Barbara J. Hamby

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Spring is Coming--Slowly

Al has suddenly flung himself into a spring-cleaning mode and I’m trying not to fall into a guilt funk. I should offer a challenge such as “I can throw away more than you can.” I need to throw away more.

We had snow this morning that melted during the afternoon. More is predicted tonight and tomorrow morning. Winter’s not leaving without a fight. Some of the hills around us had six or seven inches. Our grass was barely covered.

My youngest sister sent me photocopies of some old postcards she found in family files. She is the genealogist among us. One card was mailed to me at my place of employment when I was just 15 years old. I worked at Manning’s No. 7 in the University District in Seattle. That summer I came to work in the morning and made stacks of sandwiches every day. I spread pimiento cheese, kippered salmon spread, tuna salad, peanut butter and jelly and slapped sandwich meats on buttered (margarined, that is) bread laid out on a large counter.

When that was done, I did miscellaneous tasks, mostly busing dishes. When they learned that I had made change at the Bon Marche as a clerk the year before, I no longer had to bus dishes. I worked at Manning’s during the rest of my school years and learned every job in the cafeteria. There was a bakery in the front, but those employees were of a different union. There are many stories from those days that I’ll try to get into my memoirs.

The signature on the postcard was “Helen.” I think she may have been the assistant manager at that time, or the head waitress. She wrote, “How’s the little sandwich girl doing?”

Obviously, those were World War II days, when children were taking the jobs that women had left to go into the shipyards.

Another postcard, from my father who was in Denver on business at the time, was a United Airlines menu--all gourmet food--those were the days. His note was “I bet this is nothing like Manning’s.” I can’t remember if my folks ever ate there. We lived about 20 miles away, so it’s possible they didn’t.