IamA 99 year old woman who helped her mother make bootlegged alcohol in Chicago during the Prohibition, and then lived through 2 World Wars, the Great Depression, and a lot of other history. AMA!

Having witnessed our government and social change for so long, have there been any changes in direction that were a surprise? Are there things you wish you had seen the US do differently?

Thanks!

I don't think anything was a surprise, I think everything was something that was to be expected. I think the immigration situation in the past should have been handled differently, and our Prohibition distracted us from the problems boiling up in Europe, so we weren't prepared for what happened there in the years that followed.

In your opinion, what has been the greatest, or most fascinating, invention, innovation, etc, made in your lifetime?

I think it's everything that has happened in the medical field (advancements and medicines).

EDIT: expanding on it. My husband had an appendectomy and he was in the hospital from January to June. His brother was only in for a week. If he had had that these days, he might've been home the next day.

In the 20s, many health services didn't exist. Diseases would be rampant in many sections of the city, and the health inspector would put up a poster on your door stating that there was a contagious disease in the house. Many kids caught things at school. Out of our family of 5 children, 4 of us had diphtheria, and one of my sisters died, and we were quarantined in our house for about 3 weeks. Now, they have shots for babies to prevent it. At a funeral, you could only visit a body once through visitation and through a glass wall, because they were afraid you would catch the disease if you got too close. And my mother had to ride alone in the car, and she was not permitted to leave the car at the cemetery because they were afraid she would catch it. However, our minister brought her out against their orders to visit the grave.

EDIT: Thank you for the gold!

What kinds of food did you eat on a daily basis, especially during the Depression? Is there anything you remember especially fondly or are happy to never eat again? What was a real treat? We have so much excess and choice these days.

During the Depression, I ate bread and butter sandwiches, with sugar on it as a treat. I worked in the school cafeteria so my siblings could get free meals.

What was it like pre-prohibition? As in were people talking about it a lot? Was there much opposition amongst the public or politicians?

People were talking about it in the late 20s and of course some of it was political. I think the public wasn't much aware of it, and it became a problem more in the 30s. It was an extremely political move, and communication was different back then so there was a lot of hearsay or gossip. Different communities and areas of the country handled it differently. I think the Depression had a great deal to do with the Prohibition, people became millionaires. Every community had knowledge of where to get liquor, and it was really a lifestyle.

What is the trick to looking so young for being 99? That's incredible.

I never smoked, and I get out of bed and put my feet on the floor every morning!

My response (the great-granddaughter): she stays extremely active, walking wherever she can (with a walker or cane if it's very far). She also likes to drink a Southern Comfort Manhattan when she can :)

This is a note to the great-grand daughter:

I very strongly recommend recording this session, or picking a few of your favorite questions and recording those.

My grandmother passed away a few years back and it was so amazingly nice to be able to go and re-watch the video I had taken for a school project. All my relatives watched it at the funeral, too, and learned some things they would have never thought to ask.

Thanks for the tip! I recorded an interview a few years ago when I interviewed her for a class project, but I would like to remember this too.

Thanks for doing this IAma!

I have two questions.

1) What were the risks involved in (I assume) small-scale bootlegging in a city such as Chicago?

2) Can you recommend any music of the 20's and 30's? Did you have any favorite songs?

1) There weren't many risks for us, the Al Capone gang would handle the problems. We weren't ever in danger, because we were a family and they didn't want to mess with that. They mostly focused on the big shot brewers.

2) Al Jolson was a good one, my husband and I would go dancing and that music was good. I like the song "It's 3 o'clock in the morning"!

It's 3 o'clock in the morning

Link for the lazy.

Thank you for this! I'll show it to her, I think she'll love it!

OP did a huge AMA and only answered three questions...... really?

After two hours she had only received 2 questions. I imagine they left the Iama slightly disappointed and will catch up once the great-granddaughter finds it on the front page.

THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED

She went out on a quick shopping trip with my grandma, and I went to Wal-Mart. I stopped for a cup of coffee and I checked my Reddit app and found this on the front page, and I got home as fast as I could. She'll be back soon! Sorry for the wait!

G Grandma is hardcore

*EDIT: Or is it just Grandma?

We call her GG for "great-grandma" :)

All political questions aside, who do you think was the best President of your lifetime?

In an earlier question, she answered that her favorite president was John F Kennedy

What were you doing when you heard John F Kennedy was shot?

