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Fourteen Welfare Case Work |
Mrs. Bouck continues reminiscences of work as a home relief case worker for the county Welfare Department in 1939 and 1940. Born in Gilboa, she attended business school for a year after graduating from high school. She worked for the Department of Social Services for 28 years. While doing case work on the road, she provided an automobile and was paid 10 cents a mile. Mrs. Bouck was also secretary of the Valley Environmental Conservation Association, which in the 1970s successfully stopped construction of a second power dam in the upper Schoharie Valley. |
THE Great Depression was an interesting time to be alive. Tragic times for some and financial difficulties for everyone, especially in 1930-1945.
One of the first families I visited was a referral by the Town of Summit service officer. (1) A man and his wife and teen-aged son needed financial assistance. I called and, to my amazement, I knew the lady. She was the daughter of our father’s hired man. I started completing an application and when I came to “marriage,” they showed me a page in the family Bible.
That was too much for me. I said, “Jane, whatever happened to David?” (her husband). She immediately said, “Who are you? Oh, you’re one of Leonard Spafford’s daughters!” I left at that point, saying they could mail the completed application to our office. The next morning, the service officer called me asking “What did you say to that woman? She packed up and left next night.”
End of case.
I’ve never forgotten the referral of the service officer for the Town of Blenheim. It was winter with lots of snow so I took my husband’s waders along: one step on top of the snow, next step to my hips in snow.
The house was in woods, perhaps 50 feet off the road. There sat a middle-aged couple with their feet in the oven of a wood stove. I had asked the service officer if he knew of any work to be had and he said they had taken a tree down and he would pay a dollar a day for a man to work it up — splitting it for their stove. So that was my message to the gentleman. Later the service officer told me the man in question had left their home in the woods. (To avoid doing the work.)
THE next family I visited was referred by the service officer of the Town of Carlisle. When I arrived at the home I found the lady of the house in bed in the living room with her newborn son. Other children were in school. The husband sat in the same room.
I asked the lady what she’d had for breakfast.
“Pancakes” the noon before.
Pancakes. No meat.
I went to a grocery store about a mile from their home and picked up a large bone with plenty of beef attached, a couple of onions, carrots and potatoes, and took them to the man saying, “You should be able to make a good stew for all the family for supper, and here is an order for $10 for additional food. I’ll be hearing from your service officer.” Service officers would contact the case workers about their referrals and the results of the visit.
Mr. G. landed a job with a farmer nearby and cared for the family. Of course, payment was also made to the doctor who attended Mrs. G.
The next referral was from the service officer of the Town of Sharon. The man of the house was employed in charge of a county road gang and had to be certified as in need of assistance in order to continue.
This was in summer and two teen-aged girls were at home, washing dishes with a dishpan setting on the front of the kitchen stove. One girl washed while the other one dipped the dish in the reservoir of the stove (2) to rinse, then dried and put the dish on the table so when they finished, the table was all set for the next meal.
A baby lay in his carriage in the kitchen with flies crawling in and out of the nose, ears and mouth. I suggested to Mrs. M. that she buy at least a yard of cheesecloth, which was only 10 cents a yard, to put over the carriage.
This family was very much in need of assistance and everything was clean and neat, but very shabby.
Another case was referred by the service office in Cobleskill. A mother, 48 years old, had given birth with considerable difficulty. Several younger men, relatives, were in the room congratulating the 65-year-old father. Application for payment for the doctor who delivered Mrs. C. was accepted. Mrs. C. had a large family to care for her.
This item was started in June, 1939, and in late September, Mother Bouck passed away suddenly. My father-in-law wanted us to come there to live, so we did. Grandma Bouck, wasn't full of life and vigor as before her last child’s death and she thoroughly spoiled our daughter. The day came when my husband said, “If this continues, I’ll leave home,” at which point I replied, “It would seem better to me if the three of us return to our home after I resign.”
It happened at the same time that Margie Lee Johnson (3) applied for a case worker's position and when I told Commissioner Eugene Garce of my desire to resign, he said, “Take Margie Lee on a few trips so she can learn how we do things in Schoharie County.” So we did, and at the first of August I was living at home again.
So many times in the years between, I’ve thought of the people I visited, and of the Commissioner and the other case workers.
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1. Each town has a position of “service officer.” The duties are to assist people in need.
2. The backs of country stoves had water reservoirs. The water was used for washing dishes, mopping floors and whatever else hot waster was needed for. The reservoirs were sometimes called “tanks.”
3. Mrs. Johnson’s husband, Robert, was county judge from 1951 to 1972.