What were your moms’ & grandmothers’ lives like?

What were your moms’ & grandmothers’ lives like? By Janice Bellinghiere

During the Depression, my mom would walk along the railroad tracks to pick up coal the train had dropped. People had nothing, so they got by how they could. Patty, 62

Fran, 81 • My grandfather had a dairy farm in Mission Valley. My mom took the milk up to Adams Ave by horse and buggy. In 1916 Mission Valley flooded and everything, even the cows, washed down the San Diego River.

Ollie Jo, 76 • During WWII, my mom got a job at Convair airplane factory, to help with the war effort. We did not need the money, it was just to help the country. She never worked before or after.

Lindsey, 30 • During WWII, my grandpa was in the war in Algeria, so my mom lived with her family. He sent her love letters all the time.

Shay, 40 • My mom was a single mother who really struggled. She taught us the value of a dollar. She told us to be independent and to keep our own bank account when we got married, and to never depend on a man.

Amina, 40 • My mother was a mother and a father to us. Saddam Hussein sent my father to jail many times for political reasons and for speaking Kurdish instead of Arabic. So my mother worked on our farm, took care of the house and taught us to read.

Emma, 60 • My grandfather fought with Emilio Zapata in the Mexican Revolution. My grandmother stayed home and took care of the family. She had no money, everyone was poor back then.

Lori, 49 • My grandmother died when my mom was 7, so by 10 my mom was running a house for 5 adult men and her younger sister. • My other grandmother was a roller skater at the airport to deliver messages during WWII.

Dong, 58 • Camera Shy • My grandmother lived in a very small village in Viet Nam. She owned a market. She was wife #1 and she chose wives #2 and #3 for her husband.

Bruno, 80 • My parents lived in Northern Italy. My father had to go to fight in WWI. Since the men were gone, the Army made the women work hard hauling supplies up the mountains. They treated them like mules.

Asmaa, 20 • What does your mother want for you? • She is a traditional woman from a third world country. She says I can become anything, but if I am not a good wife and mother, I am nothing.

Linh, 24 • Camera Shy • What does your mother want for you? • She is a teacher. She didn’t push me into anything. She just supports me all the way, whatever I want to do.

Joanne, 49 • What does your mother want for you? • She only completed 8th grade. So she is really happy that I am in school.

Russul, 20 • What does your mother want for you? • She wants me to be a doctor, to make my family proud. She wants me to get the education she didn’t get.

What were your moms’ & grandmothers’ lives like?