Roy Bird, Salt Lake City, Utah: an interview by Becky B. Lloyd, December 4, 2002: Saving the legacy tape no. 554

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RO BEC: So you mean that they'd hire him to buy cattl and h d g ar from the ranchers around there? ROY: Right, yes. d u th BEC: That sounds like a fun job. But he did that kind of on the side and for mon y too? How was your family affected by the great depression? ROY: Well, just like everybody else. We had plenty to eat because we were raised on a farm, but that's all we had. We didn't have anything else. But we didn t know it. We had a lot of fun growing up together. I lived right by my cousins. They had ten children and we grew up together. BEC: Wow, a built-in basketball or soccer team or whatever? ROY: Whatever, that's right. We played out in the road, you know. BEC: Run-sheepy-run and kick-the-can and all those games? ROY: You're right. You've been talking to somebody. BEC: Yes. I'm up on the games. Well, your mother died right in the middle of the depression, then? ROY: She died in '35. BEC: So that was a tough time on top of a tough time. ROY: Yes, but like I say, we didn't know. We thought that we had plenty. BEC: So you didn't really realize that there was a lot of suffering? ROY: No. Like I say, on a farm, you have all you want to eat. A lot of people didn't have that. We'd go to Fish Lake once a year, and that was the "top" of the year. BEC: Is that right? ROY: Sure. That's a long way to go, you know (laughs). 4