week, we heard remembrances of the Great Depression. Today, we revisit that time with sisters Evelyn Palmour and Doreene McCoy. They were just children when the Depression hit their community in Nebraska. Recently, the sisters recalled how their family packed up, took to the road, and started a new life.

When we made the final move to Oklahoma from Nebraska, I was 13.

Yeah, I was 11.

Our folks had had this groceries store. You know, they did a credit business. They let people charge groceries. And the crash came about that time, and the people were out of work. They were honest people, but they just didn't have the money to pay their bills. So in 1935, Daddy sold the store and we were headed to Oklahoma. But before we left town, Mama she went around, and told all the people that owed us money, she said, "We are moving to Oklahoma, and we are not coming back. And in lieu of money, we'll take personal property." Mom and Dad drove that Model T truck, loaded to the hilt with stuff.
And our uncle drove a 1928 Chevrolet, pulling a big trailer. Mom and Dad went ahead in that truck. And uncle Gland and you and I came along later in the car. 'Cause the roads weren't paved. They were just gravel. So rather than be real close in eight hour it does, we stay back a mile or so.

But on the way down, do you remember that we had a flat tire? And it was dark. Uncle Gland of course knew how to change the tire. But we had no light. Cause you were 13 years old. You were mistress. And so you had a compact.

Oh, yeah.

So you stood in front of the car headlights, and reflected the light back with (my make-up mirror) make-up mirror. So he could change that tire. And it wasn't that ingenious at that time? Oh yeah, Oh yeah.

Well, I know, when we got to Oklahoma, and unpacked the truck, I was amazed at all the stuff. Some of them, I'd never seen before.

Yeah.

But it was what the people had forfeited for their grocery bills that they owed our parents.

That's Evelyn Palmour and her sister Doreen McCoy recorded in Jackson, Mississippi. And we here at morning edition want to congratulate StoryCorps for winning a prestigious Peabody Award. The selection board calls StoryCorps a (quot) "deceptively simple invaluable project". That encourages people to record their oral histories. To find out how you can participate and to subscribe to the StoryCorps podcast, go to NPR.org.