Coal Stoves and Creamed Tuna

I asked Mama what Grandma did after Guy died. She moved her family to a little home on Center Street and 2nd East. It was a small 1 bedroom house with 12 foot ceilings that was heated with a coal stove in the living room and one in the kitchen. Grandma's sister Antionette bought her a white coal stove instead of the ugly black one for the living room. Mama said she used to help pull the wagon they used to carry the coal to the house. 

Mom remembers standing behind the stove in the living room to get warm. The coal dust used to get everywhere in the house including the walls which needed to be washed once a week. Guy's brother would come over and wash them for Grandma. One of mom's jobs was to clean the grime off the windows. She once said that this was the days before detergent and the soap they had didn't cut the grease and grime very well. So they really had to scrub to get things clean. 

Grandma and mama shared the bed in the bedroom with David in a crib. Keith and Dean slept in the living room. I asked mom what they lived on. She thought a minute and said "l don't know, I do know we always had enough to eat, but sometimes just barely."  They usually had a pot roast on Sundays but one Thanksgiving all they had was creamed tuna and grape juice in crystal glasses. Mama later found those crystal glasses in a box of things after grandma died and gave one to each one of her brothers as a memento. 

When things got hard mom used to hear grandma talking to Guy as if he were there, more to comfort herself than anything else. Grandma had wonderful faith and knew things would work out. After a few years they were thrilled to move into a nearby 3 bedroom apartment with central heating.