Ramsey County History – Winter 1991: “Help, Housing ‘Almost Impossible to Find’: A Single Mother and World War II”

Help, Housing ‘Almost Impossible to Find’: A Single Mother and World War II

Author: Hilda Rachey

The trials of a young, single, working mother of two in St. Paul during World War II. She had to scramble time and again to find housing and child care (both often inadequate), deal with a temporary transfer, travel by foot and streetcar, and endure wartime shortages. “Our ration coupons allowed one pair of shoes a year for each person. No allowance was made for the fact that children’s feet grow . . . .” Only after the war did their conditions improve. Still, “If I could have my way, I would gladly go back and relive those days when the children were small and I had them with me.” A well-written and unusual memoir of life on the home front during the war.

PDF of Rachey article