INTERVIEWEE: Joe Gentry

Sevier County Oral History Project

INTERVIEWEE: Joe Gentry
INTERVIEWER: Leah Warner
DATE: December 11, 1997
PLACE: Richfield, Utah
SUBJECT: The Great Depression

This is Leah Warner, an I am interviewing Joe Gentry on his remembrances and memories of the Great Depression. The date is December 11, 1997, and the place is Richfield, Utah.

Leah Warner: For some background information, where and when were you born?

Joe Gentry: I was actually born here in Richfield on July 21,1917 in my Grandfather Erickson's place. That's where old what's-his-name lives. . . Yowell! Ted Yowell! That's an old house, there. My grandparents moved there in 1906 and my mother grew up in that house.

Leah Warner: What are a few of the memories you have of your early childhood?

Joe Gentry: Some of the most pleasant ones are when I could go up to Beaver and stay with my grandparents and hear the train coming along. Gosh, I felt bad when they took that away. You could hear that whistle and it just made everybody happy. The line went through Marysvale, when it was prospering, but they had that terrible flood in 1983 and just took out a lot of the railroad. Just figured it was too costly to rebuild it.

Leah Warner: What age did the great depression hit you?

Joe Gentry: I was around twelve years old in 1929. That's when the stock market crashed, you know. Up until about 1935, it was pretty tough growing up. Like someone said, "We were broke, but we weren't poor!" (Laughter.) We had a farm, and chickens, and cows, so we never went hungry. Money was hard to get, though.

Leah Warner: Do you remember the crash of the stock market? How did you hear about it?

Joe Gentry: My mother told me about it. Her brother-in-law, Claude MacIntire, was in charge of finance and western loans. He just went haywire. Of course, he came out all right.

Leah Warner: How did your family respond to the stock market crash?

Joe Gentry: I was only twelve, and the rest of the kids hardly knew anything about it. My dad was a good provider, and like I said, we never went hungry. He actually helped some of those old guys in town by giving them a little employment. Dad went to a little packing plant and he'd get them to work out on the ranch. He had Barney Pottingham, quite a character. He paid him five bucks in cash and the rest was in beef! Barney'd say, "I gotta have tea and coffee and tobacco or I can't work!" (Laughter.) So Dad got it for him.

Leah Warner: What sort of activities did you and your friends participate in during the Depression?

Joe Gentry: We were out to the ranch quite a bit. But, we mostly just liked to roam the hills. We had a little reservoir, kind of our own private swimming pool. It was cold water, but quite invigorating!

Leah Warner: Did your lifestyle change at all from before and after the Depression?

Joe Gentry: My lifestyle changed, of course, things were still ducky. I graduated Beaver High School in 1935. Then I went up to Brigham Young University. I don't know how I ever got by. Your money went farther. Tuition for the whole year was $86.50. You can't get that kind of tuition anymore. I had to learn to "batch" it. I finally learned how to iron my own shirts. I went down to Sears Roebuck and got an iron. One of the girls upstairs showed me how to use it. Course, now you don't even iron clothes so much, the fabrics are different.

Leah Warner: What sort of books did you read, music did you listen to, and movies did you go see?

Joe Gentry: The most popular movies were Nelson Eddy and Jeanette McDonnell in those musicals, "Maytime" and "Rosemarie".

Leah Warner: Did you have to get a job to help support your family?

Joe Gentry: I was just going to school. President Roosevelt helped out when I went through BYU. It was called NYA, National Youth Administration. You had to fill out a form and say your dad was pretty poor, and then I got a job as a janitor. Enough to get by. During the fall season, I'd help some of the students pick apples, help the farmers, and get a little money that way.

Leah Warner: What were the clothing circumstances like?

Joe Gentry: Corduroy pants were pretty common on the college students. It was pretty reasonable. It was quite informal there, most kids just wore regular old denim jeans.

Leah Warner: Do you recall the changes friends and neighbors had to make?

Joe Gentry: They all seemed to get by pretty good as far as I could tell. Our neighbor across the street was a banker, he, well, he was okay (laughter.) But, a lot of it was tough. Many of our neighbors had small dairy herds, and that's how we got our milkshakes.

Leah Warner: How did the religious leaders counsel the community?

