Welcome to May! Tucson temps are ramping up again with 90 expected this weekend and upper 90s by next weekend so summer is quickly approaching.

Randy Seaver has posted this week’s Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenge:

1)  What did your ancestral families do during the Great Depression (1930-1940)? Did they keep their jobs and standard of living?  Did they suffer personally or economically?

My grandparents were quite fortunate during the Great Depression.

My paternal grandparents, George and Julia (Scerbak) Sabo owned their home at 49 Summer Street, Passaic, New Jersey AND owned a butcher shop in downtown Passaic. They were very comfortable during the Depression years, as a friend of my Nana, Ann Stanchak, told me that Nana hired her to be a maid during the 1930s in order to help out the Stanchak family.

My father, George Sabo, born in 1926, started kindergarten in 1931 at Roosevelt #10 School, Passaic, where 26 years later, I also went to school.

My maternal grandparents, Vernon Tarbox and Hazel Ethel (Coleman) Adams, moved often because Grandfather was a regional manager for Western Union. My grandparents always rented homes until about 1947 when they moved to Needham Heights, Massachusetts and Grandfather was permanently stationed in Boston.

My mother and aunts were school children during the 1930s and early 1940s.

In 1930, they lived for a short time in Jamaica, Queens, New York, but they were enumerated in the census at 90 Mellen Street, Portland, Cumberland, Maine.

In 1931 and 1932, they lived at 318 Stevens Avenue, again in Portland.

In 1933, still living in Portland, they were at 145 Brentwood Street.

My Aunt Carole was born in Portland in 1934, but I don’t have an address. They might still have been on Brentwood Street.

The 1940 census indicates the family lived in Portland, five years previously, in 1935.

In 1936, they were at 28 Rosemont Avenue, Portland in addition to a short time in Flushing, Queens, New York, address unknown. In June 1936, my Aunt Barbara graduated from Lynbrook Junior High School in New York. The family moved once again to Tenafly, Bergen, New Jersey. 1936 was a busy year!

In 1937 and 1938, they were in Tenafly. Aunt Barbara received her “certificate of admission” to Tenafly High School in June 1937.

In 1939, the family moved to 630 Wyndemere Road, Ridgewood, Bergen, New Jersey and remained there until about 1947 when they relocated for the last time to Massachusetts.

Throughout these years, Grandfather always worked for Western Union and stayed with them until he retired in 1964.

I know my grandparents cut back on non-essentials during the Depression, but they never worried about losing a job or their homes. I know they were very grateful for that.

Thanks, Randy, as always, for this week’s challenge. I look forward to them every weekend.