I was at work at our church, on our way out to lunch, and we heard it on the radio. We didn't go out to lunch, we stopped and watched what unfolded on the TV.

This might sound like an odd question, but how has the food you've eaten changed over the course of your life? Like for instance what was the kind of food you ate as a child compared to say the 50's etc?

You can get food so much faster these days, you used to have to wait to eat, and take time with your meals. The food itself is different, when I was young we didn't have much, so we ate whatever was put in front of you when something was put in front of you at all. We ate meat right away because we didn't have refrigerators, and usually we ate bread and butter, and most of our food at the school with lunch because I worked in the cafeteria and got our siblings lunches for free that way. My husband was a butcher, and we'd be lucky because we'd have meat fairly often as well as dented cans from the grocery store he was a butcher in. I started traveling in the 60s and 70s, and eating food from all over the world I realized how lucky I was to have the food I did back at home. In the 80s and 90s is when the fast food came about, and easy meals made it so there wasn't much family time around a meal.

How did you gain immortality?

She laughed at that and said "ooohhh my goodness!"

Of all the decades you have lived through, if you could go back and live in one again, which one would it be and why?

Thank you for doing this AMA!

The late 40s and early 50s, because the war was over, the country was prospering, and women were finding jobs. I was also newly married and had 2 children. :)

Retire at 96? What were your careers throughout your life?

First, I changed my baptismal certificate so that I could start working at the age of 12 after my father was killed by a streetcar. My mother and I agreed that I would work so that my siblings could continue in school. I changed my certificate to say I was 14. My first job was in the school cafeteria, where my siblings and I could eat a free lunch, sometimes it was our only food for the day.

Then I worked at a Woolworth's counter, and then I was hired to work in the Chrsitian Education program, and then became program coordinator for the church itself. I worked there for 65 years, and I retired at 96!

1. Did you ever witness any mafia related crimes during prohibition?
2. Was it easy to tell which places had a speakeasy?
3. How many customers would your family serve a day?
4. Were any of the customers police officers or politicians?

Thank you for your time.

1. My father was killed by a car driven by a man from the Al Capone jury.
2. Ooohhhhhh yes. You had to go around to the back and go through an alley to get in, and they were always busy on Friday nights, because that was pay day. Saturday nights were more social, but the big drinking might was Friday.
3. We would sell to maybe 20 or so people on a Friday, and we didn't sell during the week.
4. We had a few politicians, no police officers.

What is your earliest childhood memory?

My father took me to see the World War I veterans return home in a parade in Chicago.

As someone who has lived through the Great Depression, are you ever sickened by the "throwaway culture" in the US today? Also, who was your favorite president and why?

Her favorite president was John F Kennedy, I'll get back with the other answer when she gets home.

EDIT: Oh absolutely. We waste so much, when there could come a time when we need all we can get.

No comments on the Greendale t shirt!? Go Human Beings!

E Pluribus Anus!

What was the most touching act of human kindness you witnessed and have remembered all these years later?

I think in 1926, when there was a diphtheria in our neighborhood and my younger sister died when we were all sick and quarantined, the only way we had a visitation was at the contagious hospital and you could see her in her coffin behind a glass wall. When we arrived at the cemetery, a health official told my mother she couldn't leave the car to visit the grave. Our pastor ignored him and opened the car door to let her out to see my sister at the gravesite. The official was very upset, but it didn't bother our pastor one bit.

Do you remember any stories that YOUR elders told YOU when you were young that made you think "Wow, times have changed."?

My grandparents had a brewery in Indiana, so I was surprised that alcohol had been legal (I only really knew of a time of Prohibition!)

When you thought about what the future would be like, what did you think would happen? Like in 1950, what did you think the year 2000 would be like, as far as culture, politics, technology, etc.

I thought there would be a lot of technological advancement, and there has been. Especially medicine, I think those advancements are the most interesting to me.

Who has been your favorite President?

As an American Studies major, the 1950s was my favorite period in American History to study. Do you have any stories from the 50's related to the McCarthy era/communist fears in our country?

John F Kennedy was her favorite president. EDIT(continuing answer): The communist problems didn't reach us. Television was new in our culture, and many keynote speakers would voice their own opinion, and the people who listened would hear what they wanted to, so nothing seemed really threatening to us.

Kind of a silly question, but do you have any big/exciting plans for your 100th birthday? :)

From her: No, but everyone else does!