Joe Gentry: One of them, Wallace Yardley, was my Aaronic Priesthood teacher. He done a lot of good for me. Then my first piano teacher had a good influence on me. Then my first guitar teacher, Mrs. Mackerell, helped me out a lot.

Leah Warner: What lasting effects did the Great Depression have on you?

Joe Gentry: It kind of made a tightwad out of me. When I went to BYU, I had to watch money so dang bad. I had it tough. But now when I look back, I'm glad I did have it tough; you appreciate things more. If you have things too easy, you don't appreciate them. I envied the kids who could afford to board at the boarding house. Boy, I had to "batch" it. Had to eat my own cooking (laughter).

Leah Warner: What advice would you give to young people today?

Joe Gentry: Some of the best advice I can give them is to realize that our free agency is the greatest power on earth. There's nothing to stop you from digging in a little harder. A lot of these that got so far in life, they had it tough to begin with. They all had one thing in common, and that's persistence. Take, for example, Zane Grey with his western novels. He was turned down by publishing companies, but finally he had a hit. After that, he could work any place. Just one example. It's hard to believe about John Wayne. In a Paul Harvey story, he was just a skinny kid, he was picked on by a bully. He came past the fire station, and a fireman there asked him what was wrong and he says, "Listen, don't run from that bully anymore. I was a professional boxer in my time. You stop by the station and I'll show you a few lessons in boxing." So he did and, boy, the next time the bully came after him, he stood his ground. And you know about John Wayne. Seeing his picture, it's hard to believe he was a skinny kid and that he was picked on. But that's the advice I'd give them. Know what you want in life. My only trouble was I liked too damn many things and I had an awful time in BYU deciding a major. Gosh, I liked all kinds of things. But I congratulate you on the English. I think I got the most good out of my freshman English under Mrs. Elsie Carole. She had us read hearty things like The Luxury of Integrity. Not everyone can afford that. Do you notice how some have to advertise, to tell the world that bad products are good. Near the bottom of the whole thing are politicians (laughter). This article I read said the lowest of all are the corporation executives. They've sold their souls so bad that they don't even dare take a bath without getting the approval of the company! Of course, that's an exaggeration.

Leah Warner: Is there anything else you'd like to add?

Joe Gentry: I love music very much. Learn to type when you're young, too. I'm glad I learned to type in high school. When I came back, I used to work for a resort hotel. When I came here, I didn't have any job. It's a good thing I went to church that day because Art Tucker, the manager of the radio station of the time, said ,"Joe, can you type?" I says, "Yep," so he had a job for me. I spent two years writing up radio scripts. Then one time, Art said "Joe, would you like to do a program? We can give you fifteen minutes a day." I thought that was wonderful. It finally increased to a half hour and then Art Tucker left the station. I left the station for about ten years when Kent Colby called me back, out of retirement, and said "I want you to host this program." I started out with an hour and after a while he said "Joe, do you think you could handle two hours?" So finally I just said, "I'll try." Now I'd hate to have my time cut short. It's a neat program, maybe you've heard it. It's the KSVC AM, don't get the FM, but get the AM. I still do that now. It starts at five minutes after two and goes to four o'clock. It starts out with the classics and then goes into the polkas. Those listeners, they love the polkas. One old fella—he was from Redmond and in his nineties—called me up and said, "Joe, keep those polkas coming. When I hear them, I get up and dance around the room." About a month or two ago he passed away. Just three weeks away from being 100. His name was Lester Jensen from Redmond. I saw Bruce Turner when they were going up to Salina for his viewing. I said, "Can I go along?" and he says, "Yes." I went up and met his family. They told me that he sure liked to dance. His daughter said, "Well, if I wasn't there to dance with him, he'd grab the broom and dance" (laughter). There's something good about that dance music, it's therapy. It stimulates the blood. I read in the newspaper about an old guy, about ninety-five, he still goes to the ballroom dances. But, you gotta be doing something. I don't like that word retirement. Take that out of your dictionaries. Just keep on going. I just hit the big eighty and heck, I feel more like sixty! When I was your age, you'd go hell, oh, excuse me, good gosh that's a long way off, it'll never come. But it does come, things change. It is hard to believe. I've enjoyed life more in my sixties and seventies more than any other time in my life. When you're younger, you do a lot of stupid things. We're young and foolish. George Burns said, "Youth is great, but it's too bad it has to be wasted on the young!" (Laughter.)

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