Financial Security, Part Two

The presumption in my family is that my great-grandmother Leta always landed on her feet, at least financially. This seems to me to be more myth than history, even though there is no doubt she was a survivor. Of course, as a child, I never really thought that much about it—except when she elected to move into a senior home in 1972.

At the time she was living on the second floor of a duplex in East Toledo. She rented. Before she moved, she wanted to put her finances in order. The arrangement with the residence was that she would turn over all her money upon entering to pay for her care for as long as she lived. (This is what I remember, but may also be as much myth as fact). So before divulging, so to speak, she set aside a secret fund for her own personal expenses throughout her years there. Again, my understanding was that she expected to live fewer than the 12 more years that she did, so she got the better end of the deal. Her daughter-my grandmother was very involved in this process, and became her financial manager.

Still, I do not believe Leta was always financially secure. When she divorced from husband number four—Leech Hoose—to whom she was married only a couple of years at most—her situation was such that she relocated her children to their father’s home and moved in with her brother Aaron and sister-in-law Florence for a period of time. This occurred in the 1930s, during the Depression. Only a person financially strapped and emotionally broken would have made such choices. A few years earlier she won a custody battle, so I can’t imagine that she gave up her children in this way without believing she had no other alternative.

A few years later, her financial status improved when she married husband number five—Bob Fields. Bob was employed, and childless. Financially, they were strong enough to welcome her daughter Vivian and grandson-my father Donald into their home while Vivian’s husband Ed served in World War II.  When Bob died unexpectedly in 1946, Leta’s financial position was strong.

This again nearly flipped for her. She frequently said that her sixth husband—Claud Bassett—“spent all my money.” After four years of this obviously unhappy union, she divorced him and went to work. She managed a restaurant for a while and then became a housekeeper at a hospital.

She rented a small house near the University of Toledo, and while living there she met her eighth husband Richard. (By the way, her seventh marriage was so brief that it can’t have impacted her financially at all, but then again, only a few people knew about it, so it is hard to be definite.) Her marriage to Richard, however, was the marriage of her retirement. He owned a home; they planned on living out their days as a happily married retired couple.

When Richard died unexpectedly in 1963, she was once again uprooted. The house was sold, and she moved into the afore-mentioned duplex. She was 69 years old and financially strong enough to live out the rest of her days without anxiety, which she did.