Ruth
Biography
Butchered chickens with John while children watched from a plum tree in the Reichenberg’s back yard. Barbara explicitly doubts the accuracy of her memory of the method. Named in the phrase “Ruth and John Reichenberg.” A neighbor of Mom who joined supper and card evenings. Susy also remembers playing games with Ruth and Florence. Named in the phrase “Ruth and Tom Johnson’s,” where Iris went to take a bath on her wedding day. Named in 'Ruth and Tom Johnson'; invited the family for Sunday dinner and made ham with all the trimmings, including ham gravy. One of Carolyn’s parents; sat outside with John and helped explain the announcement that the war was over. Named in 'Ruth and John Reichenberg'; played Pinochle with Ethel and Floyd. Named in the neighbors list following 'The Johnsons'; precise family relationships are not stated. With Tom, decided Billy needed companionship to solve a perceived discipline problem. The narrator considered their rules overly strict.
Timeline
August 15, 1945
Celebrating the radio announcement that the war was over
Ruth and John explained the news; the children jumped, clapped, and shouted. Carol says she was about six and that the war was officially over that day.
Carol's ChapterOne time, when we were quite young
Watching chicken butchering from the plum tree
Barbara and other children watched Ruth and John butcher chickens. Barbara recalls hanging chickens on a clothesline and chopping their necks, while expressly questioning the accuracy of that memory.
Barbara's ChapterAfter the children were grown and Daddy had passed away
Supper and midnight cards with neighbors
Mom and her neighbors took turns hosting supper and cards until midnight, then shared a snack before going home.
Dee's ChapterOnce, for Sunday dinner
Sunday ham dinner with Ruth and Tom Johnson
Ruth and Tom Johnson invited the family over. Ruth served ham with all the trimmings, including ham gravy, in their dining room; Carol remembered it as very special.
Carol's ChapterAfter Gypsy's departure
A trial older brother arrives for Billy
Ruth and Tom obtained an unnamed trial older brother as companionship for Billy. He was later returned to the orphanage after spending his time pursuing neighborhood girls rather than being Billy's companion.
Bernie's Chapter
Stories mentioning Ruth
- Plum-Tree Spectators and Garden TreatsChildren watched from the plum tree in the Reichenberg’s back yard as Ruth and John butchered chickens. Barbara recalls chickens hanging on the clothesline and having their necks chopped, but explicitly says, “I know this can’t be right.” The children shrieked as headless chickens ran about. She also remembers stealing kohlrabi from the Reichenberg’s garden and admiring Mrs. Britz's gladiolas and chocolate cakes.
- Club Days, Secret Pals, and Midnight FriendshipMom’s eight-player club met on the second Wednesday of each month, rotating homes to play 500. Alice Atchison recalled its names changing from the Pregnant Women’s Club to The Hot Flash Club. Mom prepared with meticulous cleaning and dessert making; prizes and annual Secret Pals added to the fun. After Daddy had his stroke, he mistook a Secret Pal card for evidence of a secret lover, a story Mom later told with amusement after his death. In her widowhood, Mom enjoyed supper, cards, and midnight snacks with Ruth, John Reichenberg, and Florence Britz. She also played Euchre through Friend’s Circle and the Community Center, preferring the Circle’s company.
- A Love of Cards Passed DownMom taught the children 500 and Hearts and enjoyed Scrabble with them. The narrator also played Canasta with Mrs. Nicholson, as did Barb, Diana, and neighborhood children, and remembers basement games of 500 Rummy. Adult visits to Mom always included 500 as a way to talk and remember. The tradition reached the grandchildren: Susy recalls Kings Corners, Cribbage, and Bunko with her grandma, Ruth, and Florence.
- First Earnings and a Room to Be Proud OfSelling flower seeds door to door earned Dee two bedroom lamps, and she also babysat for the Hancocks and Iris. She recalls Iris meeting Bill at Cozy Corners, Iris’s wedding and emerald ring, and a frightening night babysitting in Iris’s large house, when she hid a knife beneath a sofa cushion. Summer work at Tasty Treat brought unlimited root beer and paychecks that Dee and Carol pooled for twin beds, turquoise bedspreads, a lamp, and a rug; Mom made matching curtains. Dee also praises Bernie’s lasting plasterwork in his room.
- Mom's Kitchen, Backyard Roasts, and a Special Sunday DinnerCarol recalls homemade meals, sweets, Friday-night treats, and bedtime snacks, including Lloyd teaching the children to dunk peanut butter sandwiches into cocoa. She remembers coloring margarine and refusing ten cents to eat liver. After the move to 39th Street, Mom raised chickens, Bob had a pig, and Grandpa Williams raised rabbits. Watching a chicken being killed terrified Carol, though chicken dinners and competing for the wishbone were memorable. Daddy prepared backyard wiener roasts. Restaurant meals never occurred and dinner invitations were rare, making a Sunday ham dinner with Ruth and Tom Johnson especially memorable.
- War Stamps and Joyful News in Carolyn’s YardCarol recalls buying ten-cent Savings Bonds stamps at school as family finances allowed. A book holding $18.50 in stamps could be exchanged for a $25 War Bond redeemable in ten years. Her parents used ration stamps for food and gas, including rationed meat, coffee, sugar, and butter. While Carol and Carolyn Reichenberg played in Carolyn’s yard, a radio announced the war was over. Ruth and John tried to explain, and the children jumped, clapped, and shouted. Carol dates the memory to August 15, 1945, says she was about six, and states that the war was officially over that day.
- Friends Around the Card TableEthel and Floyd enjoyed Poker, Pinochle, Euchre, and 500 Rummy, while Floyd also played Cribbage with Grandpa. Friday poker nights included the McFarlands, Nickelsons, and Vergaines. They played Pinochle with Art and Eilene Cordingly and Ruth and John Reichenberg. After Floyd died, Ethel played cards almost nightly with Florence Britz.
- Bob's Bright Fragments of ChildhoodBob lists vivid childhood memories: neighbors, a gasoline burn while playing with a toy steamshovel, Barbara refusing medicine, Bernie's skating injury, and Tom Johnson knocking out power lines with a falling tree. He recalls visiting the Rodgers in Cordova, swimming at Campbell’s Island, annual Riverside Park picnics, Iris’s wedding, and poker games with Art and Eileen Cordingly. Other memories include orchard camping and spraying, gathering walnuts, toys and homemade kites, fireworks, homemade foods, hauling water when the well dried up, building a house addition, basement heat relief and flooding, coal heating, backyard tomatoes, and the surviving mailbox millstone.
- A Trial Brother for BillyRuth and Tom arranged for an older boy from the local orphanage to be Billy's trial brother, hoping companionship would address what they regarded as a discipline problem. The narrator says the Guilds considered their rules absurdly strict. The boy made realistic crepe paper roses but was more interested in neighborhood girls than in staying home with Billy. He was eventually returned to the orphanage, a parallel the narrator draws to Gypsy's departure.
Referenced in
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