nd triggered huge needs for industrialand agricultural productivity. The Roosevelt New Deal, however, succeeded in putting inplace new agencies and policies to try assure that such a disaster would never happenagain. In his first inaugural address, President Roosevelt made some attempt to assess theenormous damage: The withered leaves of industrial enterprise lie on every side; farmersfind no markets for their produce; the savings of many years in thousands of families aregone. More important, a host of unemployed citizens face the grim problem of existence,and an equally great number toil with little. Social ImpactI have a great, great aunt that lived during the depression and is still alive living inPauls Valley. She is 92 years old. Her name is Mildred Robbins. She is still activelyinvolved in her church and volunteering at the hospital. When we visited about thedepression she would get very depressed as you could see it in her expressions. Mildredand her husband lived Oklahoma City from 1928 until 1932 when the Reynolds OilCompany went broke, Her husband worked for that company. They moved back to PaulsValley in 1933. They operated a cleaning store named Service Clothes Cleaning. Thestore was located were Jay Shumates Clothing store is located on Paul Street. AuntMildred told me that most of the people could not afford for their cleaning and tradedgroceries and other items for pay. They operated the store until 1938 then they movedback to Oklahoma City. Aunt Mildred started teaching at Capital Hill Jr. High Schooluntil 1942.She taught at Harding School from 1942 until 1967. She explained to me howlong the bread lines were in downtown OKC. After visiting with my aunt I understand theGreat Depression much greater than I did before I talked to her. I hope that I or any of mypresent or future family will not have to go through this again....
