This story arrived by email over the weekend. It's another example of the WPA's extraordinary work in rescuing America, and Americans, during the Great Depression of the 1930s. I'm posting it with the writer's permission.
Dear Nick,
I'm glad you have written about the WPA.
I wanted to tell you my story because if it wasn't for the WPA, I would not be alive today. It took a miracle to save me. Timing is everything in this story.
We lived in the hills of NE Washington. My mother was pregnant with my brother. She was alone on this day. As she had a bad heart, she tired easily and for the first time she sent me up to the outdoor toilet alone. I could not have been more than 3 years old. When she realized that I had not come back, she raced up the hill and discovered that I had fallen in the toilet. I was sinking fast. It just happened that on that day the WPA was working on our road. She stood in the road and screamed. A huge black man came running and lifted the toilet off the hole and rescued me. She said it took the rest of the day to clean up both of us as she had to pack water and heat it on a wood stove. So I have a soft spot for the WPA and a thanks to that president. I'm also famous in our family for this event and it has generated a lot of laughter. It is told at family parties and whenever new people come around. I quietly thank God for my life.
Madeline Kjolseth
Anderson Island, WA
Dear Nick,
I'm glad you have written about the WPA.
I wanted to tell you my story because if it wasn't for the WPA, I would not be alive today. It took a miracle to save me. Timing is everything in this story.
We lived in the hills of NE Washington. My mother was pregnant with my brother. She was alone on this day. As she had a bad heart, she tired easily and for the first time she sent me up to the outdoor toilet alone. I could not have been more than 3 years old. When she realized that I had not come back, she raced up the hill and discovered that I had fallen in the toilet. I was sinking fast. It just happened that on that day the WPA was working on our road. She stood in the road and screamed. A huge black man came running and lifted the toilet off the hole and rescued me. She said it took the rest of the day to clean up both of us as she had to pack water and heat it on a wood stove. So I have a soft spot for the WPA and a thanks to that president. I'm also famous in our family for this event and it has generated a lot of laughter. It is told at family parties and whenever new people come around. I quietly thank God for my life.
Madeline Kjolseth
Anderson Island, WA