It’s difficult enough going through economic hard times as an individual or as a married couple, but when there are four young boys with voracious appetites, the problems compound exponentially. Such was the case for Bernie and Jennie Nelson during the Depression Thirties. At the beginning of the decade (1930) Bob was 8, Warren 6, Dick 4, and Allen 2. Bernie had a tough time finding work. Jennie pitched in where she could, and often times it was her income as a domestic for an affluent family that put food on the table. Other times the best she could do for dinner for the boys was stale baked goods dunked in coffee to soften it. More than once Jennie went without a meal herself just to be certain the boys were fed. That probably contributed to at least one of the two miscarriages she experienced during the early to mid thirties.
By the time Bob and Warren were about 11 and 9 Bernie borrowed some money from his father-in-law Andrew Anderson to invest in a produce wagon. He woke Bob and Warren at 4:00 AM, drove them to the produce market downtown Brooklyn, and had them help him sell the produce door to door.
At the beginning of the decade the family was probably still living on Bay 8th Street near Dyker Beach Golf Course (it is at Dyker Beach where Tiger Woods father then-US Army Col. Earl Woods caught golf bug in 1972 while stationed at nearby Ft. Hamilton). It was probably in the early thirties when Jennie’s younger sister Violet married Gray Harvey Faust, and the youngest sister Helen married Charles Hansen. At that point Jennie’s sisters were no longer living with the Nelsons, but it’s not clear where Andrew and Frieda Anderson, their parents were living. Somewhere in the early to mid thirties Bernie and Jennie moved their family to 347 56th Street in the Sunset Park neighborhood of Brooklyn. Bob and Warren were old enough to be collecting newspapers and rags for recycling, and they contributed their earnings to the family coffers.
As part of President Roosevelt’s WPA administration a new public park and swimming pool complex was planned for an area of the Sunset Park neighborhood where a small lake existed. The new facility was to be called Sunset Park, bound by 41st Street to 44th Street and 5th Avenue to 7th Avenue – the area of six city blocks. Bernie had the good fortune to find work at the project, probably driving a truck for the construction company building the facility. He claims to have been the first one in the water when the complex officially opened.
At some point after the park complex opened Andrew and Frieda Anderson were living within walking distance of the park. Warren tells the story where the park was open before noon, but the three-pool complex didn’t open until noon, at which time patrons would line up to get baskets for storing their clothes in the locker rooms, and then pay the ten-cent admission. In the meantime the brothers Nelson would visit their Anderson grandparents for lunch, change into their bathing suits, and return to the park where they could skip the locker basket line and just pay their admission to the pool. How cool was that?
By 1937 the economic picture was improving. The boys were 15, 13, 11, and Allen the youngest was 9. However, Jennie was about to give the boys a little sister, Marilyn, in October of that year. By then Bob was already starting his second year at the new Brooklyn Tech high school, which was beginning its fourth year of operation. Warren was in the eighth grade at PS 118 on 59th Street, where Dick was in the sixth grade and Allen in the fourth. This was also the era when Bob began to reign as one of the stickball heroes of 56th Street.
The very large and female-dominant Murphy family lived right next door to the male-dominant Nelson family at 347-56th Street. Above the Nelsons lived the Shoaf family with two girls, Patricia and Dorothy. The significance of this neighbor proximity plays out in the next decade. In the adjacent tenement at number 343 lived Violet and Gray Faust, and by then the Andersons were living with the Fausts. On July 3, 1939 Jennie added another son, Gene, and the next day the whole country celebrated and Lou Gehrig gave his farewell speech at Yankee Stadium.
Here is a link to give you a flavor for what the Nelson family experienced with the rest of the country during the thirties.
By the time Bob and Warren were about 11 and 9 Bernie borrowed some money from his father-in-law Andrew Anderson to invest in a produce wagon. He woke Bob and Warren at 4:00 AM, drove them to the produce market downtown Brooklyn, and had them help him sell the produce door to door.
At the beginning of the decade the family was probably still living on Bay 8th Street near Dyker Beach Golf Course (it is at Dyker Beach where Tiger Woods father then-US Army Col. Earl Woods caught golf bug in 1972 while stationed at nearby Ft. Hamilton). It was probably in the early thirties when Jennie’s younger sister Violet married Gray Harvey Faust, and the youngest sister Helen married Charles Hansen. At that point Jennie’s sisters were no longer living with the Nelsons, but it’s not clear where Andrew and Frieda Anderson, their parents were living. Somewhere in the early to mid thirties Bernie and Jennie moved their family to 347 56th Street in the Sunset Park neighborhood of Brooklyn. Bob and Warren were old enough to be collecting newspapers and rags for recycling, and they contributed their earnings to the family coffers.
As part of President Roosevelt’s WPA administration a new public park and swimming pool complex was planned for an area of the Sunset Park neighborhood where a small lake existed. The new facility was to be called Sunset Park, bound by 41st Street to 44th Street and 5th Avenue to 7th Avenue – the area of six city blocks. Bernie had the good fortune to find work at the project, probably driving a truck for the construction company building the facility. He claims to have been the first one in the water when the complex officially opened.
At some point after the park complex opened Andrew and Frieda Anderson were living within walking distance of the park. Warren tells the story where the park was open before noon, but the three-pool complex didn’t open until noon, at which time patrons would line up to get baskets for storing their clothes in the locker rooms, and then pay the ten-cent admission. In the meantime the brothers Nelson would visit their Anderson grandparents for lunch, change into their bathing suits, and return to the park where they could skip the locker basket line and just pay their admission to the pool. How cool was that?
By 1937 the economic picture was improving. The boys were 15, 13, 11, and Allen the youngest was 9. However, Jennie was about to give the boys a little sister, Marilyn, in October of that year. By then Bob was already starting his second year at the new Brooklyn Tech high school, which was beginning its fourth year of operation. Warren was in the eighth grade at PS 118 on 59th Street, where Dick was in the sixth grade and Allen in the fourth. This was also the era when Bob began to reign as one of the stickball heroes of 56th Street.
The very large and female-dominant Murphy family lived right next door to the male-dominant Nelson family at 347-56th Street. Above the Nelsons lived the Shoaf family with two girls, Patricia and Dorothy. The significance of this neighbor proximity plays out in the next decade. In the adjacent tenement at number 343 lived Violet and Gray Faust, and by then the Andersons were living with the Fausts. On July 3, 1939 Jennie added another son, Gene, and the next day the whole country celebrated and Lou Gehrig gave his farewell speech at Yankee Stadium.
Here is a link to give you a flavor for what the Nelson family experienced with the rest of the country during the thirties.
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