1930- 31: Climbing Out of the Depression

I'll have to give John Kellogg credit for always believing in himself - that he could overcome whatever odds were lining up against him.

The picture of Ruth and John was taken in 1930, almost a year after the Crash in 1929.  Ruth lost her job at Montgomery Ward.  Any wives whose husbands also worked at Wards were let go quickly, so John's job lasted a year or so longer than Ruth's.  Then John worked for a newly-created division of the Welfare Commission in Chicago. Luckily he was hired by his former boss at Ward's, though that job only lasted 8 months.

Always on the lookout for an opportunity, John found one.  "Meanwhile I was searching for something new that people would buy.  I first saw a roll of Sealtex at a social meeting of a Bible Class.  I bought a dozen 2x60 rolls for 25 cents each and the next night sold them directly for 50 cents each.  They sold very fast.  For the next several nights, I repeated the above.  Then I felt sure I had located something that had a future.  Mom and I sold two shares of AT&T we had jointly bought after we were married to buy the rights for all sales in Cook County.  Long before that our car had been stolen and wrecked.  We had been using public transportation for many months.

Our son, Kenneth Alan, was born September 6, 1931."

John didn't talk about the family again until I was born in 1936.  His focus was on succeeding in business, much more difficult than it would have been before the Depression hit.  Everyone was impacted, so at least one didn't feel alone in trying to survive.