Background: In a society which pays far too little respect to its elders, authors Kim Morin and Rita Blockman did a wonderful and unusual thing–they interviewed and tape-recorded the life stories of individuals between the ages of 88 and 104. Their book, Listen to the Wisest of All, is a series of vignettes which detail the lives of many of the men and women who lived through the World Wars and the Great Depression.
I gave my 80-year-old mother the book for Mother’s Day, saying, “The book has two benefits. One, it’s very interesting to read about these people’s lives and what they experienced. Two, reading about people that old will make you feel young.” She has been enjoying the book on both counts.
My first excerpt from the book dealt with the greatest and sometimes most elusive of all things–a good marriage. To read it, see ‘Fancy amenities don’t make one happy. It was these simple times we treasured.
In the excerpt below, 98-year-old Bob Chamberlin talks about the Great Depression, his father, the generosity of George Eastman during the massive influenza epidemic that broke out after World War I, and Eastman’s strange death.
Bob Chamberlin’s Story
(Excerpted from Listen to the Wisest of All by Kim Morin and Rita Blockman)
Bob and his family were deeply affected by the Depression. His father was out of work, as were so many others. All needed money and were struggling simply to keep their homes and obtain enough food and gasoline. Bob stated, “It was a grim time for everybody.”
He chose to give up his graduate work and go to work to earn money for his family. It was fortuitous that his talents fit nicely with President Roosevelt’s plan to “make work a program of worthwhile projects that are largely man built—not [built] by machine.”
He vividly remembers driving to a park and dropping off his father and another gentleman who had been a banker. These men were given a pick and shovel and put to work.
Bob states that, in one way, the manual labor felt demeaning. Yet he remembers the sense of pride they felt in doing something for which they earned money and gained instant gratification from their efforts, instead of sitting at home ruminating over their misfortune. During the following years, President Roosevelt continued to expand existing parks and lay out new parks, thereby creating more jobs for people who needed them.
Bob moved back to Rochester, New York, and lived there many years. Rochester was considered “George Eastman Country.” He had met George Eastman several times and enjoyed telling stories about him, even regarding him as his mentor.
He recalled the time when the great industrialist bought the most expensive golf course in town. Bob described Eastman as an inventor and philanthropist, a nice and cordial man. His ideas generated jobs for over half of the employees in the city of Rochester.
When the Spanish influenza was killing people by the hundreds, George Eastman knew that children who still had their adenoids and tonsils might be saved if they were removed. As a philanthropist, he offered to pay for the operation for every affected child in the city of Rochester.
Mr. Eastman also loved music and offered to buy an instrument for every child who wished to play one. His only requirement was that the student practice and become somewhat proficient. As so many people are aware, he built the prestigious Eastman School of Music in Rochester on a site surrounded by huge oak trees and the river.
With painful disbelief, Bob recalls that when Mr. Eastman had accomplished all he had set out to do, he went upstairs, and left a note that read, “My work is done, Why wait?” and shot himself.
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