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This is the second part of
longtime Avon Park resident Ruth Kempton McClanahan’s
recollections of moving to Florida with her family in 1930 from
Fairfield, Conn., during the Great Depression. Last week’s
column talked about the loss of income and the decision of the
family to head south to Lake Isis Avon Park to the residence of
Ruth’s aunt, Dr. Mary E. Coffin from Pittsburgh. She had
purchased 30 acres in the local area and that’s where the Kempton's
made their new home.
Ruth writes: “My immediate family consisted of my parents,
four children, and three grandparents. The house we built was
large and airy. This was before the time of air-conditioning.
Seven of the eight rooms opened onto porches, which made
effective cross-ventilation for the hot summers. In the winter,
the large brick fire place which stood between the living room
and the dining room kept us warm. We used our own wood for the
stove.”
The Kempton's were practical, self-sufficient people. For
instance at a family conference, they decided that electricity
would only be used on Friday morning. Other ways the family
saved was by making their own furniture polish by mixing oil and
lemon juice; rationing the mileage on the family car; growing
their own vegetables and fruit and having a milk cow and
chickens. “With economies like these, we were practically
self-supporting.”
Ruth, a teen-ager at the time of the move to Avon Park,
writes that the recreation for her and her sister, Lee, “cost
almost nothing. The occasional expense was a movie.
“However, the experience of moving from one lifestyle in the
north to a different one in the south seemed like an adventure
rather than a hardship. I give my parents credit for this.”
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3
N. Museum Avenue