We want to get her interviewed on the news, and we plan on inviting all of her family and friends to celebrate at the church she attends every Sunday. Thanks for your question!

What, if anything, would you like to change today in 2013 that would reflect the way things were back 50-60 years ago?

Nothing really, I think things are better now.

Living through the Great Depression, how does it compare with living through harsh economic times now?

When my parents moved from Indiana, they were poor to begin with, so the transition into the Great Depression wasn't too difficult. It hit the families with money harder than it hit us. I'm used to making do with what I have, and I'm not in a bad position at the moment. I've been careful with spending and saving all my life, and I always have what I need.

EDIT: Wow, thanks for the gold you guys! Now, what to do with it...

Hello, Louise! You said you've seen a lot of the world. What place have you enjoyed the most?

I've been to every European country, and seen all 50 states, but I very much enjoyed Shanghai and the Canadian Rockies(the best way to see them is by train)!

What was it like when the United States announced their entrance to world war 2? Was it fearful or was there a sense of pride?

Also thanks for doing this, its great to hear individual accounts of history :)

I was fearful, but I think the rest of the country was divided.

What is your favorite food/dish that didn't exist 60 years ago?

I think the cultural background of our immigrants has changed our food- we get more foreign foods that I enjoy the most.

Being 99 and switched on enough to do an AMA is quite the feat. I don't have a question, I just wanted to offer my appreciation of the fact that you obviously keep your mind in good order.

Also, can I have a bottle of hooch?

If you go through the alleys in back of the yards and in the places where empty parks were, you'll find where I left the mash (the leftover stuff after the hooch was made), because no one questions a child with a bucket to dump out. Maybe there's some left and you can make your own! :)

I don't really have a question, just wanted to express my admiration for your life. Your lifetime has seen so many advancements in technology and thought. Thank you for sharing with everyone!

Thank you!

Were there any times you and/or your family were in direct danger due to law enforcement, (violent) criminals or the process of making the hooch itself?

Earlier I said my father was killed by a car driven by a member of a jury trying to convict Al Capone. The police tried to make sure nothing would get in the way of a conviction, so they gave us a settlement to make sure that the trial against Capone could continue, because they had had problems with previous cases against him.

were female bootleggers common? if not, how did your mother make her way into a male run underground?

There were really not that many female bootleggers. We got through it by sheer luck! She had known how to do it from a previous business in Indiana, when it had been legal, but we got lucky as far as selling it went.

Were you happier living in 1920-1960 or 1961-now quality of life wise

1961-now. It's just a better time in general.

What was your favorite decade[s] for fashion?

The 40s and 50s!

How different has the future turned out to be in comparison to what you thought it would be like as a little girl?

The moon landing was a huge deal. I never thought I'd live to see that!

Did you used to dance? What were the dance halls like? My grandparents used to amaze me with stories of meeting each other in dance halls and such.

Yes. Every community had a dance hall, and my dancing experience goes back to the Charleston. Dances were social events on the weekends, and there were famous ballrooms across the city. Our famous one on the south side was the Trianon.

What do you think about the changing role of women in the US, both at work and at home? Are there any opportunities you wanted to have that weren't available to you as a woman?

World War II really opened the door for employment, to take some positions that had previously only been for men. For me, I didn't struggle much because of the opportunities presented after World War II.

As a seller of bootlegged alcohol, did your family have any interaction and/or fear of organized crime organizations?

There wasn't really much fear. We knew who the neighborhood gangs were and that we were to stay away from that lifestyle, but we also knew that when there was a problem, we were to go to the gang leaders for help. I didn't have too much interaction with them.

Did you know your grandparents or great grandparents? What years were they born? Where?

My paternal grandparents were from Louisville, Kentucky, my maternal grandparents were from Ferdinand, Indiana. I knew my maternal grandmother, but not my father's grandparents.

Cubs or Sox?

Sox of course!

How was downtown Chicago back then? What did you do for fun?

Downtown Chicago wasn't exactly the fun area. For fun, we would go to White City or Riverview park or to the Lincoln Park Zoo.

Just 2 replies. Great.

We didn't think this would blow up as big as it did, so we each took a quick shopping break. I rushed home when I saw this on the front page, and she'll be back soon. I'll try to answer some of these other questions in the meantime. Sorry!

[deleted]

Not a musical artist, but I like the old actor Edmond O'Brien! I can't really pick a favorite artist, I like a variety. It's not that I didn't like it, but I didn't appreciate it, because it wasn't really my style.